The Assassin's Song

by Productive faffer

Rating: mature
Tags: Dark, Sad, Main 6, Princess Luna, Drama, Gore, Original Character, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Cutie Mark Crusaders, Romance, Adventure, Sex, Princess Celestia
Length: 485155

When a taker of lives takes on what he assumes to be his final contract, he could never know what challenges, battles, journeys and trials stand before him.

He left us...so many years ago...

He left us...well, I say us, me and my sister, Luna, maybe...hmm, to be honest, I'm not even wholly sure now. Just over...my, that is a long time now...

Anyway, yes, he left us a long time ago. I don't know why, but he did. I've hated him ever since, I've been searching for him, ever since. But he's always evaded me, but then, I suppose that is what he was always best at. Disappearing, reappearing, at a moment's notice. Assassins tend to be good at that sort of thing, after all.

Hmm, why do I search for him? Why, to punish him, of course. He broke my heart, broke my trust. Broke both our hearts, our trusts, I should say. She was always closer to him, you see, but...well, our relationship always went deeper. That...dastardly assassin, talking, fighting, sneaking, charming...yes...'intercourse-ing' his way through any situation. Always had a talent for that sort of thing, I suppose.

To hear him tell it, this would be just one of those times where his story got a little more interesting, when the past bit him in the flank, not for the first time. But for me, for us...for so many...it's a tail of our loss, our hatred, our pain, our betrayal...our longing...

Hmm? Yes, I suppose there's other things too, and no, not for the foals. Bloodshed, espionage, murder...some of the darker aspects of my country, I'm afraid. But one of love as well. Of friendship, and, in smaller doses than I'd prefer, lightness. If only to offset his darkness. Yes, his darkness. Why do I say that? Well...

A/N: Cover art is courtesy of Lone wolf from the East, he's got some pretty amazing stuff so check him out here.

Published 2014-07-26 16:00:05 UTC
Last updated 2018-05-07 23:42:48 UTC

Melody of the gallows

The Assassin's Song.

Chapter one: The melody of the gallows.

Two near silent hooves fell upon the roof top. It was an horrific sight. The scene was depressing, the atmosphere grim and the weather wasn't helping the mood either; the overcast sky gave the town square an emotionless feel, dull, grey and lifeless. Add that to the lack of town noises, the bustling crowds, the running and laughter of the young and innocent, no merchants shouting out their offers of the wares they were selling.

The fact that there was little more than the odd hushed sentence here and there, gave an overwhelming sense of emptiness to the ponies and griffons on the street. Even the buildings seemed more gloomy, grey and dead, as though even they were saddened by today's events.

Not for the first time, tensions had been rising between Equestria and the Griffon kingdom, with plenty of boisterus, and plausably deniable, threats coming from Griffon royalty and nobility. Of course, nopony took them seriously, with the griffons attempts to spark some kind of conflict something of an amusing betting pool amougst the more jaded members of both societies.

Like clockwork, Celestia had sent an ambassador over there to smooth things over, offered her sincerest apologies for whatever her ponies had allegedly done to antagonist the griffons and assured the king and queen that they'd be appropriately disciplined and generally make relations hospitable once again.

These practiced negotiation practices had spawned something of an issue, however; more cunning and cutthroat than even Celestia could predict, one bribed ambassidor was all it took. Time had taken its tole in more ways than one, naturally, and the forces of probability had put a less than trust worthy pony in a position of authority, one willing to, say, accept a bribe.

That being said, rich soils, lush forests, plentiful game, untapped mining recourses and an abundance of gems made for prime realestate, which in turn called for drastic measures.

Sixty-four ponies had all stood trial, most oblivious visitors and tourists, and been found guilty of some disrespect or dishonour of griffon traditions (one had been found guilty of looking up the nostrles of a noble) and had been sent to the gallows. Outraged, confused and on the precipent of an international incident, they were the bait to a war with the home-field advantage on the griffon's behalf.

Bait that wouldn't be taken, of course.

And so, the shadow-shrouded figure lay on his front casually, crossing his fore-hooves, and watched the events with nary a snarl on his face. Only vuage amusment with the outcome. He was patient, silent, only his garb, rustled by the wind, moving while he remained as still and as stoic as a rock. He felt it ironic, really; the plan had been to incite Equestria to sending the bulk of her armies here, on a valient mission to rescue their contrymares. Instead, only a single pony had shown up.

The sixty-four most evil, terrible, detestible, cruel and pathetic looking criminals all approached the gallows that had been built in the middle of town hall; the mobs all gasped when they saw that a ten year old colt was amongst the dastardly criminals.

Watching as the blue colt was lifted atop a small crate that had been provided, the unseen onlooker couldn't help but take a second to look around himself, at himself, and think about where he was, what exactly he was attending.

'A powder keg... Nothing more than a bomb they want to set off in order to cause an uproar' the stallion silently mused. If the griffon's plan was to use this outrage to stir up the nobles and royalty of Equestria, pushing them to war, they were misguided. Celestia was...perhaps detrimentially, calm-spirited.

The dark stallion focuse on the proceeding execution once more, a noose looped around the ponies' necks. He couldn't hold down the small sigh as the child's tears started again, his fear palpable. But he didn't sob or struggle, didn't whine or plea. The dark stallion admired the colt's resolve.

It came out of nowhere, like a cold sudden wind on the hottest of dry days, the colt's voice swept through the now silent crowd, reaching the voices of everypony, and everything.

"On those dark, weary days and those cold, windy nights pray the assassin will watch over your plight." The colt sung masterfully, his voice slightly high pitched but smooth, the tempo perfect. The onlooker grunted again, a grin on his face; The Assassin's Song. A lullaby of the most crule, grim ponies in existence, sung to sooth the little ones, that maybe the dark wasn't so scary after all. That there was somepony keeping them safe. Maybe irony was the word of the day.

The colt had stopped his singing however, looking down, away from the crowd, perhaps from embarrassment, his courage having dried up.

"With blood on his hooves and death in his heart the assassin will watch over, from the end till the start." The song was picked up by a stallion stood to his left, his voice deeper and more horse than the colt's, though he kept the same tempo as the foal. The ponies glanced at each other before they let the song fill the air again.

"With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall." A mare had joined their tune, her voice adding a softer and somewhat more pleasant tone, as though a mother singing to her children. Their unseen audience's grin became a genuin smile; their song gave them hope.

"With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall."[i/] More joined the song, trailing onto the end of the tune and picking it up as they went.

"The assassin will watch over all good colts and mares, always listening to there ever hopeful prayers. He will always watch over the weak and the poor, should you ever cross him he'll give you what for." The rest of the damned stood upon the gallows joined the song, which had been created to sooth those in times of darkness, its ideals of hope and protection strained to the limits.

"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall." The joining voices added layers to the song, some better at singing than others, though throughout the song, the blue colt could still be heard. The guards were getting nervous now, clutching their weapons and pointing them at the prisoners, frowns finding their faces.

"The assassin will be there, so silent and still, watching and waiting for the moment until. Those who have wronged you will fall to his blade, and never will he rest till the debt has been paid."

The rest of those waiting for the noose joined in with the final rendition of the chorus, and the effect was…extraordinary, to say the very least. The simple poem of hope and courage came to a close, with a massive symphony of the doomed, singing with enough force to knock Celestia herself to her rear.

"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall." As the executioner's claw rested upon the lever to drop the ponies, the shadow-shrouded pony knew it was his moment.

He stands, only for a moment, and leaps from the roof, as graceful as a Pegasus in the sky. He sailed silently before he crashed through the wodden framing of a window and atop an armoured griffon, a guard, and as the rope went taunt around the colt's neck, his hooves cracked across the guard's temple.

A wooden, oak hall lead to the assassin's purpose here. Two griffons guarded the way, his sudden entrance having garnered their attention as the riot progressed outside. He didn't give them a moment, darting in and using his smaller stature to his advantage, weaving between their confused legs and beneath their bodies. The first was removed with a hoof rocketing into his crotch, the assassin rolling away as the guard dropped, as the second guard swung her bladed claws at the pony, the cloaked figured pouncing up and over the strike, latching to her head and throwing his weight to the side and dragging the unfortunate guard with him. He slammed her head into the floor, realased his hold before slamming her temple-first into the hardened wood floor.

He left the unconscious trio to their dreams and trotted casually out onto the balcony. gazes looked over to him, bored, before they snapped back in shock.

One guard lunged for him, the assassin slamming his hoof into his jaw, breaking the beak and jaw in one swift strike, sending him sprawling but barely sparing him a glance. The second lunged with his spear leading, the assassin letting it stab into the door behind him and snapping it at the blade and throwing it dart-like back into the guard's shoulder.

The remaining griffons, officials, stood shaking as he looked between them. Figuring out he wasn't there for them, they fled promptly, leaving only the two ponies. The assassin suddenly reached beneath his cloak and produced a trio of gleaming lights that flew at the griffons in a blur, the thee griffons toppling with blood pooling around them.

For a second, the pony ambassidor was relived, wiping sweat from his brow. But the assassin's eyes never left him and then he realised that he was cornered, pinned, and with no means to defend himself. They stood face to face, one with a grin, one with the sharp smell of urine. The assassin moved forwards, slowly, as though he had all the time in the world, before he took the stallion by the throat and pushed the ambassador against the stone railing and held him against it, forcing his gaze over the riot. He said nothing, but his point was made.

The assassin was stood straight, the ambassidor quivering and cowering beneath the dark stallion, curled up in a ball, as the assassin looked down at the his target, his mark. His prey.

He drew his blade slowly, intimately, allowing the doomed pony to see his terrified eyes in its reflection, holding it below Slick's neck before he thrust it up, into his target's jugular vein. The blood gushed across both stallion's features and the weapon; time moved slowly for Slick, Father Time turning his last seconds into hours as the thick, red liquid escaped his arteries and heart. He looked at the pony who had killed him, attempting to gaze upon his maker, but any memories he may have had were snatched away from his as the blood left his brain, and his spirit left this world. The predator ripped the blade from his prey, watching more blood leak through his fur, and put his fore-hooves under the body and heaved, lifting him up and over the railing before letting him drop to the street below.

As he fell, the ambassador's thoughts turned to his demise. He looked up to find the assassin looking down, and the cloaked figure didin't need any kind of spell to know what he was thinking; broken arrogance. The assassin grinned at the look of disbelief on the face of his falling mark. It amused him greatly when his targets thought themselves untouchable before an assassin or killer, such as the one who had just thrown him over the side of a building with his jugular vein cleanly opened, managed to kill them. Perhaps Slick Talker would have had an epiphany, or gone through some kind life altering thought proses, sending him down the right path of life. Only he never got the chance before his skull shattered on the cobblestone road.

The assassin raised his head from his mark, now street pizza, and took stock of his situation: target dead, riot in proses, guards inbound, time to make a tactical retreat. He couldn't help but be struck by something though.

'That was rather easy, for somepony who was meant to be holding the peace between Equestria and the griffon kingdom together' the murderous pony observed, looking around himself with a frown on his face that would be more suitable on a pony who had just heard a strange noise before shrugging it off as nothing. That was exactly what this was to the pony. Nothing. Just another day in the office, as far as he was concerned, the main difference hear being that there were several angry looking griffons around him that probably had a thirst for blood that could only be clenched by the vital funds of one particular equine, rather than paperwork and annoying coworkers. Then again...

The assassin then remembered that he was surrounded by griffons who wanted him dead. Said pony simply jumped over the stone railings of the balcony, his hooves crunching on the broken skull of Slick Talker, and galloping into the rioting crowds before the guard captain could even think to say 'attack'.

The assassin's plan to use the crowd to cover his escape worked well, too well, as the crowds had done all he had predicted and more. Several griffons lay on the ground, holding wounds, while the ponies around him fought tooth and hoof to retrieve their loved ones, who were either galloping for their lives or being mourned by their families. The assassin's eyes lingered for a moment at the sight of the dead colt; the colt who'd life had been stolen, and now he'd never get it back. He made his way down an alleyway, the shadows covering his escape and walked away from the violence and towards the ferries to and from Equestria. Like nothing had happened at all.

Allow me to introduce...

Chapter two: Allow me to introduce…

The stallion trotted at a slow and laid back pace, uncaring and unfazed by the dangers that could be lurking in the Everfree forest. Insurmountable amounts of beasts and wild creatures watched his every move, as small growls of the nearby timber wolves could be heard alongside the distant roar of manticors. The assassin could care less. He stopped to get his bearings, looking up to watch the stars; he gave a frustrated frown at the lack of light penetrating the thick canopy of trees. But then, the Everfree wasn't exactly known for being the most hospitable places in Equestria.

After a second of fruitlessly staring at the trees, he relaxed his body and opened his other senses; the lack of light made his sight useless, but in turn caused him to turn his focus to his hearing, although, little could be heard over the sound of the creatures trying and failing to intimidate the assassin with their snarls and roars. He flared his nostrils, taking in a deep breath, and taking in the scents of the vicinity; though he didn't pick up any individual smells, the forest leaves and vegetation mixed with the animals' unwashed furs, skins and nests merged together in the air, creating a musk that would cause any not acquainted with the forest to lose their last meal. He did, however, pick up the strong breeze coming his way, by recognizing the sudden focus in odors coming from one direction. The traveler leapt atop a large boulder and turned his gaze to the night sky.

The wind blew through the trees and parted them, revealing Luna's night, constellations and moon alike. Part of him hated the night sky, though never the night itself as it would always be his hour as assassins were almost exclusively nocturnal, but because he had gotten a lot of grief from the princess of the night in recent years. If any wondered why her appearances in dreams where a rarity, it was because she was busy in his head tormenting him and conducting a smattering of some off the books torture via his dreams. Fun and games for all ages.

Though at the same time he would always appreciate the night sky a little better than anypony else, seeing that he was well acquainted with nocturnal hours and darkness, but it was mainly because after years of gazing up to the sky he had grown to appreciate its beauty like nopony else, maybe asides Luna herself, in that in all the night sky's simplicity, the complexity that were the star patterns were something truly awe inspiring. Also, the occupation of 'murderous outlaw' was not one that was smiled upon by general society, so staying incognito was high on his list of priorities and moving around at night was the best way to do as such.

The wind brought with it cold air but the assassin was not so foolish as to not come to the infamous forest unprepared. He was never unprepared. The assassin wore four pieces of clothing, and while this could be considered strange in a land in which ponies went around letting their fur protect them from the elements, with the citizens of Canterlot being the only ponies to regularly wear clothes. The assassin's interest in clothing, however, was far from fashion related; the hood he wore was a deep black, with crimson stitches and lining, did marvels to protect his face from prying eyes, while the material kept his face protected from cold winds and the colour scheme hid him well in the shadows.

He wore a vest over his chest, a simple black colour with its design being a simple looking shirt, the collar wrapping around his neck beaten and torn in places, a large scar-like looking stitch ran up the left side, over the heart. The vest was more than a piece of clothing however, as it was made from a rare marital that even the most generous of ponies would squander to themselves. The thread was known as Robus-weave, as strong as dragon hide and as light as a cloud, capable of absorbing blows from an Ursa and keeping the covered area comfortable in even the frozen north or Saddle Arabia. The cape he had on his back followed suit in terms of colour and design for the hood, while keeping the motley attitude of the vest; torn and ragged patches running across it in no small number, the kind of damage that could only come from years of wear and tear. He wore the cloak simply to protect him from the elements, and occasionally use as a cover when he found himself sleeping against a tree.

The final thing the stallion wore was a simple brown leather belt, a tactical choice in gear as wearing or using leather at all was considered taboo. However, there was little better in terms of rugged durability and usability. What the belt supported, however, was much more questionable. On the left of his barrel was a small, red silk sash, tying the belt to a black oak-wood scabbard. Inside said scabbard was the blade the assassin wielded.

The sword was a Japonyese styled katana, agile and light, the metal little more than a short-sword to most races of Equss, however comfortable and effective at both slashing throats and crossing blades for ponies. The tsuba depicted a dragon eating its tail, an ouroboros, made of dark bronze metal, the minuscule details of the scales, folded wings and narrowed eye immaculate. The grip was laced in red and black leather, the pommel tipped with the same dark bronze as the guard, perfectly balanced and comfortable in mouth or hoof.

The right side of the pony's belt was home to four pouches. The uppermost pouch contained navigational items; a rusty iron compass, a small and heavily folded map of Equestria and a small but powerful telescope. The second contained fifteen throwing knives, packed close together so they didn't make a sound when the pony trotted. The third pouch held medical supplies; a pair of syringes containing a powerful pain killer, bandages and short book on medicinal herbs in case of emergency. The fourth and final held a set of trap disarming tools and lock picks. A second, stronger gust of wind hit the assassin, knocking off the hood though, he did nothing to fix it.

He had a menacingly sharp unicorn horn atop his head that ebbed with magic, dark magic that only somepony of his profession would ever take the time to learn and master, a horn that cast a depressing, dull grey glow whenever he sparked his magic to life. The mane on his head was of a somewhat strange colour, its deep and endless black neither shimmering nor reflecting any type of light, instead drinking in the light around him, matching its colour to the shadows around him, a useful feature for a pony in such a profession. The mane was not particularly well kept, simply doing as it pleased, which normally consisted of matching the flow of the wind and reacting accordingly to weather, and stretched far down his neck to his back, uncut or even washed, the fringe going slightly over his eyes, in its unkempt and windswept appearance. His tail followed suit, matching the manes colour and fashion, draping down his hind legs, though not reaching the ground.

The face and features of the pony were not altogether outstanding, nor different, not a handsome stallion by any means seeing as a life time of fighting and espionage took its toll on one's complexion. A face of stubborn wrinkles on the brow, along the jaw bones, at the corners of the eye and around the maw would meet anypony to gaze upon this stallion's face, years of expression and heavy thought bringing out his age prematurely. But it was the deep, ugly, disfiguring scar that ran from above the left eye, down the muzzle, cutting the across corners of the mouth and over the chin that would hold their interest, if their disgust.

The eyes, however, were of a completely different story. They never seemed to open completely, always slightly closed as if analyzing something or simply glaring down the world. The blood red irises soaked in every detail, an ever observant pony who prided himself on his fine eyesight. Then there was the eye's...other feature, his way of reading into ponies, of knowing them. It was a tool he'd used and perfected over his life, though he'd never taken the time to explore its routs.

A new gust of wind, slightly stronger than the last, blew through the forest, dancing among the trees, causing their branches to sway as if waving at its passing. Said wind flowed swiftly past the assassin, and the cape he wore blew up around him. The fluttering of the cape revealed the build of an athlete, the kind of physique that other unicorns would simply never bothered with as they spent time with their spells and mind's, rather than their bodies. The killer's frame held the muscles of somepony who clearly valued movement speed over brute force and strength however, the dark stallion far from a simple brute. He left that to the earth ponies. Instead he had the muscle mass of a lean but strong pony, what could perhaps be described as the ground equivalent of the Wonderbolts' hard, defined muscles of swiftness and agility. He was slightly taller than the average pony, but without much muscle he possessed a strange stature of height without the bulk to match. It made him seem disarmingly lean, to his great satisfaction.

The wind had also revealed the stallion's cutie mark, his soul revealed to all who would look upon it. An ouroboros, a red scaled dragon, its legs and wings folded against its thin body, the creature's lean muzzle consuming its long tail as a silver, single bladed dagger stabbed through the loop the dragon made. Infinity with a weapon to its throat, the most accurate visual representation of the soul next to a tool made for ending them. The assassin felt it fitting, if nothing else.

The wind to reveal to pony had also revealed the sky to the assassin, and having figured out his position in the Everfree, the lone stallion fixed his hood and prepared to leap from his boulder and back to the ground, but his eye caught something he hadn't noticed before. The dark stallion looked up past the stars to the moon and grinned.

'Can't be a coincidence, surely' was the only thing to cross his mind as he looked up to the moon with the red hue, the moon that he was so masterfully named after. The moon that heralded the harvest with its most common and greatly accepted name, the Harvest Moon, which was otherwise known as the Hunter's Moon. That had been appropriately nicknamed the Blood Moon. The name of the stallion that stood below it, the killer who could not be seen, caught or killed. The name of the assassin that was now, once again, trotting through the Everfree forest like he was taking a slow, relaxing stroll around a park, on his way to his next contract.

Not the best welcome...

Chapter three: Not the best welcome

The assassin continued his trot through the Everfree forest with the same indifferent attitude, the experienced fighter well in the knowledge that he had faced larger threats over his time. He found his thoughts drifting towards what he was planning to do when this contract was completed, it was a well-established fact that 'the Hunter' (a name he'd been given by a friend without a particularly creative sense of humor) had been plying his trade, for a very long while now and had been considering retirement for some time now. He was still in conflict about it.

"It's been a lucrative few years" the stallion muttered to himself "but I can't escape the feeling of being slightly jaded now" he continued, his thoughts causing him to frown to himself below his hood. It was another well-established fact that most assassins did not live to see the age of thirty, while the assassin under the moon had either been training to do or doing his job for most of his life. It was not that he was losing faith in his skills (they would be the last thing he lost faith in) but that he was noticing a decline in challenging contracts. Challenge being his sole motivation, as he knew he had enough bits stashed away to live a life of luxury in Canterlot for as long as he cared, he felt that if he were not enjoying his work, why continue it? There were of course those who argued against this way of thinking, claiming that 'once in this business, you're in it to the end' but the assassin couldn't make sense of that.

"I'm an infamous and feared assassin" he had told an old associate of similar occupation "why would anypony want to disturb me?" A fair argument in his mind, but it seemed he was the only one to think that way. That was more or less what fuelled him now, his irrational need to prove his peers wrong, show them he could settle down and have a peaceful life.

Snapped from his thoughts by the sudden light up ahead, he remembered why he was here. The break in the darkness was down to a clearing up ahead, the beams of light cutting through the darkness like a blade through the damned.

'This is my destination; this is the beginning of the end.' The last contract he was preform lay before him, the assassin knew, but he felt no regret towards his decision. To sever all ties to former contacts, to burn down the small hut in the wilderness that had served as his base of operations for so long. He felt no twinge of remorse for those he had killed, and did not second guess himself for killing them, feeling no hint of regret. He did not look back at the contracts he had spent months finishing, because of a roaring pride that told him to finish a job, nor at those he had let live because he'd decided they needn't die.

He'd had a prosperous and long career and did not seek redemption for one of his actions, nor would he exchange one minuet for another. He had enjoyed his life but it was time for that chapter to come to a close.

'After one last kill' he thought with a small grin forming across he features.

Never one to jump into a situation, however, he took a second to regard what exactly he was about to trot into, now that he had a closer vantage point. He got what he was expecting. A Lone pony, a Pegasus mare, stood in the clearing, shivering from cold or fear, perhaps both. She wore a saddle-bag and looked anxious to leave, so the assassin approached. He kept to the shadows for a second to get a better look at the mare; pretty, demure, young. Expendable, and the last link in an almost impossible to follow chain.

He stepped from the shadows in front of the mare as to not scare her, little good it did as she squealed like a filly. They stood there for a few moments, the assassin with an air of calm and passiveness, his head cocked at her, while the mare took deep breaths to try and calm herself. As few moments passed by, the assassin got a decent look at the mare; she had a golden coat, a silver fashionably kept mane and tail and a cutie mark depicting a clip-board with a quill making scratches over it.

'Secretary' the assassin thought with hint of nostalgia as he remembered a contract involving the hit, his bodyguard and a secretary, the latter of which turning out to be the bodyguard hidden beneath a nice smile and air-head persona. She'd been a worth foe. The assassin was brought from his memories when the mare gave an uncomfortable shuffle of her hooves, breaking the silence.

"I trust you know who I am" the assassin said. Like many of his ilk, the assassin had a very deep, dark and intimidating voice, although it was more or less an expected trait among assassins, given that intimidation was always their first weapon to be drawn. Blood Moon, however, was a different story. His voice carried with it a strange sense of foreboding, and a certain malice that was matched by few others, coupled by a deep stare that always made the target feel uneasy. He often made an impression that, unlike other assassins, did not just make them scared, but made them fear the assassin's lingering presence in their mind.

"I-I-I do," the now terrified mare responded "I-I've been instructed to give you this" she continued as she trotted carefully over, as though the stallion before her would strike her down at the slightest move out of place, and placed down a brown envelope and pouch half way between them, likely because she was afraid to come closer. "The file contains all the information you need, and the pouch has five-hundred bits in it for expenses" the mare explained after backing up and regaining her composure. As she spoke, the assassin had lifted the file and purse towards him with his magic, testing the weight of the bits in his hoof.

'Four-hundred' he mentally corrected from the weight, but otherwise made no reaction to the things he'd been given, besides slipping the file between his belt and body and tying the pouch to the same piece of leather. Without another word he turned and left, hearing the mare giving a small insulted 'humph' before giving flight away from the clearing. 'Damned Pegasi' the disgruntled unicorn thought as he began the trot away.

He had, however, been glad that the meeting had not gone on too long; he had the ability to be patient of course, but there was something about standing around waiting for somepony who wanted somepony dead, but wasn't willing to do it himself. Call it paranoid, or simple boredom. He knew the journey back to civilization would be long, maybe too long at a trot, the problem being that he didn't know this forest too well at all, given its constant shifting and changes, so a gallop, annoyingly, was out of the question, which would have cut the four hour journey in half. In the end, he settled for the longer yet more cautious pace of a trot, deciding to increase pace to a canter once the path cleared. An uneventful trip through the Everfree forest, however, was not regularity and not forty-five minutes into the forest he found something to hold up his progress.

'Manticors, Celestia damned manticors.' Said creature was on the path he had taken into the forest, most likely trying to follow the scent of the assassin, an easy lunch of a pony in the monster's mind. The assassin dropped down, lowering his body to a smaller target and difficult to spot blob of darkness amidst a generally dark area, effectively making him invisible to the lion bodied, scorpion tailed and dragon winged beast.

The assassin moved slowly, taking his time, like he had been taught so long ago, keeping to the deep shadows, letting them add to the layers that shielded him from the hunting predator. Luck, it seems, is a vicious and unfriendly mistress however, as the manticor found sudden intensive to look up, look straight up at Blood moon. One angry, hate filled and extremely hungry roar later, the assassin had a one and a half tonne mountain of a creature charging him at speeds that would impress a Pegasus and was snapping those jaws like it hadn't eaten in weeks.

'Probably hasn't' the assassin concluded, judging by the fact that it seemed thin for its size, was acting clumsily in its advance and its maw was dripping droll like a waterfall. The manticor did not meet its target, however, as it found itself chomping on nothing but air and the prey it had been hoping to devour had disappeared. All the while it was processing this, the assassin looked down at it from the tree he had leaded up to, standing on the branch he had chosen to observe his attacker from. The manticor had large muscles over its body, dirt on its yellow fur, a blood stained muzzle and claws that looked like they had a lot of experience rending ponies, critters and other manticors alike, limb from limb. The thing that stood out however was its sheer size, a good twelve feet tall, and five foot wide, the manticor was most defiantly something that was used to killing.' Another killer then, well that's something we have in common then' the assassin thought as he drew his sword with a near silent scraping of metal on leather. The manticor, it seems, heard this.

The manticor looked up, gave a deafening roar and leapt up to the killer. Blood Moon dropped, going against the normal 'evade' instinct that the manticor was likely used to. As he dropped, and got close to his opponent, he performed a mid-air buck. slamming his rear hooves into the manticor's face and adding to the force as he landed on said face. The manticor wailed as it dropped to the ground with an audible thud, but soon raised itself as it growled through its bloody mouth.

"Come on, let's see what you've got" the killer taunted at the still growling manticor. The Lion/dragon/scorpion lunged at the darkly clad pony. Darting forwards, the killer followed suit and jumped, throwing himself up and over the manticor before landing on the manticor's back as it flailed and roared, trying to dislodge the assassin with his sword, held in a magical grip, aimed at its neck attempted to end this fight with blood. The assassin heard the deep swoosh as its tail slashed at Blood moon, twisting his sword in defence he got a push on his guard in return that quickly gave way as the creature he was riding screamed. The killer looked to his left as the end of a scorpion tail landed on the ground and the manticor continued to scream its displeasure, accompanied with another powerful flail and the assassin jumped from the manticor landing in front of the great beast raising his sword in an offensive manner. The manticor snarled, spat and roared, trying to intimidate the assassin to no avail, Blood Moon, on the other hoof, simply stood there reading the manticor's instinctive reactions towards him and knew it was scared of him.

Fed up with this fight, he flashed his horn in an illumination spell that was bright and fast, blinding the manticor, leaving Blood Moon an opening. Charging forwards he slammed his blade into the manticor's eye; the jelly of the orb gave way, with a sickly squelch, pushing through he felt the resistance of the bone of the eye socket but continued through as the bone was crushed and splintered before giving way to the weapon. Blood spat out of the anticor's eye and it reared in pain, the short sword still lodged in its skull, but the magical connection between the blade and the unicorn's horn was severed. A massive and panicked paw swiped at the un-expecting Blood Moon, who was thrown at a tree and slammed savagely off the bark that cracked and fell down around him. With new valour and anger he leapt up against the same tree, jumping off and ramming his hooves into the hilt of the weapon. There was no scream, no roar and no type of reaction to the blow. The blade slips into the creature's brain with the same sickening and blood curdling resistance as the eye. Just a wet squelch. The manticor flopped to the ground, as dead as it was getting and the assassin trotted up to it, using his right fore-hoof to yank the weapon out of the new orifice and whipping it to the side, removing the blood that stained it, not for the first time.

"Yet another meets his end" the assassin grinned unfazed by the battle he had just won. To him it was just another on the list, no challenge and yet another reason he wished to retire. If one can defeat a manticor and take no pride in the kill because he felt it was an unchallenged match up, what else can you do to give yourself some kind of actual demanding confrontation? In other words, boredom was his greatest enemy, and his current profession was boring him. He didn't allow his thoughts to linger on that though, he had a job to do and to start that, he had to get out of this forest.

The rest of his journey went unhindered, much to the killer's surprise, and a few hours of trotting later he found himself in a field in the middle of nowhere. Having no idea where in Equestria he was, he looked for some kind of land mark but instead came across something much more promising. A pony lying in the grass; a stallion by gender and unicorn by race, the pony had a peacock green coat, and an autumn orange and red mane and tail. As the assassin approached he noticed the cutie mark on his flank; a juvenile looking pig face with speech marks and red exclamation marks around it. The whole image was surrounded by autumn leaves. The assassin looked over to the, what appeared to be a pet, next to the pony and recognized it as a pig. The pig was somewhat small, cute in its own little way and had a- the assassin did a double take, looking closer and hoping he was wrong but it seemed he was right. The small pig had a leg of ham in its mouth. Not one to lose face, the assassin simply said one word, deliberately turning his voice dark and sinister voice.

"Civilization."

The peacock pony seemed to shudder slightly at the sound of his voice and the sleeping pig stirred uncomfortably, but the pony on the grass raised his left hoof and pointed to the horizon behind his head. The assassin followed his gesture and noticed the dim glow, before heading to the source of light he recognized as a settlement of some kind. He knew what he had to do, get there, rest and then start this contract in earnest.

Ponyville was a quiet place, the kind of place that makes you see what's good in the world. Honesty, loyalty, generosity, laughter, kindness, the kind of things that make you feel at peace in the world. The assassin could not help but slightly feel out of place though; the bright colours and happy atmosphere were a direct contrast to the dark and somewhat socially uncaring pony that trotted in at nine in the morning. Blood Moon had taken his time getting here, having found the peacock pony at midnight after his almost day long trek through the Everfree forest. The large abundance of friendly ponies here gave the killer a strange opinion about this place. His first thought was that this place was the future location of his home when he retired, hot on its hooves, however, was doubt and paranoia.

'This place is too good to be true, either I've been thrown a bone here or I'm under some kind of hypnotist's spell.' The assassin threw these doubts aside for the time being, and decided to explore the town, more make a mental map while he could.

Getting lost in the town and making note of the land marks in town didn't take too long, as Ponyville was a small town. The town consisted of very few notable buildings; the town hall was the first thing he found, situated at the south of the town; a library inside in a tree, situated towards the middle of the town; a café/cake shop at the east; an apple farm at the southeast; a small cottage at the southeast that was right next to the Everfree forest, that Blood moon swore would be resident of the bravest pony in Ponyville being not fifty yards from the damned place; and a small school house to the west a little way out of the main part of town. It was one in the afternoon by the time the assassin was satisfied with his mental representation of the small town and found himself meandering around a market place, where numerous stalls were set up; a florist, pots and pans, books, vegetables, pies and apples, amongst other things, were sold here. The marketplace was outlined by more permanent stores; a hardware store, a fan store, a jewellers, a café and what appeared to be a shop selling quills and sofas where dotted around the edges of the bazar of sorts. The assassin was drawn towards a shady spot against the hardware store, passing his eyes over the crowds he tried to take in the pony's faces, but instead heard an ear piercing scream that stooped his heart and halted his thinking.

Unconventional introductions

Chapter four: Unconventional introductions

Ditzy Doo was not, and she knew, the smartest pony in Equestria. In fact many picked on her, ridiculing her for clumsiness that was caused by her eye sight. Yes, her infamous eyes that had pretty much ruined her life…not that it was all that good to begin with. As she flew over Ponyville on her way to deliver more letters and packages to the small town's residents, she started to remember her foalhood as she got completely lost in her own little world (as she did rather regularly) and started to fly pretty much blind. Ditzy Doo reminisced her parents and early life, her mother, White Wing, and her dad, Iron Hooves, had wanted a perfect little filly in their perfect little lives, but were not happy with what they got; the smooth grey fur had been fine to them, following suit of her dad who had a deep black and her mother that had pure white, so having a grey body had been more or less expected; Pegasus had been expected too, both had been of the same race, pure Cloudsdaleian Pegasi who were hard headed and proud; blond mane and tail, once again, had been expected as Whit Wing had had a light blond mane and tail. The eyes, however, had been less than unwelcome on young Ditzy Doo, a strange and almost unheard of condition known as 'fractum oculus nervus' or, simply put, broken eye nerve. Put simply, it put her eyes out of focus in such a way that she could make out the things around her but she couldn't concentrate on anything at all. At first her parents had done all they could to help her.

'Make me normal' she thought, with eyes narrowed in hate. After maybe nine years of surgery, all of it to no avail, her parents finally gave up on her and started on their second foal, just like Ditzy Doo was just something to replace. Ditzy's little sister, a foal she would come to care for as her own, Dinky Hooves was born. With a pale purple coat, a blond mane similar to Ditzy's and a unicorn horn (thanks to White wing's great, second-cousin, once removed). She was born with normal eyes and her parents loved her for it but at the same time Dinky saw a big sister in Ditzy, not a pony with weird eyes, and loved her for it. And that drew nothing but resentment from her mother and father, who had unofficially disowned the unfortunate mare. When Ditzy was eighteen, their parents left them, in the middle of the night with no warning or reason, they just up and left leaving the elder of the siblings to care for the younger on her own. The equivalent of an eighteen year old having a seven-year old daughter, their only source of income was Ditzy's newly acquired job at Cloudsdale's post office, this, however, had its own problems as she had never been all that popular in school thus it carried over to her job; she got just as much abuse in her work as she had done in school. In school she had been picked on by most of the Pegasi that had attended the same place, as well as the young flyers school which had undoubtedly the worst of the two. Large stallions would bully and aggravate her and others for no reason but their own amusement. Fluttershy and Rainbowdash had the same problems but Fluttershy had Rainbowdash to stand up for her and Rainbowdash was Rainbowdash, she didn't need somepony to look out for her. Ditzy was by herself though, because pretty much everypony felt the same way.

'All because of my eyes' she thought with tear welling up at the memory.

That had been the time she had almost spiralled into depression, the mares would point and snigger, the stallions would shout abuse and humiliate her and the foals would follow suit, not talking to her, laughing at her and worst of all it rubbed off onto Dinky Hooves. The foals were incredibly cruel to her, making fun of the young filly continually, playing pranks and what made Ditzy hurt worse was when she was told by Dinky that they were making fun of their parents abandoning them. It cut them both deep. Ditzy was brought from her thoughts when she slammed into the wall of a building that she could have sworn came from nowhere, as she fell to the floor in a glide that made her look like a leaf that had dropped from a tree. Her head, somewhat used to these hard knocks now, was not very clouded, nor was she panicked at the fact that she had just hit a wall for the second time in forty-eight hours. She was, however, panicked by the two stallions that stood either side of her now; a Pegasus that with a dark brown coat and a white mane, his cutie mark depicting an American football; this was a Pegasus bully, now more or less a thug, named Touchdown. The other stallion; an earth pony, slate grey fur and a steel grey mane and his cutie mark showing a bent metal girder; this one was called Iron Arc. The pair's faces turned from confusion to a sinister smile quickly as they registered Ditzy Doo's arrival.

"Well, well, well. Would you look what we got here" Touchdown said in that dark, sorta creepy and strained voice.

"Huh, what a pleasant surprise" Iron Arc added in his deep, slow and dopey voice that was well suited to his uneducated manner. The stallion, who was bested in size only by Big Macintosh, had been hanging around the Pegasus ever since he'd moved to Ponyville (on account of him being bucked out of the young flier's school) and was simple dumb muscle that would follow every order given to him by Touchdown.

"Uh-uh…h-hey guys w-w-what's up" the sacred mare asked as casualty as she could when surrounded by the two ponies that tormented her most.

"Oh, nothing much" the Pegasus replied with a devilish grin "just hangin' around"

"Just hangin' around" the earth pony repeated.

"Oh, OK I'm just g-gonna go then" the mailmare responded, still scared, spreading her wings to fly away from the two stallion bully's. At an unseen command the earth pony grabbed her tail and yanked her down.

"What, you don't wanna hang with us" the stallion spat, full of sudden disgust, at the mare at his hooves. Ditzy looked up at him; something was wrong with him, he seemed to be shaking a little and his eyes were slightly blood-shot around the edges.

"No, I-it's not that, just that I've got stuff to deliver" she told him trying and failing to get up on her hooves.

"No you don't" Iron Arc laughed ripping off the saddle bag from her side and threw it aside.

"Hey" Ditzy shouted at the removal of her bag, struggling to get free from the grip of Iron Arc. Her efforts were rewarded by Touchdown slapping his right fore-hoof across her face.

"Shadup, you little whorse" Touchdown hissed as he grabbed her mane and hauled her up. Then she noticed something, the stallion was shaky, yes, but that wasn't what got her petrified attention. It was in fact the erect member between his rear legs. She looked up, tears around her eyes, waiting to break free from their reluctant master.

"Consider yourself lucky you little lazy eyed freak. This is the only action somepony like you would-no should ever get" the evil thug taunted the mare. She tensed slightly as she felt the push against her back that could only be Iron's stallionhood pressing against her.

"W-what are you doing" she squeaked.

"I thought I said to be quiet, looks like I'll just have to take things into my own, HOOVES" he laughed as he forced Ditzy's mouth around his member. Iron shoved his own into Ditzy's sex, harshly, prompting a tearful and muffled scream of pain from her as the blood ran down her hind legs. The stallions laughed as they raped, and Ditzy screamed into Touchdown's stallionhood as tears flowed shamelessly down her face.

'This isn't how it's supposed to be, not for my first time' Ditzy thought as she was trusted into from both ends; 'I didn't want my first time to be like this' she mentally cried. Iron Arc began to thrust more wildly, picking her flank up and holding it aloof as he slammed his stallionhood into his victim's dry marehood.

They both continued to defile her; Iron Arc slapped her flank harshly, as Touchdown held both sides of her head as he pumped into her maw harder and faster, all the while coming out with more harsh comments. Iron Arc thrust deeper into her as he held her up. All the while she wept, she cried and cursed; all muffled by Touchdown's cock as he continued to abuse her. Memories of the days she'd been left weeping on the floor after name calling and beatings. She'd take that over this any day.

"Damn, Derpy hooves, you aren't as bad as I thought you'd be" the Pegasus laughed between groans.

'Derpy hooves; I hate that name' she silently cursed. Touchdown had been the first to give her that name, when she had first arrived at the Cloudsdale post office and it seemed to stick, stick so well in fact that some ponies mistake it for her actual name. Her thoughts were interrupted by yet another insult from Touchdown.

"Not bad at all, you could make a living outa this" he told her, his insults causing more tears to escape Ditzy's unfocused eyes. Suddenly, she felt a bulge, an increase of size in her rear end as Iron Arc approached his climax.

'No, not in me, please Celestia, not inside me' she wailed in her mind, with the blind hope they could hear her desperate thoughts. Apparently not, however, as she was thrust into one final time as Iron's seed shot into her, coating her reluctant walls with his vile seamen.

"Open wide" Touchdown strained as he followed suit and ejaculated into her mouth, leaving her gasping for breath.

'Kill me; kill me now' she thought as she lay there panting, sobbing and wishing she'd never born. She did nothing as she lay there, but as Touchdown picked up a price of sharp glass with his hoof she knew what was about to happen, and part of her welcomed it. Another part didn't, another part was not about to let these buckers get away with this or her death, so she screamed; at the top of her lungs she screamed, the kind of scream she hoped everypony would hear and arrive at the scene, arrive and see what they had done to her. She hopes they would at least.

Blood Moon was at a loss; Ponyville was a fairly peaceful place, as far as he could tell. On the surface everything seemed fine, but apparently not everything was as it first appeared as he continued to ponder as to what to do. Nopony else seemed to hear the scream; understandable, there was still a lot of noise coming from the market and the scream had been high-pitched so it wouldn't carry far. With a shrug as he stood, throwing caution to the wind, he decided to investigate, following the sound to an alleyway, what he believed to be its point of origin; and he wasn't all too glad he did.

The alleyway itself was relatively dark, not so much it was hard to see but it put a small shroud over anypony in there making them hard to see from a distance. What was in the alleyway, however, was what truly enraged him.

"What is this" he demanded in a voice that would give Celestia herself nightmares. Two stallions turned to face him, shocked and panicked as though caught in the act; one was a Pegasus, the other an earth pony, but the red mist had defended over the assassin's eyes and he was willing to make no more of the pair out. What did get his attention, however, was the mare on the ground, shaking, scared and…the assassin knew what they had done, and what they were about to do; he wasn't about to let them get away with it.

"And just, who are you" the Pegasus barked at him trying to be threatening. The assassin wasn't hearing it though; he cracked his neck left and right, audible crunches being made because of it, and advanced. Blind rage was not the best battle plan in usual circumstances, but the assassin didn't deal in 'usual circumstances.' He dealt in death.

Half way to the two ponies, his horn flashed and he was suddenly before the rapist. The flash the spell produced had the stallion blinded for a second, and when the white bombs were done detonating, he was met with Blood Moon's skull in his muzzle; the crack was dull and sickening, but not as much as what happened next; the dark stallion spun around and past the Pegasus and grabbed him around the neck with his fore-hooves, slamming his weak frame into the larger earth pony's face cracking the winged pony's skull and no small amount of the earth's teeth, but he wasn't done with that: rage and adrenalin fuelled muscles lifted the Pegasus over his head as he stood on his hind-legs before he brought his spine down on a trash-can on its side. With the Pegasus temporally done with, the assassin turned to the earth. The bigger stallion saw his size and muscle as an advantage, thus put no thought behind his attack; Arc threw a clumsy strike with his right fore-hoof; the assassin's own hoof shot up and caught the earth's out of the air, pulling back and twisting him to the ground and curb-stomping his head.

The other stallion had gotten up, holding his back, and went to spread his wing; with a sharp hiss of pain, he looked back to find a pair of mangled wings: Blood Moon had broken the Pegasus's bones when he'd slammed him down on the trash-can. The Hunter looked over at the brown furred pony and quickly threw a hoof in his face; Blood Moon wasn't above kicking somepony while they were down, nor was he above finishing those who were broken and weak. The assassin felt the bones below his hoof give way, and his ears were met with the stallion screaming in pain as he broke his cheek bone.

The killer then looked at the victim of this vile act, and found a grey Pegasus mare shivering in a ball of to the side of the ally. Blood Moon bent down to the mare, tried to talk to her, but heavy pain on the assassin's back and the sudden ability to fly told him that he had just been bucked in the back by the earth pony. The dark stallion landed gracefully on his hooves in the street, causing a few mares and stallions to gasp at his sudden appearance as the two attackers followed him out. The assassin wasted no time getting the show back on the road; as he darted forwards, he dived, slid between the confused earth pony's legs while gripping his tail as he rose to his hooves. Blood Moon yanked, pulling the pony off his hooves, and heaved, throwing him over his head. The large pony, used to being the strongest guy in the room, was more than taken by surprise by the assassin's raw strength, not to mention his ability to use it, as he landed on his thick skull.

There was a flash of black lightning and suddenly the dark stallion was before the other attacker; there were four more flashes of darkness: one broke his nose, the next further crack his skull, the third slammed into his chest and the last spun around the assassin as his roundhouse struck the Pegasus across the temple. Confused and in pain, the Pegasus could do nothing as the assassin leapt into the air, his fore-hooves slapping into the winged pony's ears as he rose, and found the airborne unicorn's hind legs rocketing into his solar plexus, Blood Moon flipping gracefully back to his hooves.

Touchdown shot back like he'd been fired from a cannon, his back meeting the ground and flipping him head over hooves, his back digging through the ground and leaving a shallow ditch.

There was now a small circle of ponies surrounding the fight, some were confused, others enraged, at the lone unicorn fighting off the two other ponies, for better or for worse the killer did not know. Standing up again on shaky legs, the Pegasus called into the crowd; not a second later did three other stallions join the fray. All three of them were earth ponies, and all three looked like they did nothing but go to the gym a lot. The assassin was unimpressed.

The first one made his move, a red-coated moron that thought throwing a strike at the assassin from the front was a good idea; the Hunter dodged under it, slapped his supporting for-hoof out from under him and helped him on his way down by taking his head and slamming it into the ground. A second thug, a metallic bronze pony, attacked next with the big earth pony from before. The bronze pony lunged for him as the big stallion tried for another buck; the assassin turned his body towards the lunging earth, wrapping his left fore-hoof about his throat and using his momentum against him by slamming his head into the buck sent by the other earth. The dark stallion dealt with the other earth pony by taking the beaten, not to mention broken, earth by his hind-legs and swinging him around until limp body met skull once more.

Blood Moon was getting tired of this. When the third pony to have joined charged him, Blood Moon was ready; the movement was fast, graceful, but its style betrayed the brutality; he grabbed the dark orange pony's chin and mane harshly, let him pass by before yanking him back, letting him land on his back, and twisted savagely. An audible crack rang through the now silent crowd and fighters, signified the pony's death as the vertebrae severed the spinal cord and the pony fell limp to the ground as dead as a doornail. Time slowed down for the residents of Ponyville, the ponies that surrounded the five ponies and cadaver watching as he fell to the ground, his lifeless eyes watching as the ponies gasped in horror. He hit the floor and his head bounced once, the dull 'thud' resonating over everypony and thing.

'Maybe coffin nail would be more accurate' was the dark stallion's only thought as he dropped the mangled corpse to the ground whilst he made a mental note to look that up later. Blood Moon looked around himself, finding fear mixed with rage and fear mixed with even more fear, coming from his foes and audience respectively. He wondered what he'd said.

"One down" he muttered with a shrug as he eyed the rest of his opponents, some of which were obviously regretting their decision to fight him, now they knew he would kill them without a second thought. The red and bronze ponies hesitantly moved together; the bronze from the front and the red from the back, intent on surrounding him. Blood Moon responded by whipping his sword out and taking the advancing bronze pony's head off in a single movement. A satisfying spurt of blood followed the decapitation, tinting the pony's bronze coat a rustic, copper-red. Turning to face the other, the assassin was met with a truly horrified face; one that wanted to get away but knew that it wouldn't, one that wanted to survive but knew it wouldn't. The true face of fear: fruitless desperation. The assassin hit the red pony in the centre of his throat with the hilt of his weapon, batted him across the temple, in the snout and jaw, all in a terrifying grace and speed, before he watched the stallion choke for a while. His eerily fascinated gaze put more fear into the stallion than anything he'd ever had to witness, to such an extent that the simple act of Blood Moon cocking his head made him flinch. The assassin raised his blade before stabbing him slowly through the chest, puncturing the left lung and heart in one fatal and needlessly slow thrust. The slow entrance of the weapon had the thug gurgling on his blood quickly, screaming in pain soon after and dead before long. Ripping the blade out, a second fountain of blood erupted like a volcano of gore from the deceased pony. Blood Moon wasn't bothering with speed anymore, fear had gripped the inexperienced fighters, paralyzing them to the spot as the watched him with wide and fearful eyes. The fear went beyond the assassin's foes. Those around him had all met similar reaction as the thugs, none of them capable of going for one of the guards around Ponyville.

Blood Moon slowly turned his enraged but eternally terrifying gaze over to the big stallion; he let his eyes bore into him before he trotted slowly over to him, grinding his blade into the ground as he approached. The big earth looked down at the dark stallion finding his smaller form looking up. It would confuse Iron Arc for as long as he would live, which wouldn't be very long, as to why this stallion, this puny, small stallion, had him so scared. Iron opened his maw to speak, but Blood Moon wouldn't let him; he cracked the earth pony's jaw closed with the pommel of his sword, a strike that lifted the stallion off his fore-hooves, before plunging his weapon into his exposed belly. He released the spell holding it and took it by the hoof; the assassin held the stallion up with his left hoof as his right dragged the blade down his stomach. The bladed side of the sword was facing upwards and the assassin was going down; Iron Arc roared in pain as his skin and fur were not sliced, but ripped asunder, the weapon forcing the muscle and fat apart as the tip sliced through the lungs, stomach, liver and finally the intestines. Holding it there for a second, the killer tore it loose and whipped it left, right, up and down, taking all the earth pony's limbs before he leapt up and let the sword sing; a slash of light cut through the dark as Blood Moon continued to spin, his hind-leg meeting the stallion's head and taking it off, the Hunter landing with his usual grace. He looked up at the close to toppling corpse, trotted closer to it, raised his hoof and gently nudged it. The cadaver fell the ground with another dull 'thud'. The assassin then slowly, creepily and downright angrily turned his attention to the Pegasus. Memories of how he had found the grey mare came back, and his anger followed suit.

"I'll ask you again; what. Was. That?" The assassin's eyes locked onto the trembling stallion before him, blocking out the crowd of equally terrified ponies that surrounded them. Blood Moon didn't wait long for an answer; instead he trotted up to him his sword levitating by his side as he moved towards a stallion who liked to think he was in control, think he was tough, think he was above everypony else. The kind of pony Blood Moon hated. The assassin's hoof slammed into his victim's jaw, enough strength behind it to spin the Pegasus on his hooves, revealing his back to him. Grabbing the stallion from behind, his right leg going under the stallions own and his left yanking his mane back and exposing his jugular to the weapon now pushed against his neck, he was about to finish this and fade into the gathering shadows behind him, before a lone voice in the crowd called out:

"STOP!" The assassin looked over the crowd, looking for the one that had the guts to stop an obviously trained killer in the middle of the act. His eyes settled on a group of six mares; the one who appeared to have called out to him was the one in the centre of the group, a magenta mare with a deep purple mane and tail with a lighter shade of the same colour and hot pink stripes running through. Her eyes were also purple and practically burst with intelligence; that much was apparent at this range, though tears also streamed down her face, which expressed confusion and fear, as she looked at him.

"Why" the assassin asked simply.

"Because-because nopony deserves to be killed" she yelled in response, like it was the most obvious thing in Equestria. The assassin cocked his head to the right slightly.

"Really? Then would you care to ask him what he was doing in that alleyway over there" Blood Moon responded nodding his head in the direction of the place he found the grey mare. The stallion in his grip swallowed.

"I-it doesn't matter what he was doing, y-y-y-you can't kill him" the mare argued.

"I think it does matter" the assassin responded calmly "ask her" he nodded at the grey mare he had found in the alley, who was now in the crowd trying to go unnoticed but the assassin had spotted the…stains on her "ask her what they did, what caused me to slaughter them like the dogs they are." The purple mare turned her gaze to the grey Pegasus.

"What's Derpy got to do with this" a voice in the crowd asked. The assassin took no notice as he looked at the other ponies around the purple unicorn.

To her immediate right was an orange earth pony, her mane blond and put in a simple knot at the end, her tail following suit, her eye, showing honesty and hard labour with small tears escaping, were a light shade of green. This mare also wore a Stetson cowpony hat that she held to her chest. To the unicorn's far right was a Pegasus, of cyan blue fur and a rainbow coloured mane and tail, flew a meter of the ground, held up by her powerful looking wings, her light purple eyes holding back tears. The earth pony and Pegasus had the same expressions; confusion, fear and hate. These two were more protective than most of the other ponies in the group. To the immediate left of the purple unicorn, a second unicorn stood, this one was pure white and had a highly styled purple mane and tail, her eyes, a sparkling blue, housed generosity and an appreciation for detail. Next to the white unicorn two mares sat; the first had pink fur, mane and tailed, both of which were completely straight and slightly darker than her fur, her eyes a pleasant shade of sky blue had tear's shooting out and arching down in a spectacular rainbow shaped curve. The pony she comforted was not looking at him instead weeping into the chest of the pink one, but from what the assassin could tell she had a light pink mane and butter yellow fur.

"Well Derpy, did they do anything to you." The mare that Blood Moon now recognised as 'Derpy' looked at him in panic; it was obvious that she didn't want to say anything about what happened in the alleyway, but the assassin had just killed four ponies in broad daylight and this was the only way he could defend himself.

"Tell them mare, this is on nopony's head but theirs" the assassin called over, trying to sooth her. Not an easy task when you're holding a struggling stallion as a hostage.

"Th-they did…things to me" she responded in little more than a whisper.

"What 'things' did they do" the unicorn replied, not as shaky as before but still with tears rolling down her face. The assassin could tell by her tone of voice, body language and the way she was glancing at his hostage that she was begging to doubt what she had thought before, but was still unwilling to be swayed.

"Things I'd rather not repeat" Derpy replied. She was clearly traumatized by what had happened and Blood Moon felt for her.

"Now jus' wait a minute, sugarcube are ya'll sayin' that ya" she clears her throat nervously "did the 'hoedown' in that there alleyway" she asks, a little unbelieving. The assassin noticed the orange pony's heavy southern drawl.

"YES, THEY RAPED AND ABUSED ME LIKE SOME PIECE OF MEAT, THEN TRIED TO KILL ME!" The mare was clearly getting emotional, her thoughts set in a whirlwind of anger, panic and hatred as she gulped down air and choked back the tears threatening to spill down her face. Blood Moon could only pity her. Everypony in the crowd gasped at her revelation, almost perfectly in unison, while the purple mare looked back at the assassin and his hostage.

"So you killed them defending her... that was-no, no you should have let the guards deal with it" she told him defiantly, shaking her head. Blood Moon got a little irate at the mention of guards. He always got a little irate at the mention guards.

"And what would happen? They would be detained and put on trial, yes. There they would be charged with the rape and murder of a certain grey Pegasus, in which they would have plenty of evidence and a witness report supplied by myself. Now, it's very likely that they would be found guilty of this crime, tell me Miss, what is the punishment for rape and murder" the assassin asked with a knowing smile on his face that was mostly covered by his hood.

"They would be executed" the mare replied, hanging her head in defeat "but what gives you the right to take justice into your own hooves" she shot at him. The assassin gave a deep, slow laugh in return.

"You want justice mare?" She stood a little straighter.

"Everypony deserves justice" she told him, somewhat nobly. The assassin shrugged.

"Very well then" he said releasing the stallion, letting him drop to the floor "justice for all" he told her before he stabbed his blade through the stallion's head, cracking easily through the cranium, piecing the brain, stabbing into the lower jaw and out the other end. A monumental rush of blood shot out of both freshly made wounds as the assassin ripped the sword out in a brutal fashion, the arc of the weapon making a curve of blood to fly into the air and splattered to the ground in front of him, while the fountain of vital fluids continued to erupt skywards. Several ponies gasped once more and judging by the 'thuds' heard a bunch more had fainted. The magenta mare had fresh tears streaming down her face and in much greater abundance.

"How-how could you" she sniffled. Staring her down, the assassin started fade into darkness as his horn began to glow as he became part of the shadows around him that had been cast by Celestia's sun.

"Simple, by doing what's right" he replied as he vanished from sight.

Darkened harmony

Chapter five: Darkened harmony

Twilight Sparkle was at a loss. This stallion, who was likely relatively new as she knew pretty much everypony in Ponyville, had just trotted in and-and... She didn't want to come to terms with it, didn't want to have to accept what she had just witnessed but she knew it was real, that there was no denying that five stallions had just been murdered in front of her and they were still lying there. Unmoving, not breathing, there blood on the ground and just... dead.

"He...he slaughtered them" Rainbowdash said, tears flowing down her face, which was a rare sight indeed. Twilight just nodded, unable to take her eyes off the scene in front of her... right when she thought she was getting through to him he-he... The last few moments of his presence played through her mind; he dropped stallion down like he was going to spare him, then he did...what he did. The thing she couldn't understand was why he did it. She looked over at Derpy Hooves and watched her intently, trying to read her expression but couldn't get anything from it, she just seemed blank (except for those wacked out eyes). She trotted over to her.

"Derpy ar-"

"Ditzy."

"What?"

"My name is Ditzy Doo not Derpy Hooves" the grey Pegasus told the purple unicorn; she had none of her cute clumsiness in her voice, or about her at all.

"Oh, ok. I'm sorry, but that's not why I'm here" Twilight responded, genuinely surprised; she had always thought her name had been Derpy Hooves, considering that was what pretty much everypony in Ponyville called her.

"I know" she responded in a deadpan tone, her mane casting a shadow over her eyes "and before you ask, yes what I said happened, happened" she told the unicorn. Twilight cast her gaze down, not finding the strength to look at the grey Pegasus.

"I'm-I'm sorry but I have to ask" she took a steadying breath "do you know that stallion?" Twilight had to know who that pony was, had to find out what such a murderous stallion was doing out in Ponyville. Better yet, what he was doing outside the Canterlot prisons.

"I don't, but I'm going to find him and thank him."

"Thank-thank him, what do you mean by that."

"I mean what I say Twilight; that stallion, who you probably call murderer, I call saviour. I know you don't what to admit it but he helped me when I was in trouble."

"I don't have a problem with him helping you. What I do have a problem with is how he did it, killing those stallions was not the way to go about it" Twilight argued, not wanting to admit that the stallion was in the right at all.

"What would you have done" Ditzy snapped, looking Twilight directly in the eye, so she could see the tears threatening to spill, though they weren't there because of pity or remorse to the now dead, but the fact that she was stood in the middle of a group of ponies that knew she had just been…used "love and tolerate them for what they did to me" the grey Pegasus spat before she flew off.

"Ditzy please, wait!" Too late, the Pegasus flew had already left.

"The poor dear, I-I take it that it's true, what she said" Rarity asked from besides Twilight, who sighed and hung her head in defeat.

"She had no reason to lie, besides didn't you see her…flank" the unicorn replied, giving a small shudder as she remembered the stains on her rear end and tail.

"So, um, what are ya'll gonna do, y' know, with the bodies" Applejack asked, just a little scared of the corpses and blood on the ground.

"I don't know, we'll let the guards deal with it but we have to find out what happened to that stallion" Twilight announced.

"WHAT" Rarity exclaimed, losing her ladylike mannerism for a second.

"Hold up there sugarcube, why are we goin' after 'im? Didn't ya'll just say to let the guards handle it" Applejack asked with as much panic in her voice as Rarity.

"I really hope I heard wrong, 'cause I think I just heard you talkin' about trying to find that-that assassin" Rainbowdash added, butting into the conversation.

"Yes, Rainbowdash you did, because that's what we're going to do" Twilight told her, new vigour in her voice.

"Well Twilight, Applejack's question still stands. Why not let the guards deal with this" Rarity pressed.

"I-I don't know why I just...just don't feel right letting them deal with this." Twilight wasn't lying, she felt a strange presence about the stallion, something she couldn't put her hoof on but one thing was for sure it definitely troubled her. "Besides; together we defeated Nightmare moon, Discord, King Sombra and Queen Chrysalis, what's one stallion with a sword?"

"I'm sorry darling but I just don't think the elements of harmony would work against…that kind of pony, if you can call him that" Rarity told her solemnly.

"She's got a point there, sugarcube; ah don't like that feller one bit, we should leave this to the professionals" Applejack admitted.

"I'm with Rarity on this one Twilight, that guy looks like he's out of even MY league" Rainbowdash agreed, though not sparing them the boast. Twilight couldn't believe what she was hearing; Applejack the pony everypony could always count on and Rainbowdash, whose loyalty to Ponyville is what literally made her who she is.

"So your just gonna trot away from this" she asked unbelieving, her mouth agape "after everything we've all been through your letting a stallion with a creepy voice get to you."

"N-no, nothing like that we just…uhhh" Rainbowdash couldn't finish her sentence and Twilight knew she'd hit a soft spot; Rainbowdash portrayed herself as brave and heroic, she was also the kind to rush headlong into trouble without second thought be it through stubbornness, pride or the need to protect her friends. Twilight didn't want any of her friends to do anything foolish or dangerous but she knew that she couldn't do this without them.

"Ah think what Rainbow's trying to say here, Twilight, is that ya'll shouldn't be takin' all a' Ponyville's problems on yourself, its jus' not necessary to be dealin' with this yourself" Applejack told her in a caring fashion. It was no secret that Applejack was more protective of the group of friends, and that she wasn't about to let Twilight rush off into anything stupid, not without telling her some wise words first anyway. Twilight suddenly noticed something, sat behind three of her best friends; Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sat still weeping. Rarity, Rainbowdash and Applejack followed their friend's gaze and saw the depressing site. After a brief pause, Twilight spoke.

"We've got to give them some kind of closure with this, we can't just let this be their only memories of this" Twilight told them, her voice sad as she looked over at the two ponies. Her friends seemed to agree. Pinkie Pie sat, holding Fluttershy in her fore-hooves cradling the sensitive pony that was crying uncontrollable into her chest; Pinkie's hair had its unnaturally straight look to it that only happened when she was sad or not thinking straight, her eyes had a steady flow of tear flowing from them as they continued to stare at the battlefield in a horrified manner. Fluttershy seemed worst for it; she had seen the bronze stallion's head get take off and would most likely be most affected by this, as she had never been involved in anything violent in her life, nor had she ever been overly fond of blood.

"Y-your right Twi, we can't be letting him get away with this, not afta' what it's done to ah friends" Applejack conceded "but ah gotta know, why won't you let the guards deal with this."

"Well, think about it, he's obviously got combat experience and he's killed before. I get the feeling that guardponys just won't be able to deal with this" Twilight admitted. She always had faith in her big brother's guards but no matter how good they were they didn't stand a chance against what she had just witnessed.

"Alright fair 'nuff" Applejack submitted, relaxing her neck in a defeated fashion "but what a' we gonna do in the mean time?"

"We have to get Fluttershy away from here, get her away from all of this" Pinkie Pie spoke up for the first time in a while, her voice deadpan and as void as emotion as her mane "can we please just go" the pink party pony pleaded in an out of character fashion.

"Yeah, come on girls, let's get out of here" Twilight agreed. If she were honest, she'd say she was feeling about the same as Fluttershy right now but felt she had to stay strong for all their sakes. The purple unicorn looked around, many of the ponies had left either to cry to themselves or fetch one of the few guards that patrolled Ponyville. Some stallions and mares went to the bodies and started to wail louder.

'They must be their parents or something' Twilight concluded as she watched the stallions try to pry away the mares that were hugging the corpses, before three golden armour clad guard ponies arrived at the scene. One of them, a light grey earth pony, immediately threw up when he saw the dead stallions. Twilight pitied him, he looked young and new to the guard profession but she had to look after her friends first, so with Applejack carrying a still crying Fluttershy on her back and Rainbowdash with a wing over Pinkie Pie, whispering something that seemed to be cheering her up, indicated by her small giggles (Twilight had no idea how the rainbow coloured mare managed to do it but it probably had something to do with pranks or cupcakes). The six elements of harmony made their way to Twilight's home. Inwardly Twilight was dreading her return to the golden oaks library, as she knew she would have to explain today's events to Spike and she knew there was no getting out of it, all's he would have to do is look at the tear streaks going down all their faces.

The library seemed eerily quiet as the six mares returned, Twilight leading the way. Pinkie Pie's mane seemed to have regained its 'poof' and she seemed to be able to smile again, albeit a little weakly. Fluttershy, impossibly, also seemed to be doing ok again once they got to the library within the tree. Spike was busy cleaning and Twilight was glad for it; she didn't want to tell him about today until necessary.

"So, we want to track this guy down right" Rainbowdash said as they all sat in a circle in the middle of the library.

"An' jus' how do we go about doin' that? Ya'll saw the way he left, that stallion is as sneaky as a snake in tall grass" Applejack remarked. Twilight Sparkle was looking through a small portion of the library; the segment Twilight was searching was home to dark, thick and heavily bound books, which were obviously about something dark and ominous that gave the purple pony the same sensation as when she had seen and used King Sombra's black magic; an eerie presence at the back of her mind, like there was a shadowy figure just in the shadows and just out of sight. Just like the sensation the memory of the hooded stallion gave her.

"What are you looking for Twilight" Rarity asked from the circle mares as she watched the bookish unicorn levitate books from here and there in the library.

"I'm looking for a book" she replies bluntly.

"Well duuuh, which one?" Rainbowdash flies over to where Twilight was stood, levitating books in front of her, reading the title and throwing them away impatiently.

"It's a book about really old magic, magic that was supposedly banned outside of academic study since just after the banishment of Nightmare moon" Twilight explains as she continues to go through her books, feeling she is getting closer.

"What type a' magic are we talkin' about here Twi, I still don't get what that stallion did when he got away" Rainbow asks, having now flown up to the higher shelves to find something, not having a clue what it was.

"I think it was called…" Twilight paused, hitting her head with her hoof a few times trying to recall something she had glanced over once in her studies "shadow magic, yeah that was it, shadow magic" she tells them looking over books with greater speed, now that she had a better idea what she was looking for.

"Found it" Pinkie Pie cries out from under a small pile of books. Twilight turns her head so quickly she nearly pulls something.

"What" she yells, once more astounded at the party pony's ability to find things "let me see" she says, already lifting the book over to her with her magic.

"Lostnocturnalmagicvolumethreechapterthirteenpageone-thousandandthirty-threetoone-thousandandforty-nine" she told Twilight, who was now flicking through the book, astounded once again at the pink pony's ability to speak so fast, to said page.

"Pinkie Pie, I'm pretty sure I'm going to regret this but, how did you do that" Twilight asks bracing for a massively long-winded answer.

"Oh that, I saw the page as it flew past me when you threw it in to the pile when you were done with it" she told Twilight while wearing an overly large grin. Twilight simply blinked at her before shaking her head a few times to rid herself of the thought

'Just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie' she thought to herself looking back over the book she held, now at the correct page.

"Here it is" she paused as she read a few passages, before her eyes bulged slightly as she got to grips with some of the finer points of the very advanced magic. Her friends noticed the look on her face and looked between each other in worry; they all saw Twilight as the resident expert of magic in Ponyville and to see her apparently impressed, worried or confused was always cause for concern when it came to magic.

"W-what is it Twilight" Rarity asked somewhat timidly, sensing the panic emitting from Twilight.

"I-it's nothing just... this is some pretty advanced stuff" she read a little more of the page before looking up and addressing all of her concerned looking friends, she took a deep breath before continuing.

"It's called 'Umbra Linguam' or shadow language. It involves 'the control of shadows to ones will, in a fashion that uses at set of four simple words, such as: walk, attack, hide, defend, see, hear or learn'" she told the quoting the book directly "I-I've never heard of magic like this" she told them her eyes narrowed in thought.

"Shadow magic? Like King Sombra" Applejack asked rubbing her chin in thought.

"Yes...no…kind of, King Sombra was an exceptionally powerful uhhh" she consults the book, her eyes moving back and forth over the page before looking back up "'shadow speaker' but I don't think he was using the same words as the stallion we're dealing with."

"So this guy can use shadow magic then" Rainbowdash summarized "how does this help us again?"

"Well, did you see the way he escaped, like the shadows latched onto him and he…became them. So now that we know what he can do, we also know what he can't do" she tells them triumphantly.

"Which is" Rainbowdash urges as she leans in.

"Well, the book says that although the magic is powerful and advanced, it does have its disadvantages; the first being that only four spells can be used because only four words can be learned, the power of the spell depends on the ability of the castor, like most other magic, and it has to be directly related to the word. For example; if the pony had the word walk in their…uhhh, the book calls it an 'umbra vocabulary' then they would be able to move as a shadow" Twilight explained as she trotted back and forth "the second weakness is that for the spell to be at full power then there needs to be shadows around the caster, the book says that this can be countered by having 'shadow' in the pony's vocabulary but, obviously, this uses up one of the words available. Normally all of these speakers would have a simple spell that would help them learn that consists of their shadow reaching out a few meters, this helps them practice without using up a word as well as allowing them to make their spells stronger when there not right next to shad-" Twilight's head suddenly snapped up and her gaze met the book for a moment before she lunged at it and tears it open, causing her friends to gasp in a startled fashion, as she read the book, gripping the book violently in her fore-hooves as she looked over the page. When she was done she raised her head, her eyes lingering on the book and her face a strange mix of relief and confusion.

"Wh-what is it Twilight" Fluttershy squeaked from beneath her mane.

"I-it's this thing about the absence of shadow; it also says that the casters shadow must be distinguishable from the shadow their drawing power from."

"Sooo, what does that mean" Rainbowdash inquired.

"Well, the book doesn't go into much detail about it, but from what I can tell it works something like this; if the unicorn casting the spell is covered in shadow, say by the shade of a large building, the spell wouldn't work. The only reason it gives is that the shadows powering it causes it to 'short circuit' due to the amount of power being pumped directly into the spell."

"So…what, that means we have to over load this guy with shadows by fighting him in the shade of Sugarcube Corner" Rainbowdash put together with a slight 'are you kidding me' look on her face.

"No" Twilight said to herself more than to the ponies in audience "but what it does mean is that" she paused as if figuring something out, looking over the results, figuring it out again and checking again to be sure, before looking up at the five mares in realisation "all's we have to do is find him at night, that way he won't be able to use his most powerful available magic" she smiled, now more confident about the inevitable confrontation.

"Now wait ah minute sugarcube, how does that work? When it's night-time, shadows are everywhere, ya'll should know bein' up so late all ah the time" Applejack counters.

"Exactly, if the shadows are everywhere then the stallion's shadows can't be told apart from the other shadows, so he won't be able to cast his spells" Twilight tells Applejack, who shakes her head as though the unicorn is not understanding her.

"Nah, what ah mean is that I've seen many a night when I can my shadow when its cast by the moonlight, don't that mean he can use his magic still" Applejack clarifies. The earth pony knew she was no expert in the art of magic but she knew day and night well enough that she knew how shadows worked at different times of the day. Twilight had opened her mouth and raised her hoof in argument but nothing came out, she looked back at the book in vain to try and get some more answers from it but all's she got was a few users of this type of magic. Twilight frowned in confusion; most spells known to unicorns were created by Starswirl the Bearded or either of the princesses, and were all supposed to capable of being learned by anypony. Having a list, a short list at that, told the unicorn that this was more complicated than she first thought. She noticed that the names had small sketches next to them, when she got to one in particular her eyes widened.

"Uhhh girls, come look at this" she tells her friends as she turns the book to the advancing mares. Twilight sees the recognition in her friend's faces, as well as their reactions; Rainbowdash and Applejack look at each other in confusion, Rarity's face is drawn back from the page in fear, Pinkie Pie's face loses its immense grin as she recognizes the face looking back and Fluttershy nearly faints. The page held an image of a stallion, his hood casting a shadow over most of his features, even in the sketch, but the eyes that peered from beneath the shroud were unmistakeable. Twilight recognized the 'flash sketch' spell; a spell that produced an image of the target in a similar fashion of the camera, the main difference being that the spell came out looking like an actual drawing while the device looked like an exact replica of the desired scene. Spell or technology aside, the image was quickly recognized by the six mares. From the menacing eyes, to the scar on his face it was clear that this was the pony they'd seen earlier today. The five mares looked to the right of the image and found a name, written in sharp and jagged letters that somehow had the ability to be intimidating and scary. Blood Moon.

As he was more than ten-thousand years ago.

Author's Note

Comments are life. Comments are love. Comments are truth.

You get the picture.

I'm glad to see people enjoying The Assassin's Song and I'm equally glad to see those favourites adding to the list. It would be nice to hear you thoughts on my story so far and whether you liked it or not, why/why not, ect.

Either way, thanks for reading this instalment of The Assassin's Song.

Productive faffer out.

The friends we make

Chapter six: The friends we make

Blood Moon galloped. Getting away from the battle had been simple, with the easy use of the Umbra Linguam spell 'hide' he knew what the ponies in the crowd would have seen: the shadows creeping up his person, like a drop of water moving up the leg, becoming a shade of unnaturally dark black; the colour of midnight or the shade of shadow, a colour that was not supposed to be worn by the ponies of Equestria. The spell was similar to the spell 'walk' but where walk was a spell that caused the caster to be able to traverse the environment as their silhouette, one of the few spells that did not need shadows to work effectively as in this particular spell would be cancelled should the caster move into deep shade where their own could not be seen. The hide spell, on the other hoof, was quite the opposite; it allowed the unicorn that used the spell to be able to literally become 'one with the shadows' as they hid and obscured the pony from the view of others and allowed them to move within the gloom. The assassin had used his spell to get away from the mass of ponies, as he had many times before, and then taken to the side streets and back alleys, trying to find a place to rest.

For two hours the stallion had moved, not risking a pause, all the while looking over his shoulder. The assassin had been foolish; he did not regret helping the mare but wished he'd at least been a little more...subtle about it. Public chaos and sending messages were two things he was well versed in, but that had been sloppy: they'd heard his voice, been given good reason to go for the guards and he doubted word would take long to spread. He also wished he knew more about this small town, Ponyville not being a place that assassins roamed to any great degree; he wished he had a better idea of these back streets, wished he had an idea how of many guards patrolled the roads and protected the buildings. The darkly clad pony narrowed his eyes in frustration as he continued to move, now at a canter rather than a gallop, as he knew the streets of a larger town such as Manehatten much more effectively; the assassin knew he would be able to traverse the streets, rooftops and even the insides of some of the buildings with his eyes closed. But this blasted town; he didn't know where to find a simple dark corner or-

The assassin halted his pace and looked slowly to his left with a slightly disgruntled look on his face

'Note to self: hurt pony who felt it a good idea to put this bar in this spot' the killer thought to himself as he looked back at the quiet and removed bar that looked at him. Blood Moon knew that if buildings were ponies then this one would be leaning back with a smug look on its face. The small looking tavern was honest and quaint, the walls made up of light brown planks, the windows having brick around them while the roof was made of thatching. The pub was called 'The hoof and anvil' the bar's sign being an iron hoof suspended in a 'U' shape with the stereotypical anvil silhouette held inside it.

Trotting through the door of iron, the assassin looked around and found that the inside was much the same as the outside; the same wooden planks that made up the walls made up the floors, the bar was a deep brown oak, dulled silver nozzle scattered along the length of it and bar stools up against it. The place did have a strange feel to it however; for the most part it was your average, friendly boozer, with pleasant looking ponies (who seemed oblivious to the events of the market place) sat around drinking cider and wine. These ponies held the middle of the bar, wooden tables with chairs or piles of hay around them; the walls, red cushion sofas that were slightly battered and un-kept that had long tables between them in a booth like style; and the bar, simple iron stools that leaned against the place the drinks were distributed. The corners, however, belonged to the shadier of the patrons and this is where Blood Moon sat, a strong, spicy and hard cider in a metal tankard in his hoof as he looked around the pub, getting to know the patrons. The corners were infinitely more interesting, the place that Blood Moon himself sat being a dark and slightly damp spot where little light would reach, the assassin blending into the background seamlessly but then, if he could not remain unnoticed in a dark corner, he had been in the wrong job throughout most of his life. The other three corners belonged to ponies of similar dubious qualities; in the corner across the room, an orange fur and black mane and tailed stallion sat, eying the crowd.

'Some kind of thug' the assassin concluded from the broken snout and mean look on his face. The corner to his left held a group of ponies; a pair of stallions, one of dirty cream fur and sky blue mane and tail, the other of brown and slightly dirty fur and an equally dirty bronze mane and tail. The others around that table were mares; around four of them, all of which seemed to be the marefriends of these 'gangsters' but looked a little uncomfortable. The assassin grew less interested with this group; they seemed to be discussing how to move bootleg cider out of Baltimare, something the assassin felt fruitless given the lack of profit to be made with such an enterprise. Fire berries, an illegal import from the Griffon kingdom, was where the money was. The dark stallion looked over the rest of the bar until his eyes found something that caught his attention. At the corner to his left, the corner closest to the bar, a stallion with dark yellow, mustard if you will, fur sat, a black beanie on his head and a black mane peeking out the back in a short ponytail. This stallion had an eye patch on his left eye and three scars going along his features, going from his left ear, across his left eye (no doubt that was what caused him to lose it) and slashing over his mouth. His remaining eye had the colour of smoke about it, a very deep grey that was capable of matching Blood Moon's eye for intimidation and its deep stare. The stallion had a pair of powerful wings on his back, the same colour as his body; they seem to be damaged slightly, a few missing feathers here and there but remained looking strong. The stallion's cutie mark was a scimitar's silhouette against a setting sun. The same weapon was strapped to his back. The whole image; weapon, scars, muscled physic, hard eye and cutie mark said one thing to the assassin. Mercenary. The soldier of fortune looked over the bar, much the same way the assassin had done, and saw the killer looking at him. The merc spotted a fellow fighter and nodded, in doing so giving the assassin a brief look into his eye; bloodshed, loss, a burnt out fire for vengeance and loyalty spoke to the assassin and he put the picture together:

'His family was killed when he was on duty in the equestrian army, when he got back he was at a loss in the world and went back to the forces, there his anger took over and he was dishonourably discharged before he became a mercenary' the assassin figured as he continued to gaze at the merc. He knew this stallion had blood on his hooves but he seemed descent, didn't kill anypony he wasn't ordered to kill and no mares or foals so he didn't want to kill him despite him not having a very well-looked upon form of work. The ex-soldier stood and trotted for the exit. Meanwhile the thug in the corner, who had been apparently watching him, stood and intercepted him.

"Problem, colt" the older stallion asked the thug.

"Just one; you see a few friends of mine have just been cut down by some new stallion earlier today, so I figure: well I ain't seen this guy before and he's got a sword, maybe he know something about it. Well how 'bout it gramps, got something to tell me" the thug asks the old mercenary, obviously accusing the stallion for the death of the ponies that had Blood Moon most likely just killed. He doesn't get an answer from the merc, just one of Blood Moon's throwing knifes in his left fore-leg. The assassin wasn't about to let something he did come off on another pony, experienced fighter or not, it just wouldn't sit right in his stomach. Nor his pride. Everypony in the bar looks over at the new assailant with mixed expressions, none of which are taken in by the stallion stood in a hood and cloak with a blade in his magical grip.

"I believe you're looking for me" Blood Moon calls over, his voice sending shivers down the spine of everypony but himself and the mustard merc. The stallion shifts a little.

"What do you mean, I'm looking for you" the thug replies as he pulls the blade out of his leg with his right fore-hoof.

"I think, son, he means he is the one that killed your little friends" the merc explains in his strained voice "not myself." The stallion looked between the older and younger killers before realising he was out matched, dropping the knife to the ground as he gallops out of the bar. Both armed stallions look at each other in understanding and quickly follow suit.

"You sure that was a good idea, colt" the merc asks the assassin as they trot quickly away from the bar.

"Not really, but I get the feeling he was the kind of pony to get his flank handed to him a lot, so the way I figure it, nopony will know the difference" the assassin replies glancing, over his shoulder. The merc grunts at the comment.

"Kid, do I know you" the merc asks as they turn into and stop in a secluded alleyway, to talk more freely.

"Depends, do I know you" Blood Moon replies, lowering his head so the hood obscures more of his face. The merc grunts.

"I'm called Sand Stalker, blade for hire extraordinaire; I deal in open combat, espionage and aerial combat, native to Saddle Arabia." He tells the assassin readily, like he can trust Blood Moon.

"You gave that up easily" the assassin comments. 'Sand Stalker' gives a small huff.

"I'd recognize somepony on the wrong side of the law any day, colt, I know your about as honest as a con-stallion when it comes to your work" Sand Stalker retorts in a flat manner. The assassin shrugs before he speaks.

"Well you've got me there. Blood Moon, assassin for hire these last few years. I'm sure you've heard of me" the killer tells an impressed looking mercenary.

"I'll be. You're the Hunter aren't you" Sand Stalker says, a little shocked at the fact he is now stood face to face with what amounts to a living legend. Or a trotting wanted poster.

"I am, now, I'm new to this whole...Ponyville shtick; is there anything an old-hoof such as you can tell me about this place" the assassin asks the elderly fighter, always looking for information. Blood Moon wasn't looking for contacts here but he felt that knowing the more important points of a place that had never really held much of his interest would be useful. The mercenary takes a second to think before answering.

"Only this: look out for six mares; Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbowdash, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity. They sort of protect this place between them, also, you should know-"

"Excuse me" a small voice interrupts, it sounds innocent and, somehow, a little cute and clumsy, like its owner is accident prone. The two stallions turn to find a grey Pegasus mare that only one of them recognizes. Blood Moon looked at the Pegasus; his well-trained eyes picking out that she didn't seem to be looking at them directly, for whatever reason, her eyes not fully open, she seemed to be having trouble breathing like she was out of breath, her body seemed loose as if she was feeling defeated or relived; his well-trained ears hearing the deep breaths that were laced with sorrow and, much the way she held herself, relief; but it was his fine nose that picked up her smell, the scent of unwashed sex. The assassin gritted his teeth slightly as he remembered the way he found the mare.

"We'll continue this later" the assassin told the mercenary with an air of finality, not taking his eyes off the mare. The old stallion didn't reply, obviously noting the shift in the wind between the two. It was likely he had also noticed the smell clinging to her stubbornly. The Pegasus and unicorn watched the mercenary trot away from them, in the direction of the town market, before they turned to each other. The assassin breathed deeply through his snout before he spoke up. "Follow me" he told the mare.

Ditzy Doo complied as she trotted behind him. Unbeknownst to the mailmare, the pair were moving through the streets not passing anypony due to the efforts of the stallion leading the way, not wishing to meet into anypony that may have witnessed or heard of the events in the market and hoof the stallion and mare that was with him over to the guards. Blood Moon lead the mare towards a stream to the south, when they arrived, after what should have been fifteen minutes of trotting made half an hour longer by the assassin's detours, the assassin looked over to the mare with a concerned look on his hidden face.

"Let's get you cleaned up" he told the mare nodding at the stains that still adorned her flank. Ditzy Doo looked back at herself before looking back to the stallion. She didn't say anything, but she was confused and grateful; this stallion had just met her and he was already looking out for her, and with no reason either. It made her feel nice, like she was finally being accepted by somepony. The mare put her hoof in the flowing water timidly, to test the water, before doing a small leap into the shallow and gentle stream. Blood Moon looked over her as she cleansed herself, watching her with a 'big brother' like quality; protecting, concerned and reassuring. Ditzy Doo felt strangely comforted by his presence.

"I-I wanted to thank you for what you did" she told him, not looking straight at him; she didn't want him to see her eyes yet, she wanted to have a friend for a little while before he left: like everypony else did to her.

"It's fine, just doing what's right" he replied, still watching the mare he knew would likely never be the same again. To Ditzy, his voice was strange; the natural fear that it invoked was not so much gone, more diluted, toned down but still present. He also had a noteworthy hint of care in the way he spoke.

"What's your name" Ditzy asked quietly. The assassin considered not answering, or giving a fake name. In the end he decided against it, having no reason to distrust the mare.

"Blood Moon."

"Blood Moon" Ditzy repeated quietly, rolling the name around her mouth, getting a feel for it. She looked back over at the stallion that had saved her from the two of the ponies that had made her youth a misery; he was sat on his hind quarters but beyond that couldn't get a good look at him, she attempted to take in his looks but the hood covered most of his face in shadow and all she could make out was a scar on his chin and his eyes. As she looked at blood red eyes she felt him staring her down, his gaze reaching into her soul, before she broke the lock of eyes. "Fitting" she told him. Blood Moon smiled at her comment, chuckling a few times to himself. "What's the joke" Ditzy asked the stallion, her own lips curling up in laughter at as she watched him continue to chuckled bemusedly at her observation.

"I don't know" he admitted. And he didn't, it was just the way she said it; like she was being completely honest in her observation or maybe it was because the comment she'd made was all the funnier with her cute, clutzy voice. The assassin opened his eyes to a very welcome sight; the mare was giggling to herself, most likely at the image of a stone cold assassin chuckling to himself like he'd just remembered an old joke, and it was one of the most reliving sights he had ever seen. After they had both finished with their little amused noises, they looked at each other again for a second before Blood Moon noticed something about the mare's eyes. For once it was not the window to the soul that he noticed but the eyes themselves. He recognised the unfocused gaze as 'fractum oculus nervus' and suddenly a lot of things made sense.

'She's picked on for this, isn't she' the assassin thought as he leaned in, his mouth opened a little in disbelief. Ditzy noticed this and she turned her head away, obstructing his view. The air became tense between the two as the mailmare busied herself with cleaning the bulk of the stains from her flank. Minuets passed as she did this but she found herself unable to reach a spot on her back; not a second later did she hear the loosening of Blood Moon's clothing. She looked over just as he placed himself in the cool water and edged over to her giving her a lopsided smile. Ditzy Doo could properly see his face now and she wasn't all together sure what she got; he had deep wrinkles around his eyes, maw and on his brow.

'Worry lines I think their called' she thought as she looked at the rest of his features; he could be considered average but as she was captured by his eyes again, she felt he was anything but average.

"Need a hoof" he asked, bringing Ditzy from her thoughts.

"Uhhh y-yeah" she replied as she realised that they were both washing together now, within a few hours of knowing each other.

"You know, I don't think I got your name" Blood Moon told her as he searched his memories for said information and coming up with nothing.

"Ditzy, I'm called Ditzy Doo" she replies.

"Ditzy Doo" the assassin repeats, smiling as he says it "I like it" he says with sincerity; he didn't say it aloud but he found it cute.

Ditzy tensed slightly at his touch,; it completely betrayed his persona of darkness, shadows and the ability to kill, coming out in a soft and caring caress rather than the rough and violent feel she had expected. Ditzy suddenly found lewd thoughts and ideas going through her mind as the stallion cleaned her back. She wished that she hadn't gotten everything off her flank for one. Suddenly, she felt herself being spun and her eyes opened in shock, before she could close her eyes again she was face to face with him, not two inches away from each other, as Blood Moon looking straight into her eyes.

"I knew it" he said looking at her eyes before pulling back a little "the stallions…they bullied you because of this, didn't they" the mare didn't answer "didn't they" he repeats, this time with more force. Ditzy nods her head rapidly; her eyes now squeezed shut against the new tears that threatened to spill, they didn't fall through but her eyes opened, once again in shock, as she felt the soft embrace around her; she was facing his strong chest and could feel him stroking the back of her mane in a soothing fashion. She melted into his hug and found herself liking the sensation of being held by a stallion, it made her feel liked, it gave her the sensation of having a friend, it made her feel good about herself. Made her feel loved. "I'm sorry" he said simply, his deep voice rumbling from her vantage point against him.

"For what" she asks the stallion's chest "you didn't do anything."

"Maybe but…" he ended the hug and sat again on his flank before continuing "It just doesn't seem right or fair, somepony being picked on because of one thing about them that's out of their control" as he spoke, Ditzy could feel something welling in her chest; this was only the second pony, Dinky Hooves being the first, that had actually understood what was wrong with her and then going so far as to accept her despite it. "That, and I hate bullies" he continued with a lethal look in his eyes. Ditzy just swallowed gently.

They both sat there for a while; Blood Moon seemed to be checking Ditzy over, looking for anymore spots she hadn't reached, and all the while he was oblivious to the way grey mare, that was trying to figure out how she felt about the stallion before her, was looking at him and what was going through her mind as she lunged at him. The grab took the assassin of his flank and put him on his back, his horn glowing with its dark aura in an offensive manner, but fortunately the mare that was hugging him once again, lying on top of him with her nether regions uncomfortably close to his, didn't seem to notice before he could dispel the magical attack that could K.O. an Ursa-major, given the correct spot and distance.

"You really have a way with words don't you" the mare said between giggles as she rested her chin back on his chest.

'And you sure know how to make a stallion blush' the assassin thought as he felt their groins pushed together slightly. He wasn't sure if it was unintentional either. The mare seemed to notice the red on the deep grey cheeks and she giggled once again; the assassin had never been too fond of giggles, chuckles or any kind of laugh that wasn't a laugh, save bemused grunts, but he had to admit it: the grey mailmare's cute little giggles were starting to grow on him. After a few seconds in the blush invoking position, the duo parted and left the water, Ditzy's flank now much less degrading, and proceeded to watch the water flow by.

Blood Moon had given his cloak to Ditzy and had put his vest back on but the belt was hidden in the hood that rested next to him. Ditzy, deciding through some unseen force that she liked and trusted this stallion, started up a conversation. They spoke for a long while; Ditzy spoke about her hard times throughout life, her parents, school, the young flier's academy and her life as a mailmare. Blood Moon happily listened to it all; he was not so emotionally inept that he did not know why he was doing this. He knew that there were too many ponies out there, all with occupations similar to his, that did not understand simple emotions or had distanced themselves from their own. To Blood Moon, it was what made him equine and not some feral beast. The dark stallion listened to the mare's tails; some were better than others: Ditzy's abandonment made him grit his teeth in particular, but that was not the thing that took his attention in that particular story.

"A little sister" he repeated to himself. Ditzy Doo had just told him about her younger sibling, Dinky Hooves, and he wasn't sure how to respond to it. He had no problem with foals, in actual fact he rather liked them and their innocent look of life; he knew the darker parts of life: death, betrayal, corruption and what some ponies would do for a bit. A filly or colt, however, had not been exposed to it, not yet anyway, and he enjoyed watching somepony capable of enjoying life. He smiled before responding. "I look forward to meeting her" he told her, earning a relived sigh and a certain grey mare's head leaning on his shoulder. He could tell she'd been nervous about telling him.

When Ditzy was done with her story Blood Moon decided to return the favour; he did not make the decision lightly, but Ditzy had convinced him to tell her about his life before Ponyville. He looked headlong at the setting sun, surprised at the quick passing of time, as he spoke to her about his work as an assassin; she seemed surprisingly uncaring about his chosen profession, as though she'd expected it. Kind of unsurprising really, after what she'd seen him do in the market. That said, he'd decided to keep the conversation away from any... controversial, shall we call it, details. He wanted to go with something less...detailed, so he went with telling her about his code; explained what had driven him to create it.

"It was supposed to be the contract that made me my name, a job that was truly challenging and the assassination I would be able to retire after. I was given the contract... four years into my career; I'd always thought it was strange being given such a difficult contract so soon, I mean at the time there were other more experienced killers but I guess they wanted somepony that wouldn't be thought of straight away and, ultimately, get caught by the guard."

"W-who was it for" the mare asked, still a little uncomfortable around the subject.

"Princess Celestia" he told her. A moment passed as a cold breeze flowed past the pair. "I did it the right way, any veteran would be proud; scouting the palace, learning their routine, picking the most opportune moment to strike out at them, having a route of escape planned out down to the finest detail and then… the time came to do the deed" the assassin told Ditzy, his eyes wide and his lungs empty as he told her the last part, as though he regretted something he hadn't done.

"What happened" she asked as she moved a bit closer.

"Six years, nine months and" he paused as he took an accurate reading of the days past "eleven days ago, was the day my career went through a change, for better or for worst I still don't know. It was the Summer Sun celebration; Celestia was addressing the crowd in Canterlot, and I stood above her, blade ready to taste blood. But I found myself doubting my intentions; I mean what would killing Celestia achieve: disharmony for one, Discord would likely come back to power and everypony's lives would be generally ruined. So as I sat there ready to make about half a year's worth of planning come to fruition I just didn't. I let her live."

"Just like that" she asked.

"Well not exactly, I got curious" the assassin grunted, knowing that once he was curious about something he would move the whole of Equestria to get his answers "I started to wonder who would want Celestia dead, after a while I followed the trail to a group of fanatics based inside of the Everfree forest that wanted Discord back. Let's just they didn't live to see their next birthday" the assassin wrapped up, keeping it as blood free as possible.

"That's..." Ditzy couldn't find the right words, who could? Blood Moon went on to tell Ditzy about his early life.

"When I was born, I was nothing special; just a foal with some dark colours really. I was the first to notice something different about myself when I preformed my first spell; it was no levitation spell, no illumination charm, instead it was something called Umbra Linguam" the assassin told the mare, this being something he had never told few ponies before "I first discovered my…gift, if you will, when I was trying to use basic magic. Nopony really knows why it happened, but it did; instead of turning the book page in front of me it caused the shadows to creep onto me."

"Like in the market" Ditzy remembered. Blood Moon looked down at the mare resting on him impressed.

"Well remembered, that was a word of my umbra vocabulary or put simply, one of four spells I can perform. That one in specific was hide" he went onto explain what he had done after killing the stallions in the market.

"So, you can become invisible in shadows" Ditzy concluded after a rather lengthy explanation.

"Put simply, yes, but as you can imagine, it's much more effective than just hiding in shadow" he told her.

"So…what else can you do" the mare asked casually, though in her head she was overflowing with curiosity; much to her surprise, however the assassin tensed. Blood Moon did not think it was a good thing that a large portion of the town knew about one of his spells but having one pony knowing all of them was definitely a large hole in his security. He looked down at her wide eyes and decided to humour her.

"Alright, so it's a tutorial you want, huh" he said, more a statement than a question and his voice dripping with mischief. He stood and led the way to a cluster of trees. "As you've already seen, I have the ability to hide within shadows and as you also already know this spell is one of four different types of Umbra Linguam" the assassin clarifies for the mare who proceeds to nod her head.

"Show me again" she asks with as much enthusiasm as a filly. The assassin grunts in amusement before his horn glows with its dark aura and the shadows cast by his hind legs start to move up them, turning his silvery grey body into the colour of the gloom around him. The shadows continue to spread up him; they cover both his hind legs completely, giving him the look of only half a pony stood normally on his two remaining legs; the shadows spread over his body and to the end of his mane, though the mane changes little considering its colour's properties; the darkness goes over the fore-hooves in the same fashion as the hind-legs but this time it's as if liquid shade is dripping down his legs and all the while the darkness creeps down his legs it moves up and across his face turning his features into a simple black slate, melting across his muzzle and maw before they stretch over his eyes and rendered him completely invisible.

"Wow" is all a stunned Ditzy Doo can think to say. For a moment his outline can just be made out but not a second after she notices it, it vanishes.

"Not bad, huh" Blood Moon says from beside Ditzy, earning him a small sequel to which he responds to by crackling like an invisible mad stallion. The mare giggles a little before waving her hoof were she assumes him to be, though she finds nothing but air.

"Blood Moon, where'd you go" she asks the darkness and trees around her.

"Boo."

Ditzy squeals once again as she hears the disembodied voice from right next to her head, snapping her gaze to her left she makes out a stallion; Blood Moon, his smirking face barley an inch from her own. They stand there for a second, Ditzy as if her hoof had been caught in the cookie jar, paralyzed, silent, unblinking and above all a monstrous blush on her face, while the assassin simply continues to smirk at her. Blood Moon hadn't noticed how close he had been to the mailmare and while he found the situation slightly amusing, he certainly hadn't expected to come this close to her. Not yet anyway. They both backed off at once, a slight mutual reluctance between them, before Blood Moon continues.

"Hide, my first spell" he explains "Now stand back a little" Blood Moon, still with a small smirk on his face, tells Ditzy doo, who had a little red on her features. The glow around his horn sparks up again, starting calm and tight around it until it suddenly becomes more aggressive, more violent, as it sharpens and grows around the horn. Ditzy feels something moving around her hooves, looking down she finds nothing there but can still feel it, like a snake withering past her, though the touch was as light as the grass flowing past her on a lazy breeze. Suddenly the contact becomes more solid, more real, and just as soon as the change happens, four black tendrils shoot out of the ground. They take the form of tentacles before they seem to harden, become stronger and more powerful; after a while they take the form of demonic looking serpents. They all snapped, snarled and spat menacingly as they continued to grow; their bodies grew muscled and sharp scales, while their heads, all identical, produced black slits on their dark gold eyes and a crimson forked tong that tasted the air like a snake would, but unlike a snake's hiss, they gave out deep growls from their powerful jaws, ready to rip apart the first thing their master considered a threat. Now finished growing, they were a sight to behold; the bodies were three foot in muscly and powerful diameter; they stretched ten meters long, their bodies still slightly coiled; the scales that armoured their bodies were the same black that had covered Blood Moon when he had hid in the shadows; and the heads, distinguished from the bodies by black spikes angled down from the face, were dark, menacing and downright evil looking; but it went further than that, the looks on their faces were cold and calculating giving them a look of vicious intelligence rather than just angry instinct. The shadow serpents (as Ditzy nicknamed them) looked down at Ditzy from their vantage points atop their extensive bodies.

"These are the product of the 'battle' spell, all four of them are great fighters when I have control of them but… they have trouble telling friend from foe when I lose my influence over them" the assassin explained as the serpents continued to regard Ditzy Doo with menacing intellect.

"Cool" she said with an astounding amount of resolve, so much so that she seemed unimpressed.

'Well we can't have that now, can we' the assassin thought with a devious grin spreading across his face. Quick as a flash, the serpents darted for Ditzy and wrapped around her legs. The mare screamed, thrashed and withered around as the shadowy creatures carried her over to Blood Moon who was on his back laughing like a mad stallion. Ditzy saw the assassin howling and wasn't amused by his antics, putting on an annoyed version of her signature 'derp' face. The assassin saw the mix of narrowed eyes and innocently scrunched nose and bottom lip and he felt his heart melt at the unarguably adorable sight.

"Aww, did Ditzy get upset" he joked as he brought the mailmare closer to him. He held the mare up close to him so he could grin straight into her face. He enjoyed the proximity, as he could better see the innocents in her soul and the foalish cuteness of her face Ditzy, however, had an altogether different enjoyment running through her; she saw the only caring stallion she had met in her life and the rugged looks his features held, not an inch between them. They continued to look at each other as she processed the emotions going through her; Ditzy Doo recognised the emotion she felt as love and she felt no reason to not embrace it. Blood Moon, however, just felt a warmth in his chest at the sight of Ditzy Doo this close to him; the feeling wasn't new to him, it was an undeterred love of her adorability, but he wasn't sure if it was welcome.

In that moment, Ditzy felt her lose herself to the unspoken part of her subconscious mind as she leaned into the assassin.

Blood Moon wasn't sure if he'd see it coming; no amount of training or magical prowess could give him that kind of answer. All he had to go one was Ditzy's sudden advance as she moved her maw over to his, an increase in size of those ever pleasant, golden and unfocused eyes. The thing that surprised him most, perhaps was that he made no effort to withdraw; he didn't lean back as she leaned forward but simply let it happen as she kissed him.

The act was neither fleeting nor fast; Blood Moon lost focus on the serpents holding up Ditzy and she dropped on top of him, their lips still connected, as he rested on his back he felt the heat of Ditzy's body push against his chest as they continued their embrace. He let his mind escape him for a moment, his instinct taking over as he felt his eyes close half way, leaving them open a crack so he could still gaze upon his partner. Ditzy was in a bliss she had never felt before; her instincts had taken over and she had closed her eyes as they meet each other's lips. She remained relaxed as she held her partner and felt a feeling of immense heat and electricity pulse through her body and saw no reason to reject it, instead letting herself meet Blood Moon's embrace with one of her own. Her left fore-hoof rested on the ground beside the stallion's head and her right wrapped itself under his neck, pulling him further into the kiss they shared. Blood Moon replied with his own caress, gently stroking her mane with his right fore-hoof and his left holding her waist. The kiss went on for a long while, each getting well acquainted with each other's mouths, before they reluctantly broke apart.

After a few seconds of light panting, Ditzy with a new brightness in her eyes and Blood Moon a wide grin on his face, the assassin spoke up.

"Well, that was something" the assassin commented.

"Sure was" Ditzy replied a little breathlessly. The moment passed, the two of them looked at each other while trying not to shift their lower bodies, as they had both noticed that, yet again, their crotches were connected as they lay there. The comments they were making did not reflect what they were thinking; others would presume they were feeling awkward but it was the simple fact that Ditzy could have lay there with him for hours, and Blood Moon himself was by no means wishing away the company. They would have stayed a single mass of pony for a while longer still had the wind had not picked up. Ditzy looked up to the sky's with a look on her face that told Blood Moon that she had just realised something. "I think the Pegasi scheduled rain tonight" the Pegasus told the unicorn. Blood Moon grimaced slightly.

'And I have nowhere to stay tonight' he thought as he looked past the canopy of trees past Ditzy Doo's head.

"Well you'd better get home before you get soaked" he told the mailmare.

"What about you."

"I'll be fine, you don't need to worry about me" he told the mare.

"Blood Moon, do you have somewhere to sleep tonight?"

'Busted' the assassin thought as he lay there.

"Well, there was a nice looking tree a little ways out of town" he admitted, telling her his sleeping plans. She looked down at him with a worried expression before it turned to a small blush as she looked away.

"Well, you could always stay at my place" she offered timidly "I-I mean it's the least I could do" she added. The assassin had hoped she'd say that, one; so he could meet Dinky and two; so he could finally get a look at the dossier he'd been keeping with him all day. He'd actually planned to give it a once over at the bar but his meeting with Sand Stalker had prevented that. The assassin nodded to the mare, who smiled widely at him in response before getting up off of him. The assassin quickly missed the warmth.

The trip back to Ditzy's place was pleasant, but a little tense due to Blood Moon's need to stay incognito around Ponyville. Once again, what should have been a simple twenty minuet journey was extended because of the stallions constant avoiding of other ponies. It didn't seem to bother Ditzy however; she actually seemed amused by it all. After an hour's worth of cautious trotting, they arrived at Ditzy's home; not a very outstanding place, your average Ponyville thatched roof, two story job, it was unassuming and subtle. Just what Blood Moon needed. As the pair approached, a small pale purple filly ran out to them.

"Sis" the filly shouted to them. Ditzy's face immediately lit up as she saw the foal, even as the young one leaped up and crashed into her elder sibling and embraced her in a heart-warming fashion; the filly Blood Moon identified as Dinky Hooves had her short fore-hooves reaching as far as they could over the older mare's chest as Ditzy held the filly tightly against her, so that nopony in Equestria could separate them, with her wings wrapped around her, protecting her from the elements. Blood Moon looked on in admiration; this was what a true, loving family looked like. His hood cast a shadow further over his features as he remembered his foalhood relationship with his parents. It was not a welcome memory. The assassin was brought out of his dark past by the sound of his name.

"-is Blood moon, he's a friend of mine" Ditzy told Dinky. Said filly trotted up to him and looked up at the stallion from beneath him, the tall stallion having to look straight down at the young mare.

"Hey there" the stallion said a kindly, his voice visibly shaking the filly "I believe you are Dinky hooves" he says, his voice becoming quieter and softer, more suited to a filly. As he speaks, he lowers himself to her level, bringing them to equal standing.

"Yeah, that's me" the filly replies, her voice a younger and higher version of her sisters.

"It's a pleasure to meet you little one" he says as he takes his hood off and allows the filly a better look at him.

"My sister say's your real nice, and that you're her friend" the filly tells the stallion who looks over to said sister for a second to gauge her reaction; happy, most likely because of Blood Moon getting along with Dinky. The assassin looks back to the filly.

"I'd like to be your friend to" he tells her, utilizing foal handling skills he hasn't had to use in a while. The filly smiles broadly at him before saying 'sure'. The assassin picks up the filly with a levitation spell and puts her on his back before following Ditzy into the house.

A modest place, directly inside the door the living room lies; a fire place surrounded by a light green chair and sofa, off to the left a doorway leads to the kitchen and a stair-way at the back left-hoof corner leads up to the second floor. The two sisters sit on the couch while Blood Moon takes the chair. The assassin looks over the filly and mare and notices the tiredness in their eyes.

"You two should get some sleep" Blood Moon advises the two worn out looking sisters.

"But I ain't tired" the filly exclaims before falling strait to sleep falling into her sisters awaiting fore-hooves. Blood Moon had to admit he liked the filly, if only because she was the living, breathing definition of the 'happy little filly'. He magically lifted her onto Ditzy's back.

"Thanks, you know you're great with foals" the mailmare told the assassin wearily. Blood Moon shrugged at the complement.

"I Just treat them the way that feels right but for now, you should rest" he told her, suppressing a yawn himself. He glanced outside and noticed the darkness; how late was it?

"Yeah, you too Blood Moon" Ditzy told him with a small smile, which might as well have been a small kiss goodnight between them. The mailmare ascended the stairs and the dark stallion watches her go. When Ditzy disappears upstairs, Blood Moon sits on the sofa, before taking out the dossier with his magic. Laying the contents on the table between him and the fireplace, he looks over the file with growing curiosity. He recognised the target; from the magenta fur, to the styling of the mane, he recognised this mare. The other thing that caught his attention was the name; one of the names that Sand Stalker had given him was the apparent title of this Canterlot born, unicorn mare, as well as the student of princess Celestia herself. This troubled the assassin; if this Twilight Sparkle was the personal protégée of the ruler of Equestria then he could have his work cut out for him. At that moment something struck him; this mare had been on the streets of Ponyville unguarded, with only her friends as company, this could mean one of two things: either Celestia didn't think Ponyville was the place to attract killers or Twilight knew how to defend herself. As he continued to read the information he continued to become more and more troubled about this contract.

'Element of harmony? One of the mares that defeated Nightmare Moon, Discord, Sombra and the Changeling army. Damnit, Blood Moon, what have you gotten yourself into here?' The assassin memorised the information, going over it five or six times, and threw it onto the fire. As he watched the embers burn the papers, he felt sleep take him; he was good at staying awake with very little rest but two days trotting almost nonstop, a fight in the middle of Ponyville and his antics with Ditzy were taking their toll on him and he could feel fatigue setting in. He knew he had to lay down on the couch and let sleep take him, though he knew it would not be a peaceful night.

Blood Moon rarely, ever, had a peaceful night's sleep.

Internal conflicts

Internal conflicts

Chapter seven: Internal conflicts

Blood Moon opened his eyes, though he was not awake; far from it. He knew where he was and to say the least, was not happy about it. He was inside his own head. His dreams to be exact, around he saw what he normally saw; a deep forest at night time, the assassin sat on the outskirts of the thick woodland, rolling hills carried off into the distance covered in small shrubbery and nocturnal critters. The sky above him was overcast, the clouds covering the sky and stars, with the moon peeking over the top. The assassin trotted around the edge of the forest keeping to the shadows in a vain attempt to delay the inevitable.

'Wonder if I can evade her for the night, be alone with my thoughts. I have to think about what happened with Ditzy…' Almost as soon as the thought crossed his mind the Princess of the night made her inevitable appearance. Princess Luna; midnight blue fur, mane and tail that shimmered in the moonlight before turning to a translucent pale purple, her eyes sparkling blue. The deep black crest upon her chest, that Blood moon had always assumed was armour, depicted the crescent moon which doubled as her cutie mark upon her black flank seemed to glow in the darkness, the shoes on her hooves and small tiara on her head went well with the rest of her look. Though no matter how good she looked the Alicorn stood before the assassin would draw nothing but mocking comments and a deep sense of distaste but his history with her would always prevent any feelings of hatred. That said he still was not overly fond of her as she took delight in torturing him in his dreams; be it bringing up past mistakes and failures, tormenting him with some classic mind probing that would send a lesser pony's mind insane or basic physical attacks, preformed so masterfully that he could only wonder where she learnt to preform acts of pain so well.

"Blood Moon" she stated, mock formalities in her tone.

"Luna" the assassin replied, no respect in his voice. The assassin had never had a great degree of respect, if any at all, for nobles or royalty. To them respect was something they automatically had, not something to be earned or gained over time, just given to them by ponies they saw as below them. "To what do I owe the pleasure this night" he asked, already knowing the answer; she was hear for some sick pleasure.

"You know why I'm here" she told him, confirming that she wasn't here for chatting "so tell me, how goes the life of the lowest scum Equestria has to offer" she asks in mock casualness "from what I hear, a certain somepony has fond their special other" she taunts.

"How did you know about that" the assassin demanded.

"Oh please, you really think I spend all my time in your little old head" she sneers, a facial expression Blood Moon had never liked "Ditzy, it seems, is dreaming of you" Luna tells him, teasing this infamous and deadly assassin like a colt that has found a fillyfriend.

"Touching" he murmured "would it be too much to ask you to leave her out of this" the killer asks quietly.

"What's this, Blood Moon the infamous assassin, the Hunter, the assassin who cannot be caught, seen or killed, begging me to leave his marefriend alone" she laughs out.

"Y'know, you really have a darker side to you" Blood Moon tells her.

"Well, one-thousand years one the moon will take its toll on one's temper, especially when the pony that outrage is aimed at is the piece of scum that tried to kill her sister!" She shouted the latter part at him, her fuse definitely shortening.

"Ah, Nightmare where'd you come from, I thought I was tal-"

"THOU SHALL NOT COMPARE US TO NIGHMARE MOON WELP" the Princess of the moon roars in her Canterlot voice. Luna's horn glows a shade similar to her mane as the vines of the nearby trees lash out at the assassin, who offered no resistance to the attack; he had learned the hard way that this was Luna's domain and that trying to defend yourself was nigh impossible. He relaxed and waited for what was to come.

"Tell me Luna; where would you be if we were to be meeting each other face to face rather than your cowardly ways of confrontation, hiding inside the dreams of your victim" the assassin taunts. The assassin's taunts were all he had, combat was out of the question, trying not to break to her punishment was also pretty low when it came to chances and it was likely that she would be too busy inflicting pain to listen to any of his own mind tricks so simple insults were all's he had. The vines pulled, tightened, taunted and ripped against his limbs; Blood moon knew it was an illusion, simulated pain, but it didn't change the fact that it hurt like actual torture.

As the pain that Luna saw he deserved continued, the assassin thought about this side of her, trying to get his mind off of the pain that was likely causing him to stir in his sleep, this side that took pleasure in putting a pony through a nightmare.

'Huh, fitting choice of words' the assassin thought as he felt his legs dislocate under the strain supplied by the ever tightening vines. The Princesses were good at not showing the side of themselves that overthrew Discord, Sombra and had wielded the Elements of harmony; the side that won wars and fought. The sides of themselves that could be unnecessarily brutal at times.

"Huh, this isn't as bad as normal. Am I growing on you Lu-" the assassin couldn't finish his taunt as he was thrown across the small dream clearing and smacked into a dream tree, wishing the pain that followed was just as unreal.

"Would you like me to tell you what that mare was dreaming about? It was when you kissed her. She replayed that point over and over, tell me this assassin" she spat out the last word like venom "do you think yourself a knight in shining armour, her savour. A good stallion? Well, my little pony, let me tell you; you may not realise it yet but all you have done is preyed on the weak, using her to your own end no doubt."

"What makes you say 'prey on the weak' Luna" the assassin questions as he stands unsteadily.

"Ha, don't try and fool me assassin" she spat "I know your ways; put fear into an innocent mare's heart before putting on a ruse of comfort and friendship. You use ponies for your own gain, vile deceiver" Luna hisses at him.

"Oh please. 'Vile deceiver?' I thought that purple mare dressed as Starswirl got the Canterlot vocab out of your system last nightmare night" the assassin laughs at her choice of words. His taunt seems to hit a soft spot, though not what he was expecting. The Princess of the night leans in, letting her gaze bore into his (to no avail) before stating in a deadly whisper:

"You shall not talk about Twilight Sparkle, you filthy rat." Oh yes, he'd hit a sweet spot.

"You know this one do you" the assassin smirked "seemed terrified last I saw he-" the assassin was slammed into a tree viciously, causing him to cough up fake blood created by Luna's illusion. He laughed painfully as he was held against the tree by an enraged Princess.

"WHAT DID THOU DO TO HER WHELP" the Princess, once again, roared in her Canterlot voice. The assassin changed, no longer mocking or smirking, but becoming deadly serious.

"You really want to know" he asked in a challenging manner, his sudden shift making Luna regret asking "I'll tell you. When I saved Ditzy, do you know what I saved her from, or was your muzzle so far up your sister's royal flank to notice" he laughed unwilling to take a mature higher ground, seeing as it would do him no good. His insult got him a lash from the vines that felt like a bull-whip being raked across his body. "I'll take that as a yes" he groaned in pain but managed to keep the defying laugh in his voice. Struggling to stand up, he faced the Princess on all fours as he told her "I saved her from death and comforted her after defilement." When he told her, Luna must have be taken aback as the simulated forest around them seemed to sand still. Perhaps it was the atmosphere that his words brought with them, but the dream's wind faulted, the small sounds of life ceased and the sway of the grassed halted.

"Y-you what" she asked, paralysed.

"You, heard me Luna" he told her, his challenging voice flowed away and was replaced by the familiar mocking tone he so often addressed her with as he noticed her discomfort "oh, what's the matter my fearless princess" he asked putting sarcastic emphasis on 'fearless'. "What's wrong Lu-Lu, don't like the darker side of life" he continued. Luna seemed to snap out at this remark.

"You don't know the things I've seen so don't you dare, for one minuet think that-"

"That what? You've had it easy, you're a Princess. You've seen the darker side of life, no excuse for somepony that should be ruling and protecting the night. That you've seen the greater burdens of life, well don't you forget that I have too. We're no strangers to immortality Luna, and-" she went to interrupt but Blood Moon cut her off before she got a word out "BE SILENT YOU SAD EXCUSE FOR ROYALTY" he roared, his age old attitude resurfacing "I was there the day you were born, I was there the whole of that damned war, I was there as you turned bitter and watched you turn into Nightmare Moon, I was living a lot longer before you Luna, and even longer than Celestia, and you know I was there throughout Discord's rule so don't think that I don't know the pains you've seen and felt Luna" he paused and calmed himself from his rage fuelled rant "and don't think I haven't seen worse. You think I don't know what you've see Luna; well don't forget I was there your whole life. We learned together, fought together" the assassin smiled at days millennia past "I watched you grow up, Celestia too. Just because I took a different path through life, doesn't take away the days we spent together in your youth" he finished. He had tried his damnedest to keep these memories suppressed but every time he was confronted by Luna they would come rushing back and it had got harder to keep his mouth shut in her presence. It was obvious by Luna's reaction that she was troubled by this outburst; in all the times she had approached him like this he had been remarkably impassive, asides from the first time, in which he had fought aggressively and been defeated, tonight however he had fought once again but in no way she could defend herself from. There was no escaping the truth. The Princess of the night watched the assassin she had once called friend breath heavily, his sudden anger leaving him. She now regretted her intrusion into his dreams.

"Blood Moon, I-I-" She could not think of anything to say, what could you say to such a speech, he had never referred to their time together before now and it was clear he felt better for it, like he had got something off of his chest.

"Save it Luna" he interrupted, sparring her "just leave me to my mistakes, and my regrets" he requested.

"Regrets" she repeats in a confused manner "you always say that you don't regret your choices or actions" she told him.

"I didn't" he admitted with a sigh as he looked over the hills rolling into the distance "but what happened with Ditzy…it troubles me" he explained, surprisingly comfortable with confiding in Luna.

"Really" she said setting down next to him "how so" her wise and sage like side coming through. The assassin sighed deep and long.

"Throughout my life I have made mistakes but none linger on my mind as this one dose, if only because I'm not altogether sure if it was a mistake at all" Blood Moon told her in a strange form of confession.

"Tell me what you mean by that; start from the top." Blood Moon proceeded to tell the story of yesterday's events; from when he arrived in Ponyville to when he arrived at Ditzy Doo's house. Once finished, he took a deep breath as he awaited Luna's answer.

"I see what troubles you then. You wonder if it was too sudden" she concluded as she looked over the peaceful planes she had created in Blood Moon's mind.

"Yes, I wonder, would it be too much to ask for your advice on the situation" he requested, not without a hit to the pride. Luna's quick outburst explained the hit he took.

"Hahaha, oh old uncle Blood Moon asking for little Luna's help after all those time I came galloping to you with my problems and you so readily listened. Now the shoe, it seems, is on the other hoof." Blood Moon smiled at one of his old memories, as well as the pet name he'd given her in her youth.

"Remember that time you came galloping into the training yard, a bundle of tears and worries, and all of a sudden I had a crying filly in front of me as I was addressing troops that were about to start their training. I still remember their faces as they watched me pick you up and carry you into your chambers, getting you to shush and tell me all about it" he recalled as he laughed heartily as he remembered their faces of confusion, turn to irritation before they turned to the expressions of stallions who'd hearts had just melted. Luna giggled a little too.

"You were always willing to drop everything for me and Celestia."

"I was, wasn't I. But can you do the same" he asked, bringing the convocation back to its point. Luna gave a long sigh.

"Well, I always thought you, of all ponies, would take greater care when treating a pony in that kind of distress. I get the feeling that she was going on frayed emotions and was indeed a vulnerable pony at the time" she explained in a guru like manner that did little to impress Blood Moon. The assassin sighed as he admitted his mistake in a defeated fashion.

"Maybe…but it didn't feel all that wrong. If it was a mistake, and I believed it in my heart, surly I would feel badly about it" he pondered aloud.

"Well I leave this for you to figure out, assassin" she said with no venom on the final word for once "I'm sure you'll come to the best answer. Ditzy as well." The assassin hummed in reply. "I must leave you for now Blood Moon but I look forwards to our next meeting" she told him. There was something in her tone that caused him to raise an eyebrow "It will be in person, at Ponyville." The assassin growled, she knew where he was and was likely to inform her sister, who had a much deeper hatred for him. Despite this he smiled.

"I look forwards to it, little Luna" he grinned. Luna smiled in response.

"Sleep well, Hunter" she left him with as her form turned to smoke and blew into the distance.

Blood Moon awoke from his slumber. Sweat drenched him and the couch he lay on but he was not very distressed or panicked, as he normally was when he awoke from dreams involving Luna. He slid off of the couch and stood; he could hear the shower running upstairs and assumed Ditzy was showering up there. He did not wish to see her right now; he needed to have some time to himself, time to think about what Luna had said and to decide on the best course of action. Trotting to the door, he dressed himself in his vest and picked up his blade, carrying it out with him. Once outside he looked around him once or twice before finding what he was looking for: a tree, a good, sturdy tree that was old and strong, the bark a deep brown and the leaves light green following the arrival of spring. Blood Moon trotted towards the tree and stopped around twenty paces away.

Thunk.

His blade hit the tree perfectly horizontal, having been thrown by the assassin via his right fore-hoof. The weapon vibrated in place slightly as it came to a rest; Blood Moon stared at it for a second before he approached it and ripped it back out.

'Luna was right; it was too sudden, she likely wasn't thinking strait after what happened and she barely knows me…maybe that's for the better. I wonder how she would take finding out that I'm more than ten-thousand years old.'

Thunk.

Blood Moon had no problem with the age difference; he was likely the oldest pony in Equestria and had come to terms with it; he was older than Celestia by about a thousand years and Luna about one and a half-thousand. It was impossible for him to find a mare his age, so it was simply practical for him to find somepony much younger than him, not that it bothered him, if his supposedly special somepony was bothered about his age than they were fools as far as he was concerned. He looked as he did when he was twenty-seven and always would look that way for as long as he lived, asides scars and wrinkles that is, so that would be no problem and he could act very immaturely at times, so complaining about an 'old stallion attitude' was not altogether possible.

Thunk.

His thoughts drifted back to Ditzy; he liked her, that much was for sure, and he got the idea that either she liked him or she was as Luna had suspected, and vulnerable at the time. His hoof flashed faster and the sword imbedded itself deeper into the tree, a sudden flash of anger fuelling his throw. The assassin didn't like the idea of 'preying on the weak' not in that respect anyway; it seemed un-gentlecolt like and he had always strived to act his best around mares and to always treat them with respect. He let out a sigh, feeling defeated, he knew he would have to come to terms with the idea that he had let Ditzy kiss him because he had been too preoccupied impressing her and had missed the signs. Looking back, they were obvious to him; slightly blushed cheeks, lingering stares, how playful she was acting when he'd been demonstrating his magic and above all the look she had given him just before the kiss. He'd lied to himself that day; he could have seen it coming but had been blinded by her cute facial expressions and attitude.

Thunk.

The other side of the argument spoke-up:

'She needed it, the way that day had been going for her she needed to feel better about herself, needed to feel loved' his instinct argued with his logic 'and don't you dare say you didn't like it Hunter.'

"Maybe they're both right" he murmured to himself.

"Who's both right" a voice asked.

"Eh, the voices in my head" he explained absently.

"You listen to the voices in your head" the voice said, perplexed.

"Well, you'd be surprised how much sense they make when you pay attention" he admitted.

"I'll keep that in mind" the voice told him.

"Yeah…Ditzy, how long have you been there" he asked the voice without looking at her, somewhat worried that he hadn't heard her approach.

"The third throw" she revealed "were you thinking about…" she trailed off, but Blood Moon knew what she was asking.

"Yeah" he said at length "listen Ditzy, I gotta know; what was going through your head when…"

"When I kissed you" she finished for him "I'm not sure, to be honest" she told him. She took a deep breath "I-I wasn't thinking straight, I was just feeling desperate and I needed something to take my mind off of…what happened" she hung her head, ashamed and defeated "I'm sorry if-"

"Don't be" Blood Moon cut in; he had turned to face the grey mare properly "whatever you do, don't regret. Nothing good comes from regretting what you do throughout your life. Especially if you don't need to regret what you've done." Ditzy detected the change in his tone and looked up at him "I understand why you kissed me, you were…distressed and not thinking straight, your thoughts clouded" he told her, explaining his theory. Ditzy looked up, her unfocused gaze settling on Blood Moon.

"I guess that's true" she paused as she gathered her thoughts "but it's not the whole truth." She watched Blood Moon's expression turn from all-knowing and sage like to one of confusion and curiosity. "I needed to feel better about myself and the fact that I had…lost…my virginity" she said, still coming to terms with it "I needed to have some kind of reassurance about how my love life could go…"

"So you shared your first kiss with somepony you saw cared about you" he put together for himself. So he had been right at the time; she needed to feel better about the day and apparently her sharing her first kiss was her way of dealing with it. Well, some ponies dealt with things differently from others. He couldn't blame her, she had just been raped and he knew she was lucky or very strong willed, that she had come away with no mental scars. None he could make out anyway.

"I-I hope you don't mind" she said a little timid of his reaction. Blood Moon responded with a kind smile on his face.

"Ditzy, don't worry about it. I never saw it as wrong…or unpleasant" he told her with sincerity in his voice. His last comment caused Ditzy to blush. The pair sat there for a few minutes in companionable silence.

"So, um… sorry to seem blunt but" she faltered, apparently unable to word her next sentence "where…should we take this." Blood Moon knew what she was trying to ask and gave a small, lopsided grin.

"I'd like to see where it goes" he told her, more or less asking her out in code. The reaction was immediate; she beamed at him a second before lunging at him, though this time Blood Moon expected it, he rolled onto his back as the mare landed on him and wrapped his for-hooves around her neck in tight embrace, which Ditzy returned in earnest. Blood Moon noticed it again and he could only wonder, how in Equestria, their groins kept pressing against each other. Ditzy seemed to notice as well, as she looked down with a deep red blush on her face.

"I thought you were just friends." Blood Moon froze, as did Ditzy. The assassin slowly turned his head to the left, were the voice had come from, as the mailmare did the same.

'I'm slipping, getting old, must be' the assassin thought as he looked at the pale purple filly that had a small smile on her face as she looked at the hugging stallion and mare. Ditzy's wings spread as she took flight and got off of Blood moon.

"Uhhh, well-you see" Ditzy stammered. Blood Moon grunted in amusement at her loss for words.

"We were just showing how we felt for each other" he explained as he looked up at the mare that was staring at him in disbelief. He saw no point in hiding a rather obvious relationship between the two; he also knew that Dinky would likely figure it out for herself. The filly squealed and leaped up to her hovering sister, pulling her into as big a hug as she could manage, before she dropped down onto the on-looking unicorn assassin and pulled him into a another hug. The assassin grunted as the filly landed on top of him, right on his chest, as she wrapped her hooves around him. He couldn't help himself; he returned the hug but he tried to be gentle with her, knowing he sometimes he did not know his own strength. Ditzy looked down at the stallion hugging the filly and felt her heart melt; Blood Moon seemed to be a different stallion around Dinky and it easily showed; he was gentle, calm, kind and he treated her with the same respect the would show a mare her own age. He'd make a great father someday.

Blood Moon broke the hug first and stood up. No matter how much he liked the company of Ditzy and Dinky, he had to do something to keep active and he knew what that something was.

"Ditzy, I have to do something around the Everfree" he lied, surprisingly uneasy with it.

"Ok, I have to take Dinky to school anyway" she told him in response.

'Well that's convenient' the assassin thought. Blood Moon got his things and parted ways with them not a minute later, making his way to Ponyville, finding the bar in which he found Sand Stalker. The extended journeys were beginning to annoy him, having to keep to the side streets and back alleys was starting to become tedious and the close calls were beginning to him making him too paranoid for his own good.

Arriving at the bar, he was welcomed by Sand Stalker head-butting an earth pony that seemed to be bugging the mare tending the bar.

'Charming fellow' he thought as he passed the stallion holding a broken snout and muttering something about a 'damn bucker' that was standing at the bar and chatting to its tender (who seemed much more comfortable with the company).

"Sand" the assassin said from besides the mercenary. Said soldier of fortune turned to him, un-shocked and un-phased, and smiled slightly at his presence.

"Blood Moon, wondered if I'd see you again" he said quietly, so the barmare would not hear him "need to talk" he asked, hinting over to the door. Blood Moon nodded. Back in the alleyway they had spoken in before, they picked up the convocation about the important aspects of Ponyville almost like no time had passed.

"Now, the mares you mentioned" he said starting things back up without any pleasantries or formalities.

"Twilight Sparkle" Blood Moon remembered the job he had been given "Rainbowdash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Pinkie Pie; they look after Ponyville and are all pretty well known. There's something else too, they all represent the elements of harmony" he explained. Blood Moon simply sighed; he had suspected as much, but hoped he was wrong. He needed to learn more about this Twilight herself in order to decide whether or not to go through with this job. He had to admit it though; the more he learned about this job the more difficult it appeared, more challenging. He smiled at the prospect of a half decent job after so long; Celestia's student, Element of Harmony, well known and a powerful unicorn. He wouldn't just jump into this job though, his code came first.

"Thank you Sand Stalker, but I need to be going" he told the mercenary. The merc grunted.

"What, not even gonna let me by you a drink" the assassin raised an eyebrow at the gesture "I ain't got any friends left" he explained. The assassin saw no reason not to oblige.

"Alright but one drink, I have a job to do" he told the merc, who grinned at the idea of having some company as he drank away his sorrows.

An hour later, filled with one drink, a few exchanged stories and a goodbye between the two fast friend, and Blood Moon was stood in the shadows, watching the home of Twilight Sparkle. Over the years, he had come to see buildings as having their own personalities and it was easy to regard a structure as a pony. Fortresses were soldiers, organised and armed, a science facility was a scientist, filled with knowledge, was potentially paranoid and had the distinct possibility of being slightly insane, and civilian building, such as a house or public service, was your basic pony, they had patterns that were easy to follow. This would be the weakness of any mark held up in a house, or library in this case, but sod's law had it that absolutely nothing happened all day and he couldn't shake the feeling that this was an unusual occurrence for Twilight Sparkle, if her large group of friends were anything to go by. Still, he needed information about this mare and it was starting to look like he would have to go for a good old fashioned break-in to try and find any kind of information about his target, without raising eyebrows of course, that being the reason he was not simple asking about this unicorn because having to ask somepony else would make him stand out too much. There was also the fact that he preferred to have his own information about his marks, a personal trait that spawned from his third rule of conduct.

The assassin looked to the sky, a full day had passed and he'd done practically nothing but watch the Golden oaks library, meaning he'd wasted the day. He sighed in defeat and stood, making his way back to Ditzy's house. Half way there he stopped and looked around himself; he was still in the shadows and nopony could see him, the streets were sparsely populated and the assassin saw no guards nearby so he felt there was no better time to conduct a small experiment. He moved out of the shade and began to trot the streets of Ponyville like anypony else; he didn't expect it, but nopony seemed to pay him mind, the odd scared look, sure, but nopony screamed or galloped for the guards, as far as he knew that is. This made the journey back to Ditzy's place faster and for that Blood Moon was grateful; he was beginning to get impatient with all the cloak and dagger, skulking around Ponyville. Not fifteen minutes later, he was at the small house, situated on the outskirts of the town, and was watching Ditzy and Dinky play together; it appeared to be a form of hide and seek in which Ditzy never won as she was always trying to hide behind small shrubs and became genuinely surprised when her little sister found her. The assassin watched from a distance, amused to no end, before he approached the pair.

"I'd like to see you find me that easily" he called over in his way of announcing himself. Dinky looked over and smiled while Ditzy gave one of her own and waved.

"Hey there Mr Blood Moon, how've you been" Dinky asked, galloping her small filly gallop over to him.

'Oh, well I've been watching the home of somepony I mean to kill. The entire day was a frustrating waste and now I have to resort to breaking in at night time just to learn about her because I'm the stallion that killed the rapists and attempted murderers of your sister/mother, an act I performed in broad daylight in front of my mark and her friends, so I can't just go asking about her. I'm enraged at the amount of timber-wolf droppings I have to trek through to get this job done, frustrated at myself for allowing myself for kissing your big sister after she'd been sexually assaulted and been driven insane by a certain Princess of the night who has been tormenting my dreams ever since she returned, only to find she is either an ally or could bring the cavalry into Ponyville and have me ripped limb from limb, so, foal, I guess you could say I have the full brunt of the Equestrian army breathing down my neck for external problems and my own mental arguments about how I feel about Ditzy doo for internal problems. How am I doing filly…'

"I'm fair" the assassin told Dinky Hooves. The filly smiled in response and went inside, most likely to avoid the dark clouds overhead. "Another storm" the assassin commented on the repeat of yesterday's weather, the rain from which had only just dried out.

"Yeah, I think we should get inside before" the rain began, pelting down on the stallion and mare "we get wet" Ditzy finished a little hopelessly.

Once inside the three of them sat down at the fire which warmed them as they spoke about their days. Blood Moon made little attempt to speak, instead listening to the pair's tails about how boring school was and how the ponies at work were suddenly giving her a wider birth than usual, after yesterday's events. The assassin listened, but his mind was elsewhere, thinking up a plan for tonight. Infiltrating a library would be no challenge, nor would gathering info on Twilight. A simple in-out job by all standards, but he wouldn't be caught off-guard and decided to go in there as if he were storming a fortress that was protecting the princess herself. With that in place, he allowed himself to sleep briefly, it was nine now and sleeping five hours would put him to two in the morning, nopony would be awake that late, that at least he knew and could be sure of, seeing as most towns practically fell asleep as a hole at around one in the morning and Ponyville would be no exception. He took comfort in the fact that after this, he could really get things moving. After this, either he would deem Twilight Sparkle as innocent or he would have her blood on his hooves. He grinned at the prospect of killing somepony close to Luna and Celestia and he would be sure to treat it as the great princess of the sun's punishment for what she did to him so long ago.

A burning night

Chapter eight: A burning night

Blood Moon awoke. He was not distressed or panicked, he wasn't sweating nor did he seem to have been shifting much in his sleep, so Luna hadn't paid him a visit. The assassin recalled the events of last night; he, Ditzy and Dinky had gone to bed at nine, he had planned on waking up at two in the morning; Blood Moon looked at the clock and found it to be one in the morning. He frowned, normally his body clock was rather accurate but he knew he'd woken up for a reason; he couldn't explain it, it was just in his gut and he always trusted his gut; it hadn't been wrong before. He looked around him, everything seemed normal but something wasn't right and he couldn't put his hoof on it; upstairs he could hear the soft sounds of Dinky and Ditzy sleeping soundly, outside he could see the dim glow of Ponyville's nightlife and in the air… smoke. There was smoke hanging in the room and the atmosphere was thick, there was no heat around him so it wasn't Ditzy's house that was on fire, so there was that much at least.

'Wait, that glow…' The assassin trotted slowly up to the window and gazed out. What he saw made a stone drop in his chest. That glow wasn't the Ponyville nightlife, it was Ponyville itself. He wasted no time; he galloped up the stairs and crashed through the door, awaking Ditzy in a somewhat panicked fashion.

"Blood Moon" she said, sounding scared at his sudden appearance.

"Ditzy, get up, Ponyville is on fire and I have to get you and Dinky out of here" he explained quickly, watching Ditzy's face grow more and more fearful.

"What's going on" a drowsy Dinky hooves asks from behind Blood Moon, rubbing sleep out of her eyes and a stuffed…muffin in her grip. The assassin didn't respond, instead he used his magic to put her on her big sister's back before going over to the window and throwing it open.

"Ditzy, you need to get somewhere safe. Don't stop, don't dawdle and don't look back, return at noon" he ordered, much the same way a commander would tell his soldiers.

"Blood Moon" Ditzy began, before pulling him into a soft kiss for a few seconds "be careful" she told him softly. The assassin smiled.

"Ditzy, I'm an assassin, I've been an assassin for as long as I can remember, whatever's going on in town, I can handle it" he reassured the mare. Ditzy nodded and took flight, heading north. The assassin watched them go for a while before he turned back into the room and went down into the lounge; there he picked up and put on his vest, cloak, hood and belt and trotted outside then towards the town. Ditzy lived a short way outside the town and he arrived in ten minutes. He wasn't too sure if he was glad he had.
The small and normally quiet town was in turmoil; most of the buildings on the edge of the town were ablaze, the flames cutting a path through the town as the occupants galloped for cover. It was apparent that none knew how to fend off the flames themselves properly, judging by the pained bodies of ponies that lay on the ground, not dead but defiantly wounded. The assassin raised an eyebrow.

'They aren't burnt at all; there are cuts and stab wounds but no burns, not many anyway. What's going on here' the assassin wondered as he looked over the ponies lying on the ground and judged their wounds; some were worse than others and those that were unable to move he pulled into alleyways and those that could move followed him to safety.

"Stay here and keep quiet" he ordered the ponies that were conscious. He got a few terrified nods in return, they apparently recognized him from the market "is this is some kind of attack" the ponies in front of him nodded in conformation "is there a spot where everypony is rallying" the assassin asked a mare with light mint fur and light cyan and white streaked mane and tail, she had yellow eyes and a lyre for her cutie mark. She was scared out of her mind, partly from the events around her and partly from the stallion before her. She didn't answer at once.

"Y-yeah… Tw-Twilight's library" she stuttered. Blood Moon nearly flinched; if that was where all the ponies were going then that was where the attacking forces where going, so that was where Blood Moon was going but at the same time that was where Twilight and, most likely, where all her friends were. It was between the contract and the safety of Ponyville; not helping these ponies was the equivalent of killing them, considering that none of them could fight and since whoever, or whatever, was attacking was willing to burn the place to the ground to get to their target, so collateral damage didn't seem to be high on their list of concerns. He couldn't leave these ponies to die.

"What's the fastest way there" he asked simply.

"Straight up that street" the mare told him, pointing with her hoof up a street leading into the centre of Ponyville. This allowed the assassin to see what he was up against; changelings and lots of them. That, amongst other things, confused Blood Moon; why were they here, what was the reason for their erratic behaviour? These were the questions spiralling through his mind as he watched them tear the town apart, but these question would be answered later, for now he would have to fight and fight he would.

He galloped into the street, metal on leather echoing across the battle before him, drawing the attention of the changelings that were running riot throughout the streets of the quaint, little town. Three changelings that had been busy trashing a store advanced on him; the three of them were grunts, no bigger than the average pony but they were by no means ponies. Deep black bodies, a blue chitin back, bug like wings, blue pupil-less eyes, a curved black horn, a pair of fangs jutting out of the side of their mouths and the infamous holes in their legs.
The three changelings were unarmed but they seemed confident in their numbers. Blood Moon grunted and cracked his neck to the side.

The middle changeling darted forwards and went to hit the assassin in the face; the strike was dodged as Blood Moon swerved to the left, out of the way of the changeling's right hoof, before he chopped his left hoof across his opponents neck and disoriented the changeling. Blood Moon pushed past the fist black-bodied creature and stepped quickly up to the second, wasting no time in dispatching him, he ran him through the chest with his short sword, the well-tempered blade easily cutting through the chitin armour on his back as the weapon slipped right through the body, drawing the dark green blood of the shapeshifter out across the ground and staining his killer's blade; the third changeling lunged for the assassin as he whipped the blade out, catching him in the side; the blue chitin cracked and gave way as the weapon passed through and lodged itself in his ribs. The assassin left it there and turned back to the first attacker; he hopped off his fore-hooves and slapped them hard against the changeling's ears, stunning him and detonating some white bombs in his opponent's eyes. Back on all-fours, Blood Moon's left fore-hoof shot into the changeling's throat; he staggered and fell, his windpipe bruising and swelling until no air could get through, quickly suffocating.

Turning his attention back to the last changeling, he gripped the handle of his blade with his hoof and wrenched it free, green blood spurting out and the grating of bone on blade screamed from the wound. Weapon free, he looked up from the corpses and started forwards.
Blood Moon had very little love for changelings; they were clumsy in battle and disorganised, contrary to any assumptions of insect and hive organisation. Truth be told, they were little more than marauders when the emerged from their hovels and reared their ugly heads in the direction of Equestria, Tartartus bent on claiming the land and loving race of ponies for themselves. Their fighting style matched this fact, in that they didn't really have one, residing to simply swinging wildly and using basic spells. Or, perhaps their most infamous attack, using themselves as bombardments. Changelings had some weird ideas of how to engage in
warfare.

The assassin had been cantering for barely fifteen seconds before, more changelings appeared; two of them, more grunts, advanced on the assassin, who reached into his cape and grabbed three knives from their leather pouch, holding them in his hoof, and moved his leg in an arc letting them fly at the shapeshifters. All three found their mark, embedded deep in the left changeling's chest causing blood to ooze out of the injuries and onto the changeling's hoof which he held in front of his new orifices in shock before slumping down. The second went just as fast; the assassin's blade sung across the distance and slashed the neck, opening the neck muscles and arteries before he reached forwards and renched his head back, opening the neck completely as blood spat out of the hole, the changeling gurgling a little.

The assassin continued his trek to the library. Half-way there he came across a battle that was not his own; Sand Stalker was facing off four changelings, they had him surrounded and were grinning menacingly at the older merc, who was glaring at the four of them with equal menace. The mercenary had his scimitar clutched in his right hoof and was spinning it gracefully, his body weight resting on his bent left fore-hoof. Two of the shapeshifters charged at the merc, though what happened next impressed the assassin; one second the elderly mercenary was there, the next he was beside one of the advancing changelings with his weapon buried in his enemy's neck; the merc proceeded to rotate his body and slam his right fore-hoof up against the other changeling's jaw, flipping him over; Sand Stalker held the changeling by his inverted neck, one leg going under and the other over, and twisting savagely and sharply, the distinct 'snap' the ripped from the bug-winged equine's neck signalling the snap of his neck. The Arabian merc then whipped his sword out of the first changeling and flung it at one of the other changelings, watching his display of skill with face slackened awe, impaling him through the fore-head, taking him off his hooves. The last one was too taken aback to react to the mercenary that was galloping at him, jabbing him in the face and slamming his head into the ground. Sand Stalker went onto extend his wings and with one powerful burst of power from them he was above the changeling and dropping down onto him, slamming his rear-hooves onto his back and snapping the spine.

"Not bad" the assassin commented as he viewed the mercenary's hoof-work.

"What you get from forty years' experience" the merc shrugged. The pair took a moment to look around them. The pitch black night was illuminated by the fire working through the town, casting flickering shadows of the chaos around them, mares and stallions alike galloped and screamed some alone, some in pairs and others with foals on their backs, all around them changelings were wreaking havoc on the buildings, and attacking some of the fleeing ponies.

"Do we have a plan" the merc asked the assassin as he pulled his blade from the skull of the changeling that held it, a splatter of blood and grey matter following it out.

"Yeah, head to Twilight's library" Blood Moon responded as his hoof shot up and grabbed a changeling him by the neck, twisting it sharply as he snapped the neck before he tossed him aside. If Sand Stalker had been drinking something he would have spat it out in shock.

"What, you wanna go to the place everypony in Ponyville, all of whom I might add hate your guts right now, will be" Sand Stalker demanded in a 'say what' manner.

"Yeah, if we're gonna help out these ponies the best we can do is help protect them and the best way to protect them is to help hold down the fort" he explained to a merc waving for him to stop.

"Yes, yes I know that. What I mean is that do you really want to go to the place your targets held up" the merc asked. Blood Moon made his best effort not to lung at the merc and put a blade through his throat.

"How did you know that" he demanded his eyes narrowed in a fashion that made even the hardened mercenary pause for thought.

"Wasn't hard to figure out" he told Blood Moon as they began making their way towards the library, blades in magical grip and the right hoof of the flying Pegasus merc. Between them, they cut down changelings that attacked from all directions "first" the merc deflected a blow and cut off the fore-hooves of a changeling before continuing "you're an assassin in Ponyville. Not the kind of place our kind frequents without reason" he stopped talking as Blood Moon dodged an attack and stuck his sword through his attacker's eye and ripped it down through the eye socket. "Second, asking about the elements of harmony lead me to believe" he deflected a concussive magical blast from another changeling while Blood Moon gave him one of his own and knocked his target off his hooves, throwing him into another "that your hit had something to do with them" he darted to the side as a tendril of shadow shot up and snatched an airborne changeling out of the air before it crushed his ribs, lungs and heart under the pressure of it. The merc looked at the tendril that had just dropped a crushed changeling with the side of his maw pulled won in a 'not bad' face. "So I got to thinking: 'who out of the Elements of Harmony, would be worthy of an Equestria class assassin to be hired to kill?' So what are my options?" Three changelings charged the mid-air merc from the air; one was taken down by Blood Moon throwing his sword into him, cutting strait through the spinal cord, while the other two were killed by Sand Stalker, one with his head flying in the opposite direction of his body, the other seeing his entrails on the ground below him. They continued after Blood Moon ripped his sword out of the changeling before stabbing him through the heart to finish him. "Well there's Rainbowdash, the weathermare. Not the type that was well liked for her ego but she is an, admittedly, impressive mare so she's pretty well liked and well known ever since the young flyers competition" the merc finished with a grand flourish of his blade severing the wings off of three changelings, watching them drop into the jaws of two shadow serpents and the lethal flash of Blood Moon's blade. Blood Moon looked back at the two serpents; the shadows cast by the flames were doing a good job of keeping the darkness of the night away while casting their own shade on the ground allowing the assassin to latch his own shadow onto them, using a simple trick he'd learned when being trained in Umbra Linguam called 'shadow stretching' the simple act of moving the shadow of the caster over to other shadows to make use of the power they could provide the spell without having to be right next to them. The first serpent had eaten one of the changelings whole, it having fallen straight into its gullet. The second changeling was being ripped apart alive, his green blood and grey intestines being thrown about the place by the gorging black serpents as his gurgling screams echoed throughout the night.

"Boys, please, have some manners" he told the great beasts that had erupted from the shadows. He got a snarl in return that caused him to laugh. Above him, Sand Stalker was having trouble holding his lunch down.

"So, um…the other five" the merc said, glancing back at the mutilated corpse "there's Fluttershy, the animal caretaker; she's got a darker side but she's pretty nice most of the time, again not a good assassin target. Applejack is the resident food supplier, main one at least, she's honest, hardworking and decent, kind of pony that looks out for her family and doesn't wrong others, again not the type to have a price put on her head unless it's an extremely competitive rival-" the merc dodged an attempted lung at him, grabbed the attacker by the tail and pulled him back onto his blade stabbing him through the heart, cleaving it in half "- but you don't seem the type" he finished as he dropped the changeling. "Rarity is one of the best fashion designer in town, maybe Equestria, she has some competition but not to that extent" he told Blood Moon as he watched him stab a changeling in the eye with a throwing knife. The assassin had two changelings rushing him from either side; Blood Moon proceeded to leap up and grab the mane of one and guide him into the other stabbing his horn into the changeling's comrade's eye, all while doing a fore-hoof stand, before dropping down to the side and keeping his grip on the changeling's mane and reaching over, grabbing his chin and snapping the neck, the added momentum given by the drop allowing him to spin the neck right around one-eighty degrees, leaving the head rotated at an unnatural angle. All with wingboner grace.

"What about Pinkie Pie" Blood Moon called up.

"Pinkie Pie? Who'd want to, she's pretty much known throughout Equestria as the 'great party pony.' Everypony in Ponyville knows her and she's pretty well liked" the merc caught a knife out of the air and threw it back at the changeling that had thrown it, meeting it's mark between the changeling's eyes. "So that leaves-" he dodged a swipe from an airborne changeling and struck him in the throat in return "-Twilight Sparkle. Leader of the elements of harmony" Blood Moon rolled onto his back as a changeling grunt charged at him, using his rear-hooves to propel his enemy into the sky and the awaiting blade of Sand Stalker's scimitar, which cleaved him cleanly in half "making her the target of focus for anypony-" he moved his head to the side vacantly, avoiding a conceive blast from a changeling who was ripped apart by Blood Moon's serpents "or anything else changelings or anything they've saved Equestria from" he told the assassin as he watched him grab the hoof of a changeling that had thrown a strike, twist it at an unnatural angle and then snap it so the bone popped out of the joint. He then went onto move into the changeling and snaps the leg at the joint that met the body, leaving the entire left leg mangled and busted in an ugly fashion before Blood Moon clobbered him on the side of the head with the pommel of his sword, most likely causing brain damage in the process "she's got plenty of enemies, most of which have failed to defeat her face-to-face so hiring you to take her out from the shadows makes sense, then there's the fact that she's Celestia's student so anypony wanting to get to her could do so through Twilight" the mercenary explained as he impaled a changeling as casually as he would getting the mail. Blood Moon looked up at Sand Stalker, who was now busy wiping the blood from his blade, and saw the mind of the pony that had lived through numerous things some good, most bad and saw that, despite his rather brutish exterior, he had the rather commendable mind of a detective.

"It's a long list then" Blood Moon commented as they covered the final leg of their journey "of potential clients." He could see the tall tree before him in the distance and it appeared to be surrounded by changelings. The pair picked up their pace and galloped towards the line of changelings; Sand Stalker flew at a speed that seemed impossible for his age, while Blood Moon looked like a dark blur rather than a pony. The merc had sheathed his weapon and lowered his fore-hooves for Blood Moon who leapt up and grabbed them in response, using Sand Stalker as a swing to get over the three changeling wide wall between them and the library. The assassin landed with his normal grace, while Sand Stalker simply pulled in his wings and dropped to the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. Around them, three other ponies stood, facing off the changelings; Twilight, who was looking at him like she had expected his appearance but still didn't want him there, the rainbow coloured mare how he suspected to be Rainbowdash and the orange earth pony that could only be Applejack, going off her cutie mark. The two of them looked at him in disgust.

"Great, just what we need; a fifty-five year old swordspony and a blood thirsty assassin" the Pegasus mare said sarcastically at the two blood stained fighters arrival.

"Yer darn lucky that we got ta' take care 'o these vermin" the earth pony told the assassin as she bucked a changeling in the face, sending him flying.

"Now's not the time for bickering girls" Twilight told them as she ducked under a changeling that had lunged for her, who was quickly dispatched by a knife from Blood Moon "we need their help."

"Help? How could that ancient Pegasus-" she kicked two changelings that had jumped for her out of the air "-help us, I mean look at him, and I'll bet he could probably barely lift that sword off his back" she commented, earning a glare from the stallion in question. She returned the look he gave her "you heard me" she yelled over to him. The elderly mercenary went onto unsheathe his blade and cut down two changelings that had dived for him, hoping to dig their teeth into him, by spinning gracefully and removing both their heads faster than anypony could register. Not done with proving the mare wrong, he let two more changeling dive for him, the merc grabbing them and beating the face of one into the ground, going on to use the dazed shapeshifter to beat the other senseless, dropping the two as he stepped to the side slightly and let his left fore-hoof shoot up and slam into the face of a changeling that had come up behind him. Rainbowdash simply hovered there, her mouth agape.

"Do we have some kind of plan here" Blood Moon asked Twilight as they stood side by side, firing spells into the crowd.

"Not really" she replied "we were just trying to fight off as many as we could and hope they gave up" she admitted. She watched as Blood Moon dodged a concussive blast, made bigger from the conjoined efforts of the three unicorn changelings that fired it, and levitate them into the air for easy targets for her, the mare picking them off as he held them there for her.

"Some plan" he shouted as his horn glowed it's dark aura and four shadowy tentacles erupted from the ground, throwing a bunch of shapeshifters into the air while the four of them ripped apart the remaining changelings. Twilight looked on in awe and horror; awe because of the spell she was witnessing, at its raw power and the complexity it surely held, and horror at what it was doing to the changelings. She and her friends had been knocking out and disabling their attackers but Blood Moon, as she had come to understand, and the Pegasus he had brought with him were killing the changelings indiscriminately. She pushed the thoughts from her mind as best she could and focused on protecting her friends and town from the ever attacking changelings. Around her, she could hear Rainbowdash and Applejack fighting off the changelings but she could tell by the slowing strikes from AJ and Rainbow's longer pauses that they were getting tired, not that she was any different; she had been on her last reserves for a while now, not to mention that her second wind had come and gone a while back. Reluctantly she approached the assassin, who was cutting down, throwing knives, casting spell and…was he humming to himself? Twilight frowned as she thought she recognised the tune, but she approached him either way.

"Do you have a way to get rid of them" she asked Blood Moon, who in her opinion was having way too much fun with this.

"Maybe, but it will take a sec" he replied.

"Oh how cliché" the Pegasus in the beanie called over "we have to survive long enough for the massive, world ending attack to be ready. How long will it take, five minutes" he said sarcastically, all the while defending himself from the changelings.

"No" the assassin responded, teeth gritted and sweat pouring down his face, the glow about his horn reminding Twilight of the time she had 'vanquished' the Ersa-minor from Ponyville. As she was watching she heard screams coming from the crowd of changelings, she looked over and her eyes widened in horror. Flames, black flames as dark as the pony that created them were eating through the crowd of shapeshifters, burning them alive. The huge wall of dark fire was unlike anything Twilight had seen or felt before; it casted no light, instead making the area darker, it expelled no heat but gave off a strange sensation as Twilight's body prepared for warmth and got none, just the cold air of the night; the torrent of fire reached high into the night sky, easily standing taller than her library, and it seemed about as wide as the crowd of changelings. She looked over at Blood Moon, he had the look of ultimate concentration on his face and sweat was really running down his face now, like a mini Neighagra falls had spawned on his head.

After thirty seconds of the powerful spell, Blood Moon felt weak, an unfamiliar sensation that he often tried to avoid, and cut off the magic fuelling the spell. The last spell he had performed, a very powerful shadow spell even by Umbra Linguam standards, had taken it out of him. His vision was blurred and he could feel his legs giving way but he held himself up, his pride being his only motivation. Before him was a wasteland; the dead and charred corpses of changelings littered the ground and the grass they lay upon was black and dead, smoking slightly, killed by the dark fire he had created. He was getting looks from the ponies around him; Sand Stalker was looking at him with a menacing grin, though when he saw Blood Moon notice him, he gave a small nod and looked over the battle field; Twilight looked troubled, like she wanted to thank him but couldn't bring herself to do so, not after seeing his methods.

'Foolish mare, she really needs to open her eyes. What would she have preferred? Me and Sand let the kill all of them?' he thought as he looked over at her and her debating eyes; the orange earth pony was much the same as Twilight but seemed to be leaning towards 'forgive and forget'. Blood Moon knew why too; he had protected her friends and, if his theory about her family being in the library behind him was correct, her kin. The rainbow coloured mare, however, was nowhere to be seen, the assassin looked around himself, suddenly paranoid, and spotted the looks of confusion the two mares were giving the space to the upper left hoof side of head. The looks of confusion suddenly turned to alarm as he felt a blinding pain in his temple and the world dimmed, his balance faling him as he fell. Though not before he heard somepony, most likely the missing Pegasus shout:

"That's what you get for killing somepony in Ponyville!"

Unexpected friendships

Chapter nine: Unexpected friendships

Blood Moon's eyes fluttered open, a pain running through his head, as he tried to remember what had just happened; his thoughts were foggy and disorganised, the stallion slowly putting them back together. He remembered the attack on Ponyville, how the changelings seemed to be putting a siege on the town for whatever reason, he could remember joining the defence of the citizens of Ponyville just outside the library and…the Pegasus, the one who had knocked him out when his back was turned the spineless…

Calming himself with a long breath through his muzzle, the assassin looked around, took in his surroundings; he seemed to be in a guest or spare room judging by the cramped space and lack of décor, he was lying on a warm, soft and much-welcomed bed that had relaxed his muscles in his sleep, which he now realised to have been dreamless yet again. The walls of the room looked as if they had been carved directly from wood, the light brown confines illuminated by the sun seeping in through the window that was uncovered by the light green curtains. The colour gave him a sudden jolt to the memory as he recalled the opening of so many changelings' hides and the blood that had spilled from them. He grinned at the memory. He continued to look around the room until he frowned as he figured out where he was; simple room, carved straight from wood, in a spot where plenty of sun can get to it. He was in Twilight's library. He didn't laugh at the irony; instead he wondered what had caused the mare's sudden change of heart, though he didn't get to complete this train of thought as he heard hoof-steps outside the door and he watched it gain a purple glow before his target trotted in.

"Oh, you're awake" she said upon realising he was conscious. The assassin looked her over; she had taken in an obviously dangerous stallion, going off the bandages he now noticed on his head and the few around his body she had even tended to his wounds to. "How are you? Rainbow gave you a pretty bad head wound" she explained. 'How are you?' So few ponies had asked him that over the course of his life and the simple gesture that said 'I could give two bucks about you' meant a lot to him.

"I'd be better if a certain Pegasus hadn't hit me while my back was turned" he told her, his eyes narrowed. The unicorn seemed uncomfortable under his gaze, as most were, he could practically see her squirming under his stare. The purple mare gave a small, awkward laugh as he remained silent.

"Y-yeah…sorry about that, I guess she was still a bit freaked out by what happened" she said to the assassin, not meeting his eyes.

"Over what happened last night or what happened the other day" he replied his head cocked to one side. The mare replied by closing the door and moving further into the room with a small sigh.
"I wondered how long it would take for that be brought up" she said quietly, sitting on the other end of the bed. Blood Moon could see that she was terrified by being so close to him, the mere distance of half a meter not enough to hide that she disliked the fact that his presence, although he had to admire her courage at getting this close without galloping away screaming.

"I talked to Ditzy about that, she's here by the way, and I've decided that after what you did outside the library and the reason for you actions against the stallions… you can't be all bad" she told him with a small, weak smile. Blood Moon didn't know what to say to that; here was a mare, obviously scared of him, who was trying to create a bridge between them despite all he had done. The mare had looked up; finding the courage to look upon the stallion she knew could kill her without breaking a sweat and looked him in the eyes, they gave nothing about him away but they seemed so full of emotion and thought

'An interesting paradox' she thought to herself. Blood Moon was doing the same, his gaze meeting Twilight's as he read into her and there was so much to read; her life as Celestia's student, her time before Ponyville, her time here, what she had done for Equestria with the Elements of Harmony and her devotion to her friends. Though six things stood out the most in those purple orbs of hers: loyalty, honour, kindness, generosity, laughter and above all magic. It was strange to him; he had seen magic in ponies before, mainly powerful unicorns and Alicorns, but here it was as if rather than having magic she was magic, like she was a pony embodiment of it.

'The Elements of Harmony' he conclude mentally. She was, of course, the element of magic. 'Strange' the assassin thought 'I know that if, say, Fluttershy were to die there'd be no kindness in the world but if Twilight were to die…would there be no magic in the world?' He knew then and there how this contract would pan out; with no blood being spilt; Twilight was just too good, decent and, above all, innocent to kill…but that begged the question: who did want her killed.

"So, 'I'm not all bad' huh? Well on that note would you like to know why I'm here in the first place" he asked the mare, whose face reflected caution and curiosity. She nodded her head slowly, like she wasn't sure she wanted him to continue. "I was sent here, by pony or ponies unknown, to kill you Twilight sparkle." Time and space seemed to hold its breath as he said this, his words cutting their path between them as they struggled to make it to Twilight's ears through the thick layer of air between the two of them. Twilight's face, which had moments ago been an image of reluctant courage, now resembled that of horror and disbelief at the assassin's words; her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, no exaggeration, while her pupils retracted to pinpricks while remained locked on Blood Moon, who was as calm as ever despite just revelling his intentions towards her. Twilight's mouth opened and closed as she tried to make words but nothing came out; all's she could do was wonder why she was not dead yet. The mare latched onto this single, rational thought as her mind spun like a whirlwind questions on everything in her head that could not be answered by herself, only by her friends, by Celestia and the stallion sat before her, the stallion she had taken into her home, tended the wounds of and treated hospitably. This stallion, who was now telling he had to kill her. She cleared her throat nervously and fearfully, knowing full well that whatever she said now could dictate the path her life took; either to her friends again or down to the morgue.

"B-Blood Moon" she started each word she uttered in a small 'squeak' that Fluttershy would be more accustomed to "I-if you're supposed to kill me, t-then why am I still alive" she asked him, her voice trembling at how this conversation could go.

"Tell me, Twilight Sparkle: what do you see when you look at me" the stallion asked, as calm and as quiet as before. Twilight was taken off-guard by the question, but knew that this was the only thing between herself and the blade she knew he wielded so professionally. She took a good look at him in the new light; his face was nothing special, he had the look of a pony in his mid-twenties, maybe a little older than herself, he had faint crow feet at his eyes, shallow lines around his maw and three deep creases on his fore-head. The scar going down his face was deep, old and ugly and did nothing to help his looks... But his eyes.

Twilight heard stories from Rarity about all the 'eligible stallions' throughout Equestria and how, as she would put it, 'dreamy' their eyes could be. She had even seen it for herself a few times while she had been living in the Canterlot castle with Princess Celestia during her studies, when a noble would bring their son along in an attempt to pair them off and gain a hoof-hold in the Equestrian royalty, their deep and sometimes thoughtful look would mostly complement a handsome face, but here, it was different; he had no handsome face to complement deep, passionate eyes but the eyes themselves held mystery, deep and old knowledge, a dark sense of foreboding and experience, passion and a definet hint of roughish charm. Twilight shook her head lightly before she stared too long, prompting a small smirk from Blood Moon.

The purple pony already knew what she considered to be a secret concerning the assassin in her home, the fact he had to be over eleven-thousand years old, making him the oldest pony in existence, older than Celestia even. She decided that if she was getting out of this she needed to catch him off guard, and she had the perfect idea as to how to do so.

"I...I see an assassin...more than ten-thousand years old" she answered. Blood Moon froze, his whole body tensed and his muscles numbed, his thoughts clouded and his thinking halted, the breath he had taken and was about to release was caught in his lungs while his heart seemed to stop. He held his position for maybe thirty seconds, not breathing, thinking, moving and, if the lack of beats was anything to go by, his heart seemed to have stopped. To all intents and purposes, he was dead.

Then he let it all loose; his muscles relaxed in perfect unison as his head fell back onto the pillow, his heart started up again at a rate way too fast for him to be relaxed at, his mind unscrambled itself as he processed the information that had just entered his brain for a second time, third time, fourth time and fifth time, all the while his breathing started again, deep and slow as he collected himself. The original plan had been for her to answer 'an assassin' and he would have answered back 'true, but I am no normal assassin' the conversation would then have lead into his reason for not killing her then an explanation about his code then answering of any questions. He had not expected this pony to be privy to knowledge only two others were supposed to know.

"H-how, do you know that" he asked at length, erg to kill rising steadily. Twilight seemed to catch on and she answered quickly.

"W-well I did some research" she told him bluntly. The assassin, however, was unsatisfied with the answer and made a rotational movement with his hoof to signal her to keep going. "After your 'first appearance' I was curious about the magic you used to get away from us. I recognised it as a form of shadow magic and, with the help of a certain unexplainable pink pony, I managed to figure out the magic you had used was called…"

"Umbra Linguam" they finished in unison.

"Not many would be in their right enough mind to be able to identify types of magic just by looking at it after watching something like that" he said under his breath but loud enough that Twilight could 'overhear' him "let me guess; you found a list of all known magicians capable of performing that particular branch of magic." He got a nod in response.

"When I saw the list I was a little confused, I mean who makes a list of the ponies that can use magic…but then I noticed how short it was" she explained. "I noticed Celestia, Luna and Starswirl straight away, but then I saw King Sombra and the name Blood Moon..." She gave a small huff "I got the feeling something wasn't quite right" she told him, prompting a small smile from the assassin. "I went on to try and find out more about you, but there were nothing but a few scraps, which, I have to admit, is kind of impressive for somepony who's at least ten-thousand years old" Twilight admitted. The young spell-caster appeared to be getting comfortable in the assassin's presence, not so tense and she'd shuffled to more comfortable position on the bed slightly.

'A few scraps are still floating around out there? I must be slipping' the assassin thought.
He sat back up and looked over at the purple mare, taking her in; she was definitely Celestia's protégé and by no stretch of the imagination would he ever doubt that fact, if only because she'd been able to gather information on him, a pony who'd always strived to stay invisible and unremembered. He chewed the inside of his cheek for a second in thought, the question he had asked himself 'who would want Twilight dead' was demanding an answer more and more, the more he learned about her. This mare had the ability to accurately name different breeds of magic before going on to find out his own preferred magic type, an impressive feat to achieve, alongside her impressive mind and natural magical ability she was becoming more and more... well perhaps 'impressive' was the only word for it, despite it being a bit of an understatement. Eventually he turned his attention back to her.
"I can only guess a pony of your nature would have some questions for me" he told her.

"Yes, a few." Translation: don't expect to leave here any time soon.

"Understood. But first one for you; just what happened last night?"

Twilight Sparkle couldn't believe what she had just seen. The amount of raw power she could feel from the spell was astronomical, and she'd never seen anything like it before; such destructive magic, she wasn't surprised it had been banned! She gazed over the chaos that Discord himself would be proud of; the scent of burned chitin and bug wings drifted over to her nose and she tried her best not to gag at the twisted smell; the burnt and dead grass was home to numerous equally burnt and dead changelings. The unicorn had no good thoughts towards the changelings, especially after her brother's wedding, but she felt that not even Queen Chrysalis deserved that kind of fate. She turned her attention away from the scene and looked at the stallion that had caused it; he was stood, calm, like he hadn't just killed at least a hundred changelings. She turned away from the dark stallion, her eyes lingered on the stallion she had brought with him that was now hovering in the air, sword in hoof; the mustard furred stallion was looking over at the assassin. She wondered who he was, she had not seen the old pony around Ponyville much, one or two times in the market sure but never actually met him. She'd have to ask Pinkie Pie about him.

Now looking over at the dark stallion again, she found him fatigued, out of breath, that last spell must have taken a lot out of him, though the purple mare more or less expected that; the book she had been studying for the most of yesterday had told her that the longer the duration, the larger ground it covered or how much more generally powerful the spell, the more magical energy it took; the assassin's magic seemed to have used a lot more magical energy than a normal spell it seemed. He was panting badly and looked to be having trouble staying on his hooves. She took a second to look over to her friends, Applejack was watching the weary stallion with the same indifference as she was, but Twilight had a feeling that after protecting her family and friends, all of which were inside the library, she would be more forgiving. She wondered if she could do the same; he had killed the stallions in the market…but he had done it defending Derp-Ditzy doo hadn't he, and the stand he put up to the changelings had been in defence of her friends, their family's and Ponyville as a whole.

'Maybe he isn't all that ba- wait…Rainbow, what are you doing' the sorceress thought as she watched the rainbow coloured mane Pegasus tip-hoof mid-air towards the exhausted stallion; hovering, she reared her right fore-hoof. Twilight made a confused frown and was sure that if the older stallion inspecting the damage done could see Rainbow, he'd be right on her, she was also sure that Applejack was making the same confusion, turn alarm face as she was as she realised what the cyan blue Pegasus was up to; with a dull thwack she hit the stallion right in the temple with a strength that would have made Big Macintosh proud.

"That's what you get for killing somepony in Ponyville" she shouted in triumph as the assassin fell. Twilight just stared as he slumped on the ground, flank in the air, and face in the ground as he snored quietly. Twilight turned her head to the old, eye patch clad stallion as she heard hooves thundering across the ground as he galloped over to her furiously. As he approached Rainbowdash straightened up in an attempt to hold her ground…despite being air-born.

"WHAT WAS THAT" he roared in a fashion that made event the headstrong Rainbowdash flinch "HE…he helped you and your friends and you just hit him in the back like some coward" he told her, right in her face, though Twilight couldn't help but agree with him.

"What do I care if he 'helped' us or not, he got what was comin' to him!" Twilight gulped lightly as she looked away, not exactly happy with arguing with one of her best friends.

"H-he's right Rainbow…he did help us. You didn't need to do that." The mare in question looked at her, mouth agape.

"Whoa whoa, whp knows what he would have done to us when he was done with those changelings! What happened to loyalty to your friends" Rainbowdash argued to her unicorn companion.

"And what happened to honour in battle and standing by your comrades" the stallion argued back.

"He's not my comrade" the mare seethed at length "and I ain't any soldier gramps."

"That doesn't change the fact he stood by you 'Dash" the stallion all but whispered in a voice that reminded the watching unicorn of the assassin lying asleep at the scimitar wielding stallion's hooves. The flying Pegasus seemed shocked that this mystery fighter knew her name.

"Say, who in Equestria are you anyhow" she demanded "and how do you know my name?"

"My name is Sand Stalker; professional blade for hire and I know you, Rainbowdash, because I knew your farther" he explained. The moment he said 'farther' Twilight's, Applejack and Rainbowdash's eyes widened; Twilight and Applejack because they knew how sensitive an issue that was for the vibrant coloured mare and Rainbow herself, well…

"DON'T YOU DARE EVEN MENTION HIM YOU BUCKER" she roared in what can only be described as the Canterlot voice turned to eleven. She lunged at him, the sand stallion stepping to the side gracefully and let her stumble over his sweeping fore-leg; RD had turned back to him with a snarl on her face, but the use of vulgar language at that volume had inevitably drew attention from the occupants of the library as Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Scootaloo, Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle emerged from the library. The three fillies ran to their respective big sisters.

"Rainbowdash, please refrain from using such language in front of the girls" Rarity implored. Then, she spotted the assassin knocked out/asleep next to Sand Stalker. "Oh my" she said at a terrified length "it's him" she looked around herself and took note of the wasteland "did he do all of this" she whispered, just loud enough for everypony to hear. Rarity, Applejack and Rainbowdash were all holding their little sisters (adoptive in RD's case) in vice grips but none of them seemed to care, considering how scared they must have been.

"Jus' what in tarnation is goin' on here anyhow" Applejack demanded, filly in fore-hooves "jus' who's side is he on" she asked everypony but not expecting an answer.

"Ha, this is Blood Moon you're talkin' about here. You don't know who's side he's on till the last second" the Saddle Arabian merc told them, with a small smirk on his face.

"Uhhh…um"

"And how does that help us? For all we know he's tryin' to kill one of us, tryin' to get on our good side so he can get close" Rainbowdash argued.

'Kid you have no idea how close you are to the truth' the mercenary thought with a sideways glance to Twilight.

"Uhhh, we should really get him-"

"Please, this is no time for arguing; we've got most of Ponyville cooped up in there and we've got a whole bunch of…dead changelings out here. We've gotta figure out what to do with them" Twilight interjected.

"While that's true, there's the stallion who-"

"Twi's got a point there; we can't jus' be leavin' all ah these changelin's here. What ah we gonna do" Applejack agreed.

"B-but what about the stallion-"

"We get these civilians out of here and have any remaining guards take care of the corpses" Sand Stalker told her with a shrug.

"But Blood Moon-"

"And just who in the hay made you the boss around here, GRAMPS" Rainbow demanded.
"I-"

"And who didn't make me the boss, FILLY" the merc countered.

"QUIET" Pinkie shouted at the top of her lungs, bringing herself a little off the ground in the process, before floating back down like a bubble "Fluttershy's been trying to say something" she told them in the most polite manner known to pony, with a huge, unexplainable grin on her face. They all turned towards the Pegasus in question, who was stood close to the unconscious assassin. She shrank back a little at the large amount of attention.

"W-well it's just that I-I've been looking over his wounds and h-he seems to be losing a lot of blood, so-so I was just wondering if we should take him inside and try and heal him... I mean if that's ok with you" the yellow Pegasus asked, finishing her sentence with an adorably small 'squeak'.

"No way, why should we help HIM out" the blue flyer argued. The animal tender shrank back a little more.

"W-well he did help you protect us" she whispered from behind her mane.

"Finally, somepony who speaks sense" Sand Stalker told them, matter-of-factly.
"Ah'm with Fluttershy on this one Rainbow. He did help protect everypony" Applejack told the Pegasus.

"So am I" Twilight agreed.

"Oh come on, not you too Twilight" Rainbowdash groaned.

"I'm sorry Rainbow, but this argument isn't in your favour; Mr...

"Sand Stalker" said stallion repeated.

"Sand Stalker, Applejack and Fluttershy are all making good points. Besides, without him, these changelings would likely have gotten to Scootaloo and the rest of the Cutie mark crusaders" Twilight argued. This statement caused the Rainbowdash to look down at the orange filly in her fore-legs. Nopony noticed the somewhat loving look on her face.

"Low blow, Twilight" she muttered. Said unicorn trotted up to Pegasus and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry but we can't just leave him here." The unicorn trotted over to the assassin she identified as 'Blood moon' and levitated him onto the awaiting back of Sand Stalker, before she lead the way inside.
"Take him over to the spare bedroom, it's up the stairs, second door" she told the mercenary wearily, the events of the day catching up to her. The old stallion simply nodded and trotted up to the room she had directed him to, she couldn't help but notice that he was unnaturally quiet but she was glad for it, she didn't want Spike waking up.

"Hey Twilight, what's going on."

'Rats' she thought, as she recognised the voice.

"Oh, nothing Spike" she told the drowsy looking dragon, the drake rubbing his eyes.

"Don't look like nothing" he replied, looking around the library filled with a large bunch of ponies.

"Just...just do me a favour and go see if everypony is alright, please." Spike gave a small salute in return as he went around to all the ponies hanging around the library. In the end only Twilight's friends, Sand Stalker (who had reappeared from upstairs) and the unconscious Blood moon remained. While Twilight's friends gathered in a corner, finding safety in each other's company, Twilight herself trotted over to the mercenary who was stood by himself in the edge of the library; he was looking through the books on Equestrian history, or he looked to be, as Twilight noticed he kept looking over to Rainbowdash.

"So, how do you know them? Rainbow and Blood Moon I mean" she asked him as his back was turned to her, he turned his head to before answering her.

"I met Blood in a bar; we met, exchanged words, had a few drinks" he grunted to himself "we we're pretty fast friends" he said, a smile in his voice but not on his face. Twilight smiled at his words.

"Friendship is magic" she said, a little merriness in her voice as she quoted her leanings over the past few years. The merc looked over an eyebrow raised and a lopsided grin on his face.

"And wouldn't you know about that, Twilight. And, for the record, I met Rainbowdash through her dad, who I also met in a bar. She, apparently, doesn't recognise me despite my being around her most of her foalhood. That said, I wasn't really there much, and she was young, so it's no wonder" he looked over at the mare who was glancing their way now and then

"Rainbowshine, her mom, and her father, Blazing Trails, would always make small mentions of 'ol' uncle Sand' now and then, though it seems she's forgotten" he told her, a laugh in his voice "always sayin' that she would never be alone as long as there was sand or shade nearby."

"That reminds me of the assassin's song" Twilight commented absently, the merc not supposed to hear.

"Nah, that's Blood Moon" the stallion argued. Twilight had a confused expression on her face, the Pegasus sighed "cold windy nights? Just look outside" he told her. The unicorn did as asked and looked out the window, seeing the branches and leaves waving at her from outside the library. "Pray the assassin will watch over your plight? Now, be honest with yourself; were you hoping he would show up?" Twilight took a second to think before she nodded her head, admitting it to herself as much as she was to the mercenary. He smiled and nodded. "Either way, Rainbow's parents asked me to look after her but..." Twilight could sense the dark cloud looming in his mind.

"What happened" she pressed, trying to be gentle with somepony that had some obviously painful memories. Sand Stalker just shook his head, an act that cut off the conversation without dispute.

"Anyway, enough of this; I'm an old, tired and cranky stallion and you have an assassin to look after" he told her as he trotted away, not giving her a chance to say anything. Twilight just sighed and headed towards the stares that lead to the spare room, but as she got half-way up, an ever timid and hovering Fluttershy stopped her.

"Uh, um Twilight, a-are you going to see to that s-stallion" she asked, her hooves held behind her back as if she were explaining to her mother where the last cookie had gone.

"Yeah, why do you ask?"

"Oh-oh I was just wondering if you needed any h-help with him" she asked her from behind her mane.

"Uhh, sure but, if you don't mind my asking, why?" Fluttershy clopped her hooves together nervously before answering.

"W-well it's just that Pegasus" she told the unicorn, glancing over at the mustard stallion who was still gazing over the books and taking periodic glances over at Rainbowdash "he-he scares me." Twilight sighed sadly.

'Fluttershy, I swear to Celestia, you're scared of your own shadow.'

"Don't worry about it Fluttershy" the sorceress told the animal lover, putting a hoof on her shoulder "but are you trying to say that Blood Moon doesn't make you scared" she asked, doubting her friend's logic a little.

"Well he'll be asleep...won't he" she said, a worried tone in the latter part of her sentence.
Twilight giggled slightly as she led the way up the rest of the stairs. In the spare room, Twilight found the assassin laying on the bed; he was still, silent, peaceful and, for all intents and purposes, seemed to be sleeping soundly, a bubble expanding and contracting on his maw as he breathed. Twilight couldn't help but think of a napping colt. The two proceeded to remove his garments, the unicorn making sure Fluttershy didn't see the leather belt. Once he was fully undressed the pair came across a nasty sight; Twilight and Fluttershy's eyes widened, the unicorn's jaw hung low while the Pegasus put a hoof to her mouth in shock. Blood Moon's body was covered in scars; some small nicks, others large, brutal and undoubtedly deep wounds, most of his back had ridges and bumps from the sewed up by an unpractised hoof, his stomach home to a gruesome and ugly 'Y' shaped scar where he'd undoubtedly been gored by something, all of his legs burned and scarred badly, his hooves rough and calloused.

It was all the same kind of hastily repaired damage, Twilight noticed the older looking scars were not as well mended as the newer ones and she could only draw one conclusion: he must have stitched them up himself. Twilight could now properly see the scar on his face, now that his hood was gone, and saw...just how bad it looked; she had to admit, she hadn't really known what to make of his face before but now she could see his face with the scar in all its...'glory' she was having trouble not feeling bad for whatever had done that to him, and what he must have done in return. It was deep and badly stitched, she could actually still make out where the needle and thread had gone in and out before being, from what she could tell, brutally ripped out with ease, even in the dim light, and it did nothing for his already rather unappealing looks.

"B-by Celestia" Twilight whispered. Fluttershy simply gave a terrified nod in response. Twilight looked over his body and spotted a blank spot on his scarr ridged body "say Fluttershy, notice he's got no scars on his chest?" Fluttershy looked closer at his chest and noticed he had, indeed, no scars on the front of his body.

"H-how do y-y-you think that happened" Fluttershy asked her bookish friend, who looked over at the vest she had removed from him and noticed something odd about it, though clothing was not her strong suit so she decided to leave that to Rarity. A second look across the assassin revealed around five open cuts, relatively new, and that his wound, courtesy of Rainbowdash, was leaking blood.

"Well...lets get to it" Twilight shrugged as her horn glowed and Fluttershy picked up some bandages Twilight kept in here for just such an occasion. Between them, they patched him up rather well within around twenty minutes, before deciding they were too tired to anything more and went to sleep. Though, all of the mares in the Golden oaks library had dreams plagued by black fire, a flashing blade and a hooded stallion.

"...And that's pretty much what happened" Twilight finished. Blood Moon, who had his head hung as he listened intently, looked up and nodded once.
"So it's because of you and the yellow mare that I woke up to find myself here" he asked as he looked the mare in the eye. Twilight simply nodded. "Why show me such kindness?"

"Well, you protected me and my friends... and you haven't killed me have you? Besides, that kind of behaviour should be expected from the Element of Kindness" she explained with a small smile on her face. "You know, you still haven't explained why you haven't killed me."
Blood Moon snorted.

"First rule of conduct; never kill an innocent" he told her dismissively "but whatever the case, you have my thanks..." Blood Moon looked into the void for a second before he grinned "it occurs to me I owe you my life" he told her, an amused grunt in his tone.

"Well not really, your more robust than most other ponies I've met before."

"Well, my general comfort then" he said with a smirk.

"Well if you insist on owing me something, let it be a comfy bed" she said with a giggle. Blood Moon grunted again.

"I suppose if I want to make amends with your friends, I should get it over with" he said after a long pause. Twilight nodded as the assassin stood up on his hooves, wobbling slightly, and made his way to the door. The two made their way down to the main part of the library, where Twilight's friends were gathered, before stopping at the foot of the stairs and looking at the mares and stallion gathered down there.

"Hi..." Blood Moon said casually.

Author's Note

It would probably be prudent to mention that the next few chapters may take a little longer to be released, given that I'm gonna have to bring them up to snuff in comparison to my already edited chapters.

Second impressions

Chapter ten: Second impressions

Blood Moon got no response. The eyes of every pony in the room fell to both him and Twilight. Some in fear, some confusion, some a noticeable hint of distaste, to put it politely. The assassin was used to the expressions. He looked right back at them, gauging their reactions. Twilight’s tale of what had happened last night had lent him their names, and he could only guess it was Twilight’s research that had given her his, now that he noticed he hadn’t actually told her his title.

The first he noticed were the orange and blue mare, Applejack and Rainbowdash, names most fitting of the mares. Applejack wore an expression of suspicion, yet a sort of...reluctant trust. An interesting combination. Protective yet weary. Smarter than she looked, this country mare. The rainbow mane and tailed mare was more suspicion than anything else, her eyes narrowed none too subtly at him. No doubt his assumption yesterday had been right, she was one of the most protective members of the group.

‘Trust, it seems, is lacking’the assassin thought as he turned his attention away from the two mares.

A little besides the Pegasus and earth ponies, a unicorn of white fur sat with another Pegasus of yellow fur. Rarity and Fluttershy, he presumed. Yet another pair of names well earned. Fluttershy was the only pony in the room not staring at him, instead she had her face hidden by her extensive pink mane, cowering most likely. Twilight’s short description of her butter yellow friend was all he needed to know that this mare’s attitude to new ponies was...reclusive, at best. Rarity, meanwhile, was watching him with wide, nervous eyes, likely unsure of what to think of him.

The last to find his gaze was the pinkest pony of the group. Pinkie Pie. Blood Moon wasn’t even going to comment about how much that name fitted her. Internally, the assassin frowned, recognising the mare from his small battle in market. She had been the one with the straight, pink mane and tail, holding Fluttershy. Now, however, her mane and tail was...well, ‘poofy’ was the only way to describe her mane, undoubtedly smelling of cotton candy. Despite this rather happy-looking exterior, she held him in a gaze of uncertainty; apparently she was undecided whether to throw him a ‘thank you for saving Ponyville’ party on gallop for the hills in fear.

Blood Moon’s eyes went over the rest of the room, only now taking into consideration the fillies gathered around with the mares. Three between the six, they were sat close by the mares, and undoubtedly the fillies Twilight had brushed upon before. The first was an earth pony, sat next to Applejack. She was of bright yellow fur, her mane and tail a slightly unkempt red, a pink bow keeping the mane in check. Her eyes were of a light orange, filled with a confliction of fear and curiosity. Blood Moon could see the resemblance between the two earth ponies, no doubt one of the sisters that Twilight had mentioned.

The second was a unicorn filly, Rarity holding her to her chest in her fore-hooves. She had very light grey fur, her mane and tail a well kept and curly two-tone dark violet and pale pink. Her eyes, as confused and scared as her fellow filly, were a soft, light green.

The third and final filly in the room was a Pegasus. She sat with Rainbowdash, the mare pulling her closer when she spotted Blood Moon observing her. She was of an orange coat and wings. Blood Moon couldn’t help but frown at the under-developed muscles on both wings, not to mention the delicate looking wings for her age. Normally by her age she’d have given them a good battering by learning to fly. Looking away from the curious case of the filly’s wings, he found a windswept mane and tail, not too different from his own unkempt mane and tail of the mare holding her, only their hairs were much shorter than his. They were a dark purple, her eyes a lighter shade of the same colour. The assassin looked between the two winged ponies, finding no real resemblance between them. Another eyebrow raising feature of this filly.

Looking away from the fillies and mares, he soon found Sand Stalker, sat in a corner with his fore-legs crossed over his chest. He seemed to be watching the other ponies in the room, though Blood Moon got the impression that it was no coincidence that his chosen spot gave him the best vantage point of Rainbowdash over all the other ponies, if Twilight’s short explanation of their relationship was anything to go by.

Done with taking in the ponies, the killer felt it prudent to say something. That was, until, he heard a familiar voice say his name.

"Blood Moon" the voice asked. The assassin scanned the room; he felt a hope in him he thought was rather out of place, all things considered, but couldn’t deny the relief he felt when his eyes fell upon them.

"Ditzy, Dinky" he said, cantering over to them with a small with a small smile on his face. He wrapped his fore-legs around both filly and mare, that he’d managed to protect the pair of them relieving a weight on his chest he hadn’t noticed before.

‘Old habits die hard I guess’ the assassin thought as he released the two, taking a step back and looking over them, hoping to confirm to himself that they were, indeed, unscathed. He was glad to find that the only blemish on them was the sleepy bags under Ditzy’s eyes.

"Are you alright" the mare asked looking over his bandages "we saw the flames miles away…are you hurt." Blood Moon smiled slightly at the concern before something she’d said struck him.

"Miles, how far did you go?"

"We went to north, like you said, a little ways to Cloudsdale before we came back." She took another look over her new found special somepony. "Are you ok" she asked again, prompting a small smirk from the assassin.

"I've had worse than this, trust me on that." Ditzy pouted a little.

"How come you get to worry about me but I don't get to worry about you" she asked, reminding the assassin of a filly slightly. He couldn't help but laugh at the absurd question.

"Because, I have experience with this kind of thing, when I start having trouble with delivering mail, then you can start worrying" he told her, getting a small giggle from her. The stallion turned his attention to the filly beside the mare and lowered his head to her "and how are you…" he asked, finding it impossible to mask the concern in his voice. Blood Moon always had had an unlimited reserve of concern for a foal he liked. Dinky didn't answer at first, instead grabbing the assassin and hugging tightly.

"I-I was really scared when the fire started" she told him. Blood Moon admired her courage in admitting her fear; he knew from experience that most fillies and colts acted brave around adults, and generally those just older than them, and found it hard to swallow their pride when it came to this sort of thing. The dark stallion returned the hug before straightening up and looking at the pair who had so readily taken him into their lives, the pair he now found himself caring for so greatly. He wondered how he would have reacted if he had found them injured…or worse. He doubted the Changeling race would have survived much longer.

"Well, I'm glad you're both alright” he told them, caressing the pleasant nerves behind the mares ears. Ditzy seemed to enjoy his touch, but enjoyed the kiss he planted on her lips even more. He pulled back and gave her a classic lady-killer smirk. The mailmare gave a cute blush in return, looking away in slight bashfulness. Looking down at the filly and tussling her mane, prompting a giggle from her, the assassin looked back to the rest of the occupants of the room. Rainbowdash had an unimpressed eyebrow raised, Applejack a look of equally unimpressed amusement, Rarity, Pinkie and the fillies were wearing small blushes, Fluttershy was still hidden behind her mane while Twilight just raised an eyebrow as she noticed the change in the assassin’s demeanour. Sand Stalker had just grunted and shook his head.

With the charm well and truly turned on, the assassin figured it was time to get this under way.

With the ice more or less broken, the ponies retreated to their own activities. Blood Moon decided that Fluttershy was first on his list, wanting to thank her for her help last night. She was sat with Rarity and her little sister, still sitting nervously behind her mane. He approached her steadily, deliberately, making sure to make no sudden movements around the obviously scared mare.

When he stood before her, she only curled up tighter, retreating deeper inside herself.

"Fluttershy isn't it" he asked, his voice gentle and calm, though he doubted its horse and dark nature helped. To confirm this, she curled up even tighter. Leaning his head down to her level, he used a voice he normally kept for small animals and scared fillies. "I believe it was you who insisted that my well being was seen to" he posed, his gentle manner seeming to calm the mare slightly. He got a squeak in response. It was progress, he guessed. "You have my thanks" he told her simply before he straightened up again. He decided that this was a mare who didn’t much like his company, so he felt it best that he not stretch this out. As he went to turn away, he heard a small voice.

"Y-you're welcome" the butter furred mare spoke up. That said, perhaps 'spoke' was the wrong word, considering she spoke in a tone that even the perceptive ears of the assassin had trouble picking up. Blood Moon turned back to her again, leaning his head down to her once more.

"Why show me this kindness" he asked with genuine curiosity in his tone. The assassin had already asked this of Twilight Sparkle, but he was unsatisfied with the answer he had gotten from her. Nopony simply ‘helped’ a stallion like him.

"W-well you would have been all cold out there, all alone" she offered.

‘I would have bled to death, more like’ the assassin thought. It was clear that this mare was uncomfortable around the idea of serious wounds and was reluctant to mention it. Ironic, really, considering she was one of the only mares here who had any medical knowledge, maybe save Twilight

"A-and I couldn't just leave you out there like that, a-after what you did" she continued to a surprised assassin.

“What I did?” She peeked from around her mane a little.

“W-well you did help my friends protect Ponyville.” She looked down again. “E-even if you did...do...what you...did” she squeaked. Blood Moon gave a small smile of admiration of this mare’s courage in the face of fear.

“Well, Fluttershy, for that” he raised a hoof and pushed her mane out of her face, looking upon her. Fluttershy realised what he’d done, glanced at his face so close and squeaked again, hiding behind her hooves. “You have my thanks” he finished. Fluttershy peeked from behind her hooves again, giving him a small, apocalyptically adorable smile. Blood Moon gave his own in return before he leaned in and spoke quietly into her ear. “Y’know, you should really stop hiding behind your mane. You’re obstructing a beautiful view” he told her, prompting a pink blush from the mare and another squeak as he moved back. A small grin still on his face, the assassin straightened up again and looked around. Deciding to work with proximity order, his next target was Rarity.

Turning to his left, the assassin found the white furred mare watching him; she was clutching her little sister tight to her chest, a fearful and unsure look on her face, while the filly hid her face in her sister's body and held her back all the more tightly. The fashionista gave a small, unsteady smile, trying and failing to calm herself under the assassin’s, admittedly, rather laidback gaze.

“Morning” the assassin began, bowing his head gently. Rarity’s mouth opened and closed a few times before she finally managed to get words out.

"G-good morning” she returned “I-I don't believe we've been formally introduced" the unicorn mare stammered "I am Rarity a-and this is my little sister, Sweetie belle." Blood Moon raised an eyebrow in thought as he scanned his memory for something he felt was familiar.

"Rarity” he began slowly, still searching his memory before he realised where he knew her name from “I believe I saw some of your works in Canterlot on one occasion" the assassin told her, remembering a fashionista he had once put a scare into for stealing the designs of another fashionista. Not the most common of contracts, but a contract all the same. Blood Moon hoped that by appealing to her passion and talent, his efforts to win her over would be a little easier on him. Cocking his head and giving her an impressed look, he finished with "most impressive." His efforts pay off as the mare straightens up and gives him an appreciative smile.

"My, I-I didn't take you for a stallion with an eye for fashion" she admitted to him. Blood Moon had met many pretty mares over his life, but he had to admit, Rarity was one of a kind. As soon as she stepped inside her comfort zone, a definite glow returned to the mare as she got more comfortable around him. The assassin couldn't help but admire the beauty her slim yet toned body, pretty and well-made face, glamorous mane and tail and manner gave off. Blood Moon took note of the seamstress’s manner and posture, apparently trusting him enough to have released her little sister, or Sweetie-Belle, and look at him properly. Blood Moon cocked his head gently, shooting her a grin with enough of a roughish quality to pickpocket her. The assassin knew he was by no means handsome, but he certainly knew how to play to a mare’s weaknesses to make himself more appealing. Roguish charm was often the way to go with such endeavours.

"All good assassins have an eye for detail my lady." The mare practically swooned at his words.

"M-my, quite the mare killer aren't we" Rarity said with a flirtatious bat of her eyelashes. Blood Moon simply chuckled as he lowered his voice until only him and her could hear him.

“Oh, how I’d love to take a contract out on you” he answered suggestively. This time, Rarity nearly fainted. Blood Moon then looked down at the filly, resting on his front before her. “Hello there, Sweetie-Belle, isn’t it?” The filly nodded her head silently, watching him with wide, curious eyes. Blood Moon couldn’t help but adore that look on a foal’s face, especially new-borns who thought everything was awesome. “Tell me, Sweetie-Belle, your name and face are as pretty as the night sky” the filly blushed “is your voice just as beautiful?” The filly almost followed her sister to the land of dreams. Her maw opened and shut a few times before she managed to form words.

“I-I-I don’t know” she answered. Blood Moon smirked and shot her a wink.

“That’ll be yes” he told her, the filly blushing once more, turning her head away to hide it.

Standing up again, Blood Moon caught the look Sand Stalker was sending his way; a wry smirk and raised eyebrow. As the assassin trotted away from Rarity, Fluttershy and Sweetie-Belle, he passed the merc and muttered:

“If you think that’s some game, you should see me playing ping-pong.” The mercenary couldn’t beat back the growing smirk on his face as he looked to the ceiling to escape the laughter building up in him. After the short fiasco, the assassin made his way over to the second pair of sisters, both of which looked up at him as he approached.

"Howdy" the elder greeted him simply, tipping her hat.

"Mornin' pardner" the assassin responded straight faced. The two continued to stare each other down, Blood Moon letting a lopsided grin stretch across his face while a smile Applejack couldn’t hold down steadily grew on her face, finding it impossible to stay straight faced after watching assassin and Rarity’s ‘conversation’. Before long, the farmhoof spoke up.

"Ah suppose a thankin' is in order" the mare sighed as she ran a hoof through her younger sibling's mane, gazing down at her. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Think nothing of it" he told her. The mare chuckled.

"Not many folk out there how would go sayin' 'think nothin' of it' to fightin' off a bunch ah changelings" Applejack drawled. Blood Moon grunted.

"Not many ponies are me...besides" he took a moment to look down at the filly who was gazing up at him with wide eyes, before he ran a hoof of his own her mane with a gentleness he reserved for foals and foals only. The filly seemed against the idea at first but she soon noticed how soothing his touch seemed to be and let him continue. "I know what it's like to lose a filly close to you." The whole room seemed to go quiet at this comment and all eyes were locked on the assassin who had gone misty eyed as old memories came creeping back to him as he continued to tussle the filly's mane. After a few seconds Blood Moon abruptly turned away and trotted slowly over to where his most challenging target was sat; Rainbowdash. Though, as he trotted, nopony could truly see the dark cloud hanging over his head. When he stood before her, Rainbowdash looked up at him with a spiteful look on her face.

"What do you want" was the rainbow coloured mare's greeting. The stallion suddenly felt very frustrated.

"To make peace." He was blunt and frank with this mare, something about her putting him in no mood to be prancing around the point. There was something about this mare that put him at the end of his fuse.

"Yeah right, you don't fool me" she told him, eyes narrowed. She also seemed to subconsciously pull in the filly. The assassin noticed and recognised a weakness. He turned his head down to the foal and looked her over for a few seconds; now that he looked over their close proximity and the elder’s protective nature, Blood Moon figured out the relationship between the two.

‘Adoptive sisters.’

"You care for her greatly, don't you." A statement not a question. The mare looked down at the filly in her fore-hooves and for a second, Blood Moon saw her facial expression turn from suspicion and, put kindly, hatred to one of care and affection.

"You keep her out of this" Rainbowdash hissed suddenly as she looked up at the killer.

"I should know" he continued like she hadn't said anything "I practically raised two foals myself, fillies to boot, before we grew apart" he paused and took in the once again very silent atmosphere before he approached a sensitive topic "orphaned?" He watched as both the filly and mare's eyes welled up at the mention of the subject of being parentless. It was all the answer he needed. Figuring this stallion had experience with orphans and foals, Rainbowdash decided it was okay to talk to him about something he obviously already knew about. As her memories filled her mind, Scootaloo feeling the same pain, she grit her teeth against the tears. That wouldn’t do her rep any good.

"M-me and Scootaloo lost our parents pretty young, we both had nopony for a while” she told him. The original plan had been to tell him that and nothing else, but once the floodgates had opened, it was difficult to close them again under the rush and she soon found herself spilling her guts to him. “It was some time before I found Twi and everypony and Scoots found Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle, but beyond that we’ve never really had any family..." she trailed off as the filly in her grip tightened her hold on her would-be big sister.

Around the library, the rather heart wrenching exchange with an air of strange unease; the Elements of Harmony had always known that Rainbowdash had been on her own since a young age but nopony had ever approached her about it, given how touchy she was around the subject. The same went for Scootaloo, only it was more in fear of upsetting the filly that stopped them from talking about it. There was also the way Rainbowdash was acting right now; Twilight couldn't help but wonder how this stallion had managed to get through to the hard-headed Pegasus in such a way that had her clutching her adoptive little sister so tightly, tears threatening to spill and wings wrapped around her little sister. Despite the tune the scene was playing on her heartstrings, she couldn't help but find it somewhat adorable.

“Friends weren't enough, would never be enough for somepony in your position…you needed family and that's where you both came into it" Blood Moon eventually finished for her, filling in the gaps for himself. Rainbowdash simply nodded. The assassin watched as the mare and filly continued to hold one-another as they compensated for the other's loss. "You were wrong you know" the mare looked up at the stallion in confusion "if your search for family continues, or if you’re just feeling alone..." he cocked his head and a gave a sympathetic grin "look no further than the sand." The Pegasus was confused with the last remark but said nothing anyway. As he took a step back, the assassin looked to the mercenary as he straightened and found that the merc had his eyes narrowed in an expression of grudging thanks.

Blood Moon then proceed to turn to his next target…only to find her staring directly at him. Her face an inch away from his. Leaning his head back, the pink mare responding by following him backwards, Blood Moon soon found himself rather uncomfortable. And this was coming from a stallion who’d once made eye contact when using the urinal.

“Hi” Blood Moon said slowly, raising his hoof and putting it to the mare’s smiling muzzle, slowly pushing her back so he could stand without having to limbo.

"Hi there, I'm Pinkie Pie" 'Pinkie Pie' told the assassin. Blood Moon nodded once.

“Yes...I gathered” he answered. They stood in silence for a while before Pinkie cocked her head.

“Aren’t you gonna be all charming with me?” Blood Moon blinked.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re excused” she answered, beaming. Blood Moon sighed a defeated sigh.

‘So this is what happened to that genetically enhanced taco...’

“You know, Pinkie, the last time I met somepony like you, I was in an insane asylum” he said pleasantly. Pinkie looked shocked.
“Hey, that’s a coinkiedink, the last time I met somepony like me I was in an insane asylum too! Of course, I wasn’t an inmate there, i was meeting an old friend of mine, Stanley, the talking grape!” The assassin had the sudden urge to go find a dark corner, sit down in it and cry and for a little while. "Y'know, you remind me of my daddy" Pinkie told Blood Moon suddenly, who, like most of the other ponies in the library, frowned.

"I…what?"

"You remind me of my daddy; you're dark coloured, he's dark coloured, you're pretty old, he's pretty old and both of you are pretty grumpy" Pinkie Pie explained in a voice that was way too cheery for what she was talking about. As she spoke Blood Moon watched as she got less and less… perhaps the only way to describe it was 'Pinkie-ish'. He soon realised that he had to pull her out of this thought track before she became a mass a blubbering equine.

"You know Pinkie, I still haven’t been my charming self to you yet" he told her, in an effort to change the subject.

"I know” she replied brightly “I don’t mind.”

“Well that’s good, because I can’t think of anything to complement you on” he said nonchalantly. Pinkie suddenly deflated, her mane losing its ‘poof’, yet not going straight as her lower lip wobbled, her eyes going damp as she sat on her flank.

“You’re a meanie-pants” she told him, her expression breaking the assassin’s heart a little. Blood Moon got a sudden stroke of genius as a smile grew on his face, leaning in and whispering into her ear. Pinkie Pie's face turned from its hurt expression to a puzzled frown, a confused gape of her mouth, her head looking down in thought and, as the assassin got to the last words of whatever he was telling to the party pony, she exploded into laughter as Blood Moon leaned back pleased with himself.

"What did you tell her" Rainbowdash asked in confusion.

"Well since there are young ears present I'll spare you the details but what I will tell you is that it consisted of; a bucket, a pickaxe, five goats, a bandit and five gallons of cider, none of which was consumed via the gullet." Everypony in the room gave a synchronised 'huh' as they watched the stallion sit there smirking to himself and Pinkie Pie roll around on the floor howling to herself as she held her sides.

He waited a second for Pinkie to stop laughing, the pink part pony laying on her back, still giggling a little as she gazed at the ceiling.

“I’ve totally gotta tell the Cakes that” she said absently. Blood Moon held a hoof out for her, pulling her to her hooves. When she was upright again, the assassin kept her ear close to his mouth as he whispered to her.

“I was lying just now you know; you’ve got a beautiful plot” he told her casually. Pinkie’s pink posterior twitched gently at the compliment, her pink face growing all the pinker.

Leaning back with a grin on his face, the assassin took a few steps back before he looked around the room.

“Well then, now that we’re all friends” the assassin said, trailing off.

The rest of the day went by without much drama, though in light of his happy and light hearted thoughts and emotions he knew that all good things came to a close and this particular close was heralded by Blood Moon's realisation that somepony had wanted to rip these mare apart. His eyes narrowed at the thought of the six ponies turning their backs on each other. He gritted his teeth at the idea of six real friends being pulled apart for someponyelse's twisted gain. His blood boiled when he thought of them lying cold and alone. His hatred roared when he thought of them getting away with it. His question held; who would want Twilight dead? The answer was in the form of a pony and the grin he formed when he thought of what he would do to them, would have made Celestia, Luna and Discord quake in fear at the simple memory of it.

As he trotted back to Ditzy's home, Dinky riding on his back, he thought about what had happened during his relatively short time here. He had arrived with the intent to kill somepony, then he had met his target, befriended her and chosen not to kill her. And now, he had a new quest. He had a new contract.

Find who had wanted Twilight Sparkle dead, and return the favour.

Beginnings

Chapter eleven: Beginnings

Blood Moon awoke, his dream escaping him, flittering away and out of his grasp. He frowned; that had happened to him before and it was not a nice feeling, like something just out of reach, that one tormenting inch away from his hoof. He put his hoof to his temple and made circular movements in an attempt to be rid himself of the ache threatening to emerge, though soon enough, he felt the rhythmic pulse of pain begin as the headache started up. The assassin shook his head a few times as he got up from the couch he had called 'bed' for the last few nights. Blood Moon didn’t like headaches, as was the case with many of the ponies of Equestria, but he felt himself in a slightly better position than anypony else. Mainly because he knew just how to get rid of them. He trotted into the kitchen and went through a few draws until he came across some aspirin; taking three, he then put his head under the tap and chugged water like a frat would booze. By the time the water had filled his stomach, it had also numbed him a little with the cold water, paving the way for the aspirin. Or at least, that’s what that one guy wearing a suspiciously bloody doctor’s uniform had told him.

Rubbing his head again as he turned around, Blood Moon turned straight into Dinky Hooves. She wore a small grin on her face, likely aimed at the assassin’s ‘interesting’ drinking method. The assassin returned the filly’s grin, a small smirk stretching across his face .

“Hey” he said.

"Hey" she replied “better now” she asked, motioning at the sink behind him. Blood Moon grunted a laugh.

“Muchly so” he replied as he sat down on one of the chairs in the kitchen, watching the filly do the same. “You’re up a little early, aren’t you?” Dinky gave a small frown.

“I’ve gotta get ready for school” she told him. The assassin frowned back.

“Wait, you’re telling me that right after an attack on Ponyville, the foals still have to go to school? Wow, and I thought my youth was brutal” he commented “What about repairs, anypony hurt?” Dinky giggled, rather adorably.

“Nopony was badly hurt, and the only real damage was the thatch roofing on the houses. Ponies like Miss Twilight can fix that easily” she told him. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow, cocking his head.

“And how, pray tell, do you know all this little one?” Dinky gave him a small shrug.

“I dunno, I just looked around yesterday when we were coming back here and figured that with almost everypony trotting around, builder-stallions only really looking at the rooftops and that the only real work being done was...d-dragging the...changelings away” she said, he confidence diminishing when she approached the subject of death. The assassin gave her a sympathetic smile.

“You’re a smart filly, you know that? Wise beyond your years.” Dinky gave him a small smile of thanks. After a second of sitting in silence, the pair of ponies heard the sound of another pony trotting down the stairs. Blood Moon and Dinky rose and peered into the living room to find a sleepy-looking Ditzy Doo meandering gracelessly down the stairs. The filly and stallion glanced at each other, exchanging a concerned look.

"You…ok sis" Dinky asked, making it obvious that she had not seen her elder sibling like this all too often. Her mane and tail were badly messed up, her eyes holding sleepy bags and her trot, as per said, was very off-balance.

"Sleep well" the assassin asked sarcastically as he trotted over to her, putting a steadying hoof on her shoulder.

"No, had a bad dream" she told them both as she scratched her mane. The assassin cocked his head.

"Nightmares? What of?" Ditzy grumbled something before she spoke.

“I…” she yawned “I don’t really remember. I think it had something to do with what happened last night” she said absently. Blood Moon lead her to the couch, sitting her on it, Dinky sitting next to her, and scratched his head.

“Is that it, any specifics?” Ditzy shook her head. “Was Luna there” he asked with a short grunt. Ditzy shook her head once more.

"No, besides I'm sure it's nothing" the mare looked over at her little sister "you ready for school yet?"

"Yeah, but are you ready to take me there" she responded. The assassin almost laughed at the question. Ditzy gave her sister a small scrunchy-face glare as she stood.

"Yeah I'm fi-" She didn't get to finish her sentence as she tripped over her own hooves, landed on her face and put herself in a…compromising position.

"Sis" Dinky squealed, partly in worry for her but mainly in embarrassment at seeing her rear-end in full view. Blood Moon, on the other hoof, just made a ‘not bad’ face, nodding his head a little.

“I have to agree with Dinky on this one” the assassin said as he helped her up. “You’re a little...out of sorts, to be taking Ditzy anywhere without somepony taking you” he told her, a small grin on his face. Blood Moon cocked his head a little. “I could take you while you take her” he suggested, as though he’d plucked the idea out of the air. In truth, however, the assassin was praying for something to do today. He got the impression that he wouldn’t exactly be welcome helping out with ponies, but he wasn’t about to sit around all day. Ditzy looked unsure.

"Are you sure that's a good idea? I mean with all that been going on you're bound to get some mixed reactions" the mail mare asked, sounding like she'd just taken some observant pills. Blood Moon just brushed her off.

"It'll be fine" he assured as he threw his cloak over his back and flipped his hood up "besides, I won't be stirring up too much trouble so staying incognito won't be much of a problem" the dark stallion explained as he opened the door and ushered them out.

It was, as per the usual, a bright day in Ponyville; few clouds lingered in the blue in the sky and Celestia's sun shone down in all its glory. In Ponyville, it was as Dinky had said it; pretty much all of the damage that had been done the other night had either already been repaired or was close to being repaired and life went on as normal. It was rather amazing, Blood Moon had to admit, as a city like Manehatten or Canterlot facing this kind of damage would take weeks or even months to get itself back together. Here, however, the ponies were just much more hardcore.

As the trio trotted, the assassin looked around the streets and found that he was definitely getting some odd looks from the town's residents; some were weary of him, some were sending smiles of thanks his way and others remained neutral, simply not noticing him or not caring about him. The Hunter liked them the best. The journey to the schoolhouse didn't take too long, Blood Moon and Ditzy moving at a slow canter while Dinky sat on the assassin's back, a sensation that the killer was both well-versed in and had missed for quite some time.

When they eventually arrived at the school, fun definitely ensued; the parents looked over in horror at the mail mare's company and most of the foals follow suit. A mare in specific trotted over to them; deep purple fur, green eyes and two tone pink mane and tail. She had a cutie mark showing three flowers with smiles on them.

‘Teacher’ was the assassin's mental sum up of this mare.

"Why hello there Ditzy Doo" she greeted cheerfully. She took a second to look over the assassin, though couldn't get a good look at his face due to the hood "who's your friend" she asked. In response, Blood Moon lifted his hood off of his head and looked her dead in the eye. He watched in well-hidden amusement as she almost fainted at the sight of him.

"Blood Moon" he told her simply “a pleasure.” Her mouth opened and closed as she tried to form words, failing miserably, and blinked rapidly, as if one random speck of dust was obstructing her vision so much she saw the assassin and not some other dark coloured stallion. After a few seconds of staring, blinking and trying to talk, she shook her head in an effort to regain her composure.

"Hiya miss Cheerilee" Dinky called over the top of Blood Moon's head before ‘Cheerilee’ could speak. The teacher seemed to brighten up again as she noticed the foal.

"H-hello Dinky Hooves, why don't y-you go on inside and I'll catch up to you?" The filly nodded before leaping off the killer's back, hugging her big sister goodbye before turning to Blood Moon and doing the same, galloping off towards the schoolhouse as the assassin gave a small smile. Cheerilee wasted no time in leaving the assassin and Ditzy by themselves and going over to other parents, the killer watching as she left them with no small amount of distaste aimed at her for her somewhat…judgmental reaction to him. That said, it had been rather bemusing.

"Howdy there Blood Moon" a familiar southern drawl called over.,pulling the assassin from his thoughts. Said murderer turned to his right and found the owner of the accented voice.

"Hey there Applejack" the killer replied as the orchard worker ushered her little sister after her friends, watching her trot to the school before she meandered over to the the pair of ponies. “Dropping of Applebloom, perchance?” Applejack nodded.

"Yup, not even the Changelings are gonna stop mah little sis from gettin’ tah school" She answered, no small amount of pride on her face and in her tone. The apple farmer looked from her waving sister, disappearing into the school, at the stallion and mare, a large smile stretching across her face "well don't you two make jus' the sweetest couple." The assassin gave a small smirk and grunt, and felt Ditzy cosy up next to him. He turned his head over to her, giving her a small grin, but he almost thought that she’d gotten a little closer to him as the farm hoof turned up. Deciding he had no desire to talk about his love life, the assassin chose to turn the conversation to something more productive.

"Say Applejack, you know anypony who's got work" he asked, still looking for things to amuse himself with. AJ put a hoof to her chin in thought for a second before she answered.

"Well, we could always use an extra hoof or two down at the farm, that is, if ya'll don't mind gettin' your hoove's dirty" she told him.

"My hooves haven't been clean for a long time and I'm no stranger to manual labour" Blood Moon retorted, wondering how many meanings they took from that. Apparently, the orange mare hadn’t taken anything sinister from it, and lit up.

"All righty' then, if y' like yew can come with me to Sweet Apple Acres now, Applebuckin' season has jus' come in and me 'n Big macintosh need as much help as we can git" the orange pony explained. The assassin shrugged and turned to Ditzy.

"I guess I'll see you later then" the stallion told the mare, who kissed him goodbye in response. The bright and dark ponies trotted away from the schoolhouse in relative silence for a while before Applejack decided to make conversation.

"It's so nice ta see love blossomin' between to ponies" the mare said, a smile growing on her face once more. She didn't get a response; instead the assassin lowered his gaze to the ground and hummed his agreement. "Somethin' botherin' ya there sugarcube?" Blood Moon just shrugged, still unwilling to talk about his lovelife. It was, after all, something he held very personally."Blood Moon" Applejack asked again,figuring that the stallion had gotten lost in his thoughts "ya'll still in there?"

"Yeah, just… a lot on my mind" he lied with a shake of his head.

"Well, if yew like ya'll can talk to me about it. Ah'm a mighty fine listener. Besides 's always nice ta be able to talk with somepony while ah work."

"Sure, whatever" the assassin responded half-heartedly. They trotted together in silence, Applejack picking up that he didn’t much like talking about his personal relations. Around fifteen minutes later, AJ spoke up again.

“Can ah ask you somethin’?”

“Sure” Blood Moon replied.

“Why’re you so quiet all of a sudden? Yesterday ya’ll was as talkative as Pinkie Pie on a sugar rush. Well, maybe not like that but, you get the idea.” Blood Moon smirked and shuddered at the thought of that mare hyper on sugar.

“No reason. I’m an assassin. I’m quiet” he replied. “Besides which, I don’t really like talking about my lovelife with other ponies, or at least, ponies not directly involved” he explained.

“But besides that, yer good?” The dark stallion shrugged again.

“I guess.”

"Great, and would yew look at that; we're here." The pair had stopped at the gate of what looked like a pretty rundown farm; a small farm house was the first thing that caught the assassin's attention, it held similarities of the homes of most of Ponyville's residents but had a definite 'country' feel to it; the second building was a large, red barn that look like it had seen much better days. What stood out most though, were the trees. Hills rolled into the distance as far as the eye could see, and every one of them had trees planted all over them, not a spot of bare grass visible as far as even the assassin's eyes could see. "Welcome to Sweet Apple Acres" Applejack proudly announces as she throws her left fore-leg in a grand, introducing flourish. The assassin could only gaze over the fields in half awe and half indifference.

"Well, you weren't lyin' when you said 'acres' I guess" was all Blood Moon gave in response. The two trotted down a small lane towards what the farm-hoof described as the 'east field' and found themselves at the edge of a towering mass of apple trees.

"D' yew even know how to buck apples?" Blood Moon gave her a 'bitch please' look before he removed his hood, belt and cloak, setting them on a nearby barrel, before heading over to a tree, turning, leaning forwards and lashing out with his powerful rear legs. He was rewarded with a satisfying 'THWACK' and a steady tumble as the apples fell into buckets around the tree.

"That answers your question?" Applejack gave an appreciative whistle as she inspected the dent, the BIG dent, he'd left in the bark of the tree.

"Not bad sugarcube, ah must admit ah don't think ah've seen a unicorn with as much grunt in him as yourself" she commented as she lined herself up to her own tree and kicked, watching Blood Moon do the same "jus' why did you focus so much on your body anywho? Ponies like Rarity and Twi don't give all too much consideration for their physic or at least the labour side to it anyway."

THWACK

"Well I'm smart enough to know that magic can't solve all of life's problems and that sometimes you gotta take things into your own two hooves to get it done."

THWACK

"An' jus' how did ya'll figure that out. Surly yew had magic yer whole life?"

THWACK

"That's just it. I've been alive long enough to know that a well-placed hoof is just as effective as a well-placed spell."

THWACK

"That brings me onto another question…"

THWACK

"Jus' how long have you been alive?" There was a long pause in which Applejack braced for the sound of hoof on tree, but nothing came. Instead, there was just a silent assassin and her own breathing.

Now that he had only his vest on and there was a lull in the efforts to dislodge the fruits, she got a good look at him and she was just as surprised as she was unsurprised; Fluttershy had told her about the condition of his face, and the description had not done the disfigurement justice; his bland face was covered in wrinkles, and that ugly scar on his face gave him a look that she felt would look more at home on Shining armour, what with the worry lines and battle scars and everything. That was what didn't surprise her. What did surprise her was atoned and muscled physique that could only come from years of hard work and labour, not training in a gym but real work, the kind of thing she could respect. The thing that surprised her was just how much she could feel herself staring at him, rather powerless to look away. he sort of reminded her of Big Macintosh, but her brother was both taller, and had more muscle mass to him, not to mention he was less toned than the stallion before her.

The orchard worker allowed herself a brief moment of weakness as she appreciated his build and allowed her mind to wander as she looked at him with sweat running down his fur, making it stick to his body and gleam a little in the sun, his mane drooping over his face slightly while he rolled his neck muscles gently.

"Applejack, it's rude to stare" the assassin commented as he smelled under his fore-leg, before pulling away sharply in disgust. Applejack, meanwhile, had frozen to the spot.

‘What in the hay was that, he didn't even look at me, how did he know that ah was…’ she stopped the thought track and regained her composure, save the blush that stubbornly adorned her face.

"A-ah wasn't starein' ah was jus'…jus', uhhh. A-are yew gonna answer mah question or not?"

"May as well" he answered with a laugh before he made a thinking face for a second "my lungs have drawn breath and my heart has been beating for around fifteen thousand years now" he told her casually. Applejack, for the second time in a minuet, froze in place. But she wasn't sure why; it could have been the way he was so casual with being older than Celestia herself, the fact that he was still in his prime or maybe that he never seemed to act his multiple century year old age.

"M-mah stars" was all the mare could say "ah-ah didn't expect you to be THAT old."

"I'm not surprised" he said with a shrug. Millions of questions flooded into the mare's head but she couldn't get a hold on her thoughts, instead she resorted to standing there blankly as Blood Moon got back to work.

Hours passed. The two had taken to working in silence, only the rhythmic 'THWACK' echoing through the still air. Morning had turned to noon and noon turned to evening, all the while the ponies continued to buck trees, only resting once throughout their shift. By the time six had rolled around the two had worked their way up a hill without realising it and now had a beautiful view of the Celestia's setting sun. Applejack had opted they call it a day and admire the work of the princess of the day. Unbeknownst to Blood Moon, Applejack had been setting her thoughts straight and had a few questions planned for the assassin. Sat against a tree, in the light of the setting sun, the orchard-hoof looked over to the blade-for-hire.

"So, how do ya’ll spend fifteen thousand years?"

"I'll tell you, in exchange for a question of my own" he told her as he leaned against his tree, putting his fore-legs behind his head.

"Fair 'nuff" the mare replied, who then proceeded to spit on her hoof and hold it out to the stallion. Blood Moon looked down at the hoof, unimpressed, before shrugging and following suit "information for information."

"You sound like the leader of the thieves' guild" the assassin muttered.

"Ya say somethin' sugarcube?" The assassin shook his head.

"Anyway, to answer your question; what does one do to spend fifteen thousand years…" It suddenly clicked for him when he realised what he’d just gotten himself into, realising she'd fooled him into giving up his life story. He looked slowly over at Applejack with narrowed eyes. The mare just gave a very unconvincing innocent 'what, me' look. "Alright then, well the first thing to understand is that I'm not naturally immortal, not like Celestia or Luna. No, instead I have been cursed with unending life."

"Wait, that's a curse?"

"Look at it like this; all my friends die around me, I can't get too attached to a mare and I know that I can't do buck all about it" his eyes narrowing in his eerily calm manner "I'll never be able to have foals, as I know I won't be able to take watching them die before me and I'll be damned before I ever actually die at the hoof of another." Applejack was torn; on one hoof she felt for him, he'd lost everypony close to him and there was nothing nopony could do about it. Long story short, he'd been through what she'd been through, ten-fold, and she wanted to go over to him and put a supportive hoof over his shoulder;.On the other hoof, she was scared witless at his strange manner, his silent rage. She couldn’t see nor hear it, so to speak, but she could feel it. And that was all she needed to swallow nervously. She watched as he took a long, sigh to steady himself, his eyes closing and his muscles relaxing. She saw a different pony for a brief second; no pride, none of his usual darkness, his radiation of strength, power and control evaporated and he just looked…weak and old, this stallion who had so easily and readily protected Ponyville from the changelings and she had caught him at one of his weakest moments, thought it only lasted for a second, if that.

After a few seconds of silence, she spoke up again.

"So...so jus' what happened, to make you the way you are?" He tensed one side of his maw, shrugging a slightly.

"I…I was raised in a training facility, in a programme that was known simply as the 'Initiative'. From what I know, it sort of an extraordinarily intense training program, twentyfour seven combat, espionage, magic, psychology, the body, the mind, the spirit, emotions, weapons, armour, pretty much everything under the sun. Alongside that, was training with a new breed of magic, magic that, at the time, had only just begun being developed and explored…"

"Umbra Linguam" the two said in unison. The assassin bowed his head, not in shame nor regret, just in weariness.

"This particular brand of magic was…is...unique, in more ways than one; for one it required a ritual for the mage to truly access it; secondly, it’s a particularly dark brand of magic...but in ways nopony knew. It corrupted the wielder of these spells, tourtured them in both body and mind. And...there were also certain…requirements to be met for one to use it, as per said, this is a dark breed of magic, and only ponies of a certain caliber could use it, also, this magic is not cheap and sacrifice is required, normally taking form of a curse." Applejack frowned.

"Curse, like what?"

"Well in my case, as we've already established, I lost my mortality. King Sombra fell into a crazed lust for power and crystals. Starswirl…well we don't talk about him anymore…"

"W-what happened to him?"

"Well let's just say that, that particular curse was more subtle than most others." The two stayed in silence for a few minutes. Blood Moon looked over at the setting sun and couldn't help but feel a prang in his heart; he'd shown her how to do them best, shown her a few things, he was by no means an artist but he had a good eye for detail and the transition from light to dark held a special place in his heart. His perpetual vision, however, held a much more spectacular sight; Applejack, in the bronze rays of the sun, which was doing a magnificent job of turning her orange fur to a shade of bronze a goddess would be jealous of. She had taken her hat off and had let her mane, turned golden in the sunlight, flow majestically in the soft breeze that flowed between them. Her half-lidded eyes held a deep shade of bronze upon them, and the way she had them half open…well let's just say it reminded the assassin of an incident that had left him with a satisfied grin on his face as he climbed out of the window of the mare's room. The crushed emerald of her eyes themselves were doing nothing to stop the assassin’s growing appreciation for her beauty.

"Not nice to stare Blood Moon" Applejack smirks, a mischievous smirk on her face. The Hunter just shrugs, a smirk of his own on his face.

"Just enjoying the view." The remark earned him a blush from the mare that could rival the look of embarrassment she had given him earlier when he had noticed her staring. He would not lie to the mare, Element of Honesty and all that, he definitely liked this mare, if only because she appreciated the smaller things in life. A loving family, hard work, natural beauty, something she had in abundance.

"So you gonna keep admiring the scenery or carry on” she asked, not entirely hating the attention.

"Well I wasn't born into that facility. I was discovered when I accidently performed a spell, 'hide' to be accurate, and barely a day after three stallions came for me. I had been alive for three years, hugged by my mother nine times and watched my dad bail-out on us twice” he said in a dull tone, his face distant. “He was a disloyal drunk and she was a moronic sell-out. As you can imagine, I didn't care for them all too much. One of my earliest memories was when my mother bartered for a decent price for me. In the end it cost her, her life."

Applejack was at a loss for words, she couldn't remember her parents well at all, they had died soon after Applebloom's birth, when she had been around seven years old. In fact, that was what had been the final push that had sent her to Manehatten, but from what she could remember of them was that they were kind, honest and decent ponies that she had loved very much.

"So what happened after?"

"Well, to cut a long, tedious, somewhat boring and rather painful story short, I was trained for one purpose and I was trained well for it. Twentyfour years were spent honing my skills in shadow magic so I could, as they called it, start the transaction. That was when I was became immortal." He sighed gently. “Twentyseven years, eight month and eleven days old. That was when my life both ended and began in earnest.

"Jus' what were they trainin' yew for?" Blood Moon took another long breath.

"I was trained, for a good one-thousand years, to end the reign of Discord. It was my sole purpose in life to end the life of a god. What they didn't tell me was what they wanted me to do afterwards." Applejack gulped.

"An’ wh-what was that."

"What they wanted me to do was help them maintain their own control of Equestria, once Discord was out of the way. I decided that, out of spite, I would not kill Discord for them. Once I’d found that out, I struck out against them, murdered every single one of them in cold blood and trotted out of there.” He grunted. “I guess they assumed the killing machine they’d created would have been broken down by the abuse, torturous training and mind games that were part of my psychological training.” He shook his head in amusement of their folly. “Either way, I went off on my own."

"But wait, yew'd been in that facility most of yer life." Blood Moon nodded once.

"Exactly; no-where to go, I didn't know anypony and, for whatever reason, nopony believed I was a master assassin. But after about ten years of scraping together contracts, I was finally thrown a bone, a bone in the form of king Nocturnal and queen Illumination. Celestia's and Luna's parents." A cool breeze passed them both, a few leaves following in its wake, as he spoke. Not many ponies spoke about the princess' parents and many others didn't really know about them. "I was approached by them, they told me that they were getting ready for a war with Discord, but Illumination had fallen pregnant. Now, as you can imagine, a war zone is not the best of places to raise a foal, there was also the fact that the filly likely was to have attempts on her life made, so they needed somepony to watch over her while they were off playing general." Despite his story, Applejack laughed slightly, doing a bad job of holding it down.

"An’ that was yew, ya'll was Celestia's foalsitter" Applejack laughs. Blood Moon gives a smirk of his own.

"Yep, the infamous Blood Moon, the Hunter, the never seen, caught or killed assassin used to change Celestia's diaper" he confirmed, much to the amusement of Applejack, who continurd to laugh. The assassin waited for the farmer to stop laughing, letting her chuckle a little as she wound down. "I knew at the time I was living in the gutter, so any work was good enough for me. I took the job and not a day later I was introduced to the a six year old Celestia" the assassin gave a sad sigh as he remembered the days long past "I was her keeper, her protector and her best friend for five hundred years until Luna was born, and it was then that I had my duties expanded; Celestia was still at the development stages of an eleven year old, so it was like I had two children to juggle. The only thing that stopped me from jumping out a window was that they got along and I had the help of their nanny, the one who took care of them when…my other duty called" he looked up as he tried to remember something "I think her name was Faust or something" he gave up after a few failed attempts at confirming this "anyway, life with two princesses under your wing was actually supposed to be rather simple; just follow them around and make sure no harm comes to them. I made a mistake though. I got too attached to them; they got too attached to me. I was more a father to them than Nocturnal ever was. I loved them like my own. I taught them everything they know about war and combat, about life, about Equestria. I tried to teach them about how society worked, how they could better it. But, their father didn't agree with those lessons, feeling it better if the girls had a sense of ‘propriety’ rather than muddy their hooves with the mud of peasants.” He grunted in a way that gave Applejack the impression that Blood Moon and Nocturnal hadn’t gotten along. The assassin gave a small sigh again. “When the war finally came to an end, I felt the need to go down a different path than the aristocrats and politics, not my scene, too many assholes. Instead, I went back to being an assassin full time. I maintained the ruse of being mortal, a millennium became a year, centuries became months and so forth. For all intents and purposes, I've only been an assassin for ten years, but in actual fact it's been ten thousand." Applejack nods.

"Ah get it."

"The problem was that neither of the princesses could forgive me for it, they saw it as me turning on them, becoming the very thing I had protected them from for a good few thousand years and they never really got over it. They saw it as me abandoning them. To this day they hunt me down."

‘And if Luna was anything to go by, that particular chase is about to come to an end.’

"So, in a nutshell, that is how one spends fifteen thousand years." Applejack gave an appreciative whistle.

"Well, that there is quite the story" the mare comments, Blood moon smirks.

"Yep, I win the ol' 'dramatic past tail' every time. So ,now a question for you; where are your folks?" Even as he forms the question he gets his answer from the way Applejack deflates.

"They're…they're in a better place" she says at length.

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be, they was good ponies looked afta me an’ Big Mac good before they…passed away." The assassin nodded before he raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"What about Applebloom?"

"Ma died givin' birth and Pa died soon afta. The doctors never really did find out what happened to him, but ah always thought he died of a broken heart." The mare had begun to well up at these memories. She turned her head to the stallion, took one look at his face and almost broke down; he had a look of concern on his face she’d never seen off the face of her family before. She turned away, silently cursing Blood Moon’s ability to do this to her. "Blood Moon...is it right that ah still haven't gotten over it?" Much to her surprise, the assassin nods.

"The loss of a parent or carer is one of the most difficult losses you can deal with, having them there for all of your life before they're so cruelly taken away. It's one of those things that we aren't really supposed to get over at all, if only because we fear forgetting them if we do." Applejack was quiet for a few seconds, taking his words to heart.

"Ah-ah suppose that makes sense."

"Come on, we should get back" the assassin says abruptly as he stands up. Applejack doesn't complain as he leads the way towards where they had started. As they trot through the trees the dark stallion looks over to the mare. "Just remember Applejack, you don't have to face all of life's problems alone, you have your family and your friends, don't forget that."

"Trust me, ah already learnt that lesson" she says with a laugh. The assassin holds his gaze for a second.

"But did you take it to heart?" Nothing more is said by either pony, the two simply trotting back to the barn. Once they arrive, Blood Moon finds a note on his hood and cloak. "The hay? Applejack, bring Blood Moon to the library when you're done with done with the harvest. Twilight." he mumbles. The assassin looks over to Applejack who shrugs.

"Well, better not keep 'em waitin' shud we?" The assassin grunts in reply and follows her to the library. As they, go he notices something wrong with the small town; for one there are very few ponies on the road and most of the lights of off in most of the buildings. "Well here we are" Applejack announces as they reach the front door of Twilight's library. She steps aside so Blood Moon can go in first. The killer looks over the home/tree/library, and notices that the lights are out, signifying that nopony's home or…

He smirks as he opens the door.

Cupcakes

Chapter twelve: Cupcakes

Placing his hoof on the doorknob, the assassin could practically hear the swift intake of air as the, presumably, large group of ponies inside prepare to bombard him with whatever they plan to bombard him with, though as he turns his hoof the orange mare besides him stalls his efforts.

"Blood Moon, ah gotta know; jus' what did ya'll mean by 'did yew take it to heart'?" The assassin turns to Applejack and lowers his hoof from the door.Once again, he can practically hear the ponies inside exhale and he could swear he heard Pinkie Pie say 'darn it' before somepony shushed her.

"Applejack, tell me just what it was that taught you that lesson."

"Tryin' to do the whole applebuckin' harvest mahself" she supplies, earning a grunt from the dark stallion.

"Huh, Applejack tryin' to harvest the whole of Sweet Apple Acres...out of sheer pride I presume?" Applejack looks away sheepishly. "Why am I not surprised" he wonders aloud, a smirk on his face. "Anyway, from what I can tell, asking for help with physical stuff is the kind of thing your pride can handle, you know your limits. But can you swallow your pride enough to talk about what troubles you on the inside as well as on the out? Remember that you can always talk to your friends about that sort of thing, as I said, you don't have to face it alone."

"Ah-ah know that…"

"Then why am I the only one you've talked to about it?" The mare got mildly annoyed at his accusation, subsequently she got more aggressive; her teeth gritted and eyes narrowed.

"Ah don't have to explain mahself to yew" she almost shouted, apparently forgetting that they were having this talk just outside a building full of ponies.

"Really, then why do I have to do the same for you?" If Applejack was wearing armour, that would have been the chink in it as her resolve slowly crumbled and her will to argue vanished as he posed the question.

"Darn, how'd ya'll git so good at this" she asked, her head hanging in defeat. Blood Moon simply laughed.

"Raising two fillies, then protecting two teens and finally acting as an advisor to two generals, tends to give one a bit of experience in the art of arguments" he answers "now if, you don't mind, I am rather curious as to why you didn't actually tell anypony about the way you felt about your parents." Once again, the mare looks away, this time in shame rather than embarrassment.

"Ah…ah jus' didn't think nopony would understand 's all." This elected another laugh from Blood Moon.

"Are you kidding? Rainbowdash is as much an orphan as you are, hay, so is Scootaloo. Actually, now that I think about it, from what I know, out of the nine of you, that's three without parents. That's… pretty bad." His comment was crude but nonetheless correct. Applejack raised a hoof to her chin, she'd never noticed before. "Anyway, enough of all the sadness, you've got her and you've got-" He didn't allow himself to finish the sentence. To tell Applejack that she had him was...somewhat troublesome in the assassin’s mind. He only really told somepony with bonds of blood or love that they could always depend on him, no matter what. Outside his head, AJ had spoke.

"Yes?" Applejack pressed his pause with a look of hope on her face. Blood Moon steadied himself. Using this phrase brought back a lot of memories, not one of them did he really want to relive.

"And you have me. Don't you forget that." He wasn't sure what the response to that would be, his instinct told him that he would have two small, filly legs wrapped around him before the filly went off to find their sister. What he got instead were the powerful legs of the shapely Applejack wrapped around him and her southern drawl in his ear.

"Thanks sugarcube, it's good tah know that ah got somepony to talk to." Returning the embrace with a small grin, Blood Moon responded.

"What, you didn't have anypony to begin with" the stallion asked, referring to the Elements of Harmony.

"Well, what ah mean is, it's nice to have a stallion around who can listen yah know" she gave a small chuckle. "All the other stallions in Ponyville are ok but they're only afta one thing, if ya know what ah mean…" the country mare disengaged the hug and took a few steps back. "Ah guess, ah'm jus' glad to have somepony who don’t mind lookin’ afta m-" Applejack stopped herself, eyes wide and looking down in disbelief in herself.

'Look afta me? Where'd that come from, ah don't need somepony lookin’ afta me. Do ah? NO, no ah don't need somepony, ah don't need some random pony ah jus' met to treat me like a filly. Ah don't need some stallion who treats me good, gives a hoot and makes me feel safe at all. No, no ah do not. Not at all.'

She looked up at Blood moon, who had noticed her sudden silence and was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"W-what ah was sayin' was, i-it's nice to have friendly stallion around." The confidence in her voice left much to be desired. Blood moon had his suspicions and acted on them with little to no pause for thought.

"Tell me, Applejack, what was your relationship like with your dad?" The applebucker frowned in confusion, woundering why he was going down this line of questionin. Steadying herself, and preparing her mind to look out for any traps in the assassin’s words, she took a short breath before she replied.

"Ah loved mah daddy, an' he loved me" she turned her gaze up "not that it's any o' your business."

"Do you miss him?"

"Of cause ah do, what kinda filly don't miss her pappy" she asked, a little defensively. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side.

"So, who fills that particular role now?" Applejack gave no answer; instead she locked her jaw and tried to fight back the tears that threatened to spill.

"D-darn it Blood Moon, why'd yew have to go askin' all o' them question?"

"Simply trying to get you to see reason" he shrugged.

"What'd yew mean 'see reason'? If ya'll are tryin' to git me all blubbery now, don't bother. I'm a might tougher than your average filly."

"Well, that explains why you practically broke down when you almost said 'look after me’ then" he remarked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I commend you for not lying but bending the truth is not much better." This pushed Applejack over the edge, what with him insulting her honesty.

"That's enough Blood Moon, I've had it with all o' this; tryin' to get me all sad n' vulnerable by askin' about mah pappy! It's cowardly ya hear, jus'-jus' plain cowardly, goin' afta what ah care about most, so ya'll can get a rise outa' me!"

"What's cowardly Applejack" the assassin almost snarled "addressing things nopony else will, talking about the sort of things that, not even you, will openly discuss. Actually giving a damn!"

"Shut up Blood Moon, jus' shut up ya hear! Ya'll are goin' too far!"

"Why? Because only stallions much older than yourself, who can protect you, know what you're going through, and have been going through for most of your life, and could give two buck's about you because of it can look out for you, can approach these subjects?”

"EXACTLY" she roared, caught up in her anger, in a very non-Applejack like manner, before she could realise what she had said. Blood Moon, on the other hoof, simply sat back on his flank and watched as Applejack trotted right into his trap.

"So what part of that, am I not? I'm not young, that much we've established; I have no problem looking after anypony, just as long as their pride doesn't get in the way; I've lost pretty much everypony close to me; AND, I care about anypony who's worth it. Applejack, you are an excellent mare; talented, honest and dependable. You are most definitely worth my time and atten-" His sentence was cut off when Applejack wrapped her hooves around him again, in a soft and gentle embrace once again. She had tears running down her face but the assassin could feel a small smile on her face.

"D-darn it Blood Moon, jus' how did ya'll git so good at making ponies cry." The assassin had to laugh at that one.

"They aren't tears, just a release of emotions. They're nothing to feel bad about. Just let them flow, to be honest; those who can cry are stronger than those who cannot. It shows they still feel." He felt her pull in a bit harder.

"T-thanks Blood Moon, it's nice to know ah got somepony to talk to. An…an' ah'm sorry for
what ah said." The stallion grunted.

"Don't worry about it, I've had worse. A lot worse, I'm talkin' what you just said, coming from two fillies and said in the Canterlot voice." Applejack gave an amused grunt of her own. "Now come on, we can't keep Twilight waiting" he told her as he released the mare from the hug and moved his hoof back the doorknob. Putting his hoof on and turning, he could once again hear the collective intake of air as the group of ponies, who had undoubtedly heard his and Applejack's 'discussion'. Pushing the door open he heard what could only be described as the traditional Canterlot voice, turned to eleven.

"SURPRISE!"

Blood Moon stood in the doorway of the library, the air around him being blown around him violently by the force of all the voices while the assassin remained a stoic and still rock of calm in the sea of chaos that surrounded him. As he stood there, a pink blur rushed towards him from the crowds.

"Wereyasuprised?Wereya?Wereya?Wereya?Huhhuhhuhhuhhuh?IrealisedyouwerenewtoPonyvilleandiwaslikeGAAAAAASPwhenIrememberedthatIhadn'tthrownyoua'WelcometoPonyvilleparty'soIknewIhadtogetonereadyforyouand-heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. How come you're not surprised by the huge 'SURPRISE' Mooney?"

"For starters, it would take much more than" he took a quick head count "forty ponies shouting 'surprise', to shock, scare or actually surprise me." The pink mare looked to be upset by the fact she hadn't been able to surprise him, sitting on her flank with her lower lip wobbling. The ex-foalsitter leaned in with a small grin on his face, moving until there was barely an inch between them before saying "pickaxe." The reaction was immediate; she lit up and fell on her back, holding her sides as she laughed hard. Blood Moon looked on with a smile on his face. "Oh and by the way, 'Mooney'?"

"Yeah! 'Blood Moon’ is such a… sad name, so I decided to give you a nickname Moooooney. Anyway, I like to give all my friends nicknames." 'Mooney' had to physically restrain himself from face-hoofing. He had always taken pride in his name, it was nothing if not fitting, but was no stranger to nicknames; the Hunter, Cloak and Dagger, Black Hood and, as Luna and Celestia used to call him, uncle Blood Moon or 'Uncle Blood/Moon' for an easier time on the tongue. But 'Mooney' was maybe just a bit too…foalish, for the assassin’s tastes, that said Pinkie Pie was not the most mature of mares, so he figured he'd just let it slide. Before he could reply, however, Pinkie Pie had leapt up into the air, turned while airborne in a rather marvellous display of 'screw physics' and trotted back into the crowd while shouting "LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

The assassin put a small grin on his face at Pinkie's antics as he trotted into the crowds, keeping his head down and hood up as he went. He was stopped by nopony, thankfully, as he made his way to an isolated corner to watch the goings-on from a distance. The mares and stallions mingled, small groups forming, while others helped themselves to the food available or just danced to the music being played. It appeared that nopony wanted to mingle with the newest member of their community, everypony either sending weary smiles, uneasy glances or ignoring him completely. The Hunter looked around the room, casting faces, colours and cutie marks to his memory banks.

The Elements of Harmony were gathered in a corner, listening to something Applejack was saying. One guess as to what it was. Sand Stalker, whose appearance almost surprised the assassin, was sat with them, close enough to be within earshot, but far enough away to go unnoticed. Besides the mares the fillies sat, sister to sister.

Along with the ponies he knew personally, there was the teacher he’d met earlier, a mare who seemed to enjoy the adult’s punch a little too much, a yellow stallion and blue mare who were running the confectionary table. Beyond them, there was an assortment of other random coloured ponies gathered in the library.

Blood Moon’s gaze turned to the mare behind the music booth; she had stark white fur and an electric blue mane, her eyes covered by a pair of shades. Her horn glowed blue as the dub-step music was spun on the record players masterfully by the deck-jockey. The pony noticed the assassin watching her, putting the music on a loop she made her way over. Apparently she was more adventurous than the other ponies gathered here.

"Like the beats" she asked over said music. The assassin shrugged in response.

"I always preferred rock or classic. Maybe blues if I'm in the right mood." The mare looked halfway between insulted and interested.

"Classic and rock huh, let me guess, you like the old stuff?" The assassin gave a grunt at her choice of words.

‘Kid, you don't even know the half of it’ he thought with a smirk on his face.

"Sure, who doesn't; Hooves and roses, Iron mareden, AC-DC (Anti Celestia Discord Children), Black saddle. All of them classics and you can't beat the classics."

"Yeah, well DJ PON-3 is strictly tecno." The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"PON-3? Vinyl scratch?" She lit at the mention of her name.

"Yeah" she went quiet and appeared to be in thought "do I know you?"

"Probably not, but I've heard of you." This was a half lie; it appeared that she couldn't remember that time they'd both woken up on the roof of the Canterlot palace with little memory of what had happened last night, booze in the air and the pair of them smelling of sex. That had been a weird, but somewhat pleasurable day.

"Well duh, it only makes sense that you've heard of the best DJ in Equestria" she replied with no small amount of pride. What she did next took Blood Moon by surprise. "Especially since we're already very well 'acquainted'. I was wondering if I'd ever see you again" she whispered as she leaned in, dangerously close, speaking in a low and seductive tone right in to his ear as her left hoof caressed his chest and strayed south on him. "It's good to see you Black Hood" she told him, the last two words punctuated in a way that made Blood Moon wish he were not in the middle of a party and instead in a room furnished with nothing but a bed. Or back on the roof in Canterlot, either worked for him. What she had called him sealed the deal though; 'Black Hood' was the pet name she'd given him when they'd met in Canterlot, on one of the assassin's R and R periods, when they'd…gotten to know each other.

"So, you can remember that little misadventure" he asked, a smile on his face that screamed 'you're damn straight you remember that night'.

"You kiddin' me? It doesn't matter how much we drank that night, I don't think certain parts of my anatomy would let me would let me." If the assassin had been drinking something he would likely have choked on it.

"You always were a little minx, Vinyl" he said with a laugh.

"And you were always a smooth talker."

"Well, you would know about my, silver tongue wouldn't you?" The mare's white fur did nothing to hide the blush that kissed her cheeks as she remembered one of the few things that she had retained from that night.

"You always knew how to make a mare blush too, didn't you Black Hood" she told him as she sat down next to him. It amused Blood Moon that it was only the mare that sat next to him that knew this; his training as an assassin had been more than just how to use a blade and stick to the shadows, it had also taught him how to talk his way in and out of any situation. A side-effect of this was that he knew how to talk to mares better than most others, and that was made evident through his constant flirting with most of the mares he came across. Yet another side-effect, this one caused by the lack of female interaction for the first thousand years of his life. He caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye and noticed Vinyl moving her hoof so she could move his hood, caught in the act, she froze. He smirked as he guessed her intentions.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Vinyl smiled in return, her hoof continued on its journey as Blood Moon made similar motions; she pulled his hood off and he removed her glasses, the set of blood red eyes on the pair of them revealed. This was one of the more personal reasons that the assassin felt he held the DJ closer to heart than any other mare he had ever met; the duo's eye colour was rare, even amongst a race of ponies that resembled a rainbow when you had at least four of them in a room, blood red irises were not common and held a sort of 'avoid this pony' reputation. As it turned out, Vinyl had the same problems, this being what drove her to wearing shades most of the time, and the assassin was also fairly sure that it had been him complimenting her eyes that had earned him a night with her. As he looked into her eyes he saw what he had saw about fourteen months back; the sheer optimism and foalish look on life, she had a very cheerful imagination to boot, this being what had inspired her to start with the energetic and fast music she made. He broke the eye contact first and put his eyes over the crowds again.

"So how's Octavia" he asks nonchalantly. The mare's eyes widened as she heard the name of her marefriend.

"Oh, she's fine" the white furred mare pouted "off in Canterlot for some big-wig get together." Blood Moon looks over at her.

"And how are the both of you doing?" When he'd met Vinyl she had just started dating Octavia, though it seemed that the relationship would be short lived, had the assassin not offered his council.

"Well we don't act as edgy or cold around each other now, y'know don't argue as much, if at all" she adopted a look the assassin knew all too well "and, well let's just say, we're getting along MUCH better now." A sly grin works its way across the stallion's face.

"I don't know, may need some proof of that" he told her, acting as if he knew she wasn't telling the whole truth. Vinyl smacked his head playfully.

"Black Hood, some mares have decency y'know!"

"Well I know Tavi does but I don't know about you." Another smack, harder but still playful, before she leaned in and spoke seductively into his ear.

"Well, me and her do owe you our continued relationship to you." He felt her grin. "I'm sure you could convince her though" she whispered, her tongue 'accidentally' brushing his ear.

"Hey there Blood moon, what are you whispering about?" Ditzy. She had a façade of pleasantries about her but the assassin could see the hostility hid behind it.

"Nothing really, just me and an old friend remembering old tim-MHHHPPPF!" He was cut off by Ditzy planting a kiss on his lips. Maybe the words: 'plant' and 'lips' were the wrong words, maybe 'slammed' and 'face' would be more accurate… yeah 'Ditzy slammed a kiss on his face' is much more accurate. The assassin felt the mare's tongue demand entry into his mouth, his subconscious screamed at him, telling him something was wrong, his instincts practically hitting him with a bat in order to get him to stop, but unfortunately the assassin was in the middle of being kissed, rather roughly, by his marefriend so he was rather caught up in kissing her back. The embrace lasted around forty-five seconds, the conversations that were going on around them slowly lulling and dying, most eyes in the room being turned to the making-out pair and all ears attuning to the faint moans coming from Ditzy doo. She disengaged the kiss first, a trail of saliva connecting their tongues, as she leaned back her eyes locked on his, something…strange in them. It suddenly dawned on Blood Moon that the whole room had gone quiet, looks of awkwardness and 'not bad' expressions on the stallion's faces, and desire and/or jealousy on the mares. Besides them Vinyl sat with her mouth slightly agape, still taking in what she had just seen. Ditzy looked over at the DJ.

"Hey Vinyl." Her voice was calm and pleasant but there was still that… strange something, in her eyes.

"H-h-hi Der-uh Ditzy. I take it you and Blood Moon know each other?"

'Nice observational skills there, Vinyl' the stallion thought.

"Yeah, me and him started dating awhile back." Vinyl turned her head to him slowly, eyes narrowed.

"So 'dating' huh?"

"Yeah, few days now" the stallion explains calmly.

"When'd you meet?"

"Few days ago" Ditzy tells her, either oblivious to the current situation or doing a good job at maintaining a ruse and pulling apart one of his only friendships…which just happened to be with a mare… and Ditzy was his marefriend…some marefriends were known to be… It suddenly clicked in his head.

'Oh, colt.'

"Isn't that a little… sudden?" Both Blood Moon and Vinyl knew the DJ had made a good point, but Ditzy seemed to either be oblivious to it or didn't care.

"Say Vinyl, aren't you busy?" Ditzy made little effort to hide her hostility this time. The assassin knew the DJ would likely stand up for herself, but he felt the need to defuse this situation before it got out of hoof. Throwing a sideways look at her that spoke his thoughts, she went along with him.

"Yeah, gotta get back to the, y'know, the beats" she muttered, heading back to her booth. Ditzy had an undeniable look of satisfaction about her as she watched the mare back down at Blood Moon's advice.

"What was that all about?"

"What, a mare needs a reason to kiss her stallion now?" Blood Moon saw right through the tissue-thin story, and always one to face his problems head-on, he pushed the point.

"Depends on what is going through the mare's head at the time." The mare narrowed her eyes in a way Blood Moon had never seen before.

"I'm gonna ignore that" she told him before trotting away. The assassin couldn't help but silently snarl at her as she went. Shaking his head and pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind. As the thoughts left for his subconscious he felt his stomach rumble, reminding him that he hadn't eaten for…

"Four…five…damn, when was the last time I ate?" Getting back on his hooves he made his way over to the table of foodstuffs. "Celestia's mane…" was all the age old assassin could say when he saw the spread; he knew that all the attending ponies had been to the table at least once, himself not included, but the fact that he still had pretty much the whole original selection to choose from rather impressed him with the baker’s skills. Muffins, cupcakes, apple fritters, apple pies, ice-cream, apples, a rather grand cake and many other apple related treats sat on the table were spread across the table in a practical, but stylish selection. Giving an indifferent shrug, he filled a plate of his own, moving slowly down the table until he knocked into somepony. Looking over a candyfloss scented mane was mere inches from his face. He knew that mane.

"Hiya Mooney, enjoyin' the party?" Blood Moon looked around, his eyes lingering on Vinyl, who nodded his way before going back to her music, before he watched Ditzy doo put a sleepy looking Dinky under her wind.

"It has its up and downs" he answered. He watched Pinkie lean her hoof on the table, old habits forcing him to eye the knife that had been used to cut the cake before shaking the idea away.

'Too much time in Germaney' he thought.

As he looked up he saw the pink pony's sad looking face…no, wait it was happy…both? Either way, it looked like a pretty creepy mix of the two.

"Hey, my daddy said that about my first party." The assassin frowned when he thought he saw the mare's eye twitch and her hoof move a little further to the blade. "At first he liked it but at the end he was just as grumpy as always" she leaned in, prompting any sane stallion to lean back, though Blood Moon didn't count himself as fully sane in that respect "are you gonna get all grumpy after?" Once again, that look in her eye that told the assassin she was about to burst into tears.

"No, I'm havin' fun."

"Then why aren't you smiling" she asked before he could continue, the question catching him off guard.

"Well, I guess you could say smiling isn't really my thing. I smirk, grin and grunt amusedly, but I don't give out and out smiles all that much." Her hoof moved closer to that knife again.

"My daddy was a lot like that too, he didn't smile much either." There were now six inches between her hoof and the knife.

"Why do you keep going about your dad when you talk to me Pinkie?" Five inches.

"Because, you remind me of him so much silly-billy."

"How do I remind you of him?"

"Because you act grumpy all the time, I said already!"

"I'm an immortal assassin, I pretty sure you father isn't an immortal assassin" his face slackened slightly "is he?" Pinkie giggled.

"No, we all worked on a rock farm; me, my two sisters Inkie and Blinkie, my mom and my dad." Four inches.

"But I can't remind you of him that much, I mean, I'm pretty sure he's nothing like me." Pinkie looked up in thought.

"No I guess he wasn't." Three.

"Wasn't? Wait, Pinkie, is your dad still alive?" Her face took on a look of sadness, but her mannerisms didn't.

"Nope, they all died one night when I was still young; Timberwolves got them. They never did find the bodies." There was something…off, about the way she said the last sentence. It also dawned on the assassin her hoof was only two inches away from the knife. Blood Moon's instincts kick in, telling him something was up.

"Pinkie pie…Timberwolves don't nest near rock farms, they need trees to properly raise their pups. I don't think your family could have been killed by them." One inch away.

"Huh, nopony else figured that out." Her hoof was hovering over the handle of the weapon now and the assassin focused his magic on his own blade, his eyes narrowing.

"Pinkie…" A blade flashed, a tear was heard and a scream rang out through the library. Pinkie had just tried to stab Blood Moon but it was caught in the Robus-weave of his vest, though he knew he would be dead if he hadn't been wearing it. Rarity had apparently seen the act and had promptly shrieked. Said assassin stood there, eyes narrowed as he looked at Pinkie Pie; her mane and tail had gone completely straight, her eyes were unnaturally wide and her pupils were as small as pin-pricks and her smile was just wrong on so many levels. Blood Moon backed up, quick as a flash, drawing his sword as he went. Before he could say anything the mare darted forwards, her weapon slashing at his throat; the blow was deflected by the assassin, sparks flying as the two weapons met, she used the deflected attack to her advantage, attempting to drive the knife into his neck again and it would have worked had he not swayed out of line of the attack, slamming his hoof into her leg in an attempt to disarm her but she had a death-grip on the thing she was using to kill him, backing up and putting distance between them he tried to get through to her. First though, he had to find out just what in the everlasting buck was going on here.

"Pinkie pie" she slashed again and he dodged back, retaliating with his own swipe which was caught on Pinkie's weapon, locking the blades, giving the assassin a chance to talk. It suddenly dawned on him that they had attracted a crowd, which had formed a semicircle around them. "Pinkie, what's wrong with you?" She responded by pushing on the blades, causing the assassin to push back to keep the assassin to push back so he could keep the lull in the battle so he could talk.

"That's not Pinkie" a voice in the crowd called out. Blood Moon glanced left and saw the rest of the Elements of Harmony with fearful expressions on their faces. The speaker had been Twilight.

"What do you mean that's not Pinkie Pie?"

"That's Pinkamena!" The blade-lock disengaged and the pair of pony dualists stepped back.
"She's a separate personality that was developed when she got her cutie mark, it's her when she's not happy or-" a sudden advance by Pinkie cut her off, the insane version of the party filly lunging for Blood Moon, who rolled onto his back, planted his rear-hooves on her stomach and threw her over him.

"Not thinking straight, yeah I got that much" the assassin called over. Both ponies back on their hooves they went at it again; Pinkie swiped and the assassin blocked, more sparks flying off the weapons, Blood Moon swung his short-sword viciously at the mare's knife, opening her defense, before spinning and bucking her in the chest. "Pinkamena, get out of Pinkie's head!"

"That won't work. When Pinkamena comes out, she won't go until Pinkie Pie is happy again" Twilight explains. The pink mare attacks again, two slices aimed at the dark stallion's neck, both parried and another ducked under and countered by the stallion smacking the hilt of the weapon into her muzzle, dazing her. It was a one sided fight, Blood Moon had been doing this his whole life, all's Pinkie had was her reactions, hoof speed and adrenalin fueled instincts, no real training or anything. Blood Moon's problem came in the form of not wanting to hurt the mare and that he was dealing with insanity here, and there is no way to predict what insanity will do.

"Hey Pinkie, a stallion trots into a bar. He says 'ouch'."

‘Ba dum, tiss…’

"THAT JOKE WAS AWFUL AND COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE FOR THE SITUATION IN WHICH IT WAS DELIVERED" Pinkamena roars, slashing down and across in quick succession, both strikes blocked by the assassin who had just told his wit to go sit in the corner.

"So how in the buck does this work then" the assassin demanded, his temper rising.

"We need to suppress Pinkamena; this is the side of her without laughter or her sanity, we need to get her to embrace them again." The mare goes to stab Blood Moon, who swerves out of the way, grabs her extended hoof and throws her away from him.

"Well this town does have a furniture and quill store, so there's bound to be a 'Laughter and sanity R us' somewhere or another!"

"No! We need somepony to get through to her."

"Rainbowdash managed to git through to her las' time" Applejack comments as she looks for said mare.

"She's not exactly fighting fit right now" Sand Stalker tells them. The still sane mane six look to where the voice came from, seeing the old Pegasus with his wing over the quaking form of RD. Twilight and co go over to her.

"What happened?" Fluttershy puts a hoof to her fore-head to check her temperature.

"I dunno, it started when Pinkie…" he trails off and looks over to the pink mare lash out Blood Moon again. "When she started acting strange, Rainbow said something about a nightmare and just broke down, ever since she's been saying something about 'cupcakes' every now and then." Every one of the mares gave a confused 'Huh?'

"Well one of us is gonna have ta try 'n git through ta her." In response Fluttershy feinted, Rarity almost peed herself and Twilight gulped.

"Alright, I'll try" Twilight told her, her resolve present but flimsy at best. Trotting over to the two fighters, watching as Pinkie made a sideways slice at Blood Moon, who blocked, held her weapon in another blade lock and tried another disarm by turning her weapon in a wide arc before she managed to slip out. "Pinkie, I know you can hear me! I want you to calm down" Pinkamena stopped her attacks to whip her head over to Twilight "it's me, Twilight Sparkle, your friend. Don't you remember all we've been through?" Pinkie was still panting, her once demonic smile replaced by an upside down version of the same expression, but the simple words seemed to be getting through to her. That was until Pinkie threw her knife at her. Twilight screamed, the room gasped and time froze. The whole room made a move to not look, turning their heads, closing their eyes or covering them with their hooves. But something was missing: they all expected to hear a dull 'thud' as Twilight's lifeless body fell to the floor. Instead, when the all looked up they saw that Twilight hadn't been touched by the flying blade, it hadn't even come close; it was instead embedded in the dark stallion's silver-grey fur, the metal of the weapon decorated by the blood that seeped from the wound. The weapon had entered just above the stomach, the hilt buried in his body, and his vital fluids wept around it. Nopony quite knew what happened, one second the weapon had been flying at Twilight, then a grey blur and then Blood Moon had come out of nowhere with a knife in his side. As he stood there a low, pain filled groan escaped his throat.

"Owwwwwwww" was the only thing he said. The whole room had gone awfully quiet. The assassin turned his head to Pinkie, his horn glowed as a shadow tendril shot from the ground and pinned her, holding her by her legs, making use of her sudden lull in offence and lack of weaponry, before he galloped over to her, despite the knife lodged in him and grabbed her by the waist and teleported away, though rather than a flash of light, he and the mare faded away into shadow black smoke; an effect shadow magic had on other types of magic was that it always came out darker.

The two appeared outside, in the night air, illuminated by Luna's moon casting a silver sheen over everything. Pinkie and Blood moon tumbled out of his teleportation, rolling and falling over one another, all the time the blade in the assassin's side was being knocked about.

The assassin got up first, Pinkie lying on her side, as he attempted to dislodge the dagger in his side; reaching back with his right hoof he gripped the handle, electing a hiss of pain from him, he tightened his grip and took a deep breath before ripping it out of himself. A breathless and silent growl escaped him as he plunged the bloodied blade into the ground. He set about healing himself; his horn lit up, albeit weakly, as the unicorn magic set about healing the wound, tugging the split tissue back together before it burned any infections away. The spell the went about its most painful phase, not that the rest had been pleasant; the torn skin tissue began to heal proper, the middle most split and damaged skin began to sizzle and burn as it joined together, a small flow of smoke rising from the wound and the smell of burnt flesh polluting the air. The assassin gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as the tears of pain pushed through, the blood was still getting through the wound but it was as healed as it was going to get with magic. That was the problem with healing with magic; the split in the skin would only be rejoined at the middle, the upper and lower parts of the gap would still be open and blood could still get through. Sitting on his flank, he pulled one of the syringes out of his pouches and stabbed it into his right fore-leg and depressed the plunger, the complex mix of herbs and chemicals working its way through him, killing the pain of his partly fixed hole almost instantly. Blood Moon really wished that the powerful painkiller didn’t screw with his magical focus so much as he couldn’t heal while he was under its effect. It would make healing himself a much more pleasant an experience.

Replacing the now empty syringe and taking out a roll of bandages, he then took to wrapping them around his body, laying them over his injury and overlapping them numerous times until he was satisfied the blood had stopped spewing from him. Pressing on the area once or twice, finding it still tender, he stood and rolled his neck before trotting over to Pinkie Pie; he held his sword out as he made his way over, weary of any surprise attacks. As he got closer he noticed how she seemed to be shaking.

'Well, she's laughing or crying. Taking all bets…'

As he got closer, he noticed how the mare seemed to be sobbing to herself. He narrowed his eyes; he didn't want her to be hurt, physically or mentally, but he didn't want her jumping up, pulling his eyes out and putting them in a muffin or something. He stopped, stood over her, sword held over her, pointed down in a manner that told anypony he would draw blood if anything happened here that he didn't like. Hesitantly, he put his hoof on her shoulder. Nothing. Eyes darting left and right, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, he pulled her onto her back. All bets were off. Her mane and tail may have been ridged still but he could tell by the way she was weeping into her hooves like a foal that she had snapped out of it. Sheathing his sword immediately, he leaned down and put his head down to her.

"Pinkie" no response, just more sobs "Pinkie Pie, are you all right?"

"She didn't hurt you, did she?" The question caught him off guard.

'She didn't hurt me? She knows about Pinkamena? Strange…'

"No, I'm fine. I'm more concerned about you. You weren't yourself, what happened to you." She tried to gather herself, failing as she fell back into sobs again.

"I'm sorry, but wh-when I started talking about my dad, and you said that he couldn't have been killed by timber wolves, she didn't like the idea of somepony figuring out what happened." Blood Moon lowered his head, he didn't like where this was going. He picked her up with his magic, placing her on his back, and trotting into an alleyway, away from prying eyes. Sitting her down at one side of the alley, he sat at the other, looking straight at her still crying form.

"Pinkie Pie, what happened?"

"I-it started when I first got my cutie mark. Before that, I was always miserable, my sisters didn't bully me but they didn't treat me as family, just another filly that they didn't want to know. When I first saw that rainbow, I was filled with joy and I wanted to share it with my family, and I did. I threw my first party for them" she smiled weakly at the memory "they liked it at first" the smiled faded away to depression once again "but after a while, my dad decided he didn't like all the colors and went about tearing it all apart" she began to well up again "then he said that he didn't want any more parties so he went right to the source" her voice got higher pitched as she got to the end as tears started to fall from her eyes once more. Then things took a darker turn. "So he tried to get rid of me, and all the depression came back, came back as something different , came back as…as" she couldn't get the words out as she burst into tears in earnest. The dark stallion's foalsitting skills kicked in as he opened his fore-legs to hold the pink mare, the action commanded by his subconscious, and Pinkie's sobbing form fell right into his embrace.

"Came back in the form of murder" he finished, hoping he was wrong. His hopes were dashed when he felt Pinkie nod and heard a muffled 'mm hmm'. He gave a defeated sigh. "What did you do Pinkie?" She looks up with fear and confusion in her eyes. Blood Moon returns the look with a smirk. "From one killer to another, Pinkie I'm in no place to judge you, and if I were I still wouldn't." The pink mare gave a grateful smile but soon went back to crying into his shoulder.

"I don't really remember much, one moment I was backing up to the wall, the next I woke up in a room with my family, but they weren't moving and there was blood all over the room and-and" she went back to crying, the assassin stroking her mane and shushing her. From what he could tell, Pinkamena and Pinkie Pie were not the same pony; Pinkamena was her negativity.

'Bad emotions don't just go away. They are embraced or rejected and trying to stay happy all the time won't ever work out well. This mare is proof enough of that.'

He suddenly noticed that Pinkie had quieted down; she'd cried herself to sleep. He grunted as he got up, putting her back on his back and making his way to…

"Damn, where would an ecstatic, pink party thrower live Mooney" the assassin asked himself.

"I live in Sugarcube corner" Pinkie Pie replied from his back sleepily. He smiled slightly.

"Thanks." The journey continued in silence, only Pinkie's sniffles breaking the silence. The assassin soon found himself at the bakery that looked to be made from gingerbread, Pinkie gave him a key she had been keeping…somewhere, and Blood Moon unlocked the door with it, closing it again as he went inside. The inside of the shop was still, silent and covered in shadow and silver from the moon. The assassin and party thrower riding him went upstairs, finding the mare's room was easy, given 'Pinkie's room' was on a sign that was attached to a pink door decorated with blue and yellow balloons.

'Subtle.'

Trotting through the door, opened with his magic, and put her down on the bed. He looked over her as she breathed calmly but judging by the way her back legs were kicking out she was having nightmares, he found himself hoping Luna would be there to guide her through her troubles. He turned to go but felt a hoof on his back, calling his attention, turning around he found Pinkie Pie's half lidded eyes upon him.

"Don't go please." The assassin took a breath; he knew he couldn't go, knew he couldn't leave her by herself when he knew he could help her, be there for her. It sometimes surprised even him just how comforting just having somepony standing by you could be.

"As long as you're in shadow, you'll always be safe." Pinkie smiled a bit.

"Pretty words" she said sleepily. The assassin couldn't help but crack a smile at that one.

"Hey, you smiled" was the last thing she said before she fell asleep.

Twilight stood stock still, she wasn't quite sure what happened, by the time she had figured out what had happened it was already over; Pinkie had thrown her knife but Blood Moon had intercepted it, then they'd both vanished. After she gathered her thoughts she turned to the crowd.

"Ok everypony, I think that marks an end to this party. You can all go back to your homes and we'll try and sort this out and try and find out what happened to Pinkie" she told them all in a voice that said she wasn't sure what had happened with her and Blood Moon and didn't really want to find out. In response, everypony in the library promptly left, Vinyl packed up her music and did the same, while Twilight's friends remained. She looked to where Rainbowdash had been and found that Sand Stalker was still sat with a wing over her.

"Is she ok?" Sand stalker looked up at the mare who had asked the question, Twilight, before looking back at the mare under his wing.

"She seems to be settling but it looks like she isn't getting up anytime soon" he told her "I'm going to try and get her home." Twilight nodded, by the looks of the cyan furred mare, getting her back to her bed was the best thing he could do. She felt a nudging on her leg and looked down to see Scootaloo with a worried look on her face.

"What's up with her?" The older Pegasus spared her a glance before he looked back to the mare beneath his wing.

"Nothing, she's just…sleepy, she'll be ok tomorrow" the Arabian answered for her. He stood up and motioned for Twilight to put Rainbowdash on his back, and after she had lifted her on with her magic, he bade her farewell and left with a mare on his back.

Trotting through the night in Ponyville all depended on where you were; sticking to the more open areas would keep you alive, but meandering into a back street would likely end with your guts on the floor. As he continued to trot through the small town he felt a stirring on his back.

"N-no…Pinkie…not my wings…CUPCAKES!" She blurted the words out as she leapt into the air and stayed there breathing heavily still half in her dream.

"Dash, calm down. It's safe, Pinkie ain't hear." The mare looked around, unsure of what was going on.

"Wait, what, where am I" she demands.

"A little ways away from your place, I was carrying you there after you passed out." Dash seemed to fall into shame and embarrassment.

"Uhhh” she groaned “I feinted? Please tell me nopony saw." The merc shrugged.

“Your friends saw you, so did the kid that hangs out with you." Rainbowdash face-hoofed.

"You mean Scoots saw me?" Another shrug.

"Yeah but she seemed more concerned than anything" he supplies.

"R-really, I thought that…that…"

"Since she looked up to you, you felt you had to look tough in front of her." He finished the sentence in confidence but in reality he was flying blind here, comforting mares and foals was, from what he had seen and heard, Blood Moon's department but Rainbowdash's dad was his friend and he'd been asked to look after her by her parents, so if stumbling around in the dark was all he had when he was looking out for her, then so be it.

"Why do you even care" she asked as she flew on "I don't even know you."

"You really mean that, don't you Dash?" The mare gave a nod in reply. They had both taken to the air, Rainbow a little shakily, and made their way to the rainbow mare's home, or maybe 'home' was an understatement, it was more like a cloud castle, rainbow falls cascading down in a majestic manner and podiums holding up other segments of the cloud that made up the place. It was an obvious replica of the architecture of Cloudsdale. The pair landed just outside the door, Sand Stalker still looking over Rainbowdash's home with an appreciative eye. "Not bad" he mutters. Looking back at the mare he nodded his goodbye, moving to the lip of the 'cloud-porch' and prepared to jump off. "You ever remember your dad saying anything about 'ol' uncle sand'?" There was recognition in her face, to which the merc grinned and motioned his head in his own direction "sand and shade." He went on to leap off the home of a stunned Rainbowdash.

"Sand and shade, uncle Sand" she muttered, before her eyes widened in recognition, she remembered her dad saying something about a Pegasus who had helped look after her when her dad had been away doing…whatever he did when he was gone. "Uncle Sand" she called after his plummeting form, her expression saddened; she hadn't been able to thank him.

An average day for an assassin

Chapter thirteen: An average day for an assassin

Pinkie woke up first, she was stirred by the assassin that slept next to her; he shuffled, turned, kicked out, grunted and groaned in his sleep. She could tell he was having a nightmare. He started to get more violent, his fore-legs flailing and striking out at an unseen assailant. His grunts turned to growls, a dog like rumble leaking from his jaws as his night terrors influenced his outward actions. His horn began to glow and the shadows in the room began to move, swaying like flames in a weak breeze. His head started turning, snapping to the sides fast and harsh as he tried to spot something. His movements stopped for a second, he muttered something under his breath, it was gibberish and had no meaning but he seemed to put thought into it and he had a bitter tint in his voice. The he started to thrash around, his whole body moving at once, full body spasms that threw his form around before going limp again. He then seemed to be paralysed, his teeth bared, his canines seemed to be sharper, more like a wolves than a ponies, and another growl emerged from his throat, it turned to a snarl, which turned to a roar. Pinkie was getting worried; she'd slept remarkably well considering what had happened last night but finding Blood Moon like this was starting to scare her as he continued to go through his own personal hell.

"M-Mooney, are you ok" she asked his sleeping and stirring form. She didn't get an answer, instead he continued stirring and thrashing, his right-fore hoof grabbed at the covers of Pinkie's bed and he held them in a death-grip, the stallion had begun to mutter again; 'Sombra', 'Celestia' and 'Star-swirl' were the only words that could be made out through his ravings. He released his grip on the sheets but quickly latched onto Pinkie's nearby hoof. "Blood Moon?" The assassin was breathing heavily now, sweat pouring from beneath his fur and his eyes were squeezed together. Pinkie leaned forwards, but as soon as she made a move the assassin's eyes shot open, his horn sparked to life and his grey aura gripping his blade which ripped from his scabbard and flew across the room faster than the mare could blink; with a low 'Thunk' his blade impaled itself into the wall, embedding itself hilt deep. The mare gave a small squeal, attracting the attention of the assassin, who was trying to collect himself as he pulled his mind from the depths of his dark mind that tortured him so.

He took a few deep breaths to steady himself, and tried to remember what he just had running through his mind; he had to restrain himself from scowling when he came up with little to nothing, a few scraps was all he had, a battle, a few names and little more. He suddenly noticed the pressure on his right hoof, looking at it he found a pink hoof gripping it, attached to the hoof was a leg and the owner of the leg was a pleasantly round mare, soft in all the right places and nice and round in all the good places. Pinkie Pie. She held his hoof, and was looking at the assassin with a face of fear and worry.

"B-Blood Moon, Mooney, are you ok?" She seemed to be scared of the assassin, but he couldn't blame her, what with the show he put on when he awoke.

"I…I'm fine, just a…just a bad dream is all. How are you?"

"Better, knowing you're ok. And that you're still here." He put a small smile on his face.

"I never leave a friend behind." Pinkie lit up, beaming at him, not one of her freaky out of place smiles that were worn by Pinkamena, but one of the real pleasant and down-right lovable one's that only Pinkie Pie could put one her face.

"You mean we're friends?" She practically squealed. The assassin shrugged.

"Well, we've slept together, that's gotta count for something right?" Pinkie's eyes widened for a second, a blush kissed her face, looking strangely cute on her pink face, held her mouth behind her hooves and giggled.

"You're naughty" she giggled. He put on a look of mock offence, putting a hoof to his chest.

"Pinkie Pie, you wound me so with your cruel, cruel words." Pinkie laughed again, maybe too much for said gag, she fell onto her back and wound down from her small fit. Blood Moon retrieved his weapon from the wall and sat on the bed besides her, back and rear-end still sore from a night on the floor. He looked down at her sprawled out form. It suddenly hit him that pretty much all of the elements of harmony had perplexingly nice bodies, more so than most other average mare's looks; Applejack was well toned and muscular; Rarity, as one would expect, had one of the shapeliest figures he'd ever seen; and Pinkie Pie was round and soft. He looked at Pinkie again and saw something different in her eyes; they were still locked onto the ceiling but there was a strange…the only way to put it would be, a shift in the wind.

"Pinkie, are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm just thinking about last night…"

"Well don't, regrets are never helpful, and it's not like it was you in there was it? You can't blame yourself for something you didn't do Pinkie." The happiness returned to Pinkie's face.

"Thanks Mooney, you really know how to make me feel better." The assassin simply shrugged.

"We should get up; everypony is probably worried about you." It was at this point when Pinkie seemed to bounce right off the bed, in a strangely graceful arc, somersaulting and landing on her hooves with balance only those who had been training all their lives or those who could toggle the laws of physics at will, could achieve.

"Oo oo oo, I gotta introduce you to the Cakes and their twins!" The assassin simply blinked, in his mind Pinkie wanted him to say 'hello' to a pair of deserts and their children, most likely baby cakes or something.
"The cakes can have children in Ponyville? What do you put in the flour here?" Pinkie giggled in a way that would make even the most dead and shrivelled up heart beat again from the pure joy that seemed to radiate from the sound.

"No silly, Mr and Mrs Cake own Sugarcube corner and the twins are their two foals; Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake." Blood Moon made a sound that signified his understanding, but still felt his theory about cakes having children was better, if more amusing.

"Alright then, let's go meet some ponies" he said as he trotted for the door. As he reached it though he found that Pinkie was not following him, instead she had a look of worry and uncertainty about her. "Are you sure you're ok Pinkie, one minute you seem fine the next you're as depressing as a dead puppy." Pinkie gave one long sigh.

"It's just…what if everypony thinks I'm weird or if Mr and Mrs Cake heard about what happened last night or maybe everypony think-" she was cut off when Blood Moon lunged for her, holding her down, putting her in an ancient Japony full-body restraint, which has been lost to time for hundreds of years and takes over nine years to master this single move, and proceeded…to tickle her relentlessly. You would have thought that being a foalsitter Blood Moon would know how to cheer up an upset filly, and you'd be right, but it was actually his skills as an assassin that allowed him to put Pinkie Pie on her back while she laughed uproariously as he attacked her more sensitive nerve endings, moving his hooves with an extraordinarily out of place amount of skill as Pinkie begged him to stop between bursts of laughter. After a good thirty seconds of these antics, Blood Moon finally releases an upbeat Pinkie Pie, who lays sprawled on the floor trying to catch her breath and winding down from another laughing fit and wearing a smile that gave the assassin hope for her wellbeing. "I needed that" the mare comments.

"It looked like it" Blood Moon replies as he sits there, looking over Pinkie "it's only right the element of laughter should laugh" he remarks while grinning. "Are you gonna get up any time soon?" Pinkie's smile grows wider as she closes her eyes.

"Nah, I'm comfy here" she replies before yawning. Blood Moon looks on in what should have been disbelief, considering not five minutes ago she had been asleep, but even after the short time he had known Pinkie Pie, he had grown to accept this behaviour as normal. He gazes over her small form and his eyes rest on, bizarrely, her stomach and a rather out of place thought slides smoothly into his head, like when somepony slides right through the front door of a party and nopony notices. He reaches over to her and puts his hoof on her tummy, before he proceeds to rub her. Belly rubs. For no particular reason, besides his feeling like it. As he continues this act, Pinkie Pie sighs peacefully, clearly enjoying it.

"Hmm, what's that" she asks before a giggle escapes her lips.

"Belly rubs, I know from experience that it's soothing and, depending on the pony, downright adorable." Pinkie gives yet another giggle, though as the sound leaves her lips the assassin hears the door creak open.

"Pinkie Pie" a male voice asks.

"Are you ok? We heard something fall over…" a female voice asks. The mare, of blue fur and swirly two-tone pink mane and tail, trots in and spots Pinkie Pie; alone in her room with a stallion rubbing her tummy. She was, predictably, a little surprised by the situation. The stallion, of yellow fur and a spiky orange mane and tail, stepped into the room after her.

"Pinkie, we heard something happened last night. Are you alright?" He quickly spots the dark stallion in the centre of the room. He quickly becomes defensive. "And you are?"

"My name is Blood Moon" he introduces, his sentence punctuated by an unhappy moan from Pinkie who had noticed the lack of rubbing upon her belly. She sat up and noticed the two new presences in the room and recovered from the post-belly rubs mentality remarkably quickly.

"HiMrCakeHiMrsCakethisisBloodMoonhe'sanewfriendofminehesleptherelastnighttoobutdon'tworrietheauthorthoughtwehadn'tknowneachotherlongenoughtomakeushavesexyetandsincePinkamenacameoutlastnightitwould'thavebeenveryappropriateconsideringmymentalconditionatthetimeOHarethetwinsupIshouldgogetthemandintroducedthemtoMooneythisisMooneybythewayMooney'snothisrealnamethat'sBloodMoonMooney'sjustanicknameIgavehimwellIshuldgoseehowPumpkinandPoundaredoingseeeeyaaaaa!" The pair of bakers, for their part, just nodded at Pinkie as she spoke but otherwise seemed to have zoned out up until she left the room. Blood Moon, on the other hoof, had listened to her and was sat there throwing his fore-legs up and down in confusion before letting them go limp and fall to his sides. He really wanted to go find a dark corner so he could have a little cry right now. He looked at the mare and stallion and decided to try and regain some of his sanity by engaging them in conversation.

"I can only guess you're Mr and Mrs Cake then" he got a nod "Pinkie's employers, landlords, caretakers?" He got more nods.

"Yep, we've been keeping a roof over her head for a good couple of years now. She turned up on our doorstep after she left the rock farm" Mrs Cake explains before she leans in furtively "guessing from what we heard happened last night I take it you know about…Pinkamena?" She whispers the last word. Blood Moon simply nods. "She told us about that as soon as she came here, poured her heart right out, the poor dear." This caught Blood Moon's interest.

"What did you do with the information?" The yellow stallion sighs sadly before answering.

"Only thing we could do: nothing. We knew she wasn't in her right mind when it happened and we couldn't let those psychiatrist types get their hooves on the poor girl. Who knows what they would have done to her, she's not bad at all just a little…troubled." The assassin nodded his agreement.

"We couldn't do that anyway, we've come to love her as one of our own" Mrs Cake adds. Blood Moon turns his full attention to her.

"Have you ever told her that?" Neither could answer, for two reasons: A) they had not told Pinkie Pie that before, but couldn't think why and B) said party planner had just trotted through the door with two giggling foals on her back.

"Mooney, this is Pumpkin Cake" she slides off a unicorn filly "and Pound Cake" a Pegasus colt slides off. The assassin raises his eyebrow.

"A unicorn and Pegasus?" He looks at their earth pony parents. Pinkie draws in a long breath before Mr Cake interrupts.

"It's a long story, maybe we can tell you about it over breakfast" he suggests, showing a practiced hoof at not allowing Pinkie to go on her tangents.

"I wouldn't want to be a bother." As if on cue, his stomach rumbles at the prospect of food. The assassin could feel the narrowed, threatening eyes of his gut looking up at him. Mrs Cake gives a small smile.

"Oh you won't be a bother, besides, it sounds like you need it" she insists. As she speaks the filly, Pumpkin Cake, trots unsurely up to Blood Moon. In return, the dark stallion leans down to her and looks her in the eye.

"Hello there" he says quietly. The filly responds by trying to eat his muzzle. The stallion straightens up, a smile on his face as Pumpkin remains attached to his face. "So how do I taste today, young one?" Pumpkin giggles a little, losing her grip on the assassin's face and falling into his fore-hooves. He places the foal back on the floor, next to her brother. "Well if you insist I can't really say no can I" he tells them, bringing the conversation back to its point. The parents, foals, ex-foalsitter and Pinkie Pie proceed to go downstairs and find a table in the café area of the bakery. The bakers and assassin settle for a cup of coffee, the foals a bottle of milk each and Pinkie Pie a cup of punch that she seemed to have pulled from her mane. The conversation revolved mainly around bakery and the foals, Blood Moon tuning out for the talk about muffins, cupcakes and other assorted pastries. During the time they sat in the bakery, Mrs Cake noticed the bandages on Blood Moon's side, prompting the stallion to properly see to the wound; a few stitches later it would be just another scar after a while. After an hour of friendly conversation, Blood Moon decided it was time for him to go; standing outside the door he gave his final farewell to Pinkie Pie.

"I'll see you around Pinkie Pie, be sure to tell everypony you're ok" he advises.
"Okie dokie lokie, I'll see you later Mooney" she turns to go inside before she pauses and turns back to Blood Moon "Oh, and Mooney…" she doesn't finish, instead she wraps her fore-hooves around him "thanks for being there for me."

"Don't mention it, I look after my friends" he replies as he returns the embrace. The two release each other and go about their separate ways. The stallion didn't get two meters until he ran into Ditzy. She held herself a little offensively and her eyes weren't open the whole way.

"Where were you? I couldn't find you last night!"

"Well it's good to see you too, and to answer your question I was with Pinkie." The grey mare leans in, eyes further narrowed, but Blood Moon holds his ground.

"And just what were you doing with her?" The record scratches.

"Helping her through a troubling time, are you implying that I was-?"

"I'm not implying anything, I know. I've seen the way you look at other mares, hay you and Vinyl may as well have been making out last night!" Blood Moon couldn't quite believe this.

"Are you accusing me of being unfaithful, of being disloyal to you?" She didn't answer, but her face said it all, her eyes said it all. And it was all Blood Moon needed. He advanced on her, slow and threatening, his eyes narrowed and intimidating. For the first time, Ditzy could see the assassin that Blood Moon kept hidden from her. If there was one thing the dark stallion hated, he absolutely detested, it was being accused of being disloyal. It seemed Ditzy got the message as well, as she began to back up, her eyes slowly widening in fear. "I don't want to see you again" he hissed, voice full of malice and venom, every drop aimed at Ditzy. Her eyes widened further.

"What" she whispered.

"You heard me" the assassin snarled, before he turned and trotted away from the mare. As he went he could hear her burst into tears and take flight in the opposite direction.

A less than happy assassin sat in the Hoof and anvil, nursing a tankard of particularly strong cider, or to be more accurate, his third tankard of the infamous Appleloosa 'Apple Mugging'.

'Leaves you with a sore head and an empty wallet.'

Besides the assassin sat Sand Stalker, he leaned back against the couch the pair of fighters sat upon. The assassin had found the mercenary when he'd trotted into the bar in an impossibly bad mood. Blood Moon had told him how he and Ditzy had 'parted ways'. His solution to the problem had been to 'drink his sorrows away'. It didn't exactly strike Blood Moon's fancy but it was better than nothing.

"I gotta say, I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did." The assassin turns his gaze to the merc.

"Subtle" is all he says in return. Sand Stalker shrugs.

"I'm just sayin' is all, I mean; you met and then you started dating, things… progressed pretty quickly between you. That said, it was only for, what, three days. Then again, going from what you two were getting up to last night, I'm surprised it ended so suddenly." Blood Moon grunts.

"I wouldn't say that, rushed relationships never work out well. That, and I don't think it would have lasted long either way. A lack of trust never really helps in the continued survival of a relationship."

"Lack of trust?"

"Yeah, it's a sort of personal thing I have; whenever somepony challenges my loyalty I kind of…snap. Ditzy's lucky she still has wings" he growls with narrow eyes. The temperature in the room dropped dramatically.

"Take it easy Blood Moon" the merc warns.

"Yeah, well, I'm an old, angry and bitter assassin. I like to think I have the right to be a little cold now and then. In case you haven't noticed, I take my loyalty very seriously." He narrowed his eyes and turned to the mustard stallion. "Don't. You. Forget it." The two sat in silence for a while after that, neither of them really knowing what to say. In the end Sand Stalker settled for idle conversation.

"So, how come you are so…obsessive over loyalty, I never really noticed before." Blood Moon snorts slightly.

"I got that from Celestia, when she declared me an enemy of Equestria and set all her army and resources on my sent…she put it down to my 'abandonment' of her and ever since I've been, well you said it, a little obsessive about it. I guess you could say I never got over it." Sand Stalker nods his understanding.

"Don't you think you over reacted a little though? I mean just dumping her like that, if anything THAT was a little cold, especially considering her week so far." The assassin turned his head back to the merc.
"Don't tell me how to live my life. Right now, I couldn't care less about the way she feels. If she wanted me to stick with her, she should have been more trusting." Sand Stalker didn't back down from the stare Blood Moon met him with.

"You really are cold, you know." The assassin just smirked.

"Fifteen thousand years alive, making mistakes, being forced to live with them, raising a family and never seeing them again, taking lives, ruining them, destined to wander for all eternity with nowhere to go and nopony to really relate to. You're damn right I'm cold." The two sat in silence once more, a very tense and uneasy silence.

"Oh, by the way, Applejack already told us everything about your…troubled past." The assassin snorts again, but considering the circumstances he didn't really care.

"Yeah, sorta figured that when I got no real reaction to my rather dark speech just now, and I can only presume it was Twilight who asked her to ask me anyway" he grunts. There was yet another lull in the conversation, the two of them taking sips from their drink periodically.

"So what are you gonna do?" Blood Moon sighs when this question is asked, it had actually been a point he'd been avoiding.

"I don't know. There are a few problems I need to see to: first, I need a place to stay. Second: I think I need to make a start on figuring out who sent me after Twilight. Thirdly: figuring out what Luna meant when she last spoke to me. Forth: I've got to find out who or what was behind that attack on Ponyville."

"What do you mean, 'what Luna meant'?" The assassin looks over at the merc.

"She knows I'm here in Ponyville." Sand Stalker loosed a breath.

"Ok, that's bad."

"Very bad, this isn't good for my security at all. The only thing that confuses me is that neither has acted on the information. I'd have thought Celestia would have sent the cavalry by now, the fact that she hasn't means she either doesn't care right now, unlikely, or she doesn't actually know. Well, doesn't know yet, she's going to find out sooner or later, Princesses of Equestria and all y'know. It doesn't really matter anyway, I've been putting that meeting off for too long anyway" he mutters.

"So, what's the plan then? My advice would be to get yourself a place first. I'd offer you mine but I don't sleep with somepony after the first date." The assassin grunted a laugh at that one.

"You're right" he groaned as he downed the last of his drink and got to his hooves. "I'm not doing anything helpful here, may as well get something done and since putting together a base of operations is gonna make everything else easier, might as well put that at the top of my list. Where do I go to buy a place to stay?"

"Town hall, you'll want to speak to Mayor Mare. She handles homeownership around here." The assassin nodded and turned for the door.

"Hey buddy, you gonna pay for that" the barkeep asks. Blood Moon doesn't look back.

"Put it on his tab" he calls back, gesturing to Sand Stalker. Trotting out of the bar, his ears treated to a few choice curses from the Pegasus, and made his way to town hall. He could remember its position from the map he had made in his head when he first arrived, subsequently, he got there relatively quickly. Stepping into the hall, he finds his way to an office that, according to the sign on the door, belonged to the Mayor. Stepping through he was greeted to what looked like a secretary that sat behind a desk, behind the desk was another door which Blood Moon decided belonged to the actual office of the mayor.

"Sir, do you have an appointment" the mare behind the desk asked. She had deep red fur and a light pink mane and tail, it was styled but the assassin couldn't be bothered to take her in properly, she was a unicorn and was paused in the motion writing something on a piece of parchment, her pink eyes locked on him.

"I don't need one" he called back. He opened the door with his magic but it was immediately slammed closed again as he stepped up to it.

"I'm afraid you'll need to go through the proper channels sir." He turned to her and put a 'bitch please' look on his face.

"Do I look like the type to go through proper channels?" The mare looked him up and down before answering.

"No, but now would be a good time to start." The assassin almost growled, but allowed himself to narrow his eyes; this mare was stubborn, but he liked the fire she had. He took a step towards her, the motion causing the mare to hop off her seat.

"Don't annoy me mare, I'm not in a good mood today" he threatened. The mare took it in her stride.

"I couldn't care less if you were in a good mood or not. All's I want you to do is do this properly. Why are you here anyway?" The assassin gave an incredibly pissed off sigh.

"I'm here to purchase a home in Ponyville" he explains. Before the secretary could respond, the door to the mare's office flung open; a stallion, followed by a mare, trotted out. The stallion wore a bow-tie and…was that a fez? He had light brown fur and a darker shade of brown mane and tail, his cutie mark was simple time turner but none of this held the assassin's attention. What held his attention were the eyes. Blood Moon had met a lot of interesting ponies over the years, and learned a lot about them through his talent, but this stallion was, by far, one of the most fascinating ponies he had ever met. Looking into his soul revealed a great many things, more so than anypony he had ever met before, even Celestia hadn't seen as much as this stallion. He had seen more than Blood Moon. A tidal wave of knowledge, skills and memories slammed into the assassin's mind, throwing him into overload as he read into him; places he didn't recognise; objects of other worldly quality; and…strange beings that were referred to as 'people'.

'What in Tartarus is a 'people'?'

"I wondered when I'd meet you…" The stallion spoke in an accent the assassin didn't recognise. He had a very strange energy about him; it made him likeable but held an element of intrigue to him. "So you're the one who saved Ditzy. Blood Moon, isn't it?" The assassin narrowed his eyes and spoke in a low tone.

"And you are?" The stallion took to moving around the assassin, taking him in from every angle.

"Doctor Whooves" he says quickly before changing the subject "you've been courting Ditzy lately haven't you" he said, a statement not a question.

"I was" he answers. The Doctor immediately stopped rounding him and stood before him.

"Mm-hmm, I also heard you recently broke up." The assassin cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah, this morning, not three hours ago" he narrowed his eyes as he spoke. "How'd you know?" Whooves breathed loudly through his nose.

"People of my station are privy to a lot of things ponies shouldn't know." The dark stallion raised an eyebrow.

'There's that word again…'

"Doctor…" The assassin began but couldn't finish, he just regarded the pony in front of him with an air of indifference. The Doctor glanced left and right, not moving his head, before asking:

"Doctor who?" With that, the stallion passed the assassin and left the room, leaving a confused Blood Moon in his wake.

"Can I help you?" The assassin turns his attention to the mare who had exited the office; she was an earth pony, she had a tan coat and a silver and grey mane and tail, kept in a functional but not too fancy style. Her cutie mark was a scroll, wrapped in blue ribbon, the colour of which matched her midnight blue eye exactly. A pair of half-moon spectacles were perched on her muzzle, and she wore a white collar with a green neck piece threaded through it.

"I'm looking for a place to live, is there a home available for purchase?" The mare looks him up and down for a second, regarding him no doubt, before leaning back and turning her head to the side slightly.

"I may be able to assist you" she tells him, a small grin on her face "step into my office." In his head, Blood Moon sighs; the last time he'd heard that line the room had exploded around him when he'd tried to use the water cooler. The mayor's office was a simple affaire; oak desk with a multitude of papers on it, big chair behind it, large window behind that offered a grand and 'leader-ish' view of Ponyville, in front of the desk two smaller chairs sat, against a wall a few filing cabinets sat. Decorations about the office were scarce; a few pictures of peaceful scenes, the Equestrian symbol and such. A lush, green carpet was on the floor and the pair's hooves sunk into it when they stepped upon it. The mayor sat on the chair behind the desk before looking back at the stallion. "So you want to buy a home in Ponyville? Now, you understand, I can't go selling real-estate to just anypony." The assassin had a very bored look on his face.

"Do I look like 'just anypony' Miss Mayor?" The mayor leaned forwards on her seat, putting her hooves to her chin in a 'business' like fashion, her eyes half-lidded as she took in the stallion's standing form.

"Well with that hood of yours covering you up, you don't look like anypony at all." Blood Moon sighed, reaching up and pulling his hood off of his head. Looking up again his face had turned from 'bored' to 'bored shitless'. The mayor, meanwhile, was taking in his face, a grin forming on her face once more. She scrutinised his features; she liked the ruggedness of his features, the scar down his face and the beaten up appearance it held, she especially liked his eyes, those blood red irises that seemed to stare into her soul. Oh, she liked this one. Mayor mare got up out of her seat, circling around her desk until she was stood next to the stallion. "Blood Moon, wasn't it? That's what Time turner called you." She watched as he raised an eyebrow.

"Time Turner, you mean the stallion who was in here before?" The mayor gave a shrug, taking a discrete step closer as she did.

"Time Turner, Doctor Whooves, Dr Hooves. He has many names, but right now that's not what should be concerning you." The stallion took one step back; the mayor seemed awfully close right now.

"Yes" he said, a little unsurely "I'm looking for a home in Ponyville, is there one for sale?" her grin turned to a smile of…hidden interest.

"There is but, as I said, I can't go just selling my real-estate to just anypony. Do you have anything to offer to the community?"

'Well let me see; I'm an assassin of unparalleled skill, who has fought in the war against Discord, the griffon wars and most others in the last fifteen thousand years of Equestria’s history, has killed politicians, nobles and rival assassins alike single hoofed. I have lived past living memory and walked the plains of Tartarus. My knowledge of Equestria is equalled by only Celestia and I have seen land in its borders that even the great princess of the day has no knowledge of existing. Countries and kingdoms have thrived to greatness and shrivelled to nothingness thanks to my unseen influence. Now you tell me; do you think I'll be an asset to the community?'

"I have a few skills that would be of use, I actually helped protect the town from the changelings a little while back" he tells her. The mayor takes a step closer again, closer than before in fact.

"Hmmm, I always liked you hero types" she murmured, her voice still being picked up by the assassin. "Aren't you the one who killed five of my citizens as well? That doesn't look very good on your rap sheet, you know" Mayor tells him, hoof caressing his chest "but, I'm sure a stallion such as yourself would be able to…'persuade' me otherwise." The record, for the second time in a day, scratched. Blood Moon raised his eyebrow once more, if she was implying what he thought she was…things just went from boring to amusing in about a second. The assassin went on to do the only logical thing he could think to do at the time: appraise the mare before him.

'Alright let's see: nice face, sexy glasses, attractive build; likely from gym work rather than manual labour, but it's nice to see somepony in an office job looking after themselves so points for taking the time to make herself look pretty, nice flank, pretty eyes, tan fur goes well with the silver and grey mane and tail, no more than…thirty years old, has a nice taste in neckpieces, fine legs, suggestive smile works for me, nice choice in perfume and seems to know what she's doing. Overall rating; I'm too gentlecoltly to give one.'

He put his infamous rouge grin on his face.

"Well, I can be pretty persuasive, did you have anything…in particular in min-" his sentence was cut off when the mare mashed her lips against his, not too softly either. This mare had either, just broke up with her coltfriend, was bored, had massive amounts sexual tension going on for her or was in heat. One discreet sniff of the air later told the assassin that the latter of all his assumptions were correct; that was no perfume she was wearing, that was the pheromones she was releasing.

'Well, it is my solemn duty as an assassin under the code of the shadow weavers to help a mare in need.'

The stallion kissed back, forcefully, Mayor played along, moving backwards to the wall of the office. Leaning her against the wall, Blood Moon lifted her off her fore-hooves, their lips still connected, as he ran his skilled hooves down her body; chest, stomach and flank were victim to his touch as he continued to rub her all over. Their lip eventually designed, the assassin running his mouth down her more sensitive spots, soon making it down to her marehood. He couldn't help but grin at the glistening folds. His warm breath hit her pussy, causing her to shiver, he teased around the edges, flicking his tongue in and out but never for more than a second as he heard her whimper slightly as he worked. He ran his tongue over one side of her opening roughly, starting at the bottom and working his way up, earning him a sharp breath from the mayor. The stallion switched to his hooves, tracing patterns along her slit, getting more gasps whenever he got too close to her clit. As he swirled his right hoof around her cunny, his left went to her flank; caressing her cutie mark and gripping her taunt rump. A sudden spank earned him a gasp from the mare.

"You really know what you're doing don't you" she comments breathlessly. He glanced up with a devious grin on his face.

"I've picked up a few things" he replies before slipping his tongue straight in. The sudden invasion gets a squeal from Mayor Mare. She slides down the wall, lost in her own pleasure, Blood Moon eating her out the whole way, until she lands comfortably on her back. The assassin keeps up his efforts, thrusting his tongue in and out of her love tunnel while he keeps his lips clamped over her opening, upper lip pushing against her clit. He kisses her folds a few times before running the full width of his tongue up her, electing a long moan from Mayor. Blood Moon goes back in, full force; he lapped her juices up before he went back to stabbing her pussy relentlessly. She writhed, squirmed and struggled under the assassin but he held her hips down as his tongue massaged her inner walls. Mayor Mare, lost in her bliss, had begun to moan louder, her groans breathless and pleasure filled, she caressed her own body with her right hoof, rubbing over her chest and flanks as she held her glasses, biting them slightly, in her left hoof. A wave of pleasure slammed into her, spreading out from her marehood, causing her to arch her back and open her mouth in a silent scream. Blood Moon rose from her pussy, face dripping with her fluids, a grin on his face. "Enjoy that?" The mayor had a look of ecstasy on her face, still in her post-orgasmic mentality, as she tried to catch her breath.

"W-wow…" Mayor looks up from her position on the floor, replacing her glasses, and gazes at Blood Moon with a sultry look on her face. "I wouldn't be doing my duty as a civil servant if I didn't return the favour y'know." She didn't wait for an answer, instead she pushed the assassin onto his back, pinning him with her fore-hooves. She planted her lips on his again, forcing her tongue into his maw, the two began to wrestle for dominance in a lustful battle between the heated mare and aroused stallion. After about twenty seconds of this, Mayor pulled away, saliva still connecting them before she moved down his body; on the way down, she traced the patterns of his scars with her tongue, working her way down torturously slow. When she did eventually get down to his member, she paused; leaning her head on her left hoof while she runs her right up and down the length of the assassin's shaft nonchalantly.

"Not bad" she muses, still jacking him off. "Wonder how it tastes" she thought aloud before running her tongue up along him, starting at the balls and slowly, seductively teasing him from base to tip until she reached the head with a small flick of her tongue that caused the assassin to growl slightly. A drop of pre-cum escaped his stallionhood, the mare quickly lapping it up and savouring the taste, before kissing the head of his member. Blood Moon let loose a long groan as he rested his head on the floor. Mayor Mare giggled at his reaction before continuing. She looked at him from above his cock; the stallion treated to an incredibly hot view of the glasses clad, slightly blushed, steamy mayor, before she engulfed him completely. The feeling was, incredible to say the least; she ran her lips up and down his shaft in the perfect rhythm, fast enough to keep him stimulated, slow enough to keep him teased and wanting more, whenever she hit the base she would let her tongue out, slipping it up his member as she raised herself and letting it linger on his head as she released him from her hold, gasping for air after a deep throat. As she worked her rhythm, the assassin rested his head on his hooves, just enjoying the sensation of being sucked off. He decided that Mayor was a practiced hoof at this, considering it would explain how she managed to keep public office for so long. A grin formed on his face as he felt the mayor's moist lips moving up and down his member, relaxing, until a bolt of pleasure shot up his spin, causing him to groan involuntarily. He looked down at the mare; she'd picked up her pace, bobbing her head up and down, holding her flank in the air, waving it to and fro in a hypnotic sway, making it hard to keep his thoughts in order, soon he felt pressure, mixed with an overwhelming sensation of pleasure build up, signalling he was getting close to his limit. He bucked his hips in time with the mayor taking him in, thrusting his stallionhood into her maw, as he came; rope after rope of cum shot into her awaiting mouth, the mare gulping down every last drop before she removed her mouth from him and a few more spurts of cum hit her face. Mayor licked the excess cum from her muzzle and lips before moving up his body and lying across his chest.

"You'd better not be done yet" she threatens with a playful grin on her face.

"Not by a long shot" he answers. His horn sparks to life as the mayor gains a grey aura and is lifted onto her desk, legs spread and stallion stood between them. Blood Moon's member stands at full mast, lying against Mayor Mare's glistening still glistening folds, the mare rubbing their respective sexes together.
"Ready when you are" she whispers, her voice full of lust. She gazes at him over her glasses in anticipation, a sultry grin accompanying the blush on her face. Blood Moon grins in response, aiming his stallionhood at her now dripping wet pussy. A powerful thrust later finds him joined with Mayor, her walls gripping his member in pure ecstasy. A low pitched groan escapes the mare as she feels the well-endowed stallion enter and a deep, predator like growl escapes the assassin as he stays in place, enjoying the mayor's tight marehood clench around him. Over her initial pleasure, Mayor Mare looks Blood Moon in the eye before she wraps her hind-legs around him, causing him to shift inside her. The assassin gets the message; he pulls back as much as the mare's legs allow before thrusting right back in, rocking the desk in the process. He keeps up his efforts, not bothering to go easy on the lustful mare, as he slams his member deeper into her with each thrust as he grows to appreciate just how tight she really is. Leaning forwards, he grips her neck piece with his teeth, pulling it free, before he whipped off her collar, basically rendering her naked, fuelled by his primal urges. As he continues to piston in and out of her, Mare shouts out directions between her groans of ecstasy.

"Faster."

He obliges, increasing his pace and redoubling the frequency of his thrusts, making the desk creak slightly in the process as it rocks in sync with his thrusts.

"Deeper!"

Once more, he obeys, driving himself further into her pussy, the combined efforts of speed and depth causing his balls to slap against her ass hole, making the sweet music of a mare being well and truly fucked. Over the sounds of the pairs grunting, groaning and the general sounds of love making, the desk on which they rutted groaned its displeasure as it creaked and squeaked beneath them.

"HARDER!"

Blood Moon grins at her enthusiasm, and proceeds to pound her relentlessly, the mixed efforts of speed, depth and power prompting Mayor Mare to shout out with each thrust, her volume slowly increasing as she got closer to her climax, the assassin was feeling it to; the ever approaching finale that would be his climax. Mayor reached up with her fore-hooves and wrapped them around the dark stallion's neck, pressing her lips to his in an effort to muffle her moans from her secretary, Feather Heart, and avoid a potentially awkward situation. As she held him in the deep kiss, Blood Moon had planted his hooves either side of her head, and took to ramming her with all the strength he could muster, the results taking form as the blushing mayor screaming into his mouth, both their organisms approaching quickly and causing the desk they were fucking on to continue its protests. After a while, he felt a familiar pressure build up and pulled out of the mare's kiss for a second.

"C-Cumming" he growled out.

"Over me" was Mayor Mare's breathless reply. The stallion grinned, giving a few especially hard thrusts before he felt himself almost over the edge, he held it for a second as he felt the mare clench around him, he face pressed into his shoulder as she screamed for the heavens. He held for as long as he dared before he pulled out, then shot his load over Mare's groin, stomach, chest and face before he collapsed on top of her. The desk, apparently, felt this was the last straw, as it fell apart beneath them, though with the post-orgasmic bliss the two shared, neither really cared.

"Miss Mayor, are you alright? I heard- o-oh my…" Feather Heart, stammered after she had trotted into the room, hearing the intense love-making session from within. When the mare below Blood Moon answered, it became painfully obvious she was still in her post-sex mind.

"O-oh, hello there Miss Heart. Enjoying the view?" Atop her, Blood Moon grunted a laugh.

"M-miss Mayor, that's hardly appropriate!" Once more the stallion laughed, this time accompanied by the mare below him.

"I'm pretty sure that's a little redundant, considering the circumstances" Blood Moon comments, as he casts a spell over him and the mayor, revitalising the both of them, unwittingly refuelling her libido. When the grey mist had flowed over the two of them Mayor Mare had an all too familiar air to her. Getting up from under Blood Moon, her chest still dripping with cum, flank covered in her juices and more of the assassin's cum and the scent of sex clinging to her like a weirdly appropriate perfume, she made her way over to Feather Heart.

"May I ask why you are interrupting this meeting?" The mayor had gotten pretty close to Feather, the combined scents of Blood Moon and Mayor Mare flowing into her nose. She tried to fool herself into thinking she was repulsed by it but couldn't deny it was sort of…appealing.

"I-I-I-I just… heard a few screams an-and the sound of the desk breaking. I came in here to find out what was happening" she explains. "You could have been in trouble" she adds quickly.

"Well, as you can see, I am far from in danger" she tells her with a grin. Feather Heart swallows as her boss takes a step closer.

"W-what were you doing?" The answer was obvious, but the question was kind of unavoidable. The mayor's grin goes from devious to sultry, as she gathered some of the cum on her chest and licks it off her hoof, savouring the taste like a fine wine. Behind them, Blood Moon gets off his back and watches the mayor of Ponyville come on to her assistant.
"Does that answer your question?" Feather watched as her boss acted incredibly slutty right in front of her. She opened her mouth to talk to her boss, perhaps to scold her, but no words came out, she just raised and lowered her lower jaw as she tried to speak and failed miserably. The stallion in the room noticed the small trail of drool trailing from her mouth. Mayor Mare watched with that same sultry grin as her assistant stood with her mouth hung open and decided to do something about it.

"M-m-miss Mayor, I-I think-MMMMMHHHHPPPFF!" The secretary was interrupted by the mayor planting her lips on hers, much like she'd done to Blood Moon. Feather Heart's eyes widened in shock, before she pulled out of it. "Madame Mayor, please, get a hold of yourself!" Mayor Mare responded to her plea by grabbing her black neck-scarf, dragging her over to the assassin.

"Miss Heart, have you met Blood Moon, he's a new friend of mine." The secretary looked up at the assassin, trying hard not to look down at his re-hardened member.

"Y-yes, we've met…" She was met with a giggle, from the mayor.

"Well, I'll bet you don't know him like I do" she purred, winking the assassin's way. "Would you like to get to know him too?" Feather couldn't help herself; her eyes glanced down between his hind-legs. She gulped again when she saw him, feeling herself moisten ever so slightly.
Blood Moon decided to take a good look at the mare before him; she had lush red fur, the colour of roses; her mane and tail were sakura pink, her mane was braided and hung down her back and her tail hung free; her eyes were the same shade of pink as her mane and tail, with a model's thick eyelashes; she had the build of a model as well, well-toned, hard in all the right places and soft in all the right places as well, her flank as appealing as Mayor Mare's; she had a pretty face, but seemed to be a little nervous, excusable considering the circumstances; her cutie mark was a quill, drawing the outline of a love heart, the assassin could only guess she was an aspiring artist, working as a secretary to make ends meet; around her neck she wore a thin black neck-scarf, tied in a bow.

"W-well I-I-I-I mean, you-you can't really expect me to…" she bit her lip a little, eyes glancing between the assassin's face and his dick. "Oh buck it" she conceded, hanging her head in slight shame as Mayor giggled and moved up to Feather. The mare turned Feather to face her, before she pulled her face to hers, their lips meeting once more, though with no resistance from Feather this time. The two began to get very well acquainted with each other's mouths and tongues as they danced and swirled around each other, exchanging saliva and wrestling for dominance. For Mayor this was a tactic to get Feather Heart prepared for the activates to come. Blood Moon sat by watching the show with great intrigue but didn't interrupt; the more aroused Feather and Mayor got, the more fun this would be. As the two got more and more into it, he turned his head away, looking back at the busted desk; a flash of his horn and sudden flash of black flame had reduced it to ash, another spark of his horn and a discreet gust of wind blew it away. Turning his attention back to the mares, he found them with their faces buried in each other's marehoods, Feather on top, Mayor under her. She looked up at Blood Moon, who looked back with a lopsided grin and a raised eyebrow.

"I'm sorry, I've been awfully selfish haven't I" Mayor laughed, maw covered in Feather Heart's pussy juices. She motioned her head over to her, prompting the assassin over to her. Once he stood over her, member at full mast thanks to the view, Mayor spread her secretary's folds invitingly.

"Feel free" a breathless Feather Heart said over her shoulder, her own face covered in Mayor Mare's fresh cum. With a grin, the assassin obliged; he sunk it on home, a long, drawn out moan erupting from the secretary, muffled by the pussy her mouth was busy with, as his cock spread her wet, wanting folds. He didn't stop as he plunged his length into her; he kept going until he found himself balls deep in her and the mare purring seductively. The assassin held his position for a while, letting Feather get used to him, as he stayed still Mayor continued her efforts with her mouth; flicking her assistant's clit and sucking on the stallion's balls in turn. Blood Moon starts to move, prompting Feather Heart to groan over her boss's opening; he angled himself down slightly, grinding his rod against her moist pearl, earning a shudder from his partner. After a few slow, gasp arousing thrusts, he began to pick up his pace, ramming Feather's pussy getting wet slaps from her rear-end. A few minutes of thrusting and Feather and Blood Moon heard a bored sounding groan, apparently emitting from Mayor Mare.

"Somethin-ahhh-wrong bo-oh, yes, right there-boss?"

"Yes there is, I haven't got a dick in me and I'M the one in heat. And you've stopped eating me out" she pouted Blood Moon still thrusting above her and Feather Heart's juices still dripping onto her. Feather hadn't noticed she'd stopped, but now that she thought about it, she'd found herself with her face resting against her boss's still moist folds, tongue lolling out. She'd gotten too caught up in the fucking she was receiving from the stallion inside her.

"I may be able to help with that" Blood Moon reveals as he lifts Feather off of her, flipping Mayor round and over, putting her and Feather's marehoods together, then putting the secretary back down and returning to his efforts of pleasuring the sakura mane and tailed mare. He'd thrust into Feather a few times, pull out and plunge into Mayor Mare and after thrusting into her a few times, he'd return to Feather. Pleased by his efforts, Mayor went back to working her mouth again, clamping her lips over her assistant's and declaring war over her tongue, all the while they got to know each other's mouths one or the other would moan into the other's mouth, the reaction brought on by the stallion's intrusion into their folds. After a while of this, the assassin got a devious idea; when he went to Feather's sex, he rubbed his head along the slit, teasing up and down her moist hole, causing her to moan a little disappointedly, before calling over her shoulder:

"Hurry it up will you, in case you haven't noticed I'm a little horny right now." With no more time wasted, the assassin pushed his cock against their quivering clits, putting pressure on them they weren't expecting and getting them to scream out breathlessly. "Oh, bad colt" Feather, exclaims as she spins over and pushes Blood Moon onto his back. Not giving him time to react, the secretary jumps onto his cock, letting him go deep in her. Resting on his member, she rotates her hips, a sultry grin on the mare's face as she teased him back, a revenge rut. Not content to sit by and watch, Mayor Mare trotted over to the stallion on his back and sat her marehood on his face, his tongue quickly striking out like a cobra inside her. The mare's mouths back together, they screamed and moaned into each other's mouths once more as they got close to their orgasms as the stallion bucked into the secretary's sex and ate the mayor out in unison. After a while of this the three of them felt pressure building in their respective sexes. Mayor squirted over and in the assassin's maw while Feather Heart and Blood Moon came together, not worrying about unexpected foals considering only a mare on heat could get pregnant (unless special herbs and potions were used or Poison joke found it funny). Mayor toppled off the stallion's face, while Feather fell forward onto his chest, his cock
still inside her, their faces close to each other.

"Have fun" Blood Moon asked the mare who still had his member inside her. She replied by pulling his face to her own, their lips running over each other's in sync as her tongue demanded entry to his mouth, engaging the two in a long, moan filled, tongue wrestling kiss.

"That answer your question?" She slid off his cock and fell next to him, Mayor Mare on the other side, the three laying there with cum covering them in various places. Mayor leans up and looks down Blood Moon.

"Feather, clean him off will you?" The mare in question hums her agreement, moving down the stallion and lapping up the cum on his semi-hardened member. As she worked Mayor draped her right hoof over his chest and spoke into his ear. "I think you've persuaded me" she declared "there should be-ahhh, a little warning next time Feather-a few documents in one of those cabinets over the-a little, a little lower-there. There should be some deeds to the available houses in them. Take your-ohhhhh, yes, that's the spot, right there-take your pick."
The stallion raised an eyebrow.

"When do you want the bits?" The mayor looked up over her glasses from the mare who'd taken to eating her out between turns of licking the cum from Blood Moon.

"Promise me more of that, and there'll be no need for bits" she answered. The stallion liked that arrangement. Mayor looked down at Feather. "Now, Miss Heart, I trust you'll be able to keep this to yourself." Said mare looked up at her boss and new favourite stallion.

"Promise me more of that, and you can bet your flank I'll stay quiet." She moved back up the assassin and draped her hoof over him, much like her boss, and lay contently next to him.

"I promise" he confirmed with a grin, the two mares responding by kissing him on either cheek.
Oh yes, he would like this arrangement.

The assassin's eyes opened. He blinked a few times and frowned.

'That was a weird dream…'

He looked left and right; a mare was on either leg, his hoof wrapped over them, while their own were draped over his chest, small smiles on their faces. He blinked twice more as his memories came flooding back to him. That was no dream. With a grin on his face, he stood up, making sure not to disturb the mares. They seemed to miss his presence, frowning in their sleep, and looking for him with their hooves. The assassin used his magic to push them closer together, letting them get comfortable with each other, before he pulled his cloak off and covered them with it. A memento of their time together. Blood Moon remembered what Mayor had told him, about the filing cabinet, and trotted over to it, careful to be silent. Opening one of the draws he takes a look at the content;

'Got it in one.'

He skims through the deeds and descriptions of the available houses; one in the middle of town, one way out on the outskirts, another in an apartment block, one inside a burrow and another situated on a hill. The one on the hill caught his interest. A modestly large house, basic two storey job, master bedroom and guest room, study, living room, modern kitchen, attic space, basement and room for a few expansions. The best part was the location; the hill was tall, looking over the town with only a few blind spots, it was detached from the rest of town but not so far away it was disadvantageous. It was also partially furnished, which was a plus. He memorised the general location and took the deed, leaving a small bag of bits in its place for the desk and the description so Mayor knew which he had chosen. He left the room, silent as ever, and made his way outside. On his way he spotted the time. Seven-fifteen, how long had he been asleep?

Outside, the town was winding down from its day; stores closing up, ponies returning home, foals being called in for supper. As he went he cast his eyes over the homes around him, glancing through the window of a townhouse he spotted a familiar looking electric blue mane. The assassin trotted up to the door of the houses, stopping at the door and knocked his hoof against the wood. He heard hoof steps from within before he heard voices.

"Coming" an undeniably upper class voice sang through the door. The door was not opened by who the stallion expected; instead the mare had light grey fur and a raven black mane and tail, kept in a functional, pretty and complementing do, the mane running flat down her neck, flicking up slightly at the end and the tail hanging free and loose but somehow staying in control of its owner. Her eyes were light purple, lavender, and spoke soft music and calm, beautiful sound. Her cutie mark was a purple treble clef, the same shade as her eyes. Her build was 'upper class' put simply, slender but muscular, though not too much as to make her too overly athletic, so she had more soft than hard in her. She had an impossibly pretty face that seemed laid back and calm but sophisticated in its own way. She wore a small pink bow-tie with a white collar on top of it. Her name was Octavia Melody. "Yes" she asked, not realising who it was. Her eye widened on recognition but the assassin held his hoof to his mouth to shush her. She grinned and played along. "Vinyl, it's for you" she called back into the house.

"Who is it" a voice called back.

"A messenger, says he's been looking for you, got something to deliver, your hooves only." The sound of hooves on floor boards were heard, Octavia ushering Blood Moon into the shadows that further hid his face, as she looked at the corkboard next to the door, as to hide her grinning face from her marefriend.

"Miss Scratch" the assassin asked, his normally gravelly, dark voice disguised as a lower-end Manehatten accent. "I got a message for you, from some stallion." The mare waited before she raised an eyebrow.

"From what stallion?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"Dunno, creepy fellow, black robe, couldn't see his face. Paid me a pretty sum to get it to you though." Vinyl sighed, it sounded like one pony she knew, but he didn't trust messengers to converse with others.

"Well, what is it then" she demanded.

"Now Vinyl, is that any way to speak to a friend" the assassin asked, old voice back, as he stepped from the shadows. The electric blue mane mare blinked at his sudden appearance.

"BLOOD MOON!" The mare's outburst was punctuated with her lunging out at him, they landed with her hooves wrapped around his neck, him on his back, her on his front and Vinyl planting kisses on every square-inch of his face. If she'd been wearing lipstick, it would have been a classic 'must have been good night' look for the dark stallion. "Sweet Celestia, I'm glad you're ok, I mean, I knew you were ok but I saw Pinkie, and you with that knife in you, then you were gone and nopony had seen you, and I'm just-just…oh, never do that to me again Black hood." The assassin was a little overwhelmed by the show of sincere affection; though felt he could deal with it until he felt the patch of wet on his shoulder.

"Vinyl, are you…crying?"

"Of course I am; one of my best friends just showed up, out of nowhere I might add, completely fine acting like nothing had happened, all the while I've been worried sick about you all day and night" she explains, pulling him further into her hold.
"It's true" Octavia confirms from the doorway. "When I got home this morning, she hadn't slept a wink of sleep last night and I couldn't get her to bed all day either." Blood Moon looked between the two. Had Vinyl really been so concerned about him? He looked down at the mare on his chest and saw the truth in her eyes.

"Oh come 'ere" he said as he wrapped her in his own hug. "It'll take more than a homicidally insane, pink, sugar addicted, party throwing obsessed, strangely skilled knife-fighting mare" pause for breath "to keep me down." Vinyl giggled as she held him tighter.

"I know, it's just, I can't help worrying." The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Well, you're one of my best friends. I don't like seeing anything bad happen to you." Blood Moon was fairly sure that Vinyl Scratch had no idea how much that meant to him. "That" one of her hooves disengaged her hug and strayed south on him "and I'll never find somepony quite as good as…you" she tells him, the last word laced with confusion. She sniffed him a few times before looking back at him with a grin on her face. "What do you smell of" she half asked half accused. She'd noticed the scent that clung to him, the smell of sex being so distinctive and all, and put two and two together. "So, who's the lucky mare" she asked, the act of rubbing her genital against his not lost on him. Blood Moon gave a mock 'busted' face before answering.

"Let's just say I now have…friends in high places." The DJ frowned as she did the math.

"Mayor Mare?" The assassin simply grunted. It was true that Vinyl was, perhaps, just a little jealous. But then again, if after; five tankards of cider, nineteen shots in a drinking contest and a mug of Appaloosa mugging, you could still remember the fun you and the stallion next to you had had the night before, you were bound to feel a little jealous. That said, DJ pon-3 knew that Black hood had very 'inclusive' tastes when it came to mares, he was indiscriminative like that. It went a bit quiet after that, not wanting to leave things on a low note, she spoke up again. "Well, next time you and her get together, be sure to call me and Tavi." Behind her, Octavia blushed but offered no argument. The assassin and DJ got up, Vinyl prompting her marefriend down.

"So, what are you up to now" Octavia asked, doing nought but make conversation.

"Going to see my new place." Vinyl light up at that.

"You have a house in Ponyville?" He grinned and rubbed the back of his neck.

"A result of today's activities." Vinyl nodded, rubbing her chin with her hoof.

"Seduce the mayor, get a free house. Smart." The assassin's grin turned devious.

"Yeah, something like that…" The assassin checked the time with the time with the shadows of the building. "Speaking of homes, I should get moving. If you're wondering it's the place on the hill." Vinyl just nodded, while Octavia actually committed it to memory.

"Alright Black hood, we'll see you around" Vinyl gave as farewell. The assassin turned and parted ways with them, the pair of mares waving as he went. Finding the home didn't take too much longer. It was as he expected; basic two story job, thatch roof etc. etc. The furnisher was simple; couch in the front room, desk and bookshelf in the study, double bed in the bedroom. That was his destination; he'd had a long day and felt no need to lengthen it further. As he lay on mattress, soft but not too soft not bad, he thought about his day so far.

'Well let's see; woke up with Pinkie Pie, met her parents, broke up with my marefriend, met a being possibly older than myself, had sex with the mayor and her secretary and got myself a house. Yep, just another average day.'

Author's Note

So, yeah, my first real attempt at writing clop. I'll be the first to say it's awful. Happily, they will get better as the story progresses. Promise. Ish.
But, beyond that, thanks for all the comments, thanks for the favourites and, most importantly, thanks for reading. Until next time

Productive faffer out

Politics, tailors and learning to fight

Chapter fourteen: Politics, tailors and learning how to fight

I'm falling…

I don't know how…

I don't know why…

But what I do know…

Is that I'm bucking falling…

All's there is the feeling of weightlessness…

I can hear the air whistle past…

But I cannot feel it…

An odd sensation…

I suddenly hear the sound of battle…

Clamour, battle cries, the sound of metal on metal…

War…

I find myself in the middle of it…

All around me, there are ponies, griffons, dragons…

All fall to my blades…

I'm wearing the armour of the Illuminating night uprising…

Midnight black leather made from griffon hide…

Golden armour plating on my chest and body…

A black hood on my head…

On my back two black scabbards rest, held down by leather…

The weapons they held whistle overhead…

A pair of twin swords…

Steel blades, sharpened to a razor point…

The weapons are double edged…

Both sides are coated in blood…

The weapons, held in my magical grip...

Rend flesh from bone…

Fur from hide…

Feather from wing…

Scale from back…

The fire of the dragons set the field of battle ablaze…

I hear steps behind me…

I spin to attack…

As I do, the scene changes…

Halfway round I find myself off the field…

The long grassy meadow that rolled off into the distance…

Is replaced by the stone and rock of the mountains…

I am alone…

Accompanied only by the clouds of the night sky…

I the distance, I see Luna…

Soaring above the clouds…

With her, a large group of foals follow her…

Her mythical, 'children of the night'…

A cloud rolls over me, obscuring my vision…

When it rolls away, the times have changed…

Before Luna's time, or even Celestia's…

The time of Starswirl the Bearded…

How do I know…

He stands before me, on the same mountain as before…

He looks down at me, defiance in his eyes and power oozing from him…

I remember his curse…

His payment to his own shadow magic…

He became powerful, more so than any before or after…

And he thirsted for more…

His life was devoted to study, to the pursuit of knowledge…

And power…

This was his downfall and ultimately…

His demise…

The scene, once more, changes…

Changes dramatically…

No longer am I stood upon a great mountain…

No longer am I surrounded by clouds…

Or the night sky…

Instead I am sat upon a cushion…

Inside the Canterlot Palace…

Illumination and Nocturnal are nowhere to be seen…

Likely within the palace of Everfree, conducting the war…

I watch Celestia and Luna, spending some time together…

As foals should…

I look on fondly, Luna inside Celestia's pink tail, an adorable smile on her face as she bursts through her tail…

The elder sibling looks back at her younger sister, laughing with her…

As sisters should…

Off to the side, there unmade bed sits…

Their favourite stuffed toys next to the pillows…

Luna's star covered bear 'ursa-teddy'…

Celestia's fire coloured bird, her play phoenix…

Through the door, to the right of us, another alicorn enters…

Stark white fur and rose red mane and tail…

Faust…

She has them both go to bed, they complain but comply…

They get into bed and fall asleep instantly…

Faust looks over them, as much love in her gaze as mine…

I look out of the window, the balcony looking over Canterlot…

The moon goes down and the sun rises, faster than natural…

I hear a call in the sky, the call of a great bird…

A phoenix…

Philomena…

She watches me with narrowed, disapproving eyes…

I know this day…

It's the day I left Celestia, but a week after the end of the wars against Discord…

"I'm sorry Philomena, but you know as well as I, I cannot stay"…

She looks down, saddened, but makes no argument…

I put my hoof to her beak, lifting her gaze to mine…

"Look after her, please. I am no longer your master, she needs you more than I do"…

She makes her understanding known by nuzzling me…

With a heavy heart, I do the same…

I turn to the balcony, sparing a parting glance at Celestia's sleeping form, before leaping off…

I thunder down the road of Canterlot, little more than a dirt track…

My hooves pounding against the road, a constant beat in my ears…

A knocking, knocking in my ears…

Knocking…

Knocking…

A constant banging on the door roused the assassin from his slumber. He blinked his eyes a few times, settling his thoughts. That dream had been different than most of his other dreams, normally he was held to a single place, a single scene from his past. Passing through so many was a new experience for him. A strange experience. The pounding on his door continued downstairs, pulling him from his stupor.

With a growl he throws the covers off of him, which he'd found in an airing cupboard, and made his way down to the door. He was weirdly groggy and felt drained; his mane was unkempt, well more so than usual, and he could feel the sand and grit in the corner of his eye. He threw his head to the side a few times to clear his head, and then resorted to slamming it on the wall. It proved to be surprisingly effective. He continued to the front door, his brain still feeling like mush, he reached forwards, putting his hoof on the doorknob and opening it to reveal the shapely figure of Feather Heart. He went to put a smirk on his face but one look at her worried expression told him this was no time for fooling around. Something was wrong.

"We may have a problem" was her greeting. He let his own expression turn darker at that; when the mayor's secretary appeared, telling you that there may be a problem, you knew the conversation wasn't going to end with a smile on your face.

"Come in" he said, motioning his head inside his new home. She took the invite, trotting in and watching him take a quick look outside the door, as if he were checking for something, an old habit from his days in Vietmane. He guided her into his living room, gesturing at her to sit on his sofa. "So, we have a problem?" Sat on her haunches on his couch, she looked at the floor.

"Uhhh, somepony may know about what we got up to yesterday." The assassin grimaced; somepony knowing about that would be bad for him, Mayor and Feather alike. He didn't get that; Mayor Mare was a mare, all mares got heat and all mares had needs, it was natural. Where was the problem in a mayor relieving herself? He wasn't all too bothered about his own situation; he already had a well established reputation as an assassin, so one incident involving a mare, himself and the mare in the picture being in season, wouldn't be much of a problem. Still, if this got out, it could explode into a scandal or something equally as undesirable; the media would have a field-day with this.

"Great" he groaned, voice dripping with sarcasm "who is it that has us by the tail then?" Feather shrugged.

"We don't know for sure, but Mayor has an idea. And her suspicions." The assassin nodded.
"That's actually why I'm here, Miss Mayor didn't know who else to go to. You were the only one we could really trust enough to tell about this. She wants to see you." Blood Moon nodded.

"Alright, come on." He trotted right up to her and put his hoof on her before his horn flashed and they found themselves outside Mayor Mare's office, right next to Feather's desk. The mare besides him staggered around, looking like a camera flash had just gone off in her face.

"Sorry about that" he says absentmindedly "should have warned you." It was painfully obvious he didn't care. Pushing through the door, he saw Mayor Mare sat behind her desk, presumably new. It was obvious from the way she looked she was…stressed from the predicament; frazzled mane, worried expression well it was from what he could tell considering she was holding her face in her hooves, she shook her head defeated, muttering something to herself. The assassin caught wind of a few choice curses. It was a seemingly impossible change from what he had seen of her yesterday; it was here he saw the governor of Ponyville and not the mare he'd got lucky with yesterday. Besides him, Feather cleared her throat to get Mayor's attention.

"Miss Mayor, Blood Moon's here" she announced. Mayor looked up at the pair, relief washing over her face but only for a second, almost immediately it was replaced by the defeated look that her face had held a moment ago.

"Hey" she murmured a faint smile on her face.

"I understand we have a problem." He got no answer; instead Mayor just pulled a brown envelope from a draw on her desk and slid it over the table to the assassin. He opened it with his magic to find one of those notes made from different letters of different headlines, cut from newspapers, it read:

UNLESS YOU WANT THESE GETTING OUT, I SUGGEST YOU STEP DOWN.

Held against the message were three pictures; one of him with Mayor's lips around his member; one of him with her over the desk (now destroyed); and the last was of Feather and Mayor Mare, their lips together, and Blood Moon mounting the two of them.

'Ah, memories.'

"That ain't good" he muttered "Do we have any idea who could have taken these?" The mayor nodded once, slowly.

"I think the Goldhooves may be making a move against Ponyville." Blood Moon gave her a blank look. "The Goldhooves are a large, and very powerful, noble family based in Canterlot, they have clawed their way to power through very…unorthodox methods." Blood Moon grunted.

"No doubt" he muttered "so, what do you mean, 'unorthodox methods'?" Feather Heart answered.

"The Goldhooves have a unique way of grasping power; they look for a large village or small town, such as Ponyville, and take measures to take it over." The dark stallion turned to her and raised an eyebrow. "It's true; they start small, relatively, by getting friendly with the biggest suppliers and businesses. For us that's Filthy Rich. Then, they go onto take influence over the guards by putting one of their sons, nephews or cousins in position of guard lieutenant."

The assassin nodded, so far it made sense; having hold over the supply chain gives them pick of the litter from some of the finest goods to grace the settlement, holding the position of lieutenant in your pocket gave you complete control over the guards. Blood Moon thought about the guard tree; the captain, Shining Armour, was at the top of the tree answering only to princess Celestia; below him were the lieutenants, they were put in charge of all guards in a village town or city; if the place was large enough, say Manehatten, then there would be sergeants scattered around who took orders from the lieutenant, passing them onto the grunts. He knew it would be impossible to push the captain off his podium but systematically undermining his influence was the next best thing.

"And now" Mayor pipes up "they're making the final move; they have the guards and the supply chain of Ponyville under their belts, so now they must be gunning for mayor" she pointed at the pictures "they're proof enough of that." Upon sight of the pictures she put her face back in her hooves with a hearty sigh.

"Surely you're over reacting, we can fix this together; I'll put a scare into anypony who poses a problem, off the records of course, and you can deal with the political side of things. Easy." She smirked half-heartedly.

"If that were the case, do you think I'd be speaking to you like this?" I

"No, I'm pretty sure he'd be on his back with his dick in your mouth" Feather muttered to herself a faint smile on her face. The assassin picked up on it and smirked at her comment.

"Well if that's the case, care to explain why everything is so doom and gloom?"

"Well, it seems that with Ponyville the way it is, they've taken…more extreme measures, to take over." Again, the assassin raised an eyebrow. "The master of the family, Sir Loaded Goldhooves, personally negotiated relations with Filthy Rich; their eldest son, Hardhoof Goldhooves, is lieutenant of the guard in Ponyville; and their best educated daughter, Quillrunner Goldhooves, is being groomed to become next mayor for Ponyville. They've taken a much more personal interest in Ponyville than any other town they've moved on." The assassin stroked his chin, feeling the stubble that had grown there.

"So, what's set to change if they do take over?"

"Well just look at the other villages they've taken over; White-gallop, one of the most peaceful milling towns in Equestria, was turned into a central woodcutting settlement, focused on business; Sin's-row, that beach resort, was turned into a rich-stallion's resort, focused on business; and Ironport, the mining and shipping town, lost any and all charm and friendly aspects and was turned into a heartless industrial settlement, focused on business, to name a few. They suck all the heart out of the places they take over, turning them into pure money makers. I'd hate to see what they could do to Ponyville." The assassin was starting to see the big picture, turning Ponyville into one of those heartless cash-pumps would result in anypony not part of the major corporation that would run the place out of a job and likely out of their homes and livelihoods. He couldn't allow that.
"Why are the Goldhooves so invested in Ponyville anyway? I mean, it can't be that much different than any other town financially, which seems to be what they're after." Mayor sighed through her nose.

"Because there's more to Ponyville than just business; for one, we're in the centre of Equestria; two Ponyville is home to the elements of harmony; and three Ponyville is very close to Canterlot. But that's not what worries me, if it were this wouldn't be as bad, still bad but not as much as it is now, it's just that…the ponies that live here are more delicate than most other towns, you need a practised hoof to be an effective leader here. You ever wonder why I'm called 'Mayor' Mare? It would be awkward if I were a store keeper wouldn't it, the reason I'm called that because my father and predecessor, Chancellor Stallion, groomed me for mayor-hood personally, but not just to become mayor of any town, Ponyville in specific. He taught me how to effectively govern this town because he knew nopony else could properly do it."

"Why would it be so difficult to govern this town?" Mayor Mare grunted amusedly.

"Well you've met a lot of our residents, so you know first hoof how…odd they can get sometimes, also, we're right on the edge of the Everfree."

"That and we're right next to Tartarus" Feather adds. That got the assassin's attention.

"Say what!?"

"The gateway to Tartarus is only a few miles westward, hay, Fluttershy takes Cerberus cookies every Wednesday." The dark stallion blinked.

"Huh."

"Yes, that too, but with those two rather blatant threats nearby, the 'uniqueness' of some of the residents and the delicate business flow, it takes a real resident of Ponyville and somepony who really knows what they're doing to keep a rein on things here. So you see my problem, and indeed the problem Ponyville as a whole, has right now." Blood Moon nodded his understanding.

"Alright, can you give me any details on the Goldhooves, anything would be useful." Mayor Mare shrugged.

"Not much is really known about them, they stay quiet so nopony can use anything against them."

"They can use blackmail against anypony to get what they want, but anypony using it against them would just be inequine" Feather comments with a roll of her eyes.
"The only good information we have is this: Hardhoof is as bent as they come, and everypony knows it, only we can never get any proof."

"Right, well it's something. I'm gonna start with finding out who took the photos, for all we know it may not be the Goldhooves and we're getting paranoid-"

"And lucky" Feather interjects.

"And it's just some political opponent trying their hoof at some more under-hoofed tactics to win next election or something." He takes another look at the pictures and pays closer attention to the details; they're taken from outside judging by the window frame over the image, possibly from one of the rooftops going on the downwards angle. He trotted over to the window and peered out.

'Note to self; refrain from sex in front of large windows in the future.'

Looking at the buildings across the way, he guessed it was the apartment block that served as the vantage point of their mystery photographer.

"Alright, I'm gonna take a look at where I think they took the pictures from and ask around, see if anypony knows anything." The mayor nodded.

"Alright, I'll stay here and try to dig more information for you. I'll have Feather Heart fetch you as soon as I have something."

"Thanks, I have a friend who may be able to help. Between the four of us, we should be able to smooth this over soon enough." The mayor seemed relieved at that.

"Thank you Blood Moon, you have no idea how much this means to me." The assassin gave a lopsided smile.

"I have an idea."

"Either way, I'll owe you." Blood Moon nodded. He turned and went to leave before he was called after. "Oh, and your cloak" she said motioning to a familiar black robe hanging from a hook on the wall. He smirked at his old friend and pulled it over to himself with his magic, fastening it around his neck.

"Thanks for holding on to it." The Mayor shrugged.

"It looks better on you." The dark stallion shrugged in a silent laugh. He turned to the door and departed with nothing else said. Outside the mayor's secretary's office he paused for thought.
'Shit, it would seem, just hit the fan. If the Goldhooves really are behind this, then I may be declaring war on a family of aristocrats. SCORE! Anyway, I'd better get to it; maybe Sand Stalker will know something. He keeps his ear to the ground so he's bound to know at least something about these guys, but I need solid proof before I do make any assumptions or make any direct moves against them. Either way, I feel a contract coming on, after all; it's not like a made a vow to give up my business.'

As he went to exit the town hall he heard his name called.

"Blood Moon, wait up!" Said killer turned to see Feather Heart galloping towards him.

"What's up" he asked nonchalantly. As the words left his mouth he could see the heat rise in her face.

"Well it's just, after what happened yesterday" she trailed off, blush on her face and her right hoof rubbing her left leg nervously. The assassin grinned and raised an eyebrow.

"Yes" he prompted.

"Well, I've never been the kind of mare who sleeps with somepony after the first date, never mind when I'd just met them. But after you so readily helped us, you seem kind of nice, soooo." The record scratched. Blood Moon could feel his body tensing and he stood a little straighter. Surely she wasn't… "I was wondering if you wanted to… meet or something." The stallion blinked, that wasn't what he had expected. He searched for words.

"You…you mean like a date?" Believe it or not, this wasn't something he was used to; he hadn't ever had what you might call a 'real' relationship, in fact, he'd only had two that could be counted as a normal one, neither of which had worked out. Throughout his life he had been in numerous relationships, pretty much all of which had been under aliases or for the purpose of a contract, business. Only three mares had been close to Blood Moon himself like that; Vinyl, Ditzy and…his…old friend. Now, apparently, Feather Heart was to be added to that short list. The mare before him seemed to notice his lack of words and looked at the floor, her hooves shuffling awkwardly.

"I-it's fine if…if you don't want to" she murmured, scratching the back of her neck. The assassin quickly blinked and shook his head rapidly.

"Uhhh, no, I mean yeah I'd love to, it's just I don't get asked out that often" he explained, scratching the back of his neck, hating the fact that he sounded like a schoolcolt again.

'Just another sign that I haven't grown up yet' he thought with a smirk.

"Oh, great" she replied, apparently shocked "I guess I'll see you…"

"Tomorrow, when do you get off work?"

"I have a half-hour break at noon."

"I'll pick you up, see you then" the assassin suggested with a smile. He got a smile and a nod in return before she bade him farewell. Once outside he slapped himself to pull himself out of his 'first date' mentality. He had a job to do, and he would do it to the best of his ability.
Though he still couldn't drop that slight grin on his face.

Rounding the Town hall until he came to the apartment block he looked up at its towering form. With a shrug he commenced his search. He began by looking around the space between the two buildings, likely looking a little odd to the ponies passing by, as he cast his eyes over every surface looking for anything out of place. A useless venture, all and all, those pictures had been taken yesterday and there had been a full night and half a day to screw up anything that may have been there, still it was better than not checking and missing something and checking and not missing something that wasn't there in the first place.

"You drop a contact lens?" The assassin looked up and saw Sand Stalker, without sword on his back, he stood with a confused smirk on his face and his head held at a bemused angle.

"What are you doin' out of the Hoof and anvil?" The merc shrugged.

"Rainbow would know to find me there" he explained. This caused the assassin to frown.

"What do you mean?" The merc looked around himself before answering.

"The other day, I told her about how I know her and her dad."

"So?"

"Well I freaked out, didn't I! I have no idea how she'll react to learning something like that." Blood Moon spotted a moving blur behind the elderly Pegasus.

"It seems you're about to find out" he noted, nodding behind the merc. Sand Stalker's eyes widened as he wiped his head around, spotting the rainbow mane and tailed mare that stood a few meters behind him.

'Ohhhh, she's pissed' was the only thought to enter the dark stallion's mind. Given the situation, it was appropriate; Rainbowdash held herself offensively, her eyes narrowed, her ears pushed against her head and her wings were held tensely, ready to fly.

"Crap" the merc muttered. Blood Moon removed himself from the situation by sending his gaze back to the ground, but stayed close by so he could listen in.

"Rainbow, listen-"

"You're damn straight I’m listenin' you damn old stallion; you've got a lot of explaining to do!" The mercenary swallowed. He'd been in a lot of tight situations before; ambushed by griffons, an assassin chasing him down and a pack of Timberwolves on his scent for two days. This wasn't something he could deal with, he wasn't somepony who could deal with other ponies too well. This wasn't something he could just fight.

"I'm sorry."

"You've got a lot to apologise for" she squared straight up to him. "Do you know what my foalhood was like? When my mom and dad died I had nopony, NOPONY! Then a few days ago, some old stallion comes into my life, I don't know who he is but he says he knows me. Then he tells me he knew my dad and he knew me as a foal. Y'know what I figured out when I was trying to get to sleep that night? I realised that I remembered him" She moved closer, pushing her enraged muzzle into his face "And that he made a promise to my dad, to look after me. My dad was dead, and you weren't there. I could have had a better foalhood, if you were there, if you'd kept your promise but you didn't, did you?"

"Rainbow-"

"DID YOU?"

"NO, no I didn't" he admitted. At this Rainbowdash backed up and prepared to take flight.

"Whatever happened to loyalty" she wondered aloud, tears in her eyes. That hit a soft spot
with the stallion, though rather than getting sad, he got angry.

"Do you want to know why" he growled. The mare stopped her accent, but didn't land. "Barely a day before your dad died I came home to my wife and child: dead. It tore me apart and I knew when I burnt down a village singled hoofed, I was in no fit condition to look after a child and I was right to have gone back to the army and not stay with you." Rainbow landed in front of Sand Stalker. She opened her mouth to say something but the merc wasn't finished. "I killed the soldiers protecting them and hunted down the mares. Then I burnt the building down to make sure I did the job properly. I couldn't have a family, so why should anypony else?" The merc locked his jaw once he was done; his eyes narrowed and regret clear in his eye. The mare took a step closer to Sand, not offensive but it definitely noticeable.

"I don't care what you did" she told him softly "you should have kept your promise. I wanted my uncle. I wanted, needed, family." With that she turned and took to the skies.

"DAMNIT" the merc exploded a few minutes after she had gone, slamming his hoof to the ground in frustration. He looked to the assassin. "I need to kill something" he growled.

"You can try, but I won't make it easy" the assassin hummed absentmindedly.

"What are you doing anyway" the mustered stallion demanded, still obviously pissed off.

"It's a long story."

"I need something to take my mind off Rainbow, humour me." The dark stallion took a deep breath through his nose as he considered; he'd been hoping to get Sand Stalker involved but under better circumstances. After a second he threw caution to the wind and told all. He pulled the merc to the side of the street and told him what had happened between him, Feather and Mayor Mare, sparing few details. Once he was done the elderly merc was smirking slightly.

"Ok: one, score, two, hang back on the details next time, three, follow you own advice about the windows, four, if you're right about the Goldhooves being involved, you're screwed and five, I never took you for a detective." The assassin shrugged.

"Fair answer…answers. Anyway, that's why I wanted to call you in; from what I can tell, you're a decent eye for detail and you managed to figure me out in about a day so you may be able to make sense of this better than me or Mayor."

"Well it's good to be of use" he muttered "but you do know if the Goldhooves are behind this, chances of having anything done about this are slim to none-existent." The assassin grinned.

"Slim to none-existent, on the books my friend." The merc returned the grin.

"So, do you have anything?" At this Blood Moon looked over the space between the buildings with distaste.

"Not a thing, but I wasn't really expecting to either. I'm banking on the fact that if there is anything; it'll be up on the roof where the pictures were taken" he explained, nodding at the building they were stood next to. Sand Stalker nodded and motioning for the assassin to lead the way. He did so and went to the door, locked.

"Crap. You wouldn't just happen to have any-" the assassin had pulled his lock picks from their pouch "-Lock picks?" The assassin smirked and went to work on the door, his hooves pushing against his tools to keep them in place and rotating them to work the door, listening to the soft tapping as he worked the tumblers for a few minutes, the merc keeping lookout. When the final bolt dropped he straightened up and pushed the door opened with a self-satisfied smile on his face. The two trotted in and started climbing the stairs. "So?" Blood Moon looked back at his friend.

"So, what?"

"So, do you have anything to say? About me and Dash." The assassin stopped on one of the landing and turned to Sand Stalker.

"I won't judge you, I know what it's like losing a wife and child, it's… not easy to live with that. But at the same time…Rainbow had a point. Make a promise, you should keep it, especially one of that magnitude, looking after a newly orphaned foal. I...won't take a side here, but I suggest you, at least try, to make amends with her. You both need it."

"What do you mean 'both need it' Moon" he asked with narrowed eyes. In return, the assassin shrugged.

"You lost a wife and child, she lost her parents. You both have something to offer each other. By the way, I was wondering, how come you're the only pony that can look after her? I mean come on, no other uncles, aunts or anything. No other friends?" Sand Stalker shook his head before passing by and continuing up the stairs, the assassin following him up.

"Believe it or not, yes. Rainbowshine and Blazing Trails were both in the army, they were…" the way he trailed off made the assassin curios as to what their position was in the forces.
"Well I'd tell you only it's-"

"Don't give me any classified bull shit. I'm an immortal assassin who used to foal sit Celestia and Luna, I used to be their personal bodyguard and then went on to become one of their most formidable generals, I'm pretty sure I'm entitled to a few military ranks." The merc shrugged.

"Whatever, they were special, VERY special, forces. They performed most of, buck, all of the black ops; assassinations, sabotage, stealing enemy plans, kidnapping, surveillance and the such. Y'know, the kind of stuff you got up to and I did." Blood Moon nodded, though inwardly he was impressed; he couldn't imagine Rainbowdash's parents as secret military ops. He was about to comment on the seemingly unlikeliness of it when he caught the mercenary's face. He didn't need his gift to know he was holding something back.

"I get the feeling something happened to them, something that killed them. Op gone wrong?" The merc shook his head, the assassin couldn't help but notice the slight 'pissed off' look his face held.

"No, worse; a price was put on their heads, a big price, I'm talkin' more than Celestia and Luna combined. That and they had multiple factions on their tails; the griffons, the Changelings, the followers of Discord bucking all of their targets and they were a big list. There were two ways it could have gone down; either, they lived forever in fear of death, always moving, fighting to live and you know what? They could have done that I think. Their exploits are legendary; Wrath of Celestia, palace diamond dog, raven fire…all of them were their operations." Blood Moon whistled appreciatively; he'd heard of all of those operations and he knew none had failed and he'd always wanted to meet their architects.

"Wow, I heard about them, what were they called uhhh, Ventus and Ignis, wasn't it?" The mustard merc nodded, and spoke in a way that told him that he was running fond memories through his mind.

"Yep, wind and fire" he said with a smile on his face before he sighed wistfully. "The other choice was to…die. I trust you see where this is going." The assassin did the math. His face slackened.

"You don't mean…" Sand Stalker nodded once.

"Yes. Rainbowshine and Blazing Trails are still alive" he sighed once more "and their daughter doesn't even know." After he said that he pushed his way through another door, went to the edge of the roof and paused. The assassin shook his head and followed.

"That…that isn't right. A foal should be with her parents, not have to grow up alone, no matter the circumstances." He turned his gaze to the merc. "Am I the only one on this roof who wants to tell her?" Sand Stalker gave a 'you got me there' look and shrugged.

"No but…think of the consequences; she'd find out that her parents were alive the whole time but weren't there for her. The same way I wasn't. I mean, what would you do in her hooves?"

"I didn’t exactly like my parents, but if they were anything like what I can assume Dash's parents were like, I'd react pretty badly. Like what she said to you but without mercy. Still…I think she deserves to know." The merc shrugged.

"Maybe she does…but her parents deserve to stay on the down low. It's a catch twenty-two: reveal your existence and die or keep everypony you love thinking you're dead so you can live." The assassin nodded and turned back to the rooftop.

"True enough. Anyway, we should get to looking around." The two proceed to move further onto the roof.

"We looking for anything in specific" the merc asked.

"Anything out of place, it looks like it doesn't belong, check it out. Then we move onto what does belong and we check that. I want every wall looked at, every square-inch of floor searched, every stone turned and every candy wrapper scrutinized."

"Well, good to see you have the specifics down" the merc muttered. The assassin grunted and got to searching; for an hour the two poured over every surface, looking for anything that resembled a clue. In the end, neither turned up with anything so they expanded their search to looking at pretty much everything. Another few hours later, again, neither had anything to show for their time.

"Son of a whorse" the mercenary muttered to himself in frustration. The assassin knew how he felt; he didn't like the fact he had nothing going on for himself and nothing to show for his efforts. He looked over the side of the building, at what he deduced to be the vantage point of the photographer and looked down to the window.

'Yep, this is definitely it. It can't have been anywhere else surely. I hope not anyway, I don't want to have wasted the day.'

He was about to call it a day when he passed his gaze along the ground he was on and caught sight of…something. It was faint, very faint, and he likely would have missed it if he was without his keen sense of sight and if it had rained last night. It looked like a stain or puddle of some sort. He couldn't identify it and raised an eyebrow at it as he attempted to do so.

"Hey Sand, come over here" he called over to the mustard stallion. Said merc approached and was about to ask what the matter was but saw his friend staring at a seemingly regular piece of floor. He took a closer look, a much closer look, and found what he was starting at.

"What…what is that" he wondered aloud. The assassin leaned in close and let his sense of smell take over. He quickly recoiled and put a disgusted look on his face. "What" the merc asked with a bemused smirk on his face.

"That…it…you don't wanna know" he told him running his hoof over his face in further disgust.

"Oh I'm sure I do" he answered. Blood Moon shot him an agitated look before he looked between the 'thing' and the stallion in a way that hinted at the answer. The mustered stallion frowned and then his jaw dropped. "Aw buck no!" The assassin nodded in a 'you asked for it' kind of way. "You mean he was…while he was watching you…and taking photos…Discord's antlers that stallion's got some problems and…he's… pretty good at multi-tasking when you think about" he finished quickly.

"Well, you ain't lying" Blood Moon murmured. He looked back over the rest of the roof top and hoped to see something neither had seen earlier, though he was fairly sure that this was the only thing he had. He sighed, heavily, and turned back to the mark on the floor.

"You have any way to get that up" the merc asked. The dark stallion frowned and scratched the back of his neck. His horn sparked to life and his lower pouch opened itself and his empty syringe floated out and put the needle to the ground. He then pulled back on the plunger and lifted it to his face. Inside the barrel a small amount of the substance sat and with a shake of his head he put it back in his pouch. "So, let's take a head count: buck all and a syringe of jizz."

"Well, we know one thing: whoever we're dealing with is half moron, half professional. He's left no other evidence."

"Well the thing he did leave behind was pretty major and moronic. How does that work?" The assassin looked over at the merc.

"You ever tried to think straight right after-"
"That's enough" the mustard stallion cut in. He took a deep breath through his nose to calm himself. "So now what?"

"I'm planning on asking around, any rumour is good enough for me. I need to find out if anything unusual has happened lately."

"Well in that case you'll want to speak to Rarity, she may not look it but she knows a lot of, hay, pretty much all the rumours and gossip in and around Ponyville. I don't know how she gets wind of everything but she does." The assassin nodded and turned to the doorway. "You want me to do anything to help out? I'm pretty sure this is gonna cause problems for more than just you and the mayor."

"Maybe, can you dig up anything on the Goldhooves? Mayor is already on it but I'd rather somepony of your station looking into it as well."

"I know a few guys who owe me some favours. One or two of them may be able to find something out about them, but I won't make any promises; the Goldhooves are known for keeping all their dirty little secrets far, far away from them. I actually worked for them on a few occasions, they ain't nice ponies." Blood Moon descended the last flight of stairs and opened the door.

"That's pretty much what Mayor Mare told me, either way, I'm gonna see what Rarity knows and then try and find anything out for myself." Sand Stalker nodded and bade the assassin farewell before turning and trotting into the marketplace, disappearing into the crowds.

Blood Moon turned away and went his own way; he went south, towards where he believed Rarity's tailor to be located. He arrived quickly and was immediately struck by her place of work; it looked like a frilly circus tent of some sort with pinks, sky blues, purples and dark and light oranges. It was decorated with numerous ornaments, a pair of pony outlines on the second level and a red flag on top. He could only imagine that Rarity had designed the place herself. He pushed open the door and looked around himself; he was surrounded by large amounts of materials and fabrics, familiar and foreign, pretty much all the colours in the spectrum lying at his hooves. Ahead of him a white furred mare was working at a sewing machine with a familiar filly sat next to her.

"Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique" Rarity's voice sang out.

"Hmm, catchy, it rhymes too" he said absentmindedly as he continued to look around the room. She turned around at the sound of the assassin's dark voice.

"Ah, mister Moon. How nice to see you" she greeted. Blood Moon gave a slight bow, remembering proper etiquette around a lady.

"And you Rarity, but please call me Blood Moon. I've never been one for titles like that." The mare shrugged and got off her stool, sat behind her desk.

"Very well Blood Moon, now what may I…?" She didn't finish her question; instead as she got closer to the dark stallion her eyes were locked onto his chest, she frowned as she scrutinized his vest. After a few seconds her lower jaw appeared to gain a few tones as it hung a good foot below her muzzle, a slight line of drool running down her mouth. "Is…is that" she swallowed "R-Robus weave?" The assassin took a few steps back.

"It is" he answered, warily.

"What is it Rarity" Sweetie-Belle asked from besides her.

"Sweetie-Belle, do you have ANY idea just how rare Robus-weave is." The filly looked between the mare and stallion in confusion.

"Well, let me put it to you like this" the assassin answered for her "if you were to raid Canterlot palace, steal all the riches to be found within, then rob EVERY bank in Equestria, THEN hold Celestia and Luna prisoner and demand ransom of the highest amount, you would still have to sell the Canterlot palace and rob a dragon's stash of gems to pay for this."

"Woooow" she drawled with wide eyes.

"Uh-huh. The only way to get it is to have a dragon, at least as old as myself, weave the scales of another dragon, again at least as old as myself, into the desired shape."

"That's amazing, but how do you weave a dragon's scales?" The assassin grinned.

"That's why only a dragon can make the stuff." He suddenly noticed the discrete breeze on his chest and noticed his vest was no longer there. Blood Moon looked up in alarm until he noticed that Rarity was a little away across the room with his vest held in her magical grip. His expression fell as he saw her gazing at it with wide, sparkling eyes.

"Robus-weave, here in my boutique" she whispered, sounding like Celestia herself had just ordered something from her. The stallion and the filly just glanced at each other as they watched her.

"Rarity, I dare say the condition of that vest is not what you're used to dealing with" he comments in an attempt to pry her away from one of his most prized possessions. She didn't seem to hear him through the walls of her own little world. With a sigh, the assassin trotted up to her and stopped besides her, he waved his hoof in front of her face, un-phased, he tapped her on the head a few times, much of the same.

"RARITY" he bellowed right into her ear, still no response. In the end, his decision punctuated with another sigh, he resorted to more desperate measures; he reached forward with his right hoof and put it at the base of her horn before running it up to the tip, massaging one of the most sensitive parts of her body. Rarity quickly responded to his touch with a pleased shudder, closing her eyes slightly, revealing her sky blue eye shadow, letting a blush kiss her cheeks and a light moan escaping her lips. Her concentration lost, she fell to her flank still in her bliss as the assassin looked on amused at how this meeting had turned out. The mare regained her senses as another groan escaped her.

"B-Blood Moon, this is hardly appropriate" she drawled, a slight smile on her face. Her eyes snapped open and she hopped away from him "Blood Moon, please, control yourself!"

"You're one to talk" he smirked "stealing my vest and then sitting there enjoying a horn massage, I took you for a mare of proper manners." Rarity feigned hurt, putting a hoof to her chest.

"How could you" she asked with an overly dramatic hoof to her fore-head "and you're barely a proper gentlecolt yourself, taking advantage of me in such a way." They both took to chuckling after the short ordeal. "Now, you must have come here for a reason mister Blood Moon" she determined as she slipped the vest back over his head "may I ask as to why?" She took a look over his attire "perhaps you desire some new clothing?" The assassin looked at his garb, guessing the mare was unimpressed with the mostly destroyed cloak, hood and vest.

"Maybe one day Rarity, for now, however, I need information." Rarity gave an excited gasp.

"Oh how positively noir, the femme fatale, the private eye in the shade of night, the smoky alleyways and moon lit nights." She put a hoof to her chin in thought "I wonder how I would perform as an information broker" she murmured to herself.

"Well maybe we'll be able to find out; what do you know about the Goldhooves?" As the name left his mouth he could see the distaste in her expression.

"Oh, don't get me started on them" she huffed "they're nothing but a bunch of stuck up nobles of the worse kind. They even had the audacity to insult my work."

"The nerve" Blood Moon said in a dry tone, his face flat . "Rarity, do you know anything about them" he repeated. Rarity made a show of looking around them before leaning in conspiratorially.

"Well, rumour is, the master and lady of the family's eldest daughter, Quillrunner, has been seen around Ponyville, with no cause and Loaded Goldhooves, the family's master, has been seen with Filthy Rich these last few months" she told him, a hoof at the side of her maw. The two backed up, Blood Moon with a hoof to his chin.

"Interesting" he murmured, committing the information to memory "Rarity, do you know how the Goldhooves managed to become wealthy?" The mare shook her head. "They take control over villages and towns; it starts with the large merchants of the place, then the guards and finally, they move for position of mayor. So far, it seems they've made friendly with Filthy Rich, put one of their own in position of guard lieutenant and now-"

"They're trying to become mayor of Ponyville" she finished, with a shocked and worried expression "that is, of all the worst things that could happen, this is the! Worst! Possible!-"

"Rarity" the assassin cut off in a flat tone. Said mare looked up to find him watching her with a bored look on his face. With a small, embarrassed blush, she stood properly, dusting herself off awkwardly. With a small 'ahem' she looked back up to the assassin, whom was smirking lightly. "Anyway, I'm going to go out and think about what I can do about this." Rarity blinked a few times.

"Excuse me?"

"What?"

"You said you were going to do something about this?"

"I did."

"Well, it's just, not many ponies asides the Elements of Harmony would so readily go out and protect Ponyville." The assassin shrugged.

"Not many ponies are me." With that he headed for the door.

"Blood Moon, stop" said assassin turned "I simply cannot allow you to trot out of my boutique without at least some concepts in the works." Once more, the assassin smirked.

"I appreciate it Rarity but-" as he spoke a vivid-blue aura surrounded him and he found himself floating over to a pedestal surrounded by mirrors "well, seems I don't have much of a choice do I?" Another blue aura swept over him and his vest, hood and cloak flew off of him and levitated over to Rarity. "You have gotta teach me that spell" he announced with a face slackened in awe. Rarity frowned in confusion.

"Pardon me?"

"The spell to strip a pony bare, imagine the possibilities." The mare took a second to click; once she did she put a hoof to her mouth and giggled another blush on her face.

"Well, not all of them" she said, motioning at the belt still around his waist. Blood Moon looks down to it, unsurprised that it remained; he'd personally enchanted it to defend against any magical attempts to remove it besides his own, the only way for anypony else to remove it was to get close enough to do it by hoof. This was exactly what Rarity was doing.

"Easy there" he said, a sly grin on his face.

"Oh please, this is simply revenge for earlier." The assassin laughed.

"Last time a mare said that to me when I gave them a horn massage, I ended up sleeping with her." Rarity giggled.

"Don't tempt me" she whispered. The assassin heard.

"I wouldn't mind actually" Blood Moon informed. Rarity squeaked in embarrassment.

"Sweetie-Belle" she called, trying to change the subject, the filly in question appearing at her side within moments. Rarity stood up for a second and sniffed the dark stallion's garments before pulling back in disgust.

"Yes Rarity" she responded, clearly eager to help her sister.

"Take these to the laundry room, will you?" She levitated the black and grey wears over her awaiting sister's head before dropping them on her.

"Sure thing Rarity" came the filly's muffled voice, the pile then moved towards one of the back rooms like a small rag monster. Rarity, meanwhile, had released the belt and took a look at it before cringing.

"Leather" she asked in a voice that hoped she was wrong. Blood Moon nodded.

"Made from manticor hide" he clarified.

"Well, as a seamstress, I suppose I can see its…uses" she conceded, floating it over to a nearby table. She then went to work with a tape measure, gauging his legs, back, neck and everything else.

"Now let's see. You have a muscled physique, a laid back stance" she moved to face him "a characterful face" she murmured "you strike me as a pony who doesn't care much for refinement more a…rugged taste, am I right?" She cocked her head to the side and put a hoof to her chin "I'm thinking something dark, with plenty of character, motion…IDEA!" She then dashed out of the room leaving a puff of smoke where she had once stood. The assassin glanced at Sweetie-Belle, whom had reappeared when he was being measured, who glanced back and shrugged nonchalantly.

"It's not as bad as it usually is; sometimes she can go on a tandem for hours on end, once she was sat talking to herself about a whole new fashion line for about a day. It was really weird; I couldn't even get her to eat the breakfast I made."

"Why do I get the feeling she may have a problem" he asked nopony in particular as he turned back to the door Rarity had disappeared into. "So you made her breakfast, I noticed you don't have a cutie mark yet…"

"No, I'm not really into cooking, if that's what you're getting at."

"No good at it" he asked.

"Yeah, all's I really managed to do was burn everything."

"It can't have been that bad."

"I served her burnt toast." The stallion raised an eyebrow expectantly. "In a glass." Blood Moon blinked a few times.

"Been there sister" he admitted.

"Really?" The assassin nodded, remembering that one time the cook in Canterlot palace was ill and nopony was there to cover for her, so he had to take things into his own hooves. It didn't go well. "Well anyway, me and the rest of the Cutie mark crusaders are trying everything we can to find our special talents." Blood moon hopped off the podium Rarity had left him on, sat on his flank, and leant against it.

"I'm probably gonna regret this but, what's a 'Cutie mark crusader'?" She practically exploded with excitement.

"Me, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom are going around doing whatever it takes to earn our cutie marks." The assassin blinked.

"Why?" Sweetie-Belle looked distraught.

"What do you mean 'why'? We're the only ones in Ponyville who don't have our cutie marks yet!" Blood Moon smirked knowingly but dropped the point.

"So, what have you tried so far?" Sweetie-Belle's legs seemed unable to support her weight as she fell to the floor with her flank in the air and a pout on her face.

"Everything" she exclaimed.

"You can't have done everything" the assassin argued.

"Well it sure feels like it, we've tried everything from creature catching to bowling and everything else in between, even sky-diving" she gave a particularly heavy hearted sigh "I don't think we'll ever find our cutie marks."

"Well, what haven't you tried?"

"We haven't not tried nothing."

"Double negative" he muttered "well that can't be true; if you did you'd have your cutie mark by now."

"Well duuh, we haven't tried EVERYTHING, I mean we haven't tried anything like dragon taming." She put a hoof to her chin and hummed in thought.

"No dragon taming" he scolded.

"Hey, you aren't my-" she turned to look at him and found his narrowed red eyes watching her. She swallowed once. "Yes sir."

"So what do you like doing, like a hobby or something outside your 'crusading'?"

"I like helping Rarity out with the dressmaking."

"You any good at it?"

"Not especially, but I appreciate the effort" Rarity called from her room.

"Well that answers that" Blood Moon mutters "but that sounds more like work to me, what do
you do just for enjoyment?"

"I mostly just do crusading with the others." The assassin mentally face hoofed.

"Maybe you're destined to forever help others find their mark? Have a cutie mark of a cutie mark or something." The filly looked like she'd just been told she was going to die in a few days.

"You mean I'll never get my cutie mark?" The stallion's face fell flat.

"That's not what I said, besides, everypony has a talent of some sort. You just need to be patient, you'll find it eventually." She sat on her flank with her fore-hooves crossed.

"You're just like the other adults, 'be patient this' and 'just wait that' it doesn't help us find our cutie marks." The assassin smirked.

"Ok, have you ever had anypony make a passing complement to you or suggest you do something but you never thought you could or thought you wouldn't enjoy it?" She thought about it for a second.

"Yeah, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo always say that I'm a good singer, one time they even said that I should sing when we were in the talent show, but I don't think I could sing in front of a crowd. How'd you know?" Blood moon raised an eyebrow.

"Stage fright? Wouldn't your friends be there to support you?"

"Yeah but I'd have to be up there alone. It's scary."

"No, Sweetie-Belle, singing in front of a bunch of ponies isn't scary, you know what is?"

"What" she asked, genuinely curious.

"Dragon taming and creature catching, hay, so is sky-diving but you did both of them and you were prepared to go out looking for dragons, I know stallions who would gallop for the hills at the mere thought."

"That's because we knew there's always the chance of us getting our cutie marks" she argued.
"And there's no chance of getting it by singing, is there?"

"But it's scaaaary" she moaned in the cutest way possible. "You wouldn't know what it's like, standing on a stage with hundreds of ponies staring up at you, waiting for you to start and then you freeze up and-and" she trailed off as she imagined the image.

"Well you got me there" he admitted "why don't you start off small."

"What do you mean?"

"Surely you know what 'start off small means' Sweetie-belle?"

"Yeah, it's the opposite of starting off big."

"Smart flank" he grinned "what I mean is start off simple, I dunno, maybe sing to your sister and her friends."

"Or maybe I could sing with you right now" she suggested with gusto. Blood Moon simply blinked.

"What?"

"I could sing with you, that way you could help me along if I got it wrong!"

"I don't know" he said, scratching the back of his neck.

"Plaeaaaaaase" she begged, getting in his face with giant eyes.

"That doesn't work with me" he told her, laidback. Sweetie-Belle leaned back with a surprised look on her face.

"W-what, but it always worked before." The assassin grunted, bemused.

"Let's just say, I have experience with puppy dog eyes" he answered "but sure, I'll sing with you."

"But, what should I sing?" The assassin shrugged nonchalantly.

"I dunno, it was your idea. What songs do you know?"

"I know a few, but what songs do you know?" Blood Moon thought about it.

"I know one song and one song only."

"What is it?"

"The assassin's song" he answered, not exactly wanting to go through with this.

"Hey I know that one. My mom and Rarity sing it to me when I can't get to sleep, I always liked it but I always thought it was a little dark." The stallion shrugged.

"Just goes to show, not everything dark is necessarily bad."

"I guess so" she agreed.

"Can you remember the first line?"

"I think so." She gave a high pitched clear of her throat as Blood Moon rolled his neck to relax himself. They both took a breath before they started.

"On those dark, weary days and those cold, windy nights pray the assassin will watch over your plight." The two began the song in unison; Blood Moon's voice was lower and much deeper than Sweetie-Belle's and seemed less out of place than the fillie's but the assassin had to admit: she was a damn good singer.

"With blood on his hooves and death in his heart the assassin will watch over, from the end till the start

With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall." As they continued, the stallion couldn't help but notice the stark contrast between the two; it was one of those classic 'light and dark, good and evil' sorts of scenes.

"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall." Blood Moon began to fade his voice away, letting his rumbling voice leave the tune, but didn't stop in fear of Sweetie-Belle catching him.

"The assassin will watch over all good colts and mares always listening to their ever hopeful prayers. He will always watch over the weak and the poor should you ever cross him he'll give you what for." Blood Moon stopped his singing and listened to her; Starswirl's beard, she was good, she seemed to have picked up on the tune and tempo of the song quickly and kept to it masterfully. Whoever had complimented her had been right to do so; she was most definitely born for this.

"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall."

"The assassin will be there, so silent and still watching and waiting, for the moment until. Those who have wronged you will fall to his blade and never will he rest till the debt has been paid"

"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall." She carried the last note for a second before she let the song end, her eyes closed and a small smile on her face, before she realised she had sung the latter half of the song by herself.

"You stopped singing" she exclaimed.

"And I'm glad I did" he responded. Sweetie-Belle looked like she was about to cry.

"Was I really that bad" she asked. That one hit the stallion in the gut; she, apparently, had some confidence problems when it came to her singing.

"Sweetie-Belle, promise me something."

"You don't want me to sing again, do you" she said, even closer to tears. The assassin shook his head.

"Quite the opposite, I want you to never, ever, doubt yourself like that again and don't ever stop singing. I've been alive a fairly long time and I've never met somepony, of your age no less, with such raw talent in music." The filly gave him a wide eyed look of pure disbelief.

"Y-you really think so."

"I know so" he answered. She sat in silence for a few seconds before she exploded into movement, leaping into the air and dashing for the assassin and wrapping him in a tight hug.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyou" she squealed into his ear at point-blank range. She jumped off of him and sped to the door "I gotta tell Apple Bloom and Scootaloo about this." She dashed out of the boutique in a similar fashion as her sister had when she'd got her 'idea'.

"Oh my" a disembodied voice said. The assassin looked around himself for a second until he spotted Rarity at the bottom of the stairs, a hoof to her chin and tears welling up behind her eyes.

"Something the matter?" Rarity took a second to respond to his voice, when she did she trotted over to the assassin with her eyes still locked on the door her little sister had left from.

"It's just, I've never heard her sing properly before" she took a second to gather herself "it was beautiful" she squeaked, clearly getting emotional. "And to think, she may have even found her talent." Blood Moon nodded. They sat in silence for a while before Rarity seemed to remember something. "Oh, and I've finished your new garment" she announced.

"Already" he asked, actually shocked. Rarity took it in her ladylike stride.

"Well, they don't call me one of the best designers in Equestria for nothing" she said, with a glamorous throw of her mane. Her horn glowed and a piece of black material floated into the room and onto Blood Moon. It was a trench coat; the colour was of the deepest black, in fact it had the same effect as his mane and tail; it looked to be made from leather, but he knew it wasn't, though it held all its properties of strength, flexibility and lightness; the individual pieces were stitched together perfectly, all the stitching was invisible but she'd put crosses over each seam, likely to give it character; the belt that tied it together had sublet, silver designs over it, they flowed smoothly and he could see his cutie mark worked subtly into the designs; thin belts and buckles were over the cuffs and the hem; and the lapel and collar were slightly wider than a normal coat, Blood Moon could only guess they were there to better cover his face when popped up.

"Rarity I'm…actually impressed" he said, moving around in it, getting a feel for it; it fit perfectly and felt like he had been wearing it for years.

"I got the idea for something more flowing and less restrictive but when it came to an actual shape and detailed design I was at a loss for something that just spoke 'Blood Moon'. But then I remembered our conversation about information brokers and noir and inspiration STRUCK" she sang.

"Well it's definitely…me."

"Now, if you wouldn't mind, I'd like to keep your other things here so I can at least do some repairs or at the very least wash them." Blood Moon scratched the back of his neck and laughed sheepishly.

"Heh, no arguments here, it'll be nice not to have to go around in stuff wetter than your hind quarters when I rubbed your horn." Rarity gave a ladylike giggle before realising what he'd just said so casually. She gave him a panicked, wide eyed look before she looked back between her rear legs. She bit her lower lip and backed away slowly.

"I…um…I-I think Twilight said she wanted to see you earlier, darling" she said, backing towards the stairs and eventually to her bedroom "best not to keep her waiting, hmm." She gave a polite and hasty 'goodbye' before dashing up stairs and slamming her door behind her, the distinct sound of a door lock being engaged following. The assassin watched the whole scene with an amused smile on his face.

"I'll see you later then Rarity" he said to the empty room and he turned to leave. As he turned and left, his coat flowing majestically, and satisfyingly, around him as he went, he picked up his belt and wrapped it around him.

Outside he gazed around himself, watching the world go about it's business; he trotted through Ponyville's marketplace, mares, stallions and foals around him, all happy and content. He couldn't let the Goldhooves take this place for themselves; he felt 'sucking the heart out' was either drastic or an exaggeration, but he found himself unwilling to risk it. He found the Golden oaks library quickly, memories of the night the Changeling's attack coming back to him. He still wondered why that had happened. He knocked his hoof against the door three times and waited for Twilight, though he didn't get what he was expecting.

"Yeah?" The voice was male, young and boyish. The assassin blinked; the door seemed to have opened itself and spoke to him. "Hey, down here!" Blood Moon turned his gaze down and saw…something.

"And you are?" The purple and green lizard shuddered.

"Wow, your voice is creepy." The stallion snorted.

"Nice, I can only presume that you're Spike, right?" He nodded feverishly.

"Yep, that's me. I'm Twilight's number one assistant."

"You're a…baby dragon, right?"

"Yeah." The assassin frowned.

"Hmm, a dragon acting as an assistant to a mare." The drake scowled.

"Yeah, I am, you got a problem" he asked with his arms crossed.

"Not really, dragons are known to be prideful, greedy and simply evil creatures by nature, it's refreshing to see one drop his nature for those he cares about." That seemed to catch him off guard.

"Oh, uhhh thanks, I guess. I take it you're here to see Twilight?" The assassin nodded. "Come in, she's around somewhere." Blood Moon did as asked, stepping into the library. He looked around himself and saw, of all ponies, Rainbowdash. He trotted up to her.

"Hey." The mare looked up and nodded to him.

"Oh, hey, it's you. How you been?"

"Fine, hanging with Sand Stalker." At this she scowled.

"Don't talk to me about him." The stallion sat next to her.

"Give him a break will you? He's feeling about as rough as you are right now, I mean come
on, he had a pretty good reason for not wanting to be here."

"Yeah…wait how do you know?"

"I saw your and Sand Stalker's whole 'confrontation'."

"Oh…then you agree, right?"

"I'm not taking sides, you both have reasons I can relate to."

"It could have been better for us both though" she said softly, her grief clear in her tone.

"Well, give him a chance, and maybe things can be better now." Rainbow shrugged.

"Maybe" she murmured. Blood Moon looked over her shoulder and frowned.

"What are you reading" he asked, in part effort to change the subject and part curiosity. She seemed to perk up at this.

"It's a book about famous ponies and their known bloodlines." The assassin raised an eyebrow. "I take it that you noticed my mane?" The stallion nodded, it was kind of unavoidable. "Well I found out it was a bloodline thing; the first born of somepony with a rainbow mane is bound to have one themselves, they're also guaranteed to be a Pegasus" she told him, her tone telling him she had quoted what she'd just said.

"Ok" he said at length.

"Do you know the story about 'Hearth's Warming Eve'?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"Who doesn't?"

"Well, I was given the part of Commander Hurricane in the play a little while back, because of our similar mane style. So I got to thinking 'if the whole rainbow mane thing is a family thing, maybe I'm related to her'."

"Ah, yes. The great Commander Hurricane."

"So, I take it you knew her" the mare asked in a tone of slight interest. The assassin chuckled.

"Oh, I more than knew her" he said with a grin on his face.

"What do you mean?" The assassin looked over at her in a way that said everything. The mare's jaw hit the floor. "You're kidding me?" He shook his head. She responded by laughing and punching him in the fore-leg. "You dog" she laughed "just think, I'm sat here with somepony who's done the deed with Commander Hurricane" she said, mock longingly. She paused in her giggles and looked around the room before leaning in to him. "What was she like?" He had to laugh at that one, if only because it sounded so out of place coming from her. He decided to humour her.

"At first she was commanding, but as time went on she became more and more submissive. It was the pillow talk that took me by surprise though, she really liked to cuddle." Rainbow looked at him in disbelief.

"You can remember that?" He shrugged.

"She was more memorable than most, that, and it was my first time on a cloud bed." The mare looked down at her book with a 'huh' and flicked through a few more pages.

"Hey I found it" she declared, pointing at a page holding Commander Hurricane's picture and a few pages listing descendants. "Aw buck" she cursed.

"What?"

"It doesn't say who she had her first child with."

"So?"

"I was just curious, y'know." She looked over the list of descendants some more. "Hey, I know that name" she said pointing at one in specific 'Rainbow Blizzard'. She pulled out another book and flipped it open; she then kept looking between the two before pumping a hoof into the air. "Alright, so I am related to her" she cried before putting a hoof to her chin in thought.
"But it would be nice to know who that stallion was though."

"Guess we'll never find out" the assassin declared. And In freaky unison the two sighed, completely unaware they had identical jaw bones. As they sat there, Twilight trotted down from her room and saw the stallion sitting with Rainbowdash.

"Oh, hey Rainbow, you find that book?"

"Yeah, turns out I am related to Hurricane. How awesome is that" she squealed.

"Yeah, congratulation."

'Congratulations? For what, it was the guy who knocked up Hurricane who deserves some kind of praise.'

The assassin shook the thoughts from his head when he heard his name called.

"Blood Moon, you in there" Twilight called.

"Hm, yeah, what?"

"I was just asking you why you were here." The assassin frowned.

"Rarity said you wanted me." It was Twilight's turn to frown.

"What, how did she know?"

"Know what?"

"That I've been having trouble with a few spells, I wanted the help of another unicorn, but only me and Spike know about that." The assassin shrugged.

"Well, I guess it was just a lucky guess" he said dismissively. "So, trouble with spells?"

"Yeah, if you've got the time I'd appreciate some help." Blood Moon shrugged.

"Well, I've had enough crap today, I could use a break from it. Sure, I'll give you a hoof." She
brightened up at that.

"Great, follow me outside and we'll get started." The stallion shrugged to himself and
complied, trotting for the door.

"I'll see you later Dash" he called over his shoulder. Twilight looked over at the stallion.

"I noticed the new coat" she said, looking over the stallion's new attire. Blood Moon looked down himself and shrugged.

"I went over to Rarity's earlier, she decided I needed new clothing. Next thing I know I'm naked and she'd sizing me up….I'd rephrase that only it's too amusing." Twilight giggled slightly.

"Well, it looks very nice on you" she told him.

"I look good in everything" he told her with mock sureness in his tone. Twilight lead him towards a ring drawn in the dirt, it was about ten meters wide and seemed freshly made.

"What's all this" he asked, with a raised eyebrow.

"It's a training ring I made" she said proudly.

"Why would you need a training ring?"

"For the magic I've been practicing!"

"Circle in the dirt magic?" It was at that point she performed an atomic facehoof.

"No silly, combat magic." The assassin snorted.

"Combat magic?"

"Yeah, what you don't think I'm capable?"

"Honestly? No." She scowled at him.

"Jerk" she muttered. Blood Moon couldn't help but laugh at that one.

"Alright then, why don't you show me what you can do?" Twilight smiled mischievously. They
stood in the ring, adjacent to each other, Twilight with her back arched in an offensive manner and Blood Moon stood like he was waiting in a line in the post-office. Twilight charged her horn and fired, the assassin simply stepping out of the way and firing his own, hitting her square in the chest. The mare squealed and tumbled out of the ring, landing with her face in the dirt and flank in the air. "Hmm, not bad" he murmured.

"JERK" she shouted from her position. She looked up to see the dark stallion crackling like a mad stallion. She pouted and rested her head on the floor as he trotted over to her, a grin still on his face. "Where'd I go wrong?" He pursed his lips.

"Well, where to start? Ok, I got it: you weren't moving, you took too long to charge your horn and you used a spell WAY too advanced for the situation. Twilight, you know how to use the magic, but you don't know a thing about actually fighting." Twilight frowned.

"How does that work?" He sighed and helped her up, before motioned for her to stand in the ring again.

"Lesson one: movement. Staying hot on your hooves is key to any magical dual, staying still is a one way ticket to the morgue, take what you just did for example; staying still and locking your stance when you're about to cast your spell? Wrong way to win a fight, right way to die or get injured."

"Alright I get it" the mare interrupted "what should I do?"

"It's simple really; you just gotta work on your hoofwork. Now, do as I do." He began to move around the ring, his hooves skilfully dancing around one another to keep him upright and moving quickly, fuelled by millennia of experience. Twilight, however, seemed to have forgotten how to move on her hooves properly when going sideways. "Alright Twilight, keep moving and hit me quick, don't give me time to move." She nodded and charged her horn for a second before stopping and firing. Blood Moon, however, didn't stop and the spell flew past him. He growled to himself as he ran his hoof down his face. "Wrong again, A) you stopped, again B) your hoofwork was, frankly, awful and C) you fired where I was, not where I was going. You really don't know what you're doing do you?"

"Hey, lay off will you. This is my first time doing anything like this."

"That's what she said" he muttered. "Alright, since you know how to cast spells, you just don't know how to use them properly, we'll just focus on your movement for now."

"Makes sense" she said hesitantly. She prepared to start moving when the assassin stopped her.

"No, come closer so you can copy my movements" he instructed. Twilight complied and went further into the ring where Blood Moon stood. The two began to move around each other; they began slowly, Twilight watching the stallion's steps intently as he moved, she tried to match his steps but was having trouble. It seemed she had little to no grace. "Discord's antlers you're bad at this" he commented with a bemused grin on his face.

"Jerk, I already said I've never really done this before."

"I object, you've never done this before at all Twilight" he argued.

"Shut up, it's not like I'm being trained by masters of my time."

"No you're not, you're being trained by the result of that training, so don't insult me." Blood Moon was met with narrowed eyes.

"Will you stop putting me down! I already said I'm not very good at this."

"Once more, I object, you're awful at this." Twilight snorted, this steam pushed from her nose visible through her anger.

"Alright then" she whispered to herself. She sparked her horn to life, firing a blast of magic at the stallion who side stepped and retorted with his own. Twilight blocked his attack with a barrier her brother had taught her and shot six small beams from her horn in quick succession at the stallion. He dodge-rolled out of the way of the first two, then hit the rest out of the air with a line of his darkly coloured magic, slamming them down like a lion tamer with a whip. He released the spell, and fired up another and the clouds above Twilight suddenly became darker and lightning flashed from them. She narrowly managed to dodge the attack. When she looked back, the assassin wasn't there. She looked around but couldn't see him, confused she charged her horn in case he-

"Surprise" he bellowed as he erupted from the ground, in a hail of dirt and rock. She screamed and fell back, resorting to teleporting away from him. She turned to face him and saw him turn to her just as fast and fire a spell her way, which she once again blocked but he didn't stop with the onslaught, he continued firing numerous spells into her shield before he paused for a second and fired at the ground in front of her, casting dust in her face. The mare growled and waved a hoof in her face, coughing the dirt from her lungs. She pushed the cloud away with a gust of magically conjured wind. What she saw next worried her; Blood Moon's shadow was stretched over to the shade cast by her own library and two of his serpents were swaying at attention next to their master. "Boys" they stopped swaying slightly and turned their…mouths to Blood Moon. "Sic 'em." The two lunged for her and snapped their jaws in her direction, eager for a bite of her. The mare they were hungry for screamed, turned and tried to escape but the two were already on her, she spun again and attempted to fight back, her weak and panicked spells just bouncing off their darkly scaled hides. When they got within a meter she panicked and locked up, her eyes squeezed shut and put her fore-hooves over her head.

Nothing came, except the sound of hooves on ground.

"Now do you see why movement is so important?" The mare opened her eyes to see the dark stallion stood over her. Her leaned down and put a hoof under her fore-leg. "Come on, up you get" he tells her as he lifts her to her hooves. As he lifts her she loses her balance, apparently weary from their exercises, and falls into him. With him holding her up, the assassin gives a sigh. "Well, isn't this the most cliché of romantic positions." Twilight blinked and got up off of him, blushing slightly. "Ok, ah'm ah giving it to ya straight: you have no grace, no syncretisation with other ponies and fighting is off the roster for you until we can do something about it." Twilight glared at him.

"Where does hoofwork come into that fight" she demanded.

"For one, that wasn't a fight, it was hardly a spar. For two, hoofwork was quintessential, think about it; the only time you moved was when you teleported, impressive by the way, and when you tried to get away from my serpents." Twilight gave a hearty sight.

"Alright" she conceded "I get it, hoofwork" she repeated, probably putting the information away for future reference. "What do you suggest to help me with it?" Blood Moon put a hoof to his chin and thought about it for a second, his expression brightening when he came to a conclusion.

"I got an idea, something to improve your grace, syncretisation and movement fluidity." Twilight perked up and looked right at him.

"What" she asked eagerly.

"Dancing" she repeated, under the distinct impression the stallion was messing with her. It seemed, however, this was not so. Blood Moon hadn't told her his intentions at first, instead he had took her by the hoof and practically dragged her to the town hall, where they were now stood, he'd whipped off his coat and belt and was now stood at a phonograph putting a record in place and winding it up. "Are you serious?" He glanced over to her and smirked.

"Why wouldn't I be? The art of the dance involves grace, syncretisation with your partner, the ability to move fluidly and be able to change your movements rapidly without showing effort. And the added bonus is that I get to teach you how to dance properly." Twilight trotted over to the middle of the hall.

"And how do you know how to dance? You don't look the type." The assassin smirked.

"Nor do I look like a proper gentlecolt capable of proper etiquette; who has a deep understanding of pony psychology; knows how to, and is more than willing to, look after and be there for anypony; and is more capable in the bedroom than the author of the Ponysutra. In fact on the surface I look like nothing but a cut throat, however, you and I know I am much more than that."

"Maybe, but you still don't look like a good dancer" Twilight retorted. Blood Moon had gotten the phonograph going and some classical, unnameable waltz music began emitting from the speaker.

"And you don't look like you should have such a beautiful plot, but do I complain?" Twilight blinked a few times before a deep red blush grew on her face. "Now, do you know how to properly dance?" The lavender mare was still stunned by his casually made complement, and just stood with her mouth hung slightly agape and that blush still clinging to her face not saying anything. "I'll take that as a no then" he said with a sigh "here, lean your…Twilight are you listening?" She blinked herself awake from her stupor.

"Hmm, what? Oh yeah, of course I am."

"Then what did I just say?"

"Don't drink full fat milk" she tried.

"No, but you're right, don't, it's horrible for the girth." The mare blinked.

"Oh, ok."

"Either way, wake up I'm trying to teach you how to dance, ergo how to fight." Twilight nodded.

"Right, right I'm sorry it's just…nopony's ever complimented my flank before" she explained, a fresh blush on her cheek. The stallion frowned.

"Really?" He leaned and straightened so he could see her rear end, checking her out without shame. "Well, they don't know what they're missing then" he said with a shrug. Twilight couldn't help but gasp a little.

"I thought you said you are a pony of proper etiquette, how can you say that and so blatantly check me out like that."

"Correction, I said pony 'capable' of proper etiquette, I can and will turn it on and off at will, furthermore, why are you so bothered about it? You do know that somepony looking at you appreciatively, generally means they find you attractive."

"Yeah well that doesn't…wait what?"

"What?"

"You-you just said you find me attractive." The assassin frowned, genuinely confused.

"Yeah, of course I do, I mean look at you: perfect flank, beautiful slim body, great mane and tail, pretty eyes. And you're not just a pretty face; you have the personality and smarts to back it up." Twilight's face was now more red than magenta; she wasn't used to being showered with so many compliments, What really caught her off guard was the way he sounded so sincere, yet so laidback when he said it. There had been the odd stallion in Canterlot but back then she had been too wrapped up in her studies to care about them, even in Ponyville she had a few possible coltfriends but she never really had much interest in relationships, what with her friends keeping her company so she was never lonely and the whole elements of harmony thing had distracted her further. She noticed that she hadn't said anything for the last few minutes.

"How-how can you be so casual when you say that" she asked, still caught off guard by his words. The assassin shrugged.

"It's normally when you're lying you act out of sorts, when I speak the truth I act normally" he replied. "Are you done asking questions or shall we begin?" Twilight swallowed before she nodded. "Good" he said brightly "now, lean your neck into mine" she did so, still standing a little ridged "relax a little will you? I won't bite, well y'know, unless that other personality comes out and I tear the town apart in an undead rage." Twilight leaped back.

"What!?" Blood Moon raised a hoof defensively.

"Joke, joke" he assured. Twilight swallowed, still nervous, but moved back into him and leaned her neck against his, trying to loosen up. "Good, now, lean your weight into mine." She did so and the stallion felt little pressure against his neck muscles. "I said lean your weight, don't worry I can take it. I mean umm, no offence" he tired. Twilight shrugged in a silent laugh.

"Don't worry about it, but I am leaning into you." The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yeah" she confirmed.

"Wow, you're light."

"Or maybe you're just strong?" Blood Moon grunted a laugh, shaking his head at their ‘banter.’

"How about a mixture of both" he asked, a smirk still on his face.

"Fair enough" Twilight replied.

"Alright, we'll do this slowly" he said "move with me" he instructed. She did and they began moving, turning around each other. "Move your hooves with mine" he whispered. Twilight picked up quickly.

"This isn't so bad" the mare murmured. The stallion grinned.

"That's good, if you said it was I may have to slap you. When I had to do this I was partnered with our trainer, he could dance, sure, but he was as big as a shed and a nightmare to drag around when I had to lead." Twilight giggled.

"So, how do I compare?" Blood Moon pulled the sides of his mouth down in thought.

"Well you're not as graceful as him but-lean down with me" he said as he dipped her. She went down gently, a slight smile on his face as she did, enjoying herself. "But the company, is far superior" he finished as he raised her

"Thank you…wait 'our trainer'?"

"Yeah, it wasn't just me at that facility; it was me, another stallion called Heartless and a mare called Rose Blood. None of us liked each other, they seemed to like me even less when I became immortal" he said with a smirk in his voice "I suppose it didn't help I was the only one there with a personality; I constantly made fun of Heartless and Rose Blood never liked my attempts to woo her…or maybe it was because I was the only stallion in Equestria who could make her blush" he told her, another smirk on his face.

"So, what happened to them?" The assassin sighed slightly.

"It was the final test for us all; they put us in a room and told us only one was coming out alive.
I'll let you figure out the rest for yourself." Twilight shuddered. "Sorry, I keep forgetting you're not as…well versed as I am, in my art."

"You call it art, I call it murder."

"You call her mentor, I call her the mare who made my life a misery." Twilight hummed.

"About that, why did you leave Celestia?" The assassin shrugged.

"You already know; aristocrats and nobles. I don't attend their soirées, I burn them down."

"Is that really, your only reason? I mean, Celestia and Luna were like your own daughters, how could you just abandon them?" The stallion narrowed his eyes, though the effect was lost on Twilight considering she couldn't see his face.

"I. Didn't. ABANDON. Them." Twilight was scared but didn't back down.

"So what did you do then?"

"They were grown up; they had a country to run. They didn't need me, nor did I want to get involved in it. Twilight Sparkle, do you know the nature of nobles." The mare shook her head. "Think the savageness of a manticor, the cunning of a python, the cowardice of a lone rat and the murderous nature of a dragon, all times by ten. That's the kind of noble Celestia deals with every day. I hardly think I have the right temperament for that, I'm pretty sure every noble to visit her would end up with a broken snout or neck within five minutes of being in my presences." Twilight giggled again, she'd met a few of the nobles in Canterlot and she hadn't taken much of a shine to them. "It wasn't me who put the whole of Equestria's resources on her tail. She turned on me." The record skipped and suddenly faster, slightly more husky music emitted for the phonograph. Blood Moon glanced over at it and shrugged, he straightened up. "Alright Twilight, now-"

"I know what to do" she told him with a triumphant smile on her face "I read all about this particular dance." The stallion grinned but raised a questioning eyebrow, to which Twilight blushed and coughed awkwardly. “Uhh, c-culture project, for Celestia” she told him. Blood Moon grunted.

“Culture project?”

“Yeah, the romantic society of Saddle Arabia. It was this or the Ponysutra” she told him. The assassin barked a laugh, his head going back.

“A good choice then” he chuckled before another smirk inducing thought entered his mind “Discord’s antler, what I would have done to see her face when she read your report on the book of love” he grinned. Twilight smiled herself, a red blush lingering on her face.

“And extreme flexibility” she mumbled, rubbing her left hind-hoof up and down her right leg. She looked up to find the dark stallion looking back at her with half-lidded eyes, a raised eyebrow and an incredibly suave grin on his face.

"Anyway, the dance” he said in a low voice, bringing their conversation back to its point, though he didn’t let his gaze leave Twilight’s “I presume you know the rules then?" Leaving their prior subject, Twilight’s confidence came back. Came back in the form of a half-lidded gaze of her own, a small lopsided grin and a step into the stallion’s personal space. Not that he minded.

"Oh, I know them" she told him, putting a single dangerous inch between their smiling muzzles. "No contact."

"Always moving” he continued, stepping around Twilight, the mare moving, surprisingly elegantly, past him.

"Every movement must be-" The assassin put his hoof around the back of her neck, swinging her around and supporting her with one leg.

"Passionate" he finished, raising her.

"Elegant" she continued, her face brushing barely a centimetre past his.

"The closer the partners-"

"The more skilled the dancers are" she finished.

"As asides from dips and lifts-"

"The only contact allowed is the finale" she, once again, finished.

"I take the book said what that ‘finale’ is." Twilight's smile turned…the assassin took a double take…sultry?

"Of course, it is supposed to resemble the heat and passion of the dance" she answered "although, if contact is made throughout the dance, the stallion does not get his 'grand finale' dose he?" Blood Moon's own grin widened.

"Then I'll be sure not to touch you, hhihh." The mare was somewhat impressed by his fluent Arabic, though not exactly taken by surprise. They turned around each other, still barely a centimetre between them; Twilight couldn't help but get lost in his piercing gaze.

"Y'know, I've never been this close to a stallion before" she said, her voice huskier than usual. The assassin grinned; she was getting into it.

"Well, I'll be sure to make your first experience" he leaned in further, making sure not to touch her, and whispered into her ear "memorable." When he leaned back, a grin still on his face, he saw the new blush on Twilight's face; it was deeper and redder than usual and spread further over her face.

"Blood Moon…why do you do that?"

"What?"

"Make me blush so much?" The stallion smirked and shrugged.

"Let's be honest here, I'm not the best looking stallion, am I? I make up for it in personality, flawless charm and my ability" he leaned straight into her face, a millimetre between the tips of their noses "to make a mare blush." Twilight could feel her legs getting shaky.

"Oh my" she said breathlessly. The stallion backed up again as he moved around her; she kept her gaze on him but didn't move herself before she blinked and shook her head, pulling herself out of her stupor. She moved around the stallion as he did, matching his movements perfectly. She put the distance between them back to a single millimetre. The last few notes sounded.

"It's almost at the end Twilight" Blood Moon told her, knowing exactly what partners staying close in this dance meant.

"I know" she told him. The final note of the tune they danced to played and Twilight made her move, the move that was considered appropriate between two close standing partners in that dance. She closed the miniature distance between the two and pushed her lips to his. She couldn't ignore the small spark in her chest when she didn't feel him pull back, in fact he seemed more than happy to oblige and return her kiss. She felt him turn his head and push deeper into the kiss; she leaned back and sat on her haunches letting him lead the embrace. She didn't notice when she opened her mouth and his tongue entered. It felt weird at first, alien, but she grew to enjoy the sensation and returned the gesture. It was her first kiss but she could tell Blood Moon had far more experience than her, the way his tongue brushed so gently past her own was proof enough of that. Her tongue explored his mouth, enjoying every moment of it. It was possible his outward appearance was influencing her opinion, but she half expected his mouth to be scared as well. She couldn't help but notice he was being very gentle with her; he didn't push her at all and took his time with her, making sure she was comfortable. His tongue hit a sensitive spot in her mouth and she couldn't help but moan slightly into his maw, sending erotic vibration through the both of them. After a while the two parted, Twilight still a little light headed and Blood Moon thanking his old instructor for teaching him grace and syncretisation like that. Twilight was then hit with the backlash.

"Oh my gosh, I'm so-so, I'm sorry I-I just got caught up in the whole dance and the way you were speaking to me and-and." Blood Moon raised a confused eyebrow.

"What are you so sorry for?"

"I-I mean I kissed you and-"

"It's not like I pulled back."

"I know but-"

"Twilight, quit beating yourself up will you? It was sort of inevitable anyway, and if I'm honest, it wasn't bad."

"I know but…what?"

"The kiss, it was good, well performed and initiated, appropriately sexy. Not bad for a beginner, hay, it was pretty good for a veteran." Twilight looked down and blushed again, dragging her hoof along the floor.

"Thanks" she whispered a small smile on her face "but, would it be too much to ask to keep this between the two of us? No offence but I don't think anypony would really…approve of me kissing a known killer." Blood Mood raised a hoof to stop her.

"I understand Twilight, being an Element of Harmony I can understand you need to… keep up appearances."

"Thank you." She tried to look up at him again, but one look at his grinning face and she felt the blush coming back.

"I don't know if it's really necessary anymore, but I think your grace and movement ability has improved significantly." Twilight giggled again.

"Thank you" she repeated "but I think we should get back to the library." Blood Moon nodded, silently agreeing with her. He followed her to the door and pulled his belt and coat over to him with his magic. Belt and coat re-equipped, he turned his attention back to…

"Twilight, you're swaying your flank more aren't you?" She hung her head as she answered.

"Sorry, it just…seemed appropriate" she said sheepishly, no doubt blushing again, reverting back to her normal trotting fashion.

"I didn't say stop" he said as he increased his pace to bring himself next to her. Twilight giggled again and bumped him softly with her rear end. The assassin smirked and felt a heat run to his loins.

"Uhh, Blood Moon?" Said assassin hummed to show he was listening. The pair left the town hall as Ponyville was wrapping up for the day. "What…are we now?" Before he could answer Twilight gasped. "Sweet Celestia, Ditzy." He turned his head to her slowly.

"Twilight, I broke up with her a few days ago." Twilight blinked disbelieving.

"Oh, so you just bounce right onto me?" The assassin laughed.

"Bounce onto you?" He laughed at her choice of words. "No, I flirt a lot, just ask Rarity, I just happen to like you more and I also just happened to get into...that particular dance with you." Twilight scowled.

"What kind of reasoning is that? 'You like me more', do you think that makes it ok to just go from one mare to another? What kind of 'gentlecolt' are you?" The assassin narrowed his eyes.

"Twilight Sparkle, do not test my loyalty nor my compassion. Ditzy doo made the same mistake and we parted on bad terms. I never said I didn't care for her, but she made it clear she didn't trust me, THAT is why I left her. If we parted on any other terms I would likely have never even started that dance with you, never mind finish it the way we did. But we didn't part on different terms, so now I couldn't care less about her." Twilight looked down.

"That's mean."

"It's cold, brutal and heartless is what it is, but that's who I am" he replied. Twilight sighed.

"Y'know, you didn't answer my question" she pointed out. The stallion sighed.

"I…I won't lie. Ditzy did do one thing for me, she taught me not to rush a relationship."

"And then you let me kiss you."

"Hey, I'm not complaining, you're an Element of Harmony. I may be an immortal assassin but you are literally a part of Equestria, an important part at that, I may be gifted in my own way but I can safely say I'll never have that. Forgive me for being overly sappy but it's an honour to even be able to call you friend, never mind dating you." Twilight was half happy and half curious.

"So you're saying…you DO want to date me?" Blood Moon looked over to her.

"Yes, just… not yet" he answered. Twilight thought about it.

"Well I guess…I guess, thank you for at least putting effort into this" she said to him with a slight smile on her face. Blood Moon smiled back.

"You're welcome to it, hay, you deserve at least a stallion who'll look after you and put effort into a relationship, it may be me, it may not but it's what you deserve." Twilight's smile broadened.

"It occurs to me that I've gone from target to romantic interest" she said with a giggle. The assassin shrugged.

"You'd be surprised actually, more than once over history important political figures have made a husband or wife of an assassin. I'm not innocent of that crime myself, asides yourself, I've met a mare or three I wouldn't kill, and over time they grew on me. What can I say; I'm just a big ol' softie. Personally, I’d say it's a little cliché but all's fair in love and war as far as I'm concerned." Twilight shrugged.

"I'm not arguing" she agreed. They arrived at the library soon after, Twilight leading the way. They stepped inside to find it deserted, not even Spike was around. The mare turned to the stallion. "So, do you want to stay for a while?" Blood Moon looked outside to the sky.

"I would, I really would, but it looks like the Pegasi are cooking up a storm, nasty one at that." Twilight nodded, but wasn't happy about it.

"I'll see you then" she said, in way of farewell. He nodded without saying anything, and didn't resist as she leaned in and pecked him on the check. He gave a kind, lopsided smile as she backed away and he turned for the door. It was when he was about to step over the threshold when the thunder boomed overhead and rain fell from the sky like Neighagra had just spawned above them.

"Ah, buck" he cursed. Blood Moon’s assassin sense tingled, warning him of a smug presence nearby. He turned to see Twilight stood behind him. "So, yeah, I'd love to stay for a while" he told her.

"Alright" she replied "but no funny business" she joked. He grunted a laugh.

"Thanks, really, for understanding." Twilight just smiled at him again. The two settled into the night peacefully; Twilight going over a history book and Blood Moon pointing out all the inaccuracies. She couldn't help but notice she had come to like the way he spoke, the way he spoke in such a scary way but was so calm and kind, almost reassuring. She also noticed the way she had budged closer to him as the night went on. At midnight (which had crept up on them) they decided to hit the hay.

As the assassin plopped into his bed, thinking about how the day had gone; from Mayor Mare and Feather Heart asking for his assistance about political matters; singing with Sweetie-Belle and potentially helping her find her special talent; helping Twilight with her fighting and, subsequently, her dancing; before going on to make out her. All and all, it had been a fairly eventful day, and it hit him from the left wing when he noticed just how much he'd done in a single day and where he'd ended up at the end of it. He lay with his eyes open, staring out of the open window at the night sky wondering how life would treat him in the days to come before, they fell to Twilight. He wondered what she was thinking about.

In her room, Twilight lay on her bed, a small smile on her face. She'd met Blood Moon under the worst of circumstances; her first experience with assassin had been watching him kill five rapists; then he'd helped her fight off the Changelings and made peace with her friends; working with Applejack, taking care of Pinkie Pie when she needed it most and helping her with her fighting skills (or perhaps thinking about it as him helping her with her dancing skills would be a better way to think about it). As she lay atop her sheets, Spike snoring next to her in his basket, she felt the need to share her experiences with her oldest and best friend.

Princess Celestia.

She trotted over to a desk with a quill and parchment resting on it and stool sat neatly behind it. She sat at her desk and took the quill in her magical grip.

Dear Princess Celestia

A few days ago, I met a stallion under some very unorthodox circumstances; he didn't strike me as a good stallion at first and I even thought he was here under disagreeable circumstances. But after a while, he started to show his true nature; caring, youthful, loyal and friendly. He's grown on both me and all my friends, even Ponyville as a whole. Perhaps when I fail to not judge a book by its cover, I should remember what he has taught me. I think what Blood Moon has taught me, is that friendship can come from the most unexpected of places.

Your ever faithful student

Twilight Sparkle.

The mare straightened up from her desk, happy with her letter. Then she heard Spike snore.

"Pony feathers" she muttered. She still hadn't mastered the spell to send letters herself, so she still relied on Spike to do it for her. She got off the stool and trotted over to him, nudging him awake. "Spike" she cooed. The young dragon stirred and moaned before his eyes opened slowly.

"What time is it" he asked with a yawn. Twilight smiled sheepishly.

"Twelve" she told him. The drake narrowed his eyes.

"Am or pm" he asked.

"Pm" she replied with the worst poker face you've ever seen. The dragon groaned and got up stiffly.

"Alright, what is it" he asked drowsily.

"I need you to send this to Princess Celestia" she explained to him. Spike sighed and took the rolled up letter in his claw. He blew hard through his nose in annoyance before he blew his signature green flame onto the parchment and watched the green ashes fly out of the window.

"Now can we please get some sleep" Spike begged of his big sister/mother.

"Sure Spike" she yawned "I think I need some sleep after everything today."

"What's with the look in your eye?"

"Huh?"

"You were looking at the wall like you wanted to go out on a date with it" his expression turned sly as he put two and two together "somepony's found their special somepony" he teased. Twilight's cheeks turned pink under the accusation.

"S-Spike, knock it off" she hissed. Spike complied after a few more sniggers before her jumped back into his basket, dreaming of gems and Rarity. For Twilight, she dreamed of a certain hooded stallion but, unlike the last time, the darkness didn't scare her.

Celestia put the letter down. She'd been just about to get into bed when a green flow of ash flew into her room through her open window. She couldn't help but smile at the prospect of hearing from her student. But when she'd read the letter, she was anything but happy at what she had to say.

Blood Moon.

The name echoed around her brain like a bell tolling in her skull. Blood Moon, who so long ago had abandoned her, like a father abandoning a child. Her eyes narrowed at the memory of her waking up and him not being there for her, Philomena was there in his place. She loved that bird but it was not enough for the way he betrayed her and Luna. She stood and summoned her guard captain, Shining Armour, using a spell only he and her knew for just such occasions. A bright flash later and the white furred and multi blued mane and tailed stallion was in her room. This would normally be seen as uncouth but considering the circumstances, neither cared.

"What is it Princess Celestia" the stallion asked, standing to attention. He could tell by the grave and enraged look on his boss's face this wasn't going to be good.

"I apologise for pulling you away from the Crystal Empire, but you must have the guards in Ponyville on the lookout. We have an assassin to take care of." Shining Armour frowned, but beyond that didn't lose face.

"An assassin?" Celestia nodded once.

"Yes Shining Armour, it seems my old foalsitter has resurfaced."

Innocence and corruption

Chapter fifteen: Innocence and corruption

"Well, you've done it again."

'What?'

"Don't give me what, you know what you did you son of a whorse."

'Hey shut up! What in Tartarus did I do?'

"You say you've learned not to rush relationships, you and I both know you have, but what do you go and do?"

'I didn't do anything-'

"Don't give me that. We both saw her moving in and you did nothing to stop her, buck it, just starting that dance says you were at least hoping it would happen."

'Of course I was hoping, we both know how good she looks-'

"Stop making excuses; I'm gonna say this once so listen good: YOU'VE. ONLY. JUST. MET. HER. I'd ask you what you were thinking but, unfortunately, I already know; you weren't thinking at all. What do you think she's doing now, huh?"

'How should I know?'

"Oh, you know. Just think; 'never been this close to a stallion' or maybe 'nopony's ever complimented my flank before'? You and I both know what that means; she'd most likely never dated before, hay, that was probably her first kiss."

'…'

"Say something then, what was she thinking about when she was going to bed last night?"

'She was…probably thinking about our current situation, maybe…I don't know, thinking about the way we've gone from target and killer, to friends, to-'

"Don't say it! You and I both know we can't get into anything like that again. We know we can't take it…"

'I know, but it's true… I may be-'

"DAMNIT stallion, don't do it to yourself. I know you're tougher than most but everypony has a weakness. Yours is you can't take somepony you care for dying. You're immortal, she's not, do the math."

'Y'know, I hate you sometimes. You can't even let me love, I notice you weren't this assertive when I was with Ditzy you little bastard.'

"Yes and you should hate me, I'm a voice in your head that seems to have more sense than you do. And the reason I wasn't so forceful before was because it was your first time doing something so stupid, but I at least I knew you'd learn from it, little good that lesson did. That, and Luna was doing a pretty good job of making you see sense anyway. Real smooth with leaving Ditzy, by the way."

'Oh shut up, you know exactly why I did that!'

"Yeah, yeah. So, what are you gonna do?"

'About Twilight?'

"Uh-huh."

'I'm gonna do what I said; take my time. I don't wanna rush this.'

"Yeah, right."

'You got something to say?'

"Yeah I do, we both know how you get around mares when you're single."

'Maybe, but…I don't know, something about Twilight makes me respect her more in that respect, it's probably the whole 'element of harmony' thing.'

"…"

'What?'

"You know."

'Do I?'

"Yes, the reason you even agreed to help her at all in the first place."

'Don't start-'
"It needs to be said. We both know you have an ulterior motive behind this. What is it?"

'… I'd made peace with Twilight, but I needed something to…persuade her over to my side. She's Celestia's student, I needed to take more drastic measures. We both know what I'm gonna have to do now that Luna knows where I am.'

"Yes, I do know what you have to do, and that you had to get Twilight on your side to do it without interference and that I would have been fine with, but what did you go and do at the same time?"

'Nothing I didn't mean to do.'

"Bull, you and I both know you had no intention to actually fall for her, you fool."

'Can you really blame me?'

"Yes, and easily, you should have taken better precautions. You shouldn't have let yourself fall in love."

'You said it; the L word. We don't use that word anymore. What were you telling me, not a second ago?'

"Hey, I'm not the moron falling in love here, am I?"

'Shut up, I'm no moron and you know what; I've stopped caring about your opinion, even if I so much as like Twilight it has nothing to do with you.'

"Whatever…I'll leave you to your own problems. Oh, and I think Twilight just got into bed with you."

'Wha-'

The assassin woke up, thinking about what he had just dreamt.

'If that was a normal dream, I'm a filly.'

It always felt strange when he conversed with the voices so firmly planted in his head. His latest engagement had been a black void with just an echoing voice around him, to which he responded to. He wondered if he had been talking in his sleep. He blinked a few times when he remembered what the voice had left him with. He felt a presence next to him, opening his eyes revealed Twilight Sparkle's outline sitting next to him on the bed. It was hard to tell, given the fact that there was practically no lighting, but she seemed worried.

"B-Blood Moon, are you awake?" He murmured a little, still half asleep, before he squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed them slightly with his hoof.

"Yeah, yeah I'm up. What time is it" he yawned.

"Three in the morning" she told him. He didn't like the way Twilight still seemed nervous about something.

"Something the matter" he asked, sitting up in his loaned bed.

"You were talking in your sleep, it sounded like you were talking to yourself, I mean like you were literally asking yourself something and giving yourself an answer." The stallion frowned to himself in thought.

'So I was talking, hay, we were both talking.'

"Did anything I say make sense?" Twilight looked away.

"The only thing I could really make out was my name" she told him, apparently a little embarrassed. He hummed in thought. "What were you dreaming about" she asked, a blush in her tone. The assassin tried to clear his mind, focusing his magic in his horn and letting it spark up, and he kept the glow going until he had it concentrated at the tip of his horn before letting it light up the room in a grey glow. He kept the light dim, as to not put too much strain on his eyes. It was too early for that. In the dim glow he could better see Twilight's face, and the blush that ran across it.

"I was talking with a voice in my head." Twilight gasped.

"Voices" she repeated. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Don't worry about it; it tends to happen to somepony such as myself, an immortal who devotes his life to killing others, I spent a few thousand years just doing that and nothing else, shut away from the world. As you can imagine; life by oneself, surrounded by death and other general horrors tend to put a pony at his wit's end. Insanity is inevitable. As I said though, don't worry about it, they keep me company and one of them is a great story teller." Twilight blinked at him.

"How…how can you be so calm with this?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"I got used to them, and it's not like I can give them up for adoption, is it?" Twilight blanked slightly when he said that, coming back when he poked her slightly.

"Well…what…" she searched for something to say "what were you talking about" she ventured. Blood Moon couldn't help but grin at her question, though it quickly dropped when he thought about what that question actually entailed.

"I was talking about…you and me" he told her. She noticed he didn't use the word 'us'. "I was thinking about…if I'd made the same mistake with you, that I'd made with Ditzy."

"You mean, you think it may be too soon?" He nodded and Twilight smiled. "It's not too soon, nothing's happened to even be too soon." The assassin shook his head.

"It's not that, it's the fact that I even made a move. Normally I would have kept to our friendship going rather than making any kind of advance." Twilight frowned.

"But…I kissed you." Blood Moon shrugged a silent laugh.

"Twilight, do you know why that dance doesn't have a name?"

"Because the pony who made it couldn't think of one" she tried. The assassin smirked.

"No, because it's so recognisable; that dance is the only know dance to involve intimacy between partners. Anypony who knows the dance, also knows what they're getting into. Inviting somepony into it is considered a romantic gesture. I knew what I was getting into, and I went through with it, knowing full well I should have learned my lesson about that sort of thing." Twilight shook her head at him.

"Look at you, seems you're the one beating yourself up now, huh. Why are you beating yourself up so much now anyway?"

"Because I know I did wrong" he stated. Twilight responded with a roll of her eyes before she put her hoof on his chest and pushed him down onto the bed, leaning down after him and pushing her lips against his. He seemed startled by it at first, but his instinct seemed to take over as he returned it; turning his head slightly and pushing back, his tongue pushed against her mouth, demanding entry, she obliged and he instantly dove for that sensitive spot, causing her to moan a little. The mare disengaged the kiss before he rolled her onto her back and things went any further. She put a grin to match the assassin's on her face as she leaned back.

"There, I made the first move. Now you can stop worrying about it" she told him, tapping him on the tip of his nose. Blood Moon lost his grin when she said that; he wasn't sure what to do with such a gesture, Twilight had both put many of his concerns to rest while at the same time…

'Why can't I find any negatives with this?'

"Because there aren't any, as far as I can see. At first it was you making the move I was pissed off at, but now that she's gone and done that I can't see any real down points."

'Well, if a pessimist such as yourself can't find anything bad here I'll take it as a given that
there isn't anything bad to fret over.'

"Yeah, go with that, and make sure you spoon with her."

'Wha-'

The voice was already gone, and the stallion noticed he hadn't said anything for the last minute. Twilight was even waving a hoof in his face.

"Blood Moon, you still in there. I can't help but notice that you seem to be blanking out on me a lot…are you talking to the voices again, because I'm pretty sure that's not very good for you mental heal-WAHH!" The assassin had grabbed her left hoof with his own and pulled her over him and into the bed, putting his right fore-leg over her.

"Twilight, what would you say if I told you that you had just managed to silence one of the most pessimistic voices I've ever known" he whispered into her ear. The mare recovered from the shock and giggled slightly.

"I'd say: I should silence more voices, if that's going to be my reward" she replied, wiggling into him some more to make herself comfy. Blood Moon took a long breath through his nose as he settled with Twilight.

"That's mah colt."

"Blood Moon?" He hummed to show he was listening. "Why did you get so…stressed out when you were worried about how sudden this might have been?" The assassin swallowed slightly, truth be told he was slightly embarrassed now that he looked back on himself.

"Because when I learn a lesson, I know that it's always best to take my learning's and act on them. Past experiences tell me that following that course of action is one of the best there is."

"Why?" He sighed slightly and stopped the flow of magic going to his horn, deactivating his illumination spell. He then used his magic to pull the covers up him and Twilight.

"Let me tell you a story."

"Oo, I love stories" Twilight giggled, shifting closer into him. The stallion grinned at her antics before continuing.

"Around eight thousand years ago, I was on a contract. It seemed simple at first; get in, do the deed and get out" he told her, careful with his words. "My problems started when I arrived at the area the mark was at, a simple compound really, and I underestimated this 'simple compound'. I assumed it was going to be easy, huh, little good my assumptions did when I was with my back against the wall and eighteen angry guards cornering me. I only just managed to get out with my flank intact. It taught me to never underestimate. Two hundred years later, I found myself with, what appeared to be, an even simpler contract. It was me, the mark, his bodyguard and his secretary."

"His secretary" Twilight repeated, confused. The stallion nodded above her.

"Yep. Twilight, tell me; what are the requirements of a secretary?" Twilight hummed in thought.

"Good organisation skills, good time keeping, neat hoof-writing, that kind of thing." Blood Moon hummed affirmation.

"Very good, now, would you tell me the requirements of a bodyguard?"

"Good observational skill, hoof-to-hoof fighting skill or magical combat skills, a history in military helps." Once more, the assassin nodded.

"Then why did that secretary have both sets of said skills?" Twilight blinked.

"Wait, are you saying…" The assassin smirked.

"Yep. That secretary, that simple, honest, airheaded little mare was one of the most skilful fighters I've ever met or heard of. I was unprepared, why? Because I underestimated her, and she damn near killed me because of it." Twilight nodded.

"Right" she said at length "but aren't a ninja secretary and a sudden romance pretty different things?" The assassin shrugged.

"Maybe, but I prefer not to take the chance."

"So you'd rather worry yourself senseless instead of just relaxing and going with it." Blood Moon grinned.

"I didn't take you as the sort to just wing it" he told her.

"I'm not, but you seem very volatile" she retorted. The stallion grunted.

"Well, you got me there. But I'm only borderline insane when it only involves me, when it includes somepony I care for, I prefer to be more cautious." It seemed lost on Twilight that he was still casually talking about his mental instability.

"Aww, you care about me" she said, snuggling in further.

"You're not the type to be oblivious Twilight; I care for everypony close to me and though I may not show it to some more than others, say I show more concern for Pinkie Pie than Rainbowdash, it's still there. Besides which, I'm holding you in my hooves right now; I'm pretty sure that has something to do with my care for you."

"Thank you" she yawned. "Now, if we're done talking about how crazy you are, let's get some sleep" she suggested. The stallion nodded, feeling his still heavy eyes.

"Good idea" he responded with a yawn of his own. He felt Twilight snuggle further into him and pull the covers up her some more. Blood Moon responded to her closeness by shifting into her and put his hooves over her, pulling her in comfortably, before drifting back off to sleep.

Blood Moon, for the second time in a day, awoke. Though this time, it was under much more pleasant circumstances; Twilight's lavender scented mane was right in his muzzle and the smell was just soft enough to be pleasant but strong enough to be tangible; his right fore-hoof was draped over her stomach, stopping just below her soft belly, his left had found its way under her and was being held to her chest by Twilight's own fore-hooves; it seemed Twilight had shifted further into the stallion in their sleep, her back was against his stomach and her flank was pushed against his…

'Oh buck.'

"Hmm, what-whast, wha?"

'Were you asleep?'

"Yeah, it's not like there's much to do in here."

'Yeah, well, we may have a problem.'

"What?"

'Sleeping with Twilight here-'

"Good stallion."

'And I may have morning wood.'

"HA, you're on your own buddy."

'Wha-'

Already, once more ditching him, the voice was gone, leaving him to his own problems. The assassin wasn't sure what to do; if it were Vinyl he'd probably get a helping hoof getting rid of it, any other mare at all he would have probably just got out of bed and done something about it, be it a cold shower or…anything else, however, he found himself unwilling to leave Twilight's company. It was probably the lavender scented mane in front of him. He decided to just go with it, his member firmly planted between her flank checks, and continue to lay with her, a slight grin on his face. He knew it'd be a little awkward when she awoke but he figured he'd make the most of it while he could. Resting his head on the pillow, he took to softly breathing through his nose, enjoying the scent of Twilight's mane, and allowing his thoughts to wander.

It must have been all of twenty minutes that had passed by the time Twilight stirred herself awake from her sleep, the movement of her rear end doing nothing to kill the stallion's hard on. She murmured slightly groggily to herself as she removed herself from her dream, whatever it was, and she looked around, wondering where she was and what had happened before she remembered what had happened last night. With a small smile on her face she relaxed into the stallion's hold.

"Morning" she whispered. The assassin hugged her tighter.

"Morning" he replied, his throat a bit dry. Twilight hummed contently, shifting her flank slightly before she frowned as she felt something between her cheeks.

"What" she paused as she moved herself some more, trying to deduce what this strange thing was. "What is that" she asked herself. She heard the stallion holding her swallow slightly.

"That's…me." The mare frowned, once again, shifting to try and discern what it was, unwillingly grinding him. Behind her, Blood Moon's eye started twitching as he felt Twilight's movements through his stallionhood.

"What do you mean, it's you." He waited a full second her to click. A blush erupted across her face; the ones from yesterday were nothing in comparison. "Oh, you mean it's 'you' as in it's your…um." Blood Moon chuckled.

"Yes, my 'hidden blade', it seems, has joined the party" he explained, trying to pull away. He was taken by surprise when Twilight moved with him.

"Um, I-I don't mind" she told him. Her tone of voice left much to be desired in the lines of sincerity.

"Twilight, it's painfully obvious you do" he answered. She put her chin to her chest, hanging her head…sort of.

"Sorry, it's just I've never done anything like this before. I didn't know how to react. Sorry."

"Stop saying sorry, will you? You just said you don't have any experience so it's sort of excusable."

"Alright I'm sorry, I mean sorry, SORRY. Pony feathers" she muttered. The assassin grunted in amusement.

"Not to be judgmental or assuming, or anything, but that sounds like the kind of trap Fluttershy would fall into" he said. Twilight giggled slightly, turning her body around.

"So…um what did you uhhh… d-dream about" she asked the stallion, suddenly having a hard time making conversation when his pulsing member was pushed against her stomach.

"Nothing really, the voice finally shut up."

"That's good" she said breathlessly, her gaze angled up at him in a fierce attempt to keep her gaze away from the organ pushed against her. They stayed silent for a few minutes, Blood Moon bemused at Twilight's predicament and Twilight still somewhat stunned at the stallion's blatant casualness, to said predicament.

"Hey, Twilight" a young, male voice came "Twi where are you?" Twilight grimaced in the assassin's grip.

"Pony feathers" she cursed. There was a knock at the assassin's door.

"Hey Twilight, you in there" he called through the door. Twilight quickly clamped a hoof over the assassin's maw, knowing full well how blunt he could be. Blood Moon looked down at her with a confused frown on his face.

"He doesn't know you're here" she hissed. The assassin shrugged understandingly and Twilight removed her hoof, resting it against his chest. Outside, they could hear Spike move away from the door.

"Maybe she went out" he heard the drake mutter to himself, no doubt scratching his head or something. Twilight mouthed a 'thank you' before she pecked him on the nose. They listened as Spike walked away from the door, his tiny footsteps only audible to Blood Moon's ears. Once he was away from the door Twilight calmed, her slightly tensed muscles relaxing. The two rolled apart after a second together, Twilight was about to say something when she noticed the hill in the sheets.

"Um, you're still…" She nodded at it and the stallion looked where she had motioned.

"Oh, right." He cleared his mind of all thoughts and he slowly went flaccid.

"What did you do?" The assassin shrugged.

"I just put you out of my mind…ahh, that sounded cheesy" he answered. Twilight simply smiled at his comments.

"We should get up" the mare suggested. Blood Moon mumbled something about 'no fun' before he vacated the bed. Both on their hooves, the assassin taking a moment to make sure his sheath was properly hidden, they left the spare room they had spent the night together in and went downstairs. "Would you like some breakfast" she asked. The stallion shrugged. He hadn't eaten since the party…wait no he hadn't, Pinkie Pie had gone Pinkamena on him before he had gotten anything down him. His empty stomach made similar reactions to the prospect of food, grumbling angrily (no seriously, it sounded pissed) and once more looked up at him with angry eyes.

"Yeah, I'm game. I think my stomach will kick me in the gut if I didn't." Twilight blinked a few times before she heard his stomach rumble. She giggled as she headed for a kitchen the assassin hadn't noticed before. Spike was working at one of the counters, stood on a wooden stool so he could reach, while a pleasant smell lingered in the air. He glanced around when he heard them enter.

"Morning Spike" Twilight greeted, Blood Moon punctuating it with a simple nod in his direction.

"Morin' Twi. Say, when'd you get here Mooney." The last word in the drake's sentence was said with a sly grin. The assassin went un-phased and was about to retort before Twilight stepped into the kitchen.

"He was here last night." Spike frowned.

"When did he get back here?" The stallion was about to answer but, yet again, Twilight beat him.

"He never left" she told him brightly, sitting at the table in the kitchen. The baby dragon's frown went deeper.

"Really?" Twilight nodded. "Oh" he murmured, dropping the subject. "Oh, by the way" he spoke up again, turning to her, as Blood Moon sat at the table next to Twilight, a discrete gesture not lost on her. "I couldn't find you earlier, where were you?" Once more, the assassin tried to speak up, a lavish story on the tip of his tongue, but once again Twilight got there before him.

"I was sleeping" she told him simply. Again, Spike frowned at his sister/mother.

"You can't have been; you weren't in your bed" he argued. He then angled his head accusingly. "Were you up all night again, you know that's no good for you" he scolded. The assassin looked over at Twilight with a questioning raised eyebrow. Twilight just smiled kindly.

"I said I was asleep, not in bed" she replied. Spike scratched his head with a claw.

"So…what, you fell asleep reading a book?" Twilight smiled and gave a sigh, shaking her head at his obliviousness.

"Yeah, Spike, I was reading again" she said.

"Oh, ok. Why didn't you just say" he asked, turning back to his cooking. "Nuts, no flour" he muttered, hopping off his stool and heading for what Blood Moon could only assume was a pantry.

"Since when does 'reading' mean 'sleeping with a stallion'?" Twilight poked him.

"Well, 'sleeping with a stallion' doesn't sound very good to my assistant, who can be very protective of me I might add, and is only five in dragon years, does it?" The assassin shrugged.

"Maybe not, 'sides, it's not like we're dating, is it?" Twilight hummed her agreement softly.

"Yeah" she said, just as softly. The assassin picked up on her quiet voice.

"I'm back" Spike declared as he waltzed back into the kitchen with a fresh bag of flour in his grasp. After a few minute of Spike cooking up pancakes and the stallion and mare sitting in silence, the dragon was finished and took to serving up his works like a master. The assassin had to admit; the drake was a decent chef.

"So…do you have anything to do today, or do you have some free time?" Blood Moon thought about what was on his roster: figure out who wants Twilight dead, figure out who set the changelings on Ponyville, make trouble for the Goldhooves any way shape or form and…oh yeah, that date with Feather Heart. He looked at the clock, ten to twelve. Huh, that breakfast had been later than he thought. Wait, when did Feather want to see him? Had something to do with a one…and a two…maybe both together? Twelve? Yeah, that was it, twelve. Buck.

"Yeah, one or two things to take care of, I'll be right back though" he assured. Twilight nodded meekly.

"Alright, I think I got a few things to clean up around here anyway" she told him, looking around the pristine library. The stallion nodded. He trotted to the door with Twilight, he pulled his coat and belt onto him with his magic and turned to her and looking over her slightly disappointed face. He could feel his own mood lower with it. A strange sensation, to have your own mood altered by somepony else's. He felt the need to ease her.

"Don't worry about it, I won't be long" he told her. She gave a small smile, slightly reassured by his words. He shot her a lopsided smile before she glanced behind her and stole a kiss from him before turning away with a spring in her step and a blush on her check.

He turned, with a grin on his face, and took a step away from the library and teleported mid-step, appearing outside the town hall. He trotted inside without missing a beat and found his way to the door that lead to Mayor Mare's none-office that was actually Feather's office, pushing through the door to find Mayor Mare and Feather having a conversation about what to do about the whole Goldhooves problem. The two looked up to him and greeted him with a nod and wave, respectively.

"Hello Blood Moon" the mayor greeted "you have anything" she asked hopefully. The assassin let a small smile flash across his face for a second before he spoke.

"Do you have a forensics lab?" The mares glanced at each other.

"Yes, we just had it installed, courtesy of Time Turner" Mayor told him, a slight frown on her face.

'That stallion…almost like he knew what would happen.'

"Good, have them take a look at this" he said, pulling his syringe out and floating it over to Mayor, who took it in her hoof and adjusted her glasses to properly see it.

"What is this" she asked. The assassin smirked.

"Let's just say we all experienced it the other day" he said cryptically. Both mares considered what he had said before chuckling to themselves, slight blushes on their faces.

"Either way, that's not why I'm here" he said, glancing at Feather Heart. She looked at the clock on the wall. Mayor mare glanced between them.

"Oh, I see" she said, with a knowing grin on her face. "Have fun you two" she told them as she sauntered back into her actual office, her flank swaying as she went. The mare and stallion smirked at her antics as she went before they turned to each other and smiled softly before turning to the door.

"Know anywhere nice" the stallion asked, glancing at Feather Heart.

"Oh, they're a few nice restaurants around, but I know a good one" she told him. She led him to a fancy looking place, tables outside with parasols over the outside tables and a few waiters trotting around, looking like they belonged in Canterlot rather than Ponyville. A waiter came and took their orders, after which they settled at one of the outdoor tables.

"So" Feather began "tell me about yourself…"

"You did WHAT?" Rarity's jaw, rather literally, hit the floor. Twilight had invited her fellow unicorn and Applejack over to…well she didn't really have a reason in mind she just felt like seeing them, considering the last time she had seen the apple bucker and the seamstress it had been at Blood Moon's welcome party. And we all know how that turned out. She would have got all her friends together, but Pinkie was busy with the twins, Fluttershy was dealing with a sick vulture and Rainbowdash had some weather related things to see to. When the purple unicorn had welcomed her friends in she hadn't intended to tell them about last night's events, but Rarity had struck up the conversation about strange dreams and Twilight had let slip that the hooded stallion dreamt about his voices last night. Things had progressed from there and somehow she had been backed into a corner and found no way out asides telling them about last night's sleeping arrangements. The three mares were all sat on their haunches in a small triangle in her bedroom, Spike downstairs, and two of them started laughing uncontrollably.

"Ah don't believe it" Applejack laughed "our own little Twilight Sparkle sleepin' with a stallion." Twilight tried to glare at her but it just came out as more furious blushing.

"Knock it off! It's not like we got up to anything" she retorted. Little good it did when she remembered how they had woken up together and her blush intensified.

"Ah think somepony's tellin' a little white lie" Applejack answered, still laughing. She noticed the way her friend's redness crept further over her face and her laughter died down some.
"Di-uhhh, did ya'll git up ta anythang?" Twilight looked at the floor and dragged her hoof across it slightly.

"W-well, when he woke up he was…standing to attention" she admitted. Rarity and Applejack glanced at each other before bursting out laughing again.

"It seems you've become a victim to morning wood darling" Rarity told her. Twilight bit her lip and looked away from them as her mind travelled back to that scene in her mind; she remembered the feeling of him being between her flank checks and how…good it felt.

"Uhh, T-Twi. What are ya'll thinkin' about?" The purple unicorn pulled her gaze back to her friends, who both had blushes as deep as her own on their faces as they looked at her. Twilight frowned; they weren't looking straight at her, but slightly lower at… there was a small puddle of moisture between her hind legs. Her eyes widened immeasurably.

"Oh my gosh" she whispered. Applejack and Rarity were no longer laughing; instead their eyes were locked onto the spot between their aroused friend's legs.

"Shucks" Applejack started "ah-ah didn't know you felt THAT way about him" she admitted. Rarity managed to tear her gaze away from Twilight's never regions (an act she never thought she'd have to do) and looked her friend in the eye.

"Well, Twilight, it seems" she trotted up to her "you've found your special somepony." Twilight blinked.

"I…but…what?" Rarity chuckled her ladylike chuckle.

"Oh, come on" she sang, waving a hoof in the air "it's obvious you like him. The evidence certainly agrees with me" she said pointing at the spot, causing Twilight to redden again. Applejack spoke up when she said this.

"Now, now Rarity, don't be jumpin' to conclusions. The two's jus' met, an' there could be any number a' reasons she fell asleep with him. 'sides, it ain't like they kissed or nutin'." Twilight nodded her head frantically.

"Yeah, it's not like I kissed him or anything." Applejack saw right through it.

"Now wait a minute, Twi, did ya'll kiss him?"

"No" she said frantically before she caught herself and tried to be more casual "no" she told them unconvincingly, waving a hoof in the air "no he didn't kiss me or anything that would be…be ridiculous, I mean he's a notorious killer, right?" Rarity grinned at her before turning to Applejack.

"Applejack, dearie, my good natured lie detector, how would you judge that last sentence?" The mare put an overly dramatic hoof to her chin in overly dramatic though.

"Well, ah'd say Twilight Sparkle wasn't telling even a HINT of truth there." She caved. Twilight put her head on the floor and hid behind her hooves.
"Alright, alright so I did. I kissed him and I enjoyed it, so sue me. So I happen to like a stallion who kills for a living, but he's also one of the most caring, honest, flattering, good natured and…downright attractive stallion's I've ever met in my entire life, but I know nopony's ever going to approve of this so I really need you with me in this girls." The orange and white mares looked at each other for a second before the wrapped Twilight in a hug.

"It's alright Twi. We're with yah, all tha way."

"Of course we are dear; we just wanted you to admit it." Twilight smiled and returned the embrace. After a few more minutes of this hug, there was a knock on the front door.
Twilight went down to answer it. There were three guards; she recognised the one in the middle as lieutenant Hardhoof, a unicorn with gold fur and a black mane, with his silver inlays to his golden armour, but the other two were just grunts she didn't know.

"Yes" she asked, slightly worried as to why three guards would show up on her doorstep.

"Twilight Sparkle" Hardhoof asked. The mare nodded. In an instant, a black sack was on her head and she was clobbered across the head, knocking her out. Rarity screamed when she saw what had happened and Applejack charged the guards. The two grunts managed to restrain her while Hardhoof hit her across the temple, serving her the same fate as Twilight. Rarity stood, horrified at the sight, and turned to escape but one of the guards had already lunged and put her out like a light.

"That's all of them sir" one of the grunts said, a grey earth pony. Hardhoof smirked.

"Good, elements of harmony, three for one sale" he joked, the grunts forcing out some laughs.

"Wasn't there a baby dragon living here?" The lieutenant sneered.

"A baby dragon" he snorted "that kind of pathetic creature is no threat. Let's find the rest of these mares so we can put this plan into action. The faster we are, the faster I find myself burdened with Shining Armour's position."

Pinkie Pie sat on a couch in the Cake's living room, watching Pound and Pumpkin playing on the floor. She had spent the last few hours doing the whole 'babysitting' shtick; nappy changing, burping, feeding, all the usual stuff. As the twins messed around with their toys, Pinkie began to wonder what it would be like to have a foal of her own. She'd listened to all the lectures and the such in school but when she looked after the twins she felt an overwhelming curiosity as to what it would be like if they were her own family. She sat back, wondering if she'd ever find a stallion for her; not many took her for one of sensible thought, or even a mare who dreamed about meeting the perfect stallion, which confused even her; all mares wanted to settle down eventually, right? For Pinkie, she put heavy emphasis on the word 'eventually', she was a party girl at heart, what with it being a part of her but she could only wonder if she could find somepony like her, a stallion who appreciated partying as much as she did, and the smiles it could bring to a pony. Or maybe she needed the opposite of her. What was the phrase; opposites attract? Her thoughts drifted to a certain hooded stallion; Blood Moon didn't like to party as much as she did, but he seemed to get where she came from with her enthusiasm for them, but then, he didn't smile much; he grinned, smirked and joked a lot sure, but he didn't actually smile too much. She had made him smile that once though, and it made her feel more proud than any other smile she had invoked. Well, maybe asides Cranky-doodle. As these thoughts went through her mind, the twins had played themselves tired and were kipping on the carpet. She smiled warmly at them before putting the comfortably on her back and carrying them to their room, before putting them in their respective cots. She decided to retire to the kitchen, maybe get some baking done, but as she was about to enter the tile floored room, she heard a knock on the backdoor. This struck her as strange; the backdoor was only really used for delivers, nopony ever actually called into Sugarcube corner via the backdoor. With a raised eyebrow, she went over and opened it up to revel two guard ponies. Pinkie stood in the doorway, looking at her visitors with a wide and pleasant smile, oblivious to the stern looks they were giving her.

"Hi" she greeted brightly. The guards made no motion to return her pleasantries.

"Miss Pie" the one on the left asked her. He was an earth pony and had a beige coat and silver mane.

"Yep, that's me! But I prefer Pinkie Pie or Pinks or Pinkie. What's your name?" The two guards attempted to remain stoic, but the one who had spoken eye had twitched.

"My name is Steelblade and this is Ironshield."

"Hi, Steelblade Hi, Ironshield! What's up?" Steelblade's eye twitched again.

"You're under arrest" he told her, moving in slightly. Pinkie's smile dropped.

"What, why?" A voice behind her answered.

"For attempted murder and harbouring a fugitive" Hardhoof explained, a smug grin on his face.

"What? But I didn't-" She stopped talking when she saw he wind up his hoof and prepare to strike her. She squealed and dodged out of the way, ducking away from him and scrambling away from him. Ironshield lunged for her and grabbed her, but Pinkie's flexibility allowed her to squirm out of his hold and make another attempt at escape. She almost made it to the door when Hardhoof appeared in front of her with a flash. She skidded to a halt and stopped right before her. He grabbed her harshly by the mane and hauled her up to eye level.
"Well aren't you a pretty little thing" he said, his rancid breath washing over her. "I'm gonna love having you as a prisoner." Pinkie managed to muster enough strength to slap him. He sneered at her one last time before he slammed her head on the counter and let her drop. He spat on her unconscious form. "Crazy little whorse" he growled, rubbing his check. He kicked her as he trotted past. "Put her with the others" he ordered motioning his head back at the pink pony. "Four down" he muttered.

Rainbowdash went about her duties as head weathermare diligently. Everypony in Ponyville knew how loyal she was to her town, and her friends, knowing she would never let them down. She'd just finished up cleaning up a mess Thunderlane had made. He somehow, don't ask me how, he managed to mix up next month's weather schedule with this month's, so rather than having pleasant orange sky in the evening, there was a bunch of storm clouds on the way from Cloudsdale. She'd had to wrangle up the storm clouds before they managed to make anypony upset, take them back to Cloudsdale and get rid of any lingering clouds hanging in the sky that were messing around with the view of Celestia's sun set.
As the cyan blue furred mare lay on a particularly plush clouds, on her way to the land of dreams (more specifically; her, Spitfire and Soarin in wonderbolts uniforms doing some questionable things in the locker rooms). As she was about to become completely asleep, a voice from below stirred her.

"Rainbowdash" the voice called again. She grumbled to herself and looked over the side of her cloud. Below her a group of guards stood; one a unicorn in silver and gold armour, the other an earth pony in standard gold and the other a Pegasus. All three of them looked up at her, stood in a triangle.

"What" she called back down, making her annoyance known to them.

"Oh, it's nothing really, just need to go through a few weather formalities, y'know, with all the hoo-ha earlier" he told her casually. Rainbow frowned but descended either way. Once she was low enough to talk to them without shouting she stopped, but didn't land. She looked at his armour again.

"Hey wait, aren't you the boss of all the guards around here?" The stallion smiled good-naturedly.

"I am" he replied. The mare frowned.

"Then how come you're dealing with something like weather?" The guard shrugged.

"I was the only guard not busy." That satisfied the Pegasus. She shrugged.

"Alright" she said as she landed "so the weather thing, huh?" The stallion chuckled and scratched the back of his neck.
"Yeah, that Thunderlane, huh? If I had a bit every time I had to fill out some formal apology for Cloudsdale, ha, I'd have enough to pay for some proper training for him." Rainbowdash glared.

"Hey, lay off! His little brother hasn't been too good lately, and I'll have you know, I trained him!" The guard waved a hoof at her, getting impatient with her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just come with us and we'll get this over with" he told her.

"Whatever" Rainbow replied with trotting off before him, eager to get this over with. Hardhoof watched as she went, eyeing her flank. He slapped his hoof across it and Rainbowdash shot into the air furiously. "WHAT THE BUCK" she demanded. She didn't get an answer, instead the Pegasus guard sped her way, taking her off ground, and tackling her to the ground where the earth pony held her down. Hardhoof trotted up to her nonchalantly and raised his hoof and slammed it down in her face.

"That's five. Who's next?"

"Somepony called 'Fluttershy'" Ironshield answered. Hardhoof rolled his eyes.

"Oh, her" he muttered. "That shouldn't be too hard, the little wimp. We'll take the rest of these bitches and nab her on the way" he told them as Steelblade lifted Rainbowdash onto his back. He smirked as the trotted towards the place he'd left the rest of these mares bound and gagged. He couldn't wait for this to play out.

"This was nice" Feather Heart told him as she stood from the table "It was nice getting to know you" she said.

"Yeah, you too" Blood Moon replied. He threw some bits onto the table as pay and tip before he turned away to walk Feather Heart back to the town hall. Once they arrived, Feather turned to her date and smiled warmly.

"It was nice seeing you again" she said.

"And you Feather, would you like to do this again sometime?" She smiled again.

"Sure, but, uhhh, let's wait until this whole Goldhooves thing has blown over, huh." The stallion nodded, liking that idea.

"Sounds good, we'll make a date when-" Feather Heart cut him off by pushing her lips against his, hard. She had all the subtlety of dragon, and took to moaning as subtly as one as well, pushing her tongue into his maw and wrestled his own furiously. She kept up her efforts for thirty long, steamy, sexy seconds before she pulled back, a strand of saliva between their tongues. "When this is all taken care of" the assassin finished. Feather gave a naughty giggle as she trotted past him, bumping her flank to his as she past.

"I'll see you then" she told him huskily. She trotted away, adding some healthy sway to her flank. The stallion grinned at the image. He turned away from the town hall, and trotted away from it, on his way to Twilight's library, as he promised, he thought about him and Feather Heart; he liked her, but he had to admit: he preferred Twilight. She wasn't just sex appeal, that said, Feather did have a lot of it. But Twilight…he found her very attractive, and whenever she got into the right mood…he grinned at the thought. She was more than just a pretty face as well, she was highly intelligent and her innocence warmed his heart and he was amused by her obliviousness. He wasn't the type to be insulting to a mare, but he also wasn't the type to betray a mare's trust in him, so he wouldn't even try and date both of them. He'd gut himself before he did that. Feather was a nice mare, but Twilight was a truly great mare. His heart skipped a beat, a rare occurrence, when his next thought crossed his mind.

'Do I love her?'

It finally hit him, if he thought of Twilight of something more than a friend he wasn't sure how it could turn out for him, loving was a very…sensitive subject for him. He swallowed at that thought. The last time he had loved somepony it hadn't ended well. He arrived at Twilight's library, and stood outside the door. His thoughts were set in a whirlwind, his voices nowhere to be heard. He hadn't loved in…

'Starswirl's beard, that's an age ago.'

He steeled himself and trotted through the door. He looked around, searching for the purple unicorn mare. She wasn't there. Assuming she'd gone out to do something he shrugged and turned away, trotting back out, and closing the door behind him with his magic. He then teleported to his home, not allowing himself to go over his thoughts again. As he trotted inside his house on the hill he was hit with the overwhelming sense of emptiness.

"Discord's antlers, this place is hollow. I need to fill this place with…something. A pet, I need a pet, some company. Hmm, that cottage just outside the Everfree, it seemed to be home of a bunch of animals, maybe whoever lives there puts them up for adoption." The stallion then realised he was talking to himself; no worry, he did a lot of things no good for his mental health, what was one more? He teleported out of his home and appeared at the home on edge of the Everfree. He trotted towards the door and knocked on before waiting patiently; the door was opened by none-other than Fluttershy. The assassin blinked and whipped his head around and saw the great, looming forest still there, not one hundred yards away from the front door of Fluttershy's cottage.

"Hello" she asked, ever timid, poking her head around a very slight crack between the door and its frame. She saw Blood Moon and squeaked. "O-oh, Blood Moon, hello there. Is something the matter" she asked when she saw his face.

"Oh, uhh, nothing. I just can't believe you live this close to the Everfree." She pushed her door open further so he could properly see her.

"W-well, I don't live here for the forest, I live here so I can have peace and quiet for all my animal friends. It scares me sometimes but my friends protect me from anything that might come out of there to hurt me." Blood Moon raised an eyebrow, who would want to hurt such a beautiful and adorable creature. "I-is there anything I can help you with?" The stallion brightened up when she asked him that.

"Yeah, I'm looking for a pet of some sort" he explained. The mare brightened up massively when he told her that, inviting him in.

"Oh, well you've come to the right pony then" she trotted off ahead of him "Now, Blood Moon, my dear, I cannot express my delight, it's abundantly clear, that somewhere out here, is the pet that will suit you just right" she sang. The assassin looked on with a bored and slackened face.

"Fluttershy" she turned with a rhythmic 'hmm'? "No songs. And don't call me 'dear'." The mare stopped her song, apparently taken by surprise, and looked at him blankly.

"Oh, um, ok" she said, more timid than ever.

"So what animals do live here with you" he asked as he approached Fluttershy, who seemed to have gone back to her ever nervus state.

"Well, lots of animals live here, and I'm more than happy to see them off to a good home. But, I don't think many of them would really suit you" she told him, trotting next to him as he explored the critter-less home.

"What do you mean?" Fluttershy tapped him on the shoulder, prompting him to look around. Upon doing so, he saw a large group of critters cowering in a corner, protected by a bear doing a bad job of keeping a stiff upper lip. "Huh…" he looked on blankly before he approached them, causing them to back up against the wall.

"Now, now little friends, say hello to Blood Moon." The animals shook their heads frantically, starting and ending all in freaky unison. Fluttershy gasped and put a hoof to her mouth. "Oh my, they've never reacted this way to anypony before; I don't know what could be causing it."

"I've got a good idea" he answered.
"What?"

"Animals are said to have a good sense of character, I can only guess they're going off their instincts."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry; I've never had any of my animals do this before, they're usually very friendly." The assassin shrugged.

"Not to worry, it just narrows the playing field. I'm looking for something loyal, nothing more." Fluttershy looked distraught.

"B-but they are all the animals and critters here." The assassin grunted disappointedly.

"Well, that…makes things difficult" he admitted.

"W-why don't you come outside, I'm positive there'll be more critters out there who're just dying to meet you" she told him, apparently missing that she had just contradicted herself. Blood Moon shrugged and followed her out. No other animals were hanging around, causing Fluttershy to hang her head in defeat. "Oh, I'm sorry" she squeaked "but it's just that I've never had my animals get so scared at the sight of a pony before." The stallion waved his hoof to stop her.

"Ahh, don't worry about it, you tried. I mean, it's not like I'm gonna come to Ponyville, make friends, get a house AND find a loyal pet to stand beside me for all eternity, is it?" Fluttershy was about to answer his pessimistic attitude with an assurance that she would find him a pet of some sort, but before she could, a great call of an equally great bird was heard. The mare and stallion looked at each other in confusion; they both recognised that call. It was the call of a phoenix.

"Fluttershy, I didn't know you kept a phoenix here" he told her in total awe.

"I don't" she replied, in equal awe. The great bird of flame made a majestic show of flying low over Fluttershy's home before turning gracefully and crashing not so gracefully into the stallion who tumbled around and over until he managed to steady himself, the bird in his hoof's protective hold. He frowned when he noticed the bad angle the bird's wing was at, and the state its face was in. "Oh dear, her wing's broken" Fluttershy states.

"No, this is a male; you see the head piece, its three wide feathers, not the three thin feathers with a wide tip." Fluttershy gasped in awe.

"Wow, how do you know that? It's just, I-I know lots about animal, but I've never really known much about phoenixes, what with them being so rare and all." The assassin shrugged as he fired up a healing spell, touching his horn to the broken wing tentatively, tapping it lightly as the phoenix cringed slightly as the bone reformed.

"I used to own one, a female to be exact; I know a lot about this majestic race of birds. For example: do you know how the immortal phoenix reproduces?" The mare wasn't fazed by the question; she simply shook her head as she watched him inject a very small amount of a fluid inside a syringe he had kept in his pouch into the bird's rear end before he rubbed the sore spot softly, the bird responded by cawing softly and happily. "The female phoenix can lay from four to sixteen eggs in one go. Of those phoenix chicks, only one in four will be female, the rest will be male. Once they come of age, the male phoenix will leave the nest in search of a place to make their own. Upon finding a suitable place to build a home, they will most likely have competition to deal with; be it a brother or a phoenix from another nest, the two will fight to the death for this spot, severely thinning the population of male phoenixes. The females will then go in search of a mate to breed with. Now, according to my math, on average only around half of the male phoenix will actually get a mate, those who do not will simply fly to the nearest active volcano and fight their days away. It seems this one was one of the unfortunate few to not find his own girl, poor guy. Look at him." Fluttershy took a closer look at his face and body; on his face, going across his beak, were three thin scars; on his left wing a small bunch of his feathers were missing; and he had another set of three claw marks going across his chest and body in a think, and remarkable badassed, set of another three scars. Fluttershy determined that they had, indeed, come from another phoenix, going on the fact that a phoenix had three talons on each foot. Once his wing was healed he hopped onto his feet before the dark stallion, who had relaxed onto his front. The phoenix leaned up and nuzzled the assassin as thanks, who grinned at the gesture and returned it. The phoenix spread his impressive wing span and took to the air, but didn't go very far; instead he just landed on Blood Moon's left shoulder. Fluttershy giggled before she reached up and stroked the phoenix.

"I think you found a friend" she said, still fussing the fire bird who was glad for the attention.

"We're both fighters, we're bound to get along with each other" he said. Fluttershy withdrew her hoof and cocked her head to the side.

"He'll need a name." The stallion and phoenix glanced at each other, before the stallion put a hoof to his chin and the phoenix did the same with his wing, in more of that freaky unison thing. Fluttershy perked up. "I have an idea" she exclaimed before she hid behind her mane in fear of the sudden attention "if-if you don't mind my saying" she whispered. The bird and stallion glanced at each other again before shrugging in unison.

"Ok, what is it?" Fluttershy peeked out from behind her mane.

"Um, I-I was thinking you could call him H-Hunter" she suggested. The stallion put a hoof to his chin.

"Why?"

"Well, your name is 'Blood Moon' a-and another name for the blood moon is the hunter's moon" she said before she crouched down and hid further behind her mane. "I-if you don't like it…" she trailed off and squeaked adorably.

"Hunter" he repeated, rolling the name around his mouth and liking the feel of it. "What do you think" he asked the bird perched on him. The phoenix looked up in though before he looked back at his perch and nodding, his eyes showing a smile his beck couldn't. "Hunter" he said again, he looked at Fluttershy. "Perfect" he complemented. The mare looked up with a very slight smile on her face.

Phit

The assassin knew that sound, he would know it anywhere. Fluttershy slumped to the floor, confirming his fears. 'Hunter' took flight when he saw the mare fall the ground, her mane around her face.

Phit

The assassin's hoof shot up, faster than anypony's eyes could register, and caught the dart in his hoof. Fluttershy gained a silver glow, causing the assassin to snap his gaze over to her. His own grey aura appeared around the mare, pushing out and dispelling the attempt to move the animal caretaker. A huge earth pony guard burst from some bushes, charging at Blood Moon and taking him off his hooves. Fluttershy, once again, grew a silver aura. The earth pony kept his charged and tackled the assassin to the ground, reducing his efforts of saving Fluttershy to watching helplessly. She was pulled away from the fray and into the same bush line as this earth pony had come from.

The assassin turned his full attention to the stallion holding him down; he wore a set of standard issue gold armour. That was all he needed. He slammed his forehead into his opponent's face causing him to fall off of him, holding his muzzle and cursing. The guard stood up, blood pouring down his face, and snarled at the assassin. He charged again, throwing his right hoof in an attempt at hitting Blood Moon in the temple. He ducked under it and countered by slapping his supporting hoof from beneath him. He grabbed the guard's head, picked it up and cracked it into a nearby tree stump and throwing him away. The guard staggered up and shook the dizziness out of his skull. With a roar of anger, he charged again, prompting the killer to frown at his stupidity as he continued with this rather fruitless effort of just galloping at him. Blood Moon sidestepped and grabbed his mane and using his momentum to spin and throw him away from him and into a nearby fence.

"You don't learn very quickly do you" he asked with a lopsided grin. The guard growled and stood, advancing more cautiously now. As he got close he moved around him, back arched offensively, while the assassin stood laidback and nonchalantly. The guard lunged forward and the assassin slipped out of the way, chopping the length of his right hoof into the neck of the guard. He jumped and flipped over, landing on the guards back. The earth pony panicked and started throwing his weight around in an effort to dislodge the assassin on his back. Blood Moon grabbed the back of his armour and planted his hind-hooves on either side of his back, his left fore-hoof in the air like a rodeo. The guard gave an almighty throw and the dark stallion leaped off of his back, using the momentum to add to the force of his strike into his muzzle, further breaking the broken nose, the guard backed up, holding his muzzle again and cursing angrily. Blood Moon looked down at the dart in his hoof and back at the guard holding his nose before stabbing it into his neck. He watched the stallion slowly lose consciousness and fall into a drug induced sleep before gripping him by the front of his armour and hauling him over his back, and trotting his way back to Ponyville. Hunter appeared next to him, flying slowly besides him. It didn't take long to get back to the town.

Many of the residents of Ponyville were either indoors or getting treated to the sight of the assassin with a guard over his back and a phoenix flying next to him. The stallion went to his home, stripped the guard of his armour and bound him with a fibre wire that he kept coiled in the sleeve above his navigational pouch. Fore and hind legs tied together, he put him in the basement and waited. Two hours later, the guard stirred awake and was met with the basement of Blood Moon's home, lit by four candles, one on each wall.

"Sleep well" the assassin asked in a friendly fashion. He was stood below one of the candles, putting his face in the shadows, making it invisible to the stallion. The guard whipped his gaze around, glaring at his captor.

"W-who are you" he demanded "where am I!?" The assassin smirked to himself.

"Everywhere, yet nowhere. That's not important right now though, what is important right now, is that you are here with me. Only me. This room is far, far away from anypony else so, as the saying goes, nopony can hear you scream." The assassin put no emotion into twistedly friendly voice, keeping his captive unnerved by the apparent heartlessness of him and staying unnaturally, and eerily, calm. "Now, I'm going to ask you a few questions. Answer truthfully and you don't get hurt. Don't answer truthfully and…well, you'll find out. So, first question, why did you take Fluttershy?" The guard snorted.

"Because she's a known criminal, she housed you and declined to not turn you over to the proper authorities." Blood Moon grunted.

"You actually think, Fluttershy is a criminal? She has got to be one of the most innocent of ponies I've ever met. But anyhow, second question, where did you take her?" The guard laughed.

"Ha, I'll never tell you that." The assassin chuckled slightly.
"Now that wasn't very honest of you, I always get my answers. Also, you were wondering about what I'd do to you if you weren't honest with me…" His horn glowed and the guard felt a sudden tingling all over his body. He started sweating and squirming around.

"What-what are you doing?" He started panicking in earnest, really moving around and trying to get closer to his captor and find out what was happening to him.

"Well I'm using a spell, aren't I? This spell in particular is a very advanced spell of the Umbra Linguam School of shadow magic; the word is change and it takes the form of fire, change and power in its most primal form. What I'm doing at the moment is burning you from the inside. You won't be harmed, unless I get bored, but you will feel all the pain I wish for you to feel. I'm gonna give you a little taste; let's say you're at one at the moment. This is five." His horn's glow intensified and the guard started screaming and writhing around on the ground until the assassin toned it down, utterly bemused at his pain. "Now then, where did you take
Fluttershy?" The guard swallowed and took a few breaths.

"I-I won't-"

"Seven." His horn took to glowing again, stronger than before, and the guard started screaming and twisting again, more intense than before. "Tell. Me. What. I. Want. To. Know or I'll take this all the way to eleven." He turned down the pain and watched as the guard took more shuddering breaths.

"Never" he spat. Blood Moon sighed and stepped from below the candle and stepped up to the stallion.

"I was hoping to avoid any barbarism" he told him. He pulled out his blade with his magic and put a deep cut in his captive's left hind-leg, making sure not to get anything important. The guard cringed as the weapon bit into his skin and muscle, drawing blood. The assassin went to his other hind-leg and cut into that leg as well. "Where. Is. She?"

"B-Buck you" he barked. Blood Moon shrugged to himself. He used his magic to remove the fibre wire and slip it back into his belt, he then used it to force the guard's legs to the floor, immobilising him.

"In case you haven't noticed, I'm not a very patient pony and my limited mercy is wearing thin. I'll ask you one last time: where, did you take her?" The stallion responded by shaking his head rapidly. Once more, the assassin sighed, this time with an unhappy shrug, before he raised his blade above his head. He brought it down on his limp, just above the knee, and watched it roll away nonchalantly. The guard pony watched with wide eyes, his chest rising and falling rapidly and tears forming in his eyes and Blood Moon knew why; cutting off an earth pony's leg, or even just disabling it, was the same as cutting off a Pegasus's wing or a unicorn's horn. It was their livelihood and they did what they did with their legs. "Where is she? You have three other legs for me to play with, and don't think I won't. Tell me where she is" he ordered. The guard sniffled and tried to struggle free of the unicorn's magic hold, to no avail. Blood Moon rolled his eyes and moved to his other hind-leg.

"Please, please sweet Celestia, don't" the guard pleaded. Blood Moon looked the guard in the eye through the darkness.

"I'm not on the best of terms with Celestia." After he said this, he put his sword to the guard's leg and started to slowly saw away at it. The guard shrieked for the heavens as the dark stallion slowly made his way through. When he met the bone he stopped sawing, instead he just piled on the pressure until the bone snapped in two and he began sawing again until he had cut off his captive's second hind-leg. The guard whimpered and snivelled under the assassin's hold. "Y'know, I'm not going to let you live. I would have, but you didn't talk. So now, my offer is to let the pain stop. I trust you know what I mean by that." He trotted up to the guards face and looked down at him. "You can make it stop you know. Just tell me where she is." The guard started crying in earnest when he learned he had no chance of getting out alive.

"I-I can't, I'm under orders." Blood Moon shook his head disappointedly and looked over to the leg he had just severed. Sheathing his sword, he picked up the disembodied leg and held it over the guard in his magical grip.

"Tell me" he hit the guard across the face with the leg…with the wet end. "Where" he hit him again, harder "she" again, he hit harder getting a dull crack and wet slap at once. "Is."

"Stop, stop, please. I'll tell you" he submitted.

"There's a good lad" the assassin said, tossing the leg behind him. "Now, tell me what I want to know." The guard swallowed.

"I-I, we took the mare to the old castle in the Everfree" he revealed "Lieutenant Hardhoof ordered we take her and the rest of the elements of harmony there-"

"What?" The assassin's voice turned guttural, terrifying and down-right evil when he asked this.

"T-Twilight Sparkle, Rainbowdash, Pinkamena Pie, Applejack, Rarity and Fluttershy were all declared criminals by the lieutenant; he said they had all taken part in harbouring a fugitive, you." The assassin didn't change his facial expression, but his eyes betrayed him, judging by the way the guard kept struggling to get away.

"These orders, who did they come from?" The guard blinked and swallowed.

"H-Hardhoof told us Captain Armour himself had given them personally." Blood Moon put a hoof to his chin.

"And he only answers to Celestia" the assassin murmured. "All six of them?" The guard nodded. "The Everfree palace?" Once more, he nodded. The assassin looked him in the eye, firing up his illumination spell, blinding the guard momentarily. "You took part in this" he growled "in abducting the girls?" The guard bit his lower lip, squeezing his eyes shut as he nodded his head furiously. Blood Moon raised himself from the stallion's face and killed his horn's glow. He turned away and trotted away and back into the candle light, turning back to his captive. "If you'll indulge me, I wish to use something I've being working on. You see, most other schools of magic have no real implemented skill, maybe asides levitation; you learn a spell, you cast it and you get what it is, and that only. Umbra, however, takes a certain amount of skill to use it to its full potential, for example; the spell 'change' is only supposed to create fire, I have, shall we say, tinkered with it some, as you know, to grant me access to a few extra effects. This spell is battle, and I will use it to the same ends. Torture. Well, to an extent, I am going to kill you, right here and right now." His horn sparked up and the guard's started screaming again. For five long, painful and scream filled minutes the guard lay on the ground writhing and moving to try and stop whatever was causing him such pain. After the assassin was done with his fun, he let four vine like, thin tendrils of darkness rip through the guard; one had gone through his gut, two either side his chest and the other just below his neck. The assassin had them bunch together and dive into the guard's maw, where they paused for a second before spreading apart, ripping the stallion's head into four chunks of skull, brain matter and a splattering of blood. Blood Moon watched the dead body for a few seconds before he noticed the bit of brain that had found its way onto his chest, and flicked it off with his hoof. He burned what he could with his fire before he made his way upstairs.

Up there, he found Hunter perched on the back of a chair, waiting patiently for the assassin's return. Blood Moon trotted past, stroking his bird's head as he went past, before he nodded his head in his own direction. Hunter flapped his wings and landed on the assassin's back, after doing so the stallion trotted out of his home. Shutting the door he stopped, lowering his head and concentrating. Teleporting is a strange form of magic; most forms, including Umbra, had the power of the spell decided by the amount of magical effort you put into it, the greater the amount, the stronger the spell. Teleporting, on the other hoof, took only one set amount of effort to perform the spell, however, depending on the distance between the destination and starting position, you had to concentrate harder to make sure you ended up in the right place.

That was what the assassin was doing right now; concentrating on where he wanted to head. He put the image into his head, and with a burst of light and magic, he appeared there; the old remains of a small shack, nothing but burnt embers and charred wood.

Blood Moon trotted through what used to be his home. It was in the middle of frozen tundra, swampland no extra charge. He kicked a few bits of dead wood around as he looked for the small wood covered hatch. In the occupation of assassin, there is said to be no rules, and there aren't, the only rules that exist are the one's made by the assassin. There are two things all assassins universally known however; a) if a client rips you off, kill them and b) if you're going to leave anything behind, make sure you're only you know how to find it. It was the same here; anypony else would see this as a simple ruin, but to the assassin this was a haven of safety. And a few other things. He kicked a log of blackened wood away and found what he was looking for; a black iron hatch with no visible hinges or handle. He put his hoof to the metal and cast the spell only he knew. The locks released with a slight hiss, the hatch pushed itself up and open, allowing the stallion to lead through and into his little home away from home. Blood Moon opened the door directly ahead of him and entered his armoury; a room of grey stone walls, all of which were covered in weapon racks which held so many weapons they groaned slightly under the pressure. He made his way forward, his horn lighting candles as he went; he approached the three glass cases at the end of the room. Inside these cases were a set of armour, all of which he'd forged himself.

In the first was his old war suit; it was made from jet black plated metal, the individual pieces went over the next like metal scales and were all sharpened edges, spikes and points pushing out from each plate giving it a demonic feel; the armour around the legs was of twisted, plated metal, in much the same way the armour was; a blood red cape ran down the left side, the assassin's cutie mare embedded into the fabric; the hood was made from leather, courtesy of a griffon, and had smaller metal scales going over it, the hood was an eagle design, reaching down a little past his eye line.

The second was his original assassin robes, which he'd, used when he first started out; it was made from heavy, thick black material going over his back, flank and loosely wrapping around his chest and going down his fore-legs; a midnight blue short cape, not reaching his flank, was draped across his back, a dull shade of gold worked into the design and colour scheme, the same material and style used for the hood that reached over his brow; the robes had neat black metal on the front and hind-legs; the cape hid a plethora of weapons that ranged from throwing knives, tomahawks and smoke pellets on his left side to a pair of short swords crossed on his left, dark brown, leather buckles and iron straps holding the sheaths in place; the armour itself had weapons of its own, one the left bracer a coil of reinforced steel fishing wire sat with a Japonyese style kunai attached to the end, simply put, it was a better version of the original rope-dart, this weapon was matched on the right side by a weapon of the assassin's own design, it was a miniaturised crossbow that sat against the bracer, capable of firing a steel bolt over one hundred meters with a deadly accuracy.

The third suit of armour was one that he rarely wore any more. It was his old armour of the Illuminating night uprising, the rebellion against Discord that had been headed by Illumination and Nocturnal, their efforts to push him off the throne and place their daughters there instead. That armour brought back painful memories, the way Hunter sensed his mood and nuzzled him was proof enough for that. Tearing his gaze away from the set of gold and black armour, petting his bird as he did, he set his gaze onto his old robes. Maybe 'old' was too judgmental a word, given their pristine condition.

He trotted over to them, floating his coat and belt off and hanging them off a hook in the wall. Opening the case door, he was hit with the scent of metal, age and leather. He donned his robe, shifting the straps and buckles on his back comfortably, before he made sure all the weapons were in place properly and checking his inventory; he had twenty throwing knives, all kept in a neat pair of rows, three tomahawk what're good for throwing and hacking, three high density smoke pellets, a pouch of fifteen miniature steel bolts and a pouch of specialised bolts; sleep, poison and armour piercing, five each. The right side of his robes were home to a pair of crossed blades, they were similar in many ways to the blade he preferred to keep on his, asides for the serrated edge at the base of the blades. Beneath the crossed sheaths three scabbards sat, all with a dagger in them and for good reason; he was following the three blade rule. One dagger would have a thin and sharp blade, good for slipping through armour plates and allowed to easily stab and slash; another dagger would have a thicker edge, better for cutting arteries and slashing through heavy materials, such as leather; the last should be perfectly balanced, perfect for throwing. Done with armouring and arming himself, he trotted back to the entrance of his little hole in the ground, Hunter his shoulder, and leaped up, closing the hatch with a study kick, he left the old foundations of his old home before spending another twenty seconds searching his mind for the right place, he teleported to Fluttershy's home. Standing on the edge of the Everfree forest, he looked up at the dark foreboding forest; he'd been in there a few times in his life and over his life, he had never dreaded it more than now. It wasn't the forest itself; it was the prospect of finding the Elements of Harmony dead.

Hardhoof trotted into the ruined main hall of the old Everfree palace, he was immensely pleased with himself; he'd being planning something like this for years, somehow getting rid of Shining Armour was his ultimate goal in life and always would be until he finally managed to do so. His plan was as simple as it was elegant; he couldn't just have somepony kill the guard captain, the blue mane and tailed stallion was a very versatile fighter and there was always the chance of it being traced back to him, there was also the chance of him not being chosen for position as guard captain, he knew for a fact that Celestia was too foolish to not notice a perfect warrior when she saw it, so he had to take things into his own hooves. He couldn't kill Captain Armour, but he could cripple him; he'd first have to kill somepony close to him, and who better than his poor, defenceless little sister, Twilight Sparkle? He'd kill her, blame it on the assassin and be the brains behind said assassin's demise. Shining would be devastated and step down from rank of captain, going off to mourn her loss with his beloved wife, while he'd be named a hero as the avenger of Twilight Sparkle and the Elements of Harmony and finally take his rightful place as guard captain. Simple. He approached the elements; all of them were chained to the wall and had gags over their mouths. Twilight, Rainbowdash and Applejack were glaring at him; Fluttershy was crying uncontrollably; that crazy pink bitch was watching him fearfully with wide eyes; and Rarity had her eyes squeezed shut and her hind legs pulled together. Some of the lads had been having trouble keeping their hooves off her and he couldn't blame them. He'd told them to get a hold of themselves until the assassin was dead. He planned to have a go on them when the deed was done, especially that Twilight; ha, taking her virginity as well as killing her. Serves Armour right for taking his place as captain. He looked at Sparkle, who was grumbling at him from behind her gag.

"Something to say" he asked, mock pleasantries in his voice, as he removed the gag from her maw.

"I said; do you have any idea what Blood Moon's gonna do to you once he gets here?" Hardhoof laughed uproariously before cramming the rag back into her mouth.

"I believe the words you looking for are 'do you know what I'm gonna do to Blood Moon when he gets here'? You don't seem to notice, do you whorse, that I have the whole of Ponyville's guards under my hoof. Your little assassin may be good, but I severely doubt he's that good" he told her. Twilight spat the rag out.

"Don't be so sure, he's gonna MURDER you when he find out what you've done." Her response was the lieutenant slapping her across the face.

"Shut up" he roared before he grabbed her by the throat. "I'll tell you what's gonna happen; I'm gonna kill Blood Moon and spit on his pathetic corpse, then me and all these guards are gonna take you plots and do what we like with 'em" he hissed. Every mare that was shackled to the wall gasped. "Now, be good little prisoners and be quiet, and maybe I'll have the guys put on a condom." Behind him, some of the guards chuckled. The mares swallowed. "Now then, Ironshield" he called out, prompting an iron grey Pegasus to trot up to him.

"Yes sir" he responded.

"Have you seen Steelblade anywhere?" The Pegasus grunt shook his head.

"No sir, not since we nabbed the yellow one" he replied, nodding at the weeping Fluttershy. Hardhoof growled.

"Well, keep an eye out" he ordered. The Pegasus nodded and turned away and stepped into the single intact chamber he had named his chambers. He hated waiting, he'd pull one of the mares in here to keep him occupied but he didn't want to be caught at a bad moment when the assassin finally arrived. He sat at a table he'd had his guards bring in and put his head on the table as he waited. He dreamed of what life would be like when he was finally made Captain; he'd had his eye on Luna for a while, Armour had married Cadence and been named a prince, he wondered if he could catch her eye when he was placed on the guard Captain podium and marry her. He smirked when he thought of tapping that flank. Hardhoof leaned against the wall the table was pushed against and closed his eyes as he thought of what great things the future held for him.

He couldn't help but smirk. Blood Moon clung to the shadows like the master he was, watching the guards trot to and fro, here and there. He'd already sent Hunter away, instructing him to fetch Sand Stalker and bring him here. He had to admit though; he was impressed by the whole scene.

The Everfree palace was in ruin, but with the military presents you could be forgiven for thinking it was still occupied; at least twenty guards patrolled the grounds, which confused the assassin to no end, he'd always thought that Ponyville was home to no more than ten guards, he presumed some of these guards weren't guards and just stallions in gold armour; he couldn't see any tell-tale silver in guards armour, revealing the lieutenant to him. A Pegasus guard, iron grey fur and mud brown mane and tail, trotted out and took to looking around himself. Blood Moon decided to get this show on the road. He waited for the perfect time, when no other guards were around, and stepped from the tree line. Credit where it's due, the guard spotted him right away, little good it did when he found the assassin's rope around his neck, choking him to death.

Two more guards appeared when the Pegasus fell to the ground, his face blue, and watched as the hooded stallion whipped the blade of his dart into the left-hoof guard and pull him off his hooves. The second was taken by a sharp snap as the hoof-bow fired and embedded a bolt deep into his eye. He let loose a guttural scream before he died. More guards galloped for the clearing in front of the palace, the first to spot the assassin, reloading his bow, was an earth pony who galloped for him, only to be met with him spinning past him and taking his head off with a graceful swing of his blade. Blood Moon stopped his rotation; both blades out, and looked at the small gathering of guards. He grinned darkly.

"Let's dance." Four guards rushed him, all with a battle cry erupting from their maws; Blood moon advanced in return, he span and stabbed his blade into one's chest whipping it out and using it to block a strike heading his way, then stabbing the other through his attacker's throat. The next was killed by three throwing knives that found their way into his face. The last, a unicorn, drew a sword and advanced more cautiously; when they met, the guard swiped at the assassin who flashed out of the way and appeared above him, dropping onto him and slipping both blades into his neck. A few magical bolts flew past him; Blood Moon spun around, still on the dead unicorn, and spotted a firing line of unicorns. He hopped off the corpse, lifting it with his magic and cantering towards them, using it as a meat shield; throwing the body at the gathering of guards, he caught a break in their assault and whipped his rope dart out and wrapped it around the rightmost guard's neck; the next to fall had charged him, only to find a small axe lodged in his head; finally, the last was ended by a few swift movements of the assassin's left hoof, finding a coil of fishing wire about his fore-hooves that tugged his legs out of socket before a bolt found its way into his throat.

Moving through the rest of the clearing, he found his way to the bottom of the stairs that lead to the main hall of the palace. When he was about to begin climbing them, a group of five guards leapt out of the surrounding bushes in an attempt to ambush him. They gave him no pause for thought; instead the all drew weapons and charged spells. A unicorn wielding a short sword moved with an unarmed earth pony; the unicorn stabbed his blade at the assassin, who parried the strike and spun past him, stabbing his other weapon into the unicorn's jugular before putting his hoof to the earth pony's neck and shot a bolt through his neck and into the eye of another. Another guard entered the fray, joining the two remaining from the ambush; Blood Moon reached below his cape and pulled out a smoke pellet, throwing it to the ground and letting it fill the area with thick black smog; two of the guards, foolishly, yelped in surprise allowing the assassin to pin down their locations. Heading forwards, he swung his weapons in a wide arc, taking two heads in one attack. Trotting forth, he found his way out of the smoke screen and spotted another guard lingering on the edge, leaning on a tree and trying to catch his breath. A snapped neck later, and the assassin was on his way again, reloading as he went. At the entrance to the palace, four more guards stood; the all brandished a weapon of some sort. As the assassin approached, he launched a bolt into one, catching him off guard the rest looked at their fallen comrade and charged furiously; the first two lunged and found themselves impaled on the assassin's blades, he let them slip off by tilting them to the side and marched for the others, a brief confrontation later and one had his head a few meters away and the other was eating his own intestines.
The dark, eerily calm, stallion trotted into the main hall of the Everfree palace. All six of the elements of harmony were chained to the far wall, all looking at him with fearful relief in their expressions. The assassin trotted into the hall, before he heard the doors shutting behind him.
Turning, he saw a pair of guards trotting forwards, turning back, he saw four more guards trotting forwards. The one in the middle caught his eye; he wore gold armour with silver inlays. The pony, who Blood Moon could only guess was Hardhoof, trotted forwards with a sneer on his face that the assassin desperately wanted to rip off.

"Well, well, well. Look what's gone and trotted into the dragon's den" Hardhoof taunts.

"Yeah, the dragon slayer" Blood Moon retorts. Hardhoof snarled.

"Mind your tongue. You'd do well to watch your mouth around your-" he didn't finish, instead he was cut off by Blood Moon spinning around and firing his hoof-bow into one of the guard's throat, and stabbing his dart into the other's chest and pulling him over. Holding his captive as a shield as he reloaded, he watched Hardhoof bristle.

"Y'know, ponies like you really annoy me" the assassin told Hardhoof as he shadow stretched over to the shade of the palace. "You see yourself as above other ponies, and with no real grounds or proof. I mean, you're probably feeling pretty confident about this, what with your bodyguards lingering behind you" he said, as three of his shadow serpents wrapped themselves around the necks of the grunts, silently.

"As well I should be, you're stood here at death's door and you act so big. HA, I'm gonna kill you, then spit on your corpse and offer it to Celestia" he sneered. The assassin snapped his captive's neck and grinned.
"Oh yeah, you and what army?" Hardhoof stiffened at the question, turning around to see he was completely alone. "Now then" the assassin growled as he advanced "no more guards, no more distractions. Just you and me." He stopped a few meters away from the lieutenant. Hardhoof growled and drew his sword.

"Have at you" he roared as he lunged. Blood moon took the stab on his left blade, parrying the strike off to the side, Hardhoof replied by bringing his sword around and over, only to be blocked by the assassin's crossed blades. The dark stallion socked the guard in the jaw, hard, and watched him stumble away, before he whipped out his dart and snagged the guard's leg, wrapping it around his hoof.

"GET OVER HERE" he roared as he yanked the rope his way. Hardhoof managed to struggle free of the rope and stand again, but not before the assassin had taken his tail, reducing it to a small, shaved stub. Hardhoof swung his blade viciously, a loud clang echoing through the room as it met both of the assassin's blades. Using the momentum to spin and fire his hoof-bow at Hardhoof, who managed to erect a magical barrier to block it, the two then lunged again, blades clashing, sparks flying and their weapons never stopping. Hoof swiped his blade upwards, the assassin deflecting it on his left and stabbing with his right, the guard dodged and cracked Blood moon in the face with his left fore-hoof, staggering the assassin for a second. Hardhoof attempted to bring his weapon down on the assassin's head, who took it on both blades before countering by slamming his head into Hardhoof's muzzle. Blood thrust both weapons, Hardhoof leaping out of the way, and reaching beneath his cape and removing one of the tomahawks there, hacking it into Hoof's armour and severing one of the buckles, causing one of the plates to come free. Hardhoof aimed his weapon for the assassin's axe, knocking it from his grip, spinning and slashing at his neck; Blood Moon ducked out of the way and rolled out of the melee. He pulled a dagger from its sheath, the thick blade, and pounced, ramming the weapon, through the leather and into Hardhoof's side. The guard growled in pain, backing off. He pulled the weapon from his side and tossed it away.

"You're not bad, I'll give you that" he growled out. The assassin pressed on his assault, slashing at his opponent's neck.

"And you are a pathetic fighter" he answered. He slashed and stabbed, parried and countered, advanced and dodged, all the while he grinned defiantly. This seemed to annoy Hardhoof to no end, knowing he wasn't intimidating him at all. Hardhoof brought his blade down, execution style, and Blood Moon rolled out of the way, landing in a combat crouch and slicing his blade up the same unprotected side. Hardhoof sliced at the assassin, who blocked and dodged away. When he looked up again, Hardhoof wasn't there. A single thought came into his mind.

'Teleport.'

He obeyed, flashing away from his position and finding himself above the battlefield. He hung onto the roof by gripping some of the cracks in the ceiling. Blood Moon noticed he had left his swords below. He looked down to see Hardhoof trotting around, searching for him. The assassin smirked letting go of the ceiling with one hoof and unsheathing one of his daggers.
He dropped noiselessly. He was going to land on the guard and ram his blade into his neck from above. When he got within a single meter, Hardhoof reached up with his fore-hooves and grabbed the assassin, throwing him to the floor. He put his hoof on his chest and sneered at him.

"You assassins are all too predictable" he taunted before he stabbed the assassin through the throat.

Consequences

Chapter sixteen: Consequences

Twilight Sparkle, Applejack, Rainbowdash, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie could do nothing but watch as the blade plunged into the assassin's throat. There was a point, when time seemed to pause after the deed was done and none of them could believe what had just happened, not even Hardhoof. After he had come down from his adrenalin high, he blinked a few times at the body below him; he was half sure it would wake up again when he removed the blade. Standing up off of him, he pulled the weapon out, still dripping with blood; he glanced at the blade, the blade he'd used to kill Blood Moon.

He actually chuckled at that: HE'D killed Blood Moon, the Hunter, the assassin who could not be killed, caught or seen. His few chuckles turned into a laugh, which turned into him howling like a mad stallion. He'd done it; he killed Blood Moon, the stallion who was rumoured to be immortal, who was supposed to have walked the plains of Tartarus. He started laughing uproariously, stabbing his blade into the dead assassin repeatedly, and chanting 'I DID IT' over and over. Twilight, still shackled to the wall, watched with wide and wet eyes; she's just seen Blood Moon die; she wondered where he was right now, if he was happy to be finally dead or if he was standing in a void going 'well, that didn't go well.' He probably would do something like that, he took everything else like that, without a care in the world; fighting, training, dancing the way he used to flirt with her so blatantly. The mare welled up as the last few things crossed her mind; a few of her stifled sobs caught the attention of Hardhoof, who was still decimating Blood Moon's corpse. He turned to her with an overly happy smile on his face.

"Something the matter Miss Sparkle" he asked as he trotted over. He got in her face, Twilight turning her head away. "Seems you were wrong, I'm the one murdering him, aren't I? Aren't I, huh, ANSWER ME" he roared "tell me what I did, you whorse!" Twilight sniffled a few times, but before she could answer, another spoke.

"I'll tell you what you did" a distant voice said. The mares and stallion turned to see a stallion standing in the doorway of the palace; he was nothing but a silhouette against the glare of the afternoon sun that managed to find its way into the Everfree palace. He walked in further, giving the occupancy a better view of him; he had mustard fur, wore a beanie and eye-patch and wielded a curved blade, a scimitar, in his hoof. On his shoulder sat a phoenix, who flew to the motionless body of Blood Moon upon sight of it, nudging it with his head and cooing softly at the corpse. "You just made a very, bad, decision!" He trotted forth, approaching the guard with his blade slung over his shoulder. Hardhoof started laughing.

"You really think you have a chance against me? REALLY? I just killed Blood Moon, the hunter. You don't stand a chance." Sand Stalker stopped a few meters away from Hardhoof.

"Why is it you assume that with killing a foe, you take their skills?" Hardhoof, growled and lunged for the merc, who took to the air and took the stab on the edge of his blade, spinning past his opponent and slashing at his neck, taking most of Hardhoof's mane. "Pathetic" Sand Stalker growled. The guard span with his blade, aiming it at the merc who blocked, moved in and took the weapon by the hilt and pulled it away from the merc. "How you lasted even four seconds against Blood Moon, I'll never know."

"Maybe because he didn't hide in the air like a coward. Come down here and fight like a stallion."

"Why don't you come up here and fight like a Pegasus?" Hardhoof growled again and trotted over to Blood Moon's body, focusing his magic on one of the fallen weapons. As he attempted to pick it up, Hunter screeched and dived at him, going for his face and eyes. After shouting a few indecencies, he batted the bird away and raised the dead assassin's weapon. As he did, he heard the sound of hooves and the clattering of metal on the ground coming from behind him.

"Put that weapon down" the Pegasus ordered, pure hatred in his voice "we will fight, but you will not have the honour of wielding that blade." Hardhoof snorted, tossing the weapon away and picking up his own. He charged and lunged, the pair's weapons clashing and locking.

"No matter. I don't care what I kill you with, just as long as you-" he was cut off when he felt a sharp burning in his unprotected side, throwing him of balance. He looked up to see Twilight, with new determination in her eyes, with her horn aglow. "Whorse" he growled. He apparently forgot he was facing off the Arabian and trotted over to her. Sand Stalker lunged and attempted to take his head with one, vicious swing of his blade; Hardhoof managed to glance over in time, and defend against the blow at the last second sending the loud sound of clashing metal reverberating through the air like rolling thunder. As the fight went on, Twilight continued firing from her position, trying to hit the guard. She mostly missed, but a few of her bolts hit his unarmoured side, causing him to throw out more curses. Hunter also kept to the fray; he would stay to the air and swoop down at Hardhoof in an attempt to rip out one of his eyes or maybe take off those lips that he hated to see sneering. The bird of fire dived, ripping his talons against Hardhoof's skull, taking a big chunk of flesh and digging into the bone. Hoof roared in pain, slashing his sword at the bird, trying to take one of its wings off in his rage, and forgetting his opponent.

Taking advantage of the distraction, the merc hacked at the guard savagely, trying to take off his head again, Hardhoof barely managing to dodge in time and make the strike non-lethal. As it is, Sand had still managed to take his left eye. He screamed and staggered away, tripping over the body of Blood Moon and landing on his back, Hunter dived for the fallen guard and ripped at his face, making a mess of him, talons digging into him and ripping out the remainder of his left eye. He rolled away and galloped away from the enraged bird, picking up his blade and attempting to take the bird down with it, until another bolt from Twilight knocked him off his hooves. Sand Stalker appeared at his side, the two slashed at once, their blades clanging off each other, rebounding at getting knocked away from each other before both went at it again; Sand never staying in the same place for more than a second until he moved again and took Hardhoof from his blind side, leaving nicks and cuts on his armour and shallow slashes in his flesh. Stalker's raw speed, agility and ability to fly was making it impossible for Hardhoof to hit him, resorting to swinging his weapon around furiously and blindly. Hunter, unwilling to sit by and watch, would attack Hoof from above when occupied with Sand Stalker, while Twilight would fire a bolt of magic from the side, never giving him a moment to think or rest. The three of them kept at Hardhoof, giving him very little to no chance at fighting back when he was too busy dodging Twilight's attacks, keeping an eye out for Hunter and having to block all of Sand Stalker's constant barrage of slashes, stabs and attempts to disarm him.
He caught a break when Hunter and Twilight paused in their attacks at the same time and he managed to slip his blade below and around Sand Stalker's and whip it from his grip; he used the opening to spin and buck the mustard stallion over to the dead body in the room, with the intent to watch him fall and impale him in the same way when he was on his back. He watched as the mercenary stumbled back and waited for him to fall over the body.

He didn't.

Instead he remained standing and glaring at the guard lieutenant. He looked down and picked up one of the blades at his hooves, throwing it at Hardhoof, who managed to duck out of the way and look up in time to see Sand Stalker lung at him, the assassin's other sword in hoof and prepared to stab it through his face. The blades clashed and sparks flew off them, the pair of them constantly moving around each other. Sand Stalker was better accustomed to his scimitar, a longer blade with more weight to it; he could move this weapon much faster than his usual blade, allowing him to strike with more speed behind each one and with smaller intervals but he couldn't get enough momentum going to even try to break through Hardhoof's defence. The guard swung his blade around, smacking Stalker's weapon from his hoof; not possible if he'd being using his scimitar with the extra weight. Hardhoof pushed the merc away from him with all his might before kicking away the assassin's blade and scimitar. Standing over the merc, sword aimed at his throat, he sneered at him once again.

"You know, it's funny actually; to know that you thought you could kill me." Sand stalker just spat in his face, Hardhoof responding by slowly wiping it off before slamming his hoof into the elderly merc's jaw. "You know Dash's dad, right?" The merc narrowed his eyes at the guard, who turned his gaze back to said cyan blue furred mare, still shackled to the wall and watching with fear in her eye at the prospect of seeing both Blood Moon and the uncle she never had the chance to patch things over with die. "I think I'll have her first" he spat. That one, truly enraged the Pegasus; he slammed his forehead into the guard's face and rolled him over, straddling him and beating him senseless.

"You…Killed…Blood Moon" he told him, each pause filled with another strike. "You…tried…to kill…me. But…what I…will…not…stand for…is…you…even…THINKING…about…trying…to touch…my…NIECE!" The guard, reduced to little more than a beaten and bleeding pulp, caught the merc's hoof in his own as he tried to hit him again, rolled over him and taking his blade in his hoof.

"I'm gonna have fun bucking her" he hissed. Sand Stalker snarled at his foe as he raised his sword. He then frowned for a second until his eyes widened in shock. The guard then felt a slight pressure on his back as he was pushed forwards a little. He frowned as he felt numbness in his neck, as well as a strange coppery tang to his breath and a weird liquid sensation, as though something like a drink was running down his throat. He looked down to see a pair of blades, familiar blades, protruding through his throat. He then figured out what had happened; he'd been stabbed from behind. He remained remarkably passive about this until he heard a strangely familiar dark voice from behind him.

"We're all taught three things as foals: don't run with scissors, don't play with fire and never, ever, try to kill an immortal" the assassin told him, as he rounded into Hardhoof's view, a grin on his face. The lieutenant tried to speak, to say something, anything, but the hooded stallion had severed his vocal cords. Still with that unbearable smile on his face, the stallion reached up and pulled his hood off. "Did you really think my legacy is 'never seen, caught or killed' because it sounds nice" Blood Moon asked. The assassin's grin turned dark. "Look at you, thinking you managed to kill me. Thinking you beat me in open combat. Do you know how many times I could have cut off any number of limbs in that fight?" Hardhoof kept watching with wide eyes. "Sixty-four. Now, I know what you're thinking; 'but I managed to kill you, my blade was in your throat.' And it was, but only because I allowed it, and before you start doubting, think about it; we're in a palace of shadows, I could have burned you alive, ripped you apart or have slit your throat open without you even seeing me. The only reason you lasted more than a second, is because I just wanted your death, to be all the more sweet for me and be that much more of a kick in the guts for you." Hardhoof fell to his back, still struggling to speak; blood began pouring from him in earnest as he began panicking, noticing the assassin advancing on him, the most terrifying glare on his face he'd ever seen. He grabbed the guard by what was left of his mane and hauled him up to eye level. "You… pitiful… pathetic… dirt eating… piece of trash, son of a whorse" he rumbled, every insult punctuated with a swift strike in the gut, breaking more and more of his ribs. He dragged the guard over to the elements of harmony and threw him down before them, grabbing his chin and forcing his gaze on them. "Do you have any idea, of what you could have done, if you'd killed them? No, you don't, do you. All's you cared about was yourself" he hissed, before slamming his face into the ground. "Normally, I would have you apologise, but seeing as my swords are pushed through you gullet and voice box at the moment, I think I'll skip that part and get right to the brutal death" he snarled.

With a growl, he then threw him in Sand Stalker's direction before following him over and kicking him the rest of the way.

"Well Sand, what do you think we should with him" Blood moon asks when he got him the rest of the way via some nasty bruises and broken ribs. Hunter landed on the assassin's shoulder, a glare in his eye aimed at the guard. Hardhoof was glancing between the mercenary and assassin with fear in his eyes. "Cut him up and feed him to some Timbers?"

"Nah, I say we have those serpents of yours rip him apart" the elderly merc suggests. Blood Moon hummed in thought.

"Tie him over a bamboo shoot and leave him to it?"

"String him up by his guts and leave him to hang?"

"Rip his entrails out with the serpents, tie him down by his guts over a bamboo shoot, cut off his legs and leave them as bait while, drawing in some Timberwolves to him eat what's left of him." The guard choked on his blood a little and the merc laughed at the assassin's compromise, while said assassin grinned and Hunter gave a pleased cry. "I think he likes that idea" he said as he dragged him outside. The guard struggled, abruptly enraging the assassin who seemed to lose it for a second and grab hold of the guard's horn. He glared for a second before he put an insurmountable amount of pressure on it and snapped it off. Even with his vocal cords mostly destroyed, Hardhoof could scream and scream he did; the unicorn horn may be capable of feeling immense pleasure but it is also capable of being the cause of the greatest amount of pain a unicorn can feel, while snapping it off would cause more pain feasible of being felt by any other race being felt by the unicorn. The assassin then spun the horn in his hoof and stabbed the golden horn into Hardhoof's jugular, not killing him but coming close.

A few minutes after he'd dragged him outside, those few minutes filled will some more screams and the sounds of distant barking; he came back, no Hardhoof in tow, blades back in their sheaths and a few extra smatterings of blood on his robes and face. Blood Moon trotted towards Sand Stalker, Hunter perched on his shoulder, with a small smirk on his face. He stopped before the merc, whom just gazed at him with uncaring disapproval.

“You’re a smug sonofabitch, you know that” Sand Stalker said before they clasped fore-hooves. Blood Moon just flashed a wolfish grin.

“My mother was a whorse” he corrected, prompting a grunt from the merc. "Don't take the girls around the side of the palace" he muttered to the merc. Sand Stalker smirked.

The two then trotted over to the mares, Blood Moon glancing over them all as he went. The two then worked the shackles holding them in place, five minutes later, and they were all down. The mares picked themselves up, Sand Stalker holding Rainbowdash in a hug neither had any intentions of ending and Blood Moon doing a surprisingly good job of holding Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight at once, stroking their manes and shushing them all. All of them, even the tough Applejack, had tears in their eyes and were sniffling into the ex-foalsitter's hold. Fluttershy, as was to be expected, seemed worse for the whole ordeal but going by the standards of the rest of the mares in the scene, Blood Moon feared for her mentality; Hunter fluttered over to her and sat next to her, nuzzling her head with his own. She sniffled a few times but, somehow, managed to perk up at the company of an animal, petting the phoenix's head softly. It took fifteen whole minutes to calm and sooth the mares to a degree they could be properly moved to more pleasant surroundings.

The mares were in no physical, or mental for a few of them, condition to move quickly or without help; Sand Stalker put Rainbowdash under his wing and Pinkie Pie on his back; while Hunter sat on Fluttershy's shoulder, giving her reason to persevere and push on. Applejack stood by herself, insisting to the dark stallion she was fine and providing her frame as a leaning post for Rarity, who seemed grateful for the gesture. Twilight managed to raise herself, but didn't get far until she fell onto Blood Moon who was there in an instant. Twilight looked up at the stallion who had caught her before she fell, who had rescued her when she was most vulnerable. She wrapped her fore-hooves around the assassin's neck and clamped her lips to his; there was no real thought or effort put behind it, no tongue or moaning involved, just a simple reassurance that she was no longer in danger. If anything, it had more feeling and emotion than any other kiss the two had shared to date, given the circumstances. She disengaged the kiss after a few seconds and leaned back.

"Blood Moon" she murmured. The assassin grunted his listening. Twilight leaned back onto her hooves with a pleasant smile on her face, raised her hoof and slapped him across the face and lunged at him, pushing him onto his back and landing on his front, beating weakly as tears fell off her face. "Don't you ever scare me like that again" she wept as she tapped his chest with her hooves valiantly. "I thought you were dead, you good for nothing assassin" she scolded as she continued to beat him. She eventually gave up with her pathetic attempts to hurt him and just fell onto him sobbing into his chest. He put his hooves over back and holds her closer to him.

"I'm sorry Twilight, truly I am, and I hate to break it to you but…I was dead" he admitted. Twilight put her fore-hooves both side of his head and leaned up.

"WHAT" she demanded, fear in her eyes. Blood Moon shrugged, Twilight responding by shaking her head and stomping her hoof on the ground besides his head. "No" she told him angrily, but with no less relief in her tone "no, I'm not letting you act so laid back about this! You were dead and I saw you die!" She put her head to his chest, listening to his heartbeat, as if to make sure he was truly alive. She put her forehead to his chest, rolling it to side to side. "I thought I'd lost you" she told him as she raised herself and looked in his eyes. As she'd being speaking, the assassin had been listening to her rants with a dutiful open ear; none had ever opposed his laid back attitude so openly, but she'd told him it actually put her in distress. Then there was what she'd finished with 'I thought I'd lost you.' Why would she care if he left her life, surely she didn't care about him so much, she'd only just met him-

'Ah, to Tartarus with it.'

He reached up and put his hoof around the back of her head, she had been closing her eyes in an attempt to curb her tears but opened them again when she felt his hoof on her. He looked her in the eye for a single second before he pulled her face to his, pushing their lips together again; he held her in place and hugged her tightly, looking like he had the intent of keeping her slim frame in his grip until her count of days were up. He didn't stop for one long minute, he held her with his lips connected to hers; as before, no extra move was made from either party, it was a simple kiss and nothing more. In act, that is. For the two holding each other, it was the two telling each other they were there; that she was there and safe, and that he was there for her, and always would be.

"Hey, you two. As heart-warming as this little scene is, I'd rather not leave you here by yourselves to get busy when Timberwolves will be here within the hour" Sand Stalker calls over. Twilight suddenly remembered she was in the company of others and looked up to see her friends watching the two with some varied reactions; Rarity and Applejack were watching with a look of pride on their faces, Rarity's a slight wearier than Applejack's; Pinkie Pie was asleep; Fluttershy had a pink blush on her face, complemented by a kind smile, her face partially hidden by her mane; and Rainbowdash had a kind smile on her face also, but beyond that looked ready to fall asleep under Sand Stalker's wing. Blood Moon lifted Twilight off of him with his magic and put her on her hooves, albeit she was still shaky when stood up.

"Yeah, let's get out of here. Fluttershy, you okay with us taking you all to your place?" She nodded weakly in response. The assassin nodded appreciatively. "Thanks, alright ponies, let's move." And they did; Blood Moon leading the way, Twilight using him as a crutch; Applejack and Rarity following at a short distance behind; Fluttershy and Hunter came up behind them, the bird nuzzling the ever strong-willed Fluttershy; and Sand Stalker, Rainbowdash and Pinkie Pie brought up the rear. After a while of trotting, occasionally pausing to make sure they were all present, they arrived at Fluttershy's home. The merc approached Blood Moon, stood next to him and looked at the small cottage.

"Why Fluttershy's house? Rarity's or Twilight's would be better; they're bigger and closer to everything in town." Blood Moon looked over at the merc.

"I'm not making these girls walk any further than they have to, and it'll put fear into the residents of Ponyville to see them like this and probably spread a few rumours we don't need while we're at it" he explained. The mustard stallion hummed his agreement but still sounded unsure.

"It'll be a little cramped" he murmured. The assassin nodded.

"Exactly, these mares need to be kept close together; they need each other after all that." Sand Stalker nodded at that, understanding what Blood Moon was getting at. The merc leaned in with a grin on his face.

"Although, I think Twilight wants to be with only one pony in particular at this point" he says lowly, the same grin still on his face.

"Right here" said unicorn calls over.

"Now now children, play nicely. C'mon Sand, let's get these girls indoors." The pair of stallions did as he advised, carrying, guiding and letting the mares lean on them as they made their way to Fluttershy's cottage. The assassin pushed the still unlocked door open to reveal a bunch of animals, all of which appeared to be waiting anxiously for something, most likely Fluttershy. When she crossed over the threshold, after the merc and assassin but before Applejack and Rarity, she was immediately swarmed by her animal friends. They gathered around her, making their respective sounds to ask her questions nopony else could understand. Blood Moon sat Twilight on a nearby couch, Applejack and Rarity sitting next to her, while Pinkie Pie, who had awoken, sat with her back lent against the same seat and Rainbowdash did the same.

Fluttershy eventually managed to calm down all the critters before she seemed to fall unconscious from sheer exhaustion. A bear held out his arms and caught her in his claws gently as she was about to hit the ground. Said bear then looked at the assassin unsurely, most likely debating whether or not to trust the killer he had feared a few hours earlier, before nodding at him in way of showing his fidelity. Blood Moon nodded in return; pulled of his robes, armour and weapons and set them on a hook nearby; and turned to the rest of the gathered critters.

"All right, let's get one thing out of the way; you don't like me and I don't like you, but we're gonna have to put our differences behind us and pull together if we want to properly look after Fluttershy and her friends. Are you with me?" The group of animals looked between each other unsurely, nervously and, decidedly, unwilling to help the assassin. It looked like they were about to do that freaky head shaking in unison thing, when a single black mouse stood in front of them, facing the critters, and started squeaking at them; he seemed to have them captivated and listening to him, gesturing at the unconscious Fluttershy, who was being watched over by Rainbowdash, and pointing at the assassin behind him. Some of the other mice squeaked back and the black mouse face-pawed; he scuttled around the assassin, leapt onto his back and then clambered onto the amused assassin's head before he started with his, what the killer suspected to be, uplifting speech. Once the mouse was done with his squeaking, the critters all seemed to feel much better about helping out the dark stallion. The mouse leaned over the assassin's brow as he looked up at the small rodent and saw him put the thumb of his paw up in a 'you're good to go' kind of way. "Ok, now that we're all friends we should get this show on the road, but before we do, allow me to inform you that all complaints should be made to the proper authorities, in this case, the complaints desk" he told the critters, nodding his head in Sand Stalker's direction, who grinned menacingly. "Job one: getting these girls upstairs and comfortable. You" he pointed at the bear holding Fluttershy, who stood up much straighter when he was addressed "take Fluttershy and anypony else who can't walk up stairs." The bear nodded and moved over to the couch, lifting Rarity and Pinkie Pie in his large arms and carrying them upstairs, the rest of the mares following in his wake. He turned to the bunnies. "You lot" the rabbits all stood up straight on their hind legs, one of them wearing a green military helmet. "I want you to take the perimeter, anything that doesn't belong or not smell right to you; you come to me or Sand Stalker." They all nodded, the one in the helmet saluting, and hopped off.

"What's with the perimeter" the merc asked. Blood Moon turned to him.

"There's bound to be some guards snooping around sooner or later, I want to know about them before they know about us." The mustard stallion put his hoof to his chin in thought.

"Do you want me to head back to Ponyville and keep an eye out for any out of place guards?" The dark stallion shook his head.

"No, I need you here. You have a sharp eye and I need you keeping watch for anything we don't like, I also need you here if any guards decide to make any hostile moves against us. That…and I think Rainbow needs the company." As they were speaking, the bear had come back down stairs from putting the mares up there. Blood Moon looked between the beast and the rest of the critters he hadn't given jobs to yet and formed a plan. "Alright, mice" they stood on their hind legs dutifully "you're my right-hoof critters, anything I need and you're my first reference." They all nodded at once. The stallion then looked around. "Hey where's that black mouse?" Said mouse then appeared at the top of his vision, having wrapped his tail around Blood Moon's horn and hanging off of it causing the killer to grin at the scene. "You stay with me, when I need the mice to do something, I'll tell you and you'll go find the rest of the mice and relay the orders." The inverted mouse saluted and clambered back to his perch atop the assassin's head. He turned to the rest of the awaiting critters. "The rest of you will go about your business and wait for instructions." They nodded their understanding and retired to their respective holes in the wall as Blood Moon turned back to the bear. "You stay down here and wait for me." The bear nodded and sat on its rear end with a small 'thud'. The assassin then looked at Sand Stalker and gestured up the stairs, the merc nodded and followed him upstairs. Up there, they found the elements of harmony sat on Fluttershy's bed, some more conscious than others and Hunter perched on one of the bedposts holding up the headboard.

"You alright" he asked. They looked up with relief in their expression.

"We're all fine, sugarcube, jus' relieved ta be outta that palace" Applejack answers for them, the rest of the mares nodding in agreement. The assassin nodded before looking around the small room and frowning.

"You were right Sand; this place is a little cramped." He glanced at Fluttershy with a hasty "no offence." All the mares in the room, even Fluttershy, looked around the room; it was, admittedly, a bit cosy. The room was only big enough and furnished for one or two ponies, or three fillies. It was also the fact that Fluttershy's bed was only made for the same amount of occupants, so the six mares sat upon it gave each other very little room for getting comfy. The assassin sighed. "D'you want me to fetch some more furnisher" he asked.

"Oh, we couldn't ask you to do that" Fluttershy told him. Blood moon waved a hoof to stop her.

"Nonsense, it's clear you all need some space to relax. Tell you what; I'll go out and bring in some more appropriate sleeping arrangements." Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" The assassin shrugged.

"I'll take the bear and swing around yours and Applejack's place and nab the beds, I'll be in and out faster than anypony knows I'm there" he told her. He was about to trot out of the room when Twilight stopped him.

"Blood Moon, if you're going to be at the library, could you bring Spike with you? Celestia knows he'll be worried sick about me." The assassin nodded. He went to turn back when he was stopped again, this time by the sound of Applejack gasping. He sighed and turned back.

"Something the matter, Applejack?" The farmhoof took to looking sheepish.

"I-it's jus', ah was meant tah be pickin' up Applebloom an' the other girls from school tahday" she told him. Blood Moon repressed another sigh.

"I'll pick 'em up on the way" he says as he turns away. Rainbowdash gives a small 'ummmmm'. "Yes, mi' lady" he asked, in a mocking butler fashion, swinging back to the mares.

"Um, could-could you pick up a few Daring Do books for me? I-I wouldn't ask, but I'll probably get pretty bored with nothing to do here." The assassin sighed with a grin on his face, pulling out a small notepad and pencil from the sleeve above his medical supplies with his magic and put the pencil to a clean page.

"Ok, let's see; pick up beds, Spike and Daring Do books and deliver to Fluttershy's; Pick up Applebloom-I take it you want me to pick up Sweetie-Belle too?" Rarity nodded.

"Don't forget Scootaloo" Rainbowdash said. The assassin nodded and scribbled it down.

"Wouldn't dream of it" he muttered. "Now, since I'm not letting any of you out of Fluttershy's place until I know why the guards were on your tail, is there anything else I need to grab while I'm out?" Sand Stalker spoke up.

"Might I suggest some strong cider to take the edge off of some of the bumps they took?" Blood Moon looked up to see some of the mares rub their heads where they'd been hit by Hardhoof. He nodded and scribbled it down on his pad.

"Ya'll can probably find some nice cider in the barn" Applejack told the dark stallion who nodded and made a note of it.

"Anything else? Rarity?" The mare put to hoof to her chin in thought.

"Well" she started hesitantly "i-if you wouldn't mind, could you please bring me some needles, thread and your, umm, vest and other clothes. If you don't mind, I'd like to make some repairs to it. J-just to keep me occupied" she insisted. The assassin smirked and jotted it down. He turned his gaze to Pinkie Pie.

"Pinkie, you need anything from home?" She shook her head.

"No thanks, just as long as I'm with my friends here, it's all I need" she told him as her fore-legs wrapped around her friends and pulled them in for a big group hug. The assassin grinned as he turned to Applejack.

"Nah thanks, sugarcube, jus' bring Applebloom and I'll be right as rain with mah friends here." Blood Moon, for the last time, nodded and took a last second pause before he turned and left the mares to themselves, Sand Stalker following him.

"Alright, I'm gonna go out and gather" he took another look at the list he had made "all this." Sand Stalker caught his tone of voice and grinned.

"The things we do, huh?" Blood Moon grunted and shrugged.

"I used to be a foal sitter, waiting hoof and tail on mares and fillies is something I'm used to. Besides, well it's already been said, after what they've been through, I'd say they need some R and R." The merc nodded.

"Alright, what are we getting first?" The assassin shook his head.

"No, what am I getting first. You should stay here and make sure nothing happens to the girls" Blood Moon told him "don't worry about any heavy lifting, bear will help me with that" he said, nodding to the grizzly sat in the corner, who put his claws to his fore-head in a small salute.

"What about him" the mercenary asked with an amused grin on his face pointing above the assassin's head. Blood Moon looked up to see the black mouse still on his head; he'd forgotten the cute, little guy was there. The assassin shrugged.

"If he's comfy there, I won't move him" he said "besides, I need to keep him with me in case I need to call upon the mice" he told him, frowning towards the end. "Never thought I'd say that" he mumbled. He shrugged and trotted to the bear. "You're with me; we're grabbing beds, cider, clothes and a dragon." The grizzly frowned at him as the assassin trotted closer to him and put his hoof on his arm. "Alright, when we get there, you've gotta be quiet. First thing we're grabbing is bed A and a few barrels of cider." The bear still seemed unsure but nodded either way.

The stallion waited a single second before his horn flashed and they appeared at Applejack's barn, the bear looking like he was about to throw up. The assassin motioned for him to stay low, the bear following his orders by getting down on all fours and following after him. Blood Moon pushed open the large red barn door, revealing a few crates and bales of hay, he looked around and saw a small mountain of wooden barrels, other to which he trotted over and peered into a few upright barrels. He smelled around the rim of it and picked up the smell of bitter alcohol and sweet apples, thinking of Applejack as he picked up the latter. He motioned the bear over with his hoof and had him pick up a few barrels. Done with the cider, he teleported the two of them to the side of Applejack's small home. He told the bear to stay put with a few simple motions. Trotting in doors he looked around and found himself in the Apple's living room, a simple cottage job; friendly soothing colours and basic furniture scattered around, a nice place to be all and all. He trotted silently through the home; nopony seemed to be around, Big Macintosh was probably out in the orchard, bucking apples and Applebloom would be in school for a few more hours. The question of time came into the dark stallion's head and he looked at a clock hanging on the wall. Two in the afternoon. Discord's antlers, the day had gone by slowly; he'd woken up with Twilight, gone on a date with Feather, found himself a pet, visited his old home and gathered his old armour and weapons, died, rescued the elements of harmony with Sand Stalker, taken them to Fluttershy's and now he was breaking into Applejack's house to steal her bed. He'd gotten more done in one morning than he'd gotten done all day yesterday. The clearing of an elderly throat caught his attention, he'd gotten lost in his thought and, apparently, somepony had snuck up on him. He turned his gaze to the left to see an elderly mare; she had light lime green fur; a white and grey mane and tail, both kept in a bun; light orange eyes; and an apple pie as her cutie mark. The assassin smirked.

"Busted" he muttered.

"Hmm, yer say somethin' there young un'?" She took another look at him and frowned slightly.

"Hm, you don't seem as young as yah look." The assassin froze. She had better insight than he'd first assumed. The mare turned back into the room she seen him from, the kitchen, and sat at the table. She had a cup of something hot in front of her and invited the stallion to sit with her. "Si' down there, mister. Ain't everyday ah git company." Cocking his head to the side, the assassin obliged and entered the kitchen, sitting at the same table. "Ya'll mus' be the same one Applejack was going on about the other day. She says a lot of things about you" she took a sip from her cup "not all good." Blood Moon smirked again.

"What kind of things" he asked. The mare shrugged at him and took another sip from her cup.
"Notin' interesting, 'sides, anythin' bad about you she seemed willing to look over" she looked at him from over her cup "there ain't many she'd do that for. She's a protective filly, that one, she must like you." Blood Moon shrugged.

"And I like her, she's a nice mare." The mare hummed in thought.

"Applejack did mention yer name, but mah memory ain't what it used to be. What'er yah called, sonny?"

"Blood Moon" he answered at once "you?"

"Blood Moon, eh? Fitting." The assassin smirked at her assessment. "Ah'm Granny Smith. Applejack, Big Macintosh and Applebloom's grandmother." The assassin raised an eyebrow in realisation.

"Ahhh, so you're the one looking after them" the assassin observes. Smith gives a small laugh.

"Yup, that's me, I done looked afta the Apple family of Ponyville ever since…well, ah guess you know." Blood Moon closed his eyes as he remembered his conversation with Applejack and nodded.

"I do, she told me a little while back." Granny Smith took him by surprise when she smirked at him.

"She won't tell nopony about that unless she thinks she can trust him. Ah don't think nopony in Ponyville knows about what happened to her parents, asides mahself, yew an' the other Apple's. She mus' really like you." The stallion hummed in thought, pausing in his conversation as he considered his next question.

"What did you mean; I'm not as young as I look?" Granny Smith angled her head to the left; it kept going until the assassin noticed she was falling asleep. With a roll of his eyes,he slammed his hoof on the table to awaken her. "SMITH" he roared sharply.

"Hmm, wha' did yah say?" The assassin gave an amused smirk as he glanced to the side and repeated the question. The mare hummed again and looked him over. "Ah may not be the sharpest knife in the block, but ah can see when somepony ain't what yew'd call 'average' when ah see dem. Yew an' ah both know ya'll ain't what either of us would call normal." Blood Moon grinned.

"Ya'll got me there partner" he admitted. Smith nodded a few times before she started coughing lightly.

"Listen here parndner, ah wouldn't normally ask anypony anything like this, but ya'll seem trustworthy and Applejack likes yew, so ah'm a give you the benefit of a doubt. Ah want ya'll ta look after Applejack and 'Bloom." The assassin narrowed his eyes in thought. He didn't like where this was going.

"Of course, but why would I need to? You'll be here to do so, won't you?" Granny heard the doubt in his voice.

"Ahhh, ya'll know ah'm not gonna be here much longer. I know this, an' I've come to understand, it ain't somethin' ah can change." She tapped him on the chest. "Ah don't know how ya'll are different, but what ah do know is that yer ain't young but yah still look like yew are. Ah don't care if you're different, what I do care about what's in here" she put a hoof over his chest, where his heart would be. "And ah can tell yer not a bad stallion at heart." She sat back in her chair. "Prove me right, do an old lady one last favour, an' look after mah grandchildren." The stallion leaned back and took a breath through his muzzle as he thought.

“Macintosh?” Granny Smith chuckled slightly.

“Ah, Big Mac takes care o’ ‘Bloom an’ Applejack, but that colt ain’t easy tah talk to. Ever since mah son an’ god-daughter...well, took t’ buckin’ in that big orchard in the sky, he stopped talkin’ so much. He’s a good listener an’ all, but he prefers to take…” she fished for an appropriate word “a more passive, role in things.” Blood Moon took a long sigh, nodding gently in understanding.

"I-I'll see what I can do." Granny Smith shook her head.

"Nah, I don't want nah empty promises. I want you tah promise me, ya'll take care o' Applejack and Applebloom." The assassin sighed and bowed his head.

"You have my word" he promised. Granny Smith patted his head.

"An' don't go tellin' ‘em nutin' neither, Celestia knows what she'll do if ya'll start goin' around sayin' ah'm gonna die soon." Blood Moon nodded, a smirk on his face. "There's a good stallion now ah'm gonna, gonna…" she slumped back into her chair and fell back to sleep. Blood Moon shook his head in bemusement and stood up, trotting up the stairs. He found Applejack's room and pushed the door open. He trotted over to her bed and lifted it with his magic, testing the weight. Not too heavy. He trotted over to the window and looked out, he put a hoof to his maw and whistled; the bear looked up and saw him leaning out of the window, said bear then stood and raised his arms awaiting the coming bed. Blood Moon stepped away from the window and lifted it with his magic and slid it out of the window before letting it drop. He peered out of the window to see the bear teetering on his legs holding the bed almost vertically, the assassin's eyes widened and he hopped out of the window. He put himself in the path of the bed as it was about to fall to the ground and let it fall onto his back with a pained growl.

"Alright, you got it" he asked as he looked past the furnisher. The grizzly, nodded and lifted the bed onto his back before Blood Moon lifted the barrels carefully onto the bed and watched, making sure the bear was steady. "You alright?" The bear nodded a few times nonchalantly.

The assassin shrugged and trotted over to him before teleporting them both and their luggage to Rarity's boutique. He trotted inside and looked around; searching his memory for the door Sweetie-Belle had gone through with his gear last time he was here. Finding a door leading to a small room filled with a washer and dryer, amongst a few other things, he found his cloak, vest and hood in a small wash basket. Packing them into a bag he'd found nearby and slinging it over his back, he trotted back out and hunted for a few needles and thread. He frowned as he thought; her room maybe? He trotted up the stairs and found the mare's room; he pushed through the door and revealed what can only be described as a pristine room, he didn't know why but he frowned; he'd been expecting something a little less organised, what with her occupation as seamstress, he'd been expecting some of that 'organised chaos' at least. He shrugged and trotted through the room, looking for something that resembled a sewing ki-

'Did I just see that?'

"Black, huge, rubber, seemed to have a switch on it and looked to…have been used
recently?"

'Uh-huh.'

"Yep, we both did."

'So that's what she got up to when I left the other day…'

"Seems she'd just as skilled with her needs as she is with a needle. Heh, just got an idea."

'Probably gonna regret this but, what's the idea?'

"Find that sewing kit."

'Got it.'

"Now put the dildo in there with the other stuff."

'WHY?'

"'Cause it'll be hilarious to see her reaction."

'…Yeah, yeah it will.'

"Wha-"

The assassin had a devious grin on his face as he placed the black sex toy into Rarity's sewing kit before resting it on his back and trotting back outside to the awaiting bear. Still with a slight smirk on his face, he trots over to the bear and teleports him and the bear to Twilight's library and into her there, he had the bear pack up Twilight's bed onto his back and trotted down stairs. Once there he spotted the drake doing a spot of dusting.

"Hey Spike." Said dragon whipped around brandishing the feather duster like a sword and snapped his gaze around the room.

"W-who goes there" he yelled. Blood Moon watched with an amused expression on his face.

"How's it going" the assassin asked casually.

"Oh, hey Blood Moon, when'd you get here?"

"A second ago, I'm here for the bed and a few Daring Do books." Spike blinked.

"The bed? Daring Do? Why would you need them?"

"Alright Spike, don't freak out but Twilight and the rest of the girls are hold up at Fluttershy's place. They were attacked by the guards for no apparent reason and I don't want them wandering around Ponyville if there are any more guards wandering around that want to have a grudge match with them" he narrowed his eyes "or me." Spike meanwhile, was watching wide eyed and horrified. The dark stallion shrugged. "Either way, where are the Daring Do books?" Spike blinked from his shock and stupor.

"Oh, um" he pointed to a bookshelf to the left of them "third row from the top." Blood Moon looked to the shelf he had referred to and used his magic to pull a few random books from said row.

"Anyway, you're coming with me" he told the drake. Spike blinked again.

"What?"

"You. Are. Coming. With. Me." He then grabbed him by the tail, slung him over his shoulder and took him up stairs. The drake saw the mouse on the assassin's head and nodded with a small 'sup'. Up there, they found the bear with a pair of beds and barrels on his back, waiting for the assassin and his guest with his cargo on his back. "Brace" the stallion instructed. There was a flash and they appeared in Fluttershy's front room, Sand Stalker looked up and nodded.

"That was fast" he commented.

"Such is the joy of teleportation" he answered as he removed the barrels from the bear's back and ordered him to take the beds upstairs. Next to him, Spike tottered around dizzily.

"You call that 'joy'" he muttered, not used to the assassin's older form of teleporting before he made his way upstairs. (If you're wondering, the old form is teleporting yourself and everything else gets dragged along, which can be pretty uncomfortable for anypony not ready for it, when compared to the newer form which involves teleporting all parties involved which is more comfortable for them. Blood Moon doesn't use the newer form because he finds his passenger's reactions much too amusing to stop.)

"Alright, what's the plan?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"Give 'em a few minutes to get-" he heard a few bangs from upstairs, indicating the beds had been placed. "Comfortable" he finished. "Give 'em a few minutes to properly get settled." Sand Stalker shrugged and settled into the sofa he was upon. After a while, the bear descended the stairs and sat on the same spot on the floor as before, taking out a pair of small reading glasses, setting them on his muzzle, and picking up a newspaper and looking through it casually. The assassin looked on with a raised eyebrow before he made his way upstairs. Up there, he found the six mares sat upon a bed, two per mattress, and Spike who was sat on a stool at Twilight's bed side, Hunter still on the same bedpost, watching over Fluttershy.

"So how come you're all bedridden? You don't look so bad" he said. The six looked between each other before the assassin answered from fresh hold, leaning on the doorframe.

"Because not all scars are physical Spike. I'm keeping them here so I can keep an eye on them and make sure nothing happens to them, be it from external influence or internal. Plus after what they've all been through I'd think they deserve some kind bed rest, that…and some of you look to be more physically fit than others." He trots over to Rarity and Twilight's bed, levitating the box of sewing equipment over to her before doing the same with the clothing on his back. "On that note, how are you all right now?" The mares mumbled about being alright, most of the rubbing where they had been struck.

"I'm ok" Fluttershy spoke up. The assassin shook his head.

"On the contrary, you were knocked out with a sleep dart. I'd like to make sure there's nothing…disagreeable in the concoction." The butter yellow mare seemed to be taken off guard with this.

"But how will you find out" the mare asked. Blood Moon shrugged and trotted over to the bed she shared with Rainbowdash and sat next to her.

"Sit next to me, and relax." She did so. "Where did the dart strike?" She put her hoof on a spot on her neck, pointing out a minute speck on her that was the point of penetration of the dart.
"Hold still" he instructed.

"W-what are you going to do" she asked timidly.

"I'm going to both, extract what is bound to be any leftover toxin and find out if there's anything dangerous in there." Fluttershy squeaked.

"How?" Blood Moon smirked.

"It's best if I don't say" he told her. Fluttershy squeaked in fear, clenching her eyes shut and laying her neck next to the assassin. Said killer then took an awkward look around the room; all eyes were on him and Fluttershy. He shrugged and put his mouth to her neck; he felt Fluttershy tense slightly as his lips met her fur and start sucking gently as he drew the toxins into his own maw. He didn't get much, if any at all and instead lapped his tongue along the neck, tasting the faint residue. He pulled back and swilled the toxin around his mouth like a fine wine, getting a taste for it, before he swallowed it and studied the effects on his system. He glanced up momentarily and glimpsed Fluttershy with a tired smile on her face and a pink blush on her face. She then realised he was done and looked up at him, a bashful look on her face. It wasn't lost on the smirking assassin that there was no regret in there.

"What was all that" Twilight asked, interest in her tone and a pink blush on her checks. She noticed that Blood Moon seemed oblivious to the small moan that had emitted from the mare who's neck he'd just being sucking. She felt slightly jealous, but couldn't curb her curiosity.

"I was testing the poison" he said with a shrug. "It would have taken too long to do some kind of scientific testing, so it's a good job I know my poisons and toxins by taste."

"Then why'd you swallow it" Rainbowdash asks, who was close enough to notice him doing it. Once more, the assassin shrugged.

"I've trained my digestive system to build a resistance to poisons and toxins I ingest. It allows me to figure out what they might be for with the added bonus that it makes me immune to poison I eat or drink." he explains, before turning to Fluttershy. "Hmm, tastes like liquidized Sleeping tree root, amateur work. You're fine" he told her.

"But it wouldn't kill you anyway" Rainbow points out. Before he could answer, Twilight speaks up.

"That's something I was wondering about as well. Earlier you said that you had died before. What did you mean?"

"And why is there a mouse on your head" Dash adds.

"He's my assistant for the time being" he says, answering the Pegasus's question. "And I said that I was dead, because I had died." The room went quiet at that as they awaited his explanation. "When I'd 'died' I did so, going to purgatory to await my judgment. As my judgement is about to be made, my own magic pulls me out the whole process being immeasurably painful; think of it as though my horn was snapped off six times and each process was stretched over a century. Then, all said pain is crammed into a few seconds." Rarity and Twilight shuddered at the thought, while the other four and Spike could only guess. "Anyway, it's for that reason I prefer to avoid death, rather than wallow in my advantage."

"But why do yah need tah heal yerself?"

"Because I still feel pain; having a gaping hole in your side is not the most comfortable of situations. My magic pulls me from death and heals me to a fully repaired state, but, as I said, I'd have to go through extreme pain for that to happen."

"But then you let him kill you anyway" Twilight says. The assassin shrugs.

"It was worth it to see the look on his face" he retorts. "So, are any of you hungry?" His answer comes in the form of a few rumbling stomachs. "Fluttershy" he turns to said mare, who was still in her own little world, that pink blush lingering on her face. "Do you have any food around?" She snaps out of her stupor.

"Oh, um, no I was going to go out to day to do some grocery shopping but, I never got the chance to go out, sorry." Blood Moon shrugs.

"It's alright, I'll go out and get some stuff." Before any could object, he had already flashed out of the room. The six mares sat in silence for a while; Fluttershy curled up on her bed, Hunter, who had flown over to her, sitting next to her while she petted him, with Rainbowdash laying with her head resting on her hooves, which were being supported by the cushions on the bed; Applejack lay on her front with her hooves under body, while Pinkie Pie was sprawled out behind her; and Twilight and Rarity sat on Twilight's bed in the same fashion as Applejack. After a few minutes in companionable silence, Rainbow spoke up.

"So Twilight" she looked up at the mare she had addressed. "You and Blood Moon, huh" she said with a grin on her face. Twilight instantly blushed while Applejack and Rarity giggled into their hooves.

"Well, no…we, um…"

"Don't try and deny it Twi" Rainbow interrupted, now sat on her haunches with the same grin on her face. "We all saw you and him." Pinkie looked up, over her tummy.

"Saw what?"

"Oh yeah, you weren't awake were you. Well Pinks, you missed our very own Twilight Sparkle smoochin' Moon's face off" she told her, falling to laughs towards the end of her sentence.

"Knock it off, Rainbow. Come on, it's not like we're dating" she insisted. Rainbowdash laughed at her friend's argument.
"Sure looked like it, the way you two were sucking face" the Pegasus argued. Twilight's blush deepened.

"Rainbow! Please, h-he's a killer; you can't expect me to-"

"Oh Twilight darling, please, you can't fool us as much as you can't fool yourself dear. It's painfully obvious you don't see him as a simple friend, and if you ask me; I suggest you follow through with any intimate emotions you may have" Rarity said. Twilight looked on with her mouth agape.

"R-Rarity, what's that supposed to mean?"

"What I mean Twilight is that for all his gentlecoltly qualities, the stallion is quite the flirt and a very fine stallion at that." She giggled to herself in a way that slightly annoyed Spike. "Why, just the other day, the two of us were having a very" she fished for a word "stimulating conversation" she told them.

"Ah agree with Rarity on this one Twi; when the two of us were Applebuckin' the other day, he was bein' pretty flatterin'. Not tah mention the way he was actin' about it."

"Yeah" Rainbow joined in "and Fluttershy seemed to be getting into her 'toxin examination' just now." Twilight looked between her friends that had spoken.

"What are you all saying, that I should…go further with him or that he's been flirting with at least two of you?"

"No, what we're saying, darling, is that we think Blood Moon would be a perfect match for you" Rarity explains. Twilight gave her a confused look.

"What do you mean; a 'perfect match'?" Rarity rolled her eyes.

"You both have a deep interest in magic, Blood's is a little darker but all the same; you're both very intelligent; you both know Celestia somehow; he appreciates us just as much as you do; you both have an interest in magical oddities; and it's also obvious you both have a deep interest in each other" she finished with a wink.

"Rarity, that's hardly enough to start a relationship on" Twilight argued.

"Well, you didn't let me finish. Just think about what you offer each other in this; he's very protective, and if today's events were anything to go by, we may all need that;" they went a little quiet at that "you're interest in Equestrian history would be fulfilled with all the conversations you could have about it; he's obviously willing to do anything for you and just think what you offer him. He seems to be a very lonely pony darling, and you could be his answer to that problem. He also has a lot of love to offer" she giggled and shuffled in closer, whispering into her ear "in more ways than one" she said, causing Twilight to blush but offer no argument. "He's also got a lot of personality and plenty of stories to tell, I'm sure, so you'll hardly be bored. And his laid back personality will do wonders to balance you out whenever you get stressed."

"But-but he flirted with you all."

"Ya'll the only one that kissed him Twi" Applejack said. Twilight swallowed.

"What does it matter" she mumbled.

"WHAT DOES IT MATTER" Rarity and Applejack exploded at once.

"Twilight, you don't seem to understand that you may have found your special somepony" Rarity told her.

"Wait" Spike said, speaking for the first time, all attention in the room suddenly on him. "You mean Blood Moon was the stallion you were thinking about last night?" RD, AJ and Rarity all looked at Twilight with devious grins on their faces.

"Thinking about him while you sleep, huh" Rainbowdash accuses. Rarity and Applejack both giggled. "What" the cyan furred mare asks, curious about the joke.

"Notin', jus' thinking about what Twilight said when she told me 'n Rare about HOW SHE WOKE UP WITH HIM" she laughed, burying her face into the sheets she was laying on. Rainbowdash laughed with her.

"They slept together? Nice one Twi" she said.

"I-it's not like we did anything."

"Well what about the way he was, how did you put it, 'standing to attention' when you woke up" Rarity asks. Rainbow laughed into her hooves.

"Y-you mean he was…" she made some crude but appropriate gestures. Rarity nodded and Applejack laughed some more.

"Will you all please, KNOCK IT OFF!" Rarity And Applejack shut up immediately while Rainbowdash took a second to wind down from her giggles.

"Alright" she conceded, laying on her back. After a few seconds she started laughing again.

"Now what" Twilight demanded. Rainbow giggled some more before she spoke.

"Twilight and Blood Moon sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Rainbowdash" Twilight moaned as she buried her face in her sheets.

"I don't see what you're problem is Twi, if you like him why don't you just ask him out or somethin'? I don't get what your problem is" the Pegasus said. The unicorn mare looked away sheepishly.

"Because I…wait what?"

"What?"

"Y-you don't mind? I mean, my liking him?" Rainbow looked confused.

"Of course not, I don't care" she looked around the room "Pinkie, do you?" The pink mare shook her head, a happy smile on her face throughout the whole conversation. "Fluttershy?"

"No" she mumbled.

"Rarity?"

"Of course not darling."

"AJ?"

"Not a care in Equestria."

"Spike?"

"No…I guess not" he replied unsurely.

"See, nopony here minds. Why would we?"

"Because, I-I though…"

"Twilight, none of us mind who you decide to share your love with, just as long as you love him darling" Rarity told her, hugging her from the side. Twilight felt immeasurably comforted by this.

"Thanks girls, it's just…"

"What" Rainbow prompted.

"He said that he's worried about rushing this, so I don't know when I should say anything."

"How 'bout when you next see him, jus' let it all out" Applejack suggested.

"Yeah, and if he does anything to hurt you, we'll kick his flank" Rainbow reassured. Twilight smiled warmly at all of her friends. The six mares and one dragon then retire to sitting in silence, a small while passing, before they heard the downstairs door open and slam shut.

"Remind me to never buy anything from that cherry sales stallion" they heard the voice of Blood Moon say, sounding a little pissed.

"Why" came Sand Stalker's reply.

"Because he tried to charge me twenty-five bits for a single cherry" he told him, a snarl in his voice. Twilight couldn't help but wince at his temper.

"Say what?! What did you do?"

"Told him where to cram that cherry of his. Next inventory he takes will be a few light though" he said with a grin in his tone.

"You want me to pack this away; I think I heard the girls say your name up there." The elements of harmony could practically hear the assassin shrug.

"If you're offering, thanks." They then heard him climbing the stairs with a brief 'hey bear', who growled politely to him in response. Blood Moon entered the room to find all eyes on him as he entered. "Hey, heard you were talking about me." Rainbowdash giggled to herself.

"Yeah, I think Twilight want's to say something to you." The stallion frowned and trotted in further, looking at the purple mare.

"What's up?" Twilight didn't look at him and blushed slightly.

"Well, I was wondering if…" Blood Moon cocked his head to the side.

"Yeah?"

"Well, I just wanted to tell you that…"

"Aye?"

"That I think I might…" The assassin was beginning to look bored.

"Twilight, if you want to say something, just say it to me, don't be afraid to say it."

"I think I…" After trailing off again she growled to herself, threw her legs around Blood Moon's neck and pulled her lips to his in an effort to get her message across to him, closing her eyes as she ran her lips over his, their movements remarkably synced, before she pulled back and looked him in the eye, her hooves still around his neck. "I think I like you" she told him, pulling out the word 'love' at the last second. She tried to read the assassin's eyes as she awaited his response. He looked a bit blank.

'What do I say?'

"How in the buck do I know? What do you want to say?"

'I'll tell you what I want to do, I wanna kiss her right now and tell her how I feel.'

"Throw caution to the wind, huh? There's the Blood Moon I know. Y'know what?"

'What?'

"Just do it."

'Wha-'

Blood Moon looked into Twilight's purple orbs. What were his options? Play it safe and guarantee him and Twilight a longer relationship, but stretch this whole thing out to a, potentially, unbearable degree. Or throw caution to the wind and-

'Ah screw it; I'm an immortal assassin with nothing to live for anymore. TO THE WIND!'
Blood Moon pushed Twilight down against the bed, following her down like she had done to him, and planted his lips to hers. They kept the embrace going for ten, long seconds until they parted.

"Twilight, you remember what I was saying about not rushing anything?"

"Yeah."

"Well, I've fought by your side, fought with you, trained you, danced with you, kissed you on multiple occasions, slept with you and rescued you from power crazed guards. I think I can safely say we've been through enough together to say we won't be rushing anything. On that note, Twilight, would you like to throw caution to the wind and be my marefriend and I your coltfriend?" She smiled heartily and reconnected their lips, pulling him in with her hooves and daring to add tongue to their kiss, she moaned slightly and kept at it until she heard one of her friends clear her throat. She broke the kiss and looked at the stallion with a wide smile on her face.

"Consider the caution thrown." All around her, Twilight's friends cheered for the newly made couple, Hunter calling happily.

"D' ya'll need some time alone" Applejack asked with a grin on her face as Rarity hopped off the bed they had just made out on and trotted over to Applejack's bed, sitting on it with her and Pinkie Pie, giving the stallion and mare some room. Twilight cleared her throat awkwardly and got up, sitting on the bed as she was before. Blood Moon sat next to her with a bemused grin on his face as he looked around the room at all the mares that were smiling at him and Twilight. That was until a voice called from downstairs.

"Blood Moon get down here, I ain't cooking for any of you." Sand Stalker's message brought the stallion's mind back to the fact that some of the ponies in this room hadn't eaten today.

"Well I don't know what he's going on about; I cook about as well as Sweetie-Belle." Rarity actually gasped at that.

"I-I can make something, if that's ok with you" Fluttershy told them, as quiet as ever. The assassin shrugged.

"Sure, whatever, if you're up to it. That said; I can't cook to save my life" pause for laughs
"Sand Stalker refuses and I'm pretty sure that bear can't either, so we don't have many options" Blood Moon told her as he hopped off the bed, trotting over to the door and turning back to the room as he watched Fluttershy follow him over, before the stallion put his hoof to his maw and whistled for his bird who flew over to him and perched himself on his shoulder, before the stallion and mare trotted downstairs. The two passed by the bear and Sand Stalker, who both seemed locked in an epic dual across the chessboard; Fluttershy floated by, humming to herself, like nothing was amiss, while the assassin's and phoenix's gaze lingered on the two as they passed them. The two entered the kitchen, now fully stocked, and stood in the middle. "What is it with that bear? His manners are about as impeccable as Rarity's." Fluttershy gave a quiet giggle.

"Oh, Mr Bear is one of the most civilised critters I know. He's also one of the best chess players I know" she says as she goes through some of her cupboards and picks out a few ingredients and start preparing them. Blood Moon watches with vague interest.

"What are you making" he asks after fifteen minutes. Fluttershy glances around at him as she pulls out some carrots.

"Oh, just a salad" she tells him. The assassin watches from a short distance, analysing her movements with a trained eye: she was a little jerky, almost like she was paranoid and on edge.

"Fluttershy, are you sure you're ok, you seem a little…edgy." The mare looked around at him hesitantly.

"I-I'm just a little nervous" she told him.

"About what?" The mare 'squeed' to herself and turned back to her food preparations.

"Nothing" she squeaked out "just thinking about the stallion who just kissed my neck and now I can't seem to get off my mind. Ohh, why do my nether regions feel so funny" she whispered to herself, too low for even the assassin to pick up. Hunter, however, gave a confused 'huh'.

"Say something?" The mare blushed furiously.

"I-I-I was just saying that… you…should…go pick up the fillies" she told him, the lie not lost on the assassin but, with a glance at Hunter, he let it go, given the fact that she had a point. Looking at the clock, it showed him that school would be letting out its foals by now.

"Good point, I should get a move on" he admitted. Teleporting from the room, he left Fluttershy to herself and her cooking.

She peered over her shoulder to see the empty room, and the elderly stallion in the front room now dozing on the sofa, having finished his chess game with Mr Bear, who was nowhere to be seen. She paused for a single second before her left fore-hoof clamped over her marehood and started rubbing at it, biting her lower lip lightly as she rotated her hoof around her pink folds, making sure to touch her clit while she was at it; she stroked it softly and gently, the way she liked it, and made her favourite movements, causing her to let out a few groans. She decided she needed to get her other hoof involved; she rested her head on the counter and put her right hoof at her glistening, dripping hole; she moved her left hoof around her opening while her right went to her clit; flicking it, touching it, rubbing it vigorously. She took both hooves and put them at either side of her folds before she spread them apart, a low squeal emitting from her maw as she did it and a pleasured smile finding its way to her face, she slipped her right hoof in and pushed it in a little. Then, the mare started moving it up and down inside her, turning it slightly as she pleasured herself.

She pushed her hoof in slightly, as her other held her pussy lips open and caressed her pearl, and she stifled a moan before she started swirling again, feeling the moisture gathering down there; she pushed her hoof in further, moving it around some more, as she trust into herself. She kept it up for a while, more breathless moans slipping from her still smiling maw. But her hoof wasn't enough; she tried pushing her hoof further, but she couldn't reach, given her current angle so she removed her hoof and turned to the refrigerator and trotted over, pushing her hind-legs together so none of her juices fell from her pussy, making her flank cheeks push together. Fluttershy opened the door weakly with her hoof and peered through its content hoping to find what she was after, but she couldn't hold on for long and ended up holding herself with her hoof and crammed her other into her tight femness, moaning in satisfaction and relief, some drool running down the side of her mouth as she moved her hoof around inside her. Still hoofing herself, she looked around the refrigerator hopeful that Blood Moon had picked up-

"Oh, thank Celestia" she murmured to herself as she pulled out the cucumber. She closed the fridge door and floated over to the corner of her kitchen, hoof still between her legs, sitting on her sweating flanks with her hind-legs spread apart. Without a second's hesitation, she plunged the member shaped veggie into marehood with a lustful moan, a blush colouring cheeks and another small smile spreading over her lips. She gripped the natural sex toy in a vice like grip in her right hoof as she fucked herself with it; she was done with being gentle with herself. Now she wanted it hard. The yellow furred mare thrust her makeshift cock into her lustful cunt, pushing it deep and hard, imaging the slap of balls against her ass-hole as the make-believe stallion stood over fucked her vigorously. Her stabs continued, each one prompting a sharp squeal of pleasure from the mare, as she slowly slides down the side of the counter, ending up on her back with her right hoof still moving as she went. Fluttershy bit her lip, holding her left hoof to her mouth as her faceless stallion continued rutting her. She found herself looking up to where he would be stood over her; stood between her spread legs, moving his hips to do nothing but pleasure her, telling her how beautiful she was, how tight she was. She squirmed around some as some sharp bolts of pleasure shot up her spine; her left hoof reached up and she searched around for something else to penetrate her, eventually coming across a shaft shaped object. She gripped it in her sweating hoof and pulled it down, holding it in front of her face: a carrot. With a moan and a shrug, she moved her left hoof down her body and put the end of her newest improvised dildo to the tight ring of her ass; she pushed it in a little, teasing herself before she pushed it in with a high pitched squeal that was drawn out and pleasure filled. She groaned more frequently as she continued with her thrusts, moving her left and right hooves in intervals; she pushed the carrot in further than normal and squeed, her tongue lolling out and her right hoof tensing, accidentally snapping her cucumber in half. She gazed at the half-veggie in her hoof and thought about what to do with it; in the end she just crammed the other half in her marehood below the other half. Moving the carrot with her left hoof and the cucumbers around with her right, she came to one conclusion: it still wasn't enough. Her libido was fired up like a furnace and she knew that when she got horny, she got horny. Still on her plump flank, she sat on her kitchen floor, wondering how else she could satisfy herself; she knew Rarity owned one of the best toys she'd ever ridden, the infamous 'black bull' and that she had her own collection hidden below the stairs. She'd have gone for that already but with that mercenary sat in her living room, she may wake him up and find herself in a very awkward situation. She peeked out of the tiled room at him.

'Maybe that wouldn't be so bad…'

She quickly shook the thoughts from her head, knowing she'd likely freak him out rather than turn him on and prompting him to rut her vigorously, bending her over one of the counters with his great stallionhood in her as he fucked her senseless, touching her in all the right places and spreading her moist glistening walls with his raging, pulsing…she kept jabbing the carrot into her ass and moved the cucumbers inside her around some more, rotating them, thrusting them, using them to spread her lips and tease her clit. These thoughts weren't doing anything to help her; she had to get to the room beneath her stairs so she could find something to pleasure herself better. She stood up shakily, and trotted over to the front room, her erect wings useless to her now, with the veggies still inside her, shifting in her and causing her fore-hooves to weaken and make her face fall to the floor and hold her lush, sweaty plot in the air as they kept moving around in her soft, pink walls. She eventually makes it to the seemingly normal wooden door. She looks down at the potted plant and reaches down, the simple movement sending waves of pleasure through her as she moves her rear-legs around and unintentionally, technically, moving the rods around inside her. The pink mane mare picks up the pot and plant and looks at the small plate beneath it used to keep the water off the floor, and finds the key there. Taking it in her hoof, and having to forcibly restrain herself from fucking herself with that too, she takes it to a small wooden box and opens it to reveal three keys; she knew taking out the wrong one would make the box automatically seal for a day and block her attempts to get at her toys. Luckily, she'd chosen the key she knew she'd never forget; out of the pink, yellow and black key, it was the black, the only colour not on her body and her favourite colour to be in her. She placed the key in the lock and turned it, a sharp, overly loud 'click' following. Fluttershy squeaked and glanced over her shoulder at the sleeping stallion, thankful that he hadn't awoke, considering she would have to explain why she was holding her tail up in such a provocative manner and had a bunch of greenery in her love holes. She would have taken them out but, for some reason, the prospect of being caught like this turned her on, along with the sweat on her face, her juices on her hoof and the general scent of sex in the air. The yellow furred mare turned her head back to the now open cupboard and looked around inside; with a small smile, she took down the big, pink dick shaped rubber sex object that she had lovingly nicknamed 'ol' reliable', because it had never failed to make her cum. With a, muffled and excited squeal, she trotted over to her kitchen and sat in the same spot. With a stifled and disappointed moan she pulled the two halves of the cucumber out of her pussy before licking and sucking her juices off of the green shafts with her skilled tongue and lips, moaning slightly as she tasted herself, before putting them back up on the table. She took the pink dildo in her hoof and flicked her tongue along the tip before she ran her tongue up the length of it, pushed it into her maw and deep throated it, moaning slightly at the feeling of the veiny cock rolling between her lips and over her tongue, rolling the organ around it and swirling her wet muscle over it. She pulled the pink, rubber stallionhood from her maw, gasping slightly as she looked over it. She repositioned it in her hooves and looked for the small black switch on the base of the toy and flicked it to the on position.

Reliable instantly started vibrating in her grip as she lowered it to her marehood; teasing it along the lips of her inviting hole, she felt every individual movement through her wet, puffy mounds before she pulled back and slammed it into her dripping wet, tight, petite pussy, with a squeal only muffled by the biting of her own lip. She thrust the vibrating member into her and kept at it for a while, her juices dripping onto the floor beneath her. She wasn't bothered with any mess she'd made; she'd just clean it up later when she was done with the salads.

"Oh dear" she murmured to herself. She looked down at the member still thrusting into her and decided that, for the moment, this took precedent. She kept thrusting and pounding it into her. She looked over herself, again at where the stallion fucking her would be, and imagined different ponies there, changing with each thrust. Big Macintosh appeared for a while, his powerful legs and hips pumping into her; he was replaced by Luna, clad in a midnight blue strap-on that felt as good as the real thing, with a sultry grin on her face as she looked at the filly's squirming form as she fucked and pounded her relentlessly; she was replaced by Rainbowdash, one of her closest friends, who was wearing the same sex toy on her hips, as she humped her yellow and pink hole faster than anypony else possibly could; finally, the same faceless stallion as before reappeared. With each thrust he gained more details; it started with the fur, it was a deep grey like silver that shined with an unwashed and greasy shimmer and flowed lifelessly; next was his mane, it grew windswept, untamed and un-styled, the colour drinking in the darkness around it, his tail following suit in every respect; next the body mass of the faceless stallion was replaced with the toned and heavily scarred body, that glisten with sweat and grinded against her own as he thrust into her repeatedly; then came his eyes, those deep blood red eyes that she had thought so scary when she had first met him but now she saw as deep, knowing and soothing, though at the moment, they were nothing but something for her own to latch onto in her overwhelming lust; when his eyes were formed the rest of his face formed around them, that deep scar that now didn't look so ugly to her, his jaw bone that strangely reminded her of Rainbowdash's, his wrinkles that spoke volumes about the way he thought but formed a book that could be read by none and the rest of his features that made butterflies flutter through her stomach. And probably her womb. No wait, that was her approaching orgasm. The stallion above her started thrusting faster, concentrating on nothing but making her feel good; she felt pressure in her loins building up, alongside a massive heat and pleasure that slammed into her body, all over, all at once. She made her best attempts at clamping down on her deep lustful moan, but the sheer pleasure of being fucked so hard and the satisfaction that seemed to come with the thought of the battle hardened stallion sleeping with her soft little self, made her loose a small scream that she couldn't contain. In her post orgasmic bliss, she almost missed the call from upstairs.

"Hey Fluttershy, you alright" came Rainbow's voice. The mare took a second to gather herself before she replied.

"Yes, I'm fine" she called back breathlessly. This seemed to satisfy the cyan Pegasus as she made no more comments. Fluttershy looked down at herself, ol' reliable still vibrating inside her marehood. She gripped it with her hoof and pulled it out, cum and juices gushing from her opening and onto the kitchen floor, the carrot that was in her ass following. Huh, she'd forgotten about that. She closed her eyes softly with a small smile on her lips and a breathless sigh; she slides down to the floor, her legs still spread out and the dildo still in her grip. After a small while she got up, shaky as ever, and returned to her efforts in making her friend's salads. She looked down at the toy in her hoof and flicked her tongue over the tip, tasting more of her juices and her cum; she pushed the whole thing into her maw as she cleaned the toy off, enjoying her own taste and loving the feeling of a cock in her mouth. When she'd cleansed it, she glanced over her shoulder again, spotting nopony and grinned timidly to herself; she reached back and pushed the pink member back into her pink folds, feeling it vibrate inside her with another small moan. She pulled her hoof away, leaving the stallionhood inside her, and got back to making the food. Every now and then she would feel a prang of pleasure and her legs would fail her, causing her to almost fall to the ground and become a quivering mound of moans and pleasure. She didn't know why she did this; all's she knew was this was one of the phases of her sex drive: gentle, rough, orgasm, dirty. Right now, she had fucked herself and was still in her post orgasmic bliss and she wanted nothing more than to get a little naughty and if she had to stuff a fake, vibrating dick in her love tunnel and hold her tail up high, revealing herself in all her glory, in an attempt to flirt with disaster, then so be it. As she went about preparing her dishes her thoughts drifted to what she had been imagining but a few minutes ago; Blood Moon. She could only wonder what his reaction would be to her masturbating over him. She sighed heartily, pushing the thoughts from her head; she'd just watched Blood Moon ask Twilight out, and she'd said yes. She was happy for them of course, but she was a mare who could get very…excitable at times. Few were the stories when she managed to break out of her house when she was in heat. Her right hind-leg left the floor for a second as she felt another prang of pleasure rush through her system, her flank going up with it as it worked from her marehood, up her spine and hit the rest of her body, pushing another pleasured breath from her. She managed to put her leg down and get back to work. She searched for the last addition to her and her friend's salads but couldn't find it. She put a hoof to her chin, biting on the tip of it as another smaller wave of ecstasy washed through her, and looked around for-

"Ah, there…oh, um, uhhh" she had found her desired veggie but it had been the one she'd put in her femness but a minute ago. Holding both sides of the cucumber in her hooves, she had yet another dirty though. Putting both pieces below her dripping marehood, she managed to catch a few drops of her juices on them before she cut them up masterfully and added them to the salads. She looked back to the puddle and bit her lip; she couldn't leave it there, somepony might slip in it…and find out what it was. She grabbed a cloth and soaked it under the tap before she cleaned it up, holding the cloth in both hooves and swaying her flank for her imaginary audience as she mopped up the stains. Done with removing the evidence, she put the bowls of salad on her back and wings and trotted for the stairs. She paused as she passed her room under the stairs and turned her head back at her flank. Fluttershy slid the food off her back and onto a nearby table before she sat on her plump rump and pulled the cock out with some breathless and pleasured groans and grunts accompanying each inch.
Having pulled it out, and cleaned it in the same way as before, she put it back in the cupboard and lifted the bowls back onto her back and closed the door with a sultry and confident sway of her fine plot and trotting upstairs with some healthy sway added to her flank, her eyes sexy and half-lidded and a small, suggestive, smile on her lips. Trotting into her room she was met with a few questions.

"Fluttershy, there you are. What took you so long" Twilight asked with some concern in her voice.

"Yeah, what was with that scream we heard" Rainbowdash adds.

"Oh, it was nothing, I just forgot Sand Stalker was down there and he scared me, I hid from him for a little while" she told them, hoping they wouldn't clock that she had screamed after, most of the wait. Rainbowdash looked at her with a raised eyebrow, suggesting something didn't sit right in her stomach, but shrugged anyway.

"Oh, alright" Twilight says, apparently pleased with her answer "anyway, it sure looks like it was worth the wait." Fluttershy smile graciously.

"Thank you Twilight, now eat up everypony. A little bit of my love is in every bowl."
______________________________________________________________________________

Blood Moon stood before the school house and awaited the three fillies. He had been waiting for fifteen minutes, Hunter perched on his shoulder. The two had drawn some pretty amusing looks from the parents and passers-by, some staring in awe at the bird of fire, others in fear and confusion at the assassin. Said killer was beginning to wonder what the holdup was, pretty much all of the other fillies and colts had been picked up by their parents already and he was the only one to still be here, he hadn't even seen the three fillies he was here for. At first he had thought it was because the foals did trust or like him, but with his visit to Sweetie-Belle the other day he could only assume she at least liked him. He frowned as he wondered where they could be, casting his gaze to the floor in thought as he scratched the phoenix's head.

'Maybe they're in some kind of after school thing that Fluttershy didn't know about. Hmm, wonder what she got up to when I left, she seemed eager to get rid of me. Ah colt, I hope I didn't do anything to upset her. Last thing I want to do is get on her bad side, even I know the stories about that grand galloping gala a few years back.'

The assassin lifted his gaze slightly as he felt a presence behind him, narrowing his eyes as he did so.

"What is it Ditzy" he asked as he turned to said mailmare; there she was, grey fur and blond mane and tail. She wasn't alone Dinky stood with her, hiding with, tearful eyes behind her big sister's legs and, of all ponies, Doctor Whooves stood next to her. The two stood and watched each other, both set of bespoke eyes gazing at each other, Blood Moon with narrowed eyes and an intimidating stare while Ditzy wore a fearful look on her face, trying to steel herself under Blood Moon's glare.

"What are you doing here" she asked timidly "I didn't know you had any foals." The assassin didn't change his facial expression.

"I don't, I'm picking up three fillies for a friend. Not that it's any of your concern" he added.

"Listen Blood Moon, I don't know why you-"

"Because you didn't trust me. If your trust went as deep as your suspicions, maybe it would have worked out, but you didn't trust me, did you, so it didn't work out. Move on" he told her before he glanced at Whooves. "Or maybe you have already" he said as he put two and two together. "I wondered if I'd see you again" he murmured.

"I believe Ditzy is trying to bridge the gap between you" the odd stallion told him. "I suggest you listen to her-"

"Don't tell me how to run my life. I-" He stopped when he felt a presence close by him. He looked down to see Dinky looking up at him with wide and wet eyes that didn't faze the assassin one bit, her lower lip was wobbling and her ears were pushed down against her head. Blood Moon looked straight down at her. "What is it kid?"

"Mr Blood Moon, why did you leave my mom? I thought you loved her" she told him. Blood Moon lowered his head to her. "I-I thought you loved me. We were going to be a family together." The assassin grunted dismissively.

"Rule one of life kid: never assume when it comes to love. Same way you shouldn't have thought I loved her. Same way you shouldn't have assumed I even wanted a family" he stood up "same way I shouldn't have assumed she trusted me." Ditzy looked like she was about to cry but also looked enraged.

"I did trust you! You're the one who went and slept with Pinkie Pie and practically made out Vinyl right in front of me" she argued. Blood Moon grunted.

"No. You think I had sex with her, when I didn't, I just slept with her, and we weren't even in the same bed. You. Just. Assumed." He narrowed his eyes further and leaned in threateningly. "And Vinyl, the key word is 'practically'. Nothing happened between us, but, y'know, I should probably thank Vinyl for making a move; it showed me your true colours.” Ditzy glared.

‘My true colours? What about you? Somepony who goes around flirting so blatantly with other mares!” Blood Moon raised an eyebrow in condescending confusion before he grunted out a laugh.

“‘Blatantly flirting,’ huh? How is reminiscing old times and asking about her marefriend flirting with her? We’re friends Ditzy, Vinyl may be somewhat sultry but I’m not one to betray those i hold close to my heart.” The mailmare gritted her teeth.

“You betrayed me when you were so intimate with her” she hissed. The assassin cocked his head.

“Ditzy Doo, what colour are we?” She blinked in confusion at such a question.

“I-what? We’re grey” she replied. The assassin narrowed his eyes and nodded.

“Aye, we are. Neither white nor black, I.E not an absolute. I may be an all too charming wise-crack, but I’m not somepony who just goes and abandons loyalty like that. There is an in between state of lover and friend, and I count Vinyl amongst those in my life.” Blood Moon shook his head. “Perhaps I appreciate the female form more than you agree with, but before you question my apparent libido you should remind yourself where my heart lies” he told her. Ditzy just glared.

“I’ve never heard so much…” she remember the filly stood behind her fore-legs “rubbish come from one mouth before” she told him spitefully. Blood Moon just shook his head.

“I should thank Pinkie Pie for stabbing me in the side y’know. If she hadn't, I wouldn't have run into you and broke up with you." Ditzy took a step back, her expression showing her hurt, her tears threatening to spill as he formed his words.

"You're a monster" she told him. The dark stallion leaned back and smirked.

"I'm an assassin. And you're a fool to think you could try and bridge this gap, what did you think this would achieve? There is nothing between us anymore. I told you I didn't want to see you anymore…make sure I don't." Ditzy looked even closer to tears, but instead she steeled herself. Blood Moon went to turn away from her.

"You're not even going to try, are you?" The assassin turned back with a cruel smirk on his face.

"Why would I even want to mare? You're not even worth my unlimited ti-" Her hoof had raised and struck him across the face, slapping him hard, cutting off his sentence and throwing his head to the side, Hunter squawking a pissed off squawk as he fluttered from the assassin’s shoulder in a fluster, the mouse in his mane hanging on for dear life as he was almost flung from Blood Moon’s head.

"Not even worth your time? I was worth your time when I was being raped, and when I was sad and vunr-" His hoof had flashed and struck her back, a nasty snarl on his face as he did. Ditzy was thrown off her hooves and landed in a sobbing pile, Dinky gasping and galloping after her, hugging her and weeping with her. Doctor Whooves narrowed his eyes at Blood Moon and squared up to him; the assassin just laughed at him and shoved him away before flashing behind him and tripping him up before teleporting back to his original spot, shaking his head, bemused with the good Doctor's pathetic attempts at protecting Ditzy.

"I told you once I don't want to see you, now I don't want to know you. Go on an adventure or something, just whatever you do, do it away from me" he told her venomously, trotting away.

"You son of a bitch" she called after him.

"My mother was a whorse" he called back without looking, listening Ditzy fall into even deeper sobs as Hunter landed on his shoulder again, the mouse clambering back into his mane. He trotted away from the trio and entered the Ponyville school house.

Inside, he discovered Applebloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie-Belle, alongside the teacher he had come across on his last visit and two other fillies he didn't recognise. He looked at the two he didn't know; the one furthest from the door had pink fur; a light violet and white mane and tail; wore a diamond tiara atop her head and one her flank; and had light blue eyes that he absolutely hated. The one closer to the door had light grey fur; a silver and grey mane and tail, the mane of which was braided and kept in a purple band; she wore a pair of light blue glasses and pearls around her neck; she had a silver ornamental spoon on her flank; and had dark violet eyes that brought the same reaction from the assassin as the other filly's did. He was sure he was going to absolutely love these two. He seemed to have trotted into a scolding and, with a brief glance at Hunter, decided to watch unnoticed from the doorway.

"What do you girls have to say for yourself" the mare the assassin had met on his last visit here asked. Blood Moon looked at the mare; same deep purple fur, same green eyes and two tone pink mane and tail. She still had her cutie mark showing three flowers with smiles on them. Cheerilee. She sounded annoyed at something, the three fillies Blood Moon liked looking down in shame while the other two didn't seem to care about what had happened. The mare looked at them all. "Well" she prompted.

"We're sorry Miss Cheerilee, it's just…" Sweetie-Belle spoke up, but trailed off. It was at this point the killer noticed the small bruise on her right fore-leg; he recognised it as an amateur 'dead leg'.

"These losers we're saying mean things about my daddy" the pink one said. "She" the filly pointed at Sweetie-Belle "was saying that he was helping somepony take over Ponyville and wanted to get rid of everypony." Cheerilee gave Sweetie-Belle a 'don't be silly' look.

"Well that's no excuse to start hitting her" she scolded.

"They started it" the grey one protested. Cheerilee looked at the three pointedly.

"Is this true" she asked them. All three of them looked like they couldn't believe what they'd just been asked.

"No way" Scootaloo exclaimed "Diamond Tiara started it! Me and Applebloom found her and Silver Spoon beating her up when we got there. We were just standing up for her!" Cheerilee shook her head.

"Well that wasn't the right thing to do, you should have come and found me, or another adult" she told them. Sweetie-Belle held her injured leg with a look on her face that would make the devil himself want to just scoop her up and hug her, telling her it would be all okay. Before any of the fillies could protest, Blood Moon spoke up.

"And what good would have that have done? If Applebloom and Scootaloo had rushed for help its most likely Sweetie-Belle would be in a much worse condition than she is now." Cheerilee and the foals looked over at where the assassin was stood. When the teacher saw him she almost lost face, but managed to get it back before anypony but Blood Moon could notice.

"Oh, mister Blood Moon, it's you. Why are you here" she asked before she glanced at the fillies in attendance. "No, can it wait; as you can see I have a disagreement that needs seeing to here." Blood Moon stepped further into the room.

"I'm actually here to pick up those three" he said, motioning at the three fillies he liked. Cheerilee looked at them before she looked back at the assassin with a frown.

"I'm trying to settle a dispute between Sweetie-Belle, Scootaloo, Applebloom, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon here. I'm afraid I can't let you take them yet." The assassin sighed and stepped in further. Cheerilee frowned again. "Are you even related? I'm not authorised to let somepony not related to a foal take them home." Outwardly, the assassin frowned in confusion, but inwardly, he flinched; how could he have looked over such an obvious detail? Of course the school didn't let foals get picked up by ponies who weren't kin to them. He had to think of something to fool the teacher, maybe claim to have a relation to one of them. He looked at the three fillies, deciding what ruse to go with. With a slight, confused grin shot at Cheerilee, he made up his mind and answered.

"Sure, I'm Scootaloo's dad" he said nonchalantly. The whole room went silent; the two fillies he didn't like staring at him, along with Cheerilee and Scootaloo, while Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle were staring at Scootaloo. Scootaloo almost looked like she was about to cry, or do something else to blow his cover, until the dark stallion winked at her, sending a subtle message. The filly blinked and smiled.

"Yeah it is him, I just didn't recognise him with the…" she trailed off, looking for something about him, Blood Moon acting to scratch his face but discreetly pointing out his scar. "The scar, you didn't have that when you left." She got out of her chair and cantered over to him, hugging his chest. "Are you ok? Did it hurt" she asked in a way that either demonstrated some pretty impressive acting skills or a longing to actually say these words. Blood Moon smiled and hugged her back.

"Nah, nothing daddy can't handle" he assured, rubbing her back. He looked over her head at her wings. "How's the flying coming along?" The filly looked back at her wings.

"It's…getting better" she said hesitantly. "Rainbowdash has been helping me out" she told him. The assassin nodded.

"This…Rainbowdash, she's been helping out my little Scoots?" Said filly nodded. "I'll have to thank her" he said. Cheerilee look on with slight tears in her eyes as she watched father and daughter reunite. She cleared her throat and shook away her tears, pulling herself out of her stupor.

"Well…I-I… as heart-warming as this is" she sniffed a little "I-I must ask you where you've been." Blood Moon looked up.

"Busy, I'm a mercenary. I've been earning a living to keep me and my family's head above water. As you can probably guess, I have to stay out of town for extended periods of time. But now I'm going to be sticking around for some time" he looked down and kissed the top of Scootaloo's head "and finally spend some time with my family." Scootaloo gave an excited squeal and hugged him tighter.

"Then what were you doing with Ditzy Doo?"

"I was running an errand for a friend, she'd been having some trouble as of late and I was protecting her."

"Oh, right." Blood Moon looked down at Scootaloo with a grin on his face before he remembered what he had interrupted. He looked up with concern in his expression.

"You said something about 'a dispute' didn't you?" Cheerilee nodded. "Then by all means" he said, lifting Scootaloo onto his back "tell me." Cheerilee nodded again, before she frowned.

"I mean no disrespect but, I can't really see the family resemblance" she commented. Blood Moon looked up at his 'daughter' and frowned. He looked at the filly, who looked down at him, and took in her appearance and compared it to his own. He looked back at Cheerilee.

"You kiddin' me?" He pointed to their wind swept manes. "You can't see the resemblance" he asked, pointing at their similar jaw bones. "Come on, she's even got my muzzle" he said, pointing out their, coincidentally, identical noses. "Her mother was a Pegasus, beautiful mare, everypony always said she didn't look like she was mine. They found out how similar our hooves looked" he told her. Cheerilee put a hoof to her chin.

"I-I guess I can see it. Anyway, you wanted to know what was going on." The assassin nodded.

"I did, I wouldn't be a responsible parent if I didn't take note of all the scraps my girl and her friends got into now, would I?"

"Yes, well. I found these three in a fight earlier today, both parties claiming the other started it."

"I already said; it was these losers. The blank-flanks were accusing my daddy of helping somepony takeover Ponyville, and wouldn't stop-"

"So your solution was to start throwing your weight around and hit Sweetie-Belle? The apple doesn't fall very far away from the tree, it seems." Diamond Tiara gasped.

"What's that supposed to mean." Blood Moon narrowed his eyes.

"What I mean is that you seem to be just as much of a-" Hunter batter the assassin around the head, prompting him to glance at the young ears around the room "horror, as your dad. I can see you the family resemblance between you two, that's for sure." Cheerilee gulped.

"Now now, let's be civil." Blood Moon rounded on her.

"Of course" he said, mock civility in his tone. "Now, as teacher, it falls to you to decide what punishment will befall these fillies" he told her. She nodded her head in agreement.

"Yes, quite right. From what I can tell, Sweetie-Belle sparked this powder keg with her…baseless accusations." The assassin frowned but said nothing. Cheerilee put a hoof to her chin as she thought. "I expect to see you all, everyday, after class for the next four weeks." Blood Moon blinked and looked at her disbelievingly.

"Hold up, Sweetie-Belle said some things, yes, but it was Diamond's bright idea to go from pushes to shoves." Cheerilee narrowed her eyes at the stallion.

"But cause and effect-"

"Cause and effect be damned, there's a difference between a word and an action. Surely you know that, being a teacher." Cheerilee advanced on him.

"You expect me to go easy on them just because of a technicality?" The assassin didn't back down.

"Is a robber given the same sentence as a mass murderer?" Cheerilee snarled her lip slightly.

"Fine" she exclaimed, trotting away from the stallion and throwing her hooves in the air "everypony gets off Scott free, happy now?" Blood Moon snorted.

"No, I'm not, because Sweetie-Belle here" he trotted over to her and held her injured leg in his hoof, looking over it and making an example of it to Cheerilee "has a nasty bruise on her leg, and you seem quite happy for her" he pointed at Diamond "to get away with it."

"I'm not happy with it at all, you're just making impossible to put down any type of discipline."

"Wrong, you just don't seem to get who's innocent and guilty here. Sweetie-Belle said something regrettable and you're willing to give her a months' worth of detention just for that. You telling me you've never thrown a few insults around every now and then, she's the victim here, damnit. Scoots and Applebloom stood up for her, a good deed, and you want to punish them for that? Those two" he pointed at the now cowering Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara "are the ones who thought it would be fun to start hurting her. If you ask me, the educational system here is messed up!" With that last remark, Cheerilee looked to be on the verge of tears. She looked between the two groups of ponies and took a calming breath.

"F-fine! Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon." Said fillies looked at her with a worried look on their faces. "I expect to see you here after school for the next two weeks, you can go today but I expect to see you tomorrow." Both fillies gave a 'what' and a 'you're kidding' respectively. Diamond looked at Blood Moon, who glared at her.

"Just wait 'till my daddy hears about this" she exclaimed. The assassin grinned menacingly and leaned in, prompting her to re-adopt her look of fear. Cheerilee motioned for the two he didn't like to leave.

"I look forward to it." He leaned up with a grin and looked up at Sweetie-Belle and
Applebloom, who looked at him in ways that just said 'awesome!' The assassin looked over at Cheerilee, who had retired to sitting behind her desk looking miserable. He suddenly regretted being so forthright. "Let's go girls, your sisters are waiting."

He and the fillies trotted out. Once outside he almost fell to laughing at Cheerilee's gullibility, but when he turned back to the door to the school, he saw the teacher looking like one of the saddest mares he'd ever seen. With a sigh, he lifted Scootaloo off of his back and turned back to them.

"Give me a second will you" he said, the fillies give a bright smiled nod in unison. The assassin trotted into the door and found the classroom eerily quiet. "Cheerilee" he said to the mare who looked up at him with misery painted on her face.

"What is it? Forget something" she asked bitterly. "Or maybe you'd like to continue to make fun of my profession and talent?" Blood Moon sighed and trotted over to her, grabbing a chair with his magic, flipping it around and straddling it, looking at the mare.

"Look, I don't say this very often but, I'm sorry. I…I was a little harsh against you, I know for a fact you must be a good teacher, if you weren't you wouldn't be one at the moment would you." Cheerilee looked up and gave him a sad smile.

"Thank you, but the problem is not what you said, but the fact that it's true" the assassin raised an eyebrow "what you said about not knowing who's innocent and guilty? It's not that I didn't know, it's that I couldn't do anything direct to Diamond Tiara, or Silver Spoon considering her company." Blood Moon cocked his head to the side.

"What do you mean?" The mare shrugged.

"What I mean is, Diamond Tiara is Filthy Rich's daughter, and he's the school's only sponsor." Blood Moon frowned.

"Only sponsor?" She nodded.

"Yes."

"But shouldn't the school board have to take care of that sort of stuff?" Cheerilee huffed.

"The school board doesn't pay for that sort of thing, let me put it to you like this; they pay my wages and they paid for the school. The upkeep, the facilities, hay, the benches outside? All are provided by the sponsors we have and any charity we can get. It's because of that I can't really make any real move against those two, and yes, I do know what little horrors they can be" she admitted. Blood Moon nodded before he frowned and looked up at Cheerilee.

"Why are you telling me this? I'm not objecting or anything, just curious." Cheerilee gave him a weak smile.

"You stood up for your daughter, and you look like the kind of stallion I can trust." Blood Moon smirked.

"I'll have to work on that" he muttered. "Why did he even get involved? What's in it for him?" Cheerilee grunted.

"It gives him good PR, so instead of being seen as the big business that makes pots of money he's the hero that has infinite generosity."

"Sounds like they're confusing him with Rarity" he commented. Cheerilee nodded before she continued.

"I dread to think of what Filthy will do now, last time I tried to give Diamond a detention he cut our funds for a month. I almost had to close the school" she told him. The assassin put a hoof to his chin; he didn't have an unlimited amount of bits so…no scratch that, he sort of does; after ten thousand years of performing high risk, and high pay, assassinations, living on the job and in the sticks and eating at odd intervals had allowed him to amass a hefty fortune. Coupled with his vastly out of place amount of knowledge of the stock exchange, gained from a few experiments that told him when and where to put his cash for maximum effect, he was technically one of the most wealthy and influential ponies in equestria. A thought crossed his mind.

'Why in Tartarus not?'

"Say, Cheerilee, I'm not trying to win any points here, I know that when my Scoots does wrong she needs to know what she did wrong. I'll tell you what; tell me what to do, and you'll have yourself a new school sponsor" he told her. The mare looked up and blinked.

"You'll…what?" The assassin grinned.

"I'm not greedy, and I know a worthy cause when I see one. You love your work and the foals you teach, you deserve it." The mare blinked once before she leapt over her desk and wrapped the stallion in a violent hug.

"Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou! You have no idea how much that means to me" she exclaimed. Blood Moon smiled.

"I have a good idea" he told her "now, if you'll excuse me, I have a daughter and her friends to get home" he said. The mare got off him and helped him up, a pink blush on her face when she realised what she had just done.

"Scootaloo is a lucky girl to have a father like you" she told him. The stallion smirked lopsidedly and shrugged.

"I prefer to say I'm lucky to have a girl like her" he said. Nodding his farewell and trotting out of the door, he found the fillies waiting for him. They looked up at him as he approached, trotting over to him, Scootaloo stopping a little closer than the rest.

"Where were you?"

"What were you doing?"

Scootaloo didn't ask him anything; she just stood before him looking up at him with wide, conflicted eyes. He ignored the others questions for now and concentrated on the orange furred filly before him.

"Why did you say that I was your daughter?" Blood Moon didn't shrug; he just looked down at her.

"I needed something to get you out of there. I…hope you don't mind." She looked close to tears as she shook her head.

"No" she told him, before she managed to shake her tears away and look back at him with a more casual look on her face. "No, it's fine. Don't worry about." The assassin hummed and nodded, using his magic to put the orange filly onto his back. Trotting back and explaining what had happened, getting a few gasps in response, he trotted back to Fluttershy's place. All three of them looked eager to get to their sisters and by the time they had gotten within sight of the small cottage, they had taken to galloping for the animal caretaker's home. They burst through the door with a 'RARITY', 'APPLEJACK' and 'RAINBOWDASH' between them. Blood Moon guided them upstairs and where they found their respective big sisters and leapt onto them, all of them catching them out of the air and holding them close to their chests. Even Rainbow seemed not to care about the public displays of affection, given the circumstances.

The dark stallion watched from the doorway with a smile on his face. He looked around the room; Twilight was doing much the same as him, but was taping the spot on the bed besides her; Fluttershy was blushing hugely and refused to meet his confused gaze; and Pinkie Pie, as ever, had an impossible grin plastered on her face.
Nothing much more happened that day; the sisters hung out together; Pinkie was playing Blackjack with Spike; Fluttershy, for a reason the assassin still couldn't pin down,, still wouldn't look at the assassin, or from what he could tell, she was looking at him whenever he was looking somewhere else but looked away when he looked at her; Scootaloo seemed to be refraining from saying anything about the act Blood Moon had pulled earlier; Rarity had yet to start on her repairs to the assassin's things, much to his relief given the young here; Sand Stalker joined after a while, sitting on a chair next to the window and watching them all like a desert eagle; and Twilight wouldn't let him leave her side the whole time. By the time Luna had raised the moon, and they were winding down for the day, sleeping arrangements had already been established; Applejack, Applebloom, Rarity, Sweetie-Belle and Pinkie slept on Applejack's bed, the largest of the three, the sisters hugging their sisters lovingly; Fluttershy, Rainbowdash and Scootaloo slept on Fluttershy's bed, Rainbow holding Scootaloo like Applejack and Rarity held their sisters; Spike slept in his basket, which Blood Moon a fetched for him; Twilight and Blood Moon slept together, holding each other in their hooves, an act that drew no small amount of 'dawww's from the others in the room, even Rainbowdash and Scootaloo, Hunter perched on the bed post on Blood Moon's side while the mouse lay in a small bed made from some loose hay the assassin had found; while Sand Stalker sat in the hoof-chair he had brought from down stairs. Before long, light were out and the small family like group of ponies had fallen to sleep.

Laying low

Chapter seventeen: Laying low

Twilight Sparkle woke up first; covered by her bed's sheets, head resting on her pillow and comfortable in the hooves of Blood Moon. She ginned to herself; in the hooves of her coltfriend. She looked up at him, noticing that he seemed much more peaceful than when she had found him yesterday; he slept calmly, holding her gently, was breathing softly and had his head bowed against his chest, as though he was looking over her. She smiled softly and cozied up to him, holding him with her own fore-legs and nuzzling his chest. She had to ask herself; how had it lead to this? She'd known this stallion for six days, two of which she'd known him as nothing but a killer and none of which when nothing was really happening; Blood Moon was nothing if not a magnet for outstanding events.

She gazed over his scarred and wrinkled face; it struck her that her special somepony wasn't some handsome blue blood, she wasn't the type of mare to go purely on looks but with the type of attention she'd got in Canterlot (or at least, that’s what she'd been told she'd got, she'd been busy with and cooped up with studying all the time) she'd simply assumed that she'd be paired off with one of them sooner or later, not a heavily disfigured, immortal assassin.

Twilight looked up at her coltfriend; he knew the hardships of life, he was ready and willing to work, put others before himself, acted recklessly when his own safety was concerned but protected the one's he cared for.

The young mare smiled gently as she watched him breath, a thought crossing her mind. Was this love? She'd never experienced it like this after all, romantically, but it felt right. Instinctive. She felt at peace with him, despite their short time together. They merged together and felt too happy for this to not at least be the cusp of it.

Maybe she was being foolish. This was too soon, surely...but, as she felt him grip her tighter, she had to wonder what role time truely played here. So much had happened after all, it possibly didn't matter.

With a sigh, Twilight figured she needed advice, but also felt that a part of her didn't care so much.

At the very least, she was going to love him some day.

She felt Blood Moon move; she looked up as she watched him frown and murmur to himself, before his eyes blinked open; he squeezed them together against the rays of sunlight that had managed to creep through the curtains, casting cracks of light into the room, and yawned before he looked down at the mare in his grip, smiling upon sight of her. Her thoughts from a second ago still fresh in her mind, Twilight reached up and quietly pushed her lips to his, engaging him in the most passionate kiss she could muster and smiled back at the stallion that held her when her lips left his.

"Morning" he said softly, still sounding groggy. He held her closer, hugging her tighter, and kissed the top of her head.

"Morning" she replied, before yawning to herself and resting her head against his chest again. She listened to his heartbeat and felt his breath against her mane; she closed her eyes and relaxed against him for a few minutes. She noticed that she rather liked being held by him, it was comfortable, warm. Then it felt hot; she frowned as she felt a heat against her stomach.

"Ah, damn it" she heard the assassin quietly curse. She looked down to see the head of his member peeking between their stomachs, twitching slightly. The mare looked up at him, sighing sadly as she did, grinning and shaking her head at him.

"What am I going to do with you" she asked him. He shrugged with a small, sheepish, grin on his face.

"I could name a few things, but I'm fairly sure you'd slap me rather than go along with it" he answered. Twilight giggled and blushed slightly.

"Yeah, you may be right there" she told him, poking the tip of his stallionhood with her hoof, making its owner shudder slightly.

"Don't play with the hidden blade unless you want to get stabbed" he muttered, Twilight catching his muttered innuendo. She tapped his chest in playful punishment before she leaned into him again.

"Blood Moon."

"Yeah?" Twilight looked up at him, considering what she should say next.

"I…I. I'm…glad you asked me out." Blood Moon picked up on her hesitation but let it go. He smiled and hugged her tighter again.

"Me too." Twilight relaxed into his hold, but inwardly she cursed herself; when she had been younger she'd wondered what the adults meant by 'love is a dangerous word'. It was now she understood what they meant. She looked down at his stallionhood again.

"You should put that away" she nuzzled him again "we're not alone today" she added playfully. He grinned as he shifted his thoughts, frowning before he looked down.

"Huh, it ain't working" he supplied.

"Well get rid of it, I think the others are waking up" she told him, looking around. The assassin nodded and rolled away from Twilight, causing her to whine a little, and deprive his stallionhood of female contact. After a few seconds of tenting the sheets, it slowly went flaccid and hid away. "Are we gonna have to deal with that every morning" Twilight asked him, draping her left fore-leg over his chest as his own snuck under her and pulled her against his body.

"Depends on if we'd slept together the night before" he answered. The mare giggled and relaxed against him, settling into a companionable silence together. Before long, they heard the sound of the others waking up, a few scattered yawns and the grumbled sounds of an awakening pony following. "Alright" the assassin groaned "headcount. Who's up?"

"Morning darling" Rarity answered sleepily.

"Mornin' pardner" Applejack called, sounding just as tired.

"Mrgner" Rainbowdash mumbled.

"Morning" Fluttershy whispered.

"Good morning" Pinkie Pie sung, sounding way too awake for somepony who had just awoke.

"Morning" Sand Stalker growled out in Arabic.

"Rise with the sun, friend" Blood Moon called back, speaking the merc's native language.

"Morning" the cutie mark crusaders said at once, some sounding more awake than others.

"Hunter, you good buddy" the assassin asked his bird, who cawed in response. He then turned to the mouse. "How about you little guy?" The small black mouse sat on his haunches and nodded at him. "Spike, how 'bout you?". The drake snored, spluttered and jolted awake.

"Evil critters, trying to stuff me in a-…huh?"

"Morning Spike" Twilight said, leaning over the side of her bed, tussling his spines.

"Oh, hey, morning" he responded before he yawned and rubbed his eyes.

"Alright that's everypony" the assassin muttered, more for himself than the others. He stood up, causing Twilight to whine quietly again. "Ok, first things first; who can cook, besides Fluttershy you made food yesterday."

"I'll cook" Spike told him.

"Awesome" Blood Moon muttered in response, trotting over to the door. "We-scratch that-you can make breakfast and then we'll… I don't know, see how the day goes and react accordingly" he said as Spike padded over to him, still looking drowsy. Once the two had departed, Sand Stalker stood and, still looking like death, left them.

"Gonna get some air" he muttered as he left. None of them argued as they all sat in silence for a while, still waking up and getting the sleep out of their systems. Before long, Rainbowdash spoke up.

"So Twilight" she started with a grin "sleep well?" The bookish mare didn't let the question faze her.

"Why yes Rainbowdash, I slept very well, thank you" she answered. Applejack chuckled.

"With that colour in yer cheeks, Twi, ah don't doubt it" Applejack commented. Rarity giggled.

"I'll say, why darling, I've never seen you so radiant" she tells her. Twilight sat up and smiled at her friends.

"Thanks girls, I mean it, thanks. I gotta say, Blood Moon's really comfortable to sleep with" she told them. The mares giggled and the fillies looked at each other, blushes on their faces. They sat in silence for a while until Rarity spoke up again.

"Girls, if I may be so bold, I do believe we should wash ourselves" she said "after all, we did spend part of yesterday in the Everfree forest" she added. The mares in the room all subtly smelt themselves, agreeing with Rarity soon after. The Elements of Harmony, plus little sisters, all made their way to Fluttershy's bathroom; once there they set about cleaning each other off, Applejack cleaning off Applebloom; Rarity, Sweetie-Belle; and Rainbowdash, Scootaloo, the two of which acting more boisterously, Rainbow nuggying Scoots to clean her mane. After a while, the fillies and Rainbowdash decided that they'd had enough and dried themselves off, leaving the others to clean themselves.

Downstairs, Blood Moon was stood in the kitchen with Spike, watching the drake in an impressed awe as he moved around the room, picking out ingredients, bringing them to his workplace and slowly turning a bunch of different elements into perfect pancakes. He swore he could smell a faint…something in the air but couldn't put his hoof on it. While he was setting up the final touches to his breakfast, the dragon spoke up.

"So, uhhh, you and Twilight, huh?" The assassin looked the dragon in the eye as he glanced at him.

"Yes" he answered simply. Spike stopped with his preparations and turned to the dark stallion. He looked at him with little emotion in his gaze, but the assassin could see the glare hidden behind it. He cocked his head to the side. "Why, you have a problem with it?" The dragon didn't answer; instead he just kept on looking at him with that emotionless stare. Blood Moon leaned up off of the sideboard he had been leaning on and trotted over to the drake, Spike feeling the cold air gather around him as he got closer. "You're a dragon Spike, you live for yourself, which means you protect everything close to you; gems, mates and your friends. Twilight, Rarity, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rainbowdash and Pinkie Pie are all your friends, ergo, they are close to you. It's natural you'd want to protect them." He stopped but a meter away from the drake, who was now holding back a gulp. The assassin leaned in and narrowed his eyes. "My loyalty is seconded only by the love I hold for the ones close to me. I respect the dragons, ergo I respect you, but you must understand that Twilight is more than a simple friend to me now, and I plan to treat her as such. She is an element of harmony, the element of magic, she needs all the protection she can get; be it her dragon assistant or the assassin who is now her coltfriend." He backed off and sighed. "Listen, I don't need to make an enemy of you, nor do I desire to, so either we form a truce or things get awkward between us." Spike looked the assassin up and down; he didn't know exactly what he'd done but he knew it wasn't anything good, that said, Twilight trusted him, and he trusted his big sister/mother's judgment. With a slight hesitation, he held his claw out for him and the stallion took it, shaking it as they put aside their differences for the one they cared for most. The assassin gave a lopsided smile that the drake returned, hoof/claw bumping him as they disconnected. The stallion backed off after that, their peace made, and retired to the side of the room. After a while a thought passed through his head; he sniffed his leg-pit, smelling the-

'Did my muzzle just shrivel up and die?'

"…"

'Hey, you okay?'

"I'm pretty sure I just died."

'Screw you; they're your pits too.'

"Yeah, yeah; just get a shower before you kill some of the critters."

'Whatever.'

Blood Moon straightened up again, heading for the doorway. He looked back at the drake who was still cooking before he left him, heading for the bathroom; he trotted up and pushed through the door, stopping at the mirror and looking at it. He took to staring down the dark, buck ugly, stallion that looked back at him.

Off to the side, Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the Elements of Harmony stood in complete silence, watching the stallion trot nonchalantly into the bathroom and stare into the mirror with hatred in his expression, not noticing any of them. They watched as he ran a hoof over his stubbly chin and through his greasy mane, before he rested back on all four hooves and shake his head at his reflection disapprovingly.

"Note to self; stop dying...it's awful for my complection" he muttered to himself, smirking at his own joke slightly. He straightened up and sighed, turning on the tap and letting the water fall through; his horn glowed and an orb of water filled steadily in mid-air before it floated up over his head before he let it drop over himself.

In the tub, Twilight gulped at the sight of the soaked stallion; she knew that mares generally looked more attractive when wet (by ten present if her math was correct) but she had never expected to see a stallion in such a state. She had to admit; she didn't mind it. All around her, the other mares were having similar reactions; Rarity was blushing with wide eyes, full of desire, a line of drool running from her maw; Applejack was eyeing the stallion all over shamelessly, red hiding beneath her freckles; Pinkie Pie was looking at him with curiosity and other mixed emotions she couldn't put her hoof on, but definitely liked the way they made her tingle; while Fluttershy had started getting wet again and had to restrain herself from repeating yesterday's events. The animal caretaker, after yesterday's activates, was easily the most aroused of the five sat in her bathtub, letting out a small squeak as she watched the assassin tense and relax his muscles as he tried to release some tension.

He blinked when he heard the noise, looking up and slowly, hesitantly, he turned his head to the point he'd heard the small noise originate from and spotted all five sopping wet mares, still fresh from the shower they were in the process of taking and blushing heavily. He looked over their shimmering, glistening bodies and felt the heat run to his loins, his member standing to attention at the sight of five of the most highly attractive mares he'd ever seen but a meter away from him. His cock twitched in the direction of the bathtub, where it knew it could find some company as he tried to form words but his erection was hogging all the blood, turning his thinking power to doing little more than just staring at them.

"B-Blood Moon" Twilight asked, hoping they hadn't broken him somehow. The stallion swallowed and his lower jaw hung open.

"I...I should really do the gentlecoltly thing and leave, but I REALLY don't want to" he told them, drool running from his own maw as he continued to stare at them. It was the same as a deer in the train-lights; none of them could do anything, none of them could think or react. They just stood there, staring at one another; though, to be more accurate, the mares were taking in his well-endowed member, while he was wishing one or two of them were turned around, then again, the old 'wet look' had always been a bit of a weakness for him. Their respective silence continued until Rarity spoke up.

"Well, why don't you join us, darling?" Every set of disbelieving and wide sets of eyes were instantly on Rarity, the mares giving her a 'WHAT' look and the stallion impressed with her bluntness. Rarity looked around at the mares she called friends. "It's the least we can do after all he's done for us" she insisted.

Applejack had a look on her face that argued with the seamstress but, ever the terrible liar, everypony could see through it; Fluttershy had a cute pink blush on her face but made sure to offer no argument; Pinkie Pie was, as ever, grinning impossibly at the whole situation, either oblivious to the situation or quite pleased with the idea of bathing with a stallion.

Twilight was glancing between Rarity and Blood Moon with a split mind, on the one hoof she agreed with her friend wholeheartedly and wanted her coltfriend to jump in the tub with them right now so she could show just how much she appreciated what he was doing for her and her friends, but on the other hoof, she'd rather it was just him and her in here. The assassin was still trying to comprehend what he'd just been asked.

"Please, please, please, please, please, please, PLEASE say yes. If you don't I'm gonna tear you apart from the inside."

Blood Moon was, admittedly, leaning towards complying with Rarity and joining five of the most beautiful mares in existence but his first move was to glance at Twilight. She caught his look and looked down in thought; she bit her lip and glanced up, nodding at him as she did. The dark stallion grinned and nodded back at her, graciously, and trotted slowly over.

"Well, if you insist" he answered. In response Rarity and Applejack grinned, Fluttershy's blush intensified and Pinkie Pie's giant smile turned playful. Twilight looked like she was a mix of Rarity and Flutershy's expression, grinning and blushing. The five mares made room for the assassin, watching as he climbed in, before theytook positions; Rarity sat behind him, leaning on the back of the bath with the stallion between her leg, rubbing his shoulders and back. Twilight sat on his hard stomach, moving her soaped up hooves around his chest, his still erect stallionhood mere inches away from her plot. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie and Applejack took his hind-legs, neither of which minded because Applejack could now admire his powerful muscles and Pinkie Pie because she found herself not minding what she got, just as long as she got to be in the same tub as him.

Fluttershy was left with his lower torso…and staring at his cock.

The mares took to washing him off, some giggling, most blushing, all a little wet (and not from the bath water) and Twilight making idle conversation while she sat on his front and scrubbed his chest.

"You girls are too kind to me" he groaned out in relaxation as he felt his tense muscles unwind after a few days of battle, espionage and little chance to rest. Behind him Rarity, who was demonstrating some damn good skill in massaging, smiled warmly.

"Well, everyony deserves a little pampering. And as I said, it's the least we could do. After all, your muscles are so tense I'm surprised you could walk, never mind fight or even go shopping yesterday" she said, kneading her hooves into his shoulder and upper back, causing him to growl in satisfaction and lean his head back onto her, looking up at her as she looked down.

"You're good at this" he complemented, really getting into this and melting into her. Above him, Twilight grinned as she watched the assassin turn to putty in their hooves; she continued moving her hooves over him, as he did the same with his own, washing off his marefriend's chest. Twilight caught his eye and held his gaze with a grin on both their muzzles as she moved her efforts lower down his body and closer to her own, leading his gaze to her marehood where he couldn't rip it away, making Twilight blush cutely and prompting Rarity look at the bookish mare, who felt her gaze and looked up at her to catch her wink. Behind Twilight, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were moving their soaped up hooves up and down the stallion's hind legs, getting dangerously close to the throbbing, twitching stallionhood. The whole thing; massage on his back, marefriend on his front and hooves getting too close to his stallionhood, did nothing to kill the boner that he had been vainly trying to kill.

It wasn't something the assassin was used to, this kind of attention and TLC, a mistkae on his part he mused.

'I have spentfartoo long away from the company of the fairer sex.'

Fluttershy, however, was still sat between his legs, the space between her own growing extremely moist, was still staring at the assassin's member, stock still and silent; her lower jaw was hung low with no chance of being raised, a trail of drool running from her maw. She felt her mind wandering; wondering what the stallionhood in front of her tasted like, wondering what it would feel like in her maw, imagining her lips moving around it and its owner groaning and her friends around her gasping and…wait, she wasn't imagining this.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie had seen it first, the butter yellow caretaker leaning forwards, her tongue peeking out and a strand of saliva dripping from it and onto the big, black stallionhood in front of her. She nudged Twilight's damp tail out of the way, and act that attracted her attention just as her hot and steamy breath hit his hard wanting penis. Twilight had turned and spotted Fluttershy just as she wrapped her wanting lips around his dick. This prompted a surprised gasp of pleasure from Blood Moon, a shocked gasp from Applejack and Pinkie, a whispered 'oh my gosh' from Twilight and a moan of pleasure from her that sent erotic vibrations through his stallionhood.

The mare closed her eyes as she bobbed her head up and down, taking him in, moving up, suckling on his head and going back down to deep throat him again. As her friends watched in silent disbelief, she used her hooves to stroke herself as she wrapped her tongue around his rod, moving it up and down around him as she continued to suck him off. The assassin was beginning to relax into this whole ordeal, which surprised him but he wasn't going to argue against. That was until he realised Twilight was still sat on him. The mare in question looked back at the stallion, her with eyes that were wide and dazed from the whole ordeal and him with a look that demanded to know what was happening. Turning back to Fluttershy, Twilight finally found her voice.

"F-Fluttershy, w-what are you doing?" Fluttershy gave a cute and innocent 'hmm' as she opened her eyes and looked up, eventually disengaging her blow-job and letting her tongue linger on him as she pulled her mouth away, as strand of saliva connecting her maw to his maleness.

"What? I'm not doing anything." Her eyes widened and a blush, rather literally, exploded across her face as she realised what she'd just done, right in front of her friends to boot. Right in front of Twilight; the stallionhood's owner's marefriend.

She darted out of the bath, taking to the air and hovering a distance above the floor as she pushed her hind-legs together and put her fore-hooves to her mouth in shock.

"Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh. Twilight, Blood Moon I'm SO sorry, I-I didn't realise what I was" she landed and hid her face behind her hooves, crying into them. "Please, I'm so sorry, I-I." She didn't finish, instead she took to the air once more and flew out of her bathroom, bawling to herself the whole way. The mares and stallion watched in disbelief the path she had taken; Blood Moon with wide eyes and gobsmacked at what had just happened, quickly going flaccid in his shocked aftermath; Twilight with just as much disbelief as her coltfriend, and wondering, nay, demanding what in the hay had just happened; Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie were looking on with, unsurprisingly, just as much disbelief as the other two. After a few minutes of silence, the assassin spoke up.

"I've never been one to ask stupid or obvious questions but, what, in the everlasting buck, just happened" he demanded of nopony in particular. The rest stayed silent for a while before Rarity spoke up.

"I…I think you just got treated by Fluttershy" she told him, still awestruck "w-well, she did say she was trying to be more assertive." Blood Moon's eyes hollwed slightly.

"You're tellin' me" he muttered. He used his magic to lift Twilight off of him and placed her on her hooves, getting out and standing next to her. "I'm sorry I didn't react sooner" he told her as the senario piled on him, feeling ashamed that he hadn't done anything to stop the mare. Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it, it's not your fault" she said, not entirely sure how to react to the situation. The other three got out of the tub, drained the water, and dried themselves off.

The four of them then trotted back to Fluttershy's room and found Rainbowdash and the CMC stood outside, looking worried.

"What's going on" the stallion asked, the down tone in his voice not lost on any of them. Rainbow answered.

"Fluttershy flew in and kicked us out. She was crying and said something about being sorry. What happened?" The assassin grunted and said nothing, scratching the back of his head and looking at Twilight.

"I'll tell you later" she said, motioning at the fillies, Rainbow getting the picture. With a sigh, she approached the door, knocking on it with her hoof. "Fluttershy, you in there? Are you okay" she asked.

"Go away" a teary sounding Fluttershy called back. Blood Moon sighed, shaking his head.

"We've gotta get in there" he said. Him and Twilight concentrated their magic and pictured the inside of Fluttershy's room. It didn't work. "Damn, she doesn't want us in there" he muttered. The rest of the mares looked confused, so Twilight explained as the stallion set to work on picking the lock.

"If somepony doesn't want you in a room badly enough, and with the right emotions say, desperation or fear, or if the room is enchanted against it, a unicorn can't teleport in there" she told them, finishing as the last tumbler fell into place. The assassin turned to the mares.

"Twilight, you and me should talk to her, the rest of you, stay out here" he instructed. Feeling too awkward or worried to argue, the mares nodded, Twilight stepping forwards as she did, and entered the room. Inside they could hear the faint sound of a crying Fluttershy, who they found curled up in a corner, shaking as more sobs came from her. Twilight gulped as she trotted carefully forwards and put a hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"Please, leave me alone" she wept. It broke both Twilight's and Blood Moon's heart to see her like this. The assassin sighed.

"Fluttershy" he began, unsure where to take this "why did you do that?" The teary eyed mare looked over her shoulder.

"I-I don't know. I just…did, I couldn't stop myself, I didn't even realise what I was doing until Twilight said my name" she told them. She took to weeping again for a few minutes, Blood Moon and Twilight sitting by, watching her with sad expressions on their faces.

Twilight didn't know what to make of all this, she'd never known that Fluttershy could get like that, or if she even knew about that sort of stuff, what with her being so innocent and all. After witnessing the heart-breaking and soul shredding image of Fluttershy crying for far too long, Twilight decided that this was something that Fluttershy and Blood Moon needed to work out between them, if her theory about why this had happened was correct.

"Fluttershy" Twilight spoke up, leaning in to her friend "it's okay, I forgive you." The butter yellow mare looked over her shoulder again, tears still in her eyes and staining her face; she looked at her friend incredulously before she leapt up and wrapped her friend in a hug, coming close to squeezing the life out of her.

"Thank you Twilight, I'm sorry it's just" she paused again, filling her lull of words with a tightening of her hug. Twilight was hugging her back, smiling into her shoulder but was quickly turning blue.

"F-Fluttershy… air" she called out. The mare quickly released her, looking sheepish.

"S-sorry about that" she mumbled. She glanced at the stallion, who was looking on with a raised eyebrow, and looked at the floor bashfully. The assassin cocked his head to the side.

"Fluttershy, I do have to ask though, why did you do that" he asked of her, genuinely curious of her answer. Fluttershy looked up at him, blushing heavily.

"I-I don't know, honestly, it just…sort of felt like the right thing to do at the time. I'm sorry." The assassin loosed a breath, looking to the ceiling for answers.

"Ahhh, don't worry about it" he told her, a smile on his face as he stroked Fluttershy's mane gently, prompting the mare to smile back. He opened his fore-legs with a smile. "Hug it out?" Fluttershy smiled back, moving into his embrace. The stallion wrapped his hooves around her and pulled her into his chest, getting a nose full of her strawberry-scented mane. The mare wrapped her own under his, nuzzling his chest drying her tears on his fur. Besides them, Twilight smiled.

"I'm gonna leave you two to settle this yourselves" she told them as she trotted away. When she'd left them, the assassin let go of Fluttershy and sat on one of the beds, patting the space next to him, offering the seat to the mare.

"So" he began "it 'just felt right' did it?" Fluttershy blushed and looked at the floor.

"I-I don't know what came over me, it's just…when you did your 'toxin examination' yesterday, I was feeling a little funny afterwards and, well, you know what I did" she said. The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"Is that it? It was just me-"

"It wasn't just a medical thing for me" she interrupted, looking down at the floor intently "I've never been touched by a stallion that way before, I'm always too nervous or something to even try and approach somepony I like. But then, when I was sat there, with your…umm, thing in my face I just couldn't resist, I didn't think I'd ever have another chance like that again" she told him.

The assassin took a moment to consider her answer, but he didn't have much to go on. An extreme case of 'it seemed like a good idea at the time' if nothing else. Sighing gently, he resigned him self to guess work and something to mentally chew on in the years to come,

The two sat in silence for a while after that, Blood Moon cocking his head when a thought occurred to him.

"Hey, Fluttershy" he said, a new light to his tone, the pegasus looking up at him "Twilight told me that she'd never really had a coltfriend before, and I'm guessing that you haven't either, right?" She nodded her head. "Have any of you ever been in a relationship before?" The butter yellow mare thought about it.

"Me, Twilight and Pinkie haven't before, I think Rarity has dated a few stallions before but none of them really lasted for more than a month. Applejack spent a year or two in Manehatten as a filly, and doesn't really talk much about what happened, she may have had a coltfriend there but I know she's never had one in Ponyville before. Rainbowdash…I don't really know, she hasn't had a coltfriend in Ponyville or in Cloudsdale, but I'm not sure if she's really…exclusive to stallions" she answered. The assassin nodded, grinning to himself slightly, looking over the mare.

“Why not? You're all real pretty and are great mares to know, I don't understand why none of you have ever had a coltfriend before" he told her. After thinking about it for a while he shrugged. "Their loss I guess" he said.

"I guess so" the mare murmured before she looked around the otherwise empty room and scooted a little closer to the stallion. "Uh, umm, Blood Moon" she whispered. The assassin hummed his listening as she leaned in.

"Yeah?" Fluttershy blushed and looked at her hooves.

"H-how was it, I mean the-the…you know." The stallion grunted a laugh, but decided to give her a boost in confidence. He leaned into her with a grin on his face.

"Almost wish it never ended" he told her, technically not lying to her. The mare squeaked and blushed. Blood Moon chuckled at her reaction, the two sitting in silence for a while until they heard the sound of Spike's voice.

"Hey, guys, breakfast is ready" he called, reminding the dark stallion that he'd left him making pancakes and prompting his stomach to rumble. The two got off the bed and trotted downstairs, finding the other mares and fillies already sat at the table and Spike in a chef's hat, serving up his creation.

'Where in Tartarus did he get that hat' was the assassin's only thought as he sat between Twilight and Scootaloo. The group of ponies, minus Sand Stalker, sat in relative silence most of the time, Fluttershy earning glances from all her friends, Spike looking between them all wondering what was up and the assassin grinning at the awkwardness of the situation. The butter yellow mare glanced at Blood Moon and Twilight every now and then, wishing she was in Twilight's position.

Fifteen minute later and they had finished with their food and settled into the front room, making idle conversation, some with cider in glasses next to them. Hunter and the mouse had joined them before long and sat with the assassin, the pheonix on the back of the sofa he was sat on and the mouse on the assassin's head, reclining into his mane.

"Are gonna name him" Twilight asked looking at the black mouse "he seems to have taken a liking to you" she added. The mouse leapt off his head and stood on the side of the seat, Blood Moon looked at the arm of the sofa, finding the mouse looking back at him.

"What do you think" the stallion asked him. The mouse shrugged. "How about…" He looked over the mouse, trying to come up with a name for him as he scratched between the little critter's ears. "Dusk" he suggested, looking at Twilight as he said it, getting his idea behind the name and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I like it" she told him. The mouse put a paw to his chin before he nodded and climbed back onto the assassin's head.

"Well, he seems to have his favourite perch" he commented. The group of ponies settled into silence again, more idle conversation passing between them. After a while, Blood Moon felt himself drifting off, and was about to fall asleep when Sand Stalker burst through the door with a bunny on his back, looking pissed off and alarmed; Fluttershy looked up in alarm at his sudden entrance, flying over to him and the white rabbit. The mustard stallion moved to the window and stood beside it as Fluttershy picked up the bunny.

"Angel Bunny" she exclaimed, holding the rabbit Blood Moon recognised as the one who had worn the army helmet. "What's wrong" she asked, motherly concern completely washing over her as she held her pet. The dark stallion was more interested in the merc's reaction.

"I'll tell you what's wrong" he hissed, motioning for them to approach the window. The assassin was there first, creeping over and peering out; out there he saw a pair of stallions, one in gold armour, and the other in gold and purple, they looked to be talking to each other. "We've got company" the elderly stallion finished. Twilight got to the window next, brightening up when she looked outside.

"Shining Armour" she exclaimed before the assassin clamped a hoof over her maw and pulled her away from the window. Unbeknownst to them, the guard Captain had glanced at the window, shrugging when he saw nothing.

"You know him" Blood Moon asked. The mare nodded.

"Yeah, he's only like my B.B.B.F.F." she explained. The assassin blinked at the utter lack of information he'd just received. Twilight rolled her eyes. "My 'big brother best friend forever', why can nopony ever figure that out?" The assassin squeezed his eyes shut and opened them wide when she explained it to him properly.

"Wait wait wait wait wait. Your brother, your big brother, who, if past experiences are anything to go by, will be very protective of you, is the mother-bucking GUARD CAPTAIN?" Twilight smiled sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck when she noticed the stallion might have liked to know that.

"Y...yeah..." she managed after a short pause. The assassin gave a sligtly demented, if worried, laugh.

"And...and you never thought to tell me, you're coltfriend and an assassin that Celestia hates. My math is as follows: a big brother tends to look after his little sister, ergo, kills every coltfriend she brings home and a guard Captain is authorized to put down any and all who stand against Celestia. Y'know, like...me?" He sat down, leaning against the wall, running a hoof over his face. "I just know, me and him are gonna get along famously" he droned, sarcasm dripping from his voice. Twilight grinned but didn't laugh, the tension didn't allow it.

"Uh-oh" Sand Stalker muttered, he was peeking over the sill and watching the events going on outside.

"What" the assassin responded, holding his face in his hooves.

"Twilight, your brother is coming to visit" he said as he leaned back down. Twilight didn't look bothered.

"That's good, I can talk to him and find out what happened." Blood Moon shook his head.

"No, that won't work, I…'spoke' to one of Hardhoof's guards and he told me that the orders had come directly from Shining Armour. I know you trust your brother but I'm not willing to risk it" he told her.

"Hey, he's my brother. He'd never do anything to hurt me" the purple mare told him with a frown "you're, very clearly exibiting symptoms of parinioa" she imformed him. The dark stallion laughed.

"Damn right" he replied. Twilight pouted as he turned away, cutting off her retort. The dark stallion turned to Fluttershy. "Fluttershy, can you talk to him, get rid of him?" The mare squeaked and held her confused looking bunny in front of her. The stallion trotted up to her. "Come on 'Shy, we need you right now, you're our only chance of getting out of this" he told her. The mare looked to her friends for support; Twilight held her muzzle, shaking her head, Sand Stalker was still looking out the window, growing more and more pissed by the second, Rainbowdash and her other friends all looked conflicted but it was the wide, fearful eyes of the cutie mark crusaders that swayed her in the end.

"Ok" she conceded quietly, landing and putting her pet bunny on the ground beside her. The assassin smiled at her bravery and put a hoof on her shoulder.

"I'll be there with you every step of the way" he reassured her before he looked at the rest of the room's occupant. "The rest of you, head up stairs while Fluttershy deals with this" he told them. They did as they were told, Twilight lingering.

"Y'know, if you'd just let me talk to him..." she whispered. The stallion grinned.

"What can I say, I'm a scaredy-cat, now let me do my thing" he replied, making Twilight grin back and kiss him on the lips quickly before she left them.

The Elements of Harmony, little sisters and Sand Stalker headed up and into the bedroom, hiding up there and trying to listen in, but even when they strained their hearing they couldn't make out what was being said. Shining Armour had begun knocking on the door, prompting the assassin to hide behind it as the mare opened it.

"Fluttershy, hey there" the guard Captain greeted brightly.

"Hello there Shining Armour, what brings you here" she asked, obviously nervous about what was going on.

"I'm looking for a platoon of guards, last I heard they were around the Everfree palace, but I'm looking all over just in case" he told her. He suddenly looked like she'd remembered something. "Oh, and have you seen Twilight? I was at the library just now and I couldn't find her, not even Spike was there." Fluttershy froze up as she tried to think of an answer, her mind going blank. The assassin couldn't say or do anything besides cringe; he hadn't had the chance to go over a story with her, and Fluttershy didn't seem the type to think up elaborate stories on the spot. He, however, was.

The assassin's horn glowed softly as he built the spell and fuelled it with magic; a shroud of near invisible grey mist flew from his horn, flowing around Fluttershy and seeping into her pours and mind. The assassin's body went limp as he possessed Fluttershy. For the mare, she had just had one of the most unusual experiences of her life; she felt a presence in the back of her mind, but it wasn't like an invading presence more like a well-mannered sir that knocked on the door and asked her if she would be alright with sitting in the corner for a few minutes, maybe reading a good book, while he took over her body for a second. She liked this voice, he was very polite.

In the end, she obliged and let the presence takeover her body, sitting in a corner on a comfy chair and putting her hind-legs up and read one of her favourite books, 'the call of the wild'.

Shining watches this with a raised eyebrow; to him Fluttershy freezes up, sways as if about to fall asleep and then stands up perfectly straight like nothing had happened.

"Umm, Fluttershy, are you okay" he asks, feeling concerned for the animal caretaker. The mare brushes him off.

"No, I'm fine, just a little tired from looking after a sick vulture is all. Anyway, I think Twilight and everypony went to Manehatten for the day, I'd have gone with them but, y'know, the vulture" she/he explained. The guard Captain blinked.

"Oh, ok, I'm gonna keep looking around for them, if you see them tell them tell them I was here, will you?" The mare nodded.

"Alright, I'll see you later. When I see Twilight I'll tell them hi for you" Fluttershy told him in way of farewell. The stallion nodded, a sceptical eyebrow raised, and trotted away. He knew something was up with her but couldn't put his hoof on it.

Back inside the house, Blood Moon released his spell; as he did so, Fluttershy blinked herself back into Equestria as she closed the door. Once she'd done so, she saw Blood Moon sitting on his flank, eyes wide and disbelieving. The mare feared the worst.

"Uhh, Blood Moon, what was that?" The assassin didn't look at her.

"It was a possession, highly advanced spell and difficult to pull off. It temporarily puts my mind into yours, letting me control your actions and access… some of your… thoughts" he said, eyeing the door beneath the stairs. Fluttershy gasped and put her hooves to her mouth.

"Nonononono" she panicked. Blood Moon lunged for the door, Fluttershy following him and grabbing his hind-legs in an attempt to stop him from finding her stash. "Please…please stop, there's nothing in there, I promise" she pleaded as she tried to drag him away from the door.

"Yes…there…is" he managed to grunt out as he dragged himself towards the door, using only his for-hooves. He turned over, putting himself on his back and managed to, gently, kick her off him and gallop for the door. Once he reached it, he tested the door; locked. The stallion looked around to see Fluttershy flying towards him, attempting to grab him again, so he teleported her away from him and back across the room where she continued flying for him. He continued this as he frantically pulled his picks from his mane and set to work on picking the lock.

He frantically moved his hooves around as he worked the door, periodically teleporting the mare away from him as she was about to reach him. The assassin eventually managed to pick the lock and flung the door open; in his shock at the contents, he forgot to teleport Fluttershy away from him and she slammed into his back, sending them both flying into her secret stash of sex toys and bondage equipment.

A veritable mountain of dildos, tight mock-leather garbs, whips, hoof-cuffs, ball-gags and strap-ons fell onto them. The assassin had frozen up while Fluttershy had squeezed her eyes shut, wishing it all away as she held the stallion in a vain attempt to stop him. Blood Moon swallowed once, daring to lower his gaze to the things that surrounded him; it wasn't that she owned this sort of thing that got him, it was the sheer amount of them.

'It's always the quiet ones.'

"Nonononono" she repeated as she scooped up all her toys, pushed Blood Moon out of the way, crammed them in there and locked the door behind her. She looked left and right, biting her lower lip, and put her back to the door, holding it shut, despite the lock being engaged. "Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease don't tell" she begged. The stallion opened his mouth to answer but couldn't, Fluttershy had grabbed him by the hoof and dragged him into the kitchen, displaying some impressive strength in the process. "Pleeeeeease, you can't tell anypony" she told him. The stallion blinked, still a little busted from the experience.

"Fluttershy…I-I…" The mare put her face in her hooves, whining slightly but trying to hold it together. She put her hooves on his shoulders, making him look her in the eye.

"Please. You. CAN'T. Say. ANYTHING" she told him.

"Fluttershy, I-I don't…" She wrapped him in a hug, holding him close to her.

"Pleeeeeeeease Blood Moon, you can't tell anypony, I'll be ruined, humiliated! I'll do anything, I'll-I'll-" she didn't finish; instead she clamped her lips to his in an attempt to buy his silence and keep her secret under wraps. She moved her hoof down his lower body and found his stallionhood, rubbing her hoof up and down his shaft, feeling it unsheathe and harden under her skilled touch. She displayed another impressive feat of strength as she lifted him up slightly as she moved her mouth to the head and took it into her maw, taking him right down to the roots and running her tongue up and down his maleness, pleasing him massively. Blood Moon loosed a groan as Fluttershy, for the second time in a day, used her highly skilled tongue and lips to pleasure him. He closed his eyes, grinning as he put his hooves on Fluttershy's head, directing her movements and enjoying himself. He then realised what was happening.

"F-Fluttershy, stop, I can't. Twilight." He managed to pull her away from his cock, an act he was both thankful for and hated himself for. The mare tried to protest, slipping her tongue out and running it up his length, causing him to growl in ecstasy and almost let her continue with her efforts. When he managed to push her away from his, admittedly disappointed, stallionhood he put his hooves on her shoulders and held her away from her. "Fluttershy stop, please, I'm not-"She stopped him again by mashing her lips to his again, slipping her tongue in and moaning some. The stallion pulled back and held her away from him. "Fluttershy stop, now" he told her, an agressive growl in his voice. She looked at him with tears threatening to spill, breathing hard and looking desperate.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but you can't tell anypony about this. Nopony knows and I'll be humiliated if they ever found out" she told him, hugging his chest. Blood Moon stroked the back of her mane, soothing her.

"Fluttershy, don't worry about it. I won't tell anypony, nopony will ever know." The animal caretaker looked up at him.

"But you'll know" she said. The assassin grunted, amused.

"Why do you care? I won't judge you, you're too cute for that, and I personally couldn't care how you relieve yourself." He paused for a while, Fluttershy knew what he was thinking about.

"Umm, did-did you see…anything else? When-when you were in my head?" Blood Moon let go of her and stood up straight, trotting to the middle of the room.

"I…I did. I found…what you got up to yesterday" he told her. Fluttershy put her face in her hooves, whining to herself in pure embarrassment. He looked to the spot she had cum on with a raised eyebrow, the thought doing nothing to kill his hard on. "You were...doing...that…while thinking about me?" The mare looked up at him, bashfully rubbing her leg with her hoof.

"I, umm, yes I guess I did." She looked at him, her gaze strayed to his erect stallionhood and blushing hard. "I guess I wasn't being completely honest with you earlier" she told him "when I said 'you know what I did' I…wasn't really referring to when we were in the tub together. It was when I was in here…making…salads" she said, growing quiet towards the end. The assassin put a hoof to his chin in thought, before he stepped closer to her.

"Fluttershy…why did you think about me?" The mare hung her head before she answered.

"Why did I blow you" she asked shamelessly. "Why did I kiss you? Why did my nether regions feel so funny when I was stood next to you yesterday?" She looked up at him. "Why do I feel more confident when you're around?" She moved a little closer to him. "Why does my heart flutter a little more every time I see you? It's the same reason I'm so jealous of Twilight right now, Blood moon, I think I love you." The stallion swallowed; he'd been expecting this but, against his better judgment, he'd hoped this wouldn't be the conclusion of her answer.

He couldn't, nay, didn't want to turn her down; she was the element of kindness and she was, at least thought she was, in love with him. But he was already with Twilight and he wouldn't allow himself to betray her trust, he didn't want to, she didn't deserve it. He looked at the mare in front of him; Fluttershy was looking at the floor, heartbroken and heart breaking tears in her eyes. It was tearing him apart to see her like this, not just breaking his heart, it was shredding his soul, feeding it to the devil who would spit it out and put it through a furnace before he spat on the ashes. He couldn't bring himself to make any more moves to sadden her. He put a hoof to her chin and lifted her gaze to his.

"Fluttershy, are you sure this is love? I mean, it seems more like a cru-"

"I've had crushes before" she intterupted, undeniable confidence in her tone. "I know what crushes are" the yellow mare told him, looking at her hooves "this isn't one." The assassin sighed.

"Fluttershy, I'm honoured that you think of me like that and I'll admit it… I don't feel the same way as I did about you this morning" he told her in a way that made her smile. "Knowing that you love me is the kind of thing that makes me glad I'm immortal, but…I'm with Twilight now, and I don't want to choose between you. You're both the type of mare I can love back but…as I said, I'm with Twilight and I'm not gonna betray her." Fluttershy looked down at the floor in shame; she'd put her own needs before her friends and potentially pulled apart her friendship because of it.

The thought of Twilight defriending her pushed her back to near-tears. She pictured her lavender friend turning her back on her and almost fell into sobs again, but she couldn't as she found Blood Moon pulling her into a hug in an effort to stop her from crying again.

"Fluttershy, please don't cry; I'm tougher than the average stallion but I don't think even I can stand to watch you cry anymore" he told her. She sniffled and dried her tears on his chest fur, looking up at him with slightly damp facial fur.

"I'm sorry, it's just… I'd rather have said it and got it out rather than not and you never know" she told him, nuzzling his chest as she finished. The stallion stroked her mane, petting her softly.

"That's pretty smart actually" he said, pulling her into a hug "and incredibly brave" he said with a smile, prompting Fluttershy to grown one of her own. "And I have to tell you… not being able to love you back properly… I don't like it." The mare looked up at him again, hope in her eyes.

"But-but you don't have to show it, it'll be our secret, nothing actually done just…you and me, knowing we love each other." The assassin supressed the scoff at her naivety, and instead shook his head.

"I don't think you'd be able to take it" he told her honestly "I don't think I would either. Let's just leave it as this." The mare, once again, looked down.

"Just-just like this, with us hugging and nothing else?" She sighed quietly to herself.

'Ahhh, damn her and her adorableness.'

He put her hoof to her chin and lifted her to face his again and moved in, pushing his lips to her own and meeting her in a kiss he both loved, and hated himself for. He held her close to him and rubbed her back up and down as she wrapped her fore-legs around his neck and pulled him into her.

She was in heaven; he was so gentle with her and made her feel like she was the only mare in Equestria. He was better than she could ever have imagined. She groaned slightly as she slipped her tongue in, closing her eyes, as she began wrestling with his own as he turned his head to the side and pushed their muzzles together more. He pulled her in even closer and stood a little straighter, letting his long, unkempt mane cascade down and on to her a little. Fluttershy blushed as she felt his hoof go a little lower down her back. After a few minutes, but still way too short a time, Blood Moon pulled back and stood over the mare, running his hoof over her silky mane.

"That's enough" he said begrudgingly. The mare sighed sadly, running her hoof down his chest.

"I know, but, I think it… might be enough" she said breathlessly. "Blood Moon." He hummed his attention. "I love you" she told him. He didn't respond, he didn't go throwing the word 'love' around carelessly, but the way his heart beat a little faster told her what she wanted to know.

"Let's head upstairs" he said, leading her away from the kitchen and up the stairs. As they did, Twilight teleported back up from the bottom, where she'd been watching with a small, not particularly happy, but relieved smile. The butter yellow mare and dark silver stallion made their way back upstairs, where they were met with curious gazes.

"How'd it go" Twilight asked as the assassin approached, sitting on the bed and sitting next to her.

"Fine" he said simply, pushing the mare down and meeting his lips to hers. The kiss didn't exactly take Twilight by surprise but it pleased her all the same; she guessed that her coltfriend somehow knew she knew something, and she appreciated his efforts to right things between them.

She would have to tell him she didn't care about anything between him and her friends, just as long as he was doing it in their best interests; she didn't want to see her and her friends being used, she trusted Blood Moon but she wouldn't risk her friend being used like that for anypony. She suddenly realised that she was still being kissed by Blood Moon; her hooves had subconsciously drifted around the back of his neck and pulled him into her, her tongue had sneaked into his maw and begun wrestling with his, a few moans escaping her. The assassin pulled back in bemused, exited shock when he felt her hooves brush past his flank, gripping it when his tongue hit that sensitive spot.

"Heeeeeey" he muttered into her ear, tempted to teleport them somewhere more private.

"Behave" she scolded him playfully, tapping his nose. Behind them, Rainbowdash cleared her throat massively.

"You two need a minute" she asked with a raised eyebrow. Twilight and Blood Moon got up, the mare of the two blushing some, and sat on the bed more sensibly. "So" she started at length, sipping on some cider in a wooden tankard. "How'd it go" she asked, repeating Twilight's question.

"He asked Fluttershy about where Hardhoof and co are. According to him they, for some reason, haven't reported in yet" he said with a grin on his face. "He was wondering where you were" he added, looking at Twilight "but Fluttershy managed to spin a story about you being in Manehatten" he said. Rainbow put her fore-leg around the butter furred mare.

"Nice one 'Shy" she complemented. The mare smiled and looked down at the sheets of the bed she was sat on, her eyes raised to the dark stallion's who smiled and winked.

"Oh, it was nothing, it just came to me" she said graciously.

"Well" Sand Stalker piped up, looking out of the window from his chair "it looks like they've gone. Disaster averted" he told them.

The ponies went about to do their own things, most scattering to places Blood Moon didn't really care about as long as they stayed within the vicinity of Fluttershy's home. The hours past; some staying in the house and some stepping outside; the fillies had all gone outside to play; Rainbowdash and Applejack helped Fluttershy with a few of her animals; while Twilight settled into one of the Daring Do books, Spike snoozing next to her; while Pinkie Pie played more blackjack with Blood Moon, Hunter and Dusk, Hunter, somehow, holding his cards in his wings while Dusk made an amusing display of holding the huge cards in his tiny paws. The bird, mouse and stallion had all stuck, while Pinkie was in the process of putting together a five card twenty-one.

"Hit me" Pinkie said. He gave her a card. "Hit me." He gave her another. "Hit me" she said again. He passed her another card, holding his hand in a magical grip as he passed her the cards with his hoof. "Alright" she sang "I'm gonna stick" she told him. The relieved their hands, the assassin had a hand of twenty, Hunter nineteen and Dusk the same number while Pinkie had…

"Uhh, Pinkie Pie, you do know you're meant to be making twenty-one, right?" The mare nodded.

"Yeah, sure I do." Blood Moon looked at his pets in confusion, who looked back in the same way.

"Then why do you have…forty-nine?" The mare threw her cards in the air with a big grin.

"Because I bust" she told him "you know the rules right?" Blood Moon face-hoofed, while off to the side, Rarity giggled.

"You always were a master at that game Pinkie" she commented, as she pulled her sewing box over to her while Blood Moon dealt again. She opened the lid and immediately, her eyes shot open in utter shock, horror and panic. She whipped her head over to the stallion, who was grinning to himself behind his cards. "You, evil stallion" she cursed at him, glaring at him. Blood Moon just kept grinning.

"Don't know what you're talking about" he told her. She grew infuriated at his reaction, a deep red blush spreading over her cheeks as her glare turned to a death stare.

"What's wrong Rarity" Pinkie asked.

"Yeah, what's got you so testy" he added with a stifled laugh. The seamstress was positively, as well as literally, fuming, a dark cloud forming over head as she bristled at him. After a second she managed to calm herself down, swallowing her rage.

"Well, I suppose I'll just have to put it to use later" she said as she slipped it discreetly into her pillow case, making the assassin chuckle and Twilight give a confused 'huh'.

"Hit me" the pink pony said. Blood Moon handed her a card while he continue smirking.

"Stick" he said.

"Me too" the mare said. They all showed their hands; Hunter had a twenty-one of a king and ace of spades; Dusk had a hand of eighteen; Blood Moon had twenty again; while Pinkie had…

"Pinkie Pie, where did you get that 'get out of jail free' card?" The mare shrugged happily. Besides her orange card with a pony prison guard on, she had an ace, an ID mug shot of her pulling an amusing face, a business card for Sugarcube corner and a memo telling her to get some apples from Sweet apple acres. "Yeah, you bust" he told her. He put the cards that belonged in the pack back into the deck and shuffled them before he stood up. "I'm gonna get some air" he said as he trotted for the door, passing Twilight on the way out, leaning over as she kissed him while he went past.

"Love you" she murmured into his ear. Those words, those two simple words, stopped him dead in his tracks, making his heart stop and his breathing literally stop; he continued staring at her bright, wide, beautiful, purple eyes and just stopped. He could barely think either; the last time somepony had told him they loved him had been…a long while ago, and it hadn't ended well. And now Twilight was admitting the same thing? He wasn't sure how to answer her, what to say in response, how to react to her. Or did he?

The ending to his last, loving, relationship had turned him wary about the subject and he didn't allow himself to go into the same standard of bond without much thought before-hoof. He was scared at how it would turn out, how it would end. "Blood Moon" Twilight asked, suddenly worried about him, and what he might be thinking and say next. He continued to look over his marefriend. His marefriend, who's just told him she loved him.

'To Tartarus with the consequences.'

His horn flashed as he teleported them both outside, around the back of Fluttershy's house; it was a nice day, maybe four in the afternoon, and the sun was casting a pleasant glow over the animal caretaker's cottage. That wasn't what interested the assassin, what did was the mare in front of him, the mare who'd just told him she loved him. His marefriend.

He clamped his lips to hers, turning his head into it and pushing her back against the wall, pushing his tongue into her maw, Twilight gladly accepting, and going between wrestling with her tongue and teasing over that sensitive spot in her mouth. He kept this up for thirty seconds, until Twilight singled she needed to breath, and pulled back but didn't disconnect; putting their tongues together and pushing against each other, he kept them linked while the mare gasped for breath for a few seconds until the stallion reconnected their kiss. He pushed her up the wall, making her stand on her hind-legs as he supported her; he pulled back and kissed down her neck, holding her in place with his right hoof, wrapped under her left as his left hoof ran over her body, returning the favour from earlier by paying due attention to her flank and cutie mark. She squealed and moaned as he fondled her plot, touching her in all the right places to make her feel good.

She'd have to ask him how he knew all her sensitive spots. He pulled back and looked her in the eye, saliva connecting their tongues and breathing as hard as she was.

"Twilight" he started, his hoof still on her rear-end, making her blush.

"Yeah" she replied, her fore-legs still around his neck, ready to pull him in.

"I love you too" he told her. In response, Twilight blushed, squealed and pulled him in violently, pressing her maw to his and keeping them together with a raging battle between her tongue and his love, care, desire and just a hint of lust passing between them. She disengaged the kiss sooner than the last, resorting to just tightening the hug she held him in and holding him with intent of never letting go. And she wouldn't have, had Fluttershy, Rainbowdash and Applejack not stumbled across them.

"Hey Twi, what are you doin' out here" Rainbow asked, startling the mare and making her jump, pushing her off the wall and onto Blood Moon's front, who had fallen onto his back.

"Hey, RD, what's goin'-oh, uhhh, howdy there Twi, we uhhh, interruptin' somthin' there" Applejack asked as she turned the corner and found the same scene as Rainbowdash had a second ago. Fluttershy then floated around the same corner, about to say something when she saw Blood Moon and Twilight lying on the ground behind her house. As she looked on her mind quickly jumped to a conclusion, her eyes snapping open and her face turning red.

"T-T-T-T-T-Twilight, Blood Moon! What are you doing?" Applejack's face was about as red as Fluttershy's when she made the connection, a small grin stretching over the corner of her mouth.

"Ah'm not so sure we wanna know, sugarcube" she said before anypony else could speak. Twilight got up, looking sheepish, and brushed herself off before she helped Blood Moon up.

"Very funny" Twilight commented, rolling her eyes. Applejack looked at Rainbowdash in confusion.

"Who's jokin'?"

"I was just" she glanced at Blood Moon "showing my love for my coltfriend" she told them. Applejack was about to say something when Twilight cut her off. "NOT like that" she insisted. Applejack chuckled.

"Ah believe yah sugarcube" she told them, still snickering to herself. Behind her, Rainbow was laughing into her hoof, while Fluttershy was pawing the ground, smiling good naturedly. The apple bucker looked to the sky. "Are ya'll gonna come inside or stay here, ah think we're about tah have-" the heavens opened and rain poured from the sky, drenching them "rain" Applejack finished, as the rainwater plastered her mane to her face and neck, the same happening to Fluttershy, Rainbowdash, Twilight and Blood Moon.

"I think I'll take the former" the assassin replied, sparking his horn to life before he looked up to see the shower flowing over an invisible shield and dripping off of it at the edges. "Alright, everypony huddle up" he said as the mares bunched around him, unwilling to get wet; Twilight and Fluttershy were either side of him while Rainbowdash and Applejack trotted besides them. They cantered to the front door where they burst through, finding Sand Stalker shaking himself off like a dog would, kicking one of his hind legs to flick off some stubborn water and the cutie mark crusaders shivering. The assassin trotted over to the fireplace, a spark lit at the end of his horn and grew into a flame that flew onto the logs and turned to a pleasant, warming fire.

"That's better" Applejack said as she approached the flames with Applebloom, warming her and her sister.

"Sure is" Twilight agreed, standing between Blood Moon and Applejack, closer to Blood Moon than strictly necessary. Applejack leaned into her with a grin on her face.

"Ah don't think ya'll want to warm up using just a fire, Twi" she whispered. The lavender mare blushed slightly and looked at the floor.

"Shut up" she mumbled, remembering sitting in the bath tub with Blood Moon and blushing harder. After a while of standing in front of the fire, warming themselves up, they made their way up stairs, some carrying cider with them. Up there, they found Pinkie sat on one of the beds, still playing blackjack with the assassin's pets and Rarity busy fixing his garb, having already finished his cloak and now working on the vest. They all sat on their respective beds, Sand Stalker on the chair, and relaxed, watching the rain come down. Twilight turned to Blood Moon.

"Hey, Blood Moon." He turned to her from the window.

"Yeah?"

"I just remembered; I never did ask you anything, when you woke up in my spare bed. I was wondering about a few things." The assassin sat up straighter

"Well, no better time to ask than now" he said, glancing at the rain that kept pouring. "Ask away."

"For starters; 'Umbra Linguam'?That doesn't sound like any language I know, or even heard of. What is it?"

"Latin" he replied plainly.

"Latin? I've never heard of that."
"I'm not surprised, Latin is a very unique language; it's a universal language. Every society, every world, every universe and plain of existence has a form of Latin; for some it's a dead language, for others it's the primary language spoken and for other's it's just another tongue. I can speak it fluently but it's a mostly useless skill when nopony else can speak it, but hay, it's good to know that if I'm whisked away to another dimension, I have a chance" he said. Twilight nodded, scribbling it down on a notepad Blood Moon recognised as the one he kept in his belt. He raised his head and look at the wall.

'Wait, I don't have my belt on me, where did I…"

He shuddered as the thought passed through his head and frowned as the wall he was looking at started to bend, twist and basically screw up, the assassin watching as he suspected he'd just broken something important. He closed his eyes and shook the thought away; when he looked back the wall was back to normal. He didn't think about it again.

"Blood Moon, you okay" Twilight asked from the side, sounding concerned. He looked back and smiled slightly, not wanting to think about it.

"Yeah, fine. Any other questions?" She nodded.

"How does your immortality work?" This question made everypony in the room perk up and look over at the assassin.

"Alright, what happens is that my 'dead' body is basically replaced; it turns to ash and flows away on the wind. Did you not notice in the palace?" She shook her head. "Anyway, that rule is binding; if I'm burned to ashes, my ashes turn to more ashes and do the same; if I'm burned away to nothing, my magic doesn't have to worry about getting rid of the body so I just reappear."

"And how does that work?"

"Same way as I leave; I'm taken to a spot that's safe and my body is formed from the ashes, I've never seen it happen before, but according to Commander Hurricane it was 'awesome'. That's also one of the reasons I like phoenix's so much" he looked up at Hunter, fussing his head with a grin on his face "we have a lot in common." He looked to Twilight again. "Anything else?"

"What's your exact age?" He grunted a laugh.

"Y'know, if I'd asked you the same thing it'd be considered rude. Anyway, I believe I'm fifteen thousand, nine hundred, eighty-six years, five months and twenty-two days" pause for breath "old. Give or take a few years." Twilight was scribbling furiously.
"How-how can ya'll remember that" Applejack asked, amazed at his ability to recollect things with such detail. He shrugged.

"When you get to be my age, memorise are all you have for the most part" he explained "sure I forget a few things, but I try my best to remember what I find important" he told her. The mares looked on, awestruck, and the fillies gave a syncretised 'wooow'. Even Sand Stalker looked impressed. He looked to Twilight again. "Anything else" he asked, directing the question to the whole room. She looked back at the pad-

'Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it.'

And read over what she'd written, before looking up at him.

"No, I think that's all I've got" she replied. He nodded and relaxed, resting his head on his hooves.

"Y'know, I've never told anypony this much about myself so readily before, not really. Nor so many." He shrugged. "Well, just goes to show weather you can trust me or not." Pinkie looked up at him.

"Hey, that was a typo" she declared. Blood Moon frowned at her.

"A what?"

"A typing error" she clarified "just now, it said weather when it should have said whether." Now Twilight was looking at her in confusion.

"Pinkie Pie, what are you talking about." The pink pony rolled her eyes.
"Duuuh, the author wrote the wrong word. It only happened about seventy-four words ago, give or take." Blood Moon and- "Twilight glanced at each other!" DAMNIT, stop interrupting my narration! The pink pony frowned. "No I'm not, I'm still smiling, see." She pointed her hoof at her frowning- "I'm not frowning" she insisted. You're not supposed to be doing this. "Yeah I am, you're the one writing this. Oh, and the computer thinks the comma you put there shouldn't be there, I don't really mind though. By the way, are you saving now just in case the computer freezes from the way this is such and forth-wall breaker? And it won't, you wrote this after you wrote the rest and came back to add this." I'm not going to ask you again, stop speaking with the narrator- "I'm not speaking with the narrator, I'm speaking to you." I AM THE NARRATOR! And quit bending the rules of reality, will you? "No need to be mean, she told him." That last part was my bit, stop taking my narrations Pinkie. "Sorry, I just thought I'd help." Well, thanks put- "BUT, it was meant to be but, another typo!"… BUT, I can do it myself, I've been doing it for the last seventeen chapters, y'know. "Yeah, I know. Well, I'll let you get back to the story now. Oh, and say hi to SonicTheEchidna for me. Oh, and Higgins is about to shake that guy's hand, IT'S A TRAP, but it's only a dream, he'll wake up and Magnum will hear him, running up to see what had happened, but Higgins will say nothing is up although Magnum doesn't believe him." Damnit, Pinkie, spoilers. And don't tell them about what might happen in the story. I'll see you later. "I'll see you too, and you too readers." Probably when you least expect it. "I can still hear you." Damnit Pie, I-I'm…I'm going. The pink party pony, occupancy of the room and the whole of Equestria then heard a door slam somewhere.
Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony all watched Pinkie in confusion, some scratching their heads and others with raised eyebrows. Twilight turned to say something to Blood Moon but found he wasn't there; instead he was curled up in the corner, sobbing quietly to himself, the voices in his head trying to sooth him. Twilight hopped off the bed and trotted carefully over to him; she put a hoof on her shoulder and nudged him slightly.

"Blood Moon, are you okay?" She wondered what was going on in his head.

'WHAT JUST HAPPENED? TELL ME NOW! NO DON'T TELL ME, I DON'T KNOW IF MY BRAIN CAN TAKE IT!'

"Just calm down, don't think about it and…no just don't think about it, that's the best thing you can do right now."

'DON'T THINK ABOUT IT? SHE JUST PULLED APART THE LAWS OF REALITY AND SPOKE WITH…I DON'T KNOW, SOMETHING!'

"Alright, fair enough, just…just think about Twilight."

'I-I…alright, I'm calm, I'm a fifteen thousand year old assassin. I'm an adult. I'm thinking about Twilight, the mare who I love, who has friends, one of which is Pinkie Pie, who just-'

"STOP, right there. DON'T. THINK. ABOUT. IT. Just think about Twilight, okay."

'Alright, I'm thinking about Twilight. I love that mare.'

"Yeah, good, that's it. Just think about her and relax."

'Yeah, yeah, I'm good. Just gonna-gonna think about Twi and then…I don't know, just sleep.'

"Good."

Twilight nudged him again, getting seriously worried now.

"Blood Moon" she asked again. The stallion in question then looked over his shoulder at Twilight, before he turned over completely. "Blood Moon, are you ok?" He didn't answer her, instead he just opened his fore-legs for a hug. She did so, sitting him up as she did, and just sat with him for a while until she managed to coax him over to the bed, where she just held him, trying to comfort him. "Are you alright" she asked him, fearing the answer.

"Just…f-f-FINE. I'm fine, just as mentally stable as before. I just…I just wanna go to sleep" he told her.

"But it's only-" she looked outside to find that it was now late at night, glancing at the clock she found it to be ten at night. "When…how…who…what?"

"Oo, oo, I know, it was the auth-"

"STOP" all other mares, fillies and Sand Stalker yelled in unison.

"Alright, alright. Just sayin' y'know" she muttered. Twilight settled down into the bed with her, admittedly freaked out, coltfriend and snuggled into him.

"Are you going to be okay" she asked him. He looked up and smiled slightly.

"Yeah, just gotta, y'know' repress the memories. Should be done in the morning" he told her. She smiled back, still worried for his sanity, and kissed him goodnight. She felt him relax as she did so. She looked up to see him appear…more stable.

"Did that help?"

"Somehow…yes, it kind of did." She grinned and moved closer.

"Well, in that case…" Blood Moon grinned and moved in with her.

They fell asleep still kissing.

Author's Note

New chapter. Yay. Sorry if that ending came out of nowhere but-

It wasn't so bad, you just ran out of ideas and had to come up with something off the top of your head. I thought it was pretty creative.

Pinkie...how did you get here.

I got tired of breaking the fourth wall all the time, so I just installed a door. Now it's waaaaayyyyy easier to get here!

So-so you just...come here...now?

Yuparoonie!

...Cool...I guess?

YAY, do you mind if I help out with the random words you put on the end now?

You mean the Author's Notes?

Uh-huh!

Promise me you won't break the forth wall in the story from now on, and you can stay in this small box of my straitjacket-esc ramblings.

YAY! I promise.

I honestly thought that would dissuade her, Pinkie Promise?

Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!

Alright, well on that note, Productive faff-

Aren't you gonna do the cast?

The...cast?

Yeah, at the end of the show we have a cast, why not here?

I'm just going to...stare at you in disapproval right now.

Great! While you're busy doing that, I'll do the cast!

Wait, wha-

Sped up Star Wars tune

Twilight Sparkle....................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Fluttershy..............................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Rainbowdash........................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Pinkie Pie...............................................................................................Me!
Rarity......................................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Applejack...............................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Spike.......................................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Blood Moon...........................................................................................Productive faffer totally says his lines out loud, but he didn't want me to mention that.
Princess Celestia....................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Shining Armour......................................................................................Tapping on the keyboard
Blood Moon's voice................................................................................Morgan 'God's voice' Freeman

Thank you for reading

And on that note, Productive faffer and Pinkie Pie out! I don't really know why he says 'out' but-

DAMNIT PINKIE!

The rhyming alchemist

The rhyming alchemist

Chapter eighteen: The rhyming alchemist

Blood Moon and Twilight woke at once, his stirring causing her to awaken with him, Hunter and Dusk still slumbering; Twilight looked up at her coltfriend, no small hint of concern in her expression. She couldn't help but be worried, after his small…episode, yesterday, the mare was still thinking about his mental condition. She had to wonder; just how stable was he, or maybe how unstable he was, she hoped she could help him through this, as well as whatever else was going through that head of his. That scarred head of his, which held so many stories and held so much knowledge and so little sense. It was such a paradox; he was maybe one of the most down to earth pony she'd ever met, he was -to a degree- very sensible, he was clever, knew what he was doing in life, didn't let anypony harm those close to him and could get very serious when the situation called for it. But at the same time, he was rebellious, as hard-headed as Rainbowdash, he was teetering on the edge of sanity and insanity, cared little for his own safety and did very little in the way of actual relaxed thought. From what she could tell, his mind was always occupied with something, be it her, her friend's safety and well-being or something she couldn't pin down…like he was remembering something, although, that could be forgiven given the amount of memories he must have. She sighed, half in worry and half in bliss, as she relaxed against him, resting her head against his chest and running a hoof down his fur. She couldn't help but notice, she'd never felt this way before; not about actually loving a stallion before, that much she'd already established, but the idea of feeling so much worry for a pony who wasn't one of her friends, also, it wasn't like she didn't have reason to be; her coltfriend was closer to insanity than he was saneness. She grinned as she felt his
hooves wrap around her.

'Well, it does make him more interesting.'

Twilight continued to look up at the stallion, who looked down at her for a while until he adjusted his position to put them at eye level. She searched his face for any signs of anything wrong, and though she couldn't see anything wrong with him, she knew he was capable of holding an emotionless expression, as well as hiding them pretty well. She caught him looking over her own face, she guessed he was looking over her for the same reason.

"What are you thinking about" she asked him quietly, casually. She watched him as his expression did nothing to acknowledge the question, imagined him thinking about what to answer with; making sure nothing's wrong, just getting a read on you, trying to figure out what you're thinking…

"Just admiring how pretty you are" he answered simply. The mare giggled as her ideas of deep and complex thoughts were dashed away by her coltfriend's simple complement. She pecked him on the nose and relaxed against him, hugging him and resting her head on the crook of his shoulder. "Twilight" he started. She leaned back and looked at him.

"Yeah?" He leaned his fore-head against hers, turning his head to avoid bumping their horns together.

"When I told you I love you yesterday…" She smiled at the memory.

"It's not like I'll easily forget it" she told him, her eyes closed as she ran the scene through her mind, a grin on her face.

"Whatever happens between us never forget that, because I mean it" he looked her in the eye "I love you." She smiled at him with her eyes still locked onto his as she turned her head slightly and pushed her lips to his for a while before she pulled back.

"Good, because I love you too" she told him "and I always will. No matter what happens between us, you're my first coltfriend and I don't think I'll be able to love anypony the same way as I love you." She snuggled closer to him. "Which is a good thing, because I have no intention of loving anypony else the same way as I love yo-" She was cut off when the assassin pushed his lips to hers in a long and rather risqué kiss that had her moaning as soon he had initiated it. He ended it before long and pulled back, kissing her on the muzzle, nose and a few times along the horn, those actions causing her to almost shout out in a pleasure that could only be brought on by stimulating her most sensitive pleasure receptors.

"Twilight, I'm pretty sure you have no idea how much that means to me" he told her as he held her tight against his body, unwilling to let go.

"Maybe not, but with that kind of reaction, I can take a pretty good guess" she told him as she pulled herself in even closer. As she moved, she unwittingly brushed her nether regions against his; normally, this wouldn't have sent the blood rushing to his organ but, with his current streak of awakenings, it was all it needed to stand to attention. "Hey, look, it's little you" the mare joked, noticing his stallionhood peeking between their stomachs, much the same way as they had yesterday. Blood Moon snorted a laugh at her gag, smirking and shaking his head before a thought popped into his head.

"And I shall name him…Mini me" he said dramatically, causing Twilight to fall into laughs.

"What reference is that" she wondered aloud. The assassin shrugged.

"I don't know, I heard it somewhere but, for the Powers of me, I can never remember where" he said as he kept chuckling with Twilight. "Anyway, I'll get rid of it" he said as he moved away, removing it from the sandwich. Once they were separated, Twilight looked up at him, an expression on her face Blood Moon had never seen before.

"You wanna hoof with that?" The question took the stallion from the left wing; he never thought he'd hear a question like that from Twilight, not so soon anyway, and the idea of them her doing anything to 'relieve' him both aroused him greatly and, for some reason, troubled him.

"You're sure? You don't have to y'know, I don't want you to think you have to do anythi-" He was silenced with the mare's purple, immaculately hooficured, hoof grabbing his stallionhood, none too gently either, prompting him to roll to the side, putting it between them, so it wasn't as obvious to anypony waking up.

"I know I don't have to" she told him, running her hoof up and down his member far too slowly for his liking. "But I want to" she said in a sultry manner that did nothing to kill the mood.

"I-I'm not arguing but…why" he asked, shuddering slightly. Twilight giggled at him, watching as the oh-so powerful assassin so easily turned to putty in the hooves of a mare.

"Because I'm in love you, and I want to show that love" she replied. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"There are other ways to show love, y'know" he told her. In response, she gripped him tighter, making him grunt in both pain and pleasure.

"Maybe, but this gets the message across better" she said, running her hoof to the base and fondling his balls for a second before she moved it back up again, as slow as ever. When she hit the head again, she changed her tactic and started jerking him off faster, making him growl a little. As she used her right hoof to pleasure him, her left went back to his balls and made him tingle a little more, shuddering in response. Twilight giggled at his reaction. "Enjoying th~at" she asked as he pushed his left hind-hoof into her moist marehood.

"It wouldn't be fair if I didn't return the favour" he told her, grinning at her face as he rubbed her slit up and down as she did the same to his cock. Around the room, Applejack, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were all rubbing their own marehoods while Rarity had hastily crammed the black bull inside her glistening walls, making sure not to wake up Sweetie-Belle in the process or attract the attention of her friends lying next to her, who she didn't know were masturbating anyway. Blood Moon and Twilight were still rubbing each other, grinning at one another, and getting progressively hotter under each other's touch; Blood Moon leaned closer to Twilight and pushed their lips together as he exchanged his hind-hoof for his left fore-hoof, pushing it into her cunny and felt the moisture that had built there, moving it around and twisting it into her pussy, making Twilight shudder and tighten her grip on his dick.

"That-that's good" she said as she kept pumping her hoof up and down his member. A drop of pre-cum fell from his tip; it landed on her hoof and she held it up to her face, examining it with that scientific mind the stallion loved. She then lapped it off her hoof, savouring it like a fine wine, the sight making Blood Moon's member twitch against her. Massively turned on by her small show and her increased speed on his stallionhood, his hoof worked harder, pushing deeper into her, spreading her folds and slipping inside her, making her squeal slightly into the kiss he had started again, in an effort to muffle it.

"You ever done this before" he asked. Twilight looked with a frown on his face, which was quickly killed when he pulled out his hoof and stroked her clit, making her bite her lower lip and throw her head back a little.

"M-maybe once or twice, by myself, but-but never with a stallion before" she answered. He grinned and pushed his hoof through her folds and twisted it around before he massaged her inner walls. She responded by jacking him off faster, making him groan slightly. Around the room, the mares redoubled their efforts; both Fluttershy's hooves had joined the fun between her legs, shuffling further away from Rainbow, as not to disturb her or wake her or Scootaloo up; Pinkie Pie's left hoof had strayed to Applejack's cunny, helping her pleasure herself, while Applejack's right hoof had gone to Pinkie's, seemingly of its own accord, and rubbed her back, letting Applebloom rest on her stomach, dangerously close to her personal pleasuring; and Rarity had simply turned on the vibrator on her dildo, turning it up to max, and letting it rage around inside her as she hugged her sister and forced herself to not scream.

"Hey, Twilight" Blood Moon started. She looked up at him. "Pop quiz; what happens when at least one thousand pleasure receptors are fired up at once?" Twilight raised an eyebrow at his question, but before she could answer, the stallion cut her off. "This" he told her, as he moved forwards and kissed along her horn, getting closer to the base before he moved back up with his tongue running up it; Twilight almost screamed while he did this, her pussy stopped being wet and instead turned into a small water fall, as his hoof and mouth worked together to pleasure her.

"I-I thought I was-ahhh-supposed to be making you feel good." He shrugged, not stopping with his efforts for a second before he pulled back and looked at her, a rather smug grin on his face. "What" she asked. Blood Moon looked down, prompting her to do the same, and saw his member, receiving no attention. "Oh, sorry" she said, before she put a hoof to her chin in thought with a small 'umm' of thought. She looked up at him with an expression on her face the assassin, once again, didn't recognise but looked awfully similar to the look she'd had earlier. With a sultry grin, Blood Moon absolutely loved, she shuffled down his body until she was met face to face with his dick. She looked at it with a slightly intimidated expression on her face; she had never tried anything like this before, she'd heard about it and maybe thought about it while hoofing herself from time to time but never actually doing it. She knew Blood Moon wouldn't judge her, or think any less of her, if she got it wrong at all but she wanted to get a good first impression and be off to a good start in her sex life. She frowned and blinked.

'Huh, never thought I'd think that.'

She pulled herself out of her stupor and looked at the stallionhood before her; it was big, a little veiny, throbbing slightly as her warm breath hit it and had a…funny odour to it, like it she should think it bad but was kind of nice. She leaned a little closer, holding her head to the side as she got closer, and sniffed it, getting a nose full of his scent in response. She bit her lip and looked it up and down, from balls to tip, and swallowed before she leaned in and ran her tongue up his length; it was definitely a strange taste, salty, a hint of sweat and there was also what could only be described as lust and desire given a taste. As soon as her tongue had hit his stallionhood, she found herself wanting more and was about to when a thought slipped into her head; her memory of yesterday, and what had happened between her coltfriend and Fluttershy. She thought about his and her relationship, and how far it could go between them; she knew from her extensive reading into the subject that sex was something needed to break down certain walls between partners, Blood Moon was dating her and he loved her, he'd told her so, and she loved him back. She wanted to show him that she loved him, show him as well as, if not better, than Fluttershy ever could; with that thought, she opened her maw and took him in. Every mare around the room, currently awake, paused in their efforts and looked over their sweating bodies to see the act, their eyes wide in disbelief and their hooves rubbing themselves furiously; Twilight's legs were peeking out from beneath the covers, the purple sheets themselves rising and falling as she bobbed up and down, her horn forming a pointed tent in the sheet while her coltfriend writhed around above her, holding her head and directing her movements. After yesterday, he would be lying if he'd said he hadn't at least hoped this was where it would go when Twilight had started earlier; he groaned a little as Twilight took him right to the base, gritting his teeth as his marefriend ran her tongue up and down his shaft.
"You're good at this" he said as he ran his hooves along her horn, making her groan herself and send erotic vibrations through his system. She pulled back and looked up at him from under the covers.

"I-um-I did…a little reading a little while back" she said with a deep blush on her face. It amused the assassin to no end that she was lying there, jerking him off, and she was blushing about the fact that she had done some research on it, rather than the fact that, here she was, jerking him off. She noticed his smirk and flustered a little. "I-I was curious about it, and-and the book was just sitting there, I mean, Celestia stocked the library herself so I can only assume that she put it in there for a reason" she told the stallion. That actually surprised him.

"Celestia had a book about how to properly please a stallionhood with the mouth and she thought the best place to put it would be in her student's library?" Twilight looked sheepish.

"I guess she just wanted to help, have a hoof in my relationships" she tried. Blood Moon snorted in laughter.

"I can't believe it; I thought I raised her better than that." In response Twilight swirled her tongue around his tip.

"And I can't believe you're keeping me talking when my face is down here" she told him, making a pretty astute point, as she moved her mouth to take him in again and suckled on his stallionhood's tip before going down and deep throating him, much like how Fluttershy had blown him yesterday, asides from her tongue being more agile, allowing it to dance around his member faster and with much more variation; her maw being slightly wider, giving her more room to play; and her appearing to have a bigger lung capacity, shown by her ability to hold her lips around the base of his cock for longer.

'Hmm, maybe they use the same research material.'

"Hey Twi" she murmured to herself, likely grumbling in frustration, and suckled her way up before she kissed his tip.

"Yes" she asked, in between smacks and licks.

"Don't scream." She looked up in confusion as his horn glowed and she was swiftly lifted by an invisible force, and moved around some with the covers still hanging off of her until he let her back down, his cock in her face and her pussy in his. He looked over her labia, her sweet, slightly darker outer rings leading to her pink inner flesh, begging for attention, still dripping from the hoofing he'd given it earlier and her clit glistened pleasingly, practically demanding to be pleased; he looking up at her well-maintained pussy hair, it was short and faint but well kept, the colours following her mane and tail, the outer edges being darker purple and the inner stripes being pink. He looked around her lush plot to see her glancing back at him. "First to cum" he propositioned.

"You're on" she said. They dived in at once, unawares as to the debauchery going on around their own as the licked, sucked, kissed, flicked, teased and pleasured each other's sexes. Twilight had put her fore-legs under his hind-legs, giving her some leverage, as she bobbed her head up and down rapidly, moaning the whole time as she dived in deep and pulled back up to flick the tip with her tongue, while Blood Moon had his hooves either side of her folds, spreading them invitingly as his tongue went to work on the insides. He tasted around her inner walls, lapping up the juices that flowed from her opening while he made sure his tongue flicked her clit periodically and making her shudder and groan around his dick. His lips clamped over her and he kissed her marehood before he pushed his tongue right in and used it to penetrate her, thrusting it in and out of her, lapping at her glistening walls for a while as Twilight continued to use her own lips and tongue to bring him closer to orgasm. She roughly ran her tongue up one side of his shaft, a light smack when she got to the end and kept using her tongue to pleasure him as her hoof kept moving up and down while her tongue stayed at the tip, swirling around it. Blood Moon's own tongue was working away at her snatch, teasing over her clit, while his right hoof massaged her flank and periodically poked around her ass-hole and his left held her tail out of the way, appreciating the silky texture. He pulled back when he got an idea; the stallion moved his head around as he aligned his horn with her sex and pushed it in. The mare came very close to screaming in pleasure, and even closer to cumming, but instead she threw her head back, as noiseless and breathless scream tempted to sound, a few squeaks coming out instead. "That's-that's-that's, ahhh, that's good. There, just-just right there. B-Blood Moon, ahhh, this is…what are you doing back there?" Between her hind-legs, the stallion had his horn inside Twilight's pussy but was unable to answer due to the fact he'd been almost knocked out by the sheer tidal wave of ecstasy that had just slammed into his nervus system and found himself on the fresh hold of cumming. He moved his head, thrusting his horn into her and prompting her to squeal some more as he moved around inside her, and listening to her get closer and closer to reaching her peek as she clenched and squeezed his horn with her wanting marehood. "B-Blood Moon I'm gonna-gonna…" she looked down at his still erect member "oh no, you don't" she said, managing to pull herself out of her ecstasy for a brief second to see he was about to beat her.

She dived back onto his cock and sucked on it for all she was worth, the reaction to said efforts coming out in a way that quickly pushed the assassin to his climax. For thirty more seconds, until they were both clamping down on their groans, moans and telling each other how good the felt, they came all over each other; Twilight released him to scream, doing her damndest to hold it down, and his cum coated her face with a white, gooey, sticky substance that had her breathless and panting while his seed dripped of her blushed, purple face, now turned mostly white by said seed; Blood Moon's horn, fore-head and no small amount of his mane was now caked in Twilight's fluids, some of it running down his grinning face and into his maw, where he opened his mouth and tasted some of her sweet nectar. The mare was panting and out of breath as she crawled up his body and lay on top of him, feeling more in love with him than ever. Blood Moon was helping her exhausted body climb up his own and held her against him with a content sigh, feeling more in love with her than ever. Around the room, the other mares had cum at the same time as Twi and Blood Moon, Fluttershy clamping one of her wet hooves over her mouth, Rarity arching her back and losing a noise and soundless scream in the same way as Twilight had while Pinkie had turned Applejack's head to face her and clamped their lips together as they came, screaming into each other's maws as Applejack looked at her friend's slightly darker shade of pink eyelids with her own crushed emerald eyes, held wide in aroused shock, slowly closing them as she got into it. The mares and stallion all panted a little as the basked in post-orgasmic bliss. Twilight looked over Blood Moon's face before giggling.

"You've got something on you" she said, still giggling at his matted mane, now plastered in her cum. She climbed up him and put his horn to her mouth. "Here, let me help you" she cooed as she lapped her own cum off of his horn and face, making him shiver and tempting him to harden again and her to moisten again as she started to feel incredibly hot as she tasted herself on him. When she'd cleaned him off, she moved back down him again and snuggled against him, where they rested against each other for a long while until they caught a whiff of the scent in the air.

"They're going to notice that" he said. Twilight just closed her eyes and pulled herself into him some more.

"Let them, I'm not embarrassed about it" she told him as she looked up at him, her gorgeous half lidded eyes meeting his. "I love you, why would I be embarrassed by it?" They lay in place for little while longer, just enjoying the company and awaiting the questions that would come when they noticed the smell in the air, and the cum Twilight still had on her face. After a thirty minutes, which felt like way too short a time for the both of them, Blood Moon's stomach rumbled and he felt the need to get up.

"I'm gonna get up" he told her, as he lifted himself out of bed "get this out of my mane and get something to eat" he continued "Hunter, Dusk you coming" he asked quietly, his voice still managing to wake them up. The pair of animals looked at him and made their way to their perches on him, Dusk scampering onto his head, though staying away from Twilight's cum, looking at it in confusion, and Hunter sat on his shoulder, his eyebrow raised at the smell on him. Twilight threw the covers off of her and stood up alongside him.

"Yeah, me too, I need to get all this off me” Blood Moon raised an eyebrow, in response to which Twilight nodded at the fillies around the room “I kinda forgot about the little ones” she admitted, as they both set about magically remaking the bed. The gave a synchronised 'hmm' when they saw the stains they had left on the sheets before shrugging and turning for the door, still in freaky sync, Twilight's flank swaying and bumping the assassin's own rear-end.

They entered the bathroom and went about washing themselves off, Twilight paying most attention to her face and groin as she washed the cum off and Blood Moon washing it out of his mane and cleaning his crotch, the pets watching in confusion, wondering what their master had done before they had woke up. Once done, they checked each other over, making sure they hadn't missed any spots and trotting down the stairs, Twilight putting some simple daisy-sandwiches together for herself and culinary inept coltfriend. The assassin foresaw teasing over that.

Upstairs, the other mares who had gotten involved in this morning's session of passion and debauchery were coming down from their sexual high and were waiting for the others to leave so they could recover properly. Fluttershy went first, waking up Spike as she passed him and got him out of the room before he registered the smell, floating into her bathroom and putting a soap and sponge between her legs to get rid of any evidence; Rarity went afterwards, waiting until Fluttershy had left the bathroom, and took Sweetie-Belle with her, hiding the black bull in her pillow again, into the bathroom, making use of her drowsy state and leaving Pinkie and Applejack in the room together, nopony else up yet. Applejack looked at Pinkie with an estranged expression on her face.

"P-uh-Pinkie, what was…uhh, all that about? Y'know, when we-we, you know afta we…"

"When we came together" she asked with an ever out of place smile on her face. "Well, we were gonna wake everypony up with it so I thought on my hooves and did something to keep us quiet." Applejack blinked.

"An' your solution was tah kiss me? What were ya'll thinkin'? Ya'll know ah'm straight, mah tail don't swing that way." Pinkie giggled, tapping her on the nose.

"You weren't complaining when you were kissing me back" she sung, that same smile on her face. "Come one, you telling me you've never tried experimenting?" Applejack blushed and looked down, remembering that one time she'd been left alone on the farm for a while. A LONG while.

"Well, ah, uhh, a-a little bit, a little while back, but that's not what ah'm talkin' about; whenever ah do the 'hometown shuffle' ah prefer to have a stallion's company" she told her.

"Ooo, 'prefer' huh? So you ARE open to some experiments?" Applejack blushed harder.
"Well, ah, no ah'm-ah'm not-well ah…uhh…" Pinkie Pie giggled as she moved closer to the apple bucker.

"Come on AJ, just admit it; you enjoyed it." She pressed her sweet, pink belly against the farm-hoof's, wrapping her in a hug and half lidding her eyes, turning incredibly sexy in a matter of seconds, making Applejack blush again. And it wasn't because of what she was saying.

"Ah, umm, uhh, ah don't-don't... P-Pinkie where's all o' this comin' from?" The pink pony giggled.

"I've always been a party girl" she answered, before pecking her on the nose and rolling away, getting up like nothing was amiss. "Morning Dashie" she sung as she left the room. That short wakeup call awoke both Rainbowdash and Scootaloo as well as Sand Stalker, who jolted awake and fell off his chair with a few blurted Arabian curses.

"Hey, what, where-what's going on" Rainbowdash demanded as she held Scootaloo protectively, the filly looking around in alarm until she worked out nothing was wrong and just basked in the fact that she was being held by her idol.

"Dash, calm down, you're fine" Sand Stalker told her from his position on the floor, grumbling as he rubbed the grit from his eyes. Rainbow calmed down when he said this, looking at the filly she held.

"Mornin' squirt" she said, tussling her mane, Scootaloo giggling as she did so.

"Morning Rainbowdash" she said, nuzzling her before she got up and hopped off the bed.

"Morning Applejack, hey Applebloom, you up" she asked the apple bucker's sheets, prompting the head of a yellow filly to pop from beneath the side.

"Yeah, sure ah'm awake" she told the Pegasus, before she gracelessly fell out of bed and landed on her face. Applejack looked over the side, concerned.

"Yew alright sugarcube?" 'Bloom looked up at her sister.

"Yeah, ah'm fine. Looks like all the bumps we too crusadin' finally paid off" she said as they cantered for the door. During the CMC's shenanigans, Rainbowdash had woken up properly and caught the smell in the air.

"What's that smell" she asked, sniffing the air. Applejack panicked.

"N-nothin' suspicious" she said, sounding incredibly suspicious as she said so, the irony not lost on either of the Pegasi; that said, RD didn't know what the word 'irony' meant. The orange mare cantered out of the room as gracelessly as her sister had fallen out of bed, heading downstairs for breakfast. The winged ponies looked at each other and shrugged.

"How you doin' 'Dash" Sand Stalker asked as he got up, making Applejack's bed in a way only a life in the military could teach you. The cyan mare shrugged as she made Fluttershy's, not doing quite as good a job of it as the merc.

"Fine" she answered simply. The stallion looked over at her.

"No offence Dash, but you haven't been talking all that much lately, and you've been a lot more physical with Scootaloo, hugging her more. You don't have to hide this sort of thing Rainbow, that sort of experience would traumatise most other ponies." He trotted over to her, putting his hoof on her shoulder when he got close, angling his head and neck so he could look at her lowered face. "Are you sure you're alright?" She didn't look up at him.

"I-I've let my pride get in the way of this kind of thing for too long, and I know I can't fool you uncle Sand, so I'm gonna be honest" she paused as she looked up, grief clear in her eye. "I was scared, I thought I was gonna die…and-and" she wrapped her fore-hooves around his neck "I'm glad you came… when you arrived, somehow, I knew everything was going to be ok" she told him. She released him and stepped back. "Listen, Blood Moon said it would be better for us if we tried to work this out rather than be at each other's throats" the merc chuckled "so I was wondering if you'd want to try and start again with this." The merc laughed.

"Rainbow, Blood said some things to me too; he said that when you make a promise, you should keep it, especially when it concerns a newly made orphan. And he was right. I should have kept my promise and stayed with you, no matter my own situation. Now, I'll take any chance to make it up to you, you can bet your wings on it" he told her. The mare pulled him into another hug, this one briefer than the others before she disengaged.

"Alright, good, I got my uncle Sand back" she said, trying to remain passive but doing a remarkably bad job of it "now let's stop being so sappy, I'm hungry" she told him. Sand Stalker laughed and led the way to the stairs, heading downstairs and towards…not the sound of conversation.

He entered the front room and Rainbowdash stood next to him, thinking the same thing as he was as they looked over the near silent room.

"What's goin' on" RD asked, sitting next to Fluttershy, who was looking at the small cup of tea in her hoof, a faint blush on her face. Sand Stalker and Rainbowdash looked around the room, spotting blushes on Rarity's, Applejack's and even Pinkie Pie's face, none of them looking up at each other; Twilight and Blood Moon, who were sitting close to each other, closer to each other than normal, and were looking around the room in confusion, Hunter and Dusk following their example.

"So" the assassin said at length, an eyebrow still raised. "Any plans for today" he asked the room. They all looked up, thinking about what he had asked.

"Oh, umm, all my animal friends are taken care of, asides feeding them, I don't think anything needs to be done" Fluttershy said. That pretty much set the tone; the work needed to be done at Fluttershy's home was the only work available so if nothing was needed to be done, there was nothing to do. Still awkward at the strange lack of conversation, Blood Moon looked outside.

"Well, it's a nice day, and I don't think the guards will be coming around anytime soon, so if you want to get some fresh air, now's your chance" he said. At those words the CMC all trotted out of the kitchen and made their way outside to play once more, Fluttershy went out to check up on the critters that lived outside and Blood Moon simply went to get some air.

Out there, he had to admit; he liked it out here. The treeline of the Everfree forest looked a world away, and the light sent to Equestria by Celestia's golden sun cast a happy glow over Fluttershy's cottage and its surroundings; the birds chirped in perfect tone, almost like Fluttershy had trained them herself, and any critters in the area looked to be fit and healthy, not to mention as cheerful as can be. The assassin sat on his haunches, at the edge of the small river that ran through past her home, and did nothing but watch the fish go by, letting his memories flood him. He fell onto his back and rested his head on his hooves, gazing at the clouds, looking for shapes he recognised; his eyes relaxed into a glare, his usual state of expression, and took in the abstract shapes and slow movements of the sky's mist. This was the only thing he could really do to relax, watching the clouds, and the only way to settle his thoughts, that always seemed impossibly scrambled otherwise. He was good at hiding it, he knew that, but it didn't change the fact that without something to focus on, he found it impossible to keep his thoughts in order, or even focused on one thing; it was maddening.

"Don't talk to me about maddening; I'm mad enough as it is."

'Oh, it's you. I wondered how long it would take for you to resurface properly.'

"Yeah it's me. So…"

'So…'

"Look, we both know why I'm speaking with you now."

'We do, so get on with it; you're going to scold me for how I think about Twilight. Let's get this over with.'

"You're not even going to try and argue, are you? You really have stopped caring about what I have to say."

'I have, you're a voice in my head, nothing more.'

"We both know I'm more than that, Blood Moon.'

'You WERE more than that, Black Star. Now, as I said, you're nothing more than a voice in my head and even in that respect you're pretty redundant, you quit trying to send me insane years ago.'

"There was no point in it; you're too far gone to even try anymore, your sanity and insanity are sat on a delicate set of scales. Delicate, but sturdy. You're as far gone as you're going, not me, Celestia, Luna, or even Discord himself could push you over the edge. But at the same time, nopony, not Twilight, Vinyl, me or anypony else you know can bring you back to stability. But I doubt you care."

'No, I don't. Nor will I ever. I don't care if I'm as far gone as I'm going, because if that's the case, why bother with concern?'

"That's always been your problem; you don't care about anything you don't think is worth it; yourself, your safety, your sanity, the past, the future or even somepony who used to be close to you, Ditzy for example."

'We've been over this already; I no longer, nor will I ever again, care for that mare.'

"But you do Twilight?"

'Of course, I wouldn't have told her I love her if I didn't, would I?'

"You never told Ditzy you loved her."

'No, I didn't.'

"Did you?"

'No, I don't think I did.'

"In retrospect?"

'No, at all; I never felt that…same connection.'

"Because you never had sex?"

'No, you bastard, because I never felt that way, I guess, because I didn't feel any kind of out of place feeling when I was around her. I know love when I feel it, and that wasn't it.'

"Rising Sunset?"

'Yes, Rising Sunset.'

"Blood Moon?" The voice knocked him out of his thoughts, blinking himself back to reality and Equestria as he looked around for the source of said voice, tracking it to an orange furred filly with a purple windswept mane.

"Scootaloo" he said, straightening up to look at her properly and sitting on his hind-quarters. She sat next to him, picking up a pebble and tossing it into the stream. "Something up, Scoots?"

"No" she says unconvincingly and without looking at him "I was just thinking about what happened the other day, at the school" she told him, still not looking at him.

"Oh, what about it?" The filly glanced up at him, but didn't meet his gaze.
"I was just-just thinking about how you stood up to Miss Cheerilee and Diamond Tiara for us. Nopony has ever done for that for us before." Blood Moon shrugged.

"It was just how I would look after any filly, be it my own daughter or any close to me. And I'm not altogether surprised nopony has stood up to Cheerilee or Diamond Tiara before; too many ponies are too concerned about how other ponies perceive them. Personally, I just do what needs be done, and to Tartarus with what anypony thinks of me for it; I fight when I need to fight, kill when I need to kill and protect those close to me, it's only natural half the ponies of Equestria hate me, and the other half stand beside me." He shrugged. "It makes no difference to me."
"Why" the filly asked. The assassin smirked.

"So everypony who is catering to everypony else has something to strive towards when they decide they want to start living for themselves, as well as others" he told her.

"What do you mean?" He looked at her, his head angled inquisitively.

"Tell me, Scootaloo, what would you be if you served somepony else all of the time?"

"All of the time?" He nodded.

"Every second of every minute of every hour of everyday, etcetera, etcetera." She thought about it.

"A slave, I guess" she answered. He nodded.

"Exactly, and I am no slave, nor should you be nor anypony else be. And I'm pretty sure nopony wants to be a slave" he said.

"I wouldn't" she told him, looking at the stream. Blood Moon nodded.

"Good, that kind of thinking is the first stop to properly living." The two sat in silence for a while after he said this, Scootaloo letting what he'd said sink in while Blood Moon lay on his back again, staring at the clouds once more, Scootaloo joining him before long in his relaxation. "So why did you really come here" he asked, out of the blue. The filly looked over at him, trying to look confused.

"W-what do you mean, 'why did I really come here'?" The assassin smirked and raised an eyebrow.

"Let's be honest, you can't have been thinking just about how I stood up for you; that sort of thing is natural for you, you're a fighter, like me, you're head on and blunt. You don't exactly think, you do. So, standing up for somepony would be second nature to you, if you don't believe me just think about how you reacted to Sweetie-Belle's predicament the other day." He dropped his smirk and gave her a look that spoke his curiosity "So, what exactly were you thinking about?" The filly looked sheepish, turning away from him and prompting the stallion to sit up.

"I-I was just thinking about when you said you were… my daddy" she told him. Blood Moon looked at the floor.

"Ah" he muttered. She looked over her shoulder at him and saw him looking a little down. She sat up and faced him.

"I was thinking about what it was like to have a daddy" she continued "for a little while." The way she said the latter half of her sentence was almost tear-jerking.

"Scootaloo, I'm sorry if my…ruse was a little inconsiderate but I… well, put simply, I couldn't think of anything else at the time" he told her, no longer proud of his quick thinking. Scootaloo caught his tone of voice and moved over to him, grabbing his right fore-leg.

"D-don't be like that, it was nice having a dad" she said, giving him a weak smile. Blood Moon gave a small half smile of his own, not properly looking at her.

"Scootaloo, you need family, so why don't you go to Rainbowdash with this sort of thing?" The orange filly looked down again.

"Well, Rainbowdash is awesome and all but she's more of a sister than anything else, not like a-like my mom or anything like that" she revealed. "I don't think she sees me like that" she added. Blood Moon felt for her; he'd thought Rainbowdash and Scootaloo had been close enough to fill each other's void, but it seemed that they were in need of somepony more than that, somepony who could actually look after them in a way a sister couldn't; true, sisters had a relationship no other pony could provide but at the same time a mother or a father, or a simple elder, held a relation with a daughter none could match. A pony with the correct qualities and relation to the filly, or colt, can make a suitable 'honorary family member' but finding somepony with these qualities is difficult and there is always the chance of a lonely young never coming across somepony willing to take care of them. Now, Rainbowdash had Sand Stalker for that and Scootaloo could only look on as her big sister had her uncle and she had nopony, not for that anyway. He narrowed his eyes.

'Buck, that.'

"Listen, Scootaloo, I can't stand seeing a filly or colt alone and when I can help it, I do. So, if you're okay with it, I'd-I'd stand in as your father-" Scootaloo cut him off by lunging at him, wrapping her fore-hooves around his neck, sobbing slightly into his neck.

"Yesyesyes, thank you" she cried as he chuckled and pulled her into his own hug.
"Now, this isn't anything official but for anything you need a father for, I'm there" he pulled back and looked her in her damp eyes. "For better, or for worse." She squealed and dived into his shoulder again, nuzzling him as she did so.

"Thanks…dad" she said, holding him tighter, her little wings fluttering.

"It's alright Scoots" he told her, smiling fondly. He rather liked this, having a daughter again, though he did know he may have to watch her die eventually, no matter how depressing the thought it was just the way it was, he couldn't help but think he wouldn't have to look after her for her whole life, Scootaloo was just too cute for nopony to not want to take her in. Still, he wasn't sure what move he'd just made, I mean, let's look at things so far; he was in love with Twilight, who loved him back; Fluttershy was in love with him, and he couldn't deny he certainly felt the same way for the mare; Sand Stalker was Rainbowdash's uncle, who was Scootaloo's sister; and he was now Scootaloo's dad. So, what; Him and Twilight were the mom and dad; Sand Stalker was Blood Moon's brother; Scootaloo and Rainbowdash were their kids…

'Discord's antlers, this is a confusing family.'

Blood Moon shook the thoughts from his head, and resorted to falling onto his back, Scoots still in his grip, and just lying there with her. They lay there together, as father and daughter, for hours, just enjoying each other's company and relaxing in the sun. Scootaloo had fallen asleep before long, having drifted off in the midday sun with a content smile on her face, and Blood Moon was quickly following her to the land of dreams until he heard a blood curdling scream. The filly jolted awake, Blood Moon doing the same, clutching the filly in his fore-hooves and looking around himself to find the cause of disturbance while Scootaloo had just woken up for the second time in a day in the hooves of somepony who was alarmed, the only difference here was that she'd heard what Blood Moon had and was just as alarmed as he was.

"What was that" she asked, looking back at Fluttershy's home, where the scream seemed to have originated from.

"It sounded like Rarity" Blood Moon commented as he stood on all fours, Scootaloo on his back. The filly seemed to relax when he said this, giggling as she spoke.

"Well, if that's it, she may have just stepped into some dirt" she commented. The stallion grunted.

"Y'know, if she had, I wouldn't be surprised at her reaction. But with the current situation, I'm not gonna take the chance" he told her. The assassin trotted towards the cottage, once he arrived, he made his way around the back and saw Fluttershy and Rarity, the latter of which was on her back, tears streaming down her face. Blood Moon frowned, and cantered over, glancing left and right, looking for anything that may have been the cause of this. "Rarity, what's wrong?" She kept writhing around on the floor before she managed to look up and him with her eyes still wet. Blood Moon's frown deepened; she wasn't crying, she was laughing.

"Oh, B-Blood Moon, there you are" she fell into giggles again "I wondered if you'd turn up" she told him before she started howling in un-ladylike laughter. The killer glanced back at Scootaloo, who was looking as confused as she was, before he looked at Fluttershy.

"What's going on" he asked as the rest of the elements of harmony, Spike and Sand Stalker came galloping out, wondering what was happening.

"I don't wanna talk about it" the mare said in a deep, masculine voice. Immediately, Rarity started laughing again, Spike joining her while Sand Stalker raised a bemused eyebrow and the other mares giggled into their hooves.

"Hey, Flutterguy's back" Spike joked, slapping his knee. Blood Moon trotted over to him and clouted him around the back of the head with a snarl on his face. "OW, hey, what was that for" he demanded, rubbing his head.

"Because you're laughing at somepony afflicted with Poison Joke" he almost roared. The message didn't seem to sink in for most of the other ponies, but Sand Stalker, Spike and Rainbowdash all shut up at the ferocity of his words.

"Blood Moon, what are you so worked up about" Twilight asked, still giggling. The assassin moved over and hit her on the back of her head, though not as hard as he had Spike. "Ow, what gives?"

"Don't you know what Poison Joke is, what it does?" Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Of course I do; it plays a prank on you, it's happened to us all. Rainbowdash kept crashing"

"Rainbowcrash" Spike added.

"Rarity's fur grew out"

"Hairity."

"Pinkie's tongue messed up"

"Spitty Pie."

"Applejack shrunk"

"Appleteeny."

"And my horn went all floppy and wouldn't work."

"I still haven't thought of a good name for that" he muttered.

"Twilight Short-out" the assassin suggested with a half interested shrug. "Anyway, that's not the point; if it were just a prank they played, they wouldn't be called Poison Joke, would they?" Twilight's grin faltered.

"What do you mean" she asked. The assassin approached Fluttershy and checked her over, looking for any signs of the poison going further than just its joke.

"Well" he muttered, as he circled the butter yellow mare "if left untreated for more than a week, I think, the effects become permanent." The mares gasped. "And if left untreated for…" he looked at Sand Stalker "what, a month?" The merc put a hoof to his chin in thought before he nodded. "It's fatal" he finished. At those two magic words, Fluttershy's eyes widened and she fell to tears, landing on the stallion's shoulder.

"I don't wanna die" she said in that deep voice. The assassin didn't let it faze him.

"Don't worry, you're not going to die" he soothed as he stroked her mane before he frowned.
"When did it sting you anyway" he asked. The mare leaned back, putting a hoof to her chin.

"It may have been when we were getting out of the Everfree forest the other day, I wasn't really looking where I was going. I may have trotted through it then" she said. Blood Moon nodded.

"Makes sense, you were paying attention to Hunter most of the time and letting AJ and Rarity guide you, so you never noticed when you stepped in it." He looked her over some more. "At a guess, you grazed it, that would be why it took so long to take effect, normally it only takes a day, but with less poison in you system, it would naturally take longer" he said, more for himself than anypony else. He looked at Twilight. "How did you cure it before?"

"We didn't, Zecora fixed us up with a potion she made" the magenta unicorn told him. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"What's a 'Zecora'?" Twilight rolled her eyes.

"Zecora is a zebra that lives in the Everfree silly, she's an alchemist." The assassin put a hoof to his chin.

"A zebra alchemist living in the Everfree forest?" Twilight nodded. "Eh, that's cool" he shrugged as he lead the way back into the cottage. His horn glowed and his vest, hood and cloak flew onto him, vest and cloak in better repair than the hood, surrounded by a grey aura, before his twin swords, still in their sheaths, flew onto him, strapping themselves onto his side, his other weapons not following after. "I take it only she knows this cure" he said, turning to the other ponies. Twilight nodded.
"Yeah, and she only comes to Ponyville when she needs supplies and there's no way of knowing when she'll come next" she said, as the assassin trotted for the door.

"Looks like I'm heading in there then" he said as the merc, his marefriend and Scootaloo galloped after him.

"You're not going in there alone" Sand Stalker told him.

"And why not" the dark stallion asked as he turned to him.

"Because it's dangerous" Scootaloo said.

"And you don't even know where she lives" Twilight continued.

"And the last time you went in there you died" Sand Stalker added.

"And I don't wanna lose you" Twilight and Scootaloo said at once, both hugging him as they said it, Twilight going for the chest and Scoots the legs. The assassin smiled slightly and hugged them back.

"Don't worry about me, I can look after myself" he reassured them. "Listen, I don't wanna lose any time, so I've got to get moving" he said as he broke the hug.

"At least let somepony come with you" Twilight said, her choice of words prompting a few blushes. Blood Moon shook his head.

"No, I need Sand Stalker to stay here with you in case anything happens and I'll be faster alone anyway." Twilight looked a little insulted.

"But you don't even know where she lives" she exclaimed. The stallion rolled his eyes.

"There are three beaten paths in the Everfree; one leads to the Everfree palace, the other to the Mirror pond and the other is one I've never explored, simply because I can never be bothered" he explained "I can only presume that, that pathway leads to Zecora's home." Twilight looked defeated.

"Alright, just…be careful" she said. The stallion grunted.

"I'll be fine" he told her. "What could possibly go-"

"STOP, right there" Twilight ordered, cramming her hoof into his mouth. "Whenever anypony says that, something always goes wrong" she said. He was about to argue when he noticed her point, shrugging.
"Good point, anyway, I should get going now" he said, receiving a kiss and hug goodbye from
Twilight and Scootaloo respectively. He turns and opens the door, throwing a parting grin the other's way as he crosses the threshold. "Relax" he tells the elements of harmony, fillies and Spike. "I won't be long."

Blood Moon had been trotting for three hours now, eyes constantly darting from left to right as he watched for any threats that were tempted to jump him. He didn't like the Everfree, well, nopony did, but he liked to think he had a special relationship with it; he'd spent at least nine years of his life here, none consecutively, and most all of the time had been spent with him being worried about one thing or another, be it some rookie adventurer on his back or his mark getting away in this seemingly endless place. Blood Moon and the Everfree forest had an accord; 'you stay away from me, and I'll stay away from you.' Both parties would love to be able to hold up that agreement, but events constantly transpire to have him blundering in here, be it on the hunt in here or just having to run errands. He wondered why he'd never run into this 'Zecora' before, he'd been in here enough times so it was only logical; maybe she'd only just moved here, though he couldn't figure out why, or maybe he had seen or met her without realising it.

Another hour's worth of trotting complete, he came across a small hut, a Shaman's hut to be precise. It seemed to be built into a great, hollowed tree, bringing back pleasant memories of his time in Twilight's library, the outside decorated with tribal masks and bottles strung up from the branches. The assassin looks over the masks, recognising them as a sign of friendship and welcome; he grunted when he remembered that time he'd mistaken masks with happy and pleasant faces for welcome, but were instead the signs for sacrifice, cannibalism and, if he remembered correctly, flossing with a pony's mane. He looked around and found that there were no creatures in the clearing, most likely warded off by the bottles hung in the trees which most likely held an Ursa's urine scent, marking its territory but was scentless to ponies. Done with admiring the Sharman's home, he approached the door and knocked upon it. From inside, he heard a clattering as though he'd just disturbed somepony. The door opened to reveal a black and white striped zebra.

Zecora looked the stallion up and down, searching her memories and not recognising him.

"Ahh, a stranger comes to my door" she started as she opened the door further, though not all the way "tell me friend, what can I do you for?" The assassin raised his eyebrow at her strange form of speech but grinned all the same as he answered.

"Forgive my fine mare, but I bring news of a friend in disrepair" he explained. Zecora smiled when she heard his rhyme, opening the door fully and looking over the stallion; she recognised the Robus -weave on his chest and spotted the weapons on his side. Her smile dropped when she registered what he'd just said.
"Oh my, it must be severe, to venture to my home in here" the zebra commented as she looked around the Everfree forest. Blood Moon nodded.

"It's my friend Fluttershy you see, she's been afflicted with Poison Joke, believe me." Zecora put a hoof to her chin as she thought.

"Fluttershy you say, come inside and we'll talk more, okay?" She stepped back and bid him enter, the assassin nodding graciously as he stepped inside and looked around the inside of Zecora's home; it was decorated with more masks and hanging bottles, much more of them sitting on shelves and they were all around the place, so many that Blood Moon could barely see the walls behind them; in the middle of the hut, a large cauldron sat, brimming with some kind of bubbling, green potion; candles around the room kept the place warmly lit, it was friendly and welcoming but wasn't so bright as to disrupt the mysterious atmosphere; a few stick of incense stood around the room, the burning ends letting off smooth and sweet fumes that filled the room comfortably. "I noticed that you are armed" she commented, nodding at his blades "though I would be lying if I said I was alarmed. It is the errand of fools, who come in here without the right tools" she said as she went about making a cup of something. Blood Moon had acknowledged her comment with a glance her way with a small grin that agreed with her, before he looked around her home some more.

"A nice place you have here, you take care of your home, it is clear" he complimented as he paid more attention to the subtle and delicate atmosphere that must have taken months to perfect.

He looked at Zecora herself; she had a kind and impossibly pretty face, a softly curving jaw bone and small muzzle, wearing a sweet smile on her lips; her black and light grey fur cast stripes over her face and body, three below her eyes, a patch on her muzzle and two on top of her head, spanning from the base of the black stripes of her black and white Mohawk mane, her tail was tied at her flank, but she let it flow freely after that, the stripes circled her legs and spanned over her back in a spike like patterns; she had a nice body, strong but shapely, giving her a more hard than soft figure apart from the plump, soft, sweet and heart shaped flank that seemed to sway more than a pony's; as with most of her kind, she didn't have a cutie mark, or at least not one a pony could identify, instead she had what the assassin could only guess was her tribe's insignia, it was a long, tightly twisting spiral with triangles surrounding it, prompting the stallion to think her of the 'eclipsed sun' tribe; over her body she wore a few pieces of ceremonial jewellery, a golden earring in each ear and five gold hoops going up her neck and four on her left fore-leg; she had bright, wide, beautiful eyes that had black rims going around them, her dark blue eyes were brought out by the makeup though, with her already pretty face, he found it a little unnecessary. Her midnight-blue orbs spoke many things to the assassin, her skills as an alchemist not least among them, but he also saw an overly out of place amount of knowledge on and in using magic, it was an eyebrow raiser but it didn't faze him; it wouldn't be the first time he'd met somepony who could use magic and wasn't a unicorn.
"Not to mention your beauty in itself, staring too long would not be good for my health." Zecora blushed and giggled in to her hoof as she sat at a circular table.

"I thank you, my good sir. Now sit, it was Fluttershy wasn't it, tell me about what ails her." Blood Moon sat at the table that was off to the side of her home, adjacent to Zecora, and refused a cup of her brew with a polite shake of his head.

"Poison Joke, as I said, I seek to cure her or the consequences I dread." Zecora grinned as she sipped at her wooden cup.

"Ahh yes, Poison Joke, aptly named by you pony folk" she commented. "My services are what you seek, and I will give you a hoof, so to speak. My skills are not reserved, but there are certain formalities to be observed. May I, if it would not be a pain, ask respectively of your name?" Blood Moon grunted and bowed his head.

"My name is known by the far between and few, and many of them know it in fear, this is true. It is known to herald doom and gloom, though I digress, I am known as Blood Moon." Zecora raised an eyebrow.

"Blood Moon, I believe I've heard of you once or twice" she narrowed her eyes at him, more questioning than threatening, but still there "those who meet you tend to pay the price." The assassin smirked.

"Perhaps, perhaps not. Only those who deserve it die tend to follow that fate, not the whole lot. Besides which, those days are in my past, my days as an assassin did not, it would seem, last." Zecora nodded.

"I see, the path of redemption is tricky to be sure, but is a worthy road for those who can endure" she said, nodding in approval. The assassin cocked his head to the side.

"I do not seek redemption. I harbour no regrets, just a simple desire for recreation." Zecora shrugged.

"Either way, I digress; you came here for my help to fix up a mess." She stood and went to her shelves, moving around and looking for something. "I know how to cure fair 'Shy, but it seems my stock of the necessary ingredients has gone dry" she told him, putting a hoof to her chin. "I know what I need to do, but I may need some help from you. Stay here and stir this pan" she said, referring to the cauldron in the middle of the room. When she was about to speak again, she noticed the incense had burned out; the small stubs that had been left from the once long sticks now had a small trail of smoke drifting up from them, quickly dispersing and dying. Her eyes expanded hugely, and she whipped her head to the assassin, who was watching with a raised eyebrow. "Uhhh, change of plan" she said as she glanced left and right, a pink blush kissing her cheeks. "I need, instead, for you to go gather what I need; you'll find everything within a few leagues." The zebra cantered over to a small sack and peered inside, holding her flank way higher than necessary, her tail lifted with it, revealing her moistened marehood to the stallion. Weather it was intentional or not was lost on Blood Moon.

"Alright" he said at length with an eyebrow raised, unable to tear his eyes away from her slit and moving to the door, eager to get out before she noticed his steadily growing stallionhood.
"Tell me what I need, and I'll be back before the night." Zecora pulled her head out of the sack, biting her lower lip in panic.

"Um, of course" she gave him a list with a bunch of plants, herbs and vegetation on it. The assassin looked it over and raised an eyebrow at some of the ingredients. "Simply look around the area about my home, and you'll soon discover their source" she explained.

"Dead tree root cutting, Imploded jasmine leafs, Nirnroot and Poison Joke extract? Discord's antlers, this is some rare stuff, but still, so be it if this is my contract" he said, frowning at the page.

"They are what they be, but I must ask you to fetch them promptly. Now please go" she lowered her voice massively "else you be treated to a show." The assassin looked up from the sheet.

"What did you say?" Zecora had already trotted out, galloped out really, and left him to himself. "Eh, what the hay" he shrugged as he trotted out of her hut, grabbing a brown, one-sided saddlebag and strapping it over his sheaths and letting it hang on the other side of his weapons, in search of the items on the list.

It was an amusing game, gathering the things needed to make the cure to Poison Joke cure; Dead tree is known by its burnt and dead-like appearance as well as its ability to kill a pony on contact, so cutting off a piece of its root was quite the challenge when he had to unearth the root without touching it, slice of a bit of it and wrap it in a few big leaves he'd found nearby. You may be thinking that this would be no challenge to a unicorn, what with their powers of levitation, but considering that this particular piece of vegetation was immune to most forms of magic, this heightened the difficulty of the task immeasurably and left him excruciatingly annoyed with the plant by the time he had put it in his saddlebag. Crossing the item off his rather unorthodox shopping list, he set out for the next ingredient; Imploded jasmine. The plant was another breed of the strange and unique vegetation that grew in the Everfree; it got its name from what it did and was capable of, that being its defence system. Cacti have spines, roses have thorns and Imploded jasmine could form a black hole when feeling threatened. The word 'overkill' didn't cut it. The trick to gathering the leaves was to sneak up on the plant and nab them before it could fire up its space/time bending defences, escaping before you are caught in the pull and it was only Blood Moon's speed that allowed him to avoid being sucked into oblivion. Next was nirnroot, the easiest so far; on the surface it was a pair of blue-green leaves sticking out of the ground, an eerie white glow surrounding it; it emitted a unique chiming sound that could be heard from afar, but warded off any who would attempt to eat it, that said, it was highly poisonous to any and all who tried it; it could be used in potions, sure, but it had to be prepared properly unless you wanted a poison instead of something to heal. Blood Moon plucked a few of the herbs from the ground and trotted on, searching for the last ingredient he needed, the poison Joke extract. He discovered the blue plant before long, and he was wary not to step into it. He took his blade and slashed the blue head from the stem, placing it carefully into the saddlebag. Done with gathering what he needed, he set on his way to return to Zecora.

Upon arriving at the Shaman's hut, he knocked on the door and waited. He got no answer. He raised his eyebrow and tested the door, finding it unlocked and pushed it open. The inside of Zecora's hut seemed deserted, the pot in the middle was still bubbling but with nopony tending to it. He also noticed that there was now a new stick of incense burning, but rather than a pleasant scent, there was a strange smell in the air.

"Ah, Blood Moon, you have come back" Zecora said from a small cupboard, she still had her tail held very high and seemed to be pushing her hind-legs together, pushing her tight, heart shaped, sweaty flank… The assassin shook the thoughts from his head and tried to ignore his hardening stallionhood as he watched the zebra turn to him. "And you have what I need in your sack" she finished as she approached. Blood Moon suddenly felt weird, lightheaded and woozy. "Something the matter, dear Blood Moon, you look as though you're about to swoon" she commented with a slight smirk on her face as she approached and unbuckled the saddlebag, brushing against his member and stroking it with her hoof as she unstrapped the satchel. The assassin, once again, didn't know if it was intentional or not. He felt his eyelids get heavy and started having trouble keeping them open.

"I'm-I'm alright, just put a cushion there" he pointed to a spot on the floor to his left, where his head would land if he fell "if you would, and we'll see how I fair" he finished as he fell to the right. Zecora watched as he fell, smiling proudly to herself as she did.

"Please forgive me Blood Moon, all will be revealed soon" she whispered to his unconscious form as she removed his cloak, vest, hood and weapons before she bound his fore-hooves behind his back and leaving his hind-legs free, letting them spread as she got an eyeful of his erect stallion hood, liking her lips as she got a whiff of his sent. She went to the incense sticks and put them out; she'd made them herself, a concoction that put out a stallion mere seconds after inhaling it. Now that she'd put it out, she'd have around four hours until he awoke. Plenty of time. She added the herbs and roots to the base mix already in her cauldron and watched as the antidote bubbled into existence; gathering a small bottle of it and throwing her cloak over her back, she set on her way to Fluttershy's home, she didn't need to take the pathway, she knew the best way to Ponyville and knew she could get there, cure Fluttershy and get back with plenty of time to spare. As she stepped over the threshold she gave a parting glance to the unconscious Blood Moon; she didn't like deceiving him and drugging him like this, but all the same…
Heat did the strangest things to the dame.

Blood Moon opened his eyes, not without much difficulty, and gazed around himself, taking stock of his predicament; his hooves were bound behind his back and his gear was across the room, not on him; his stallionhood was still erect and he had no idea why, he could only guess it had something to do with the drugs in the incense. He grunted; that clever zebra, hiding a sleeping drug in an incense stick. He'd have to use that one. He noticed Zecora in front of him, lying on her side, propping her head up with her hoof, with a seductive look on her face.

"Good morning my fair stallion" she said as she stood and trotted over to him. She stooped with her muzzle not an inch away from his, looking down at his member and running her hoof down his chest, getting steadily closer to his sex. "Now, are you ready for some fun?"

"Would it be okay, if I asked you 'WHAT THE HAY'?" Zecora almost flinched but didn't back down.

"Please calm down, and I'll tell all" she gripped his cock, much the same as Twilight had, and lay on her front. "After, of course, I go to town." With a grin, she lowered her muzzle and let her tongue out, running it up his length and flicking it off at the tip, making the stallion growl and wriggle about.

"Okay, for one; what have you gone and done?" Zecora was suckling on his balls as he spoke, kissing them as he finished.

"I must be honest" a drop of pre-cum dribbled from his member, she gathered it on her hoof and licked it off. "Hmm, so sweet. But as I was saying, I am in heat" she told him as she went back to licking around the shaft, short smacks and suckles sounding whenever her lips made contact with it.

"Okay, heat, fair enough. I see this is no bluff" he told her. "So that was what the incense was for, to mask the smell of a whore." Zecora glared up at him, putting her teeth to his balls. "OW, sorry, my bad; it was the only rhyme I had" he admitted. The zebra licked and kissed his maleness, over where she'd punished him for his choice of words.

"I suppose it's alright, I apologise for that little bite." Sucking, kissing and licking over his cock again, but not taking him in, she managed to prompt a few more drops of pre to fall from his tip and onto her awaiting tongue. "Please allow me to sooth your pain, else my efforts to pleasure you, will all be in vain." She raised her face from his shaft with a grin on her lips, closing her eyes and flicking her tongue over the tip and pressing it between her chin and the assassin's member, her hot breath making him shudder. She noticed his reaction and giggled. "Enjoying yourself I see" she mused, kissing him up the length of his cock before she repositioned her hooves, one grabbing his member and the other going between her hind-legs. "I can only guess Twilight would not be overcome with glee." Blood Moon narrowed his eyes, only for them to snap wide open when she took him in properly, Zecora looking up at him and giggling around his dick.

"Now that you mention Twilight, you must have told her something to keep her away, am I right?" The zebra released him and ran her hoof up and down it to keep it busy.

"Your theory is true, I told her you stayed to help me with a brew" she revealed before she started kissing his tip again.

"Bull crap, you're telling me she fell for that trap?" Zecora had opened her mouth to take him in again, closing it in frustration and rolling her eyes.

"I can be very persuasive when I want to be, now would mind if we stop with the chatter so I can get to pleasuring thee?" She didn't wait for him to answer, instead she busied herself with blowing the assassin. The stallion gritted his teeth and growled, thrusting into her maw a little, when he felt her skilled lips around his member. She bobbed her head up and down quickly, groaning whenever she hit the base, and lapping her tongue along it. She took him to the roots and lingered for a while, moving her throat around to massage him while keeping him in the hot confines of her maw "Your marefriend is a lucky mare, now that I have you laid bare" she murmured as she pulled back, gasping for breath.

"You use me for your own gains, bound and trapped in these makeshift chains" he scolded as he felt the ropes that bound him.

"Yes, alright you caught me, now sit back and enjoy before I up the ante" she cooed, speaking around his cock, sending vibrations through his system. He looked down at the zebra and watched as she closed her eyes, hiding her dark blue orbs, and concentrated on running her lips and tongue up and down his cock, feeling him throb inside her as she worked him closer to orgasm. The assassin took advantage of her distraction and worked on freeing himself. The mare opened her eyes and turned her eyes up to him, smiling with her mouth full as she saw his pleasured face before she kept up her movements for a long while before she felt him throb more and more between her lips, getting progressively faster until…

"Zecora, my horny little friend, I think I'm about to hit…my…end" he managed to growl out before he came, the zebra releasing him and holding her tongue out, catching as much of his seed as she could on it before swallowing it down, licking her lips clean of any that lingered.

"Such a nice load" she said breathlessly, still tasting his seed on her tongue "just look at the way it flowed" she commented, pointing at the small puddle of cum between them. "Now, I hope you're not spent, for now it's time for the main event" the zebra hummed as she lay on her back, legs spread and revealing herself to the assassin. "Hope you like what you see, because you're about to take me" she said with a grin. Blood Moon couldn't help but look her body up and down; her belly was muscled and toned, but not unattractively so; her marehood was dripping and she rubbed her sex along his, wetting herself and hardening the stallion; her fur down there was a cute, neat little tuff, standing out from her body by being slightly raised from her fur. She gave him a show by closing her hind-legs and raising them slowly, running her hoof over her ass and playfully winking at him, touching herself around her pussy and flicking her clit a little before she ran her hooves over her flank again, rougher this time, and gripped her beautiful plot in her hooves. The assassin couldn't deny he enjoyed the view. Zecora got up from her back, moving gracefully over to the stallion and clambered up him. Her plan was to sit on his member while he was sat on his flank and ride him while he sat. What she didn't expect was for him to push off the wall and pin her down, an unbearable grin on his muzzle.

"Well, what do we have here? My pretty little zebra, looking up at me in fear" he mused, still holding her struggling form down. He lowered his still grinning muzzle to hers, watching as she squirmed in his hold and tried to pull herself away from the assassin's sinisterly smirking face; as he got closer she quit trying to pull away and instead she turned her head left to right as his own got closer. When he was within but a single inch, she stopped moving and stared fearfully into his eyes. He then closed the distance and pushed his lips to hers, catching her in a surprise embrace that she quickly melted into and returned with gusto; the stallion released his hold on her and ran his hooves down her, touching her flank and propping himself up as Zecora wrapped her fore-hooves around his neck and pushed her tongue into his maw, wrestling with his in a small heated battle that she found herself quickly groaning into before he pulled back from, breathing heavily.

"What is this, engaging me in such a passionate kiss" she demanded, smiling with him and breathing just as hard.

"You keep me here, forcing sex from me. Now it's time to pay your fee" he told her as he spun her over and stood her on her hooves, before he leaned over her, rubbing her flank, and spoke into her ear. "My loyalty to Twilight is something I hold dear, I'm going to rut you now, let it be clear" he told her, before he nibbled on her ear a little. Zecora giggled a little rubbing her sex into his.

"If this is your threat, I will not fret" she cooed, spreading her hind-legs a little. "The reason for your being here, is because I want you in my rear." The stallion grinned, rubbing his member up her slit, teasing her as he spoke.

"You're going to enjoy this, don't misunderstand, but in a while, you're not going to be able to stand." Zecora went to turn her head to him, but was interrupted when he rammed his stallionhood into her labia, not softly at all. Zecora was thrown forwards with his powerful thrust; she groaned slightly but was starting to see what he meant about not standing properly.
"Would you mind not being so hard, else I might get sore in my backyard" she said as he pulled back and thrust in again, just as hard as before. The stallion chuckled and leaned in again, holding her waist and kissing her neck slightly.

"Ah, but you see, this is your price for forcing me to sate your vice. To pay your debt, I must make you regret" he told her between more powerful thrusts that were quickly turning her flank pink with raw pain that she didn't exactly dislike.

"What do you mean, your point I cannot glean." He grinned and spoke directly into her ear.

"Is it not plain? As well as pleasure, I'm going to cause you some pain." The zebra swallowed, understanding flooding into her. Her leaned back and thrust into her again, his movements prompting breathless grunts from her maw and the sound of him slapping against her as his thighs made contact with her ass. Zecora was having the time of her life; firstly, she'd never been taken this way by a stallion before, she was no virgin, far from it, but Blood Moon had a way of rutting her that she hadn't felt before; his efforts to both pleasure and sting her made a unique sensation, the pain enhanced the pleasure to a degree that couldn't be reached if he were being gentle with her and she was fairly sure she really wouldn't be able to walk or stand properly for about a week once they were done. Blood Moon was enjoying himself too; the zebra's bubble but was jiggling nicely whenever he slammed into her, red marks quickly developing as he thrust into her, and her walls clamped down on him like a hungry Manticore on a leg of meat, her pussy feeling like a vice on his cock; the sound of his thrusts were complemented by Zecora's groans when he pushed into her, reaching deeper into her sex and stimulating her massively between the legs and prompting a waterfall of her juices to fall from between her slit and his maleness and onto her floor.

Zecora's legs began to weaken; her hind-legs were held up by the assassin, who held her up by gripping her flank, rubbing her tribal mark and occasionally spanking her, adding to the sweet soreness developing there, but her fore-hooves were quaking and she soon fell to the floor, her lush plot still held high for Blood Moon as he continued to pound her relentlessly, causing her tongue to loll out and her eyes to roll up as her whole body shunted forth when he thrust into her, sending ripples over her ass and making sweat fling off her. The stallion chuckled at her fallen form, leaning forwards and kneading his hooves into her back and shoulders watching her bite her lip as pleasure worked its way up her spine, stimulating all her pleasure receptors at once every time he pumped into her. He leaned up and stood slightly, resting his hooves on her flank and driving into her folds, spreading her without resistance as he continued to pound into her, her pink flanks turning red, and soreness turning to pain.

"Please, though I desire more, you seem to have bucked me raw" she said breathlessly over her shoulder. Her cutely blushed cheeks and the tears welling in the corner of her eyes hit a soft spot with Blood Moon, and he decided to go easy on her. He flipped her over, spreading her hind legs to give himself room, and lay her gently on her back before he leaned in, kissing her smoothly along the neck.

"Fair Zecora my apologies, I think you're done with pain" he leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips, caressing her face gently "now I promise to please" he told her, as he thrust in gently, slowly spreading her walls. Zecora was treated to an entirely new experience, as well as an entirely new stallion; in contrast to his rough treatment of her just now, his gentle and loving embrace stimulated a whole new set of nerves, as well as a whole new set of emotions.

He held her head up with his fore-leg as he bucked her, slowing and making sure she was alright if so much as an even slightly pained sound came from her. He sat back and held one of her hind-legs, stroking it up and down, fondling her plot lightly when he hit it and thrusting in deeper when he hit the hoof, hugging it slightly as he got closer to his orgasm. The pair gradually got closer and closer to their climaxes, the assassin swiftly picking up speed but being careful not to harm her further, while Zecora was moving her own hips to complement Blood Moon's movements, causing his balls to slap against her ass hole. Zecora no longer had pain on her face, just pleasure in its purest form; a small smile was stretched over her lips, a trail of drool running from her maw, her eyes were closed in total concentration on the rutting she was receiving and her whole body was relaxed, her fore-hooves were resting on her front while her hind-legs were at the mercy of Blood Moon, who still held one in his grip and let the other rest limp, shifting slightly as he thrust into her. The pair moved in tandem, ecstasy pulsing through them as they worked, him driving into her as she bucked her hips against him, prompting groans from both of them that increased in frequency as they got closer to their climax. The zebra started groaning more, her pleasured noises becoming breathless, her back arching every time he hit deep and her smile getting wider with every shunt.

"Blood Moon, I will not lie, my end is nigh" she managed to groan out, back arching as she spoke. Blood Moon thrust harder, the two groaning in ecstasy at once, before he pushed in deep and held it there.

"Not to make a fuss, but that makes two of us" he grunted. He leaned forwards and kissed her; risqué, wet, loud and sexy before he pulled back. "Tell me honey; would you like it in your cunny?" Zecora definitely considered it, wiggling her ass around and clenching her walls around him as she thought; cumming with Blood Moon would, no doubt, be one of the most satisfying orgasms she would ever experience, if the rest of their session of passion was anything to go by, but she wasn't willing to be impregnated for it.

"The prospect of foals I'd rather pass, so please, do it in my ass" she said. The stallion nodded, leaning forwards and nipping at her neck as he started his thrusts again, prompting breathless squeals from her, getting more and more ragged until she-

"My sweet stallion, I think I'm reaching the end of our-" she didn't finish, instead she was hit by a powerful shockwave of stimulation to her pleasure receptors and came, came hard around the assassin's cock, almost sending him over the edge before he could pull out and ram into her ass, coming heavily into her not a second after he'd penetrated her. They stayed connected for a while, riding out their orgasms together until it ended, Blood Moon giving a long and stretched out growl as Zecora screamed. When their powerful orgasms had ended, they found themselves in a rather agreeable position; the stallion was rested on Zecora, his dick still in her tight ass, something he now wished had taken part in their sex, and was breathing hard onto her, as the zebra did the same, a cute blush on her cheeks and a trail of drool sticking to her fur. Cum was still dripping from Zecora's ass and slit, collecting and adding to a small puddle that was gathering beneath their sexes, a sheet of shimmering sweat coating both their bodies and both still taking heavy, ragged breaths. The stallion withdrew his member, letting a small shower of cum and juices flow from her femness, ass and leaked from his stallionhood, flowing onto her ass. Zecora cringed slightly. "Ow, my-my ass is in disrepair, please, if you would be so kind, give it some care" she begged from her position, her chest rising and falling rapidly as she spoke. Blood Moon nodded, turning her onto her front and leaning down to her red and sore flank. He pulled a cloth from across the room and wiped away his and her cum, prompting a few pained squeals from Zecora. He kissed her pained ass tenderly, caressing her gently to try and sooth her as he continued to lick, kiss and just generally love that fine, perfect, round, beautiful ass of hers that he found himself quickly falling in love with more and more as he kissed her all over it, sneaking in a few licks of her pussy while he was at it, as he softly healed her sore rear-end with his gentle touch. He got up and made to mount her, but instead he rubbed his still stiff, wet and messy member along her plot cheeks, massaging her and using their combined cum as an erotic salve that he rubbed into her flank smoothly and softly, as he took care of the pain he'd caused. Zecora put her fore-hooves under chin, smiling contently to herself as she relaxed, getting slowly turned on by him once more. "Hmm, you feel good around my ass. You make me feel better after your…rough caress." He grinned at her rhyme, lifting her and carrying her over to her bed, something he now wished he'd seen earlier, and gently laid her on it. He looked over her some more until he fell forwards, onto Zecora and took to kissing around her face, neck and lips as he rolled off her and lay beside her.

"I…I, buck, I can't think of a rhyme" he said, as she retiring to nuzzling into his neck and breathing deeply, taking in the scent of sweat and sex. The assassin picked her up with his magic, covering her with the leopard skin sheet; he went to walk away but couldn't carry himself, so resorted to falling back into the bed where Zecora giggled at him, stroking his mane and prompting him to look over at her.

"You seem tired. If you can't walk, you could rest with me, if you desired" she told him, holding one side of the sheets up for him. Too exhausted to argue, he climbs in with her and takes to holding her as she snuggled into him, getting cosy. Blood Moon stroked her mane as she kissed him tenderly while she drifted quickly fell to sleep, the stallion following soon after, falling to sleep with their tongues still in each other's mouths.

Blood Moon's eye fluttered open, awakening to the sight of a still sleeping Zecora, who was smiling softly, likely at their past actives, and breathing softly, noticing he was still kissing her. He grinned to himself and kissed her lightly before he pulled back, groaning as he woke up and stretching his back out, cracking his neck, spine and legs as he attempted to get up but found himself being held down by a pair of shapely, black and white striped legs around his own.

"Going so soon, my dear Blood Moon" she asked with a playful grin on her face. The assassin smirked as he looked down at the mare and her sultry expression. He ran a hoof down the side of her face, caressing her cheek.

"Zecora, please forgive me, but I must be returning presently" he told her, watching her pout cutely.

"Hmm, I suppose it's true what you tell, at least let me-" he cut her off by leaning down and pushed his lips to hers, feeling her grin into their kiss and push her tongue into his maw, the assassin returning the gesture and wrestling her own as while he explored her mouth, feeling inside her mouth and making a good time of it until he pulled back, a strand of saliva between them. "Kiss you farewell" she finished, quietly. Blood Moon tapped her on the nose.

"I'll see you around, should you need me again, you know where I may be found" he said, as he straightened up and bowed his goodbye. He pulled his garb and weapons over to him with his magic before he trotted to the door and opened it, turning to her and giving one last smile. "I bid thee goodbye, my fair ally" he said before he flashed and disappeared, leaving Zecora still grinning before she fell back onto her bed, thinking about what had just happened with a content smile on her face and a hoof drifting between her hind-legs.

Blood Moon appeared at the outskirts of Fluttershy's cottage, Celestia's setting sun casting an orange glow over her home. His small smirk quickly washed from his face when a self-hating snarl replaced it, now ashamed at what he'd done with Zecora, holding his lowered head in a hoof. He tried to argue that he was honour bound to assist a mare who was in dire need of relief of their lust through heat, it was said to get unbearable at times and although he'd never experienced it himself, judging by how frisky they got, and at times how desperate, he could only guess it was a bad need. With a shrug, he decided to tell Twilight the truth, the whole truth, in hopes of her understanding. He pushed through the door and found the CMC, Sand Stalker and Elements of harmony, minus Fluttershy and Twilight, down stairs, simply sitting in companionable silence.

"Hi darling, have fun with Zecora" Rarity asked obliviously. Blood Moon simply smirked and nodded, glancing at Scootaloo and winking at her.

"Yeah, we made a potion to try and make a pony immune to Poison Joke effects, but instead it came out as paint thinner that almost burnt through the cauldron" he lied, easily, as he pulled his garb and weapons off of him and set them on a nearby hook. Rarity chuckled before she spoke.
"Speaking of Poison Joke, Twilight and Fluttershy are upstairs in the bathroom, getting the Poison Joke out of the poor dear's system" she told him. Mentally, Blood Moon flinched; that was going to be awkward. He trotted upstairs and found the door to the bathroom, the way his last time here ended didn't help him, but either way he knocked on the door. From inside, he heard Twilight's voice.

"Who is it" she asked.

"It's me, Blood Moon" he called back. He heard Twilight say something to Fluttershy inside, but couldn't make it out. The door opened to reveal both Fluttershy and Twilight standing side by side.

"Bedroom. Now" Twilight ordered. He nodded and complied, trotting to the room everypony was sleeping in. Once there, he made his way inside and turned to watch Fluttershy and Twilight follow him in, blocking any exit through the door.

"How are you" the stallion asked Fluttershy, curious as to how the cure had worked out.

"Better" she answered in her normal voice; she was quiet but seemed more confident, as though she was prepared to start talking about something. "Blood Moon" she started, glancing at Twilight "me and Twilight have been talking." The assassin swallowed.

"About?"

"About what happened yesterday" Twilight answered. The stallion swallowed again. "Blood Moon, I'm gonna tell you now, I know what happened between you and Fluttershy." He got ready to teleport to a cliff and throw himself off of it.

"Twilight, listen, I can explain-"

"No, Blood Moon, you listen" she cut off "I'm going to put this simply, so listen good" she told him. The way she was talking was doing wonders for his guilt about sleeping with Zecora. "Blood Moon; thank you for staying loyal to me, and doing your best to keep it up, and I love you for it, but it's obvious Fluttershy feels the same way about you" she said as she approached, Fluttershy doing the same. "I want you to understand…" Blood Moon backed up to the wall and was quickly backing himself into a corner; he'd taken on dragons alone, faced alicorns, griffons, manticores and took the fight to a legion of Changelings single-hoofed before, and never had he felt so outnumbered. The pair of mares continued to advance on him until his back was against the wall; it was now he would normally shout out some kind of battle cry, 'my back's against the wall' or 'an animal is most dangerous when cornered' and fought back, but this wasn't one of those kinds of situations, he couldn't pull his blades and fight his marefriend and a mare who loved him and not want to kill himself afterwards. He swallowed a final time when he felt his flank hit the wall and couldn't back away any longer. Twilight and Fluttershy kept moving in, his instincts kicking in as his magic focused on his blades as their faces moved closer to his own. He stopped trying to kid himself and killed the telekinesis around his weapons, closing his eyes in a pre-emptive flinch, and waited his reprimand.

He was taken by surprise when he felt something hot, wet and nice on either cheek and opened his eyes to see both Fluttershy and Twilight either side of him, right and left respectively, with their faces close to his, with their eyes closed and a small blush kissing both their cheeks as they kissed his. "That I don't mind, if you and Fluttershy like each other, who am I to stand in the way?" The record scratched. Confusion practically hit the assassin in the gut, as the question took him from the left and right wing at once and made his eyebrow rise, almost of its own accord.

"W-what, I don't understand" he told them, both having leant back and had small smiles on their faces at the stallion's reaction at their advances. Twilight giggled as Fluttershy answered.

"Equestria is a place of love, harmony and friendship; who's to say that a stallion or mare doesn't fall in love with more than one stallion or mare. As long as it's true love it's not frowned upon, but somepony who sleeps around or keeps more than one wife, husband, coltfriend or marefriend without the other partner being aware or giving consent is seen as cheating on his or her first partner" she explained. The assassin just blinked.

"What" he demanded. He'd been alive for almost all of Equestria's existence; its establishment between Princess Platinum, Chancellor Puddinghead and Commander Hurricane; Discord taking over and the wars between him and the Illuminating Night uprising; as well as all of Celestia's rain and never ONCE had he heard about this fact. That actually troubled him, the fact that he was unaware about such a thing and he'd been unaware for so long. He could only guess it was because he'd never taken much interest in the whole 'facts about relationships' life lessons because he'd never been interested in the idea of dating more than one mare, never wanted to, he'd been adamant that his loyalty in a mare he dated would always trump any chance of him doing such a thing; then again, as per said, he'd never been in many proper relationships and almost all of them had been under a ruse or alias. Hmm, that got him thinking; much of his life had been under some kind of lie or falsehood or deceit that made it impossible to hold together any kind of relationship, it just wouldn't have been practical for him at the time, not under his circumstances at the time, or his occupation. Now, however, he had a chance, he had the opportunity for a proper and healthy relationship with a mare that loved him, him Blood Moon, not some lie or made up personality but him in himself.

For the assassin, that wasn't the type of thing to happen very often, and he'd taught himself the following lesson when it came to this kind of thing; 'life's a bitch, but the best thing you can do is pick it up by the collar and spit in its face, telling it that you don't care about the consequences anymore.' He looked between the two, and considered how to respond. Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other.

"Alright Twi, I'm gonna tell you now before you both make me forget, through my mind being broke in utter awe at what you just said; when I was at Zecora's, we weren't potion mixing." Twilight cocked her head to the side, Fluttershy looking just as curious as to what he had to say. "I was helping her with a problem." Twilight frowned.

"What kind of problem" she asked. The assassin steeled himself.

"An…intimate one" he replied sceptically.

"You-you and her…bucked" she said, growing quiet at the end. He nodded once.

"Heat" he said simply. The mares, to his utter confusion, seemed to relax at that.

"Oh, she was in season?" He nodded again.

"I…I was honour bound to help her; I'm bound by the code of the Shadow Weavers to assist a mare in heat." Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at the floor, bashfully, as they remembered their first heats. It just so happened to have happened to them both…in the very room they were standing in…together. They’d both gotten a little closer that day.

"I-I guess that's okay, if you were helping her. Me and 'Shy both know how…awkward it can get when there's a stallion around" they glanced at each other "or a mare" she finished. The assassin raised an eyebrow; he suspected but brushed it off as his horny side making him think such things. "Listen, I don't want you to think I'm okay with you sleeping around but if a mare needs that…kind of help, just know I'm…not happy about it but I'll understand, just tell us okay." The assassin's eye widened at such a motion, such understanding, and sort of froze.

"I think we broke him" Fluttershy commented, Twilight nodded silently, waving a hoof in his face.

"I-I don't really know how to respond to something like that" he told them "I'm not sure what to say." Both Twilight and Fluttershy giggled at his answer, moving in at once and kissing him between each other, the stallion kissing them back as he fell to his flank as they stood over him, each of the mares kissing him before they pulled back and let the other move in, nuzzling him as she did. The stallion's lips met Twilights but before she could pull back Fluttershy had moved in, and they found themselves all kissing one another at once; sometimes it would be Blood Moon and Twilight, sometimes him and Fluttershy and at one rather awkward, and for the assassin remarkably hot, point, it was Fluttershy and Twilight.

The two found their lips touching and their eyes snapped open and the leaned back, though they didn't disconnect. Fluttershy blinked and Twilight followed her example before they both glanced at Blood Moon and saw a small grin slowly stretching across his face; they glanced into each other's eyes and grinned into each other's maws and moved their lips around in sync as they reengaged the kiss they now shared with each other as well as Blood Moon. The mares giggled into each other's mouths and the stallion smirked when he felt the three of them share the kiss at once, tongues jumping into the mix now and then. After a while they all pulled back, breathing heavily as they looked at each other, Twilight and Fluttershy grinning and blushing bashfully at each other when they tried to look at each other, while the stallion felt his stallionhood hardening for the fourth time in a day.

"So, uhhh, that happened" the assassin observed. Twi and 'Shy nodded, still incapable of looking at each other.

"I…I guess it did" the magenta mare agreed. They sat in silence for a while longer.

"So, what are we now" the stallion asked, looking at the pair of mares in front of him. "'Cause for starters, you two seem a lot closer than before" he said, noticing how neither Fluttershy nor Twilight had moved away from each other, despite their embrace having ended. They looked at each other before they looked at Blood Moon and pushed him onto Fluttershy's bed, following him down and laying either side of him, their hooves draping over his chest and idly tracing patterns across his chest fur.

"I'm not altogether sure" Twilight told him as he took her hoof with his own "but I think I like it" she told him. Fluttershy took their hooves in her own, snuggling into the assassin's neck.

"I-I guess this means I won't have to hide the way I feel anymore" she said, speaking quietly into his ear. He grinned and turned to her.

"I guess we won't" he agreed, before he turned to Twilight "as long as my marefriend agrees to it" he said. Twilight gave him a smile, and clambered up on top of him, prompting the animal caretaker to do the same.

"Blood Moon, I just kissed one of my best friends because of how much I love you, a mare to boot, you don't seem to understand" she turned her face to Fluttershy and turned her muzzle to her own, pushing their lips together, the butter yellow mare being taken completely off guard by this before she pulled back with a small grin on her face "that I may have been turned into a filly fondler by the stallion I love" she finished. The stallion blinked.

"W-w-w-what" he demanded, completely taken off guard by this turn of events. Fluttershy's cheeks were as pink as her mane.

"Good question" she said. Twilight giggled as she turned to her.

"Fluttershy, you do understand that now that you and Blood Moon are dating as well as me and him, you and me are dating each other just as much" she explained.

"What" he repeated "so if, for instance, you were to date another stallion, I would be dating him as well as you" he said, more for himself than anypony else. Twilight put a hoof to her chin.

"Well, technically, me and Fluttershy aren't actually dating, but it's easier if we do" she replied. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side in a confusion he was about to test.

"Wait a second, what you said just now, a heat with another mare around…did either of you…" he trailed off, his point clear and made, judging by the blush that Twilight and Fluttershy now had on their faces.

"Well…well I guess we…did. It-it was just a onetime thing, we were feeling the same way and we weren't sure what was happening…one thing lead to another…" The stallion looked between them with a small grin once again growing on his face.

"So…you were a filly fondler in the first place" he observed, his grin turning into a knowing smirk "well, it explains why you were open to getting a little frisky." He frowned. "And it wasn't me who had you fooling with Fluttershy he added. Twilight shrugged bashfully.

"Well, we hadn't done anything for a year or so until you came along and…inspired us to rekindle our…" she glanced at Fluttershy, who was looking at her with wide eyes and a steadily growing blush "affection" she finished, nuzzling her yellow furred friend, who gladly nuzzled back. The assassin grinned at the scene; at both the view and the idea that he may have helped bring the two of them together, that said, he hadn't seen it coming. He watched gladly as their nuzzling tempted to more kissing until a thought popped into his head.

"But couldn't this jeopardize your friendship" he asked. Twilight looked at him.

"Why would it do that" she asked.

"If anything unfortunate were to happen between us, all of us, isn't there the possibility of it driving you apart?" The mares looked at each other, horrified at their friendship being pulled apart. Fluttershy steeled herself.

"No, we won't let that happen, if we stay together and-and" she looked between Twi and Blood Moon, before she pulled them both in and engaged them in a short three way kiss. "We make sure to be together forever, nothing can pull us apart" she said confidently. Proud of her self-confidence, Twilight wrapped her in a hug as Blood Moon wrapped them both in one and held them tight.

"So, do we tell anypony" the stallion asked. They all thought about it and came to the same conclusion.

"Let's keep it between us for now, wait until this whole thing has blown over and we have a moment to think about this while we don't have to worry about our" she gave a mocking, glamorous throw of her mane "unbridled passion to worry about" she said playfully, prompting a few laughs.

"Or the guards" Blood Moon added. They went a bit quiet at that, lying with each other for a while until they heard the sound of hooves coming up the stairs. "Alright, let's cut this short" he turned his head to Fluttershy and kissed her "Fluttershy…" she smiled and pecked him on the nose.

"I love you too" she told him. The assassin grinned and turned to Twilight.

"Twilight" he started, before he leaned in and kissed her, teleporting them both to her bed just as the CMC, Pinkie Pie and Rarity trotted in. Scootaloo spotted him and smiled, before he motioned for her to come over. She cantered over to him gladly and leapt up onto the bed before she leapt up onto him.

"Hey daddy" she said, hugging him. The stallion hugged back, the same fond smile coming back as he ran his hoof along her mane. Twilight looked on with a smile that spoke 'dawww' very clearly before she realised what Scootaloo had just said.

"Daddy" she repeated, her eyebrow raised. Blood Moon and Scootaloo looked at her.

"Yeah, when I went to pick her and the fillies up yesterday Cheerilee said I couldn't pick them up if I wasn't related, so I decided to tell her I was her dad" he told her "now, I guess you could say that I am her father" he explained, as the orange filly nuzzled him. Twilight looks surprised.

"So…you adopted her" she asked. The assassin looked at the filly.

"No, but I don't think I need to just yet." He looked at the filly in his hooves and back at Twilight, he decided he needed to talk to her in private. He built the magic in his horn and fired up the powerful spell, freezing time around him and Twilight, the others being suspended in an everlasting second. Twilight looked around herself, amazed at what he had done.

"B-Blood Moon, what did you do" she asked, awe clear in her voice.

"Froze time all over Equestria" he said with a shrug "I needed to talk to you about Scoots" he told her. Twi nodded, not quite believing that he would use such a powerful and complex spell just to talk with her in private. "I don’t know if i can adopt Scootaloo" he told her. The mare looked a little disappointed.

"Why not" she asked, as the assassin looked down at the frozen filly in front of him.

"I don't think I need to" he said with a look on his face that told Twilight he wasn't sure how he knew what he did. "Scootaloo is the kind of filly anypony with a heart would want to adopt,besides which, my...lifestyle, can be somewhat strenuous on those close to me, never mind a daughter" he explained. His marefriend nodded gently.

"I understand" she told him, before a thought crossed her mind "have you ever had foals before" she asked. The stallion swallowed, he mimed his magical reserves weakening, and slowly killed the spell without answering.

"Besides, this is nothing official" he said, flawlessly moving back into his conversation before he's cast his time bend. Scootaloo nuzzled him again.

"I don't mind, I just want my daddy, I don't need anypony else to know it" she told him, still hugging him. Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle looked over at them.

"So, Blood Moon IS your pa" Applebloom asked, reminding the stallion, filly and mare that they were in the company of others. The assassin and Scootaloo glanced at each other.

"Yeah, I guess I am" he answered. The other two fillies just blinked and froze up for a second before the leapt up shouting 'awesome' at once. They bounded over to their friend and dived onto her, landing more on the assassin than the filly, Blood Moon letting out a small grunt when he felt them land on his stomach.

"This is great, you got a daddy" Sweetie-Belle said, hopping in place in excitement.

"Yeah, he can help us find our cutie marks" 'Bloom added. The stallion grinned at their excitement.

"Yeah, I'll see what I can do; I mean I already helped out Sweetie-Belle, didn't I" he said. Sweetie-Belle seemed to remember something, as well as the rest of the CMC, and her eyes widened in even more excitement.

"Oo, oo, oo, I almost forgot, the school organised a talent show and the cutie mark crusaders have entered" she practically exploded, a few green sparks of magic firing from her horn.

"That's great" Twilight exclaimed "what's your talent going to be?" The CMC looked between themselves.

"The same as we did last time, but we're gonna change the rolls around this time" she explained. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side, as Scootaloo clambered off him and sat between her friends.

"What do you mean 'same as we did last time'" he asked.

"A little while back the school put on a talent show for the foals, and we did a sort of, 'song and dance' routine" Scootaloo explained, before they looked between each other sheepishly.
"It…didn't go so well" she murmured. Blood Moon cocked his head again, a small smirk on his face.

"How do you mean 'not so well'?" The CMC looked even more sheepish.

"Scootaloo wrote the song, ah did the dancing and Sweetie-Belle made the backdrops" Applebloom told him. The stallion grunted a laugh. "After that we thought we could try comedy, but after we tried a few stand-up acts were the crowd fell asleep and one or two practical jokes that backfired, we gave it up."

"I'm gonna take a wild guess here and say that you didn't distribute the jobs properly" he ventured.

"How'd you know" 'Bloom asked.

"Simply filly psychology" he said with a shrug "you're at the age when you start to come across your talents, but at the time you weren't very confident in them so you deviated from them" he rubbed his chin while he thought "let me guess; you helped each other out without realising that you'd done the task naturally?" The fillies, and even Twilight, looked awestruck.

"How-how did you know that?" He shrugged once more.

"Like I said, simple psychology, that, and I've been around fillies and colts a lot of my life so I know a lot about how they think" he told them.

"Wow, you're good" Sweetie-Belle said, before she leaned to the right and peered at his cutie mark. "Is that what your special talent is? Psy-pys-Psyicolagy?" The assassin grunted.

"Psychology" he corrected good naturedly "and no, my cutie mark represents something very…different, as well as special, about me" he answered.

"What does it mean" Twilight, this time, asked. Blood Moon looked at his marefriend, then the fillies and then the other mares who were in the room, all of which were looking on with no small amount of interest. With a shrug, he answered.

"It's my…talent, really, pure and simple." He looked Scootaloo in the eye. "A desire for speed and danger, natural grace and a skill at dance and things that involve fast movement" he said, watching as her face grew more and more slack as he spoke.

"Wh-how-I-" she couldn't finish.

"My special talent is just that, your soul" he said "I know everything about you before I've even spoken to you, because I can see your soul." A cold and appropriately mystical wind blew through the room after he had spoken.

"The-the soul" she repeated. She looked at his cutie mark again. "A sword and ouroboros, I don't get it."

"The sword is my ability with a blade, as you could guess, and the ouroboros represents immortality, right?" She nodded. "Your soul is everlasting, so, an ouroboros only makes sense."

"I guess that… works" she murmured.

"So, you can see anypony's soul" Sweetie-Belle asked.

"Why yes I can, love for music graceful music, masterful tempo keeper and knowledge of sound as a whole" he answered.

"Do me, do me" Applebloom chanted. He gazed over to her.

"A knack for a hammer and nails, a love for creation, an untapped understanding of herbology and an unmatchable love for her family." Twilight stammered as she looked on.

"That-that's…"

"Amazing?"

"Awesome?"

"Try impossible" Twilight almost blurted "no pony can know so much about somepony without some kind of research or knowing about them before-hoof! It-it's almost like Pinkie Pie's Pinkie-sense." Blood Moon glanced at Pinkie Pie with a raised eyebrow.

"Pinkie-sense" he repeated. The pink pony nodded.

"Yeah, I get twitches and stuff when things are about to happen" she explains. Twilight points a hoof at her.

"See, completely impossible, but I guess this is another one of those things I'll just have to accept" she sighed. Blood Moon angled his head and went to talk but instead, Pinkie Pie started shuddering. "Uh-oh" Twilight murmured.

"What is it" the assassin asked.

"A shudder means that there's a doozy about to happen, somethin' you never expected to happen is about to happen" she explained. Unfazed, the stallion continued to observe Pinkie Pie as she continued her antics.

"Y'know, if I had to guess, I'd say that sort of sounded like a gut feeling, just, y'know, a highly accurate and a little eccentric gut feeling" he said with a shrug. Everypony in the room, including Pinkie Pie, stared. "What? You telling me you've never just felt something, like you just knew something was about to happen but could never explain how, or you just knew somepony had entered the room, but you hadn't seen or heard them. Y'know, just a gut instinct that you can't explain. Hay, even I get them now and then, I'm pretty sure the rest of you do too."

"I w-what" Twilight started "what do you mean, a 'gut instinct'? Did you just try to explain the Pinkie-sense?" He shrugged.

"I don't know, I might have but I don't know" he turned to Pinkie "did I?" She blinked once.

"I stopped shuddering; I think that was the doozy." He turned to Twilight looking just a little smug. One look at her face and a glance at everypony else's face told him this wasn't the type of thing to joke about.

"What" he asked again.

"N-nopony explains Pinkie Pie, nopony can, nopony wants to and you just…made it make sense" the purple mare said, gaping at him. "I tried that once with a bunch of brain analysers and stuff and you just… did it with some simple logic, you just…did it in your head?"

"I…guess so" he ventured. Twilight just lay her head on the pillow.

"I don't wanna think about this anymore" she groaned. Blood Moon grunted a laugh and fell beside her.

"Whatever, it's getting late anyway." The fillies returned to their respective beds as they lay there, Twilight mouthing thoughts to herself as she tried to make sense of how he had made sense of what had happened and how her coltfriend had managed to figure out Pinkie Pie. The rest of the elements of harmony, Sand Stalker and Spike entered the room, looking around and getting a 'you don't wanna know' when they asked what was going on.

Settling down for the night, Twilight was still trying to figure out what had happened long after everypony had fallen to sleep; with a frustrated growl she turned to Blood Moon, who opened his fore-legs and caught her in a relaxing hug.

"Make it go away, I don't like obsessing over anything to do with Pinkie Pie, it's not worth it" she muttered as she snuggled into him, getting comfy.

"What do you want me to do?" She shrugged.

"I don't know, distract me" she suggested. He couldn't help but grin.

"How?"

"Use your imagination" she said playfully. The assassin thought about it before he got an idea. He got up and trotted silently over to Fluttershy, Scootaloo and Rainbowdash's bed. He tapped on the yellow mare's shoulder and spoke into her ear.

"Fluttershy" he whispered, his quiet voice managing to awake her. She blinked awake and saw him, she quickly moved forwards and clamped her lips on his.

"That's a nice way to wake up" she murmured. The assassin grinned, though in the darkness, it was lost on her.

"I'll say" he muttered "anyway, Twilight's thoughts are a little…occupied with Pinkie's Pinkie-sense." Fluttershy giggled.

"That sounds like Twilight" she said, before she frowned "why did you wake me up to tell me that?"

"I need your help relaxing her" he said. Fluttershy giggled again, this one accompanied by a small blush. “Alright, I'll give you a hoof relaxing her.

"Thanks." They trotted over to Twilight's bed, the stallion quieter than the mare. The purple mare noticed their approach and leaned up slightly.

"Where'd you go? I thought-" she was cut off when she felt somepony climb into bed behind her. "Blood Moon? Who is that?"

"Hey Twilight" she cooed from behind as she put her hoof over her body and pulled her into her as Blood Moon lay in front of her and snuggled into her. Twilight, the daffodil in a pony sandwich, suddenly found her mind occupied with the mare on her back, who seemed not to care about her flank pressing against her, and the stallion on her front, who was now pressed holding both her and Fluttershy in his hooves.

"So, distracted yet" he asked, a grin in his voice. Fluttershy giggled.

"I should hope so" she said, kissing her neck lightly. Twilight was still taken a little off guard but soon got comfy with it.

"Oh yeah" she replied, snuggling into the two of them, wiggling her flank into Fluttershy and pulling Blood Moon into her. "I'm pretty occupied now" she finished.

The three of them fell asleep with grins on their faces, feeling more in love than ever.

Author's Note

You're kinda horny aren't you.

It was a phase, bite me!

Productive faffer-and Pinkie-out.

An aged assassin

Chapter nineteen: An aged assassin.

The light of the sun flowed over Fluttershy's cottage like molten gold, casting a deep, lavish colour over her home that was peaceful, warming and luxurious. Of course, this is only metaphorical, if molten gold were flowing over the mare's cottage she and all its occupancy would be both highly confused and have suffered a most lucrative death. Celestia's sun creped through the cracks of the curtains, sunlight falling directly onto Blood Moon's face, causing the assassin to stir and frown against the sudden light and move his head a little before he lost his grip on his sleep. With an annoyed groan, he woke up, arching his back and stretching his hind legs out before his eyes fluttered open. He cracked his neck left and right to relive the crick threatening to pain him and took stock of his surroundings; Twilight was in front of him, her muzzle close to his and her mane cascading over his face, Fluttershy's head was rested on the crook of her neck, her hoof draped over her friend's shoulder. The scene, both cute and hot for the stallion, prompted a grin from him as he laid his head on the pillow, moving his body into them.

'That's a nice way to wake up.'

His movements caused Twilight and Fluttershy to stir a little, Fluttershy moving further into Twilight and Twilight doing the same to Blood Moon. He grinned again and relaxed as Twilight put a hoof over his shoulder and pulled him into her more. He settled into thought; he began to
make sense of what had happened over the last few days.

'What would the Goldhooves have to gain by killing the elements? Hardhoof's plan must have been something for self-gain…hmm, maybe to use it as a way to knock Armour from his position as Captain of the guard and take it for himself? Perhaps…did the masters of the family tell him to do that, or was it his own idea? And if it was, why would the guard I interrogated have said it was…Celestia's…orders…No…no way, she wouldn't, would she? Would she? I mean, she is her prize student, practically a daughter to her, would she go so far as use her as a way to get to me? No that's impossible; she doesn't know we're dating. Ha, I'd trot a thousand miles on broken glass to see her expression when she heard about that. Hmm, perhaps I'm wrong about this, she may not know about me being here at all, but if she does …I don't know, it's possible, she has always been bitter and I know for a fact that she's capable of taking the lowest of blows…but then, if she does, how would she know I'm here? Luna? No, she'd have sent the night guard as well as the day guard, likely she didn't want to get dear Lu-Lu involved in this whole thing. So that means that she didn't tell her, either yet or she won't at all. I'll have to thank her. The question still stands, how did she know?'

Blood Moon's gaze went to Twilight; she was supposed to send her a friendship support every week, or whenever she had learned something, right… could she have let it slip? He frowned at his idea. It was possible, he didn't like it but it was possible. He'd have to ask her.

The sun had continued on its travels as he had been thinking, finding its way onto Twilight and then Fluttershy's eyes, making them crack open in response to the invasion of light to their darkness. Twilight murmured a little and Fluttershy yawned cutely as they woke up, both wondering what was up with the position they were in before they remembered what had happened last night and relaxed back into each other, smiling slightly. Twilight looked ahead of her and saw her coltfriend grinning at her. She giggled and rested her forehead on his.

"Don't get any ideas" she whispered. The dark stallion chuckled and moved forwards, kissing her softly before he moved back, keeping his grin. Twilight glanced behind her and looked at Fluttershy. "Morning Fluttershy" she said as she clambered clumsily over Blood Moon and plopped down on the other side of him, her hoof over his chest, while Fluttershy moved in and lay where Twilight had before, her own hoof on his chest. Twilight leant over the side of the bed to find that Spike wasn't in his basket; she frowned before she caught the smell of eggs being fried in the air.

'He must have woken up early to make breakfast.'

"I could get used to this" Blood Moon comments, breaking her trail of thought as he enjoyed the feeling of Fluttershy snuggling into him, kissing the butter yellow softly before Twilight cozied into the other side of him. Twilight and Fluttershy both sighed contently, closing their eyes as they relaxed against him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" All three pairs of eyes snapped open. Blood Moon swallowed as Fluttershy froze and Twilight tensed. In freaky sync, they all looked over the covers at who had busted them; it wasn't good. Rainbowdash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, the CMC and even Sand Stalker were looking at the three of them with mixed expressions; Applejack and Rarity were pouting, Rarity hiding it under an air of 'got ya' better than Applejack; Rainbowdash and Sand were smirking at them; Pinkie had her signature smile on, but the assassin could see a small amount dejection hiding behind it; Scootaloo looked confused at the position her dad was in and the other two fillies had the same expressions, only aimed at the mares rather than the stallion.

"Ah think, RD, this is what bein' caught 'red hoofed' means" Applejack said with a grin on her face, although pretty much everypony could see through it.

"I, uhhh, uh, um" the butter yellow mare stammered, trying and failing to get words out.

"We-we…I just, uh, sleep…trotting" Twilight tried. Rarity giggled into her hoof.

"More like sleep…" she glanced at the fillies, a grin on her face that said everything. "Well, you know what I mean dear" she said with a wink. The mares beside Blood Moon blushed.

"We didn't do anything" Twilight blurted at her friend's accusation.
"I thought you were a one mare stallion Blood" Sand said with an ever widening smirk. Blood Moon narrowed his eyes.

"Leave it will you, 'Shy couldn't sleep so Twi offered to help" the assassin said as he sat up. Rainbow snorted a laugh.

"What, by offering to sleep with her" the cyan mare asked. Both the mare's blushes went deeper. The assassin raised an eyebrow, looking between them all as he decided to change tactics.

"I thought you were meant to be friends, this ain't very good support" he said as he crossed his fore-hooves. Rainbow glared at him.

"I don't know what's making you so sure about yourself; Uncle Sand is right, I thought you were supposed to be a one mare stallion" she floated over to him "I can't help but notice that a little thing called 'Loyalty' has been thrown out of the window as of late." The stallion and mare stared each other down, glaring into each other eyes and snarling viciously until the assassin spoke.

"Y'know what?" Twilight tensed as she got ready to stop her coltfriend from lunging at one of her best friends. "You're right; first everypony goes against you about helping me, Sand Stalker reveals his unkempt promise to you and now this. We should tell you what's going on between us." Everypony looked a little insulted but didn't say anything, instead just they glared at him, apart from Fluttershy, who just looked guilty. Rainbow seemed satisfied and sat against the hoof-board.

"Alright, so what's going on" she asked.

"Few days ago, Fluttershy discovered she had some unrealised emotions for me, in the bathtub she got a little carried away" Dash raised an eyebrow "right after, when Shining showed up I managed to…figure out she may have some emotions for me, she told me how she felt, Twilight found out and here we are" he explained with an air of rather unbelievable casualness, finishing with a shrug. In response, pretty much everypony held their mouth agape, including Sand Stalker who had an eyebrow raised with it.

"You-wait, what" Rainbow demanded. The stallion smirked.

"And the truth will set you free" he said with that same smirk. Besides him, Twilight was biting her lip awkwardly while Fluttershy was hiding her face in the crook of Blood Moon's neck, who was rubbing her fore-leg reassuringly. RD blinked away her shock.

"So-so it's you, Twilight AND Fluttershy?" The assassin shrugged.

"You could say that." The mare continued to stare.

"You… do know that's the makings of a herd, right?" Blood Moon frowned.

"A-a 'herd'? What in Tartarus do you mean by 'a herd'?" Twilight answered.

"A herd is basically the name of a group of lovers; it tends to be around five or more ponies, mare or stallion, and another thing to mention is that you don't really own a herd, you're part of one" she explained. They all watched the stallion's face as he went through his thought process until he answered.

"I don't like that" he told them.

"Like what" the magenta mare asked.

"What they call it, a herd of all things. It makes us sound like animals, not sentient beings, I mean, what's wrong with 'group of lovers'?"

"It's not exactly easy to say" Twilight retorts.

"But it's easier to go around saying" he argues "would you like me calling you cattle or something?" Twilight doesn't say anything. "Exactly, when we're in a group we're called 'a group of ponies' not a herd, so why start now?"

"Are you really arguing over what to call yourselves" Rainbowdash buts in. Blood Moon slowly swivels his gaze to her.

"It's called a debate not an argument and now that you mention it, you're the one who brought it up" he pointed out. The cyan mare's glare darkened, causing the assassin's grin to stretch further across his face. Rainbowdash couldn't bare that grin on his face, it wasn't exactly smug but it held a certain self-confidence that made her want to just rip it off his face. They kept staring each other down until the mare figured out he wasn't scared of her and sat back again.

"So, you're dating both Twi and Fluttershy" she clarified, mainly for herself. Twilight spoke timidly up.

"W-well, technically us…being together means that not only me and Blood Moon are dating, as well as Blood Moon and Fluttershy, it sort of means…" as she trailed off Rainbow was starting to get the picture, as well as everypony else, and redness was starting to grow across their faces while Sand Stalker was in the process of going through a slow motion face-hoof.

From her position, Rarity stammered out her observation.
"Y-you and-and F-Fluttershy-as well as you and Blood… darling isn't that a little-little…I'm not too sure what it is, but it's just a tad…" she covered her face with her hooves as she groaned out her frustration and confusion, trying to make sense of the whole thing.

"How did all o' this happen" Applejack asked "between you and 'Shy ah mean." Fluttershy rubbed her fore-hoof bashfully, her blush going from an embarrassed red to a coy cute pink.

"W-well, you all remember your first heats right" she said quietly, not quite comfortable talking about this in front of Sand Stalker and the fillies. The mares nodded bashfully, it wasn't like they could forget. "Well-well me and Twilight sort of had ours at the same time, but we didn't really know what it was, so she came around here to see if I knew what it was…one thing lead to the other…" once again, as the sentence trailed off everypony in the room got the point, thankfully asides from the fillies in the room. Everypony in the room was blushing again, harder, deeper and much redder, knowing that two of their best friends had gotten up to rather questionable things in the very room they were sat in.

"So, ya'll had yer first heats…together?" Both mares nodded once. The apple bucker was silent for a while.

"Applejack, what's 'heat'?" AJ looked down at her little sister for a second before answering.

"Ah'll, tell yew some other time" she said. Nopony really knew what to say after that; it had just been revealed to them that the two mares either side of Blood Moon had experienced their first heat at the hooves of each other. It was both, rather awkward and made the room a little too cramped. Blood Moon scratched the back of his neck, practically smelling the tension in the room, as he watched the reactions; Rainbow seemed, for all intents and purposes, just a little broken, staring at the three of them with her jaw hanging low, though he couldn't help but notice the dejection in her eyes; Rarity and Applejack looked to be thinking about something, an eyebrow raising expression given the circumstances and Pinkie Pie seemed to be doing the same thing, Blood Moon wished he knew what they were thinking; Sand Stalker had a hoof to his chin, mulling everything over, this was all inconsequential to him but Rainbowdash's reaction intrigued him, mainly the way she seemed to deflate a little as Fluttershy explained how she'd been with Twilight for her first time; the fillies were more confused than anything, Applebloom was scratching her head, Sweetie-Belle was frowning while Scootaloo was trying to replicate Blood Moon's 'raised eyebrow look'. The dark stallion loosed a deep sigh.

"Listen, it's no good dwelling on this, what's done is done" he told them as he stood up, getting out of the bed, prompting Rainbowdash to fly back to her and Scootaloo's bed. Hunter and Dusk, who had been watching quietly throughout the whole ordeal, took this as their cue to find their places on the assassin as Fluttershy and Twilight got up after him, the unicorns making the bed. "Personally, I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this; I was lead to believe that this isn't frowned upon, so why are we getting so much stick?" Rainbow cringed slightly and scratched the back of her neck.

"Well, it's not that dear, just that it's a little sudden" Rarity said as she hopped off the bed, Applejack and 'Bloom following after her.

"Yeah, pretty much everything with you had been 'a little sudden' Moon" Rainbowdash commented with her fore-hooves crossed. "I mean, you appeared out of nowhere and then all of a sudden you were at the library with the Changelings, getting to know us, the party then the next thing we know we were abducted by that Guard and you and Uncle Sand come rescue us. Then you didn't even wait a day before you asked Twi out. A little sudden doesn't cut it, BM." The assassin frowned.

"What did you call me? 'BM'?"

"Yeah, Blood Moon, BM, get it? Like RD or AJ." The assassin's face went slack.

"I already have a nickname, with just as little dignity as that one. Mooney, remember?" He shook his head as he trotted away, mumbling something like 'BM' before scoffing. Twilight and Fluttershy giggled before going to trot after him, until Rainbow sped into their path.

"And just where do you think you're going" she asked, crossing her fore-hooves as she angled herself accusingly at them.

"For breakfast with our coltfriend" they answered at once. Rainbowdash narrowed her eyes at them both.

"You think we're gonna let you trot out of here" she asked as Sand Stalker hopped out of his chair and went for the door.

"'Scuse me" he mumbled as he walked past the three mares.

"Oh, sorry Uncle Sand" she said immediately as she let him pass by. "Anyway, as I was saying, you're not getting out of here without answering a few questions" she told both mares. Fluttershy rubbed her left fore-hoof up and down awkwardly, while Twilight bit her lip again.

"Well, what did you want to ask" Fluttershy murmured timidly. Rainbowdash straightened up while she was hovering.

"For starters" she said, before leaning in with a small grin on her face "just what happened between you two." Both their memorise shot back to that day when they'd spent a rather hot, sweaty and sticky day together and they couldn't help but blush again. The pair noticed that had been happening much more often lately.

"Really, Rainbowdash, that's your question" Rarity said, unimpressed with her query. Rainbow turned to her quickly.

"Oh come on Rare, you can't be telling me that you're not just a little bit curious" she told her, before she glanced at the fillies "uhhh, why don't you guys go see what Blood Moon's up to" she said, more telling them to leave than suggest anything but they complied anyway. Once they had left she turned back to Twilight. "So come on, spill it, what happened between you two?"

"We already said, one thing lead to another and it just sort of happened" the purple mare muttered.

"Yeah but, what 'just sort of happened'?"

"Why are ya'll so interested anyway RD, what, are ya'll jealous of Twi or Fluttershy for some reason" she asked with a smirk. It was the cyan mare's turn to blush as she stammered her answer out.

"N-no, I'm just wondering y'know, I mean, come on, two of our best friends just told us they've been together so I can't be the only one that's curios about this" she argued.

"Yeah" Pinkie said as she popped up from behind the Pegasus "I wanna know what kind of partying you two got up to" she exclaimed, either grabbing the wrong end of the stick or speaking in a rather subtle innuendo. The purple and yellow mares glanced at each other, still just as embarrassed, before Twilight answered.

"Well, it happened about a year ago, maybe eleven months. I was feeling strange around my…y'know, my nether regions and I didn't know what it was, the only thing that was different was that I couldn't seem to stop glancing out of the window, hoping a stallion, a mare, anypony would come by. Anyway, I wasn't really thinking straight so I didn't look in any of my books; instead I went to Fluttershy's place. When I got there I found her in the same kind of way, she was telling me she'd being feeling the same way and I asked her if she knew how to stop it, neither of us really knew what to do until I accidently sat on a brush on the floor and it found its way into an… intimate spot, I recommended it to Fluttershy and, well, I let you figure out how it went from there" she finished. Rainbowdash had sat on the floor as Twilight had told her story, her grin slowly stretching over her face as it progressed until she reached its climax. The Elements of Harmony sat in silence, Twilight and Fluttershy more awkward than the most of the others. The silence was going well until Rainbowdash spoke up.

"Hey, Twilight." Said mare looked up at her.

"What?"

"You do know that makes you a filly fondler, right?" The two simple words made Twilight put her head in her hooves, growling out her frustration as her friend giggled into her hoof.

"Ah don't know what ya'll are laughin' at Rainbow, pretty much everypony knows ya'll are jus' as exclusive to stallions as…well, Twi is. Pretty much everypony in Ponyville knows yah tail swings both ways" Applejack defends from her position. In response, Rainbowdash falters in her words trying to argue the point but nothing comes out, just her lower jaw going up and down.

"Who's the filly fondler now, huh" Twilight asks with an ever so slightly smug grin on her face. The cyan Pegasus crosses her fore-hooves with a pout on her face.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. It's just, is Blood Moon the only reason you two are getting together? Do you really love him that much?" Twilight and Fluttershy glanced at each other.

"Well, I guess you could say we've always been a little closer ever since that day" Twilight admitted. "I guess you could also say that, Blood Moon was just the little kick we needed." Rainbow cocked her head to the side before a sly grin worked its way across her face.

"Prove it" she said simply. Everypony in the room gaped at her.

"What" Twi and 'Shy said at once. Pinkie popped up from behind them.

"Yeah! If you guys like each other soooo much, why don't you show us" she asked with a grin on her face to match RD's. Rarity was awestruck at her friend's request but was at a loss for words, Applejack was in the same way but she could have said something, only she didn't; she had plenty of experience with Pinkie's experimenting. Meanwhile, Twilight was gaping at the rainbow coloured Pegasus.

"W-what do you want us to do" she asked, as timid as Fluttershy. Rainbow's grin stretched even further as she asked, knowing that her friends were willing to get as frisky as she was.

"Kiss" she said simply "and no short-changing, I wanna see a REAL kiss" she told them. Twilight swallowed as she looked at Fluttershy, who throughout the whole ordeal had worn a pink blush on her face and had her eyes as wide as saucers, her pupils pinpricks. Fluttershy glanced at Twilight, who was still looking at her and had been waiting for her to look her way before she put a hoof on her shoulder, pulled her in and pushed their lips together, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to block out her friend's presence while she pushed her tongue into Fluttershy's maw, Fluttershy gladly obliging her while her own crept into Twi's mouth. They kept it up for a while, moans sounding here and there as their tongues wrestled and explored each other's maw's until they mutually pulled back, a strand of saliva between them as they panted lightly for breath. They looked up at Rainbow, who was watching with a rather blatant blush on her face and a trail of drool going down her mouth. It was unknown to everypony else that she'd gotten a little wet at the scene. "W-wow" she said quietly.

"Happy now" Twilight asked the ever so slightly broken Pegasus, bumping her flank into her head as she passed her by. It was unknown whether it was intentional or not. Twilight and Fluttershy trotted downstairs, finding Blood Moon and Sand Stalker sat waiting for them, Scootaloo sitting with her dad while Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle played around with Hunter and Dusk. The dark stallion looked up from the fillies he had been watching with a grin on his face and looked at Twilight and Fluttershy as they dismounted the stairs, the rest of the mares following them down, the dark stallion raising an eyebrow at them.

"What took you" he asked as he stood up to greet them.

"Nothing interesting" the purple mare responded with an air of dismissal. Blood Moon grunted as Hunter and Dusk returned to their perches on him, all three watching Pinkie, Rare and AJ make their way down stairs, apparently something on their minds, and Rainbowdash bring up the rear, a small smirk on her face. "Breakfast" Twilight suggested swiftly, trotting over to the kitchen, where the sweet smell of egg on toast was flowing from. Everypony but Twilight and Blood Moon sat at the table; they'd both noticed the same thing: where was Spike? The looked at each other with equally confused looks on their faces, as they searched the kitchen for signs of the drake; he'd cleaned up after himself, leaving no trace; he hadn't left a spot at the table for himself, meaning he didn't plan on coming back; and he hadn't told Twilight, Blood Moon or anypony where he was going, or that he was going at all, so he didn't want anypony knowing where he was or that he was even going at all. They continued to look over the kitchen, drawing some looks from the other ponies in the room before they frowned and made a mutual decision.

"Anypony know where Spike is" Blood Moon asked as he continued to search the kitchen fruitlessly. The assassin got the general shaking of heads and hooves to chins before they shook their heads as well. He turned his head to Twilight. "We gotta look for him" he said to his marefriend, who nodded slightly as she turned from the kitchen. The both stepped outside and cast their gazes over the front of Fluttershy's home.

"Spike" Twilight called, her voice echoing slightly. They got no response.

"SPIKE" Blood Moon roared, his deeper voice carrying further than Twilight's though still getting no answer. Twilight frowned while Blood Moon raised an eyebrow at the baby dragon's sudden disappearance. Blood Moon looked up at the phoenix sat on his shoulder. "Hunter, can you give us a bird's eye?" His feathered friend saluted him before taking off, soaring high into the sky as he searched for the purple and green dragon. After a few minutes of Blood Moon and Twilight watching him fly, filled with the stallion occasionally poking the mare causing her slightly annoyed grin to slowly stretch across her face with every prod, he finally gave an almighty cry; singling he'd finally found his prey. The bird of fire hovered in a spot in the air, over where they could only guess Spike was located, and the pair trotted over to him.

Once they arrived, Hunter having landed on the assassin's shoulder again, they were surprised with what they found; it was Spike, wrapping his legs in his arms as he rocked back and forth, his eyes wide and sparkling with tears. Twilight gasped slight, putting a hoof to her mouth in shock while Blood Moon's eyebrows had shot into his mane-line. Twilight trotted cautiously over to the weeping drake.

"Spike" she said quietly, careful not to surprise him. He looked up to see his mother/big sister stood over him, her coltfriend stood a few feet behind her.

"What" he sniffled before putting his face back into his knees. Twilight glanced back at Blood Moon for support, the stallion approaching as warily as the mare.

"Spike, you okay buddy" he asked as he lowered his head to Spike's level. The drake's head suddenly shot up and he glared at the assassin, making no effort to hide it this time.

"Don't call me 'buddy'" he hissed between sniffling some more. The dark stallion straightened up in surprise at the dragon's reaction, both ponies glancing at each other.

"Spike, what's wrong" Twilight asked of her assistant, who had gone back to crying into his knees. Once more sniffling, he looked up at Twilight; he went to answer but glanced back at Blood Moon, his glare coming back quickly. He didn't like him, it felt a whole lot like when Twilight had first adopted Owlowiscious, like Twilight was been taken away from him again but it wasn't like he could do anything about it this time, if the results of trying to get Twilight to get rid of Owlowiscious were anything to go by, that, and Blood Moon wasn't the type to be got rid of easily, if at all. Spike managed to pull his gaze back to Twilight and answer her.
"It-it feels like I'm never getting to speak to you any more, like you've just forgotten about me" he explained. Twilight suddenly understood, smiling sadly at him as she sat next to him.

"Spike, I'll never forget about you and I'm really sorry about not speaking to you it's just…things have been a little hectic lately, y'know. You'll always be my number one assistant" she said as she wrapped her hoof around the drake. She was taken off guard when Spike broke free of her embrace and stood up, now glaring at her.

"Well it sure don't feel that way, ever since…HE" he pointed a claw at Blood Moon, who was watching with his head cocked and an eyebrow raised "arrived, I Feel like I don't even exist anymore. You keep saying that I'll always be your number one assistant, and that's just it; you raised me from an egg, hay you hatched me, and you've been my sister and practically my mom ever since" he padded over to the side of the small stream, sitting down next to it and letting his feet hang over the small drop. "But now it's nothing like before, like you don't even need me, or even want me." Twilight looked a little hurt at that, she swallowed the lump in her throat as tears welled up in her eyes. She reached for the green and purple drake and wrapped him in her hooves, squeezing him like there was no tomorrow and not letting him go, despite his efforts to squirm from her grip.

"Spike, I'm sorry for the lack of attention lately but…but I…" She couldn't think of anything to say, instead she just, impossibly, squeezed him harder. Spike sniffled a few more times as he hugged Twilight back, the purple mare having also taken to sniffling a little. "I'm sorry Spike, it's just that I keep getting wrapped up in stuff and I sort of can't help it." She leaned back but didn't put him down. "Listen Spike, I know things have been a little different lately, but I promise, sooner or later, things will be back to normal, just the way they were" she told the drake. The little dragon's eyes welled up again and he pulled Twilight into another hug, holding her tighter than he ever had before. He then approached a potentially sensitive subject.

"W-what about Blood Moon?" Twilight leaned back and looked back at her coltfriend before she looked back at Spike, nothing in mind to say. The dark stallion answered for her.

"Spike, I thought we'd made our peace but it seems not, I apologies for assuming you were okay with this, I hadn't even considered how sensitive a subject this could be for you" he approached and sat down beside the mare and dragon. With a grunt he continued. "Would you believe me if I said it's obvious to me now? Of course you're a little sensitive about the prospect of losing Twilight; she's the only family you have" he said, Spike nodding slightly in Twilight's hold. "Listen, the last thing I want to do is pull apart any relationships between you all" he looked up at the drake and the mare, a thought he wasn't sure whether to address or not coming slipping into his mind. With a deep breath through his muzzle, he made his decision. "Spike, feel free to say otherwise, but now that me and Twi are dating…that's another member of the family, brother" he said as he turned his gaze to the two of them properly. Spike sniffled again, this time while he was wiping his tears away with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, I guess so" he agreed "who knows, maybe it'll be nice to finally have another guy around" he added as he and Twi let go of each other and sat between her and Blood Moon. Before long had passed, they were called inside when Rarity shouted them from the doorway.

"Twilight, Blood Moon, Spike dear, are you coming inside, breakfast is getting cold" she told them. The small family of ponies and dragon all stood up and returned to Fluttershy's house. Upon arriving, Twi and Blood Moon finally settled down for what Spike had prepared for them, thoroughly enjoying his works. Once done, they planned on settling into the front room, and would have, had the door not been knocked upon. Fluttershy instinctively went to answer it, barely giving the assassin time to hide.

"Hello" the butter yellow mare asked her caller. She was surprised with what she got; it was a unicorn mare, with lush red fur and a sakura pink mane and tail, her mane done up in a braid while her tail hung free, the rest of her was the dictionary's representation of 'pretty'. The other mares, fillies and Sand Stalker looked to the voice that had come from the door and spotted the mare Fluttershy was conversing with. Twilight stood and approached, lingering behind the Pegasus.

"Hi there, I'm looking for somepony call Blood Moon" Feather Heart said politely. Twilight raised an eyebrow at her words, wondering why somepony would be looking for her coltfriend. Blood Moon's had eyes snapped open as he recognised the voice; he peeked around the door to see her stood there; she looked innocent enough but he didn't like it. He stepped out and the mare saw him, smiling slightly, watching as he trotted over to her, seemingly normal. Her smile spread a little further across her face when he stood before her. "Hey Blo-AHH!" She was cut off when the assassin lunged for her, grabbed her by her neck piece and hauling her into the cottage, closing the door behind him and slamming her against the wall, putting a blade to her neck as he pinned her against it.

"How did you find me" he hissed threateningly, eyes narrowed at her suddenly terrified form. Feather Heart was taken off guard by this reaction; she'd been expecting something a little more friendly at least.

"I-I… Blood Moon, what's gotten into you" she asked, thinking something was up with him. Her thoughts were dashed when he leaned in further, his eyes narrowed with a deadly fire burning behind them.

"I know for a fact, nopony knows where I am or how to find me, now I'll ask again" he told her as he pushed the blade a little further into her neck "How. Did. You. Find. Me?" Feather was shaking now, tears welling in her eyes. She put her hooves over her pink eyes and tried to turn away but the stallion wouldn't let her.

"I-I just asked around; everypony said they'd seen you with the Elements of Harmony, so I went to all their houses and Fluttershy was last on my list. I swear I didn't say anything, not even Mayor Mare knows I'm here" she nearly sobbed. Blood Moon saw the truth in her eyes and calmed down, standing up straight and stepping back.

"Right, I'm-I'm sorry about that, just a little paranoid as of late" he explained as he helped her recover. The mare brushed herself off and glared slightly, half-tempted to slap him.

"A little" she blurted, having slapped him without thinking about it anyway. "What are you like when you know you're being followed" she demanded as her death glare slowly turned into a grin as Blood Moon rubbed his cheek, grinning, before he wrapped a hoof around her neck in reassurance, pulling her into a hug that he made sure was more friendly than romantic. She looked past him, at Twilight and Fluttershy who were still watching with curiosity at who this new mare was and just a little bit of fear at Blood Moon's outburst. "Hi, I'm Feather Heart" she introduced as she held her hoof out to Twilight and Fluttershy.

"I'm Twilight."

"Fluttershy" she mumbled, shaking her hoof. The secretary then looked around the room, spotting the other mares, Sand Stalker and the fillies, smiling friendlily. Blood Moon had Twilight, Feather Heart and Fluttershy take a seat, preferring to stay on his hooves, before he checked outside through the window.

"Feather Heart is a friend of mine" he said absentmindedly as he looked through the window, turning away so he could talk to the group properly "she's Mayor Mare's secretary and one of the few ponies I trust. We're also helping each other with a problem, which, presumably, is the reason she's here" he turned to her properly "do you have something for me?" Twilight raised an eyebrow as he said this, wondering what he meant by this, she glanced at Fluttershy as she did the same. The red mare simply nodded.

"Yes, that…stuff you brought us the other day has finally yielded results. The assassin nodded.

"Great, it's 'bout time. What news-" Twilight cut him off.

"Wait, what are you talking about? What 'stuff' what 'problem' and how do you two know each other" she asked. The stallion grunted. Sand Stalker cocked his head as he observed the conversation.

"Wait, Blood, is this the Feather Heart you told me about the other day?" The assassin nodded, and the merc instantly smirked. Their conversation had attracted Feather's attention, causing her to glance at the mustard stallion, who nodded her way. "Feather Heart, I've heard a lot" he told her cryptically. The mare frowned before she gained a pink blush that matched her mane.

"You-you told him about…y'know, what happened?" The assassin swallowed.

"Yeah, well, this is the friend I told you about when this whole thing started" he told her "it was sort of unavoidable." The mare rolled her eyes before she looked back at Sand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, I guess."

"Can we stop side tracking, please? What happened between you two" Twilight more demanded than asked. Blood Moon turned to her.

"Okay, well for starters, it wasn't between just the two of us. It was me, Feather and Mayor Mare. I dropped by the day before I helped you out with your magic and…well let's just say it was good timing and we spent the afternoon getting to know each other." Twilight frowned slightly.

"Wait, by 'getting know each other' do you mean…?"

"Yeah, Mayor was in heat so I helped her out" he explained with a shrug. Twilight blinked.

"The Mayor?" He looked at the purple mare.

"Yeah." Twilight looked at Fluttershy, mouthing the words 'The Mayor?' "Anyway, these results my investigations have yielded" he said, getting the conversation back to its head. Feather nodded before she answered.

"Yes, our lab techs managed to find out who it belonged to, seems it was a local thug called Lock Pick." The assassin grunted at the name.

"Lock Pick, huh? Alright then, so, how do I find him?" He didn't like the way she cringed.

"That's the problem, he's already out of town; we think he's been sent to Canterlot by…whoever employed him, to lay low for a while. I think that if we want to find out for sure who has it in for us; we're going to have to find this guy." Blood Moon nodded.

"Alright, I doubt if this guy was working alone he'd have the sense, or the funds, to go to Canterlot; the Goldhooves are based there right?" He got a nod. "Then that makes things lean towards them being behind this" he murmured. "Where exactly is he?"

"We think he's holding up in some manor owned by somepony called Fancy Pants, we also think he may be the brains behind this" she admitted. Rarity gasped.

"Fancy Pants? He can't be involved in this; he isn't the type to get involved in this sort of thing. I dare say he's one of the only nobles that's actually nice." Feather gave her a sad look.

"I'm sorry, but according to our contacts he was given a train ticket to Canterlot and told to head straight to his home. Either he had something to do with this or he's in for a real bad time" she said. Rarity wined slightly, Applejack putting a comforting hoof over her shoulder. Everypony suddenly noticed a darkening in the room, and the temperature dropped dramatically; they all couldn't help but look at Blood Moon, who seemed to be emitting a strange gravity of darkness. They then realised why; he had donned his robes, armour and weapons, strapping his hoof-bow and rope dart to his bracers and making sure that the former was properly loaded. He cracked his neck left and right, a pair of audible cracks sounding, before he relaxed his body slightly.

"Sounds like I have a job to do then; find this Lock Pick, and deal with Fancy Pants" he said simply from beneath his hood. Twilight cantered over to him, Rarity following soon after.

"Wait, you don't mean kill him, do you" the purple unicorn said.

"You simply can't dear, Fancy Pants is not a bad stallion" Rarity pleaded.

"Not bad on the surface, I don't know what he's like on the inside though, but I'll soon see" he made for the door "and depending on how things work out, so will he" the assassin said with a dark grin on his face. The pair of mares continued to follow.

"Blood Moon, please, don't go" Twilight begged.

"Blood Moon, darling, surely you can't be serious about this." The assassin turned back to them, the simple act causing them to instinctively step back.

"Of course I'm serious, why wouldn't I be?" The mares glanced at each other.

"Will you please take a second to think about this? This…Feather Heart has been here barely five minutes and already you're getting ready to go off and kill somepony." The assassin put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Twilight, I'm sorry but this is my job. I'm an assassin, it's what I do" he said as his hoof went from her shoulder to her face as he caressed her softly. Twilight reached up and held his hoof in hers.

"I know, it's just…I hoped you wouldn't have to do this" she whispered to him. After a small while of the two looking into each other's eyes, a silent conversation going on between them, Twilight gave in, giving a long winded sigh as she reached forward and wrapped him in a hug. "Be careful" she told him as she leaned back and kissed him softly. From her spot, Feather Heart watched Blood Moon kiss Twilight; she opened her mouth to say something but Sand Stalker beat her to it.

"Dating" he said simply, the simple word making a small stone drop in her chest.

"Oh" she answered, her head lowering slightly in her unhappiness. Meanwhile, Blood Moon had disengaged his kiss with Twilight and turned to Rarity.

"Listen, if he doesn't deserve it, I won't kill him. I won't make any promises, but I want you to believe me in that if he does die by my hoof, it'll be because it needed to be done" he told her. He didn't get an answer; instead she just nodded sadly and trotted away, returning to her seat next to Applejack and settling back into her comforting hold, crying quietly into her shoulder, clearly unhappy at the prospect of losing a good friend of hers. Blood Moon had looked up at Scootaloo, prompting her over to him; she cantered over to him and wrapped him in a hug of her own. She looked up at him with questioning eyes.

"Where are you going dad?" He looked down at his daughter and sat on his flank, pulling her into a deeper hug.

"To work Scoots, I'll be back soon, don't worry about it" he said, as they released each other.
The filly looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What are you gonna do?" The assassin swallowed.

"I'll tell you later" he looked up at his marefriend "or maybe Twilight can tell you" he suggested as he stood. Back with the rest of the ponies, both Rainbowdash and Feather Heart's jaws were on the floor.

"Dad" they both repeated. They both looked at Sand Stalker for answers, who was suddenly unwilling to answer.

"Long story, ask Blood Moon" he told them simply. They looked back at Twilight, Blood Moon and Scootaloo, who were watching as Fluttershy trotted up to them. She stopped next to Blood Moon as he stood up.

"Blood Moon…" she couldn't think of anything to say, instead she just leaned forwards and pushed her lips to his quickly. This time, only Feather was confused; she turned to Sand Stalker again only to find he wasn't there.

"Alright" the dark stallion said to the whole room "I should be back by tonight, you guys make Feather Heart comfortable; if I'm not back in two days, feel free to assume I'm stuck in the Canterlot prisons regretting my life decisions." When he was finished, Feather heart frowned.

"What did you mean by make me comfortable?"

"You're staying here until the job's done, when I get back, you can tell Mayor how it went." Feather's frown went deeper.

"So I'm a carrier pigeon now" she said. The assassin smirked.

"There are comments I could make about birds here, but I’ll leave it alone" he said with that same smirk. It was the red mare's turn to roll her eyes, the secretary doing it with a grin on her lips.

With that, he turned and left.

The assassin sat atop the train as it sped along the tracks, a steady 'Chug-Chug' sounding in rhythm as it continued its journey to Canterlot. Blood Moon had travelled this way many times before, hopping atop one of the carriages and watching as the scenery went by. He rather liked traversing Equestria this way; it was fast, free and some of the company you could meet up here was extraordinary. Right now though, he'd run into something he'd both never thought he'd run into again, and was happy to see. Across from him sat three other ponies; two stallions and a mare. They were assassins of the Shadow Weaver's order.

They were dressed in identical garbs, the only differences being that the first stallion's, who was a little smaller and younger compared to the others, was a dark green colour, the other stallion's was oak brown and the mare's was midnight blue, the mare holding the superior rank over the other two. The suits they wore were an industrial style work suit; thick leather made up the bulk of the suit, a belt going over the chest with many pouches attached to it, the mare having a few knives beneath hers. It wasn't mock leather either, it was the real deal. The coat's sleeves went over the shoulders, the suit's colour giving way to dark grey leather sleeves beneath the bulk of the suit. The fore-hooves were covered in think leather boot-like gloves, belts and buckles keeping them tight to their legs; attached to the left fore-leg was a black iron hoof-bow, identical to Blood Moon's own. The coat went down their back's and reached over their flank, covering their cutie marks. The back wrapped around their fronts, buttoned up to the chest, revealing a light grey undershirt beneath the coat. A belt went around their waist, similar, if not identical, to Blood Moon's and containing all the same equipment. On the left side of the belt was a simple razor blade, an oak handle attached to a silver-grey Japonyese style katana blade; the weapon didn't sit in a sheath, instead being left on show to all who would look, letting anypony who looked at them know they were armed. The younger stallion and the mare's faces were uncovered; the colt's tiger-orange fur and cream mane revealed to the dark stallion, his Pegasus wings folded by his sides against his coat; the mare's soot grey fur and glossy raven-black mane was flowing glamorously in the wind, whipping against the breeze and around her unicorn horn, across her cheek she had a thin scar, though it only added to her looks. The other stallion wore a gas mask over his face; a circular air filter stretching over his muzzle, loose brown leather wrapping around it, while inky-black windows over the eyes gazed emotionlessly back at the assassin. Only his mud brown mane was visible through the mask, having been wrapped into a ponytail through a small hole in the oak-brown hood, while his hind-legs showed his particularly dark shaded forest-green fur. The other two didn't wear their hoods or masks, the mare had a her hood draped around the back of her neck while her mask was held in between her chest-belt and the coat, while the younger stallion had his hood up while the mask was hung around his neck.

"It's good to see you again Blood Moon" the older stallion said, who went by the name Falling Leaf. His voice was muffled some by his mask, a metallic ring echoing with his words.

"And you Leaf, it's been a while since I saw anypony from the order. Last time I saw you, you were a snot muzzle, rookie. Look at you now, an enforcer with your own apprentice" he said wistfully. He looked at the colt. "What's your name kid?" The young stallion tensed slightly when Blood Moon spoke to him.

"Uhh, my name's Candle Light sir" he responded, his voice youthful and nervous. The assassin cocked his head.

"Candle Light" he repeated, sort of liking it. He nodded.

"Yes, my parents were, well, candle makers. My dad was called Camp Light, and my mom was called Night Shine. We lived in a small village on the outskirts of the griffon kingdom, when I was a few years old it was raided by bandits. I was the only survivor. Falling Leaf found me and I've been a Shadow Weaver ever since." Blood Moon nodded slowly as he took the story in; many of the Shadow Weavers were orphans. He looked over at the mare.

"And how are you Ember Spark?" The mare had been the daughter to a smith, her parents training her into the professions. What they didn't know was that she had her eyes on other prospects, those of a mercenary or soldier. In the end, she ran away from, how she described them as, overly protective and controlling parents.

"Fine Blood Moon, it's been a lucrative few years" she answered in her signature husky voice that had been the last sound heard by oh-so-many stallions. "I'm more interest in what you've been up to though, Hunter; last I heard you were looking to retire, then you were after one of the Elements of Harmony" Blood Moon didn't question how she knew this, Ember had a way of knowing a lot of things she shouldn't "then I catch wind of you helping out some mare before you go on to protect Ponyville. Not a day after you get into a fight with…what's her name?"

"Pinkie Pie" Candle ventured.

"Yeah, that's it" the mare said, casting him a winning smile, holding the kind of sexy attitude only a truly deadly beauty could have. The colt actually blushed a little. Blood Moon smirked at the scene; Ember was, notoriously, as hot as her name and used it to her advantage. It was rumoured that she'd charmed her way through a whole barracks in order to kill the captain inside. Blood Moon wouldn't be surprised if she had. "Anyway, after that, you drop off the face of Equestria. What's going on?"

"Eh, y'know; stuff." The assassin's weren't really surprised with the vague answer, Blood Moon was known for keeping his problems to himself, only asking for help when he needed it.

"What are you doing on a train to Canterlot" Leaf asked. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Doing my job. I'm heading to Canterlot for something important" he said cryptically. The oak clad assassin cocked his head to the side.

"Celestia?" Blood Moon shook his head.

"No, I'm going for somepony not quite as important."

"So why are you going there" Candle asked, not quite as subtle as the other two assassins. Blood Moon couldn't help but smirk.

"Alright, I'm heading there to solve a problem; somepony called Lock Pick spied on me doing something questionable and now I'm after him. He's holding out with a guy called Fancy Pants, who's supposed to be behind this whole thing; I'm gonna question and kill Lock Pick and then make sure this Fancy Pants doesn't cause me anymore problems." Leaf and Ember nodded while Candle swallowed slightly again. It was obvious that the novice had just come out of training and still wasn't comfortable with killing ponies yet; the dark stallion could only give him a sympathetic look, all the assassin's had been there.

"You need any help with that" Candle asked. The assassin shook his head.

"No, this shouldn't be too hard. But, while I'm here, do any of you know anything about him? Where he lives would be nice." Ember and Leaf put a hoof to their chin.

"He's supposed to live in some big manor house. You should be able to recognise it by the thing above the door; it's meant to be some kind of crest I think, but it's really just his cutie mark on a shield." Blood Moon nods as he listens to Candle's information.

"Alright, so what am I looking for?"

"It's a midnight blue shield, beneath a white shield with three crown shapes on it, there should be purple jewels on them" he explained. The assassin nodded.

"Alright, that helps. What do the rest of you know?"

"Only interesting thing I heard was that he hasn't been coming out of his home nearly as often as he usually does" Leaf says.

"Fancy Pants, huh? Last I heard he was hiring security" Ember tells him. Blood Moon stroked his chin with his hoof.

"Does he know you're coming" Candle asked.

"I doubt it; Fancy Pants isn't a paranoid stallion, so he won't be on the lookout. That, and all of his resources are based in Canterlot, so he won't have heard of anything coming for him" Leaf answered. Blood Moon lay back on the carriage and shrugged.

"So what are you guys doing" he asked.

"We've just taken taking Candle Light here on his first contract; I was the support and Ember was the judge" Leaf answered, once again. Blood Moon looked at the mare.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Perfectly, I couldn't have done it better myself. He didn't even need Leaf's help" she said, making Candle blush once more at the complement. Ember giggled at the redness on his face. She looked back at the dark stallion. "What's with the bird, anyway" she asked. Blood Moon sat up and looked up at his bird, fussing his head while his eyes showed a smile.

"He's my pet; I was looking for some kind of animalistic companion but they all seemed to hate me. Then this guy crashed in to me 'cause his wing was broken and things progressed from there" he said as Hunter hopped off his shoulder and padded over to her before leaping on to her. She smiled and stroked his head, the phoenix nuzzling her back, making her smile go wider.

"He's nice" she says as he keeps nuzzling her.

"He's my bird, 'course he's got perfect charm." Candle and Ember both chuckle while Leaf stays as stoic as before.

"What did you call him" Candle asks as Hunter flaps over to him, landing on his shoulder.

"Hunter. Fluttershy suggested it" he answers. Leaf looks down in thought.

"Fluttershy, isn't she one of the elements? Kindness, right?" Blood Moon nods. Leaf then looks up at Blood Moon's mane.

"What about him" he asks, nodding at the mouse there. Blood Moon swivels his eyes up, spotting the mouse stood on his horn.

"Dusk, he's…no wait, let me do this" Ember and Candle raise an eyebrow as Blood Moon sits up and leans his weight on one hoof, propping his head up on the same leg. "Say hello, to my little friend" he says in his best Al Coltpone voice. Candle tries to hold back his laugh, but fails miserably as he laughs into his hoof, Ember falling to her back and laughing just as hard, even Leaf loses an amused grunt. The assassin grins as he watches what are supposed to be stone cold assassin's, hard as rock and emotionless, laugh at his joke. The whistle on the train sounds just before it shudders to a halt. "Looks like we're here" he observes as Hunter flaps back to his shoulder. He goes to Candle "Candle Light, good luck on your time in Weavers" he says as he grabs the mask, pulls it back and lets it snap back onto his face. He goes to the mare "Ember, as ever, it's great to see you" he says before he pecks her on her scarred cheek. He goes to Leaf as Ember giggles and holds the cheek he kissed, blushing lightly.

"You ain't kissin' me Moon" he says as he raises a hoof. Blood Moon grunts.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you around Leaf" he replies as he shakes the earth pony's hoof and turns away, hopping off the train, the other assassins joining him, Ember putting her hood up and places her mask on her face as they turn to each other again; Leaf and Ember both bow before they disappear, Ember in a flash and Leaf in a spiral of leaves.

"It was an honour to meet you sir" Candle says. Blood Moon smiles slightly and bows his head.

"And you Candle, as I said, good luck in your life."

"Thank you, and you sir" he says as he visibly concentrates, his brow creasing and a single drop of sweat leaking from his forehead before he disappears in a puff of feathers. The assassin smirked, a sort of pride sparking in his chest as he watched the novice manage to teleport. He turned back to the streets of Canterlot, looking around as he took to one of the buildings and trotted along the rooftop.

Canterlot was that kind of place that never ceased to amaze you, no matter how many times you visited the place, with its white stone walls and endless tall towers. There were three main districts in Canterlot, the mountain district, the market district and the family district; the mountain district was the home of the Canterlot Palace and most, if not all, of the nobles; most of the buildings were finely made and designed, suitable for the aristocratic residents of Canterlot; water features and statues were the norm around here, as well as tall buildings and shady alleyways, making it the professional killers both dream and nightmare, considering the amount of guards that were stationed both around the district and the palace itself. The market district was exactly what it said on the tin, the place where the bulk of the stores and stalls were kept and most of the shopping was done in Canterlot; it was separated into two sub-districts, the upper-class side, where all the nobles would buy all their fine clothes and wine, then there was the middle-class side, where the more average ponies would buy their foodstuffs and other essentials; it was also in the market district where you could find the most back alley spots to buy and sell…questionable goods. Finally, the family district was the place you would be greeted with when you first stepped into Canterlot; the main gate to the grand city lay at the front and the train station lay at the back, both entrances leading into an undeniable masterpiece of architecture; beyond the skin of the Canterlot family district, everything looked pretty much average when compared to the city; simple yet functional homes, though managing to keep the fancy styling of the rest of the city.

Blood Moon continued along the rooftop, gazing down at all the nobles as they trotted by, unawares as to the presence both above them, and lingering in the streets; it amused him to no end that some of them assumed they were alone down there, when in actual fact there were endless amounts of eyes watching them from the shadows. The assassin quickly came across a home that stood out more than the others; it was an overly large mansion, the main building an almost perfect square with balconies and walkways surrounding it, pretty much all of which had a guard or two on them; the building had a tower on the front and back corners, spiral rooftops and archers sat in the small lips that looked over the walled off compound and manor; the design of the place was of the same as the rest as Canterlot, elegant swirls of gold and purple, a midnight blue worked into the luxurious designs, marble archways, tall spires with flags atop them dotted around. On the front, above the main door, sat a shield, white on a midnight blue outline that stretched a little over the white, on the shield were three crown like shapes with purple jewels embedded in them.

'Three crowns with purple jewels. This is the place.'

Blood Moon looked closer at the guards and spied that these weren't normal soldiers; instead they wore a grey and black leather vest over their chest, black bandanas over their heads and chainmail over their flanks, a pair of swords over their backs.

'Mercenaries, no doubt low rent grunts. Hmm, looks like Ember was right though.'

They trotted around in a patrol, their eyes narrowed as they marched around the compound, in search for any trespassers. There were more on the grasses in the gardens, on the walls and around the outside of them, some with spears in their grip and others with swords on their back, the same make as the ones inside the walls. The assassin drew up a plan in his head.

'Hmm, too many to fight directly, not without alerting Fancy Pants or Lock Pick anyway. If I can get a feel for these guard's routs I should be able to sneak in without being spotted.'

With that thought, Blood Moon relaxed onto his front casting his gaze over the building. From his position on a high-rise apartment block across the street, he had a pretty good view of the guard's patrol routes; for three long, tedious and boring hours he observed their movements.

The two on the front gate didn't move, instead they just glared at anypony who got too close; the guards on the balconies always had their eyes on the ground below them, rather than watching all over, making a weakness in that they didn't even glance at their colleges or inside the building; the patrols around the gardens were simple enough, just two guards going in an oval from one end to the other, another two guards around the edge; in the towers, there were two guards per vantage, armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows each; walkways around the second and third levels had two set of patrolling guards, both in pairs and on either side of each other as they trotted around; on the walls were at least eight guards, all staying one position and watching over the streets below, not the compound or gardens. Before long, the assassin had his plan; he'd leap from his position and onto the wall, from there he'd make his way across a tree that would camouflage and hide him until he had the opportunity to take down the guard stood on the balcony before he hid the body back on the roof he was on; the main thing that annoyed him was that the place had spells that protected against unapproved teleportation into the compound, he could dismantle the defensive spells but it may take too long, depending on what was defending the defensive spells. That, and it'd be no fun if he did.

He looked to the sky, assessing it to be around one in the morning; he decided to wait until night time, it would give him a better chance at avoiding being detected anyway. He relaxed again, Dusk and Hunter doing the same, and waited the day away.

Twilight stood in the kitchen with Spike, having decided she's try and spend more time with him, while the drake made lunch for everypony. Ever since Blood Moon had left, everypony seemed a little tense, with maybe the exception of Sand Stalker, who kept telling everypony to calm it down and relax. As Spike was in the process making up his works, Rainbowdash trotted in, looking like something was on her mind.

"Hey, Twilight" she said as she entered the kitchen. The purple mare looked over at her from her seat at the table, smiling slightly when she saw her.

"Hey Rainbow, what's up" she asked. She noticed the cyan Pegasus looked a little down about something.

"Can…can I talk to you about something?" Twilight got up off her seat.

"Sure, what's the matter?" RD glanced at Spike.

"Can we talk, y'know, in private?" Twilight blinked.

"Oh, um, sure" she responded as Rainbow lead the way outside. Once they were stood in Fluttershy's backyard, the Pegasus turned to the unicorn.

"What was Scootaloo talkin' about when she said that Blood Moon was her dad?" Twilight mentally sighed.

"Oh, that. Well, the other day, you remember when you asked him to pick up Scootaloo, Cheerilee wouldn't let him pick them up unless he was related to one of them. He decided to say he was Scoot's dad. Things must have progressed from there and they made it sort of official" she explained, watching as her face got slowly more understanding.

"Oh, right" she said quietly.

"Is something wrong?"

"No…yeah, it's just…I always thought Scootaloo was my little sis, y'know. I mean I took her under my wing, I'm teaching her to fly" she answered, unwillingly admitting her desired relationship with Scoots. Twilight looked slightly panicked and put her hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"Hey, don't be like that, you're still her big sister, always will be. But, I thought you'd understand that she needed parents as well as her sister; we both know she's at the age where she'd need both." Rainbow nodded, but didn't say anything; a few days ago she'd have said something like 'are you kidding me' but now that she'd re-met Sand Stalker she could appreciate what she was talking about.

"I guess so" she said quietly after a while "at least we both know he'll look after her properly" she said a little louder. "And I know you will too" she added. Twi raised an eyebrow.

"Huh, what do you mean?" 'Dash looked up at her.

"Well, you're dating Blood Moon now, and he's her dad. Doesn't that make you her mom or something?" Twilight's eyes snapped open, a spark of panic lighting inside her and feeling the familiar sensation of unwanted responsibility being dumped on her, yet again. She also couldn't help but feel a slight pang of age insecurity hit her as well.

"H-her mom? Rainbow, I-I don't know, Blood Moon's a great father figure for Scootaloo but I'm not sure what kind of mother I'd make. I don't know if I'm even ready for having a foal, even an unofficially adopted Scootaloo feels like a bit too much. I mean, out of everything that's happened, all the sudden stuff that's happened I mean, suddenly having a child is just-just…it's where I draw the line" she exclaimed. Rainbow waved a hoof to stop her.

"Yeah, okay I get it, I understand. I was just saying y'know." As they finished their talk, they sat on their flanks and watched the stream behind Fluttershy's home go by. They turned back to the house when they heard the door open and close and Scootaloo trot out. Rainbowdash stood and trotted back to the house, recognising the situation as something that she should give them some privacy for. As she passed by the filly, Scootaloo faltered slightly, making RD do the same, before the small orange filly wrapped her big sister in a small, unexplained hug.

"'Dash" Scootaloo started.

"Yeah" said mare responded, as she put her fore-leg around the filly's back as she hugged her in return.

"You're a great sister." The Pegasus mare welled in pride and affection at that.

"Thanks squirt" she responded, tussling the little Pegasus's mane. The two disconnected and continued on their ways, Rainbow entering the house and Scootaloo sitting next to Twilight.

"What was all that about" Twi asked, a small smile on her face, glad that Rainbowdash could finally bring herself to show public displays of affection.

"I don't really know, I think that after Blood Moon adopted me…sort of-I guess you could say I can appreciate family more than I used to" she explained. The purple mare couldn't help but smile again.

"That's pretty grown up, y'know." Scootaloo giggled slightly.

"Thanks. Twilight, I was wondering, when Blood Moon said he was going to work, what did he mean?" The unicorn swallowed slightly.

"He's…he's doing really important work, but I think Blood Moon should tell you what he's doing, it's the kind of thing…the kind of thing father and daughter should talk about" she said. Scoots nodded, still disappointed with the answer.

"Alright" she responded quietly. Twilight looked down at her, spotting her slightly depressed face.

"Hey, are you alright" she asked. The filly looked up at her.

"Yeah, I guess. It's just…I was wondering if Blood Moon is ever gonna really adopt me." It broke Twilight's heart a little the way she said that, alongside the fact that she didn’t know for sure herself. She wanted to say yes, assure her that she was going to have a real dad, but she knew she couldn't lie to the filly, unintentionally give her false hope. Before she could say anything though, she suddenly noticed there was a presence on her chest, a sort of warmth, and she suddenly noticed she was holding Scootaloo against her chest in her fore-legs; she'd wrapped her in a hug without realising it. She recovered from her stupor quickly however, and managed to answer her before Scootaloo could ask why she was suddenly being held by the element of magic.

"I…I'm not sure Scootaloo, Blood Moon's nothing if not unpredictable" she admitted, not answering but not exactly lying either. Scootaloo nodded in her chest, deciding she didn't mind the magenta mare holding her. She looked up at the unicorn's face.

"Twilight" she started, causing the mare to look down at the filly "if Blood Moon really does adopt me…will you be my mom?" Twilight almost cringed at the question; she considered her answer carefully, but with one look at the filly's wide, curious eyes, her answer was obvious.

"Sure" she said, smiling slightly at Scootaloo. The Pegasus filly smiled back and nuzzled her. They sat together for a while until they heard a voice from the house.

"Hey, Twilight, Scootaloo, lunch's ready" Spike called. They stood up together and trotted back to the house, both of them wondering what Blood Moon was doing.

"Y'know, it's times like this I love my job" Blood Moon said as he watched the pair of mares show a love for each other he was certainly loving right now. Besides him, Hunter and Dusk nodded noiselessly, agreeing with him as they watched the mares do things they both didn't truly understand but sort of amused them anyway. In tandem, the three cocked their heads to the left, steadily going further and further until they were on their side before they raised their eyebrow. Then their eyes widened and their jaws dropped as they watched the mares get into a position even the dark stallion didn't recognise. "Hmm, I'll have to remember that one" he muttered as he watched them…well I'd tell you but it's better to leave it to imagination. When they were finished he was fairly sure one had proposed to the other, judging by how she leapt on her and started planting kisses all over her face.

Turning away from the mares he now wished a long and happy marriage to, he looked back at Fancy Pant's manor. Night had fallen and it looked to be getting towards the end of the guard's shift, considering how drowsy they were starting to look; he looked to the sky and judged by the position of the moon it was getting to around nine o'clock. He looked back to the compound and spied his chosen entry point; with a nod at Hunter, prompting him to hop onto his shoulder, he put his plan into action.

With a short, graceful hop, he landed on a thick branch of the tree that reached over the wall and trotted along it, not making a sound as he made his way along the limb of the tree. He hid in a small clump of leaves and watched the guard he was going for yawn; once he was done taking his overly long, drawn-out breath, stretching his back as he did, the assassin lunged, the guard's eyes snapping open and you could actually see him draw in breath and open his maw to shout his warning to his colleagues before the dark stallion slammed his hoof into his muzzle, before he leapt around his neck and wrapped his right fore-hoof around his neck while his left snaked behind and held him in place as he struggled and writhed around, trying to tug his opponent's powerful leg away from his throat, his efforts slowly being reduced to just wriggling around until the lack of oxygen to his brain put him out like a light as he slumped against the assassin. Blood Moon hauled him up over his shoulder and leapt back to the tree, trotting on three legs as he carried the guard back to the other side of the tree and leaping up to the building, placing him down and searching him; before long he came across a key, no doubt the key to the door to the balcony he'd been stood on. Moving back to the tree and quickly the building before he put the key in the lock and turned it; it wasn't even locked.

'Discord's antlers, these mercs are idiots. What kind of guard doesn't even lock the door?"

The assassin poked his head inside the door, peering left and right through the gloom; the shadows were cut up by a knife of moon light, lighting up the long hall in intervals as Luna's moon light shone through the window. He went left, hugging the wall and keeping to the darkest spots of the mansion. He heard hoof-steps from behind him, and turned to see a trio of guards trotting his way; he backed into a corner formed by the wall and tall potted plant, bowing his head and melting into the shadows. Four seconds later, the same three guards passed him by and the dark stallion decided to follow, listening in to their conversation.

"-Think he's paranoid? Forty guards hanging around this place seems a little overkill" the middle one said, a big earth pony with a great sword on his back.

"Maybe" the one on the left answered, a smaller Pegasus with a pair of daggers on either side of his armour "but with that mare around, what's her name, Fleur-de-lis or something? I don't blame him." The other guard, another earth pony, smaller than the other with a simple sword on his back, shakes his head.

"Nah, I think it was something like Fleur Dis Lee" he says. The Pegasus shrugs.

"Either way, what I wouldn't give to tap that." The three of them chuckle for a second before the first earth pony speaks again.

"What about that punk who's been hanging around, little asshole should really learn how to speak to the guys looking after his sorry flank" he spits, clear distaste in his tone.

"Yeah, but have you heard why he's hiding" the Pegasus asks. The guards shake their heads, looking the winged pony's way. "Word on the street is that he was doing work for the Goldhooves that involved taking pictures of the mayor of Ponyville, trying to get dirt on her y'know." The smaller earth pony grunts.

"Nothing out of the ordinary then. I did a job for them once; they paid good but they're all a bunch of total pieces of trash" he curses, the other two muttering their agreement.

"Damn straight, anyway that's not the best part; this dirt he's got? Guess what it is."

"Uhhh, skimming tax profits into her own account?" The Pegasus shakes his head.

"Abuse of political power?"

"Nope."

"Alright, cut it out, what's going on. What's this dirt?"

"Apparently, he managed to snap pictures of her doing the deed with her secretary." The middle earth looks over at him.

"Is that it" he demands. The Pegasus shakes his head, a smirk on his face.

"Not yet, let me finish. It wasn't just her and the secretary, it was her, the other mare and the Hunter." The two earth stallions froze in their steps, both snapping their heads over to him.

"T-the-the Hunter, you mean Blood Moon? The killer who can't be seen, caught or killed? Are you kiddin' me" the bigger stallion hissed. The smaller one seemed to be hyperventilating.

"T-t-the Hunter? Oh sweet Celestia, one of the damned Shadow Weavers taught me everything I know, and he's meant to be one of them, one of the best. Wait a sec, do you think he'll come here, after this punk I mean." The Pegasus shrugged.

"I don't know, but if he does, I hope he doesn't come on my shift." The middle earth grunts.

"Hey, I bet he's here already. Watching us right now, blade in hoof, getting closer, closer, ever closer until…"

"He pounces" the assassin whispers as he slammed his hoof into the back of the middle earth's head, knocking him out instantly. The other two spin around to him, drawing their weapons; the Pegasus takes to the air but doesn't get far until he find the dark stallion's rope around his neck, cutting off his air flow while the other swings his blade at Blood Moon, who doges rather than blocks, as to avoid the clang of metal on metal, before he smashes his hoof into the merc's muzzle and leaps over his head, wrapping the wire around his neck as the Pegasus finally loses consciousness as he throttles the other as though using a fibre-wire.

Once both were snoring slightly and done with, he sheaths his sword and drags all three over to a dark corner; he smirks as he lays the big earth on his back, puts the other earth's crotch on his face before putting the Pegasus's face between the big earth's legs. He wished he could be there to watch them wake up.

Trotting silently away with a smirk on his face he reaches an intersection; left or right? He goes to the left side of the hall, a light shining from that side, and peers around the corner; he spots a doorway guarded by a pair of unicorns, it opens for a second as a unicorn beauty steps out and says something to the guards before going back in, the sound of a door lock engaging echoing down the hallway.

'Hmm, must be the Fleur Dis Lee those guards were talking about. Maybe she'll know something about this place; preferably where to find Fancy Pants and Lock Pick.'

"What do you think" he asked Hunter, who looked back at him and shrugged. With a smirk, he looks around the corridor that leads to Fleur's room; it was completely void of any hiding spots, the whole room being lit up, the marble halls dazzling but not blinding. He looked up at the ceiling; there were some shady spots and it was high up, so he had a chance of remaining undetected. With a shrug, he stepped back from the wall he'd been hiding behind and looked up it; he concentrated his magic in his horn and let it flow around his body before he put his hoof to the wall, feeling every nook, cranny, crevice and tiny crack and gap in the walls, using it to grip the wall as he trots up the side of the hall until he reaches the ceiling and steps onto it, hanging upside down, his mane and tail hanging below him as he trots around the corner and over to the door, inverted the whole way. As he goes he keeps his eyes on the guards, both of which looked like any other security guard; bored, tired, would much rather be at home with the wife and kids. He felt the same way. He continued to the door and stopped, dropping down and landing without making a noise. He wraps his fore-legs around the leftmost merc and chokes him, the other snapping his gaze over to him at the sound of nearby struggling, only to be met with a sleep-dart being shot into his neck, putting him quickly to sleep. The two fall to the ground, unconscious, before the assassin casts a gravity inverting spell on their bodies, watching as they float upwards before turning to the door. He crouches slightly and peers through the keyhole; through it, he saw Fleur, sat at a vanity coming her mane, humming a tune he thought he recognised, while a breeze from her window made her mane and tail flow glamorously. He grunted; he could only guess how long it had taken to perfect that effect, and the fact that she could never know if she had an audience made him wonder how she acted when she knew ponies were watching her. He reaches into his mane and pulls out the lock pick set, the irony not lost on him, as he puts his eye back to the keyhole and looked at the tumblers.

'Impressive.'

The lock to Fleur Dis lee's room wasn’t a standard issue lock. Highly advanced, no doubt expensive, tumblers sat between him and his goal. This was the work of either a paranoid or protective stallion. Or perhaps possessive one.

Pulling the necessary tools from the small leather sleeve and working the lock, small taps sounding as the tumblers fell into their proper spots, he glances behind himself a few times, watching for any approaching guards; none came. Once he was done, he slowly swung the door open before closing it again. Fleur hadn't noticing the door opening, still looking into the mirror and running the brush through her mane, still humming that tune. Blood Moon looked around the room and spotted a seat across the room; he trotted over to it and sat down in it, adopting a bored expression as Hunter and Dusk sat on the back of the seat. Fleur suddenly stopped humming, noticing a new presence in the room and slowly turning and spotting the assassin sat on her chair. To the assassin's surprise and impressment, she didn't scream for the guards or shriek in alarm, the only thing she did was give a small gasp of surprise, putting a hoof to her mouth.

"Bonjour" she said in a Prench accent, her voice slightly high pitched but a little husky at the same time, giving it both a suggestive and innocent feel. She looks over the mystery stallion in her room, taking in his dark colours and muscled and scared physic. "'Oo are you" she asked as she turned to him properly "'ow did you get past the guards?" She angled her head slightly, narrowing her eyes the smallest of amounts, though the effect was still there. "Do they even know you are 'ere" she asked in a slightly suspicious tone. The stallion couldn't help but be impressed with how this mare could express herself; a simple and very slight change of tone, the smallest of changes in body language. If you could change how others perceived you in these slight ways, you knew that you were doing something right. The assassin grinned in a way that answered her question. "'Oo are you? Some mystery gentlecolt caller?" The assassin's grin went further across his face.

"To a degree" he answered. Fleur stepped off her seat, prompting the stallion to do the same; it was the kind of habit you picked up in this kind of occupation.

As they trotted up to each other, Blood Moon took in the mare; she had a shimmering white coat, over the glamorous body only a supermodel would take the time to perfect; a glossy two tone pink and light grey mane, which flowed gracefully around her horn, and tail, which hugged her flank a little too much to be natural but he'd be lying if he said he cared, both of which curled slightly and were wavy from the brushing they'd just received; her eyes were a light shade of violet with a darker shade of eye shadow hiding on her lids, long lashes flicking off of them; her cutie mark was three fleurs-de-lis, the middle one gold and the outer ones purple, slightly smaller than the other; her body was nice, most attention paid to her backside, though after Zecora the assassin doubted he'd never see an ass to match it, that said, this Fleur obviously paid due attention to herself. They met in the centre of the room, Fleur standing taller than Blood Moon though the aura of intimidation he emitted killed the effect.

"An assassin per'aps" she murmured as they started circling each other.

"You're smart mademoiselle" Blood Moon says. The mare's face slackens slightly.

"I take it you're 'ere for Fancy Pants" she concludes. The stallion nods.

"Not happy about it, I take it." Fleur hums slightly.

"Why would I be 'appy about my partner being killed? I'd try to stop you, but what could I do against you, Blood Moon?" The assassin chuckled.

"You know me, Fleur Dis Lee?" The mare grinned slightly, one side of her mouth rising.

"Anypony 'oo is anypony knows the great 'unter" her eyes narrowed again, though she kept her lopsided grin "I will not 'elp you. Fancy Pants is my lover and I shall not betray 'im" she told him, leaning in and staring into his eyes in a way that made the assassin doubt her sincerity.

"You sure" he asked, flashing his signature rouge smirk "I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be." They continued to circle each other; the best part about this was that they knew exactly what game the other way playing; Fleur was stalling him until the guards, Fancy Pants or anypony could arrive, while Blood Moon was trying to glean information from her; they feigned ignorance, but they knew that the other knew, but they also knew that they knew that they knew, despite pretending that they didn't know that the other didn't know that they knew. A simple, yet elegant dance of the mind. "Where is he?"

"I will not tell you." Blood Moon narrowed his eyes but didn't make any other move; he didn't want to play the torture game with this mare, it would be a cruel and unnecessary waste of time, resources and a beautiful mare. He thought of the other angles to work. He shrugged and turned for the door.

"Then our time together is done" he said simply "I'll find him myself." Fleur bit her lip in slight panic and frustration; she had to stall him somehow, but this stallion didn't seem the type to be mesmerised by simple beauty. She'd need to take it up a notch with this one.

"Per'aps I can tempt to with other information" she said from behind the assassin, who grinned in victory. "If you truly are the 'unter, I can only guess you 'ave also come for Lock Pick as well as Fancy Pants." The dark stallion turned back to her.

"He's here" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"Do not play dumb with me; I know as well as you that you chase the thug for the…" she giggled slightly as she remembered what pictures she'd seen "dirt, shall we call it, 'e 'as on you." Blood Moon trotted slowly back to her.

"I take it this information will not come cheap" he said as he approached. Fleur grinned as she sat on her bed, even that simple act coming out as gracefully as an art form, her eyes half-lidded with a seductive grin on her lips.

"Of course not" she answered as she brushed her tail over her flank suggestively. Blood Moon couldn't drop his grin as he stood next to her bed.

"So what is my debt for what I want to know?" In response, Fleur patted a spot on the bed besides her, prompting the robe clad stallion to hop up beside her.

"Just keep me company for a while" she whispered in a sultry manner, brushing her hoof over his jaw. "You can do that, can you not?"

"Depends on how I'll be accompanying you" he answered, speaking in the same low octave that Fleur was. In response, Fleur snaked her hoof around his neck and pulled his lips to hers, engaging him in a long, passionate kiss, wrapping her tongue around his and moaning into his maw, turning her head and pushing in further, mashing their lips together as she made an attempt to both stall him and, in a more recent realisation, fulfil her own new, and rather suddenly discovered, desires.

"I'll give you one guess" she said breathlessly and huskily. The assassin chuckled.

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll consider it" he answered as Fleur lay on her bed and he followed her down.

"I'm not talking until you persuade me to do so" she answered. The stallion grinned as he kissed down her muzzle, collarbone and neck, prompting tiny sighs and moans from Fleur.

"Seems we're at an impasse then" he muttered as he worked his way down her body with his lips. His hoof strayed to her pussy but before he could reach it, she'd grabbed it with her own and stopped his progress.

"What's the 'urry?" She flipped him over, resting on top of him, putting a single inch between their faces. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side.

"Good question, I've got one too; where's Fancy Pants?" Fleur's lopsided grin stretched further across her face as she licks his nose slightly.

"I'll tell you what; I'll tell you one thing, one piece of information for every time can make me beg" she told him.

"Deal" he answers with a grin on his face. She answers by giggling and straying her hoof down his body before she finds his erect member, grabbing it harshly and gripping it tightly. She rubs it up and down as she leans down again, kissing him along the jaw before pulling back and looking disapprovingly at his robes and armour.

"First" she mutters, still jacking him off. "We'll need to be rid of these robes" she coos as she pulls his hood down, leaning forwards and slipping her tongue into his maw, the assassin gladly obliging her. Blood Moon grins as she moves down his body, keeping eye contact as she goes until she comes face to face with his cock. "Let's start from the bottom" she starts, as she sucks around his balls daintily, soft slurps and suckles sounding as she did "and work" she kissed around the base of his shaft, flicking it with her cute little tongue "our way" she runs her tongue up his length roughly, her warm breath and groans making him twitch "to" she kisses on side of his head "the" she licks a bead of pre-cum from the tip, swirling her tongue around to gather up as much as she could "top" she finished, before she dived onto his dick, sucking for all she was worth, bobbing her head up and down as she closed her eyes, showing him the eye shadow hidden behind as she groaned and suckled in a neat rhythm, letting her tongue touch his balls again whenever she deep throated him. Her hooves went up his hind-legs as she worked, gripping his flank as she did, earning a growl of satisfaction from him when she held his cutie mark, slapping it slightly when she when up, losing a light 'pop' when she released him. "Délicieux" she says breathlessly, before she looks up at him, a small smirk on her lips "but do not think you are not going to work" she tells him as she repositions herself, putting her face directly above his stallionhood and opening it slowly. "If you can sit there and receive a treat from me, and think you can get information, you must be insane" she says as she flicks her tongue over the tip. "If you want me to tell you-" she was cut off when she felt his cock pushing against her cheek, brushing against her face. She giggled and nuzzled it slightly "I think you get the ide-HUUMMMP" she was interrupted when Blood Moon thrust into her mouth, pulled back and thrust in again quickly, his balls slapping against her face as he fucked her face.

Fleur looked up his body and grinned at him, mouth still full of dick, and he grinned back, taking it as a signal to keep it up and he steadied himself with his fore-hooves and started pounding his cock down her throat and his crotch into her muzzle. As he worked his way to orgasm, the mare reached up his body and took hold of the straps and buckles and started to release them one by one as she used her lips and tongue to pleasure him as he continued to thrust into her gob. Her mind was split between the massively arousing feeling of a cock inside her maw, slipping through her lips and wrapping her tongue around it, while at the same time, trying to release the first of the buckles. After a few tries, she finally managed to release the first clasp and worked on the other as Blood Moon reached down and grabbed her horn, giving himself some better leverage and allowing him to pleasure Fleur as he humped her face. The model groaned in pleasure as he continued to piston in and out of her, sending vibrations over the assassin's member and up his spine, only just managing to retain enough thinking power to try and unbuckle the second clasp; after a few groan, sweat and thrust filled seconds the second buckle was released. With both buckles free, she released him from her mouth, got up off her front and unceremoniously sat on his cock, letting him plunge far into her depths.

Both ponies loosed a groan of pure ecstasy as his cock went deep inside her, pressing against a combination of spots that made her want to scream before he'd even started thrusting. As she straddled him, she gave him a show by flicking her mane and striking a pose as she bobbed up and down on him, running her left hoof up his body until she found the leather buckles and whipped them off of him, her body still on full display as they rutted, as she took to pulling his gear off of the assassin and tossing to the other side of the room, not aware that they'd landed on Hunter and Dusk who had been watching with estranged interest. Blood Moon grinned as she stripped him, knowing exactly what she thought she was doing.

'An assassin is never without a hidden blade' he thought, feeling the sharpened metal hidden in his tail.

Done with the weapons she worked on tugging the leather off around his head. With a final one final pull, in perfect tandem with a thrust, she tossed the assassin's robes onto the chair he'd been sat on, once again, unwittingly throwing them onto the phoenix and mouse sitting there, having gotten from under the weapons not a moment before the robes had landed on them. Now that she had him laid bare, she had to admit: she liked what she saw; hard and toned muscles that had obviously come from field work rather than training or a gym, battle scars etched over the length of his body, with the exception of his chest; she frowned as she suddenly noticed a few out of place bumps and ridges inside her marehood; was his stallionhood scared? Still sat on his cock, his hard on slipping in and out of her soft and velvety walls as she giggled innocently and bounced up and down on him, she clenched his maleness with her inner walls with a smirk on her face.

"Somepony is enjoying 'imself, hmm?" The assassin grinned again, before he suddenly sat up and flipped her onto her back.

"You said you wanted me to make you beg, right?" She looked up at him, a sultry grin on her face. He chuckled and started thrusting again, his hips pumping as he fucked her, sweat casting a sheen over the lovely mare and assassin as they moved in tandem, slapping into each other. Blood Moon took hold of Fleur's shapely hind-legs in his fore-hooves as he continued to piston in and out of her. She squealed and giggled like a filly when he spanked her cutie mark, his hooves moving over her near perfect body until he found her marehood and started flicking and rubbing around her clit. She stifled a moan and clenched up a little, her hind-legs wrapping around his back and pulling him in, not letting him out, only allowing him thrust by moving his hips.

"S-sweet Celestia, you're good at this" she managed to groan out. Blood Moon grinned and thrust harder, a sharp gasp pushing from her lungs. Every moan made by Fleur Dis Lee was matched by a short grunt from Blood Moon as they pounded into each other. "'Ere, let me 'elp" she murmured as she climbed up him and sat on her haunches, his cock still buried in her marehood as she shifted around and rested her fore-hooves on his shoulders as they grinned in each other's faces. "Now then" she whispered as she lifted herself up and dropped back down onto him, ripples going over her flank. She giggled as Blood Moon threw his head back, groaning as he felt her cunt squeeze him relentlessly. He managed to gather himself and look back at her smiling, pretty face and pushed his lips to her own waiting maw, caress down her back until he found her plot, fondling it softly until he lifted her up and dropped her, slamming up into her as she went down, making her moan into his maw and her fore-legs slip around his legs and hug him tight as they fucked. Blood Moon felt his balls churn and Fleur's walls clamp around him. "I'm...going…to…cum" she managed to breath out between grunts, groans, sighs and squeals as he continued to thrust into her as he lifted and dropped her onto his cock. The assassin grinned and pushed himself forwards and thrust into her a few more times before he went deep and held it in place. Fleur whined slightly when she felt him stop moving. "C'mon already, git on with it" she moaned as she rubbed her hooves around his back.

"Tell me where to find Lock Pick, and I'll consider it" he told her. She giggled in response.

"Well played Blood Moon, alright then; you can find him about nine doors down, on the left side of the corridor" she said before she wrapped her hind-legs around his back again, forcing him to move. "Now, fuck meeeehhh" she was cut off when the assassin started to pound her demanding pussy relentlessly. One thrust, she writhed around below him; two thrusts and her back arched; three thrusts and she felt a fire spark in her loins; four and her maw opened in a silent scream; five and she did, a scream that Celestia herself probably heard erupted from her maw as they came together in an explosive orgasm, the thick, white, sticky fluid pumping into Fleur's pussy as the stallion growled as his own back arched in time with his final thrust, as he felt her walls nearly crush his cock in their lust and her lubrication squirt out of her opening and land on his crotch and run down her ass, no doubt staining the sheets in the process. The assassin thrust into her a few more times, making sure to empty his load into her before he pulled back and watched the overflow of cum rush out of her marehood. Sat on his flank, he cast his gaze over her body, taking in her curves and the sheen of sweat making her shine. Fleur looked over her well-fucked body at the grinning stallion, and couldn't help but smirk herself. "Now you know where Lock Pick is, I take it you want to know where Fancy is, hmm?" Blood Moon nodded.

"Of course" he answered simply. She sat up again, still a little shaky from their antics just now, and slid gracefully over to him, laying her hind-legs to the side while she propped her head up with her fore-hooves, leaning her weight on the knees, a sultry grin on her lips and her eyes half-lidded and suggestive.

"Well, don't think I'll give you a freebie. You must work for your information" she told him. The assassin smirked and immediately got the idea, moving forwards and kissing around her snout, muzzle, up her face and eventually along her horn, any unicorn's weak spot. "Now, I choose the last event, what did you 'ave in mind?" Blood Moon's grin went wider as he pushed her gently down the bed and rested on her.

"Well, we can't have anypony knowing what kinds of debauchery we got up to, can we? So I suggest" he turned around until her pussy was in his face and his cock in hers "we clean each other off." He heard Fleur giggle.

"I take it you are not referring to a bath together" she cooed as she daintily licked some of her juices off his tip.

"It would take too long" he answered "'sides, it's undeniably more fun this way" he said smoothly. Fleur silently agreed with him and got to work finishing the blow-job she's started a small while ago, carefully sucking her and his sexual juices off his member, tasting her own cum and pussy lubrication as well as his own cum and hints of sweat. Blood Moon, on the other hoof, had taken the time to appreciate the marehood in front of him; her delicate slit was a neat white on the outer lips, the soft, sensitive skin leading to her pink inner walls, her pussy being a little red and puffy from the pounding he'd just given it; her pussy hair was a remarkably well kept tuff, the same shade of violet as her eye shadow, and was styled and shaved into the shape of a fleur-de-lis, the hairs flowing towards her pussy as though directing the stallion or member meant for her towards it; her clit was a perfect, glistening pearl of desire, but what really held his attention was the tiny golden hoop piercing it, a small fleur-de-lis shaped violet amethyst hanging from it. After a second of gazing at it, he decided he rather liked Fleur's clit-piercing, and took to suckling on it, playing with it with his tongue inside his mouth, prompting a few squeals from the attractive mare he was eating out. He dug his tongue inside her cunny and tasted himself, prompting him to pull back slightly before he shrugged and lapped at her pussy again.

'I still say it needs a hint of pepper.'

Blood Moon continued to lick away his and her cum; he took to feeling around her flank, coming to appreciate her taught rump as he spanked it a few times; when he was done with the splattering of love juice around her marehood, he moved down her nether regions and licked away the small amount of cum that had found its way into her asshole, teasing and tickling her, causing her to squeal and giggle again. Before long, they'd both thoroughly cleaned each other but had forgotten about that by now and were perfectly happy staying in their sixty-nine position as the stallion and mare ate and sucked respectively. Blood Moon concentrated on her clit, which unbeknownst to him burned with desire if he left it for more than a moment, as he flicked and tickled it with his tongue and nibbled at it lightly before he'd suck on it harshly, like he was trying to pull it off in his lust, and going on the gripping her cute piercing with his teeth and pulling back on it, making his partner scream in both pain and pleasure. Fleur had the easier time of it, given that Blood Moon was subconsciously thrusting his cock into her maw again, this time being much less gentle as he pumped his hips into her mouth, her throat clenching around his stallionhood; she hugged his flank and pulled him into her mouth faster, rougher, the way she wanted it now and Blood Moon let her, combining both their efforts so he could fuck her face like the little slut she felt like and, furthermore, damn well enjoyed feeling like. Fleur tensed when she felt him lap over a sensitive spot, and unwillingly held him in place, making him hold his maleness down her throat as she enjoyed him going over that spot again and again until she remembered that with a seven and a half long and inch and a half thick pony cock stuffed down your throat, it got kind of hard to breath. What she hadn't noticed was that she'd been moving her throat around while she'd been subconsciously trying to breath, and had been slowly pulling him closer to climax, a place she would soon find. The assassin's back arched as he threw his head back.

"Gonna…gonna…gonna cum" he growled as he thrust into her one final time, a predator like growl escaping his maw as he came directly into her uncomplaining stomach. Blood Moon panted a little as Fleur swallowed down any seed that had tried to escape her stomach, Blood Moon pulling out as she did, a few final ropes of cum splattering onto her happily smiling face. She then noticed her pussy was burning in desire, and was not being pleasured.

"Why am I not cumming" she asked breathlessly.

"Why don't I know where to find Fancy Pants" he replied, still a bit brain dead after his climax.

"Make me cum and I'll tell you."

"Tell me and I'll make you cum." Fleur pouted a little.

"Sácre bleu" she muttered as she tried to buck her pussy into Blood Moon's face, but he'd held it down with his fore-hooves; she tried to resist the feeling of his warm breath, mere inches from her cunt, as well as the hooves idly tracing patterns over her opening, but couldn't deny that she positively burned with desire. She moaned slightly, knowing she was too close to be able to go back now, as well as the fact that she wouldn't let him cum and leave her unsatisfied. "Fine! He's most likely in the library, now please-AHHHHH" she was cut off when the assassin had dived back onto her pussy, probing deep and lapping at her slit and sucking at her clit again, making her scream and writhe around as she got closer and closer to her… "Oh…sweet…CelestiAHHHHH!" Fleur's marehood had exploded in climax, her fluids rocketing down her pink, inner flesh and into Blood Moon's maw, who swallowed it down gladly as he tasted her sweet cum; Fleur shook violently as she rode out her orgasm, clamping her fore-hooves down on his head as she leaned over his body while her hind-legs wrapped around his head, holding him down and forcing him to consume all of her fluids. After thirty long seconds of world-ending orgasm, she fell back onto her bed, her legs splayed around her as she took heavy and laboured breaths with a wide grin on her face. She gave a long, content sigh, looking forwards and spotting Blood Moon on her front breathing as heavily as she was; she giggled again, leaning forwards and kissing his balls lightly, making him turn around and lay beside her. "That was fun" she said. Blood Moon chuckled.

"Agreed" he answered. Fleur turned her head to his, spying his content face as he held her. She moved forwards and pushed her lips to his, in a last ditch attempt to keep him here but all's she got was one of the best kisses she'd ever had, lips, tongue, moaning, caressing and all as she held him in place until he disengaged and pulled back. "Thanks for your help Fleur, but now I have a job to do" he said as he stood. The mare panicked slightly.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay longer" she said as he trotted over to his gear.

"Sorry" he said as he magicked his robes and weapons onto his body. He heard hoof steps from behind him. He turned to see Fleur trotting over to him, not giving time to react before she'd wrapped her fore-hooves around his neck and head, burying his face in her chest.

"Please, stay" she whispered into his ear.

"Fleur" he started as he broke free from her embrace, running his hoof down her face gently. "I understand you don't want to see your coltfriend dead, but he may have made a hostile move against Ponyville; I'm here to find out why and make him answer for it. The same for Lock Pick. I'd rather I hadn't had to involve you in this but…" Fleur shot him another grin.

"You don't regret it though, do you" she finished, running a hoof down his chest. "Please, if you don't have to kill him… please don't." Blood Moon nodded.

"I won't, you have my word on that" he told her. She smiled thankfully, leaning forward and kissed him, soft and warm all over his lips as she'd pull back and peck him a few times before she'd go in deeper again, wrapping her fore-legs around his neck.

"Would it be bad of me to wish you good luck, and hope to see you again" she asked breathlessly, leaning her fore-head on his as they broke the kiss for a second. Blood Moon smirked.

"No, not if you mean it. And you can be sure" he reached down and gripped her taunt flank, slapping it slightly, and making her gasp playfully "I'll be sure to find you again." She grinned and moved in again.

"Très bien" she said quietly as she moved in to kiss him again, the stallion gladly obliging. He kept it going for half a minute.

"Fleur" he whispered between their lips connecting and disconnecting, light smacks and giggles and chuckles, coming from them both, Fleur and Blood respectively.

"Oui" she responded in the same manner. Blood Moon took his time with the last few touches of their lips.

"Sleep well" he said before he put his hoof gently on her neck before firing the sleep-dart loaded into his hoof-bow into her neck. Fleur immediately went limp, though managed to keep up her efforts for a few seconds before the drug worked its pleasant warming feeling through her system and she drifted away from consciousness. Lowering her gently to the ground he spotted a slight smile on her lips as she breathed deeply. He used his magic to carry her to her bed and lay her upon it, covering her with the sheets and stepping back. He couldn't help but feel slightly mean at doing that right after using her for information like that, so he decided to leave her a kind message so he didn't come off as a total bastard. He hunted around for a quill and parchment and upon doing so, finding both in a draw in the vanity, he sat down to write his note.

Fleur

Sorry about that, loose ends y'know. I hope you understand why I had to do that. I also hope to see you again, I have to admit, you've grown on me more than I thought possible. Have no doubt that I'll be visiting you next time I'm in Canterlot my fine lady.

Your dark stallion

He signed it by quickly sketching his cutie mark and stood up, carrying it to her bedside table and held it down with the balanced dagger. He looked over the small picture, and decided it wasn't romantic enough; with a small spark of his horn, he conjured a bouquet of black and blood red roses, setting them down beside the note, before leaning down and kissing her cheek, watching her smile slightly in her sleep and cosy into her covers. Pleased with his work, he trotted silently away, flicking off the lights as he passed them.

Once he was outside Fleur's room, he looked up at Hunter and Dusk, both of which were sat on his shoulder.

"Oh, like you wouldn't have done the same" he said. Both pets just narrowed their eyes at him. Grinning to himself, the killer trotted down the corridor, flipping back into 'assassin mode' seamlessly as he moved silently down the darker side of the corridor, he came across three guards as he went, posted to stand along the wall, none of which looked like they were enjoying the night shift; one had actually yawned and none looked like they'd have done anything if they had spotted him. As Blood Moon trotted down the hall, he counted the doors on the left side.

'Six, seven, eight and nine, here we are.'

He stopped at the ninth door, hiding in the shadows from the pair of guards that stood either side of doorway. He looked between the two of them, and was annoyed to see that these guys didn't look like they'd been awake all day and night. The two of them also looked like they were much higher rent than the others around the place, real professionals, with much more experience etched across their faces; they both had wrinkles like Blood Moon's own stretched across their faces, though they weren't as deep considering their younger age; the one the left had a thin scar going down his right cheek; both had hard expressions, discipline and a severe lack of emotions shining through; both gazed straight ahead of themselves, but their eyes were taking in as many details as they could in the dim light, while their other senses were reaching far beyond their sight. The pair of guards had identical colours which, along with their near identical faces, lead the assassin to believe they were related somehow, brothers perhaps, twins most likely; both of them had slate grey manes and tails, they weren't styled but were kept under control by the military headbands that kept any loose hairs out of their eyes and away from their horns; they had ocean blue eyes that were as emotionless as their faces, but spoke a life of battle and training to the assassin, though little else; their coats were well kept and were of a polished-silver colour, stretched over a powerful and muscled body. The mercs wore dark grey plate metal armour, the edges being jet black, and was buckled down over deep black leather, the metal flowing back, flicking up and down like black flames in a strong breeze; their legs were covered in more mock-leather, buckles and clasps holding it down; on their backs they had a long sword, a few daggers accompanying it, while in their hoof they carried a long-spear, and no doubt knew how to use them.

The assassin considered his options; sneaking was out of the question, considering they had their eyes open and seemed to be refusing to even blink; a distraction wasn't going to work seeing as the two of them seemed well disciplined and trained, and would likely do some kind of textbook investigation to find out what it was and were bound to catch him out; head on would work but it'd take too much time and he'd arouse the suspicions of Lock Pick; sleep darts wouldn't work for both of them, the other would see where it'd come from and put the problem back to the 'head on' scenario problem; they were bound to spot him if he tried to trot up the wall. Time bend? No, he'd have to drop the hide spell to cast something like that and these guys would spot him anyway. Blood Moon ran a hoof down his face in frustration; he hated dealing with guards like this, it was possible but it always took too much time. He looked back at them; try and fool them? Very, VERY, unlikely but with the current circumstances it was his best bet. With a shrug he made his decision, undoubtedly the wrong decision, and stepped out of the shadows. Both guards whipped their heads over to him and narrowed their eyes, gripping their spears and pointing them at the assassin menacingly.

"Halt, who are you" righty demands.

"Produce any weapons you're carrying and lay that at your hooves" lefty commands. Blood Moon gives them a 'calm down' look.

"Name's Shadow Flash, I've been hired by the Goldhooves to act as mister Lock Pick's personal bodyguard" he tells them in an official tone. He doesn't like the way righty grins.

"I think you'll find, WE are his personal guards" he said as they advanced on him, spears aimed at his throat.

"Nahhh crap" Blood Moon muttered. They lunged at him as one, Blood Moon hopping back and drawing his blades. They followed him as he moved, moving in a perfect pair as one lunged with his spear, the other would dance around a go for the assassin's blind side, trying to hit him from behind as he dodged. Having unsheathed his weapons, Blood Moon stopped hopping back and met the merc's spear with his swords, catching hit in his crossed blades and holding it there until the other attacked from his left, making him spin away from his first attacker and block a downwards slash from the guard's spear that came a little too close to his head. The sound of metal on metal reverberated down the hall and almost immediately the light flicked on, the sounds of clamour and guards approaching from either side of the hall echoing towards them. "Nahhh double crap." The two mercs grinned darkly as they continued their assault, slashing and stabbing at him with the blades of their spears; one of them drove his weapon down at him, Blood Moon responding to him by parrying the stab and spinning past him, slashing at his leg, cutting deep and drawing blood. The other guard stepped in rapidly, jabbing his weapon at the assassin, who blocked his first strike, parried the second and dodged the third, countering by slamming the hilt of his weapon into his chin. The one he'd cut made a wide swing with his weapon, Blood Moon ducking under it and countering with a quick stab of his blades, the merc hopping to the side and slicing at his throat, his weapon sliding along Blood Moon's own until they flicked off, the guard moving and slamming the shaft of his weapon into the assassin's head.

Cursing and rolling to the side, he looked back at the pair of guards; one was rubbing his chin and the other was looking over a deep slash in his leg. They looked up again and snarled before they lunged, standing side by side as they resumed their attack in perfect symphony; one went up while the other went down, Blood Moon blocking one and batting the other away with his hoof; one went right and the other went left the dark stallion blocking them both either side of his face; what they did next impressed him: one leapt up onto the other's back and stabbed down with his spear while the other made rapid jabs with his own, forcing the assassin to divide his attention between blocking and dodging a rapid firing of spear stabs while duelling the guard on his brother's back, making him fight two opponents at once; he didn't like that.

The lower unicorn swung his blade wide, putting the shaft of his weapon behind it as he lead with the blade and followed through with the staff, both attacks being blocked by Blood Moon. The other guard took advantage of his opponents predicament, having his brother's spear locked against both his swords; he stabbed his blade down at the assassin who looked up just in time to move his head to the right. The lower guard used this to his advantage, piling on the pressure and pushing his spear against Blood Moon's blades and throwing him to the ground.

The assassin got up again, growling as he did, and looked back at the guards, the top one having hopped off his brother, with his eyes narrowed.

"Alright" he seethed "no more mister nice guy". Both mercs just smirked and settled into an identical stance. Blood Moon span his blades and waited for the mercs to attack; the pair of mercs moved in at once, the way they had done just before but didn't get far before a sharp 'SNAP' echoed through the air and the leftmost guard staggered back, a steel bolt reverberated in his chest piece. The merc grunted and looked down at the bolt protruding from his armour; as he looked the assassin raised his left leg, the rope dart trailing out like a snake standing on its stomach in an 'S' shape before striking out at the other guard, wrapping around his neck and tugging hard, pulling him off his hooves. The other guard had yanked the bolt from his armour and gotten angry, lunging at Blood Moon in an attempt to take his head off; Blood Moon rose his leg and took the strike on the armour plating on his leg; he wrapped his leg around the shaft of the weapon and tugged it away from the merc, sheathing his blades as he held the weapon in his magical grip and shoved the guard away with his other hoof; the guard who the assassin had pulled off his hooves was up again, and crossed spears with the dark stallion; they moved quickly and gracefully, the shafts of the weapons giving off dull 'clunks' when they met, crossing and stabbing as they moved back and forth. Blood Moon caught the guard's weapon in a lock, the tips of both staffs pushing against each other as they both pushed against their opponents in a battle of strength. The assassin piled on the pressure and the merc couldn't keep up with the sudden amount of weight pushed against his own weapon and the assassin spun past him, cracking him in the face as he spotted the other guard ready himself to fight. Blood Moon bucked the one he'd been facing away and pushed himself up onto his hind-legs and hurled the spear like a javelin; the guard caught it in his hooves, stumbling back a bit and set down on his hooves again; Blood Moon drew his blades instinctively and defended the back of his neck against the spear he felt clang into them; he rolled back and grabbed his foe by the front of his armour, head-butted him and threw him at his brother.

The guard with the broken nose grunted and stumbled back, backing into his brother; they both snarled and threw down their spears, their horns sparking to life in a midnight blue glow and their long swords slid from their sheaths in a long, drawn out 'shink' before they fell into a stance. Blood Moon grinned and settled into his own, though his smile faltered when he heard the pounding of hooves on marble floor. This was taking too long, the other guards protecting this place would be upon him soon, and he had to deal with these two before he could hide properly. The two moved in, slowly, cautiously, taking their time; the assassin grinned again and circled them. They pounced. Both were moving as one again, but by now the dark stallion had figure out how to counteract it; he'd defend against one and attack the other, not allowing them to work in the same manner. Split them up. Righty slashed and Blood Moon blocked, spinning and bucking the other away as he put himself between them; the merc behind him slashed at him, the assassin reached back with his weapon but didn't look at him, because the other was already on the attack again; he slashed at the assassin's throat, was blocked and parried, his weapon being rebounded away from him as the dark stallion cut at his brother to keep him at bay before slashing at his armour, managing to cut at one of the buckles that held the plates in place, watching it swing loose and reveal the leather that was now the only thing protecting him; the guard behind him stabbed at him, Blood Moon ducking and spinning below his strike, beating the pommel of his weapon over his opponent's temple; bucking the guard behind him in his vulnerable chest, he leapt up and over the merc's head and landed on his back, chopping his hoof into his neck, putting him out cold. The other merc had straightened up and was readying another attack at the assassin, but faltered at the sight of his unconscious brother, giving the killer a chance to end this. He leapt of the merc's back and brought down a whole lot of pain in the form an atomic head-but, bringing his forehead down on the merc's snout, an audible and sickening 'CRACK' echoing through the air. The guard staggered back and stumbled over his hooves, falling to his flank and holding his broken muzzle on his hooves, viscous curses leaking from his mouth. He looked up to find the assassin looking down at him, a blade to his throat.

"End it" the guard ordered. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side before he sheathed his blade. The guard frowned.

"Why would I do that" the assassin asked as he helped him up, hauling him to his hooves. "I don't waste talent" he said as he went to the other guard and checked for a pulse; he was fine, unconscious, but fine. "Take your brother; tell the other guards I ran for it. If you're looking for work after this, go to the Shadow Weavers; tell them the Hunter sent you and they'll accept you with open hooves" he told them as he put the guard's brother on his back. The merc narrowed his eyes.

"Why would I do that" he mimicked "I should kill right now" he said. Blood Moon grinned.

"But you haven't, have you? You're intrigued by my offer, you're wondering where it could go for you and your brother." The merc narrowed his eyes but didn't argue. After a second, he let a grin of his own spread across his face.

"I'll consider it, I'll tell my brother about it and we'll think about it" he said. The assassin nodded.

"Good, and before I go, what's your name? I like to be on a first name basis with those I consider a good fighter." The merc made a look that said he was considering not answering.

"My name's Dark Guard, my brother's Gloom Watch."

"Blood Moon" he answered, shaking 'Dark Guard's' hoof.

"Pleasure" he murmured before he glanced behind him, the sound of hooves on marble getting closer calling for attention. "Now hide, I'll take care of the rest" he said. Blood Moon nodded, stepping into the shadows cast by an outcrop and using his magic to pull the shade cast by it over his body. Almost as soon as he does so, at least fifteen guards thunder around the corner. Dark Guard turned to them. Blood Moon didn't know whether to trust him or not; the merc had acted like he didn't care much for his charge, if the conversation between the guards he'd listened into earlier were anything to go by it didn't surprise him, but it felt too good to be true if this guard would just abandon his charge and bugger off in simple respect for the assassin's wishes; Blood Moon hadn't lied to him, introducing himself as somepony who'd been sent to the Shadow Weavers by Blood Moon himself would win him points, but it was all down to if the merc believed him or not. What he said would decide it. "Where in sweet Tartarus have you been" he demanded.

"Looking for Oakroot and his squad, we think they might have been killer or disposed of" a big Pegasus merc answered.

"Did you find their bodies?"

"No."

"Then they're not to be counted as dead until you find their cold, dead corpses. Why did you look for them anyway?" The guard narrowed his eyes and stepped up to Dark Guard.

"Because we were instructed to investigate any patrols missing from their routs" he nearly shouted.

"Not when it's clear somepony is fighting off an intruder" Dark Guard did shout.

"Well where's this supposed, intruder then" one of the other guards asked.

"He ran, me and Gloom managed to hold him off but he almost overpowered us, in fact, the only reason I'm not killing you lot right now is because it's your FINALLY getting here than prompted him to do so" he answered "you lot will go look for him while I go take my brother to the medic" he said with an air of finality. The other mercs grumbled but otherwise complied.

When they'd left, Dark Guard looked at the shadow Blood Moon had disappeared into and nodded once before he trotted away. Blood Moon looks left and right before he trots up to the door.

Looking up at its towering form, regarding it with an air of strange suspicion, he tests the door; locked. He frowned and scrutinised the lock, peering through the keyhole and spying on the room's occupants; one stallion sat on a chair, the flames in the fireplace were casting a flickering glow over his body as he sat in its warming aura, lights off. He was breathing deeply and steadily; he was asleep, he'd actually slept through the whole fight that had gone on right on his doorstep. Taking his lock picks out and working the door, his efforts lasting for no longer than seven seconds, he pushes through the door and approaches the sleeping stallion. He frowned again; he looked familiar. Then it hit him; this was the thug that he'd put a throwing knife into the day he'd first met Sand Stalker, the one with the orange fur and black mane and tail. He moved around his mark's chair and gazed upon his sleeping form; his snored softly, his chest rising and falling as he slept, a small trail of drool running from his maw. Blood Moon raised his hoof and slapped him. The thug spluttered awake and shouted slightly.

"What the buck, what's going on" he demanded, before he worked the sleep out of his system and saw the shadow covered stallion stood over him. His face slackened in sudden fear. "The buck are you" he demanded. The assassin didn't do anything to acknowledge the question, instead he just kept glaring down at Lock Pick.

"Language" he scolded, his voice deep and rumbling. The thug just snarled and narrowed his eyes.

"How in Tartarus did you get in here" he demanded "who are you" he asked again "why are you here?"

"I picked the lock, I'm an assassin and I'm here to kill you" Blood Moon answered. Lock Pick swallowed, trying and failing, to keep his face stoic.

"Like hay you are; there's a small army of guards coming your way right now" he threatened. Blood Moon didn't say anything, instead he just struck his target across the temple, grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the back of the chair, holding a blade to his eye.

"Shut up, now you're going to answer a few questions for me. First, when you took those photos of Mayor Mare, who were you working for?" Lock snorted.

"Ha, you really think-" he was cut off when the dark stallion hauled him up and pulled him over to the fire, ripping the guard away with his magic and slamming the thug's head down into the flames and letting him burn for a second, listening to him scream, before he pulled him up again and slammed the back of his head down on the marble surrounding it.

"I'm not in the mood for games" the assassin growled darkly. "Tell me who you were working for and I'll consider killing you quickly."

"Get a life" the thug hissed. Blood Moon leaned down threateningly.

"I've had a life for fifteen thousand years, I don't need another" he said before clobbering the thug over the head with his armoured hoof. "Who were you working for?"

"Buc-" The assassin lifted him up and ploughed his head into the back of the fireplace, listening to the dull 'crunch' as he cracked the skull.

"Tell. Me."

"NO!" Blood Moon lifted him again and rammed his head into the mantle above the fire, letting him drop into the fire again, pulling him out after a few seconds of screaming.

"Tell me now, or I'll cut off your most valuable asset" he seethed, pulling out a tomahawk and putting it between the thug's legs. The thug smirked.

"Go ahead, I'm dead if I tell you anyway." The assassin nodded.

"Damn straight." He hauled him up and slammed him down. "Who did you work for?" He didn't answer. He slammed his head down again. "Who?" Nothing. He hauled him up and rammed him down into the flames, holding him down for a full ten seconds. When he pulled him out, the thug's face was little more than burn marks. "Who?" Lock Pick didn't answer again. With and incredibly pissed off growl, he straddled him and started raining down hooves into his face, breaking his nose, jaw, cheekbone and eye sockets. "WHO" he demanded. Still nothing. He picked him up and got ready to ram him into a wall until he spoke up.

"Alright" he exclaimed, coughing on his own blood "I'll tell you, just gimme a chance to think." Blood Moon rammed him against the wall and pinned him there.

"Speak" he growled.

"It-it was Fancy Pants, he wanted me to get dirt on Mare so he contacted me and had me get pictures of her doing something damaging to her reputation." Blood Moon gave a sinister and intimidating smile.

"Good answer" he said. The assassin threw him away and replaced his tomahawk and drew a single blade. The thug spotted him advancing; his eyes widened and looked around for something to defend himself with. He spotted a thin bladed sabre and picked it up in his hoof, holding it in an offensive manner. He charged Blood Moon and swung the blade down, the assassin taking it on the base of his own sword and letting it slip down, sparks flying into the air as he passed him until it hit the end of the blade and stopped his movement, ramming the tip of his weapon through his target's neck. Lock Pick gurgled for a second, choking on his own blood once more until he fell limp and very much dead. Tugging the weapon out of his mark's neck, wiping the blood off on his coat, he slipped it back into its scabbard and stepped away from the body and towards the door. Peeking his head out, he found that the lights had been cut again; with a small smirk on his face, he trotted out and closed the door and looking left and right, deciding which way to go. His choice was made for him when he noticed an illumination spell lighting up the corridor to his right and decided to continue going left.

'Left's a good direction anyway. Much more trustworthy than right, doesn't cheat at cards.'

Trotting silently down the hall he saw a door that caught his interest, a big pair of fancy looking, oak doors. Above the doors was a plaque, made of more oak, that read; LIBRARY.

With a shrug, he pushed through the well-oiled doors, deciding it time to see if Fleur had lead him to the right place. Inside he got row upon row of books, some old, some new and all glowing orange in the fire that roared in front of two big comfy looking chairs. On one of the chairs sat a stallion with a royal blue mane and white fur. It seemed he'd noticed the assassin's entry and stood and turned to greet him. He wore a long, snake tongue coat that draped over his flank and covered his chest and fore-legs, a purple bow-tie in his collar; on his face was a moustache, the same colour as his mane and tail, while resting on his muzzle was a monocle. The stallion didn't seem all to surprised to see Blood Moon and instead greeted him with a polite bow of his head.

"Evening" he said simply, his voice upper class and polite, but held a hint of 'alpha' to it. Blood Moon nodded back.

"Evening" he said back. Fancy cocked his head to the right.

"Here to kill me, I presume?" The assassin grinned darkly.

"My job's always easier when the target has resigned to his fate" he said as he approached. Fancy narrowed his eyes.

"If you think I'm going down without a fight, you couldn't be more wrong." Blood Moon grinned again.

"Even better" he said simply. The assassin watched as Fancy Pants pulled a fencing sword displayed above the roaring fireplace, the elegant and well-polished weapon gaining a light blue aura as it floated over to him. The dress-coat clad stallion made a display of putting the blade to the middle of his face before whipping it down, lifting it above his head in a classical battle stance. Blood Moon couldn't help but smirk as he drew one of his blades settled into a similar stance. As the pair of duellists approached each other, you could practically hear the dramatic 'final fight scene' music in the air...wait, you could hear it. With a frown, the dark stallion looks around the room until he spots the phonograph playing, a record spinning as the music played. Fancy shrugs.

"It's more exciting that way" he says simply. Blood Moon points a grateful hoof at him as he speaks.

"Thank you! Finally, somepony else who appreciates that" he exclaimed before he advances on the blue tailed stallion. Blood Moon moves in quickly, slashing and stabbing faster than seemed possible. Sparks flew as Fancy's blade met them, blocking both strikes and meeting the downwards guard-breaker in a sword lock. The assassin frowns; he shouldn't have been able to block that.

A stab for the jugular and a slice at the neck; both were taken on the aristocrat's rapier, as he slipped his blade into the path of the assassin's. The killer raised a confused eyebrow. Lunge for the heart, an attempt at disarm. The first was parried out of the way and he slipped out of the second. This time, the assassin grinned. Thrust, swipe, block, parry, dodge, block again, slash, stab, lock, lock break and a slice in tandem as they rebounded off each other. All of these actions passed between the two fighters in barely a second, their weapons blurs to the untrained eye as the moved towards and away in almost perfect symphony, the pair of them elegantly poised and postured as they moved around each other, their weapons never stopping in their dance of death and danger. The assassin angled his blade up as his target angled his down, crossing them and moving the weapons in, locking them once again.

"I must say, your bird is marvellous" Fancy says nonchalantly.

"Thanks" the assassin replies in the same way, Hunter puffing his chest out in pride. This time Fancy goes on the attack; stab, slash, stab again, swing left, swing right, parry, thrust, hop back, block, push forward, stab left, stab right and go down the centre. None even came close to the assassin's fur, never mind anything important. The assassin and aristocrat moved back and lunged forwards at once their blades locked once more. The assassin cocked his head.

"You do realise you're going to die by my hoof don't you" the assassin asked his mark, who was acting way too casual for somepony who was facing off an assassin in his library.

"Well, I was just hoping to appeal to your good nature to let me live" replied Fancy Pants as they broke the lock and struck at once, going straight into another sword lock. They pushed away from each other and went at it again, their weapons sung across the distance between their starting position and their opponent's neck, both dodging back and going for another strike.

"Alright, alright wait, wait wait wait wait wait" he said quickly as he raised a hoof to stop the noble from fighting. "Listen, as much as it pains me to admit it, you don't seem the type to try and blackmail the mayor of Ponyville" he said. Fancy raised an eyebrow.

"Blackmail Mayor Mare? Why would I do that, do I look like the type to even want to become mayor of a town" he made a motion with his fore-hoof, presenting himself to the assassin "I'm a noble, an aristocrat. Not the best material for a politician" he said with a slight grin on his face. Blood Moon huffed.

"It's nice to find a noble who's honest" he muttered before he cocked his head. "Hmm, if you don't want to blackmail Mayor Mare into stepping down from office, why have somepony gather information on her and send her a letter telling her to step down unless she wants them getting out" he asked with slightly narrowed eyes, leaning on his sword. Fancy suddenly looked frustrated, stabbing his rapier into the ground and slouching onto a seat.

"Because, I was forced to" he grumbled, resting his head on his hoof and looking incredibly pissed off. He glanced at the assassin and motioned at the other chair. "Sit down" he said, apparently forgetting the pony he was offering the chair to was supposed to be here to kill him. Once he was sitting, he turned to the killer properly. "I can only guess you know about the Goldhooves" he said as he poured a drink with his magic. It still seemed lost on him that the assassin he'd given a drink to was still confused as to how they'd gone from sword fighting one minute to drinking and discussing how much they hated the Goldhooves the next.

"Of course I do, they're one of the main reasons I'm here." Fancy took a sip from his glass, murmuring his understanding.

"Not surprised. You know how they came to power?" Blood Moon nodded. "Then you should also know how they get most of their work done, yes?" Again, he nodded.

"Yes, they tend to air their dirty laundry in other pony's gardens" he said.

"I trust you also know how they keep their 'Business partners', shall we call them, obedient." The assassin frowned.

"Blackmail…are they holding something over your head?" Fancy Pants growled again, his eyes narrowed.

"Yes, for two years they've been holding a single flaw, a single black stain on my character, over my head and exploiting it to their greatest ability" he grumbled. "A little while ago, Loaded comes to my house and tells me I'm going to hire a thug or somepony who can do work to get dirt on Mayor Mare. Of course, I knew exactly what they were doing but I didn't have much of a choice; it was do as they said or they'd tell what they knew to the masses. It'd destroy my reputation amongst the nobles" he said. Blood Moon put a hoof to his chin in thought.

"So…the Goldhooves were the ones behind all of this" he murmured. The assassin looks up to see Fancy Pants watching him, the look on his face suggesting he was considering something.

"You are no friend of the Goldhooves, I can only presume" he said. The dark stallion nodded. "I wonder… our goals are aligned; you wish for them to back off their takeover of Ponyville, and I'd rather they weren't breathing down my neck" he said. "Say, if I were, hypothetically, willing to scratch your back, would you be willing to scratch mine?" The assassin grinned.

"Depends how well you scratch mine" he answered. "I can see where you're going with this, but what can you offer me? I'm an assassin, a business-stallion like yourself, this isn't a charity case" he explained.

"You didn't strike me as somepony who demands payment for something, especially when he's on a job he's doing out of the kindness of his heart" he said with a small grin on his face. Blood Moon cocked his head. "Oh please, don't think I didn't see the pictures Lock Pick took; if you weren't helping Ms Mayor out of kindness, I doubt you'd be the kind of stallion to earn her favour in the first place." The assassin couldn't help but smirk.

"You're smart Fancy, I like that. Tell you what; I'm gonna help you out, but in return, I'd expect a favour" he told him. Fancy nodded.

"If you can get the Goldhooves off mine and Fleur's case, I'd do anything" he said. "Within reason" he added after a short sip of his drink. He glanced at Blood Moon. "But, if you'd forgive my manners, I must suggest you-" He was cut off when the door to the library flung open, one of the mercs barging in.

"Mister Fancy Pants, sir, we've word of an intruder in the" he spotted the assassin sat in the chair beside his boss. He assassin waved a hoof at him.

"Hey" he said casually. The guard's eyes widened immeasurably.

"INTRUDER" he roared as the assassin leapt out of his chair, swords drawn. He shot a bolt full of sleeping venom into his neck, putting him quickly to sleep as he turned back to Fancy, shaking his hoof.

"Well, it was nice meeting you but I have a daring escape to make" he said hastily before he galloped back to the door and made his exit.

Blood Moon appeared outside Fluttershy's home with a flash, falling to his front in a beaten, broken, bloody, panting and maniacally laughing mess. On his shoulder and head, Hunter and Dusk were stood bolt straight; their eyes open wide and disbelieving at what their master had just done. Blood Moon giggled demonically to himself as he lay on his stomach before the pain of his wounds hit him and he cringed slightly; he hadn't wanted to kill those guards but when that one had almost punctured his lung, he'd sort of been forced. He dragged himself to the door with his fore-hooves, groaning in pain the whole way, a faint trail of blood marking his path. After a few meters, he tried to bring himself to his hooves but failed and fell to his front again. When it became clear he wasn't going to get up, Hunter took flight and made his way to the cottage, landing on the window sill and tapping on the glass with his beak.

Inside the house, Rarity blinked herself from her near-sleep state, looking up and around herself until she spotted the phoenix on the sill; this struck her as a little odd, for one wouldn't Blood Moon be with his bird-

"Oh sweet Celestia" she said as she got up from the coach and made for the door, careful not to wake up the fillies. When she got to the door, she threw it open and bolted out, quickly spotting the dark stallion in the dim light coming from the house. Her eyes widened upon sight of him. "Blood Moon" she exclaimed as she galloped over to him. When she arrived next to him, she couldn't help but put a hoof to her mouth in shock when she saw the state he was in; there was blood leaking from beneath his robes and-"oh my goodness" she whispered when she saw the trail of vital fluids leading from the spot he'd no doubt teleported from. He coughed up some blood and looked up at her, a smattering of the same red liquid on his lips as he grinned up at her.

"Hey Rare, how're you doin'" he asked, his voice strained and horse.

"Oh, Blood Moon you poor dear" she whispers as he gains a vivid blue glow, the mare lifting him with her magic. "Whatever happened?" The assassin coughed up his blood again, growling in pain as it came out.

"Ah, y'know, magic duels, sword fights, chases all the usual stuff" he said as Rarity opens the door with her magic. Inside, she carries him over to the kitchen, flicking on the light and laying him on the side as Hunter and Dusk sit nearby, looking nervus. With only slight hesitation, her horn sparks to life and his robes, armour and weapons whip off him, a use for that spell she never thought she's need, and surveyed the damage more thoroughly. Once again, she put a hoof to her maw in shock, tears welling in the corner of her eyes when she saw the sheer extent of his wounds; numerous slices and cuts were etched across his body, all leaking blood and all of them fresh; some were deeper than others, one or two of them were harmless nicks while others were deep gashes, the blood coming out in greater abundance; his left hind-hoof was at an unnatural angle; but the main problem was the huge laceration running right across his side, cutting from his cutie mark, along his body, and ending just before his neck.

"B-Blood Moon" she squeaked out "don't panic, you're going to be fine" she assured. The assassin choked on his blood before he coughed it out and nodded weakly. Rarity bit her lip nervously as she thought what to do; still panicking slightly, she sparked her horn to life and puller her sewing kit from upstairs and the first aid kit from on top of a cupboard. When she had them both, she took a deep calming breath.

'Alright Rarity, you're a professional, you can do this. I mean, it can't be any different from sewing a hole in a dress.'

The white mare looked down at the dark stallion and noticed he was taking very shallow breaths.

"Blood Moon, are you still with me darling" she asked his almost-corpse. He nodded once.

"Y-yeah, you okay?" Rarity couldn't help but swell with affection when he said that; even when he was lying broken before her, he was the one asking her if she was okay.

"Yes, well, it's just that it's my first time doing something like this" she admitted as she put a towel over some of the bigger wounds. "Any pointers" she asked. Despite his state of near death, he, to Rarity's amazement, still managed to shrug.

"Yeah, first, keep me awake" he instructed.

"How?"

"I dunno, keep talking to me, keep me stimulated" he said. Rarity nodded.

"Alright, what else?"

"Uhhh, y-ah-you gotta disinfect the wounds" he managed to strangled out. She nodded and looked at the first aid kit; inside she saw a bottle of disinfectant and picked it up with her magic. He went to get a towel until the stallion stopped her. "Don't bother with the towel, just pour it on" he told her. Rarity swallowed and nodded, swivelling the cap off the translucent bottle and tipped it over him. The stallion hissed and growled as the steriliser washed its way over his open cuts, tears welling in his eyes when it hit the bigger cut and went deep into the injury. "Alright, good, now the other side" he said, still in pain. Rarity's eyes widened when she heard him but did as he asked, glancing the red stains on the sideboard as she flipped him.

Blood Moon let loose a small growl when she set him down, despite how gentle she'd been, but it was nothing compared to his reaction when she started cleaning his wounds. "Alright good, now you gotta sew me up" he said. Rarity almost fainted when he said that; this wasn't what she did, she was a seamstress not a doctor. She flipped him over again, careful to be gentle with him, and took in the big-ass cut on his side. She swallowed and got to it, finding a piece of strong thread and slipping it through the loop of a needle before she started sewing up the biggest cut. As she worked, she kept glancing at the semi-conscious assassin; she looked back at the gap in his fur and skin, memorising the length and depth, a skill all dressmakers had, and let her instincts take over. Gazing over his face, knowing his body wasn't likely to be in much better condition, she ran a hoof over his mane, brushing it out of the way, feeling the sweat that had leaked from him as she did. He looked up at her and caught her concerned look.

"So how's your day goin'?" Rarity couldn't help but giggle at his remark, a small smile shining through in spite of the situation.

"Oh fine, just cleaning up my best friend's coltfriend's wounds" she said as her horn kept sewing him up.

"Nothing out of the ordinary then" he concluded. Rarity smiled slightly as he made his observation, looking back at his body when she hit the end of his injury, cutting the thread with a pair of small scissors. Blood Moon looked up over his body, and judged the quality of her work. "Not bad" he murmured when he looked over her needlework; it looked like a professional nurse or doctor had stitched him up.

"Thank you" Rarity said graciously as she looked over his other wounds. Now that the largest of his injuries had been repaired, he seemed to be doing better than he had been before, seemed more relaxed despite still being riddled with holes. Rarity took to sewing up the rest of his injuries as he made conversation.

"So, where is everypony, Twilight, Feather Heart and all" he asked, wincing slightly as Rarity weaved him shut.

"Asleep, Miss Feather is up there with them; when it got to mid-night, Sand Stalker insisted we all go to bed but Scootaloo wanted to wait until you got back and wouldn't go to sleep. After what must have been half an hour of trying to get her to come to bed Rainbowdash and Twilight just gave up. Then Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle decided they wanted to wait with her, of course when all three of them were adamant they were staying up for you there was no arguing with them" she said as she finished the last stitch and flipping him over. On his other side, the stallion grinned at her story.

"Having a kid stay up for me… you have any idea how good that can feel to a stallion like me?" The seamstress smiled warmly.

"Do you have any idea how it felt for Scootaloo, knowing she had somepony to wait up for" she asked in return. Blood Moon couldn't help but glance up at her, giving her an appreciative look for her thinking.

"You're wise beyond your years Miss Rarity" he told her.

"It's such a good thing she's found somepony to look up to. Rainbowdash is an excellent big sister to her but she can be a little" she fished for a word "brash, sometimes." The assassin grinned but offered no argument.

"So, what were you doing up anyway?" The mare shrugged.

"I was looking after the girls, the dears fell asleep after two hours but I decided to wait up for you" she told him.

"Why" he asked. Rarity finished the last stitch and started bandaging him up, wrapping his torso in off-white dressings. When she was done with the bandages she looked down at his leg, the assassin following her gaze. "I got it" he muttered as he reached down and took hold of his leg before he twisted and wrenched it back into its proper place; Rarity could see him clamping down on his scream, but could see it rising to his maw. She panicked slightly and though fast, pulling his head into her chest and using it to muffle his roar of pain, feeling it vibrate through her whole system as he loosed his pain. After holding him patiently with empathetic tears tempting to spill as she stroked his mane, she reluctantly released him and helped him off the side, offering her slim frame as a crutch when he wobbled slightly. Guiding him out of the room and flipping the light off as she went, setting him on the couch and sitting beside him. The assassin's pets followed after them, Dusk sitting on the arm of the couch while Hunter perched on the back of it. "So, anyway, why did you stay up?"

"Oh, well, I was just wondering what became of Fancy Pants" she admitted. The assassin looked over at her.

"He's fine, turned out he was being blackmailed by the Goldhooves into doing their dirty work" he revealed. Rarity gave a sigh of relief and leaned her head on his shoulder, wrapping her fore-legs around his own.

"Thank you" breathed. Blood Moon rested his head on hers.

"Don't mention it." She looks up and catches him watching Scootaloo fondly.

"You've touched so many lives here Blood Moon" she says quietly "all of our friends, Scootaloo, Sweetie-Belle. I just can't believe how one stallion can do so much for so many" she said. The stallion shrugged.

"I'm a foalsitter, a bodyguard. It's in my nature to protect and help others" he answered. She looked up at him properly, causing him to look down.

"I'm not so sure about that, you're a good stallion, maybe not a heart of gold but you're better than most." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "Twilight and Fluttershy are lucky to have a stallion like you in their lives." Blood Moon grins.

"And they're just as lucky to have a mare like you in their lives. Rarity, the company you kept at Canterlot, nobles right?" Rarity nodded.

"How did you know I visited Canterlot?" The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"You're not from there?" She smiled slightly and shook her head.

"Ponyville, born and raised."

"Not really surprised, you're no noble; you're gracious, kind, generous, modest, good to your friends, the best big sister a filly could ask for and beautiful beyond belief." Rarity moved in a little.

"Blood Moon, please stop, else you'll make me blush" she said.

"Too late" he countered as he returned her advances. Their lips met half way, Rarity's slightly pink lips brushing against the killer's own slightly chapped and dry lips as they moved together in tandem, Rarity turning her head slightly and closing her eyes, revealing her light blue eye shadow as she moved further into their shared embrace. Rarity's cheeks gained a little pink as she blushed, feeling her tongue make contact with his as they mutually advanced their kiss, the mare groaning slightly as she felt the stallion's tongue explore her mouth. They parted after a while, a strand of saliva lingering between their tongues when they pulled back, the mare panting lightly as a small smile stretched across her still open mouth, the blush still lingering on her face.

"I can see why Twilight does that so often" she said breathlessly. The stallion chuckled.

"What can I say? Irresistible to mares" he joked. Rarity nodded.

"I'll say" she said as she moved back in and reconnected their lips, this kiss lasting for only a few seconds. When they pulled back Rarity had a new glow in her face and sparkle in her eyes. The assassin stroked a hoof down her face in an attempt to keep the mood going, it was working until he yawned. Rarity giggled. "Somepony needs so bed rest." She was answered by the stallion drooling a little. "Blood Moon?"

"I just imagined you in a nurse's outfit" he explained. Rarity giggled again, tapping him on the nose.

"Well, play your cards right…" she trailed off when they heard a stirring from in front of the fire as Scootaloo shifted around and blinked her eyes open.

"Hrmmm…huh? Where?" She looked up and spotted her dad sat on the couch with Rarity.

"Daddy" she said as she stood up, losing her balance and falling again before she managed to trot unsteadily over to him. The stallion reached down and picked her up, holding her against his chest.

"Hey Scoots" he said, his lack of sleep catching up to him as he hugged his daughter.

"I waited up for you" she said. The way she said it, and just her words, made him feel his tears tempt as his memories came back to him.

"I know you did Scoots" he said as he carried her in his fore-leg and hobble over to the fire, laying down beside it, still holding the Pegasus filly against his chest. As he lay behind the other two sleeping fillies, so they still got the warmth of the blaze, he felt the mare he'd just kissed sneak up behind them, laying down beside him, making a small protective wall between the elements and the fillies, in a subconscious protective manner. As Rarity pulled her little sister into her and Applebloom was left to hug the assassin's leg that Scootaloo wasn't holding against her chest, laying on the floor in front of them.

"Dad" Scootaloo mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah" the dark stallion mumbled, just as drowsy.

"Love you" she said quietly. The assassin opened his eyes slightly, gazing down at her. He pulled her into his chest and kissed the top of her head.

"Love you too Scootaloo" he answered before he fell to sleep, embracing and in the loving embrace of his daughter.

Celestia scowled at the report held in her gold magic, screwing it up and tossing it into the fire in her room.

He'd been seen.

In her city, under her very nose, he'd been seen. The nerve of it enraged her, and she could tell by the way Shining Armour had swallowed lightly it was showing through her face, despite her efforts to hide it. The simple fact that he'd been here and he'd been seen, by no less than twenty of her ponies just pissed her off. She caught her anger and pushed it down, taking a few deep breaths as she pushed her hoof away from her, a calming technique she'd taught Cadence, who'd gone on to teach Twilight and something the princess of the day hadn't had to do in millennia. She ran a hoof down her face and took another deep breath.

"Princess Celestia" Shining started, concerned for the well-being of his boss but Celestia just brushed him off.

"I'm fine Capitan Armour" she said, guessing his thoughts "I'm just frustrated is all." The stallion nodded.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand how he managed to escape; I've had the whole of Canterlot on lockdown, nopony should have been able to get in or out without me knowing." Celestia huffed; getting in or out of Canterlot? For Blood Moon; foal's play. She trotted to her balcony and looked over her capitol, Shining following soon after; she didn't say anything, but she didn't like the way he shadowed her from a distance, it was one of the reasons she'd never appointed another bodyguard; it reminded her of Blood Moon too much. She kept gazing over Canterlot for a second until she felt her frustration fall to the sensation of teased. That was what her old foalsitter was doing; rubbing her muzzle in it, letting her stir and suffer as he smirked in her face. She hated that. The simple fact that it was in his power to do what in Tartarus he pleased and there was barely anything she could do about it. Her fore-legs weakened and she fell to her face, resting her pouting head on the guardrail, unawares to the fact she was holding up her plot to Shining Armour, who at least had the gentlecoltly decency to turn his gaze away. After a brief peek of course. Still pouting out over Canterlot, she remembered the big stack of reports waiting on her desk; that report she'd thrown on her fire had been the first of many, and she knew that when she'd said she'd be heading this investigation herself, there was no getting out of it. Standing up again, she went back inside, glancing the small redness on her guard Captain's face and sat back at the desk. She looked through them all.

Witness report

Witness name: Upper Crust.

Circumstances: Claims to have spotted suspect fleeing the scene when returning from a dinner party.

Synopses: Spotted a pony matching suspect's description galloping away from Fancy

Pant's estate before disappearing in a flash of light.

Celestia shook her head; saw him running before teleporting away?

'Honestly, how does that help? All unicorns have the capability to teleport.'

She looked down at the next report.

Witness name: Rum Bottle.

Circumstances: Claims to have found the suspect hiding in his shop front, after being woken up by the sounds of the guards.

Synopses: Found suspect in his shop, hiding from the guards. Claims to have thrown him out and called the guards before the suspect head butted him and escaped down an alleyway.

Celestia growled at the piece of parchment in front of her; it was practically nothing, nothing that helped, this pony hadn't even gotten a good look at him, despite him being right in front of him. She ran a hoof down her face as she looked down at the next one.

Witness name: Battlements.

Circumstances: One of the guards that perused suspect through Canterlot.

Synopses: After following the suspect in pursuit, he claims that the suspect suddenly turned and took to combat. His comrades were quickly dispatched by the suspect in a professional manner before he too fell to the suspect. Upon wakening up he describes his initial reaction as confusion, as the suspect could have easily killed him and his fellows but instead chose to spare them.

The princess of the day felt like crying. Not even her guards had anything helpful. She skimmed through the rest of the reports and came up with much of the same thing; vague descriptions of vague events, not a single detail or half-decent description of her suspect, although she knew it was Blood Moon, she'd need solid evidence to mount a full on raid of Ponyville to find him. That annoyed her further; she was princess, why wasn't her word enough to prove it was him? Still, since her plan was to bring down a small army on Ponyville, it was sort of understandable. She growled again, throwing the reports up in the air and resting her head on her desk. It was torture, the simple fact that Blood Moon had probably come out of that smelling like a rose; she needed relief. She turned her head to Shining Armour.

"Captain Armour, I need some time to think this over. Go back to Cadence, you're dismissed" she said as she waved him away with her hoof. The stallion nodded and saluted before he trotted out of her room. Celestia trotted wearily over to her bed and dumped herself on it.

Everypony had noticed her changes as of late; she was acting much less regal, proper manners having taken a backseat to finding Blood Moon; she still hadn't told Luna, who knew what kind of reaction she'd have if she knew Blood Moon was holding out in Ponyville, with Twilight Sparkle. Hay, it was only years of stress relief and calming techniques that had come between her and going in there herself. What made things worse was that idiot Hardhoof, who'd had the bright idea to go after him directly. Huh, little good his 'head on' approach did him when he suddenly, and explicitly, went missing and with no trace. She couldn't hold down the grin that stretched across her face as she thought about how annoyed Loaded had been when he found out about his son going missing. It was soon replaced by that scowl again; she covered her face with her hooves and growled out loud again, thrashing around in her bed like a filly who wasn't getting her way. She relaxed again, her legs spread out around her, another pout on her face; she hated the way that stallion had the ability to do this to her, send her down a long winding road of stress and pure aggravation. She really needed a drink. Or a stallion.

She blew hard through her nose as she thought; long gone were the days when royal bed-warmers were available for company, these days it was all about keeping up appearances, so sleeping around with what basically amounted to a glorified rent-colt wasn't really allowed any more. It was more damning than anypony could really appreciate; Celestia was nothing if not aged, it didn't show (to her rather, utter smugness) but she was still old, so she came from a time when a monarch got what she wanted, when she wanted. Be it the head of her ex-foalsitter, a tankard of Appaloosa mugging or just somepony to help relieve her stress and tension. With a heavy sigh, she reached down with her fore-hoof and prepared to get to work and try and relax herself, her thoughts clouded between imagining that well-hung guard she'd peaked with his marefriend the other night and her old foalsitter that was plaguing her mind.

Fleur Dis Lee awoke groggily up, the sleep lingering in her eyes as she rubbed the sand away with her hoof. She looked around and caught the smell in the air and remembered what had happened. She grinned to herself as she lay down again; she peered to the side and spotted the letter and roses there. With a smile she sat back up, taking the flowers in her hooves and holding them to her muzzle; when she smelt them she raised an eyebrow. Freshly cut grass, morning dew and fresh spring daisies?

'My favourite fragrances…'

Placing the black and blood red roses down beside her, she picked up the note with her magic and read it. Her smile got wider as she read it; yes, she did understand why he had to do that.

She rubbed the spot he'd injected her absentmindedly; it was strange, she'd taken sleeping pills before and she'd always woken up with a headache and the feeling she experienced while they worked through her system had been numbing and fuzzy, but she'd woken up feeling pleasantly refreshed and the feeling of the drug Blood Moon had used had been warming and pleasantly mind dulling.

Though, inevitably, her thoughts went back to the rutting her and Blood Moon had shared. She lifted her covers and looked down, between her legs and subconsciously pushed them together. She lay back on her bed and giggled to herself mischievously.

'That was a positively evil thing to do.'

She snuggled comfortably into her duvet and rubbed around her stomach absentmindedly.

It was such an awful thing to do, not telling your partner you were in heat and letting him cum with you.

After shock

Chapter twenty: After shock

Celestia's eyes fluttered open, her back sore and her fore-hooves a little restless. The princess of the day looked around herself, taking in the fact that she'd woken up in such a state; normally she'd wake up in a near pristine bed, the sheets completely smooth and she'd always be on her left side. She'd actually made a faint groove where she normally lay. Today, however, she'd woken with her sheets strewn about and unruly, her mattress damp with sweat and the sheets around her groin were a little stained; her mane was a little tangled and she could feel the grit in her eyes; her legs were spread around her body, all except her left fore-hoof, with which she was tightly clutching her stuffed phoenix to her body.

The peerless mare looked at her right fore-hoof and saw the dried fluids there; when was the last time she'd clopped? Centuries at least, she couldn't remember the last time she'd had to pleasure herself. She couldn't help but feel slightly agitated; she'd always seen masturbating as a sign that she was annoyed, stressed and angry beyond belief, and was in need of desperate relief. She knew for a fact that if she hadn't gotten rid of Shining when she had, she'd likely have some explaining to do with Cadence. Not that she'd have been truly bothered by it; when it came to her old foalsitter she allowed herself to take some very desperate measures. Be it banging her guard Captain or turning Ponyville upside down looking for him.
Her eyes rested on the ceiling in thought, absentmindedly lapping her juices off her hoof as she did so.

'He's at large. Blood Moon is still at large, in Ponyville to boot. Oh Twilight, I hope you never see his true nature, and I also hope he doesn't live long enough for you to have the chance. Friends with Blood Moon…is it irony or fate? I just don't know anymore, who can with that stallion?'

With a small sigh, the princess of the day got up, making her bed with her magic as she trotted away from it. She sat at her vanity, sitting down at it and taking a long look at herself; the state her mane was in, her tired eyes, the trail of drool and the scent of sweat and sex lingering on her just made her sigh, propping a leg up on her table and holding her head up with her hoof. Philomena fluttered over to her, coming to a rest next to her and padding over to her owner's head. Celestia smiled slightly as her bird approached before she looked back at her reflection; she'd never considered herself a vain pony but it was the simple fact that Alicorns were unnaturally, and infamously, beautiful. But, after all the times Celestia had looked into a mirror and had never been victim to such a sight looking back at her before was making her slightly depressed.

Philomena sensed her mood and nuzzled her head, Celestia's slight smile returning to her as she nuzzled her back, memories of the time Fluttershy had 'taken care' of her that once and how the fire bird had never left the dark stallion's shoulder when he'd owned her. Memories both good and bad. She thought about that, she often thought about how she felt about Blood Moon's leaving her; she hated the fact that he'd left, the fact that he'd gone as soon as he felt he wouldn't like it, the very simple fact that he'd been so selfish as to do so. But right after these thoughts passed through her head, others to the contrary would soon follow after; he'd taken good care of her and Luna, practically raised her and her sister as his own, despite only having been hired to look after them, act as a bodyguard and foalsitter, not the father they never truly had, he'd given up at least a third of his life for two foals it took him a few millennia to truly get to know, a difficult task for anypony, but a thousand year old assassin who had no experience raising foals, never mind even how to even act around them? A near-impossible task, especially for somepony who'd had a foalhood like his. She hung her head, a sad look on her face that Philomena picked up on, nuzzling Celestia's head again and cooing slightly. She had to admit it to herself;

She missed him.

He'd been gone for so long, having left her and Luna ten thousand years ago…she looked at the calendar on the wall and her eye widened a fraction; eleven thousand years today he'd been gone. She huffed; it would be his birthday soon. She turned away from the calendar; she often wondered what she'd have done should she have ever captured him; question him? Try to kill him? Throw him in the dungeons and melt the key into commemorative coins? Torture him in punishment for leaving her? Cast him into Tartarus and make sure he never name back? Would they take one look at each other and fall into each other's embrace, suddenly noticing how much they truly missed each other? Would he try to kill her, or just spit in her face and disappear again? Perhaps in some form of twisted fate they'd wind up being each other's demise. She doubted any of those would ever happen, he'd evaded capture for more than ten thousand years and he wouldn't give himself up now. He had too much pride for that.

The princess of the day stood up, heading for her personal suite and stepping into the shower; turning on the water and letting it flow over her as she straightened out her mane and tail, washed away the leftover juices on her hoof and scrubbed away the scent of sex on her. Once done destroying the evidence of her clopping, she stepped out and went to grab a towel and dry herself, but not before she caught herself in the mirror; she grinned and put a sexy look on her face, striking a pose before relaxing back onto her hooves, giggling to herself slightly. Such behaviour was unbecoming of a princess, but she couldn't help but feel just a tad cocky about her looks sometimes. She quickly dropped her smile though, her previous thoughts swarming back into her mind like a hive of bees as she towelled herself off. Once done, she trotted back to her vanity and sat at it, picking up a brush and running it daintily through her mane with her magic, reclaiming some order to the silk-like hair atop her royal head. She looked over at her golden and jewelled slippers and the ceremonial armour she'd worn for as long as she'd been princess before her attention went to her tiara. She lifted it to eye level with her golden magic, spying her light magenta eyes in the reflection of the headpiece.

'Was it because of this he left, because of mine and Luna's assentation?'

She lowered her head with a slight sigh and placed it atop her brow before she stood, slipping her armour over her head and onto her body before placing her hooves into her slippers. She turned for the door and trotted out, catching her little sister, Luna, as she went to bed.

"Morning Lu-Lu" Celestia greeted, wrapping her hooves around her sister's neck.

"Morning Tia" the princess of the night replied "art thou-ahem, I mean, are you well sister" she asked, Celestia giggling slightly at her sister's close call with the archaic language.

"I'm fine Luna, why do you ask?" The darker princess of the two cocked her head to the side slightly.

"No reason, it's just that you've been acting…a little differently lately" she commented. Celestia chuckled slightly, smiling fondly at her sister.

"I'm fine, don't worry about me. Things have just gotten a little…stressful lately" she admitted, technically not lying. The mare of night looked to be in thought, humming slightly before she dropped it, yawning deeply as she stretched her back, her spine cracking a few times.

"Alright Tia, if you say so. Just remember, I'm here if you need to talk" she said as she opened her bedroom door with a tired spell. The princess of the day's mood darkened slightly.

"That's what Blood Moon always said" she murmured, just a little too loud. Luna picked up on her words, her ears perking up, and stalled, holding up in the doorway. She turned her head back to her sister slightly.

"What" she asked shakily. Celestia swallowed slightly.

"T-that's what Blood Moon used…to say" she said slowly. Luna swallowed, both because she hadn't told Celestia that she'd known Blood Moon was in Ponyville long before she'd found out about it, she wasn't sure how she'd take it, and because after she'd had her little heart to heart with their old foalsitter, she found herself thinking about him much more often. Too often for her own good. Put simply, she'd been thinking exactly what Celestia had just been thinking, but her stronger bond with him and greater time to mull it all over had left her a little emotionally unstable. Her reaction was evident to this fact: she took a deep breath and calmed herself before she trotted into her room.

"Oh" she said simply, her voice on the verge of tears, moving quickly into her room and slamming the door hard behind her. The princess of the day could hear her sister burst into deep tears a single second after the door had closed. Celestia suddenly felt a little guilty; she knew Luna had a much closer bond to Blood Moon than her and although she'd been hurt more by his disappearance due to their deeper relationship, Luna had seen him as an actual father, rather than Nocturnal, their biological father, so she'd been cut particularly deep by what they both saw as a betrayal. She trotted to the throne room, suddenly realised she really didn't want to attend day court; the nobles would very probably push her over the edge and she really didn't need that right now, not with Blood Moon in her grasp. She thought about what Blood Moon had 'supposedly' done last night and decided she wanted to take a direct hoof in the investigation herself, after all, she was leading the search for the Hunter.

'To Tartarus with it, I'm the damn princess.'

She arrived in the throne room, a long and beautifully designed hall lined with stained glass windows depicting famous scenes from Equestria's past. As she entered the room, one of the guards spoke up.

"All rise for princess Celestia" he said, speaking loud so the whole room could hear the deep and authorities voice that reverberated across the hall. The nobles just raised their noses slightly while the peasants stood to attention. The princess of Equestria was not supposed to pick favourites, the simple fact that she was an Alicorn meant she was supposed to be a neutral voice throughout the land, but if she were honest, she'd say she always liked her lower class citizens more than the upper class ones, if only because their heads weren't shoved so far up their own asses they could taste their scalps. She went to her throne and sat upon it delicately, before clearing her throat slightly as she prepared herself to speak.

"My apologies my little ponies" she started, her voice carrying as well as the guard's with only half the effort "but day court has been cancelled for today. A situation has arisen and it desires my upmost attention" she explained, her motherly voice meeting the ears of all attending ponies across the room. Pretty much all of her citizens were annoyed but some hid it better than others; her well trained ears picked up the nobles muttering something about 'no respect' and the peasants things like 'wonder what's going on.' Yet another reason she liked the lower class ponies of Equestria more than the higher class ones.

Celestia waited until all her ponies had left, but as she was doing so, a single noble approached her; you know what she did? She glared at him. Princess Celestia, of Equestria, who had vowed to rule with harmony, justice and love for her subjects narrowed her eyes at her approaching citizen until he got the message and backed up, moving quickly for the exit with wide and fearful eyes. Celestia quickly realised what she'd just done, hanging her head in shame; she'd always strived to keep up her kind and motherly ruler appearance but she'd felt herself slipping lately. This must have been what Luna had been noticing, hay, of course she would; Celestia was known for having an exceedingly long fuse but Blood Moon had a way of making it much shorter. Luna would be the first to notice her temper getting hotter, what with them being so close and all. Getting up out of her throne, having to actually put effort into looking regal this time, she trotted back to her room. She turned to the guard who'd been watching over day court.
"I'm going to the crime scene at Fancy Pant's home; make sure I'm not disturbed" she told him, the guard simply nodding his understanding. Upon arriving in her room, she headed for the balcony and went to leap off, but faulted just before she took flight.

'Am I over reacting? Could this be nothing and I'm just making a big deal about it? No, there's no 'over reacting' when it comes to Blood Moon. If anything, not sending the whole of the Equestrian army after him is under reacting.'

She shook the doubts from her mind with a 'foolish filly' look on her face, aimed at herself, before she took to the skies, spreading her swan like wings and gliding for a while before she gave a few powerful beats of her wings and flew for Fancy's estate, letting her thoughts return to her head.

'Blood Moon after Fancy Pants? Technically it isn't surprising; high-rise noble, plenty of enemies… but it wouldn't have been much of a challenge for him, so it begs the question; why would he go after him? A simple contract? No, he's always after challenge rather than coin, also, he's always careful to draw no attention when he's being paid. It's when he's doing a favour he's loud and proud; he sends a message. He must be doing a favour for somepony then. But who?'

When Celestia could see Fancy Pant's home in the distance, she decreased altitude until she met the ground with her hooves, taking a few quick steps until she'd broken her momentum and could trot regally forwards properly, covering the brief distance between her landing position and Fancy's home quickly. The estate had undergone a few changes since the battle, for instance; the front gate seemed to have been blown off its hinges and instead of the big iron gate protecting the compound, there was crime scene tape across the gap, one of her day guards either side of it, standing to attention and bowing as she approached. Celestia continued on through and almost tripped when she saw what was inside the walls; at least nine guards, their remains really, were strewn across the gardens and pathway to the front door in a bloody and gory mess; entrails, blood, lungs, a few hearts here and there and a head missing its body was sat in the corner. Celestia put disappointed and angry look on her face.

"Starswirl's beard" she growled, no other real curse available to her shocked mind.

"Princess Celestia" a gruff voice said from behind her. Celestia turned to the voice and saw an old friend of hers.

He was a unicorn, smaller than Shining Armour but with just as many muscles; he had smoky grey fur and a very dark shade of midnight blue mane and tail that looked black during the day and blue at night, giving him the appearance of a misty alleyway at night time; his eyes were deep, thoughtful and constantly narrowed, a fact that reminded Celestia of Blood Moon a little, and were a shade of moonlight silver that always seemed darker when there was no light, they were sunken in, had deep crow's feet on the corners and looked tired, but the eyes themselves were wide awake; his horn was chipped slightly here and there, the results of an attempt to bring down the Shadow Weavers, it hadn't gone well but he'd made a decent attempt, having made a severe dent in the chapter's numbers, power and wealth; his mane was slightly matted, a thin scar ran over his head, cutting through his mane and making a thin line through his hair, while his tail was long, flowing and trailed on the ground behind him; his maw was covered in a small dark grey stubble, suggesting he'd been up all night again; and his cutie mark was a magnifying glass, grey clouds flowing over it, the glass having a small flare of light around part of the edge, looking a little like a sun reflecting off it. He wore an oak brown trench coat, beaten and old but characterful, with the belt around the waist hanging loose, the iron buckle swinging low; and a fedora sat on his head, oak brown like his coat, while the silk band running through it was a midnight blue, the same shade as his mane.

"Skulduggery" she replied as she shook his hoof. Skulduggery was Celestia's personal detective; he wasn't technically top detective considering he was a private eye but he was better than most of her investigation team put together. "How is the investigation going" she asked. Skulduggery growled, a habit he'd picked up the day he'd taken a broadsword to the skull; it normally meant he was more pissed off than you could possibly imagine but was doing damn good job of holding it down, his growl being a small steam vent he used to let it loose carefully.

"Awful" he rumbled as he looked around at the corpses below him. He shifted through a few of them before he looked up again. "All of these guys are mercs, low rent and impossible to track. No ID and no names, the only ponies who know what they're called are the other mercs, and most of them are dead or in no state to talk just yet" he says as he continues to pick through the cadavers.

"How many were there" Celestia asks as she watches him work through the dead guards systematically. The stallion shrugs.

"Forty or so, give or take" he says as a guard gives him a short report. He reads it through before passing it to Celestia. It was Shining's initial report.

Suspect seemingly broke in under cover of night but was unseen by all guards outside. He apparently went unnoticed by the patrols inside too, having dispatched three and hid the unconscious bodies in a compromising position. It is still unclear why he did so. He then dispatched the two guards protecting Fleur and went on to search her quarters for information on the locations of a pony holding up with them and Fancy Pants. Suspect then seemed to go on to find a thug from Ponyville by the name 'Lock Pick' and kill him for reasons still unknown. He then approached Fancy Pants in the library and the two fought. Fancy claims to have been able to fend him off until the guards arrived, according to Fancy Pants, he abandoned the hit and escaped soon after.

Celestia looked up from the report and gave it back to the Skulduggery, who slipped it into his coat.

"Are all the guards accounted for" Celestia asked, more for formalities than anything. The detective took her by surprise when he shook his head.

"No, two professional mercenaries by the name Dark Guard and Gloom Watch have gone missing." Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"Professional mercenaries" she repeated "who were they?" Skulduggery shrugged.

"Just that, pro mercs, but they weren't hired by Fancy Pants" he reveals. Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Apparently, they weren't on his payroll, but they were posted outside Lock Pick's door." Celestia put a hoof to her chin in thought.

"If they were outside this Lock Pick's door, that means Blood Moon must have run into them" she murmured. Skulduggery shrugged and turned for the door to Fancy's home. The fact that he had the balls to turn away from Celestia without permission made him stand out from pretty much everypony, even without his attitude and dress sense. It was supposed to be considered a mark of great disrespect to look away from Celestia before she'd looked from you, but both of them knew he'd never cared much for manners around monarchs, though if Celestia were honest, she'd say she didn't care much; it was actually rather refreshing to find somepony who treated her like a normal pony.

"This is both ridiculous and frustrating. You'd have thought out of everything that's been left behind, something, anything, could be used in court against him" he growled "but there's nothing; not a hair, not a fibre, not a useful witness, not a scrap of evidence, nothing" he continued, halfway between ranting and reporting his findings, or lack thereof. Celestia nodded, she'd expected as much.

"No witnesses" she asked. The stallion grunted.

"There's Fancy himself, his marefriend Fleur and a few of the guards. All of them claim to have nothing to say. Not unless you count information they're holding back, because I know for a fact that they know something but, for the life of me, I can't get it out of them." That actually surprised Celestia; Skulduggery was known for getting information out of the ponies he interrogated, having somepony who could keep things from him was sort of impressive.

Annoying, but impressive.

"Who exactly are our witnesses" Celestia continued.

"There's Fancy Pants himself, guy who owns this place, as you know; his marefriend Fleur Dis Lee, long time partners but they've never really gone further than mare and coltfriend; and besides those two a few of the guards survived this whole ordeal" the detective answered. The princess nodded her understanding.

"Take me to Fancy Pants" she said, Skulduggery returning her nod and veered off the hallway they were trotting and turning down another. Celestia stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what she was supposed to trot through."Son of a…"

The hallway before her was a battlefield;blood was sprayed across the walls, dead bodies were all over the floors and what was once a display of the finest works of the best designers in Equestria had been reduced to a slaughterhouse. Celestia couldn't help but swallow at the scene, while Skulduggery just trotted through it acting like none of it was there. As she brought herself to move, Skulduggery had stopped and turned back to her.

"Princess, you alright" he asked, his own brand of gruff concern shining through. Celestia nodded noiselessly and started moving. She'd be lying if she'd said she wasn't shocked by this; every crime scene she'd gone through that had involved Blood Moon had been pristine, silent and perfectly performed, the only ponies who'd known he'd been there were Blood Moon himself and the target, but this…it was something she'd never expect from him. She could actually see where it had all started going downhill; at the end furthest away from her were a few spatterings of blood here and there, probably where he'd been cutting tendons and disabling his opponents, all the living guards having been already been taken to the hospital; closer to her, the blood was slightly more frequent and abundant, sprays covering more of the marble floor and walls, most likely where he'd been taking less care to keep his opponents alive; then there was the first fatality, a merc with a long, wide smile across his neck, the red grin drooling blood; after that he seemed not to care anymore, and had just let loose, ponies having been killed indiscriminately. Celestia stopped, frowning slightly at the patch of blood at her hooves; it seemed darker than the other spots of blood and stood out to her somehow, it was coming from a different angle than the other wounds and almost seemed to be shaped like an arrow… "Princess, take a look at this" Skulduggery said slowly. Celestia looked up at the detective and saw him gazing in the direction the blood seemed to have been pointing at. When she looked up her face slackened slightly. Blood, sharp and harsh was caked across the wall in pointed letters that read:

I'll see you soon Celestia. Your loving foalsitter.

Celestia swallowed slightly as she read the words, they seemed to jump out at her and felt just a little intimidating. It was the way he'd signed it too, 'your loving foalsitter.' It troubled her more than a little that he'd actually sent her a message but calling himself her foalsitter again…it made her heart prang a little, her thoughts from this morning not helping her. Skulduggery watched her face with a practised eye, taking note of her reaction.
"Celestia…do you know who did this" he asked with caution. He could have been mistaken, but he almost thought he'd seen her lip wobble.

"I-I do…he…he was my foalsitter a long, long time ago" she said, her eyes still locked on the message scrawled over the wall.

"Yes, I figured out that much for myself" he said, glancing back at the message "but is there anything else I should know?" Celestia shook her head.

"No, nothing that would help" she answered. Celestia managed to tear herself away from the spot she'd been standing on and trotted further down the hallway before she looked back at the detective. "Are you coming, Skulduggery?" The stallion hums before he follows her. He leads the way to Fancy's front room, where the stallion of the house sits. "Fancy Pants" she greets as he stands up, bowing to her slightly.

"Princess Celestia, an honour" he answers. The princess of the day smiles slightly.

"Fancy, let's cut the formalities; I want you to tell me what happened to you" she told him.

"Alright, but I've already told all of your guards the same thing" he says. Celestia nods, as Skulduggery makes movements with his hoof for him to go on as his horn sparks to life and pulls out a notepad and pencil from the inside of his coat. "The stallion approached me, trotted in like he owned the place, and told me he was going to kill me. We fought, the guards came and he galloped for it. There's nothing much else to say."

"That's all a little vague Fancy" Skull comments, his eyes narrowed further as he speaks. The aristocrat glares back.

"I have nothing more to say, because I have nothing to say" he retorts.

"Then how about the small war that went on inside your home, most ponies I know would be just a little shaken up, but you're acting like you couldn't give a crap about the fact an assassin has been in your house." Fancy looked insulted.

"Are you accusing me of lying? You'd do well to watch your tong-" as Fancy had been speaking he'd raised his hoof and pointed it at Skulduggery, who'd grabbed it out of the air, twisted him to the floor and pinned him down, a vicious snarl on his face.

"I know, you're holding back information Fancy Pants, and I will find out what you're holding back from me" he growled out.

"Skulduggery" Celestia said in warning. The detective looked up and relaxed slightly, letting the nobel up.
"Of course, princess" he said as he straightened up, letting Fancy Pants get up. "I'm gonna go find the guards who were knocked out by our suspect" he said as he trotted away. Celestia watched as he went.

"I'm sorry about that Fancy Pants" she said. He shrugged it off.

"Don't worry about it" he said "I've had worse" he muttered. Celestia followed after Skulduggery, finding him just outside the door with his eyes closed and taking deep breaths to calm himself.

"What was that all about" Celestia asked quietly. They both knew had it been anypony else she'd be enraged at them for acting out before her, but Skulduggery had a way with ponies that got things done and a such sheer disregard for the opinions of others that she knew he wouldn't care even if she'd yelled at him in the Canterlot voice. Skulduggery glanced up at her.

"I can tell something about this case is bothering you Celestia; you're heading it up yourself, then there's that message on the wall, you seemed taken aback by the scene in the hall and you didn't exactly hold me back just now." Celestia took a breath through her muzzle.

"I knew I'd made you my personal detective for some reason" she muttered, prompting a short smirk from him "but that still doesn't explain your actions" she said. Skulduggery looked up at her properly.

"It's because I can tell something about this is bothering you, more than bothering you, it's angering you. If something is making the princess of Equestria angry that gives us all cause for concern. That… and you're my friend, and if you're annoyed at something, I want to help you" he told her as he got up and trotted away, towards where the guards were being treated for their wounds. Celestia couldn't help but smile slightly when he said that. She suddenly felt slightly coy about questioning the guards with him.

"Skulduggery, didn't you say Fleur Dis Lee was one of the witnesses." He turned back and nodded once.

"Yes, but, as I said, I couldn't get much out of her. You're welcome to try if you wish, mare to mare, she's in her room" he told her, nodding to a hallway off to the side of them. Celestia nodded her thanks, turned away and made her way to the supermodel's room.

In her room, Fleur was stood in front of her dress mirror, standing to the side and holding low down her stomach, where her womb would be. She stroked it gently, imagining the foal growing in there; you may be taken by surprise to know that she'd wanted foals for a time now, but Fancy hadn't, he'd never said it out loud, simply brushing it off with an 'of course, some day Fleur' and be on a conveniently timed 'business trip' when she was in heat. Last night had been a rather pathetic 'not tonight dear, I've got a headache.' She sighed slightly; she loved that stallion, but he had some real problems with age insecurity and, apparently, having a foal would just worsen that feeling. Now it wasn't his choice, Blood Moon had very likely just made her pregnant and there was nothing he could do about it. When it came to explanations she'd just have to put it down to her desperation, he'd ask who it was and she'd answer with 'oh, just the assassin who was meant kill you. Y'know, 'e said you didn't deserve to die didn't 'e? Y'know, if you did 'urt me…I don't know, I just don't think 'e'd like that for some reason.' She smirked at the thought; Blood Moon was nothing if not intimidating.

There was a knock at her door, prompting her to turn away from the mirror and let go of her stomach; she trotted over to it and opened it with her magic to reveal princess Celestia stood before her. Fleur's eyes widened before she bowed, straightening up again to find that Celestia seemed lost in thought.

"Princess Celestia" she asked, pulling said princess from her stupor.

"Hello Fleur" she said quickly but not hastily "I'm here to ask you about what happened last night" she told her. Fleur nodded.

"Of course, would you like a seat" she asked. Celestia shook her head.

"No thank you, but I'd like you to tell me what happened to you last night" she answered.

"Well, just what I told your guard Captain; I woke up and found 'im snooping around my room. I think 'e was looking for clues as to where Fancy and Lock Pick were. When 'e saw me awake 'e left" she explained. Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"Did you try and warn anypony?" Fleur shook her head.

"I did, but when I tried to open the door it wouldn't open, I think 'e cast some kind of spell on it" she says. Celestia turned to the door, a spell invisible to Fleur being cast as she searched the door for traces of unusual magic. There was none.

"Alright" she said, dropping the point but planning to pursue it. "Is there anything else I should know?" Fleur put a hoof to her chin briefly before shaking her head. Celestia nodded and stepped back. "Well, thank you for your time, one of the detectives should be up shortly to ask any more questions" she told her. Fleur nodded silently and bowed again, shallower this time, and watched as Celestia stepped away. Fleur shut the door softly and went back to the mirror; she wasn't sure why she kept looking into it, maybe it was in a subconscious attempt to see if there had been any developments in her pregnancy. She managed to pull herself away and sat on her bed, thinking about her decision last night. She was known as a simple supermodel, hoof-candy for Fancy Pants and little more; she'd wanted foals for a while now, feeling that when she had a little one to call her own she might be seen as something more than just an airhead. That wasn't her only reason, no, nothing so petty; she also wanted to finally have somepony looking up at her and somepony glad to see her when she got back home. She wanted somepony to love her the way she loved them.

Celestia took her horn away from the door and killed her spell as she read the mare's mind; it was possible to read a pony's thoughts but it was incredibly difficult to attune your own mind to theirs, though after so long Celestia had gotten good at it. The main downside was that the glowing horn gave it away.

She smirked slightly as she reviewed Fleur's thoughts just now; pregnant. And if her guess was right, Blood Moon was the father. That'd freak him out. She trotted away from the mare's room and found her way outside, her sun casting a pretty yellow glow over the otherwise horrible garden. She spotted Skulduggery leaning against the wall to her right, looking through his notes as he glared at them, likely still annoyed at the lack of information.

"What d'you think" he asked without looking up. Celestia looked up at the sky, a small sigh escaping her maw.

"They're not telling us something. I think Fleur may be pregnant with our suspect's foal, but isn't going to tell anypony any time soon. I also get the feeling that Fancy is in cahoots with Blood Moon. Beyond that, we've nothing to go on." Skull looked up at her.

"Blood Moon? Is that our suspect's name?" Celestia's eyes snapped open, only just realising what she'd just let slip. She went to answer when she noticed him looking through a different part of his note book. "Blood Moon, eh? The killer who can't be seen, caught or killed. I wondered if I'd run into him…again." He turned his gaze slowly up to Celestia as it fell into place in his mind. "So that's what's bothering you…Blood Moon is…was your foalsitter" he looked back at his notes. "It makes sense" he murmured "no known origins, rumoured to be immortal and now…Celestia's old foalsitter." He turned his full attention to Celestia, looking up at her with his ever watchful eye; she seemed ashamed about something, biting her lip and averting her gaze, something he never thought he'd see. Celestia noticed his lack of words and looked back at him. "Interesting" he said simply.

"Interesting, that's it, just…interesting? That's all you have to say?" Skulduggery just nodded.

"I think no less of this for this Celestia, this is the assassin's doing, not your own. But I must ask, why didn't you say anything before?"

"Because I don't want this information getting into the wrong hooves" she told him simply. The detective cocked his head to the side.

"I don't count as the wrong hooves?" Celestia couldn't help but grin slightly.
"Wasn't it you who said we're friends" she asked. Skulduggery grinned back, chuckling slightly.

"If memory serves me correctly, I believe so" he answered. Celestia shook her head amusedly as she went to answer but the moment she'd opened her maw to speak a Pegasus guard landed next to her and cut her off.

"Princess Celestia" he said, his tone as hard and official as any other guard. The princess of the day turned to him.

"Yes?"

"Somepony has arrived at the castle, asking for you" he explained. Celestia frowned at him, pointedly.

"I asked not to be disturbed" she told him. The guard nodded.

"Yes, I understand princess, but I think you'll want to hear this" he told her. That caught her interest.

"What is it then" she asked.

"This pony, grey fur and blond mane, claims to know where to find a ‘Blood Moon’ individual. I was to to bring this to your attention at the orders of Lieutenant Quartermane. He said it was relevant to this case" he told her. Celestia couldn't hold back the grin.

"Good" she said simply "dismissed" she said simply, the guard saluting sharply before taking off immediately after the word had left her mouth.

"It seems you're needed Celestia" Skulduggery observed.

"Indeed" Celestia answered slowly. She looked at her personal detective and caught his slightly annoyed look. "I'll be sure to see you tonight Skulduggery, to report your findings" she told him. Skulduggery grinned slightly, tipping his hat to her as she took off.

"See you Celestia" he murmured, mentally cursing himself, not for the first time, and wishing he'd had the courage to ask her to dinner. Before they'd lingered for too long, he shook the thoughts from his head.

'Don't kid yourself Skull, it'd never work.'

He looked back at his notes, something not quite sitting right in his stomach. He thought about it all; Fleur, the guards, Fancy… Lock Pick. Lock Pick.
'Just who in the hay is this guy? I've never heard of him before, and he's meant to be from
Ponyville? Why was he here, hanging out in Fancy's place.'

The detective raised his head slowly, a grin forming on his lips; why was he here anyway? Skulduggery turned back to the door, trotting through and returning to the place he'd left Fancy Pants. One of the detectives that worked in the guard was asking Fancy a few routine question when he got there, Fancy answering them all in a bored manner.

"Fancy Pants" he said as he crossed over the room to him. The other detective looked up, an annoyed look finding its way to his face when he saw Skulduggery.

"Get out of here Skulduggery, this is a real investigation for real detectives" the stallion questioning Fancy said. Skulduggery ignored his words and just shoved him out of the way.

"Fancy, why was Lock Pick staying with you" he asked bluntly. The noble raised an eyebrow.

"He's a friend" he said unsurely. Skulduggery shook his head.

"No, he's from Ponyville, I know for a fact the only friend you have in Ponyville is Rarity, the tailor." Skulduggery's mind set into a sort of battle stance; he'd asked Fancy a question, he'd answered and now he'd poked the hole through. Now all's he had to do was keep poking holes through until he could see the truth hidden behind it. Fancy flinched, narrowing his eyes at Skull.

"Well, when I say he's a friend, I of course mean he's a friend of Fleur's" he said, ever so slightly shaken. Skulduggery grinned.

"I…don't think so; Fleur Dis Lee is a supermodel, she only interacts with those on her social level" he countered, taking Fancy's retort on his shield and striking back. The way Fancy growled ever so slightly told him he'd struck true.

"Yes, well… F-Fleur didn't say much about how she knew him, I'm sure they're just old friends." Skull shook his head.

"Ah-ah, no, you and Fleur are long time lovers, you tell each other everything; she knows all of your friends and you know all of hers and I know that she'd have told you some story as to how she met him." Fancy growled again, narrowing his eyes in frustration. Skull smirked again; it was so amusing to question nobles and celebrates, the newspapers told you everything about them so it was easy to find their weaknesses.

"Yes, well-I…FINE, you want to know why he was here?" Skulduggery nodded, taking out his pad and pencil. "I was giving him a room here at the request of the Goldhooves, nothing more." Skulduggery snorted.
'The Goldhooves. I should have known.'

"Are you sure that's all?"

"Yes I'm sure" he exclaimed. Skull grinned.

"If you were sure, you'd have told me why there were two professional mercenaries outside his door" he said. The other detective gaped.

"What? There were no pro mercs, I checked them all personally. Low rent grunts, thirty eight of them." Skulduggery looked over at him.

"Make that forty, two have gone missing" he said, the detective scribbling it down in his notes. Fancy, meanwhile, had trotted over to a hoof-chair and sat in it, pouring himself a drink.

"Oh, those two" he muttered "I honestly don't know much about those two. They showed up with Lock Pick and told me and my guards they were his personal protection, though to be honest, they didn't seem very eager to do so" he told the detective.

"Really" Skulduggery murmured as he scribbled it down, his eyebrow raised slightly. "Tell me, why would such a low rent thug be being protected by such professional fighters?" Fancy shrugged, an honest lack of information seeping through the basic motion.

"I'm honestly not sure: I think it has something to do with the-the…" The detectives couldn't help but glance at each other, both of them curious about the same thing.

"The what" the detective who'd been here before prompted. Fancy growled again, knowing there was no getting out of this corner now that he'd let it slip.

"The…listen, if I tell you this, I want you to guarantee me that this will get nowhere near the ears of the Goldhooves" he told them. Skulduggery couldn't help but turn his eyes to the other detective, who had nodded his head at Fancy Pants. Skull moved his hoof to his hat, adjusting it slightly before he chopped the hoof into the nerve on the pony's neck, putting him out cold.

Fancy, to his credit, didn't look the least bit fazed. Skulduggery lifted the fallen detective's pad to his face with his magic, flipping through his notes. He grunted; all of it was to do with any connections to the Goldhooves, any possible links to them were noted in his pad and he seemed to be jotting down possible ways to cripple them.

"So, you were saying" Skulduggery continued nonchalantly as he tossed the pad into the fire.

"I was keeping him here under orders of the Goldhooves; according to his, rather loud, maw, he's gathered dirt on Mayor Mare." Skulduggery raised an eyebrow.
"Mayor Mare, mare of Ponyville" he clarified, prompting a nod from the noble.

"Hmm, apparently these efforts have gleaned some rather damaging information, but at a price." Skulduggery got the picture.

"Would this price be in the form of an assassin, per chance?" Fancy Pants nodded once, deeply.

"Yes" he said simply. Skulduggery scribbled it down in his pad.

"Fancy, I'm curious; how did the night end? Between you and the suspect." Fancy looked at him, frowning at him.

"The way I said; we thought, the guards came and he left." Skull shook his head.

"I don't think so; Blood Moon isn't the type of assassin to just run when a job's half done." Fancy looked as annoyed as ever, grunting and resting his head on his fore-hoof.

"Sweet Celestia" he muttered "very well; when we were fighting Blood Moon stopped us, claiming I didn't seem like the type to send somepony to gather dirt on Mayor. Anyway, we spoke and ended up agreeing we'd help each other out with dealing with the Goldhooves. Then, the guards did arrive and… well, you probably know the rest." He nodded.

"I do. Now, one last question. Why was he here in the first place, I mean; what's the point in him trying to kill you?" Fancy seemed unwilling to answer but with one look at the fallen detective he soon changed his song.

"Because I organised Lock Pick's information gathering; I told him where to go, where to set up shop, what to look out for and so on. Blood Moon's trail lead back to me so I can only guess he was here to kill me to insure I never did anything against Ponyville again." Skulduggery grinned, pleased with his information; it'd taken its sweet time getting to him, but it was worth it.

"Thank you Fancy Pants, that will be all for now" he said, slipping his notes into his coat as he tipped his hat to him. Glad that he finally had something, Skulduggery made his way to the palace, ready to present what he had to Celestia.

Celestia sat in her throne, watching as a trio of ponies approached her. The middle one was likely the one her guard had described to her; a mare with grey fur and a blond mane and tail, Pegasus wings folded by her sides, though the poor dear was afflicted with fractum oculus nervus. The other elder was a brown fur, mane and tailed stallion, the fur lighter than the mane and tail. The final pony rode the mare, a pale purple filly, her mane and tail the same style and colour as the one she rode, the main difference being the unicorn horn atop her head. As they got closer, Celestia let a calming and motherly smile spread across her face.

When they got appropriately close, they bowed to her Celestia motioning for them to rise almost as soon as their heads had gotten to the floor.

"Please, rise my little ponies. I have no care for formalities today; I have been told you know where to find a suspect in a crime." Ditzy nodded.

"Yes princess, his name is Blood Moon" she said. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, I know this" she told them patiently "please, tell me where he is."

"He's in Ponyville" she said. Celestia nodded again.

"Yes, I know this too Miss…"

"Ditzy, my name is Ditzy Doo." Celestia nodded her head. "But I know where in Ponyville he is." That caught Celestia's attention, but she held back her enthusiasm.

"Oh, and how do you know this?"

"I managed to figure it out. He's been seen with the elements of harmony lately, so I just looked around their houses. Twilight, Rainbowdash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Applejack weren't home, so I looked around Fluttershy's house. I saw him leaving the place for the Everfree the other day so I made my way here to tell you" she tells the princess of the day. Celestia nods.

"Thank you, this is highly appreciated. You will be appropriately rewarded for your help" she told them "but I must ask you Miss Ditzy; why did you come to me with this information?" Ditzy lowered her head very slightly, but the simple movement cast deep shadows over her face.

"Because he hurt me, and I'm sick of ponies hurting me and getting away with it" she said venomously. Celestia cocked her head to the side; that hadn't been what she'd meant but the answer intrigued her anyway.

"Very well" she said slowly "again, you have my thanks for this information. Now, please excuse my manners but I have to think on this." Ditzy and her party bowed again, rising and turning from her and trotting from the princess of the day. Celestia had to grin to herself as she stood up and turned for the doorway to her and Luna's quarters. She turned to the guard standing beside it. "Let nopony but detective Skulduggery to my room" she ordered, the guard responding with a salute and sharp 'yes princess.'

In her personal chambers, Celestia flopped onto her bed and wide, happy grin on her face.
She'd got him.

After all these years, all these deaths and her suffering, she had him within her grasps. All of his work, for these last ten millennia, had been undone by a single mare in a barely a five minutes. At long last, one of his ill performed deeds would come back and bite him in the flank. He'd finally get what was coming to him.

'Finally.'

Celestia suddenly noticed something in the room, something that shouldn't be there. She sat up on the bed, her eyes narrowed and her head angled around so she could look behind her without turning it the whole way.

"Cadaver" she said simply. She got nothing in return, just more of that suddenly eerie silence. The princess of the day turned around until she could see her visitor; the pony stood before her had always had the strangest ability to only let anypony know they were in the room when they wanted you to know. And the way they did so was incredibly creepy; you simply knew they were there,you could just feel them behind you. There was no gut feeling or a shiver running down your spine just a sudden awareness to them being in the room.

"Celestia" her visitor said plainly. Princess Celestia watched as the visitor trotted around the room, taking very slow and deliberate steps, moving in such a way that gave of a very strange sense of purpose and presence. He trotted over to Philomena, letting her take him in as he approached; when he got close to her, he raised his armoured hoof and petted her very gently. Philomena's lack of reaction should have shocked Celestia, but it didn't; her bird of fire was very picky of new ponies, and could get very, VERY, aggressive around them. But the way she just let him stroke her was a very unusual occurrence. He stepped out of the deep shadows and trotted very slowly towards Celestia's bed.

He wore a set of very distinctive armour; it was bulky and thick, providing plenty of protection to its wearer but was unnaturally quiet in the way it moved when he moved, barely a creak or a whisper would sound as he moved around; the armour covered every inch of his fur in its dull grey and dead-skin pale white protective plating; iron greaves and boots protected the fore and hind-legs, the metal exposed to the elements was dull grey, while the reinforcement behind it was pale white, all strapped to black leather that was buckled tightly to his legs and hooves; grey knee-caps sat at the middle of both legs, a pair of bolts either side of the joint; and the shoulders were identical to each other, the bulky metal only differing in the white and grey colour. The chest was covered in more plated metal, the pair of armour plates curved roughly around the pectorals, the gap between the grey and white metal giving way to black leather; across the chest a belt sat, reaching from the right shoulder to the bottom left side of the chest, along it, a trio of small collapsed crossbows sat holstered along it, a combat dagger hanging from the right-most side; nine extra bolts for the crossbows sat on the left shoulder, while three throwing knives were sheathed on the left . Reaching under the chest and along the stomach was more of the armour plating, just as heavy as the chest and the legs, as to not give his opponents a 'soft underbelly' advantage. The pony's back was covered in more of the same armouring, reaching over the neck, back and flank in square and rectangular plates, the same black leather peeking through the very slight gaps in the armour; the armour was very plain, only a few scratches and cuts over it, there was also no substitute for the cutie mark, making the stallion appear strangely plain, but not the 'nothing there' kind of plain, more like a void, like there is nothing there, never was and never will be anything anywhere. It wasn't helped by the iron mask he wore; the left half of it was the pale white and the right was the dull grey, both colours were cut evenly in half down the middle of the mask; on the right side was a tinted black glass eyepiece, behind which were three magnifying lenses that allowed him to zoom his vision in by fifty, one hundred and two hundred present if he so desired; the other side didn't hold an eye hole, all's would stare back was the pale white that should only be seen on a corpse; along the jaw were a scattering of small holes, air filters hidden inside the mask turning his breaths from the simple intake of oxygen to deep and metallic inhale and exhale of everything in the air, only the mask protecting his lungs. The pony's mane was dark grey, spanning from a shade of white that could only come from old age, kept in order by a black and white bandana wrapped around it, letting its length flow in the wind. The tail of the pony was the same grey as his mane, the old white going further down the hair, while a silver streak went along the length of it. The unicorn's horn pushed through his helmet; to any who could see it, they would find out where the pony had gotten the 'dead-stallion' white from, the alicorn of the horn following suit of his invisible fur; the horn was sharpened to a deadly point, though instead of the swirling pattern going around it, a single crack ran around it instead.

On the pony's back sat his arsenal; a bow-staff was sheathed in a leather holster, a pair of loops holding it in place; the weapon itself was barely three foot long, but a staff of iron was retractable on either side of the handle and from one side of the staff a retractable blade lay, capable of turning the extendable bow-staff into a spear. The second weapon available to the stallion was a straight-blade katana sword; the sheath being plain, brown leather that hung from his side. A set of side-arms sat alongside the weapons wielded by the stallion; three rope darts, poisoned darts, smoke pellets, flash bombs, shuriken, collapsible razor shuriken (built and carried to kill around corners), bolas and caltrops. It was almost impossible how he managed to keep his weapons under wraps, only his sword and staff visible to naked eye, while the rest of his weapons only seemed to perceptible when he pulled it out of its pouch, pretty much all of them being built into the armour.

"It's been a while" he said plainly; his voice wasn't muffled by the mask, simply given a metallic tint that went so deep into his voice that it made it impossible to try and figure out what he actually sounded like. Celestia stood up from her bed but didn't approach; she couldn't help but notice that even though her sun was still shining through the windows it looked undeniably darker in her bedroom.

"It has" she responded. She didn't bother with any 'how did you get past the guards' questions or 'why are you here?' Celestia knew that only she and the pony before her knew that said pony was in her room. She also knew that the reason he was here was because he knew there was a high risk and high pay contract available. There was no use asking how he knew what he knew because he'd never answer her properly.

"I take it you know why I'm here" Cadaver said softly, still running his armoured hoof over Philomena's head before rubbing briefly under her chin.

"Yes Cadaver, I do. Blood Moon had resurfaced" she told him simply. This stallion was never one for beating around the bush. The armoured pony hummed in thought and Celestia knew he was smiling, albeit very slightly.

"Interesting…the killer who cannot be seen, caught or killed versus the assassin of assassins. A fight for the ages."

"A fight for the ages indeed" Celestia agreed. "Tell me… if you were willing to take this contract…"

"A favour. Anything I want, anytime I want. Be it pardon, bits or the hoof of a mare…or their skull." Celestia thought about it.

'A favour, any favour in exchange for Blood Moon's life. No doubt he has some idea as to how to kill him. I can only wonder what he has in mind.'

"I accept your terms, under one condition." Cadaver cocked his head to the side. "Your favour cannot be damaging to my sister, my nice or my student." Cadaver took a single deep breath through his muzzle.

"Your sister and nice I can understand, but why your student? I can only presume your relationship goes deeper than teacher and pupil, but to the same extent as your own sister and adoptive nice… do I detect a hint of… oh my" he said with a grin Celestia could practically smell. "Does dear, sweet Celestia desire a daughter?" Celestia narrowed her eyes at the assassin of assassins, a stallion who had earned the title well.

"I…I do think more of Twilight than a mere student, this is true, but my wishes for you to leave her be are far from a desire for an adoptive daughter-"

"Don't lie to an assassin Celestia. It's unadvisable to lie to your parents, wrong to your foals, illegal to a judge but it's simple fact that you just. Don't. Lie. To. Assassins." Celestia bit her lip lightly.

"Alright, fine, you got me" she growled, admitting this kind of information to the last pony in Equestria she ever wanted to. "I love Twilight like she's my own, but she'd got parents already and I'm not going to just declare she's my own while they're still there for her." Cadaver relaxed his stance very slightly, leaning his weight on his hind-hooves.

"That can be easily changed" he told her. Celestia's glare turned to a death-stare.

"If you go anywhere near them…" she seethed, making the stallion raise a hoof to stop her.

"Of course, I jest. But we're getting off topic; Blood Moon is to die. Am I to start this contract with nothing or do you have information?" Celestia nodded.

"I know that he's in Ponyville" she said. She didn't tell him she knew he was Fluttershy's cottage, Celestia wanted to keep that information for herself, wanted an ace up her sleeve in case she had to make a move before he got to her old foalsitter. Cadaver nodded once as he committed the information to memory.

"Thank you Celestia, I'll be back within the week." The princess of the day returned his nod and was about to dismiss him when a voice from behind spoke up.

"Celestia" a voice said from the doorway. Said princess turned her head to the door before she looked back at where Cadaver should have been stood, only to find he wasn't. She scowled slightly at his sudden disappearance but turned back to the door anyway.

"Yes" she asked. In response, Skulduggery stepped in.

"You wanted to see me princess" the detective said. She nodded, and bid him enter.

"Yes, we were to review what you'd discovered in your investigation" she said. Skulduggery grinned slightly as he stepped in.

"Yes, and we have a lot to go over" he said. Celestia cocked her head to the side, a pleased smile finding its way to her maw.

'I know exactly where he is, I have one of Equestria's top assassins on his tail and now Skulduggery has managed to squeeze information from Fancy Pants. This just keeps on getting better and better.'

"Oh, and what, pray tell, do we have to go over" she asked as she sat before the fireplace, bidding the detective do the same.

"For starters, you were right; Fancy Pants is in cahoots with Blood Moon, he admitted having fought him before our suspect called it off. Now they're working together to deal with the Goldhooves." Celestia's smile left her face; he was working with Fancy Pants to bring down Equestria's most powerful and corrupt families?

"Anything else?" Skulduggery nodded, but it wasn't lost on Celestia that he something troubling seemed to be lingering on his mind.

"Yes…the reason for his being there; it seems he was doing a contract or favour or whatever for the mayor of Ponyville. According to Fancy, the Goldhooves have been making their move to take over the place but when they went after dirt on Mayor Mare Blood Moon got wrapped up in it, that must be how he got involved." Celestia nodded again, weaker and less enthusiastic this time; all of this, the hit, the battle and everything else, was the result of a good deed. She couldn't believe it; she had him in her grasp and she felt less inclined than ever to go after him; he'd protected Ponyville from the Goldhooves, ergo he'd protected Twilight and her friends from them. She buried her face in her hooves; she wanted to cry, she honestly did, and probably would have had Skulduggery not been there. She suddenly had to stifle a sniffle and felt the moisture on her hooves.

'Damnit.'

Now that the floodgates of frustration had opened for Celestia, there was no sealing them again and she knew that Skulduggery's well trained eye would pick up on the tears running down her face and he was bound to have heard that sniffle just now.

"Celestia" he said cautiously "you alright" he asked. The detective didn't know what to do; here he was, sat in Celestia's personal bedroom, a room few living had seen, and the immortal princess of Equestria was crying before him. What could he do? Put a hoof on her shoulder, offer a shoulder for her to cry on? He doubted it, for as long as he'd know the mare she'd been very independent, asides her sister, and fiercely personal when it came to her personal life. That said, he liked to consider himself a gentlecolt, and although it could be seen as a bit 'stallion supremacy', it was only right to offer a hoof to a mare in need. With a nervous gulp, he stood up and crossed the small distance between them. "Celestia" he repeated, using a voice he normally reserved for scared fillies and small animals. "Are you okay?" The princess of the day looked up at him, her eyes damp and a little bloodshot.

"Would you be" she asked him, her voice calm but still distressed. "Do you have any idea how long I've been searching for this stallion? How much of Equestria I've personally combed, how much of my country's wealth I've wasted searching for him? How much I've sacrificed, how many times I've come within a hair's breadth of capturing him only for him to slip away again? Just how much I hate him but…how much I miss him as well?" She suddenly broke down further, falling forward and leaning her head on his shoulder as she sobbed quietly a few times. "He just-just frustrates me so much, the way I can see that damned smirk an inch away from my face whenever I close my eyes, the way I can hear him laugh in my face whenever I look through one of his crime scenes. The…the fact that I know I'll never see him again under pleasant circumstances, that…" she sobbed a few more times, and Skulduggery steeled himself for the breaking of the dam "that I'll never have my foalsitter baaaccckkk" she wailed, falling into deeper sobs as she got to the end of her sentence, her tears pouring from her eyes in earnest as her fore-legs wrapped around the wide-eyed detective's neck in her grief, her body shuddering with each wail as she tried to calm herself, and failing miserably. Skulduggery managed to pull himself from his stupor and wrapped his fore-legs around Celestia's neck, using his limited knowledge of consoling ponies to try and settle the most powerful pony of all.

"C-Celestia, I'm…" his lack of words said it all, he hadn't an idea what to say, what to do or, buck, what not to say or do. He wasn't a foalsitter or a shrink for Luna's sake! "I don't know what to say, I knew something was bothering you about this but…not to this extent" he said slowly. Celestia gulped back her tears and leaned back slightly.

"You-you don't need to say anything" she told him, getting up off of him before slumping back in her chair "just…leave me be" she told him. Skulduggery lingered for a second, casting his eyes over her.

"You're sure Celestia?" The princess of the day looked up at him.

'No, I'm not, please stay with me Skulduggery, don't make me have to face the prospect of my foalsitter again, don't leave me alone.'

"Yes, I'm fine. Just…just go." Skulduggery lingered a moment longer, making Celestia almost reconsider her orders, but not a moment of remaining later, he was gone. Celestia sighed deeply at the empty room, her horn sparking to life as a small flame ignited at the tip and flew onto the logs, setting them alight. She looked around her room; luxury in its purest form.

'Lonely most are those who have everything they could ever desire. That can't be true, if it were Blood Moon would be here, be it just his head or the foalsitter I once knew. Then again, if my foalsitter were here, I wouldn't be lonely…somepony should really rework that phrase.'

Celestia tried to settle, but couldn't, instead the chair suddenly felt overly lumpy and uncomfortable. As she shifted she glanced something sat on the table besides her; a book, bound in brown leather with gold accents around the corners, in the middle, in big gold letters read 'memories'. The princess of the day frowned; she knew this book but…she wasn't sure how. She picked it up with her magic and opened the first page; inside there was blank page with nothing but black ink scrawled across the first page, a few words having been scribbled down in sharp hoof-writing that she'd recognise anywhere.

Celestia, treasure your memories, for one day they'll be all you've got.

Celestia swallowed once, feeling her tears tempt back.
'Oh, you can NOT be serious' was her only thought as she opened the second page to reveal a pair of pictures, one on each side of the book.

The first was her, Luna and Blood Moon, a filly Luna on Blood Moon's back and her in her teen years (technically, she was around one and a half thousand years old at the time) being held in Blood Moon's fore-hoof. Suddenly there was a new addition to the page, a small mark that made the parchment a little darker. She looked at it a little closer and figured out what it was.

'Damnit Celestia, get a hold of yourself' she mentally scolded herself as she wiped the water escaping her eyes. The second picture was of her, Luna, their parents and Blood Moon, who was stood off to the side of the picture, his hood covering most of his face. Nocturnal and Illumination were stood side by side, both dressed in clothing a king or queen would be expected to wear, while Celestia and Luna wore the sort of thing a princess would wear, their garb following suit of their fur and mane colours. Celestia turned the page.

The first picture to greet her was one of her and Blood Moon, dueling with wooden swords in the training ring. Blood Moon was armour less, as was she, but the main difference between the two was their expressions; the stallion wore a grin on his face as he blocked Celestia's clumsy swipe, while Celestia had the look of ultimate concentration on her face. This had been one of the days Blood Moon had trained her to use a sword, she remembered when her father had gotten back; he'd been enraged with Blood Moon for not having Celestia wear her training armour. Blood Moon had simply stood and took it all, all his ranting and raving. She was fairly sure he'd fallen asleep once or twice. At the end of it all Blood Moon had looked up at his employer with a look of total nonchalance and just said 'yeah, sure boss' and trotted away. Nocturnal hadn't liked that one bit.

The next picture was a stark contrast to the other one, technically anyway, it was him and Luna in the training ring, but rather than the two fighting, Luna had lunged at him and wrapped her hooves around his neck, the two of them laughing all the way down. Two more of those marks found their way to the page as Celestia sniffled slightly.

The rest of the day went quickly for the princess of the day; she never re-emerged from her room, or the photo album, and the hours passed by her in the blink of an eye as memories filled her mind. None of them were bad, the only thing that Celestia saw as bad, was that she suddenly really, truly and absolutely, wanted her foalsitter back.

She wanted the stallion who had stepped into her life and become her father back.

R and R

Chapter Twenty one: R and R

Something was wrong.

It was one of those things in life, one of those things that have been drilled into the minds of all ponies since the days of Starswirl, one of those things that all ponies can relate to; if you just know something is wrong, you're not in for a good day.

This is what Luna thought when she woke up, at five in the evening on the dot so she could raise the moon and prepare for night court, but she got that feeling. You know, that feeling, the one that doesn't linger in your gut or your spine or anywhere really. It's just somewhere, everywhere yet nowhere, and when you try to concentrate on it, it scrambles. She didn't like this feeling; it gave her the sensation that her own mind was keeping information away from her, like she didn't think she could handle it. Well, she'd show her; she'd show herself that she could handle whatever she was keeping from herself.

With a newfound resolve to make herself look dumb (cue evil laughter) she stretched her limbs and got up. It was at that point the feeling of supreme grogginess hit her. As she sat up, she had to rub sand from her eyes, a cute little yawn escaping her, but with nopony around to enjoy it was kind of wasted, and reached to the skies with her fore-hooves as she stretched out her spine, more than a few cracks sounding as she did so. She scratched her head slightly as she looked around, her horn sparking to life as she lit the candles in her room, preferring something more…what was the phrase 'old-school' in her personal quarters, rather than the more modern light bulbs and switches. Taking leave of her bed and sheets, she stood over them and looked down at them absentmindedly.

"Oh my" she murmured as she looked down at her screwed up sheets, strew around pillows and the fact that she seemed to have vacated her grove last night. Ursa-teddy had joined her in her sleep last night, though she couldn't remember getting him from atop the wardrobe she always kept him sat on. Nor could she remember snuggling down with him last night, that said, she couldn't really remember the last time she'd slept with her teddy bear at all. Biting her lip in slight worried confusion, she made her bed with her magic, placing Ursa-teddy back on his spot before she approached her vanity.

Sitting down before it she looked over her appearance; mussed up mane and tail; tired eyes and face, hay, she had a trail of dried up drool going down her face; not to mention the tear marks below her eyes.

Then it hit her.

She could suddenly remember what she'd been doing last night, why she'd been holding Ursa so close to her body, why her mane, tail and face were in such a state, but above all, why she'd cried herself to sleep. Last night, she'd been thinking about Blood Moon.
She looked back into the mirror, swallowing slightly as she held back her emotions. She wouldn't allow herself to go back to being a weeping wreak, wouldn't allow herself to be sent down that road down her old foalsitter, wouldn't allow herself to-

'Damnit.'

She had already leaned her head on her vanity as her shoulders shook, her eyes closed to try and curb her tears, a few stifled sobs leaking from her maw. She rested her head on her fore-hooves, the tears leaking into her fur as they escaped her eyes.

"After all these years, he can still make me cry" she managed to mumble out between sobs. "Damn you Blood Moon" she muttered out "why did you have to leave us daddy" she asked nopony in particular. She wasn't sure who she was referring the word 'daddy' to; maybe it was her true father, Nocturnal, or perhaps it was the stallion who'd actually been her dad, Blood Moon. She shook the thoughts from her head, unwilling to have an internal debate right now, and wiped the tears away from her face.

'Get a hold of yourself Luna, this is exactly what he wants.'

The princess of the night looked into the mirror looked and found her rather disagreeable reflection looking back at her. She decided she'd need to shower or something before she could set hoof outside her room and go to night court, or even raise the moon. No doubt Tia would notice her state and ask her about it, and the last thing she wanted was to start talking about Blood Moon with her. She made her way to her washroom, or 'suite' as they were supposed to be called. She didn't really care what it was called, just as long as there was hot water blasting down at her. How grateful she'd been when she'd learned about this, washing back in the old days had been, quite ironically, a rather messy procedure as even as princess of Equestria she hadn't had access to something as marvellous as running water, so she'd always cleaned herself in wash basins or in streams. Then again, washing in streams had been the start of one or two rather…pleasurable encounters. Pushing away that one hot, sticky and memorable autumn evening, she stepped into the shower and turned the tap to the 'on' position, letting the pleasantly warm water spray onto her, quickly wetting her fur, mane and tail, sticking it to her body in a manner that would give any stallion a very hard…time thinking straight. She made sure the water was a pleasant cool, not boiling hot like her sister liked it, mainly because she was princess of the night and she was used to the cold, rather than her sister's hot sun. All showering styles aside, Luna quickly took to lathering herself up and washing herself before she washed away evidence of her crying by cleaning her face. And doing a thorough job of it. Once done, she left the shower and dried herself with a magically gripped towel and left her bathroom.

Upon leaving her suite, she sat at her vanity and looked over her face; she was looking much better now, mainly because she didn't look like she'd just cried her eyes out. She looked around the table, which to her utter smugness was void of any makeup, and found her comb, picking it up with her magic, which was the same shade and colour as her mane and tail, and ran it through her mane, reclaiming some order to it, unaware that her big sister had done the same thing when she'd woken up this morning.

It suddenly occurred to her that the feeling hadn't gone yet; she still felt something was wrong. Well, not her but a part of her did. She frowned. At first she'd thought it had been something of outside influence, then she'd assumed it was her state but it appeared she'd been right the first time. She decided to see if she could catch her sister on her way to bed and ask her about it, find out if she had the same feeling. She should be done with day court by now after all. She trotted to her door, and that's when the feeling worsened; it went from something was wrong, to something dark and foreboding. Swallowing slightly, she pushed it open to…

Nothing. Nothing was wrong, the sun was casting a warm orange glow through the window above the door, that door, the door to his old room, the room between her and Celestia's room so he was right between them, close to them both but giving them privacy, far enough away so he could let them deal with problem by themselves but close enough to offer his council should they need it. His door was locked shut, the pitch black door with his blood red cutie mark engraved upon it, the ouroboros and blade cut down the centre of the door so it could open while retaining its pattern. With both an enraged and longing look on her face, she managed to tear her gaze away from the door. How Tia could ignore it every day was beyond her. Despite the dark door lingering on the edge of her vision, the rest of the hallway seemed normal, no disasters, no demons hanging around in the halls and, from what she could tell, Tartarus was still keeping everything in wraps. But something still felt wrong.

Covering the short distance between their rooms, Luna knocked her hoof on her big sister's bedroom door. She got no answer. She frowned; any other day, she'd have assumed she was in the shower, maybe still asleep, but today…she wasn't quite sure, she just got the idea her sister was unavailable for a reason she should be concerned about. She put tried the door; it wasn't locked, so she pushed it open. The lights were off but there were still embers in the fire, the fire Celestia was still sat in front of, a thick book resting on the arm of the chair and the princess of the day sleeping soundly. Luna smiled slightly at her sister, trotting over to her sleeping form, stopping next to her before she nudged her sister's shoulder slightly to awaken her. When she did, the princess of the day grumbled in her sleep, shifting slightly and knocking the book off of the side of her chair. It fell the short distance and the large book opened when it hit the ground.

The pages it had fell to held and picture on each page. The first one was of Luna's first (hundredth) birthday. It looked like the kind of party Pinkie would throw; party hats, cake, WAY too may candle for such a young looking pony and all their friend and family. Luna was sat behind the cake with an exited smile on her face looking at Celestia, while said big sister was stood to the left of the dark filly, holding a big midnight blue box wrapped in deep black ribbon out to her with a big smile on her face. Illumination and Nocturnal were standing behind Luna, Illumination with a motherly smile on her face that Celestia had picked up within only a few years and Nocturnal with a small smile on his face. Blood Moon lingered on the side, sat in his comfortable shadows, a lopsided grin on his face as he watched Luna and Celestia celebrate the younger's birthday. Faust was sat next to him, a smile on her face to match Illumination's.
Luna looked to the other picture; it was an image of Celestia and a phoenix chick on her head. The filly was looking up with her eyes, a big grin on her face as the chick padded around on top of her. Luna remembered this day; it was the day Philomena had hatched. Blood Moon had found the egg in his travels shortly before being hired by Nocturnal; he'd kept it in his bedroom window the whole time, practically raising the thing like he'd done with her and Tia.

There were suddenly two additions to the page, two dark patches on the parchment around the pictures.

"It's been a while since we last looked through this hasn't it" a voice said, close by Luna. She looked up to find Celestia looking up at her, her face tired and groggy from having just woken up. She looked down at the book Luna had been looking through just now; she looked at the pictures she'd been looking at and grinned slightly, picking up the book in her magic. "I remember this one" she said, looking at the picture of the party "you still have the teddy I made for you, don't you Lu-Lu" she said, prompting a small blush from Luna.

"Yes" she murmured. She glanced back at the picture, more specifically her old foalsitter, before she helped her sister off of the other chair in front of the fire. "How was day court sister" she asked her sister as she lead her still tired sister to her bed.

"I didn't hold one, I cancelled it" she told Luna. The younger sister put her elder on the bed, frowning slightly.

"What do mean, 'cancelled it'?" Celestia sat on her haunches, flicking her slippers off unceremoniously before she took the armour off and dumped it next to her bed, after which she took her tiara off and hung it from the bed post.

"I mean what I said Lu-Lu" she said before giggling. Luna, once again, frowned.

"Tia, are you well? You seem…different somehow. And I'm not talking about how you-" she sniffed the air around her sister. "Tia…are you drunk" she asked her sister. In response, Celestia suddenly started weeping, leaning on her sister's shoulder.

"Ohhhhh, you weren't meant to know that" she moaned between overly dramatic sobs. Her tears suddenly cut off when she grabbed her sister's cheeks, holding them in her hooves as she looked into her sister's eyes. "Who told you" she demanded "was it that lemon who appeared in the fruit bowl" she turned the dark pony's gaze to the fruit bowl sitting on a table at the side of her room, eyeing it with suspicion as she leaned on her shoulder, looking at it with her. "I don't trust him" she whispered conspiratorially "he just appeared there, and I still don't know how" she told her sister. Luna blinked once.
"Tia, I put… um, him there. You haven't been getting enough citrus in your diet, remember?
The chef asked me to put the lemon and oranges in your fruit basket so you could get some citrus in your system" she said. Celestia whirled her little sister back to her, holding her cheeks in her hooves as she held her, pushing her cheeks together and forcing her mouth into
an 'O' shape.

"It was you all along" she said dramatically. Luna nodded, just a little bit scared of drunk Celestia. They looked into each other's eyes for a long while before Tia burst out laughing wrapping her hooves around her sister's neck. "Oh, you always were the little prankster" she playfully scolded. Luna frowned.

"Was I" she muttered. She thought back to all the times Celestia had planted a glass of water, or that one time it was custard, above her door and watched as she walked into the room and suddenly be drenched. That said, she did have a knock out wet look. She shook the thoughts from her head and turned her attention back to her still drunk sister. "Celestia, don't you still have to lower the sun" she asked. As suddenly as she'd started, her laughter stopped. She sat up and looked her sister in the eye.

"The son? What son, I don't have foals" she exclaimed. "Silly Luna" she slurred, shaking her head. She then looked to be thinking about something. "OH, the SUN. I thought you said son" she explained before she burst out laughing again. "Silly Tia, eh? Silly Celestia" she scolded herself, shaking her head. "Silly Tia" she muttered. Her eyes suddenly rolled up into her head and she fell back, quickly falling asleep, snoring in a very unladylike manner. Luna face-hoofed. Celestia jolted awake again. "That was weird" she exclaimed "I dreamt I was in the middle of a war; it was me and all the cakes in Equestria fighting off-hic-off all the celery sticks. It was amazing, but so many muffins lost their lives" she stifled a laugh "because I ate them" she laughed, falling back onto her bed, laughing uncontrollably, her whole body shaking. Luna frowned.

"Wait, you court marshalled your troops- oh, damn it Tia! Why did you start drinking anyway" she asked. Celestia sat up, swaying slightly as she did so, propping herself up on herself Luna. She stared into her eyes and fell asleep again, butting Luna in the head. "Ow" the darker princess grunted in pain, rubbing her head where her sister had bumped her after she had rolled off her head, snoring again. After another five seconds of sleep, Tia jolted awake again.

"AH" she screamed, looking around herself as she did until she found Luna, upon doing so, she wrapped her in a hug, looking around her room as she held her. "Luna! Are the broccolis here" she whispered loudly. Luna blinked.

"Um, no" she answered. Tia nodded.
"Oh, good" she said clearly relaxed "they had me ambushed, the profiterole bodyguards were dead, not even commander strawberry made it out alive" she told her sadly "he was a good dessert" she continued as she sat up again.

"Well…I'm very sorry for your loss" Luna said unsurely. Celestia, once again, fell onto Luna, wrapping her in another hug.

"Thank you Lu-Lu, you didn't know him, but you still respect his memory." Luna's face had gone slack.

'Please don't tell me she's going to ask me to attend this profiterole's funeral.'

"You're a good little sister" Celestia continued "you're the best little sister a pony could ask for. I know I don't show it enough but you really, really are. I love you Lu-Lu" she said, squeezing her sister so hard that even the battle hardened princess of the night struggled for breath.

"T-that's alright Tia" she struggled out, patting her sister's back. Celestia drunkenly shook her head.

"Nnnn-n-no, no it's not" she told her, sitting up again. Luna helped her up, getting tired with going in circles. "It's not okay, I don't show how much I appreciate you nearly as much as I should" she scolded herself. She looked her sister in the eye again, before her head cocked to the side and she looked over her sister's face. "So-hic-such a pretty Lu-Lu" she murmured. Luna shook her head at her sister's antics.

"Come on Tia, let's get you to be-" she was cut off when Celestia moved forwards and pushed her lips to Luna's, causing the princess of the night's eyes to snap wide open and a blush erupt across her face. It didn't help when she felt her sister's tongue creep into her maw. She pulled back so fast she fell onto her back, pushing herself away with her fore-hooves.

"CELESTIA" she exclaimed "what's gotten into you" she demanded. Celestia's response was to giggle and point a hoof at her sister, between her hind legs.

"I'm-hic-I'm not sure, but I know what you want put into you" she told her, pointing at Luna's moistened marehood. Luna looked down her body, spying her aroused sex and blushed harder, reaching forwards and using her hooves to pull her tail up, between her legs.

"T-Tia, get a hold of yourself. We both know how you get under the influence." Celestia laughed so hard she fell off her bed and onto the struggling Luna.

"Un-" she burped "under the influence" she repeated, snorting slightly in laughter. "You mean piss-blind drunk" she corrected, sniggering at the end. When Luna went to answer, she was cut off when a jolt of pleasure shot up her spine; Celestia had used her tail to tease around her marehood. "And horny as buck" she added in a sultry manner.

"T-Tia, stop this" she told her, using her hooves to throw her sister off of her. Celestia may have had superior magical skill, but she'd always been much physically stronger, not to mention a better flyer. The princess of the day landed gracefully on her side, making a rather arousing display of leaning her head on her fore-hoof and tracing patterns along her fur low down her belly with the other.

"Oh, come on Luna, lighten up a bit" she slurred. Luna shook her head again.

"No, you seem to be forgetting we're sisters. You can't go…kissing me like that" she told her. Celestia watched her for a second before she rolled onto her back, laughing.

"Maybe not, but it doesn't look like you didn't enjoy it" she laughed. Luna rolled her eyes before she eyed the seat Celestia had been sat on. She trotted over to it and looked around for a second before she found an empty bottle of Appaloosa apple mugging. The princess of the night shook her head, but upon doing so she noticed another bottle, a thinner one, stuffed down the side of the seat. This too was empty and, by the smell of it, had contained a particularly strong brand of unnameable cheap whiskey. She picked this bottle up in her magic, reading the label; damn, that was strong whiskey, if Celestia wasn't an alicorn she'd likely be sleeping for a few weeks.

"Tia, where did you get this" she asked her sister, who was leaning against her bed with her hind legs wind open, rubbing between them shamelessly.

"Oh, the magic door gave it to me" she answered lazily, pointing her spare hoof in the direction of a cabinet in the corner. Tearing her eyes away from her masturbating sister, Luna looked to the spot she'd pointed out; it was an wine cooler, but leading away from it were a bunch of empty bottles of liquor, some more tasteful than others. "The leprechaun in there was very nice to me" she continued as she started rubbing herself harder.

"Will you please stop that" Luna pleaded, not exactly comfortable with the sounds of hoof on marehood coming from her sister. The princess of night followed the trail of bottles, picking them up, one after another. There were a few dozen in all, each one stronger than the last, as she got closer to Tia's seat, she found that some of them had been necked quickly before being thrown and smashed against the wall.

"They said mean things to me" Celestia slurred from her position, still clopping, when she saw Luna looking over the broken glass. Luna her raised eyebrow.

"Really" she muttered. Turning away from the smashed bottles, she looked back at her sister.
"Why did you drink so much" she asked as she trotted towards her sister, having disposed of the glass by slinging it out of the window, down the side of the mountain and into the valley below Canterlot. Luna looked at the seat her sister had been sat on; she went back to the seat and looked at the photo album that had been left there by Celestia. She swallowed slightly as she picked it up, the book having been left open on the same page it had fallen open on. She looked back at her drunken and masturbating sister, and came to her conclusion. "Were you looking through this Tia?" Her sister nodded head heavily.

"Yeah, I foun-hic-found it last night and I couldn't stop looking through. Then the leprechaun asked me if I wanted a drink, and I noticed I was really thirsty so I had a glass of wine. Then another…and another…the rest is a little fuzzy" she said, scratching her head slightly. Luna trotted back to her sister, the book in her magical grip, and sat next to her.

"I thought we agreed to only look at this once a year, you know, on his birthday…" Celestia's hoof had returned to her marehood, rubbing it up and down gently.

"Yes, I remember-" she hiccupped and moaned at the same time "but it was just sitting there, and I'd just been talking to Skulduggery about the hit Blood Moon had done on Fancy's place" she told her. Luna whipped her head over to Celestia.

"WHAT? You mean he was here, in Canterlot?" The princes of the day put a hoof to Luna's mouth.

"SHHH, don't talk so loud, Lu-Lu might hear you" she said. Luna frowned.

"What are you talking about, what hit? Was Blood Moon here?" Celestia hiccupped again, the reflex leading into a moan as she pushed her hoof into her pussy some more. "Stop that will you" she scolded, pulling her big sister's hoof out of her nether regions.

"No" the white mare argued, sounding like a filly again as she crammed her hoof back into her femness stubbornly. "If I wanna clop" she hiccupped again, looking at Luna with a 'derp' look on her face, her eyes out of focus as she spoke "I'll clop." She pulled her hoof out and pointed it at Luna. "It's my pussy" she slurred "it's mah hoof, I'll do what I want with 'em" she told her before she put the same hoof around the back of Luna's head "now, c'mere" she told her, pulling their lips together again. Luna pulled back quicker this time, putting her hoof on Celestia's chest and pushing her back.

"Stop it Tia, your drunk and depressed. That said, I don't know why you're so horny but-"

"I think it's because I accidently drunk-drank, I'm not drunk, who's calling me drunk" she demanded. Luna frowned.

"But you are-" Celestia lunged at her.
"Naughty Luna" she disciplined as she pushed her down, following her to the floor, and pinned her before planting her lips to hers, pulling back and licking erotically around her sister's muzzle. "Telling big sisters she's drunk when she's not." Luna rolled over, just like Blood Moon had taught her, and pinned Celestia down.

"Tia, you are drunk, and what were you saying, about why you're so…turned on?"

"Oh, that. I think I drank one of Cadences love potions gone wrong accidently" she told her sister. Luna frowned.

"Love potion gone wrong" she repeated. "What do you mean, 'love potion gone wrong'?" Celestia's horn lit up and Luna floated off of her, but Luna's own magical aura pushed out against it, dispelling it, and dropped down onto her again but Celestia had flashed away. Luna landed on the ground where her sister had just been and looked around, biting her lip in worry; Celestia could be anywhere in Equestria right now, her teleportation's were amongst the most powerful of spells in her arsenal of spells. She suddenly heard a small moan from beside her and she looked to Tia's bed and her face slackened; Celestia was lying on her bed, her fore-hooves below her body and her flank pushed into the air, her hooves playing around in her marehood.

"She was looking for ways to cure love potions" she answered, her hooves still invoking her blush and moans regularly "she was making up some basic potions and trying to sy-hic-synth-" she moaned again, pushing her hooves further into her pussy "Oh, that's good… synthesize antidotes to them. She couldn't find an antidote to all of them, so I offered to hold on to the few she couldn't, maybe try to find a cure to a couple of them myself" she hiccupped and giggled again "so much for that idea" she spluttered out before she burst out laughing again. Luna trotted over to her and frowned.

"Wait, you mean you that you drank a love potion and now you're wetter than Neighagra falls" she concluded as she stood next to her sister's bed. "Wait a second, doesn't that mean she made a potion that inflames the loins." Celestia nodded slightly.

"Yeah, it enfla…inflaaaam…inflame- turns you into a whorse, yeah, she did. Co-hic-cool, huh?" Luna nodded slightly.

"It is, indeed, spectacular" Luna muttered. "Anyway, what were you saying before that? Something about Blood Moon?" Celestia nodded again, straightening up as she did so and sat on her flank, propping herself up with her left fore-leg while her right remained between her hind-legs.

"C'mere Lu-Lu" she said, motioning her head in her own direction. The princess of the night hopped onto the bed, sitting on the other side, keeping well away from her masturbating sister. Littler good it did when Tia scooted over to her, hoof still between her hind-legs, and sat beside her. "But, I want you to promise me that you won't tell-" she hiccupped, moaned and burped all at once, the reflex leading to the express of pleasure that ended abruptly with the gas forcing its way out. "You-you can't tell Luna, if she found out I don't know what she'd do" she told her sister. Luna frowned.

"O-um-kay" she answered. Celestia shook her head, moving next to Luna and sitting beside her, putting a hoof over her shoulder.

"No, we need-" she sneezed and looked a little blank before she giggled a little "need a way to seal it, like a-like a" she looked to be in pretty intense thought. "Lu-Lu, what am I thinking about?"

"A…pact" she offered. Tia brightened up massively.

"Yes, that's it" she exclaimed, pulling Luna's face to hers, kissing her again. Luna let this one linger longer before she pushed her sister off her.

"TIA, will you stop that!" Celestia looked like she was about to cry.

"It's not my fault, you're the one sending me all of these mixed signals" she argued. Luna gaped.

"'Mixed signals'" she demanded "and just how am I sending you mixed signals?!" The princess of the day's 'derp' look returned.

"You're the one getting me off" she told her. Luna face-hoofed.

"No. I. Am. Not! You're doing it to yourself" she told her, gesturing at her clopping sister. Celestia looked down at herself, finding her hoof slipping in and out of her royal marehood, rubbing around it and tickling her clit.

"Well what do you know" she murmured. She shrugged, pushing deeper inside herself. "Anywho…what were we talking about?"

"Blood Moon" her sister supplied. Tia nodded.

"Oh, yeah, I remember now" she said. "A pact" she muttered before looking up at her sister. "Alright, you must swear, to never, ever ever ever ever ever ever ever, repeat a word of this to princess Luna of Equestria, princess of the night. Not under pain of torture, death or any other threat. Do you agree" she asked. She spoke in an official tone, but the sight, sound and smells of her clopping sort of killed it.

"I agree" Luna answered, promising to never tell herself what Celestia was about to tell her. Tia nodded.

"Good" she said, before she looked around herself. "We need to seal this with something" she muttered. She glanced down at her hoof. "Ah, perfect" she said holding it out to Luna. Said dark mare looked down at it.

"What" she asked. The princess of the day rolled her eyes.

"Clean it off" she told her "as a symbol of your fidelity" she added. Luna, not for the first time in this meeting, gaped at her sister.

"You're kidding me, right" she told her "you-you're-you…Tia, stop being drunk" she told her. Her mind suddenly snapped back to what they had originally being talking about. "Can you please, just tell me what you were saying about our old foalsitter?" Celestia shook her head, shaking her hoof at her sister a little.

"Uh-uh, I can't have you telling Lu-Lu. You clean off my hoof and I'll tell you" she told her. With narrowed eyes, blushed cheeks and a few muttered curses escaping her maw, Luna complied, taking her sister's hoof in her own and letting her tongue slip out and take a delicate taste of her sister's juices. The taste was enticing, hot like the sun, as sweet as cake frosting and as enflaming as waking up in heat. The princess of the night quickly found herself lapping the clear but most defiantly present juices from her sister's hoof; even in her drunken state, Celestia revelled in holding such a dominating position over a pony, she may be princess of Equestria but she couldn't help her sexual nature. A princess got what she wanted, sure, but not to this extent, not anymore anyway. She smirked slightly as she looked down on the mare lapping her royal hoof clean, doing a thorough job of it; she was enjoying herself, this…what was her name? Huh, some ruler she was, she didn't even know the name of this strange pony lapping her hoof clean. Tia shrugged, shuddering slightly and putting her other hoof to her pussy as she felt the mare take in a good load of juices with her tongue. Giggling slightly, the princess of the sun pulled her hoof back and lifted the dark mare's gaze to her own. "There's a good filly" she cooed. Luna blushed harder, biting her lip slightly; she hadn't meant to get that…immersed by it.

"Th-thanks" she said quietly. Celestia giggled again, holding her hoof to eye level.

"My, my, little one, you really got into that" she pointed out, rotating it and finding no remaining marks. Celestia cocked her head to the side and winked playfully. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were enjoying that more than I was" she told her. A smirk found her mouth. "For somepony so skilled with their hooves, I'd say they'd have gotten in a LOT of practise with
their own, Lu-Lu" she teased, giggling and hiccupping at her sister's blush. Luna just frowned.

'Dose she recognise me or not?'
"Then again, after so long on the moon, Lu-Lu, I'd say your hooves are the only partner your royal little pussy has had in millennia. Because I KNOW, you haven't had the chance to get with anypony in the last few years you've been here." She's started advancing slowly on her sister, sliding her body across her bed with her fore-hooves, leisurely moving bit-by-bit to her silent sister, who was blushing anxiously at Celestia's accusation. "Tell me Luna, am I wrong? Have you been pulling guards into your room every other night ever since you got back, letting the peasants mount you, having a low born cock slide into your royal cunt? Or were you more resourceful?" Luna didn't say anything, but the way she looked down slightly when Celestia had spoken the second option told the princess of the day everything. She grinned. "Ah-huh. I thought so" she told her. Luna had now gotten to the edge of the bed, and although she could have easily stepped off, her mind was lost to her in the way her sister was speaking to her. "You're hooves ever get sore, use any dildos? Did you use any-hic-magic; I know you know the spells" she told her. "Did you ever consider coming to me for help" she asked with a sultry grin on her face, complemented by the drunken blush lingering on her cheeks. "Ever want to buck your big sister? Want to see me cum, want me to make you scream?" She inched her grinning face closer and was about to push their lips together again before Luna flashed away from her sister, reappearing on the other end of the bed with a cushion clamped between her legs.

"Tia, stop it, you're making me…" she looked up her sister's body, her unnaturally perfect body. They were a stark contrast from each other; Luna had a tight and petit body, taunt and perky butt, a tiny waist and small hips. Celestia was more buxom, her flank was round, heart shaped and perfectly giggly, her hips good, wide and inviting while her waist was on the opposite end of the scale, small and tight, leading to her aforementioned hips and ass.

'Starswirl's beard, she's hot.'

Luna quickly shook the thoughts away from her head, looking back at her sister to continue her sentence but she was cut off when she cast her gaze over her body. Even though it was scheduled to be a cool night tonight, Celestia was still shimmering with a sheen of sweat over her perfect white coat.

"Yes" Celestia prompted, her voice huskier than Luna had ever heard it before.

"Y-you-you're making me uncomfortable" she tried, lying about as well as Applejack. She
steeled herself, sending her mind back to a place she never wanted it to go; her lessons with Blood Moon.

"If one angle isn't working, try another. Think of life like a riddle; if you concentrate on one angle, you'll never find the answer, so keep looking for other directions to strike from and you'll soon find the answer. And remember, there's a difference between stabbing somepony in the back, and slitting their throat, so there's no such thing as a cowardly blow."
He'd always finished it with "but do me a favour, and try and limit using somepony close to them as a weapon. You're almost guaranteed to get results but it's not right to involve somepony innocent." She tried to block away that memory, simply because it casted him in a positive light. Once more shaking unwanted thoughts from her head, Luna got the conversation back on track.

"What were you saying, about Blood Moon?" Celestia shrugged, plopping her head down on the bed.

"Oh, that. He was seen in Canterlot or something" she told her nonchalantly, her hoof going back to work between her legs as she lay on her back. Luna blinked.

"What" she demanded. Celestia shrugged.

"Yeah, he was-hic-he was after somepony called… Lock Pick, I think, there was a massive battle, blood and gut everywhere" she giggled "kind of like an entrails cocktail or something." She cocked her head to the side, as though thinking about something. "I could go for a cocktail right now" she murmured.

"What" she repeated "why" Luna asked. Tia expression darkened a little.

"He was helping somepony out, protecting Ponyville from the Goldhooves I think. They were going to take the place over but he got wrapped up in it somehow-hic-banging Mayor Mare herself no doubt" she added. Luna's eyes had snapped open.

"You know where he is" she blurted. "And…and you're sat here, talking" she glanced at her sister "and…clopping your time away. Why aren't you down there with the royal guard, ripping him limb from limb?" Celestia was waving her spare hoof to stop her.

"No, no you don't-" she burped "don't get it. It's because the reason he was here was-"

"To Tartarus with the reason he was here" Luna exclaimed, moving towards her sister. "Tia, why aren't you going down there after him yourself? Celestia, you and I both know that normally you'd be down there killing him yourself!" She frowned. "What's going on?" Celestia had sat up, her hoof still lingering in her femness but wasn't moving as rapidly.

"Lu-Lu-"

"Don't call me 'Lu-Lu' at a time like this" she told her sister "why don't you understand that our old foalsitter, the assassin Blood Moon, is in Ponyville with your student and the elements of harmony. I mean, the only reason I didn't tell you was-" She cut herself off, her hooves snapping to her maw to try and claw the words back in, Celestia's 'derp' face locking in confusion as her drunken head tried to process what she'd just heard
"Whu? You-" she burped again, this one bringing up the scent of apples "you knew he was there already? And you didn't tell me." Luna was paralyzed, unable to move or think as her accidently slipped words quickly backed her into a corner she couldn't get out of.

"Umm, yes" she squeaked. Celestia was still for a second, swaying slightly as she eyed her sister's face. She pulled her hoof from her marehood and looked at it for a second before popping it into her maw, sucking her nectar from it as she eyed Luna with a face showing drunken thought. After a few minutes of doing so, she pulled her hoof from her maw and lapped at it a few times before she spoke.

"You bitch" she murmured, lunging at her sister and wrapping her hooves around her neck, clamping her lips to her sister's, pushing her down to the bed and laying on top of her, kissing her sloppily and noisily, her tongue sneaking in, groaning just a little bit. Luna let it happen for a while, half-heartedly pushing at her sister before flipping and pinning her down. "I could never stay mad at you Lu-Lu, I love you too much" Celestia told her. Luna smiled slightly, Celestia giggling goofily and opening her fore-legs for a hug. After a moment's consideration, Luna obliged, dropping down and holding her sister back. Tia moved them up the bed, resting their heads on the pillow and cuddling. The smell of sex and booze lingered in the air, but neither cared anymore. After a while, Celestia sat up and her horn sparked to life, the photo album floating over to them. She opened it and peered through. "Do you ever miss him" she asked her sister quietly, still holding her in her fore-legs.

"Honestly? I think about him every day and I still can't figure out how I feel. Half the time I want his head on a pike, the other half…"

"You just want to hug him again" Celestia finished. Luna nodded once before she frowned.

"Tia, are you still drunk?" As if on cue, the princess of the day burped.

"Very" she answered. Luna nodded again, not really surprised nor bothered. "Lu-Lu, why didn't you tell me that you knew where he is?" Luna cringed slightly, biting her lip a little.

"It-it's because I… well, you know how you asked me to try and find him through his dreams, but never could, I've been using his dreams to…well…inflict a bit of…revenge on him. I… found him again, but I stumbled across somepony dreaming about him. He'd kissed her, saved her from…a horrible fate. When I pressed him about it he sort of…snapped" she muttered. Celestia snorted a little in laughter.

"Snapped" she repeated "how so?" Luna looked down.

"Well…he brought back a few memorise, he…reminded me that…although he may have left…he had been there for us…" Celestia held her tighter.

"He'd been our foalsitter" she continued.

"Our father" Luna murmured, tightening her own hold. "I just…I couldn't give him up, not when…when he brought back memories like that. I just couldn't bring myself to do it" she told Celestia.

"It's alright" the lighter princess said, nuzzling her sister and kissing the top of her head "I forgive you." Luna smiled and nuzzled her back.

"Tia?"

"Hmm."

"Are you still drunk?" Tia hiccupped.

"Why do you keep asking me that?"

"Because I can't decide if you've flushed it from your system with magic or not." Celestia shrugged.

"Where's the fun in that" she asked as she got unsteadily up. "Now, come sister, I must lower the sun and you raise the moon" she said. She sounded impressively regal and sober when she said that, but the illusion was broken when she burped again, her 'derp' face coming back. "When did I eat garlic" she muttered to herself, staggering away before she looked up in thought. "Lu-Lu" she said, looking back "how in the hay do we lower the sun?" Luna burst out laughing, not believing that her sister could forget something she'd been doing for longer than the 'bit' had been in circulation. And that was a long time.

"Don't worry" she said, getting up "I'll show you how." Luna trotted to her swaying sister and helped her trot safely over to the balcony. After a few fail tries, the princess of the night waking up the princess of the day nearly nine times and the sun dropping from the sky like a rock in water, the moon was finally in the sky, one of Luna's pre-planned star patters accompanying it. Luna let her sister lean on her as she guided her back to her bed, letting her drop gracelessly into it. Luna's plan had been to let her sister sleep the booze off but she been pulled off her hooves by Celestia when she'd fallen into bed. "Tia" she giggled "let me go, I've got to get to night court." Celestia responded by spooning her, holding her down and rubbing her femness into Luna's rear end.

"I love you Luna" Tia told her quietly. Luna smiled slightly and held her sister's fore-hoof in her own.

"I love you too Tia, but I must get to night court." She tried getting up, but Celestia had pulled her in further, using her magic to pull the covers over them.
"No" Celestia groaned unhappily, snuggling into her sister. "No, I don't want you to go" she told her sister. Luna giggled, trying to get up again, causing her sister to moan again, holding her down. "Luuuu-Luuuu, don't go" she wailed.

"I'm sorry Tia, I've got to" Luna argued. Celestia shook her head above her.

"No you don't, I know you hate the nobles as much, probably more, than I do. I called off day court because of Blood Moon, why don't you call off night court too" she suggested.

"Because one of us has got to rule our country" she answered. Celesta gave a mocking gasp of shocked offence. She got up and flipped her sister onto her back, pinning her down and proceeding to tickle her with her wings. Luna responded by laughing uproariously, struggling under her sister's hold as she tried to use her strength to throw her off again but couldn't focus her efforts when her sister's strangely skilled feathers ran over her nerves the way they were.

"You meanie" Celestia scolded, a dopey grin on her drunk face, the pink blush on her cheeks making her look impossibly adorable. "I could rule this country with my maw clamped shut" she boasted.

"You-you-hahaha-you're not getting me in on that bet-ha, stop it, stop it-bet again. We-haha-we both know how it turned out last time" she managed to struggle out between bouts of laughter. Celestia kept her grin on her face.

"Y'know, I should punish you for that, for being so mean to me" she said, her wings slowing down and her face moving into her sister's. "I should torture you, maybe send you back to the moon" Luna bit her lip slightly, not liking that threat "or" Celestia said at length, resting on her sister's body. "There could be something so much more…" she stole a surprise peck from her sister's lips, Luna mentally damning herself for letting it happen "satisfying, I could do" Celestia finished.

"Tia, got to bed, you're drunk" Luna told her. Celestia ignored her.

"Tell me Lu-Lu, what I-hic-I was saying earlier, about when you MUST have been getting…bored, shall we call it, on the moon. I was right, wasn't I" she said. Luna averted her gaze, unwilling to look at her sister.

"Tia, I've got to go to night court" Luna tried. Celestia giggled and crossed her hooves on Luna's chest, resting her head on them.

"Come on Lu-Lu, you can tell me" she cooed, her words accompanied by a teasing of pleasure creeping up Luna's spine as her sister's tail brushed past her opening, a whispering tease of friction passing between them.
"Well, I-I of course I sort of…had to, I mean, up there so long, I didn't have anything to do besides go over bad memories, regret doing something as foolish as that and-and…"

"Clop your brains out" Celestia finished. Luna nodded rapidly, her eyes squeezed together.
"And you haven't had a stallion in the whole time you've been here, hmm?" Again, Luna nodded rapidly. "Lu-Lu, I love you, if you're feeling…frustrated at all, I can help you" she told her. She raised her head slightly and removed one of her hooves before she rested her head again; she brushed her hoof along her sister's full lips, pulling down it down to reveal the pinker skin hidden behind.

"I-I…night court-"

"Luna, you and I both know you'd rather be here than there on any day of the week" she told her sister.

"T-Tia-"

"Lu-Lu" Celestia cooed, speaking at seductive length. Luna locked her eyes on Celestia's, trying to get out of this in anyway shape or form. She took in Celestia; her cheeks still held that cute, pink drunken blush; her breath still had apple and alcohol on it; her face was about as arousing as heat itself; but no matter how much she wanted the mare laying on top of her, she couldn't get the fact out of her head that the mare was her sister. Her drunk sister, who was kissing her again.

'Ah, to Tartarus with it.'

Luna's fore-legs wrapped around her sister's head and pulled her further in, Celestia grinning into her maw, and let her tongue slip in.

"There's a good filly" Tia cooed as she pulled back a little. Luna ran her tongue roughly up her sister's face.

"Shut up and buck me" she told her sister. Celestia's drunken grin came back, even wider.

"Yes ma'am" she whispered as their hooves got to work on each other. It never occurred to Luna that she hadn't cancelled night court as she started moaning into her sister's maw.

Twilight woke up, though she didn't open her eyes. Her mind was unsettled, it hadn't really been settled all day, not to mention all night. Her dreams had been strange, in the manner that she hadn't technically had one; it had been a night of pure black, as though she'd been trotting around Ponyville illuminated only by shadow. She could tell the buildings apart by the silver smog that lingered in the air. She'd been trotting through an infinite town her with thoughts consuming her, though perhaps 'consuming her' was the wrong word. They seemed to invade her mind, batting the door down and crashing on her mental couch and stealing all her ciders. First to the forefront of her mind had been, to her surprise actually, Scootaloo.

She didn't exactly regret telling the filly she'd mother her, should Blood Moon truly take her in that is, but she wasn't exactly…looking for foals, not at her age anyway, though at the same time…she remembered getting frustrated at this point, damning the mental battle going on inside her head. The dream had sort of…personified these thoughts, made them solid; the mist had formed Scootaloo, looking between Twilight and one of the shadow buildings. It was soon revealed to be the orphanage of Ponyville; Twilight had suddenly felt a presence to her side and spotted a stallion of shadow, his face, body, mane and tail quickly revealing Blood Moon. Scootaloo continued glancing between the ponies and the building and Twilight suddenly understood it; it was between having a family and loneliness, and it was her decision what happened. Her answer had been obvious, and was known made clear when Scootaloo galloped towards them.

The scene had cut out, and she had replaced it, her and Blood Moon; the smog had formed the town hall, her and Blood Moon dancing around within it. Her and Blood Moon, the stallion she loved. She'd looked to the floor, wondering what he had been doing at the time; Blood Moon was out on a job, killing somepony. She didn't know how she felt about that; she'd hoped that he may be less…willing to go through with murder so easily. That said, she'd have been lying if she's said she was truly surprised by it; he was fifteen thousand years old and was stubborn and set in his ways. He'd known her for just over a week now, so he likely wasn't
going to change his ways just on her word.

In her dream, she'd looked up again, to find the scene had changed again; now it was just her again, her only, the day her life in Ponyville had begun. She was laying on her front, the book on Equestrian history lying open in front of her, the legend of the mare in the moon being read by her. It set of a small chain reaction of thought into motion; her life had gone from her simply being a gifted unicorn, to Celestia's student, to the element of magic and so on. How her life had changed so, and it had only gotten stranger and more eventful when she'd met Blood Moon, the main difference being that she was getting involved in some pretty dangerous situations; she'd frowned, since when did she need a stallion to look after her, she was a perfectly capable mare and a powerful unicorn, so how come this stallion, who'd meandered into her life, was now looking after her. She'd have to grill him about that.

Twilight shook the thoughts from her head, not wishing to dwell on it. She suddenly noticed a heat in front of her face, and felt in get closer to her face. She grinned slightly as she felt her coltfriend kissed her, the stallion's lips brushing past hers.

Fluttershy murmured slightly in her sleep, wondering what her dream had just been, trying to get a grasp on it before it flitted away from her again, but she lost it before she could find it again. She felt a warmth close to her face and instinctively shuffled towards it until she found it to be another pony. She grinned slightly, Blood Moon had gotten home last night and she kissed him good morning without opening her eyes.

Twilight furthered her and Blood Moon's kiss, pushing her tongue into his maw, feeling him grin and return her gesture by copying her and pushing his tongue into her own mouth. She put her hoof over his side and pulled him in, feeling his wing do the same and-wait, wing? Twilight opened her eyes to find her butter yellow friend kissing her. She stopped for a second and Fluttershy frowned slightly, opening her eyes to find out what the problem was. Upon doing so, she saw Twilight and her eyes opened slightly. They lay there, staring at each other for a second before they shrugged and closed their eyes softly and restarted their kiss again, moving in even closer as they held each other in their hooves. They separated after a while and leaned back.

"Bet you never thought we'd end up like this when we first met" Twilight whispered. Fluttershy smiled bashfully.

"No, not really" she admitted. They stayed silent for a while until they both had the same thought.

"Fluttershy?"

"Twilight?"

"If I'm kissing you..."

"And I'm kissing you…" Their eyes widened a little.

"Where's Blood Moon" they asked in tandem. Both got up, looking around the room and not spotting the dark stallion, only their friends and Sand Stalker. They trotted silently for the door and pushed it quietly open before they trotted downstairs. Upon doing so, they found Blood Moon, Rarity and the fillies all wrapped up together; Blood Moon and Rarity were close up to each other, his tail over her rear-end and the fillies between them, Scootaloo in Blood Moon's grasp, Sweetie-Belle in Rarity's and Applebloom between them, cuddling up to the stallion's loose fore-leg. The embers of the fire they were sleeping next to were dying down as they approached, having been light all night and lacking additional fuel. Fluttershy and Twilight's hearts melted at the cute little sight. "D'awww" they fussed at once. The sounds of their shared love for the adorable scene stirred Rarity, prompting her to grumble slightly, still retaining her lady-like manner as she did so, as she woke up. The seamstress looked up and around, her mane a little mussed up and her eyes tires. She saw her friends and smiled at them, scratching her head a little.

"Morning" she greeted, Twilight and Fluttershy returning her welcome with one of their own as they helped her up. Sweetie-Belle and Applebloom followed her up, blinking the sand from their eyes. "Morning Sweetie-Belle" Rarity said, wrapping her sister in a hug. The mini pony smiled and hugged back.

"Morning Rarity" she said back. Twilight went to Blood Moon and nudged him to try and awake him.

"Blood Moon" she said at quiet length, a small smile at her face as she watched the bubble on his maw expand and contract as he breathed. She poked him a few times when she got no response. "Blood Moon" she repeated. Her smile turned to a grin. "C'mon Mooney" she said, tugging on her ear lightly with her teeth.

"T-Twilight" a small voice said. Said mare looked down to see Scootaloo looking up at her, prompting Twilight to smile slightly.

"Morning" the magenta mare said, pulling her from the hold of Blood Moon's hooves. "Looks like daddy's not getting up" she said, having not released the filly from her grip just yet. Scootaloo looked back at her sleeping father.

"I'll help" she told Twi. They both took to nudging him and repeating his name for a little while.

"Come on Blood Moon, time to get up." No answer.

"Wake up daddy" Scootaloo giggled, nudging him with her head. Still no answer.

"Blood Moon, come on" Twilight told him. Much of the same.

"Daddy?" The pair of ponies glanced at each other.

"Blood Moon" Twilight asked, sounding alarmed. She glanced back at the other mares and fillies in the room, all of which were exchanging glances between each other in sudden worry. Hunter and Dusk made their way over to them from their spots from the couch landing and stopping next to him; Dusk clambered up his head and started squeaking into his ear while Hunter pecked at his head. "Blood Moon" repeated Twilight, more pushing him than nudging him, her eyes widening as he refused to awaken. "Blood Moon" she shouted into his ear, her voice panicked as the phoenix and mouse glanced at each other. The sound of heavy hooves lumbering down the stairs prompted her to look up, upon doing so she found that the rest of the elements of harmony, Spike, Feather Heart and Sand Stalker had heard the noise and come down to investigate.

"What's with all the ruckus" Sand Stalker asked, looking around the room. Silence was his answer. That, and the look of general concern. "What's going on" he asked, his tone reflecting the mood.
"Blood Moon won't wake up" Twilight told him, still nudging the dark stallion with her hoof. He immediately cantered over to them, easing the killer over onto his back, Hunter flapping off of him, taking Dusk with him and placing him on the arm of the sofa while the bird perched on the back of the chair.

"How long has he been like this" he asked, pulling the stallion's eyelids open to look at the eye. Rarity answered.

"When he got back last night, he seemed to be in a bad way. I patched him up to the best of my ability and he went to sleep. H-he seemed fine at the time" she told them. The merc nodded.

"Anything seem weird at the time" he pressed. Rarity shook her head. "Anything look strange to you about the wounds?"

"The only thing that struck me was the blood loss, I can only imagine how much he had left, never mind how much he'd actually lost." Sand Stalker scratched the back of his neck.

"Blood loss, huh?" He expression showed nothing but thought. "Well, he's alive, else he'd be gone by now" he murmured. He rested his hoof on the murderer's chest and let it linger for a while before he frowned. "Uh-oh" he muttered. Twilight looked panicked.

"Uh-oh? Why 'uh-oh'? Uh-oh's not good, so why the uh-oh?" Sand Stalker didn't answer for a second.

"I can't find a heartbeat" he told her simply. When Twilight gasped, Fluttershy mimicked the action, followed by Rarity and then Feather Heart. Sand Stalker looked down the assassin's body up and down, checking for anything out of the ordinary. He put his head to the assassin's chest, listening for something, anything, that could have been a sign of life. "C'mon buddy, wake up, don't go dying on us not, in front of everypony" he muttered to the pony's body. He lay with his head on the assassin's chest for nearly ninety seconds before he heard a very, very feint:

Bum-bum

He immediately looked relieved as his eyes widened in respite and relaxed his body slightly, before straightening and looking at Fluttershy.

"Bring me a mirror" he told her.

"What" she asked in timid confusion.

"A mirror, a piece of glass, something, anything that you can see condensation on" he clarified and explained. Fluttershy nodded and turned to get something, only to find Pinkie with a small hoof-held mirror in her hooves directly behind her, her signature smile on her face. With a quiet 'thanks' she turned back to Sand Stalker and gave it to him. He held it over the assassin's maw and waited for a while, his eyes constantly glancing over the killer's body for further signs of life. After a while of confusion from the mares and silence from the stallion, a puff of light mist gathered on the glass of the mirror. He closed his eyes slowly and straightened up again. "Alright, he's breathing, got a beat but he's not conscious" he told them. Everypony gave a small sigh of relief, something that confused Sand Stalker, apparently the only one who could remember the dark stallion was immortal. Sand spoke up again. "I take it the bandages are from when your 'first aid'" he asked. Rarity gave a very slight huff.

'First aid; understatement of the year.'

Twilight's eyes widened when she suddenly noticed how many bandages were across her coltfriend's body, not to mention how thick they were. Rarity had done a good job of it but she was still worried about the condition of her stallion. Sand Stalker had apparently picked up on Twilight's thoughts and spoke up.

"We should take a second look at him; me and Fluttershy have a more practised hoof with this sort of thing so if any of the wounds have been missed we should pick them out and heal them" he glanced at Rarity "no offence" he added. Rarity shrugged her slender shoulders; the grin on her face telling him that she got the point. "Twilight, you should be able to help too, with your magic" he told them all. The mercenary suddenly had the assassin on his back and was taking him into the kitchen, the mares following behind, looking ever so slightly anxious and the assassin's pets bringing up the rear. Twilight lifted Blood Moon off of the mercenary's back and rested him on the table top.

"What happened here" Applejack asked as she looked over the bloody spot Rarity had been fixing up Blood Moon on last night as Hunter and Dusk sat on her hatless head.

"That's where I was taking care of him last night" the white mare answered. Meanwhile, Sand Stalker had taken one of the kitchen knives from the wooden knife-block and cut through the bandages, revealing the wounds beneath. Sand Stalker's eyes widened and a few Arabian curses leaked from his muzzle.

"What is it" Twilight asked, her studies allowing her to understand a few of the worse words. Sand Stalker said nothing, simply prompted her to his side. When she got there, her eyes did the same as his; there was a violent gash on his side, reaching all the way along his side from his now slightly torn cutie mark and up to just below his neck. It was stitched up well, but was still visible to the naked eye.
"You sewed this up" the mustard merc asked Rare. She nodded. He looked back at the piece of artwork that Blood Moon's wounds and put a 'not bad' look on his face. Fluttershy, meanwhile, had been looking over her favourite stallion's wounds and body, looking for any that Rarity hadn't noticed while she'd been sewing him up. She'd apparently found them all and sewed him up properly.

"He looks alright" she supplied the ponies in the room "I don't think Rarity missed any" she added. Sand Stalker nodded silently and took the bandages Fluttershy had offered him. Both Pegasi took to wrapping up the dark stallion, carefully covering up his fresh scars and battle wounds tightly; Fluttershy seemed slightly nervous for it, her lip in a constant state of being bit while her big, innocent eyes were filled the sight of her unconscious coltfriend, covered in new scars, pushing out from the rest of his skin and dark grey fur and adding a blatant level of ugly to his body. Sand Stalker, however, seemed in his element, his days in the army having taught him how to save lives as well as take them. Twilight looked on, silently, wishing she could do more to help them help her coltfriend.

After a small while, Blood Moon was wrapped up again and ready to be moved to more comfortable surroundings. Twilight levitated the assassin onto Sand Stalker's back, who carried him gently up the stairs and rested him on the bed Blood Moon and Twilight, and more recently Fluttershy, had been sharing. When he was resting comfortably on his back, the rest of the ponies gathered around him and his pets took to their perches.

"I never thought I'd see him so…" Rainbowdash trailed off.

"Helpless" Sand Stalker finished for her. The cyan blue Pegasus nodded without a word. Everypony else felt the same way; it was seemingly impossible transformation from the master assassin that was Blood Moon to the crippled stallion before them. Feather Heart glanced at Twilight and Fluttershy, spying the concern in their faces. Before she allowed herself to think about it she turned her gaze to Rarity; just as much concern on her face as the other two mares. She shook her head again, getting her thoughts on track. She moved over to her.

"Rarity, could I speak to you" she asked quietly. The white mare nodded quietly and moved to the other side of the room with her. When they were appropriately far away from the rest of the ponies, Feather spoke up again. "Listen, I know this is a little inappropriate but…did Blood Moon say anything about the contract last night?" Rarity glanced back at Blood Moon's unmoving body.

"Yes, he told me that Fancy Pants was behind it, but he was being blackmailed by the Goldhooves to do it" she told her "I can only guess from that, that he was…successful in his…endeavour" she told the secretary. Feather Heart nodded slightly.

"Alright, thanks" she said quietly. They went back to the congregation of ponies and looked over the assassin.

"Alright, we're not doing anything standing here worrying, everypony go about your business" Sand Stalker said, his tone of voice leaving no room for argument. The majority of the mares and fillies went about the room, retiring to their beds. Only Twilight, Fluttershy, Feather Heart and Scootaloo refused to move; Scootaloo was clinging to his chest; Feather Heart was stood at the bottom of the bed; Fluttershy was lying besides him, resting on her front with her hooves beneath her; and Twilight was stood beside the bed, her hoof resting on the assassin's.

"We're gonna look after him" Twilight said, gesturing to Fluttershy. Sand Stalker shrugged and didn't offer an argument.

"I've got to report this to Mayor Mare; tell her about how it went" Feather Heart told them. They nodded. "Give him my best when he wakes up, will you?" Twilight nodded. She didn't know the secretary well, but from what she'd seen and heard of her, she seemed nice.

"Sure, see you" she answered. Fluttershy offered a small smile in way of goodbye and Feather Heart nodded slightly as she went. Fluttershy looked up at Twilight.

"What do we do" she asked quietly. Twilight moved closer to the bed and ran her hoof over the assassin's fore-head.

"We look after him" she answered just as simply.

They did just that. The day went by slowly, each second stretching into a minute and each minute into an hour and each hour seemed to stretch into an immeasurable amount of time. None of them could really bring themselves to do anything; even Sand Stalker seemed more… quiet. Twilight, Fluttershy and Scootaloo watched over the assassin, Scootaloo simply refusing to leave him alone while Twilight and Fluttershy made sure there were no developments in his condition. They didn't know if there were any infections, nor were they willing to risk it, and Twilight couldn't use any magic to heal him or even check the wounds, because she didn't know the spell to check somepony without their own brain waves to guide her to the pain receptors that were fired up. Fluttershy took care of the more 'hooves-on' aspects of his recovery; keeping him comfortable, warm, changing his bandages now and then and doing what she could to keep his wounds clean.

Blood Moon responded to very little, if anything at all, and it was all they could do to keep themselves calm when he seemed to have stopped breathing. Sand Stalker had solved that problem when he'd hit the assassin so hard he'd probably broken some ribs, but had gotten his breathing started again. All the time they watched over him, Rarity would always seem to be watching his shallow breathing, his lack of facial expression and any signs of life. Her looks at him lingered, lingered longer than anypony else's, and her focus couldn't go anywhere else. As night fell, nothing had changed; Blood Moon was still unconscious, Twilight, Fluttershy and Scootaloo were still sat next to him and everypony else seemed awkwardly quiet. As quiet as the almost dead un-killable stallion.

Luna and Celestia rolled apart from each other. Their sixth round so far. Luna hadn't a clue how powerful either Cadence's 'love potion' was or how powerful Celestia's libido was but she didn't really care right now, all's she really cared about was that she was finally getting some relief that wasn't coming from her own hooves. She didn't even care that it was Tia bucking her; she was having too much fun. With juices on their muzzle and cum in their mouths, they re-joined their lips again for the umpteenth time that night and groaned into each other's maws. The sheets were strewn about and drenched in sweat, both Alicorn's love juices and cum staining numerous spots; the pillows having already put their hat on, packed their suitcases and left the scene; their screams and groans of pleasure had attracted the attention of no small amount of palace staff and guards, all of them either wondering what was going on or wide eyes and ridged at the concept of what they really hoped wasn't going on up there, going on up there.

Panting in exhaustion and pleasure, Luna crawled into her sister's open fore-legs as they hugged again, Celestia's horn aglow in golden magic as she used it to thrust Luna's dark blue rubber horse-cock into her, while Luna did the same with her own magic, thrusting Celestia's white and gold dildo into her royal marehood, both losing a light pant when the rubber cocks thrust inside them.

"I'm so glad you came around" Celestia said breathlessly, her words punctuated with sharp gasps.

"Me-me too" the princess of the night replied, her own breaths slightly ragged. Luna turned over in her sister's grip and lay on top of her, their lips back together. The white mare's hooves had feint grooves around them from where Luna had tied her up earlier; while Luna's rear end was red raw with pain from where Celestia had spanked her. "Can you think of anything else" she asked when she pulled back. Tia put a hoof to her chin in thought before she looked to her left and levitated the small notepad over to them as Lu-Lu rolled back over, lying beside her while they held each other.

"Let's see; we've scissored, sixty-nined, used our dildos, BDSM, I've spanked you" she said, pulling out the rubber horse cock and slapping it against Luna's ass, the younger sister gasping slightly.

"You sure did, Tia" Luna purred, her sister responding by chuckling, reengaging their kiss and grinding the sex toy between her Luna's butt cheeks before she crammed it roughly back into her femness.
"Now, let's see, what else" Celestia continued as she used her magic to lift the princess of night off of her before rotating her and plopping her back down, their sexes in each other's face. Luna quickly took the gold and white dildo in front of her face in her hoof and thrust it into her sister's pussy, her tongue working at Tia's clit. Celestia pulled the dildo from Luna's marehood and ran her tongue along it, getting a good load of Luna's sweet, night-cool juices before she kissed the tip. "It's just not the same as a real, big, sweaty, pulsing, stinky dick inside you" she sighed longingly as she rubbed the sex toy up and down Luna's slit "and you won't let us bring in one of the guards" she pouted. Luna giggled and bucked her pussy into her sister's face.

"No, you're all mine tonight" she told her. The princess of the day giggled in response before a near insane expression washed over her face and she spun the rubber stallionhood in her hoof and stabbed the huge rubber cock into her sister's tight ass. The combination of optimal size differences prompted a primal scream of agony and pleasure from Luna's maw, the darker princess throwing her head back and a dark red blush igniting across her face. "OOOOHHHH YES" she growled her voice primitive and fuelled by pure and unbridled ecstasy. Luna gasped heavily as her head rested on Celestia's stuffed slit, a wide smile on her face.

"I never knew you were such a whorse, sister" Tia giggled. Luna answered with a particularly powerful thrust with her hoof.

"Coming from you, Molestia" the darker princess retorted. She went on to cram her muzzle into the princess of the night's marehood, getting a good whiff of Luna's scent, her nose pushing against her clit. The marehood's owner shuddered and groaned, squirming her opening into Celestia's face as the princess of day smiled and used her tongue to probe deep inside her cunt, withdrawing her sister's cum and juices on her oral organ. Luna hummed in pleasure as she relaxed into ecstasy, absentmindedly pushing the dildo in and out and teasing around Celestia pearl softly. "And you accuse me of being the clopper of the family. From the feel of it, you've been eating out every mare you've come across" Luna playfully taunted. The white mare gasped and laughed at the same time, shoving Luna's rubber member deep into her ass, going until the base of the horse cock almost disappeared inside her tight ass-ring. Tia lifted Luna with her magic and flipped her around until they were face-to-face again and mashed their lips together. Celestia rolled them over until she was on top, having pulled her dildo out and crammed the wrong end of it into her femness before she thrust it back into Luna's pussy, the princess of the night suddenly treated to a double penetrating from her sister and the dildo stuffed up her ass.

"That was mean, you big meanie" she pouted. Luna lay with her legs spread wide for her sister, as her fore-legs rested on her chest, her whole body moving in tandem with each thrust.

"I-I-I, oh buck, ohhhh buck ahh" was all Luna could come out with in response. Celestia grinned at her sister's squirming, sweating form and stopped thrusting into her. The princess of the night looked over her body at Tia. "C-come on, what are you waiting for? Horny right here!" Tia shrugged and leaned forwards.

"You're a little whores aren't you, a little slut. Admit it Lu-Lu" she ordered with a sultry grin "even when I'm the one with the…how did you put it, 'heated loins' you just can't help but spread your legs" she told her. Luna's expression turned hurt, and slightly sour, as she rested her head on its side.

"Tia, now you're the one being mean. You know I don't like being called a slut or whorse" she murmured. Celestia eyes widened for a second and she fell forwards onto Luna.

"Oh, oh I'm so sorry Lu-Lu. I-I forgot" she admitted. Luna smiled grimly and wrapped her legs around her sister's neck. As they lay together, a small chiming caught their attention. They looked to the clock in Celestia room.

"It…it's alright sister" Luna said quietly. She wasn't sure if she was being sincere or not.

"Five o'clock" Tia observed. Luna had looked at the clock too and looked back at her sister with a sultry grin on her face.

"Then let's make this one count" she said told her sister. The princess of the day chuckled as she got up again, before they started grunting in bliss and pleasure as Celestia started thrusting into her sister.

"Y'know Lu-Lu, I'm getting a strange sense of pride right now." As her body was thrust forwards, Luna had raised an eyebrow.

"Y-you're proud I want you bucking me?" Celestia shrugged.

"Love works in mysterious ways" she answered before Luna clamped her lips on her sister's and got lost in the whirlwind of pleasure that was getting bucked by her sister.

It was the second day of Blood Moon's recovery, and things were not going well; when Twilight, Scootaloo and Fluttershy woke up, the stallion they were sleeping around was hot. Uncomfortably so. Impossibly so. The fever had come from nowhere, and it didn't seem to want to go back there. His whole body seemed to have lit up in a small inferno, as though a volcano had erupted inside him. Twilight had used her magic to try and sooth him, a few basic medical spells to calm down his immune system so it would stop burning up his body to possibly fatal degrees while it burned up the infection that had set it off, but none had worked. And they knew it was an infection, because his wounds told them so. Despite the amount of disinfectant Rarity had applied to the open wounds, apparently an infection had gotten in anyhow, something that confused the seamstress to no end, considering how much of the sterilizer she'd applied. The largest of the wounds that plagued his body seemed to have developed a huge, ugly, blistering boils along the spots the needle had gone in, yellow and hideous from the infected puss that they hid within.

To make matters worse, everypony was in a panic; Fluttershy was in the air, floating around in freaked out circles, going rapidly around as she clopped her hooves nervously together, one of which was wrapped in bandages to cover the burn on her hoof from when she first checked his temperature by putting her hoof to his head and getting second degree burns for her trouble; Applejack was having a hard time keeping Scootaloo calm, alongside Sweetie-Belle and Applebloom who were laying besides her wide-eyed and distressed form, while Applejack tried to reassure her that things would all turn out alright; Rarity had started blaming herself, trotting around in circles in the same way Fluttershy was going around in the air and muttering gravely to herself; Rainbowdash was feeling useless, sat on the side-lines and being forced to watch and not take action, that being perhaps the thing she hated most, the fact that Ponyville's most awesome Pegasus was useless; Pinkie Pie had lost her smile, prompting everypony to do the same, and her colours were darker than usual, though thankfully her mane and tail hadn't gone straight; Spike was in much the same position as Rainbowdash, reduced to sitting on the side-lines and watch everypony act out. Hunter and Dusk watched from their spots next to the assassin and Twilight's bed, observing the ponies with confused expressions on their faces. Only Twilight and Sand Stalker seemed to be right of mind, Twilight trying to calm everypony while the merc poured through Fluttershy's books on illness for the fifteenth time to try and found out what in Equestria was going on with the assassin.

"Come on everypony, calm down" the magenta mare implored her friends. Her words were lost on them as they continued to panic. Fluttershy, to her credit, seemed to have at least heard an echo of something from Twilight's lips and stopped her crazed flying and whipped her head at her.

"Twilight, how can we calm down, look at him" she told her, gesturing at the stallion on the bed; his breathing had gone from shallow and nearly none existent to laboured and hard, his chest rising and falling hard and deep. "If he gets any worse he could die" she exclaimed. Sand Stalker glanced up at her.

"Fluttershy, you do know he's-"

"But do you really want him to go through all of that pain? If he dies he'll come back but…" she trailed off and looked over him "at what price" she finished. The mustard Pegasus and purple unicorn went a little quite at that; if it were them who were in Blood Moon's position, would they be willing to go through so much to come back? Sand Stalker wasn't sure how much pain he would go through, but Twilight couldn't help but shudder whenever she thought about how much torture he'd go through just to come back to a life she wasn't sure he all-together liked. Fluttershy had gotten closer to him and lay down beside him.
"W-what if he gets worse? What do we do" she asked hopelessly. Her answer was a shrug and a nervus lip bite.

"I…I don't know Fluttershy…I just don't know" Twilight told her, hanging her head. Sand Stalker looked up at the rest of the ponies.

"You may wanna give us some room" he told them "I don't know if this is contagious and I'm pretty sure Blood wouldn't forgive me if I let you all stay here and risk you getting whatever he's got" he told them. They all nodded and left the room one by one, Scootaloo refusing to leave his side until Rainbowdash picked her up in her fore-hooves and flew out of the room with her. He looked back at Blood Moon. "How's he doing?"

"Oh my" Fluttershy whispered as she pulled her hoof away from his fore-head, the scorch
mark smoking slightly. "His temperature has shot up" she told the gathered ponies. Sand Stalker raised his eyebrow.

"Again? That's the fifth time in an hour, what's he up to?" Fluttershy hesitated.

"Thee hundred and ten" she answered "it's a miracle he's still alive" she added quietly, not wanting to admit it. Sand Stalker had heard her and shrugged.

"He's as stubborn as a mule with a cinder block tied to each leg. He's not likely to go down without a fight."

"And we're not willing to let him go down at all" Twilight told him. The merc turned to her.

"What do you suggest we do? Fluttershy's a vet, not a doctor; I'm a field medic, not a doctor; and you don't have the spells to heal this thing either." He looked back at the burning assassin. "What do we do" he asked. Twilight thought about it for a while until she brightened up.

"Who did we go to the last time we needed a cure for something" she asked. The mustard mercenary raised an eyebrow.

"That zebra? Zecora." Twilight nodded.

"Yeah, I should be able to teleport to her hut and bring her here. I'll be there and back in no time." Sand Stalker thought about it; they had no better option to go with, no other plan and there wasn't much he could do here anyway.

"Alright, but try to be as quick as you can" he told her. Twilight nodded, focused her magic in her horn, pictured Zecora's hut and, with a flash of light and magic, appeared outside the alchemist's hut.
With an urgent spring in her step, Twilight cantered over to Zecora's door and knocked on it, hopping in one place in hurried panic. When it opened, she wasted no time.

"Blood Moon! In bad shape! Need help bad!" Zecora blinked.

"Huh?"

"Blood. Moon. In. Bad. Shape. Need. Help. Bad." Zecora face-hoofed

"Why don't you take it slow, so you can tell me what I need to know." Twilight closed her eyes, taking a deep breath and pushing her hoof away, using the stress reliving technique Cadence had taught her.

"Zecora, Blood Moon's in a bad way. His temperature has shot up, and nopony knows what to do" she explained, slower this time. Zecora put her hoof to her chin and nodded.

"Hmm, I see. Come inside, and I'll try to help thee" she told her, opening the door and stepping aside. Twilight nodded and entered, trotting inside Zecora's hut. The door closed itself as Zecora stepped away from it and the zebra looked around her shelves. "Tell me Twilight; what brings you here to me in such a plight?" Twilight sat at the table to the side at the room at Zecora's invitation, a cup of hot brew before her.

"Well, Blood Moon got back from…" she fished for an appropriate word "a job last night, and when we found him yesterday morning, he was in a pretty bad way. This morning he developed a fever and I think an infection. Nopony knows what to do." Zecora put a hoof to her chin.

"I see, you were wise to come to me" she answered. Twilight brightened up.

"So you can help him! Oh, thank you Zecora" the purple mare exclaimed. The zebra smiled kindly.

"I'll see what I can do dear Twilight, but first you'll have to give me details of Blood Moon's plight" she told the unicorn. Twilight nodded as she cast her mind back to her coltfriend's condition.

"Well, his scar had all boils and puss where the needle went in and he developed a really bad fever this morning which just won't stop going up." Zecora nodded.

"Tell me about the things that were used, they were un-abused?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"You mean was the needle clean?" Zecora nodded. "Well, they were Rarity's needles, I'm pretty sure it would be hard to find a hospital more sterile" she commented. The zebra smiled and chuckled.

"You'll find no argument from me to be sure, but to be honest I'd say it's as simple as a temperature" she said with a slight shrug. The magenta mare bit her lip slightly.

"Alright, but I'd appreciate you coming over just to make sure." The black and white equine smiled kindly.

"Of course my friend, I'll see this through to the end" she reassured. The zebra packed a few pink, green and clear bottles into a brown saddle-bag before she threw her brown travel cloak on and trotted over to the door. "Well, I'm ready to go, shall we make it so?" Twilight nodded, stood and trotted over to the zebra mare, standing close by when the flash went off as they disappeared from Zecora's hut, before reappearing back at Fluttershy's cottage.

"Come on, he's upstairs" the purple mare told the zebra as she cantered to the door and swung it open. The ponies in the front room turned to look at them, finding the pair of mares looking back.

"Twi? When did ya'll leave" Applejack asked, her eyebrow raised in confusion.

"I teleported, no time to talk, gotta get to Blood Moon" she blurted as she rushed past them, spinning the orange, pink and white mares as she passed them by, Zecora following close behind. Twilight opened the door to Fluttershy's room and went straight to the dark stallion in her bed. "How is he" she asked. Sand Stalker shrugged.

"He hasn't changed much, but I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing" he answered. He looked to Zecora and nodded a gentlecoltly nod. Zecora shot him a short lopsided smile before she moved to the assassin and looked him over. She checked every inch of him, his hooves, his legs, his mouth and tongue, even his unmentionables. Looking back at the mares with a blush on their faces and the stallion with a raised eyebrow, she rubbed her chin in thought.

"Strange" she muttered, glancing at the merc "you say there has been no change?" The elderly stallion blinked at the rhyme before he shrugged.

"Pretty much, yeah. Well, his temperature's gone up again but given how often that's been happening, it didn't seem important." The black and white mare cocked her head.

"His temperature you say? What is it now, if I-ow" she exclaimed when she put her hoof to his fore-head, pulling it back when it scorched her, flapping it to relieve the pain and sucking on it with an aggravated look on her face.
"Four-fifty, last I checked" Fluttershy murmured. Zecora looked back at the stallion.

"That is something I don't doubt" she murmured before she looked around the room "would you care to tell me what this is all about?" Twilight went on to explain how Blood Moon had acquired his wounds, how they had found him yesterday and what had happened this morning. "You don't say" Zecora commented when the purple unicorn had finished "quite the eventful day." She looked back at the wounds on the assassin's body and took a more thorough look at them; the zebra prodded around the ugly yellow/green sores, watching as they bounced back into shape when she pushed down on them; Blood Moon cringed slightly in his sleep every time she pushed down on them, but beyond that they got no reaction. She cocked her head to the side and bit her lip in thought before she looked back at the other ponies. "Hmm, it seems that they cause him pain, but I doubt they will be his bane" she told them as she pulled some things from her saddle-bag. "Pain relieving ointment ought do the trick, but give him a shot of this, should he get more sick" she explained to the gathered ponies. She gave Twilight a dark green bottle of something that didn't look nice to…well, anything with. She placed the green bottle on the bedside table, the dark stallion somehow shuffling away from it in his slumber.

"Do you have any idea what this all is" Sand Stalker asked from the side lines. Zecora looked back at him for a second before she examined the boils again.

"I am not sure, but I may have a way to find out more" she told him. Zecora trotted over to the chair the Pegasus had been sleeping on and picked up his sword from its scabbard, holding it in her maw and carrying it to the assassin, the blade's owner watching with a raised eyebrow, and took it in her hooves; she carefully stabbed the point of the weapon into one of the sores, the puss within seeping out of it and onto the blade. She raised the blade and supposedly infectious mess to her face, examining carefully.

"Wanna tell me why you're screwing with a stallion's blade" the merc asked. Zecora glanced at him before she went back to examining the stuff on the weapon.

"I'm trying to answer your question" she told him pointedly "do you have another suggestion?" The mercenary grunted at her answer. Zecora cocked her head to the side and took a clear bottle from the saddle bag; she angled the blade down into the opening and let the puss drip inside; she spun the bottle a few times to let it mix. The mixture bubbled and suddenly started raging inside the bottle; Zecora's eyes widened and she crammed the cork inside the bottle neck and held it away from her as it exploded slightly inside the, thankfully, reinforced glass container. Everypony had dived for cover; Twilight hiding behind the bed, Fluttershy cowering behind her coltfriend, Sand Stalker putting a wing in front of his face and Zecora holding the bottle as far away from her face as possible as she turned her head away. Once the pintsized catastrophe was done with, everypony looked back at the bottle which had black smoke rising from the bottle around the cork.
"By the sweet golden sands, what in Tartarus was that" Sand Stalker demanded. The zebra blinked a few times in utter confusion at what had just happened.

"I…I do not know, but the reaction was not supposed to happen so" she told them.

"What was supposed to happen" Twilight asked.

"It was supposed to change hue, to tell us the purpose of the goo" she explained.
"Combustion was not my assumption" she murmured.

"So, do we know anything from that" the merc asked. Zecora took another look at the phial in her hoof and looked at the colour; it had gone from its ugly yellow/green to a dark and murky puke green/yellow that made the zebra want to throw up slightly. She uncorked it to try and get a better reading from it and took a-

"AH, NO! PUT IT BACK IN, PUT IT BACK IN" Sand Stalker told her, having clamped his hoof over his muzzle in an attempt to block the smell, but it had already gotten in, already invaded his nostrils with no intention of getting out again. Zecora was only too happy to oblige and slammed the cork back into the bottle, but it was too late; Fluttershy and Twilight had already dashed out of the room with speeds Rainbowdash would be proud of so they could get to the bathroom and then the toilet so they could spew their guts up. The zebra tried to hold her ground against the rising-no, she was already out of the room and in the bathroom, following Twilight and Fluttershy in the great Equestria pastime that was throwing up. After fifteen minutes of the sounds of heaving coming from the white-tiled room, the three mares trotted wobbly back into the room, Fluttershy still a bit green, and sat wearily down again. "So…you were saying" the mercenary asked quietly. The zebra swallowed slightly before she answered.

"I…I am not sure, nothing like this has ever happened before. For as long as I have used this potion, has it caused such a commotion" she told them "the colour, the smell…this hasn't gone well."

"Noted" the merc muttered "but do you have any idea about what all this is all about; the boils, the puss inside and this temperature…I've been around a bit but I've never seen anything like this" he told them, shaking his head slowly. Twilight scratched her head slightly, silently agreeing with the merc. Zecora looked the assassin up and down, the wound on his side holding her attention most before she looked back at the phial in her hoof; she didn't recognise the colour, puke green hadn't been one of the colours her mother had told her about when she'd taught her the identifier, but green tended to mean that whatever the reactant was healing or at least un-harmful to the pony. That said, the yellow hue troubled her, seeing as it tended to mean that whatever was in the substance was acidic. Healing and acidic? How does that work? Blood Moon wasn't moving, his breathing was deep and heavy but didn't seem strained, that said, his temperature hadn't gone down at all, he still sweated heavily and his wound was still badly infected, or whatever the sores were. She ran a hoof over her face, not knowing what to do with the dark stallion.

"What should we do with him" Fluttershy asked from his side. She put her hoof over the stallion's fore-head, feeling the heat radiating from him, and decided something needed to be done with him in order to keep him from dying.

"Leave him be for now, there's nothing we can do for him when we don't even know what's wrong with him" Sand Stalker said, retiring to his seat. Twilight wanted to argue with the mercenary but couldn't think of an argument, they really didn't know what was up with the stallion so there was nothing they could do for him right now. With a deep breath through her nose, Twilight nodded slightly and rested on the bed next to Fluttershy and Blood Moon. Zecora scratched the back of her head unsurely, her Mohawk shifting with her movements, and took a deep breath in though; the stallion's condition troubled her, but what troubled her more was that she didn't know what his condition actually was; it sort of got on her nerves.

"I agree" she told them "bit I'd like to take some of this with me, to try and find out what it's all about" she said. None of them offered an argument as she burst a few of the boils and set the contents into a few empty bottles found in her saddle bag. She spotted Twi and Fluttershy's grim looks and gave them a reassuring smile. "Do not fret, I don't think his condition is much of a threat" she told them before trotting over and putting a reassuring hoof on the Pegasus's shoulder. "Simply do as I said" she told them, gesturing at the potion resting on the bedside table "and you'll soon wake up the sleepyhead" she told them, patting the mare's shoulder softly before she stood up and left them.

After a small while in silence, Twilight spoke up.

"So, what do we do" she asked everypony, yet nopony. Sand Stalker was sat on his chair, his head propped up with his left fore-hoof and his face set in a look of frustration. Fluttershy was lying next to Blood Moon, or at least as close as she could get with his temperature, and Twilight was sat close by him, sat on her haunches. Before long everypony else had come back up the stairs, asking what was going on and how Blood Moon was fairing. She answered their questions with a tired voice, avoiding Pinkie's query about what all the heaving sounds had been about earlier.

When night came again, little more had changed; Blood Moon was still unconscious, Fluttershy and Twilight hadn't left his side, Sand Stalker was still quiet, the rest of the elements of harmony were quiet with worry and Scootaloo was still next to him, though she kept her distance at Twilight's recommendation. It was an unnatural silence that took hold of Fluttershy's cottage, so much so that the critters had come upstairs to investigate the lack of noise; Angle Bunny padded over to 'Shy, sitting next to her and rubbing her head comfortingly, before Fluttershy grabbed him and snuggled down with him, glad for some comforting company. Hunter had flapped off the bedpost and landed next to Twilight, who petted his head as he cooed softly at her. Twilight moved next to Blood Moon on the bed, beside Fluttershy, Angel and Scootaloo, the four of them soon falling asleep.

Celestia's eye fluttered open and her mind unscrambled. The task took her awhile, having drunk almost half her own weight in booze and having, from what she could only guess, a pretty rough night last night. She sat up, her alcohol stricken mind and body making it hard on her. As she raised herself, she felt something holding her down; she grumbled slightly and looked down at what was preventing her from getting up, she supposed it was her sheets tangled or something, but what she found was her sister, princess Luna laying down with a satisfied smile on her face as she cuddled her sister lovingly. Celestia smiled slightly at the image before she realised what it entailed; her sister was sleeping with her, suggesting she hadn't gone to night-

'Oh, by the sun' she thought when she remembered what had happened last night; it was fuzzy, unclear and she wasn't sure if her mind was playing tricks on her. She looked around for evidence pointing to what might have happened last night; the sheets were strewn around and sweaty, upon closer inspection she found a few tears in them and stains she didn't like the looks of on them; the air around them didn't smell right, it wasn't clean and was heavy with a scent she'd never want to smell in a position like this. She threw the covers off of her and took a look at her body; sweat cast a shimmer over her body and made her stink of perspiration, but she'd take BO over the stench of sex any day; her hooves were caked in a sticky, almost invisible fluid but with a dainty lick, it was clear that it was marehood lubrication; she noticed the taste lingering on her tongue, she swirled her saliva around her mouth and got a taste for what it was, and it all became clear as to what was in her mouth.

With a heavy blush she pulled away from her sister, struggling free from her Luna's fore-hooves and standing up, backing away from the bed. Luna had apparently felt her sister's escape and woke up with her, blinking her eyes open against the bright glow of the moon. Luna yawned deeply as she stretched her fore and hind legs out, a few cracks sounding as she did. The princess of the night grumbled slightly to herself as she woke up, rubbing the sand from her eyes before she spotted her sister stood beside the bed, smiling kindly upon slight of her.

"Morning Tia" she greeted. Celestia smiled unsteadily at Luna's salutation and didn't offer a reply.

"L-Luna…why are you in my bed" the white mare asked uneasily. Luna's expression dropped slightly.

"I…take it you don't remember what…happened last night" Luna mumbled. Celestia swallowed timidly.

"Oh…I remember alright." The darker mare looked at the lighter one, wondering if her remembering was a good thing or a bad thing. "Luna…last night…did you…" When she trailed off, Luna couldn't help but feel just a little insulted when she said 'you'.

"It was more of an 'us' sort of thing. Hay, you started it" she argued. Celestia put a stern look on her face, aimed at her sister.

"You let it happen, do you realise what this could mean if anypony found out about this, our reputation would be ruined, if anypony found out about the two of us doing something like that, they'd have the worst kind of blackmail on us, and there'd be nothing we could do about it" she exclaimed, pacing back and forth throughout her rant.

"Well don't act like this is just my fault, you're the one who started kissing me!" Celestia rounded on Luna.

"And you're telling me you couldn't stop yourself! Couldn't stop me? Luna, I was drunk and under the influence of some kind of…"

"It was a love potion gone wrong" Luna spat. "Or don't you remember that either?" Celestia narrowed her eyes.

"Yes, actually, I do. One of the ones that inflames the loins?"

"Or turns you into a whorse, as you so eloquently put last night" Luna retorted. The princess of the night had stud up now, standing chest to chest with her sister, both snarling into each other's face.

"Are you accusing me of being a whorse" Celestia demanded. She kept her voice low and threatening, hissing her words out violently but calmly.

"There's no accusing about it" Luna shouted, her voice on the opposite end of the angry-scale. "You have no idea about the way you were acting last night, do you" the darker mare demanded "because if you did, you'd know that you're more at fault here than me!" Celestia's expression went patronising, her eyebrow raised with it.

"Oh, really? Care to elaborate, dear sister?" Luna snorted, the blast of air visible through her muzzle.

"Oh, proof you're after, huh" she asked as she started trotting around her sister, Celestia watching as her sister went in circles around her. "How's about all the times I tried to get to night court, but you insisted I stay." She trotted around Tia, swaying her flank in a display of visual sarcasm. "Or maybe, the nice leprechaun living inside your liquor cabinet" she growled into Celestia's face, pointing her hoof at said cabinet. "Or how about 'it's my pussy" she mimicked, slurring her words "it's mah hoof. I'll do what I want with 'em'?" Celestia was now blushing, and refusing to make eye contact with Luna as she continued to remind her what she'd done last night. Luna continued to list what Celestia had done last night; it was supposed to be common knowledge that Luna and Celestia were 'co-rulers' but anypony who knew anything about politics knew that Celestia was the dominate sister between the two, and at the top of the food chain in Equestria; she answered to nopony and nopony told her when she'd done wrong. This was her chance to turn the tables on her, let her know what it felt like to have somepony on top of you.

'Bad choice of words Luna' the princess of night thought.

Luna rounded on Celestia quickly, in an attempt to hide her sudden blush, and continued with her rant. "Piss blind drunk and horny as buck, perhaps" she asked, pointing a hoof at Tia. "Or maybe my favourite; when you told me to clean off your hoof, which was covered in your juices I might add, just so I could get you to tell me about Blood Moon" she blurted. Celestia raised an eyebrow and Luna, once more trying to claw back the words, clamping her hooves to her maw.

"Blood Moon" Celestia repeated, looking down in thought before she snapped her gaze up and locked it on a suddenly scared Luna. "I remember" she mumbled before her expression hardened "you knew where he was" she asked, her eyes narrowed.

"Celestia-"

"YOU KNEW WHERE HE WAS AND YOU DIDN'T TELL ME!" She roared in the Canterlot voice, blowing the air around Luna and whipping her mane and tail around her.

"Tia, listen to me-" Celestia pounced and pinned the princess of the night down. Although, unlike last night, the darker princes was more terrified than simply uncomfortable.

"DON'T CALL ME TIA AT A TIME LIKE THIS" she roared, Luna's face getting blown around from the force "HOW COULD YOU NOT TELL ME YOU KNEW WHERE HE WAS!" Luan suddenly got angry and threw the princess of day off of her, rolling to her hooves.

"YOU'RE ONE TO TALK" she retorted once Celestia had landed on her hooves "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU KNEW WHERE HE WAS" she demanded. Celestia snarled at her as they advanced until their muzzles were pushed up against each other.

"Because I knew you wouldn't be able to handle it" she answered. Luna snarled back.

"I'm not a filly anymore Celestia" she told her sister savagely "I can take whatever you can take" she barked. Celestia sneered, an ugly expression on a pretty face that did no good for her looks.
"Ha, little Luna thinks she can take old uncle Blood coming back" she laughed, hurting Luna deep in her chest "don't you remember Lu-Lu" she asked, using the pet name mockingly "you already told me you spoke to him in his dreams" she said, leading back and prodding Luna's head, causing the dark mare to cringe slightly. Celestia trotted away, shaking her head. "Get ready to lower the moon you silly filly, we'll talk more on this later." Luna gaped.

"WHAT" she roared in the Canterlot voice. "HOW DARE YOU TALK TO ME IN SUCH A FASHION!" Celestia turned back to her sister to find her cantering up to her. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO SPEAK TO ME IN SUCH A FASHION" she told her sister, jabbing her in the chest with her hoof. Celestia grabbed her hoof in her own when she went to pull back and put her face in Luna's.

"No right? I'll tell you what my right is; my RIGHT is that when you start acting like a filly, I'LL DAMN WELL TREAT YOU LIKE ONE!" Luna raised an eyebrow of her own.

"Acting like a filly? How, pray tell, am I acting like a filly?"

"Because" Celestia seethed "I told you, I. Damn. Well. TOLD you, NOT to let him TALK. When I told you to try and find him, I ordered you, not to let him speak. And it was for precisely this reason, because I knew you wouldn't be able to take it, I knew you wouldn't be able to keep him out of your head you FOOL!" Luna's hoof struck the ground so hard the marble flooring cracked and splinted.

"You 'told' me? You 'ordered' me" she asked. Luna turned away, and started shaking; Celestia, from her angle, thought her sister was crying but when she turned back she found that Luna hadn't been crying. She'd been enraged. "You. Don't. Tell. Me." Luna's neck twitched as an unfathomable amount of rage bubbled beneath the surface. "ANYTHING" she bellowed, the sheer power of her voice throwing a few of the guards around the palace off of their hooves. "I AM PRINCESS LUNA, PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT AND YOU DO NOT RULE ME!"

"You dare defy me sister, do not think yourself above treason Luna" she hissed. Luna glared.

"Don't you even realise what this is sister? This is you're inability to take responsibility for your actions! YOU got drunk! YOU drank the love potion! YOU let slip that you knew where Blood Moon was. This is on YOUR head Tia, not mine!" Celestia rolled her eyes.

"Bull shit, if you hadn't been such a whorse last night this wouldn't have-" she didn't get any further before Luna slapped her.

"You know I hate being called a whorse Celestia" Luna told her with tears threatening to spill. Celestia rolled her eyes again, rubbing her cheek where Luna had struck her. She didn't let it show but it hurt like buck.
"Oh, grow up Luna" she told her sister. Luna growled.

"'Grow up'" she demanded "you're the one who needs to grow up. You can't see that you have some kind of problem, do you? You can't see past your own royal snout that you're at fault here and that this all happened because of you! You keep trying to pass blame onto me, not for the first time, and it's all because you can't see that it's your fault! You can't see that although I may have…gone along with you, it was you who convinced me with your…talk of clopping on the moon and not having any company in more than a millennia. Why can't see that you seduced me Tia?" Celestia snorted dismissively.

"Because it wasn't me who went along with it, now do as I say and-" Luna had tried to strike her sister again, but the white mare caught it out of the air. When Luna tried to pull back Celestia wouldn't let her, her eyes half lidded in laid back rage before she pulled her in and slammed her fore-head into the bridge of Luna's nose and sent her stumbling back, blood leaking from her muzzle and tears falling from her eyes. "Do as you're told Luna, and NEVER try to strike me again, else you'll have much longer to get to know your hooves" she told her. Her voice was emotionless and as cold as the void, her tone commanding and damning. Luna stood again.

"So that's it, huh? I put a hoof out of line, back to the moon" she said, making motions with her hoof to show her flying back there. Celestia stood straight, taller, further exerting her authority and superiority over her little sister. Luna put a hoof to her muzzle and checked for blood, finding it on her hoof when she pulled it back. She looked back at her sister, sniffled a few times before she turned and galloped for the door, unwilling to let the tears spill just yet.

When she got into her room, the princess of the night slammed the door shut and held it closed with her body as she started to bawl her eyes out, cantering for the bed and leaping onto it, pulling Ursa-teddy over to her and sobbing into her hooves. She almost managed to hold her sobs down and stay quiet but she soon felt her wails ripping through her system as she sobbed louder than seemed possible, her sobs rang through the whole castle, prompting more concerned looks from the guards and staff as her sobs rang through the halls of the grand palace. Luna didn't want to be alone right now, she wanted somepony to be with her.

She wanted her foalsitter.

Author's Note

Despite the fact that you're all figments of my imagination, as I am a figment of yours, I present to you chapter Blackjack, my favourite number of the whole alphabet.

Weren't you gonna ask them something?

Quiet voices, I'm getting to it. Since this marks the point of an upturn for the quality of Assassin's Song (He means after this chapter) I was hoping one of you out there could me the tremendous favour of drawing Blood Moon. I'd do it myself only-

You have no talent in drawing.

...

What?

This is my disapproval face. Get to know it.

I'm a figment of your imagination faffy, I can't see you face.

...

Productive faffer out

Healing wounds

Chapter twenty two: Healing wounds

"Welp, we're here again" Blood Moon observed as he looked around. He was indeed, here again; a vast, endless nothingness of darkness and shadows. The fact that this was his mind said a lot about the assassin; there was nothing and nopony here, loneliness incarnate. He took to trotting forwards, the sounds of his hoofsteps echoing throughout the void like thunder, exploding in his ears from every angle at once; he kept trotting for what seemed to be an eternity, though he seemed to cover no ground, and came across nothing. This, it seemed, would be one of his ventures into the depths of his mind that would be more lonesome than others; normally he would converse with a voice or something along the lines of that, now however…

Something came at the assassin from the distance, a shape of some sort; as the assassin stayed at the same pace, the shape increased its speed, rapidly getting closer and closer to the assassin from a seemingly endless distance until they finally met; it was a broken piece of time, the floor fractured and split, floorboards fractured and split, crumbling off but hanging in the air, as though an untrained hoof had tried to surgically remove this scene from history; it was Blood Moon, stood before Nocturnal in a rotten wood room, the furniture covered in mould, the walls sagging and close to collapsing. It was the assassin's first meeting with the king of darkness, when he'd first approached the immortal assassin in a bid to recruit him to the Illuminating Night uprising. The dark stallion remembered the conversation as though he'd had it yesterday.

"Assassin" the dark, tall stallion started. Blood Moon froze as he rummaged through the bag he'd kept beneath the bed containing all of his assassin equipment; a simple arsenal that consisted of a simple iron short sword, rusty and a little chipped in places. Ten years of practically no work would do that to your weapons. Alongside that was simple, thick black leather armour that covered his body, as well as his trade-mark black hood and a few throwing knives.

"Yes" he asked as he pushed the satchel further under the rotting cradle. Nocturnal didn't alter his stance one bit, in fact he seemed to be barely moving at all; not breathing, not moving his eyes, not even blinking.

"I trust you know who I am" he stated. Blood Moon cocked his head and observed the mysterious stallion closer; his mane and tail appeared to be liquid darkness, cascading over his neck and flank, it was dark purple, almost as dark as the night sky, and was thick and wavy; his fur was truly midnight blue, twinkling stars all over his wings, horn and fur, spanning from his cutie-mark of a full moon, the north star and a scattering of other random sparks of light covering him; on his chest was deep grey armour, a jewel in the centre matching the purple of his mane. The armour was dented and scared, but not heavily so. Blood Moon simply shrugged.

"Your face looks familiar, have I threatened you before?" Nocturnal let a ghost of a smile find his face, though it was gone before the assassin could decide whether it was a trick of the light or not.

"My name is Nocturnal" 'Nocturnal' told the assassin "lord Nocturnal" he added. "Blood Moon, isn't it?" The assassin didn't react to this stallion's knowledge; not a breath nor a blink.

"It is" he answered plainly before he turned back to his satchel. "Five hundred gold a head, price goes up if they're expecting company and special requests are to be arranged and negotiated" he recited. Behind him, Nocturnal chuckled.

"You think I need you to kill somepony, colt" he asked, slight insult in his voice. To that, Blood Moon did react; he stopped moving, tensed, his hoof going for his weapon and a snarl finding his lips.

"How old are you" he demanded. Nocturnal cocked his head.

"Pardon-"

"How. Old." Nocturnal raised an eyebrow and smirked.

"Twelve hundred and nineteen" he answered with a slightly smug tint to his voice. Blood Moon answered the smugness with more anger, gritting his teeth and growling slightly as he moved his hoof away from the metal.

"There aren't many who can claim to be older than me" he told the alicorn before he turned and faced him, looking him dead in the eye "and be honest about it." He gazed into the tall pony's eye; ambition, arrogance, but a desire for order and serenity. A sense of duty and purpose, but wariness and caution. A soldier of a king, this Alicorn.

"What are you doing" Nocturnal requested, more demanded. Blood Moon narrowed his eyes at the stallion, before he smirked back.

"Wouldn't you like to know" he retorted. Blood Moon went for the window and peered out of it; the streets made of bubble-gum cobblestone were being traversed by many a miserable looking pony, earth, Pegasi and Unicorn alike. Gone were the days when the unicorns sat in their castles, the Pegasi in their barracks and training grounds while the earth ponies worked the fields. The union of the three tribes that faithful day when Commander Hurricane, Chancellor Puddinghead and Princess Platinum had put aside their differences and come together to survive had brought peace and equality to their new homeland. But the arrival of Discord had brought only anarchy to the land of Equestria; he'd kept the name, as to spit in their faces and give them one last ray of sunshine in a deadly and never-ending storm. "Why are you here" he demanded. Behind the assassin, Nocturnal glared at him; he detested being spoken down to, or finding a whelp like this assassin that tried to treat him like an equal.

"Watch your tongue colt, and remember who you're talking to" he growled. Blood Moon rounded on the pony of night.

"And just who am I talking to? A failed stallion, that's who! A king without a kingdom, without a castle nor a crown!" Blood Moon squared up to Nocturnal, putting his face into the taller stallion's. "I know about you colt, I know all about you and your beloved" his glare went deeper. "You. Are. Nothing. A hopeless king with dreams never to be realised, a mare at your side you want nothing more than to crown with you" he gestured outside "a stallion who wants nothing more than to sew order into a field of chaos. Noble goals, with immoral ends in mind" he spat. "Arrogance and ambition; both are too deeply rooted within you to give you even a glimmer of hope." Blood Moon snarled, letting his eyes narrow further for a second before he backed off again. "Our business is concluded. Until you can find an ounce of dignity to show; until you can prove to me that you're-" Nocturnal's hoof flashed, aimed at Blood Moon's jaw, but a thousand years of training would naturally leave you with reactions fast enough to dodge lightening; the assassin caught the strike against his fore-leg, a dull 'thud' sounding with the connection between the two. Nocturnal glared and his other hoof moved; his right pulled back as his left jabbed forwards, Blood Moon catching it in the same hoof he'd used to block the first. The Alicorn pushed against the block, Blood Moon pushed back and the two didn't change in their position. "Like I said" Blood Moon started "a failed stallion. You see yourself as above me, don't you? Tell me; why is your head shoved so far up your ass?" Nocturnal snarled once more.

"Crude. Childish. You don't deserve the title 'assassin', colt, and never will you. What's more, a king does not explain himself to the likes of you" Nocturnal told the assassin. Blood Moon smirked at him.

"Then it's a good job you're not a king then, isn't it" he said. Nocturnal flinched as though struck.

"Well I'm still a damn sight better than what you are; you are nothing but an assassin, with no place in this world, with no statute, no home, no friends and no family. I have all of these things and more; I have a loving family, a stable home, the likes of you are to address me by lord Nocturnal! Do you have any idea what I could have done to-"

"Husband. Enough" a kinder, much more gentle voice said. Nocturnal looked to where the voice had come from, finding a hoof on his shoulder, midnight blue, leading to bronze, to copper to white.

The hoof of Illumination. A perfect example of beauty if there had ever been one; a stunning face and body, of impossibly pretty colours and proportions. Blood Moon would have paid more attention to her curves, only he was in the company of her husband and it was sheer principle that he respected their vows. Her mane and tail were the same colour combination as here furs; the midnight blue hairs at the tips of her mane and tail had sparks of white similar to that of Nocturnal's, which lead to the light copper that faded to pure white that made you think of something that was white with heat rather than something like pure virgin snow. Around her neck was a golden necklace with a ruby in the centre. On her forehead was her horn, the colour following her fur, only lacking the colours of night. Her wings looked more like flames, flickering and curling in a strong breeze, no individual feathers palpable to the eye, instead they looked like one big one. On her flank was a tightly twisting symbol of the sun, blue at the outer edges, once again, following her colour patterns by turning to white in the centre. Her eyes were pale red, calm and kind but were deeper, much more thoughtful than most.

"Illumination as well" the assassin observes. The mare of light smiles at him, the room brightening up with her expression.

"Blood Moon" she greets with a slight bow. Blood Moon, deciding he liked this mare, returned her manners with a shallow bow of his own. "Forgive my husband's…lack of proper etiquette. He is simply nervous." Nocturnal tried to glare at his wife, but just couldn't bring himself to do so. Instead it just came out as a lovelorn gaze. The assassin smirked.

'Stuck in the trap of love, it seems. Not so tough around Illumination are we? A weakness if I ever saw one.'

"Illumination, you need not apologise for me" he said gently. He then turned to Blood Moon.
"Especially to the likes of him" he hissed at the assassin. Illumination didn't change her expression or stance at all, but what did change was the air around her and the atmosphere in the room; it darkened, got much heavier, and, put simply, got much more intimidating around the Queen of light.

"Nocturnal, need I remind you that the stallion before us is the only pony in Equestria, the only being that we know of in the world, that can help us." That caught Blood Moon's interest; he trotted over to a close-to-collapsing table that was his business desk, which doubled as his dinner table, and sat at it, resting his head on his hooves. He used one of his hooves to offer the spare chair to either Alicorn; Illumination sat across from him while Nocturnal stood behind her.

"So…why exactly are you here" he asked. Nocturnal answered, his voice harder and more business-like.

"We are here with a proposition" he told Blood Moon. The assassin cocked his head. A lord and lady at his door with an offer? That had peaked his interest, if his greed.

"What kind of proposition?"

"As you very likely know, or at least I'd hope you do, there is a threat of war lingering in the air." A grin found Blood Moon's face.

"So, the rumours are true then? The Illuminating Night uprising really does exist" he observed "and sat before me are its architects" he paused, his eyes jumping between the two "I wonder how Discord would reward me if I brought him your heads" he pondered aloud. Nocturnal stood straighter, his eyes narrowed in hatred as his horn began to glow. Illumination turned her head back to him slightly.

"Nocturnal, please" she implored. The Alicorn of darkness didn't stop building up the magic in his horn.

"Darling, he's just threatened to turn us in for our bounty. Do you really trust him not to follow through with that kind of threat? Greed can be a very powerful motivator" he told his wife.

"I understand your concern, but if you'd take a moment to take stock of our situation you'd notice he's been sat there watching us throughout our whole conversation, waiting for a chance to speak" she told him. Nocturnal turned his gaze to Blood Moon, who was, indeed, watching the two of them with a bemused interest. He narrowed his eyes at the assassin.

"Speak" he ordered.

"But the simple truth is that I'm stubborn and spiteful and although I may have told myself that I won't be killing Discord anytime soon, I also hold no loyalty towards him, nor do I owe him anything. So I won't be turning you in" he revealed, the slightly smug grin on his face aimed at Nocturnal. Nocturnal narrowed his eyes slightly further, but killed the glow in his horn, while Illumination's smile went kinder.

"Thank you. I appreciate how somepony living like this would be tempted to turn us in" she told him. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Either way, my question is yet to be answered. Why have you come to my place of business and home?" Nocturnal grunted.

"Because of what you just said; you call this hole your home" he asked as he looked around the decrepit apartment. "Even I can respect your ability and skills as an assassin, yet you live in a dump like this? You called me a failed king, and you're right, but me and my wife live in a castle in the Everfree. Not the best location, I admit, but the general comforts and luxuries owned by this 'failed king' are well worth it" he answered. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Are you trying to win me over by boasting at me?" Illumination shook her head.

"Please, hear us out. We offer you a roof over your head, decent food and drink" she glanced at the satchel beneath the bed "weapons and armour not made of rust and broken leather, if you desire. Station in this world" she listed. Blood Moon leaned back in his seat as he considered this half of the proposition.

"That's a lot of honey" he said with an interested grin. Before long, however, his smile dropped and his eyes narrowed. "Where's the bee" he asked with suspicion in his tone. Both Illumination and Nocturnal smiled slightly, apparently glad that he hadn't been swayed purely by offers of a better life, that he'd thought about this, that he was paranoid.

"Very good" Nocturnal muttered.

"Yes, our half of the bargain. Tell me Blood Moon; are you familiar with protection details?" The dark stallion crossed his fore-legs.

"I've been trained to protect ponies, places and objects under a number of circumstances" he told them with a shrug. Illumination, to his surprise, shook her head.

"I…doubt you've been taught how to do what we'll be asking, or at least half of our offered job" she told him. Blood Moon made a thinking face.

"Alright, let's quit beating around the bush; what's the job?" It was at that point Illumination and Nocturnal glanced at each other, caution and wariness in their expressions; a silent conversation going on between them in a language only husband and wife could have a hope of understanding. With a sigh, they seemed to mutually agree on something, and Blood Moon was beginning to get very intrigued. Could it be that they hadn't been beating around the bush earlier, could they have been stalling instead, seemingly unwilling to broach this subject?

"The reason we're here, is because you have the potential to become instrumental to our plan" Nocturnal told him.

"Really" Blood Moon murmured. Nocturnal nodded and looked to his wife.

"Show him" he said. Illumination's horn started to glow, the copper/bronze sparking up in a flowing pattern of the three colours, and an image materialized from the thin air. Upon it, the coloured flash-sketch representation of a filly, pink mane and tail with white fur, sat on a plush seat, smiling broadly. The stone cold, rock hard assassin did have to admit, she was apocalyptically adorable. "Our child" the Alicorn of darkness said, stating the obvious but unavoidable.

"Okay" Blood Moon said at oblivious length.

"Our plan is as follows" Illumination started before she faltered and changed the subject "but you must understand; we are taking a very large, and potentially fatal, risk by telling you this." Blood Moon nodded his understanding. "We are going to wage war against Discord and his forces; the ponies of Equestria will have somepony to back and gather behind, us, but we can't risk them suspecting us of tyranny." The assassin frowned.

"Tyranny" he repeated "how so?" Nocturnal answered.

"It's a viable threat that some of the ponies of Equestria will see our rebellion as an attempt for me and my wife to take power purely for ourselves. I can assure you Blood Moon, our intentions are purely, as well as strictly, honourable, but not everypony will see it like we do. It is for that reason, we are not fighting Discord to take the throne for ourselves; we plan to take it for our child, Celestia." Blood Moon could suddenly see where this was going. Illumination picked up.

"As you can probably guess, having a foal on the battlefield isn't exactly good parenting. That is why we are both; in the final stages of completing a palace in Canterlot to house her, and are looking for a bodyguard to protect her." Blood Moon couldn't suppress the un-amused grin.

"You mean foalsitter, not bodyguard" he corrected. Illumination shrugged.

"If you want to call it that" she conceded. Blood Moon leaned forwards and looked at the two incredulously.

"So let me get this straight" he said with doubt in his tone "you're going to wage a war on the aspect of disharmony in an effort to push him off his throne, but for your plan to work, in your eyes that is, you need an heir to take said throne when this war is done with, your daughter Celestia. But, through your strategizing you've developed a weakness, in that your new-born can't look after herself, so you're hiring myself to protect her and change her diaper" he explained to himself. Illumination nodded her head.

"Yes, that is, in a nutshell, our plan" she confirmed. Blood Moon considered his options carefully; put simply, he was living in a dump and was getting tired of being treated like a piece of dirt whenever he tried to find work so he didn't really have any options, which made things pretty simple. His eyes went back to the alicorns.

"I trust Hurricane, Puddinghead and Platinum are behind you" he said. Nocturnal nodded.

"Yes, they support our daughter's claim to the throne, and the three tribes will fight for us" he answered. Blood Moon stroked his chin in thought before he shrugged and hopped out of his seat, trotting towards his bed and satchel, slinging the bag over his back and turning back to them.

"Alright, I'm in."

As the parts of the day Blood Moon had deemed important and committed to memory drew to a close, the assassin took a single breath. That day had been the fateful day that had changed his life. More than once he'd wondered what might have happened if he'd made another decision that day; if he'd turned them down, sold them out to Discord or killed them outright for discovering his hideout.

"Do you ever regret making that decision?" Blood Moon looked to his left and found the outline of a pony; just the grey line that revealed his body, there was no somatotype, no details to make out a race not even a mane or tail. Just the outline of a generic pony. Blood Moon looked at the quickly decaying scene of his past, watching it crumble into nothingness.

"Never" he answered. The simple attempt at a physical representation of the voice in Blood Moon's head did nothing to acknowledge the answer, instead it just followed the assassin with his head as he trotted past.

"Are you quite sure that's the truth, Blood Moon." Said dark stallion didn't look at the detail-less pony as he came up besides him, matching his pace.

"Yes. You know I don't regret Black Star" Blood Moon retorted.

"Be that as it may, you've been living in the shadows for ten thousand years now, and the only reason you won't kill Celestia, nor Luna, is because of the four thousand years you knew them?" To that, Blood Moon did react; he stopped trotting and rounded on the outline.

"No, not four thousand years of knowing them; four thousand years of raising them, protecting them, teaching them. Of me being their father, and them my children. I can't just erase that from my memory." The outline cocked its head, and Blood Moon could tell it was smirking at him.

"You can't wipe out the last ten thousand years of Celestia hunting you down, either." Blood Moon narrowed his eyes, snarled a lip and raised his hoof to strike his avatar of madness, but with a short growl he lowered his limb and turned away again.

"Ten thousand years is a long time. Those years weren't just spent with me trying to evade Celestia. I had a wife, foals. A family." Blood Moon's voice was suddenly depressed. "Ten thousand years can't be spent just performing contracts. I spent some of the best years of my life as a fugitive" he paused for a second, taking a breath and hanging his head "as well as all of the worst" he finished with a sigh before he started trotting again. The voice didn't say anything, instead it just watched as he went.
"You wouldn't give up your flesh and blood, nor your beloved. But you'd so readily leave Celestia and L- AHG!" The voice didn't get any further before Blood Moon had gripped him by the throat and lifted him up off of his hooves, a deadly growl on his face.

"I could argue this point, only someTHING of your station isn't worth my time" he growled. The voice spluttered and gasped for air it didn't need.

"No. You-you won't argue the p-point, because you know I'm right." Blood Moon's snarl became more viscous as he tightened his grip and crushed the outline's windpipe, neck muscles and finally the spine. Or he would have, were his victim a real pony. As it were, however, the outline simply faded into mist and flittered away, slipping through Blood Moon's hoof. "You know I'm right."

"And you know I'm gonna shove your head up your ass the next time I find you" the dark stallion barked. The voice's laugh echoed for a while as it faded into the distance. "Dick" the assassin muttered. Blood Moon sighed heartily and restarted his trotting, knowing from experience that when he could feel his body in this void there was nothing better to do. Blood Moon's trotting took him far, yet as before, no distance seemed to be covered. After a while, however, he suddenly heard the sounds of hooves on cobblestone, that annoying 'click-clack' that repeated itself so insistently. Blood Moon hated cobblestone, he sometimes felt that whoever had invented the stuff either had some kind of grudge with him, or was a diabolical mastermind, living inside an active volcano somewhere with the intent of destroying Equestria by annoying one of its most powerful inhabitants to such a degree he'd snap and go on a murder bender. Blood Moon paused in his movements suddenly.

'I have gotta lay off the cider.'

The age old assassin shook his head, both at his rather ridiculous thoughts and in an effort to chase said thoughts away. As he kept trotting, he began to notice something about the cobblestone, namely; the fact that there was cobblestone. He stopped and looked around, finding himself in a courtyard of some sort. He'd gone and stumbled into another memory.

Blood Moon, Nocturnal and Illumination trotted through the near-complete courtyard of the nearly-nearly-completed Canterlot palace. The assassin of the trio was dressed in a much more…sanitary garb than when he'd been living in the depths of Manehatten; now he was dressed in a black fur cloak, fine brown leathers going over his chest, a black hood draped across the back of his neck and a sword that could actually cut through hot butter hung from his waist, rather than one made of rust that had trouble cutting through hot air.

"Impressive" he muttered as he looked around the close to completed palace. Nocturnal nodded.

"Indeed. Some of the finest architects, engineers, stylists and designers came together to create this masterpiece of luxury, style and security, at full strength, Discord himself wouldn't stand a chance of breaching these walls" he said proudly. The assassin nodded and slowed his steps with Nocturnal and Illumination until they'd stopped.

"I don't doubt it" he answered "will the two of you be staying here too?" Nocturnal shook his head.

"No, we're going to stay in our palace in the Everfree forest. To Discord, this will be little more than a stronghold, because of that, we're hoping he'll focus his efforts on attacking us rather than you and Celestia." The assassin nodded his understanding.

"Clever. And if he does attack this palace?" Illumination turned to him.

"That's why you're here" she answered.

"And if I fail?" Illumination narrowed her eyes, though unlike Nocturnal, it actually made the assassin pause for thought.

"You won't though, will you" she told him. Blood Moon narrowed his own eyes.

"I won't make any promises" he told her "I can't bring her back from the land of the dead, and I've never even thought I'd find myself in this kind of situation. I'm not a foalsitter, not a bodyguard, I'm an assassin. I kill" he finished, his point made. Illumination put her face in his.

"I suppose I should tell you Blood Moon; should you fail, should my daughter die. I. Will. Destroy you" she hissed, a side Blood Moon had been waiting to come out revealing itself. The assassin grinned.

"I'd like to see you try" he retorted. Illumination straightened up again, the air about her getting lighter once again. The dark stallion had to wonder if she was doing that with magic or not.

"To be honest Blood Moon, I don't think you'll fail; with such a fearless nature, I doubt you'd let anypony get close to her anyway" she told him. Nocturnal cleared his throat, both pony's attention going to him.

"Now that that's out of the way, I hope we can get back to business" he said as he resumed trotting, heading for the main door to the palace. The assassin nodded and followed in his wake, Illumination coming up behind before she got to Nocturnal's side.

"So, where is she? Celestia I mean" Blood Moon asked.

"She should be being taken around the palace, given a tour of her new home" Nocturnal answered.

"Does she know anything about me" the assassin asked. Illumination shook her head.

"No, all's she's been told is that we're looking for a new playmate for her." The assassin almost laughed.

"Playmate, huh? So, how old is she?" The mare of light smiled slightly.

"Seems you'll be able to ask her yourself, here she comes" she told them, nodding in the direction of the filly galloping towards them.

"Mama, daddy" the tiny white filly shouted excitedly as she rushed towards them, her little wings fluttering and her legs carrying her as fast as they could. She leapt into the air and should have crashed into Illumination, instead however, the queen of light caught her out of the air easily and held her against her chest lovingly. It was at this point the assassin noticed she didn't have a cutie mark yet.

"Hello Tia" Illumination giggled. They held each other for a few seconds before the mare gave her one final, loving squeeze and set her down, kissing her cheek lightly as she did. The image of a truly loving mother and daughter warmed Blood Moon's heart. The feeling made him want to snap a few necks to reclaim the masculinity that had escaped him, maybe do a few push ups. The pink mane and tailed filly then turned to her father.

"Hi dad-I mean, uh, h-how art thou father" she said hesitantly, suggesting she was still in the process of learning the 'upper class' tongue. Nocturnal smiled proudly.

"Evening Celestia, how are the lessons coming along?"

"Oh, uh, ye lessons art going fair, father" the tiny pony answered. She then noticed the other presence in the courtyard and turned to Blood Moon; upon sight of him her eyes widened and she dashed behind her mother's fore-legs, hiding from the assassin.

"M-momma, who's that" she asked shakily. Blood Moon, apparently un-amused, stood still as he kept his hard gaze on the filly. Illumination leaned down to her daughter looking behind her own legs.

"Well, why don't you come out and meet him?" Celestia whimpered slightly, retreated further behind her Illumination's legs and squeaked out a small 'mm-mm'. Illumination giggled slightly before she looked up at Blood Moon; she motioned him over to her, the assassin obliging and approaching cautiously. He rounded the mare until he could see beneath her and lowered his head to the filly's level and found her cowering a little.

"Hello" he said dumbly. The filly backed away from him in response. The assassin frowned and searched his memory for any training pertaining to this kind of situation; he didn't have a single thing, the closest thing he had was trying to relax a filly or colt that may have caught him in the act, and how to convince them to stay quiet. Not exactly useful in this situation. "What's your name" he asked quietly, just as scared of this situation as the filly was.

"M-m-my n-name is C-Celestia" she answered timidly. "W-who're you" she asked. The dark stallion gave a small half-smile to try and reassure her, although he doubted it did much good.

"My name is Blood Moon, little one" he replied, slowly getting more comfortable with this situation. "Tell me Celestia; how old are you?" She swallowed slightly but came out from behind her mother's legs, revealing her small body, pink mane and tail and her kind eyes.

"Uh, I-I'm six" she answered. Blood Moon cocked his and tried to smile kindly; he was fairly sure it hadn't come out as kind as he would have liked, but it likely go the point across.

"Six? And such an elegant young lady already? I'm impressed" he told her. The filly blushed lightly at the compliment and smiled in return, stepping further out from behind her mother's legs, finding the courage to approach the stallion.

'Relaxed and casual. Just how Silk Tongue taught me.'

"Thank you. How old are you" she asked.

"Celestia" Nocturnal scolded. Blood Moon ignored him.

"Oh, I'm pretty old. I'll bet you can't guess" he told her. Celestia grinned at the challenge.

"I'll bet I can" she retorted. Blood Moon chuckled and rested on his front.

"I'll give you three guesses" he told her. Illumination, meanwhile, had smiled happily and stepped away from the two, standing beside her husband and watching the two of them talk.

As Celestia was about to take her first guess, a stone grey furred and clay brown mane and tailed earth pony cantered out of the main door towards Celestia.

"Princess Celestia, there you are! Why did you wander off" he asked gently, though it was obvious he was annoyed with the filly. The small pony turned to the taller one.

"Because I saw mommy and daddy come home" she explained. The stallion frowned at her un-amusedly before he looked up at Nocturnal and Illumination and nodded his head at them.

"Yes, well, we must continue our tour" he told her. Celestia pouted at him.

"But I wanna guess how old Blood Moon is" she moaned. The stallion raised his eyebrow.

"Hey" the assassin greeted, waving a hoof. The architect looked the stallion disapprovingly up and down before he spoke.

"He's thirty, maybe twenty six, now come along." Blood Moon, meanwhile, had stood and shook his head.

"Wrong" he told the stallion.

"Thirty one th-"

"Hey, I'm guessing" Celestia exclaimed before Illumination broke it up.

"That's enough you three" Illumination said good humouredly, a small grin on her face "perhaps we can continue guessing while we finish our tour, hmm?" Blood Moon looked back and shrugged a shoulder.

"Sounds like a plan" he admitted as Celestia gained a grey glow and floated onto his back, her curious gaze turning to a grin when she figured out what was happening. The assassin, lord and lady, architect and filly all made for the door.

"So, you're not thirty" Celestia murmured. Blood Moon shook his head.

"No. Let me give you a clue; think more like you dad's age."

"You can't be THAT old" she told him. At that, Blood Moon did laugh, and he heard Illumination giggle at the comment while Nocturnal himself grumbled something.

"You shouldn't judge a book by its cover, Celestia. May that be your first lesson of life" the assassin said. Celestia nodded and hummed a small 'mm-hm' but it was clear she was too engrossed in trying to figure out how old he was to have heard properly.

Blood Moon grinned as the memory flickered out like a flame in the wind, soon dying; she never had guessed his age. Blood Moon sighed deeply, the outer corners of his eyes going down in sadness as he reviewed his abundance of memories with Celestia and Luna. His many, many memories of the two of them. He frowned as his instincts kicked in for some reason and he looked around, wondering why he was suddenly paranoid; he couldn't tell anypony, including himself, why but he started trotting away from the spot that had his hackles raised, galloping towards another piece of darkness that seemed much safer than his current one. He kept going, completely confused as to why he was doing this until he felt a sharp pain in his side, stumbling and losing his hoofing, falling face-first to the ground.

"Ow" he grumbled as he felt his features press into the blackness that was the floor of his mind.

Then he heard the sob.

Celestia glared at the doorway her sister had just galloped out of before she'd slammed the door and started to cry her eyes out. Celestia shook her head at her silly sister before she cringed as the pain in her cheek came back and she couldn't hold down her hoof as it rose to caress her sore face; Luna didn't know her strength at the best of times but when she was scared, angry or excited it sometimes got like she could win a tug of war against a bunch of fully grown dragons singled-hoofed.

Celestia suddenly noticed that the moon was still lingering on the horizon, waiting for the final push to be sent over the horizon, while her sun was waiting to rise properly as it loitered just below the skyline, its yellow glow peeking over. Celestia trotted over to her balcony with dignity, despite still dripping with sweat, love juice and splatterings of cum, and closed her eyes as she concentrated her magic on the massively complex, advanced and not to mention magically demanding spell. Her horn glowed and the princess of the day straightened up elegantly, her back arching and her horn rising as she conducted her magics through the sun and moon simultaneously, the moon dropping gracelessly as she pulled the sun up without much thought put into her method. She wasn't in the mood today. When Celestia was finished with her first job of the day, more exhausted than usual given that she hadn't had to lower the moon in a good while, she turned back into her chambers.

The white Alicorn trotted to her mirror and peered at herself; she was more dishevelled than she'd ever been before in her life, her mane completely out of whack, to such an extent that the flowing effect had ceased and there was more than one split end; her muzzle was plastered in an almost clear fluid, the liquid clinging stubbornly to her almost always pristine white fur, while her nose seemed to have joined in its antics. What she'd done to get it there she couldn't even guess. Her lips and tongue were sore, as if they'd been pretty occupied last night, but it wouldn't take Skulduggery to figure out why; even her horn was covered in sex juices, her forehead and mane around the area much damper than the rest of her body.

'Starswirl's beard, it looks like Molestia came out last night' she thought as she tried to wipe away some of the juices and cum with her hoof, to no avail; there was just too much of it. Celestia shook her head at her reflection, completely aware that this was pretty much exactly the same way she'd woken up yesterday: covered in cum and juices, stank of sex, completely frazzled and, not to mention, in desperate need of a shower. Deciding to take the path of sense, Celestia trotted for her suite and pushed into th-

"What in Tartarus" she gaped, her brow creased and her lower jaw hung a good foot below her upper jaw. Her personal bathroom, for whatever reason, was now home to around six washing lines, all of which had no small amount of G-strings and thongs hanging from them, all of which were twisted, wet, tangled up or somehow evidence to Celestia and Luna's 'activities' last night. Some were coloured to complement Celestia, others to complement Luna's, a few of them seemingly random colours and more than a few were leather or lacy. Celestia noticed one in particular that was made of tight, black leather, a zipper going down the centre to allow a stallion, or in some cases a mare, 'access'. The princess of the day then noticed that the mountain of underwear wasn't the only somewhat personal items of question in here; where her toothbrush should have been a pair of dildos were sat, her and Luna's personal, not to mention favourite, sex toys, a rather blunt and blush invoking gift from Blood Moon after their first heats; the other thing was the album filling amount of photos of the two of them during their various sexual pursuits last night. She couldn't bring herself to count them, but if she had to guess, she'd have to say there were at least sixty of them. Celestia's horn glowed and a few of the pictures floated to eye level; the positions her and Luna were in were eyebrow raising to say the least, not to mention they'd make her millions if she were to sell them. Shaking her head and pulling down the washing lines, removing the undies from the line and flinging them into the hamper, rolling up the string and setting it aside before she took the pair of rubber stallionhoods and placed them in their oak wooden box and locking it tight, before hiding it somewhere nopony would ever think to look, A.K.A under her bed. Celestia then gathered up the pictures scattered along the floor, suddenly wondering what they were doing in her bathroom, and placed them in one of the draws in her vanity, still mentally debating whether to burn them or keep them in a new album. Memories, after all.

Celestia stepped into her shower, turning the tap and letting the water blast down on her. She turned the pressure and heat up higher than usual, making sure it got rid of any leftover sweat or sex on her. The sponge and soap were worked overtime, neither staying still for more than a second as she scrubbed herself down, getting to spots she wasn't in the mood to be exploring. Her mane and tail took much longer to unravel than yesterday, some spots having cum or juice on them and making it difficult to bring order to them. Her tail was worse by far though; Luna's and her own nectar had leaked from their marehoods, thoroughly staining and tangling her tail. She was fairly sure she'd have split ends for weeks. It must have been two hours before Celestia had stepped out of the shower again, having spent more time in the shower than she had in a while, more so than that one time she'd made the mistake of getting into a mud-slinging fight with a trained assassin even. She trotted for the sink, once again looking over her appearance; she looked better now, at least, and her face was once again one of a princess's, asides that red cheek.

She trotted out and went back to her vanity, brushing her mane and tail back to order, daintily applying concealer to her slowly bruising face. She leant back and re-scrutinized her features; the white make-up on her cheek was just bit too obvious for her liking. She bit her lip awkwardly; Celestia, despite any rumours, wasn't exactly a master of makeup or anything of the sort. She was an unnaturally beautiful mare, pretty even amongst other Alicorns, and had simply never had to use the stuff that often so she hadn't much experience in its use. Sure, it was something she was utterly smug about sometimes but at the times that called for it, such as today, it was something she really wished she knew more about. Maybe Twilight's friend Rarity could give her some pointers. What she did know, however, told her that she had to draw attention away from the spot on her face that was damaged. With an unsure look on her face, she opened a few draws and took an inventory; she had a few sticks of lipstick of varying colours, foundation, blusher, powder, eye-shadow and mascara, along with all necessary applying tools.

'All necessary applying tools? Damn Celestia, you really don't know anything about this stuff, do you?"

The princess of the day sighed, shrugging at her reflection before she concentrated on making herself look presentable; draw attention away from her wounded cheek? Make the rest of herself look pretty maybe? It wouldn't work against too many mares, depending on their tastes that is, but the stallions would be easily distracted. Celestia leaned forwards so she could see herself better in the light and got to work; first she applied faint blush over her cheeks, technically counterproductive but she would be covering her cheek further while at the same time she'd be making her efforts look less suspicious to onlookers by not ignoring the spot; then came the lips, she lightly ran a light pink over them, faint but visible to the naked eye; then she went to draw more gazes to her eyes, running mascara along her eyelashes, careful that no clumps were left at the corners. She hated clumps.

Celestia placed her make-up back inside the draws of her vanity, softly closing the drawers before she looked up at her-

"Oh, my" she muttered, catching sight of her fresh appearance as a whole, now that she'd leaned back to take herself in. And she looked gorgeous.

'Perhaps I knew more about this stuff than I'd first assumed' she thought as she turned her head left to right, her mane flowing glamorously around her head as she did so; her sparkling eyes looked so much better, much sexier, now that her lashes were fuller and more abundant. She batted them playfully before she giggled; oh she would definitely have to try that on one of the guards. Her lips looked much more appealing and…well the best way to put it was 'kissable' now, thanks to the pink tint to them. Oh yes, she got the feeling nopony would notice her cheek; they'd be too busy drooling over the rest of her.

With a confident sway in her flank, Celestia began to hunt for her usual garb, her slippers, armour and tiara; she found her tiara hung off of one of the bed posts, her armour unceremoniously dumped at the side of her bed and her slippers a little ways away from her bed. She picked them up, one by one, and took all of her golden attire to her vanity; once there, she sat down at it and used her magic to open one of the draws and took out a tin of polish and small rag. She used both items to polish and clean them all; first was her slippers, then her armour and finally her tiara, but she couldn't help but linger on the headgear. She peered into it, gazing at her the reflection of her own eye; she sighed slightly, running the cloth over a spot next to her reflection. As she moved it away, she caught sight of a dark figure stood behind her; her eyes widened and she gasped, whipping her head around to find the intruder.

There was nothing there, just her empty room. She frowned at her imagination; or had she imagined it? A dark figure lingering behind her, now who did that remind her of? Blood Moon. How did that stallion keep returning to the forefront of her mind? She shook the thoughts away, not wanting to dwell on them right now. She stood up, slipped her hooves into her slippers, placed the armour around her neck and placed the tiara on her head before she trotted out of her room. Pushing through the door, she heard the sound of Luna sniffling to herself. Celestia shook her head.

'Silly filly.'

"Says she'd not a foal anymore, and then she starts crying her eyes out, no doubt cuddling her teddy bear" she muttered as she trotted away from their rooms. As Celestia trotted the halls of the Canterlot palace, she considered heading down to the kitchens and grabbing a quick breakfast before she shook the idea away: she was only just going to make it on time to day court as it was. The second thing to cross her mind was why she was getting so many looks from her guards and staff; then she remembered why. She replaced her slightly bewildered look with one that was confident and sultry. The way a few of the gold clad guards had to swallow and forcibly avert their eyes from the princess to avoid drooling at her told the peerless mare that her makeover this morning had done its job. Celestia decided to test how disciplined her guards were; she made eye contact with each one of them, winking every now and then, and made sure to sway her flank heartily as she trotted. It was perhaps one of the most entertaining trots she had ever had thorough the Canterlot palace; the blushes on her guards' faces were hilarious, she drew more attention than she'd gotten in a very long while and by the way a very large number of the guards stepped a little further towards the told her that very few of them had managed to divert the blood rushing to their private areas.

With a very satisfied smile on her face, Celestia found herself in the throne room of her castle. The guard at the door had seen her coming, his hind legs widening a little to make room for his steadily growing stallionhood. He cleared his throat, rather heavily, and took a breath to clear his head and try and get the colour to drain from his face.

"All rise for princess Celestia" he boomed, his words coming out as a shout after having merely lifting his voice. The ponies in the room all did as asked and stood to attention. It wasn't lost on Celestia that she got the same reaction from the peasants and nobles as yesterday. She trotted to her throne and sat upon it, watching her citizens settle again. The lingering stares from pretty much all of the stallions, not to mention a good portion of the mares, weren't lost on her either. The steward stepped up beside Celestia, an aging but loyal stallion by the name Elder Scroll. Well, technically his name was just 'Scroll' but his signature grey beard, mane and tail had earned him the rather fitting nickname. His fur was dark brown, a patch of dust grey over his flank were his cutie mark sat, an old blue book opened on a page marked with a ribbon book mark, the same colour as the book. His unicorn horn glowed its white-grey glow as he adjusted his full-moon spectacles.

"First order of business" he called, his voice old but authoritative and carried well across the room "the Las Pegasus-" he was cut off when the doors at the end of the hall flung open, the guards behind them nonchalantly raising their hooves and catching them. And in trotted the two ponies Celestia loved most. Lord Loaded and Madam Prosperous Goldhooves. Such… wealthy titles, if Celestia had ever heard them. She couldn't help but wonder how a mother or father could bring themselves to name their child 'Loaded' or 'Prosperous'. She knew that the 'Goldhooves' thing was something they had thought of when they'd first come to power; running last names in a family weren't common in Equestria, they related of course, take Twilight for example: her mother's name was Twilight Velvet and her father's Night Light. Twilight Sparkle made sense then, given her heritage. An actual family name, however, was rare nowadays; they still existed of course, just look at the 'Apples'. In the aristocracy, however, it was supposed to be some kind of social thing, where having a last name made you more important somehow. Celestia, despite technically being amongst their numbers, had no idea how that was supposed to work.

The two trotted regally up the clear path before them, the aisle between the peasant's waiting area and the noble's. Celestia smiled grimly at the two of them, spotting no small amount of the lower class ponies glare and snarl at them, while the upper class watched them pass with a grudging respect. The Goldhooves themselves didn't take their eyes off of Celestia as they made their way towards her, and the princess of the day didn't take her eyes from them.

Loaded Goldhooves, the master of the family; he was a tall stallion around a head above the average pony, a fact he used to his advantage; his mane was metallic gold, finely kept in flowing locks that flowed down the back of his neck and around his horn, his tail much of the same, although it was cut short so it didn't trail along the ground; his fur was light brown, or dark tan if you will, and was probably better kept than Celestia's; he wore a finely tailored suit, the jacket black, the waistcoat grey and the shirt pure white, the silk red lining peeking from the breast pocket; he had the appearance and complexion of a stallion who hadn't worked a day in his life, like the lap of luxury was his hunting ground, his wealth his weapon, blackmail his shield and slime his blood. His cutie mark was a golden key and padlock, tied together with a piece of midnight blue ribbon, the key aimed at the closed lock.

Lady Goldhooves, the first lady of the family; she was a more petite mare, shapely but small when compared to her husband; she had a sapphire blue mane and tail, ruby red tips to it; both were kept in a fine style, wavy and flowing, her tail clinging to her flank while her mane flowed around her neck, framing her face and flicking around her horn; she had peach fur, it was well kept and hugged her skin tightly; her cutie mark was a golden set of scales, the left side weighted down with an invisible mass. She wore a sparkling red dress, draping over her back and over her chest, her fore and hind-legs bare, clinging tightly to her body; over her chest, the dress parted in a 'V' shape, a pair of a sashes that revealed black silk beneath that was decorated with subtle, flowing designs, accented with silver. When the dress hit her rear-end, it flared gracefully, sparkling ruby red and deep black in overlapping patterns. She had the face of a vixen, pretty but shrewd, cunning. In the Goldhooves family business, Loaded may have dealt with the business, finances and thing that required loosening the purse strings, but Prosperous was all about relations; her silver tongue, and other attributes, made that kind of encounter a piece of proverbial cake for the mare. But behind her pretty and cunning face was an equally cunning mind; it was an interesting tactic, putting so much attention to her body and face to appear as a simple trophy wife, but she was anything but. Her face held slight touches of makeup, ruby red lipstick, slight blusher and a slightly darker shade peach on her eyelids. The placement and subtlety of it made it apparent that Prosperous had more experience of using it, between her and Celestia, but the princess of the day still felt she looked way better.

The two stopped before Celestia's throne, ignoring the guards either side of them, and looked straight up at Celestia without bowing.

"Loaded, Prosperous" Celestia started "a pleasure" she said, her slightly strained voice telling everypony who would listen it was a blatant lie. Not that she cared that everypony could see through it.

"Celestia" Loaded stated. Celestia had to restrain the eye roll; that voice. It was just so slimy and conniving, just so sly. If it was a little raspier and he rolled his S's he'd sound just like a snake. He certainly reminded her of one. "You didn't hold a day court yesterday" he said "and Luna didn't hold night court either."

"I know this" Celestia answered "and it concerns you why, may I ask?"

"You may" Prosperous answered "it concerns us, for a number of reasons" she told the princess of the day "first of which is the attack on Fancy Pant's home two days ago. We wish to know how the investigation is going" she said. Celestia raised an unimpressed corner of her maw and eyebrow.

"I'm afraid it's still an on-going investigation. I can't reveal any information relation to its progress" she told them.

"Be that as it may" Loaded retorted "you will. Fancy Pants is a very dear friend of ours. We simply wish to know how he fairs" he said. Celestia narrowed her eyes.

"Fancy Pants is fin-"

"And Lock Pick, the stallion staying with him" Prosperous cut her off, an act that should have prompted some gasps but didn't, considering who had done the cutting off. Celestia cocked her head very slightly.

"And why would that concern either of you" she retorted.

"That's none of your concern" Prosperous told Celestia. The guards either side of them tightened their grips on their spears, their eyes narrowing but not straying to the nobles but it was only their discipline stopping them from lunging at them. "We wish to know whether or not he lives now. Tell us" she borderline ordered of Celestia, before pausing and adding "now." Celestia glared at the pair of nobles and stood from her throne.

"You wish to know if he lives or not" she said, her pretty face corrupted with a silent rage "well I'll tell you: he's dead. Slaughtered by an assassin, within the walls of Fancy Pant's home" she told them harshly before she smirked "I…trust this is the news you were hoping for" Celestia told them. The way they both grimaced slightly made the princess want to hoof-bump one of the guards.

"Interesting" Loaded mumbled "well, whatever his condition, that doesn't explain why you didn't hold court yesterday" he said.

"On the contrary, it explains why I was absent perfectly; I was conducting an investigation" she answered curtly.

"And do you have any leads, Celestia?" Said princess narrowed her eyes.

"As I've already said; it's an on-going investigation, I can't release any details" she argued. The noble shrugged.

"Whatever you say, we'll find out" he shot her a look "one way or another."

'Oh, what I would have Blood Moon do to you, were he here.'

"Of course" she said in a voice and with an expression so sweet they were mouth numbingly sour "anything else you'd like to say?"

"Why yes there is" Prosperous chimed "we want to know why Luna didn't hold night court, and didn't even think to grace us with her presence to formally cancel it" the noble said. Celestia grunted.

"Royal business came up we both had to see to, urgent business. Not that it concerns you" she added. Loaded took to pacing back and forth, looking like a lawyer in court.

"We were not aware that there was such important business to be seen to" Loaded pointed out.

"You wouldn't. It's royal business, not the kind of business your type sees to." A few 'ooo's and pained hisses went through the gathered ponies like a wave. The Goldhooves simply snorted at her.

"How long did it take for you to think of that one, Celestia" Prosperous challenged.

"Oh, a few days. So still a shorter time than your make-up regime." Full out 'ouches' were called out, one pony in particular calling out 'somepony prep the burn unit!'

"Is this what our princess has been reduced to, petty insults as she sits upon her throne, looking down her snout at us" Loaded calls out, pointing at the seat Celestia had retired to.

"Perhaps, but when we see what Canterlot nobility has been reduced to, can you blame me" Celestia asked. Small chuckles and more 'ouches' were out sniggered from the gathered ponies.

"Enough of this foolishness" Prosperous snapped, breaking up their little spat. "We came here for answers and answers we shall have" she told them both of them. "Celestia, the third reason we're here is to find out what happened when the sun went down yesterday and why the moon was late going down this morning." Celestia glared before she frowned.

"When the sun went down" she repeated.

"Yes, it dropped from the sky like a rock" she said, before a small smile that Celestia desperately wanted to rip of stretched across her face "distracted, Tia" she posed "could you and dear Luna be losing your touch?" Celestia took a single deep breath before she stood from her throne once more, and trotted slowly towards the stallion and mare. Once she was down the steps leading to her throne, she leaned her face down to the pair of them.

"Now then, you two, let me tell you both one thing" she whispered to them, an eerie smile on her lips "I, I repeat, I, as in me, I am the princess. Do you understand what. That. Means" she asked. "That means, my little ponies, that *I* am the boss, *I* am in control. Equestria, is *my* country, under my and my sister's rule, and you have no say in what happens. Furthermore; you will address me as princess Celestia, not Celestia, not Tia, not any other name nor title. Now, tell me, do you understand what I am saying, what I am telling you?" The nobles remained expressionless. Celestia smiled and took another breath. "I'm sorry, I'll speak up for you; what I said was: DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I AM SAYING" she roared, right down their ears in a volume of the Canterlot voice that she had never used before. The mouths and eyes of the nobles were blown around, their mane and tails being blasted around in a violent gust of wind from the princes of the day's maw. When Celestia was done, Loaded raised his hoof and pushed Celestia's muzzle away from his.

"Such barbarism" he tutted, pulling his hoof away from her muzzle "such behaviour is unbecoming of a princess." He looked up at the ruler of Equestria and shook his head. "You really don't deserve to rule a country" he told Celestia. A collective gasp went through the hall, the guards advancing on the pair of them with spears aimed at their throats. Celestia's rage was only matched by her sheer desperation to rip Loaded's noble head off and shove it up Prosperous's noble ass.

"Get. Out. Of. My. Palace" she ordered. Loaded and Prosperous smirked before they turned at once, straight into another pony.

"Well, well, well. If it ain't my two most favourite ponies in the world" the pony greeted insufferably, his voice as rough and dry as gravel.

"Ah, detective Skulduggery" Loaded stated "it's been a while." The detective grunted.

"Not long enough, obviously" he replied. The two of them scoffed.

"Remember who you're talking to, peasant" Loaded ordered "and I'll consider forgiving you." Skulduggery felt the sudden urge to snap off Loaded's horn and shove it where Celestia's sun didn't dare explore. "Now, what do you say" he sneered. Skulduggery growled at him, while Loaded's sneer just got more and more aggravating.

"Out of my way, Loaded" Skulduggery grumbled as he barged past the noble and his wife. Loaded raised his fore-legs to stop him.

"What, do you say" he demanded. It was clear that this encounter wasn't going to end with sunshine and roses from either party. Skulduggery took a breath.

"Loaded" he started "I'm sorry" he grumbled, swallowing his pride. Loaded smirked.

"What was that? Speak up will you, so everypony can hear." Skulduggery lowered his head, his hat casting shadow over his face.

"I'm sorry Loaded" he repeated, louder. Unbeknownst to everypony in the room, his eye twitched slightly. Loaded chuckled and smirked.

"There's a good peasant." Skulduggery turned to Loaded, fire in his eye, while Loaded just smirked at him as he trotted away. Skulduggery just tugged his hat over his eyes aggressively with a small snarl. He swallowed his anger and trotted towards Celestia again.
"Morning, Celestia" he greeted as he approached, his tone as dark as ever. Celestia's smile lit up the room in a heavenly glow, her well-made face prompting similar reactions from Skulduggery that she'd gotten from her guards. The hardened detective had seen much in his life, but little could compare to the sight before him that was Celestia's smiling face. Warmth ran to his face with the blood, though he'd take a blush over an unwanted erection any day, and felt his knees wobble slightly. He was fairly sure, had he been a Pegasus, his wings would be harder than rock right now. He shook the thoughts away quickly, not allowing himself to show weakness before his current employer.

"It's good to see you too, as well as your impeccable timing Skulduggery" Celestia greeted in return. "Now, I trust you're here for good reason, that said with your rather effective removal of the Goldhooves I wouldn't care if you were here just to say 'hi'" she told him. Skulduggery shrugged one of his shoulders and grunted.

"There's been a development in the case" he informed Celestia. The princess's manner shifted strangely when he told her this; it was a strange combination of happiness and reluctance. It was an eyebrow raising reaction that the detective made a small mental note to look into later.

"Indeed? May I suggest we take this somewhere more private then" she suggested, glancing about the room. Celestia paranoia towards the Goldhooves was rivalled only by her hatred for them. "My chambers" she suggested nonchalantly. Some of the nobles and peasants gathered in the room murmured slightly amongst themselves. The peerless mare looked up to her citizens. "Apologies, my little ponies, but once more circumstances arise to interrupt day court. I hope you understand" she said as she rose. The reactions were more disgruntled this time, much more complaining as they vacated the hall. No nobles approached Celestia this time. The Alicorn and unicorn waited until everypony had left before they turned to the doorway leading to the stairs that lead to the halls that lead to the door that lead to the other hall that lead to the door that lead to the last hall that held the two doors that lead to the chambers of Celestia and Luna. Celestia lead (sorry, I'll stop it now) Skulduggery to her bedroom. Upon arriving, Celestia sat upon one of the leather seats beside the fireplace. The princess of Equestria looked at the detective in her room and caught his slightly disapproving look. "What" she asked innocently.

"Why do you let them treat you like that, the Goldhooves." Celestia chuckled slightly before she looked back at the fireplace. She offered the spare seat to the detective; he took it but didn't take his eyes off of her.

"You've answered your own question, detective. They're the Goldhooves. One can't expect much more from them" she explained. Skulduggery cocked his head.

"That can't be it, you were well in your rights to have the guards thoroughly introduce them to their weapons, not mention you could have shown them all your best holiday pictures of the guillotine" he commented. Celestia giggled slightly.
"Oh stop" she sniggered, shaking her head at the awful ‘joke’. "So then, this progress in the case" she asked expectantly. Skulduggery glanced at her with a strange look on his face.

"There hasn't been any" he answered. Celestia's frown was somewhat annoyed.

"Then why, pray tell, did you tell me that there was" she asked sternly. Skulduggery took her aggression in his stride.

"Because there's something bothering you about this case, and I want to get to the bottom of it. That" he paused and held her gaze with his own "and I wanted to make sure you were okay" he told her. Celestia couldn't help but smile as she felt something in her chest warm and melt slightly.

"Oh, thank you Skulduggery, but that's really not necessary" she told him. The detective raised an eyebrow.

"With all due respect princess, I beg to differ" he told her. Celestia frowned at him as he stood up and crossed the small distance between them; he hopped up slightly, holding himself up with the arm of the chair with his hoof while his other went to Celestia's face. "Now before I do this, might I comment on how miraculous you look today" he said dryly, causing the slightly confused princess to smile slightly, momentarily lowering her guard as the private investigator moved in; his hoof brushed gently across her face, the well-applied make-up brushing smoothly off her face, revealing the fur beneath it, and the dark, bruised skin beneath that. "Exhibit A" he murmured. He looked up at the princess's expression, his own a mixture of disapproval and gruff concern. "Been getting into fights now, princess?" Celestia looked sheepish, as though she'd been caught with the last cookie in her maw. "And don't try and tell me you walked into a door" he told her, causing her to raise her eyebrow "I heard your and Luna's…disagreement earlier" he told her.

"Oh" she muttered "y-you heard that" she asked quietly. Skulduggery nodded.

"Princess Celestia, the whole of Equestria heard you" he said with very slight sarcasm in his voice. "I wanted to catch you before you went down to day court, but I wasn't going to try and break up that shouting match" he told the princess. He cocked his head. "So what happened? A disagreement turn ugly" he posed. Celestia huffed in bad humour.

'Disagreement turned ugly? Understatement of the year.'

"Yes, you could say that. Me and Luna had a disagreement as to who the…no, I wouldn't want to worry you with this, it needn't concern you Skulduggery" she told him. He sat back in his seat, analysing her thoughtfully.

"If you say so, princess" he murmured. Celestia chuckled slightly.
"You know, it's quite amusing" she commented.

"What is?"

"That one of my closest friends still calls me 'princess' rather than Celestia" she answered "we've known each other for a while now Skulduggery, call me by my name, please." Skulduggery shrugged.

"We may be friends, but you're still my princess" he retorted. Celestia shrugged her slender shoulder.

"Maybe" she murmured, trailing off. "Just how long have we known each other now" she wondered aloud. The detective shrugged.

"Nine, ten years now" he posed. Celestia smiled slightly as she remembered.

"Ah yes, your first major case. Another one of Blood Moon's hits wasn't it?" Skulduggery nodded.

"Yes. He'd murdered four members of your counsel, each member at least eight blocks away from each other. All apparently killed at once by the same pony" he mumbled before he turned his head to Celestia "a near impossible murder to pull off, but not too hard a trick when you think about it." Celestia nodded.

"You'd figured out the mechanics, but not the details. What was it you said?"

"I can set of one mouse trap with a rat, I can set off four with a piece of string" he quoted himself "an ingenious murder, impossible to pin it on any one pony, never mind the Hunter" he said, slight nostalgia in his tone. Something seemed to occur to Celestia.

"Y'know, I've just noticed; we've never really conversed outside of work" she said. Skulduggery shrugged.

"Never had a reason to, the only reason I'm here now is because with the way I left you last night, it seemed only proper to at least check on you." When he stopped talking, he seemed to be considering something. "I…hope you don't take my sentiments the wrong way" he added quietly. Celestia frowned.

"The wrong way" she repeated. "Whatever do you mean?"

"What I mean is that…for as long as I've known you, you've always been very…independent. I'm not trying to…to look after you or anything, I'm just trying…" the detective frowned at his words, trying to figure out how to say what he was trying to say. "Damn, I had it" he muttered "what I'm trying to say is…" Celestia giggled lightly and held a hoof up to stop him.

"Skulduggery, you needn't defend yourself. I think I know what you're trying to get at; you don't mean to smother me with concern but that you're there, should I need it." The detective looked up and gave a very small half smile.

"Yeah, that's…wasn't nearly as hard as I was making it out to be" he muttered. Celestia giggled again.

"Y'know, I've never seen you act so awkward before Skull" she commented, using his shortened name, something she'd never done before. And it wasn't lost on either of them. "Are you trying to tell me something" she asked with a small blush and a filly-like smile on her face. Skulduggery grunted as though struck, the smoke grey fur about his face having gone red before he shook his head to clear his thoughts.

"No, it's just you've never spoken with me off of the crime scene" he answered "we're more a business friendship than a social one. I'm not very good at this whole…social shtick."

"That may be changing" Celestia commented, out of the blue, her gaze focused on the fireplace. Skulduggery raised an eyebrow. Celestia glanced up, awaiting his answer, and found his questioning face in its place. "My student, Twilight Sparkle" the detective picked up on the no small hint of affection in her tone when she said her name "has been studying friendship as of late" she told him. The stallion nodded.

"I know, her and her friend's exploits are borderlands legendary" he retorted. The peerless mare nodded.

"Indeed, they are. But I fear I may be guilty of hypocrisy" she revealed.

"How so?"

"When she first went to Ponyville, I told her to try and make friends. At the time, it hadn't occurred to me that I didn't really have many myself" she said, her voice telling the detective she was running memories and regrets through her tone. A pastime he knew well. "I hadn't many friends, I still don't, and I've never had the incentive nor opportunity to make any. I want to change that" she told him. "Skulduggery, today you've done something nopony has done in…" she thought about it before a rather depressing realisation crept into her mind "has done ever since he left" she murmured "you wondered how I faired, and your curiosity went so far as to make you wish to check up on me." She turned her head to him. "Thank you" she told him.

"Any time" he told frankly. Celestia smirked at his bluntness.

"Skulduggery, may I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"W-will you…be my friend?" The lack of maturity in the question almost made Skulduggery smile, something in him telling him to call her out on her joke, but he didn't. One of the most powerful ponies in Equestria had just asked to befriend him, that sort of thing wasn't a laughing matter to him. He took into consideration what the question entailed; princess Celestia had asked him to be her friend. A frown inducing question, given that he already saw them as friends, but perhaps Celestia was looking for something more than a business relationship. Official friends with one of the rulers of Equestria? What would that entail; it wasn't likely to be the same as any normal friendship, how could it, but one thing was for sure, his life would get much more complicated if interesting. He looked over at the princess.

"Sure why not…Celestia" he replied with the faintest hint of a ghost of a grin on one corner of his maw.

"Thank you, my friend." Celestia's smile was matched only by…nothing, Skulduggery couldn't think of a sight he'd rather have the pleasure of taking in. Well, he could but it was rumoured that Celestia could read minds.

"So…what was your and Luna's…disagreement about earlier" he asked cautiously. Celestia gave a soundless laugh.

"Oh, that…it's nothing you should worry about…girl stuff, y'know?"

"Not really."

"Pardon?"

"I don't really know many mares." Celestia cocked her head.

"What do you mean?" Skulduggery shrugged.

"One of the occupational hazards of being a detective is that it doesn't allow much time for socialising, never mind trying to pick up mares. And I've seen too many other investigators' marriages implode because of their jobs; a cop doesn't see much of his home, nor his family, so I took out the middle-stallion and didn't bother" he explained. Celestia couldn't help but feel a little sorry for him, knowing that in Equestria, her country of love and friendship, he hadn't any friends or even a love life. Skulduggery seemed to pick up on her pity. "Don't feel bad for me" he insisted, slight humour in his voice "better me than somepony else" he told her.

"Why's that" the princess asked. He shrugged.

"Because, in all honesty, it's never really bothered me that much. I've always been a little…cold" he answered. Celestia frowned in disagreement.

"You're not cold Skulduggery" she told him "you just keep yourself to yourself. There's nothing bad in that" she told him.

"I beg to differ" he retorted. Celestia smiled slightly.

"You're the detective, prove it" she told him.

"The day my mother died, my father took to heavy drinking, my elder brother became a soldier and all's I did was say 'eh' and got on with my life. I'd been close to my mother, loved her, she helped develop my keen eye but the day the fire of her life extinguished I cared very little" he told Celestia. "I'd seen and met other detectives and watched how their lives and the lives of those close to them developed, and came to the conclusion that given my disregard for the opinions of others, my cold nature and ability in the field, it was my fate to become a detective. That was the day I got my cutie mark" he added as an afterthought. "As dark and as cold as midnight."

"The clouds…" Celestia whispered.

"As bright as the sun in the sky."

"The spark of light…"

"And the eyesight of a dragon."

"The magnifying glass…"

"A recipe for mischief" Skulduggery finished.

"Skulduggery…you can be very profound when you want to be" she commented.

"Only as much as it takes to know yourself" he shrugged.

"You don't take compliments well, do you?" He smirked and grunted.

"Not exactly."

"Even still, I'm glad to feel comfortable to speak about such things around me" she told him.

"I don't think I've ever told anypony about that. You're the first I've told" he mumbled. Celestia smiled slightly. The two glanced at each other at the same time, there eyes meeting for a second. Then a minute. Maybe fifteen. Perhaps an hour. Celestia looked away first, her eyes going to the floor in slight embarrassment, a small and bashful smile on her face. She tried to think of something to say, but nothing came to mind. Then she remembered something.

"Oh, Skulduggery, be a dear and fetch me my concealer. I wouldn't want anypony seeing me like this." The detective recognised it as a way to momentarily kill the awkwardness, and he was grateful for it. He stood and trotted over to her dressing table, nonchalantly going over to it before he realised he didn't know what draw it was in. With a shrug he started looking through them, one by one until he came across it. What he found instead was much more interesting, as well as disturbing.

"Seems the answers are the type to remain buried" he muttered as he looked through the pictures. Seventy three in all. They told a strange story, starting with the pair of mares on the photos relatively clean before they progressively got more and more suggestive, dirty, unclean and incredibly arousing. He put the picture together in his head:

In his hooves he held an act of debauchery. He looked discretely around the room; there, in the corner, a liquor cabinet; its door was cracked open, empty, the only bottles in there were empty too. Celestia had gotten drunk last night.

He looked to the bed, his coned gaze darting over it quickly as he looked for-there it was, a photo album, there's always an album, it was lying open, beside the bed, open on a pair of pictures, old ones, some of the first mechanically taken photos rather than the flash-sketch. Celestia had been remembering herself depressed last night.

He looked back at the pictures in his magical grip. Luna was with her in most of them, almost all of them; a lonely mare, if his suspicions, his theories, were correct. In her drunkenness she'd seduced her own sister, this morning, at an educated guess, the pair of them had been arguing over whose fault it was. He replaced the pictures, all but one, and re-began his search for the concealer. He soon discovered it and lifted it with his magic, slipping the picture into his coat. He trotted back to the princess and gave her the make-up.

"Thank you" she said quietly. He nodded and retired to his seat. After three minutes, the detective spoke up.

"I'm still curious, as to what you and Luna were arguing about" he commented, casual, quietly. Celestia smiled slightly as she continued to daintily apply the concealer.

"It's nothing, I assure you." One second, she thought he was thinking. Two seconds, she thought he'd dropped it. Three seconds, she dropped her guard for a second, the natural reaction when you thought the enemy had given up. It was momentary reaction, almost impossible to properly time.

"I beg to differ." Jackpot. Her tiniest of flinches told him he'd struck true.
"And why's that, Skulduggery."

"An argument of that magnitude can't come about from nothing but 'girl stuff' Celestia" he answered. Done with her make-up, she turned to the detective.

"What are you getting at?" He looked back, his gaze hard.

"This." He pulled out his photo, his only piece of evidence, and Celestia's eyes looked like somepony had detonated something inside them. She snatched the image out of his hoof and held it in a death-grip.

"Where did you get this" she demanded.

"I stumbled across it looking for your concealer" he told her calmly, but Celestia wasn't calm anymore; she shot up, out of her chair and glared at him in a way that could melt stone.

"You stumbled across it! I thought I could trust you Skulduggery" she exclaimed "how could you do this" she demanded, clearly hurt by this apparent betrayal. The detective continued like she'd said nothing.

"You call that 'girl stuff'?" Celestia turned away, trotting away from the fireplace and into the middle of the room.

"You wouldn't understand" she snarled.

"You were depressed last night, you had a drink, understandable, and you had another. And another. And you kept drinking, drinking until even you were completely out of it. I've been there. I do understand. But then Luna turned up, and you, for whatever reason, got inexplicitly horny. Luna was the only pony with a pulse and genitalia around, and things went from there." He nodded at the picture. "That became because of it." He trotted up to the mare, who was still turned away from him. "I understand Celestia, time is not a healer. We live, we regret. It's the way of life." Celestia looked around herself, suddenly ashamed of her outburst, of accusing him of being untrustworthy.

"You…I…you...damnit, I knew I'd made you my personal detective for some reason" she muttered. Skulduggery smirked.

"Just doing my job, ma'am" he said, tipping his hat. Celestia couldn't hold down her laugh at his joke, his old noir reference. "You okay Celestia" he asked her unspeaking form.

"Yes, it's just…you being able to figure me out like that" she huffed "it's kind of a wakeup call, that I'm not totally impervious to the deduction of others" she answered before she turned to him. "Tell me, Skulduggery, what is it you regret?" He raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said just now that you drink a lot…I was wondering why." He looked away from her.

"That's something…very personal" he answered. "Forgive me for my hypocrisy, but if there's one thing I rarely discuss with others, it's the cause of my drinking habits. I'm sorry, but…it's something I rarely think about myself." Celestia assumed she'd struck the wrong cord.

"Oh…I'm…my apologies if I brought up any bad memories" she whispered. He shrugged.

"Don't worry about it" he shot her his version of a grin, more like a grimace "guy-stuff, y'know?" Celestia chuckled.

"All the same, my apologies, the last thing I would ever want to do is cause a friend of mine any kind of mental distress" she told him, the detective nodding in understanding."Sk-Skulduggery…I know I can trust you but…you won't tell anypony about this" she said, still holding the picture in her hoof "will you?" He didn't say anything.

"Celestia" he said after a while, his low voice prompting her to lean her head down slightly.

"Yes?"

"I'll never, ever betray your trust" he told her "not because you're my princess, not because you could easily kill me and not even because I'm a gentlecolt. But because you're my friend" he told her. Celestia swallowed slightly.

"Thank you Skulduggery. It warms my heart to know I have a…a true friend" she admitted.

"Yes, well" the stallion stared "I shall always, be your friend" he told her. Celestia smiled warmly, but after a second it turned slightly devious.

"You aren't hiding anymore pictures in that coat of yours, are you Skull" she asked slyly. Skulduggery grunted in amusement, looking down at his trench coat.

"No, I don't-" He got no further before Celestia moved forwards and pushed her lips to his.

Hearing somepony, or something perhaps, crying in the void was an unusual occurrence. Mainly because Blood Moon's voices couldn't cry, he didn't cry and nopony else could get here. He looked around himself, eyes narrowed in caution, and drew a blade from the ether. The weapon was the identical as the one he'd left at his old home, a weapon he was most comfortable with, and he held it in the same manner; with a lethal intent. He trotted slowly, deliberately, his old habits of paranoia drifting to the surface; he trotted forwards, his body spinning around as he tried to find the source of these sobs.

He heard a twig snap.

His gaze snapped down, having felt his hoof break something beneath it; he'd stepped on the broken off piece of branch. He frowned; there was no vegetation in the void nothing of the sort. The whole point of it being a void was that, it was a void. He shook his head and looked up to find that he, in actual fact, wasn't stood in the void anymore. Instead, he was stood in an all too familiar forest. He trotted around again, his hoofsteps no longer explosions in his ears, simple trudges through grasses, leaves and the occasional stick.

Somewhere in the distance a wolf howled at the unnaturally large full moon, lingering in the skies. Somewhere else, an owl hooted into the night. Winds blew through the branches, leaves fell from said branches and a friendly looking grass snake slithered through the foliage. Blood Moon didn't understand pony's problem with snakes; they had big cute eyes, a friendly puppy dog mouth, liked to lounge about in the sun and just plopped down where you left them. They only bit you if you annoyed them, so take that information and act on it; don't piss off a snake.

The assassin heard another sniffle and his ears perked up as he tried to pinpoint the source of the sound; he rotated his head slowly, mentally cutting the forest into segments and searching each one carefully for anything out of place. He expected Luna out of anything that may happen, and he wanted her to show up; he had questions. He traversed the forest much slower, still thoroughly searching the treeline. Something stuck out to him; the tree line seemed to converge on a single spot, as though hiding something from Blood Moon. Another sob leaked out from whoever was crying, and the dark stallion homed in on it this time; it was, indeed, coming from the small bunker of trees. He stepped over to it, hearing a few stifled sobs leaking through, all of them quiet. He stepped back and looked it up and down; he swung his weapon, the dream-blade slashing easily through the dream-branches. He pushed through the remaining shrubbery and found his way into a clearing; laying in the clearing, crying into her hooves, was Luna.

Blood Moon's eyes narrowed; he didn't trust the mare of night just yet, and he knew that her bitterness went deep. He also knew that she wasn't above tricks like this; she'd lull him into a sense of confusion as to why she was in tears, he'd approach and when he was just about to say or do anything, she'd pounce and he'd be in for a real bad time. He trotted forwards cautiously, his blade pointed downwards; in the dream it was useless, but it was a reassuring presence. She sniffled and sobbed to herself, shaking slightly as she did so. He drew closer, his hoofsteps silent on the grassy soil. He wasn't sure what to do; normally, Luna would have pounced already and he'd be getting whipped while strapped to a tree. Blood Moon shook his head.

'No, biding her time, don't fall for it Hunter.'

As he got steadily closer, he could hear her start muttering incoherently, the words gibberish but no doubt made sense to her. Blood Moon let a single breath increase in volume, his way of declaring himself. Luna froze, having apparently heard him; she gazed over her shoulder and Blood Moon knew what to do.

The blade sung as he brought it down.

The weapon clattered across the other side of the clearing as he scooped her up, holding her against his chest and letting her weep into his shoulder. He stroked the back of her mane, gently whispering soothing words to her as he calmed her, gradually holding her tighter and tighter against his chest.

"Come on Luna, let it out." She did as he asked, bawling in earnest now that she had a shoulder to cry on. Blood Moon's fur was quickly getting soaked by Luna's tears, but he'd be damned if he cared; Luna needed comfort and he was here to give it. Luna's hooves drifted around his back, pulling him in further while Blood Moon's went around her neck, pulling her in further. The ex-foalsitter knew that something was deeply wrong with his daug-Luna; he hadn't seen her like this in the longest of times.

She kept it up for a long time, neither really keeping track of how long they sat together. Luna's maturity had long since drained away, along with her pride and any residual dignity. She didn't care anymore, she didn't care that her foalsitt-no, that Blood Moon…that her father was cuddling her again, and that she was cuddling him back. Her stream of tears didn't curb for the longest of times, and even when she did she took the longest of times with it, slowly wiping her eyes dry with his shoulder. When she tried to pull away, he wouldn't let her, pulling her back into his body and she suddenly realised that his own eyes weren't as dry as they'd been when she'd started.

"Blood Moon" she stared shakily, still sniffling slightly.

"Luna" he replied, just as uneasy. The princess of the night sniffled again.

"B-Blood Moon" she tried again before she broke down "daddy" she wept, more tears leaking through her closed eyes, her maw leaking sobs.

"Little Luna" he growled out, his voice cracking as he spoke, trying hard to push down his own emotions and doing an awful job of it. They took to crying into each other's hold; Blood Moon had quit trying to hold his emotions down and took to following his own advice and just let it out. He cried silently into Luna's neck, as she wept into his shoulder. They were done with him consoling her, now they were just basking in the fact that they were holding each other.

"I've missed you so much" she continued. Blood Moon nodded and stroked the back of her mane, kissing her cheek lightly, tasting the salt of her tears.

"I missed you too" he told her. They stayed together for another insurmountable amount of time until Blood Moon spoke again. "So…what's got you so blubbery" he asked shakily, a small smile in his face. Luna grunted her own laugh but it soon fell to deeper sobs.

"T-" she wept a few more times "Tia's a bitch" she wailed, the memories clearly causing her grief. Blood Moon laughed hoarsely, nodding his head.

"Yes, yes she is" Blood Moon agreed. "What did she do this time" he asked. Luna released him, Blood Moon letting her, and she stood again, trotting away from him.

"I…I can't really say" she told him. Blood Moon came up besides her.

"Luna, you can tell me anything" he assured her. The dark mare looked back at him, a small smile on her face.

"I…it's not like that, it's…kind of embarrassing" she admitted. Blood Moon turned her to face him.

"Luna…my little girl shouldn't be embarrassed to tell me anything" he told her. The Alicorn's lip wobbled slightly before she threw her fore-legs around his neck again.

"Blood Moon" she whimpered "why did you have to leave? Why did you abandon us?" It was a heart crushing epiphany for the assassin, to realise how much he'd really missed Luna…how much he still missed Celestia. He opened his eyes slightly and caught sight of the outline.

'I...I did, didn't I…I…I really did abandon them…didn't I?" The outline didn't make a move, not that he really would; moving wasn't his thing. That said, the outline seemed…different somehow, less insulting more…reasonable than anything. It took a deep breath it didn't need.

"Yes, you did."

The answer hit him like a brick in the balls, like a hammer to the knee. His eyes couldn't hold back the dams anymore and he broke down completely. Blood Moon sobbing harder than Luna now, the mare of the two, consoling him as much he was her.

"I don't know Luna…I honestly don't, not anymore. There might have been reasons at the time but…none of them a viable excuse for my leaving you" he answered. Luna sniffed a few more times.

"No…there wasn't" she told him "there's nothing you can say to make me forgive you" she told him, spitting her words out like poison but not releasing her death-grip on him.

"Lu-Lu, little Luna…I'm sorry, from the bottom of my heart, I'm so sorry" he told her, the sincerity in his tone nothing in comparison to the sincerity in his heart. Luna sniffed again, her tears falling again in earnest.

"Except that" she whispered.

Time became unimportant to the two, to the father and daughter holding each other; neither could care less about the amount of time they'd spent hugging, so why bother keeping count? After a while, the two found themselves on a hill, looking over a calm field of long, wavy grass, their hooves tucked beneath their bodies.

"So, what had you crying just now" he asked again quietly. Luna took a breath before she glanced his way; he was watching her out of the corner of his eye, a questioning expression on his face. She sighed before she leaned in, whispering into his ear. As she spoke, Blood Moon frowned, grunted in amusement, gave a confused 'whaa' before his eyebrows shot into his mane-line. "Well" he said at length.

"And she blamed me for everything" Luna repeated, leaning her head on the ground in misery; she didn't like being at odds with Celestia, she could be mean at the best of times but her threats of sending her back to the moon lingered in her mind. Blood Moon looked over Luna, his hoof finding its way into her mane as he petted her softly, stroking her soothingly.

"That's what she does; when she was younger, I remember her taking the rap for the two of you stealing the last cookies. She didn't want me berating both of you so she said she did it…I knew you'd both done it, but her standing up for you like that made me proud, so I didn't say anything" he said, Luna nodding her head slowly as she remembered.

"Now though…" the mare of the moon started gloomily. Blood Moon nodded.

"Yes, now she's not nearly the same mare; a few days ago I'd say it was just her growing up, her becoming princess that did that to her. Now though…" he echoed. Luna turned over, laying on her back to she could see him while she relaxed on the ground.

"You can't blame yourself for everything wrong with her" she told him.

"Yes I can; I raised you both properly, to respect, to share, to stand up for those who couldn't stand up for themselves, to rule with merciful might" he said quietly "but when I left…that's not the kind of thing that helps with raising a foal." Luna nodded slowly.

"Maybe…but you also taught us to live through difficult time, to face the hardship with a strong heart and that there is no shame in leaning on your loved ones. Your leaving is no…not much…it's not the only reason she got so…bitchy, I think you may be have been half right just now, I think she did get a little…cocky when she was crowned" she said, more simply saying it out loud than admitting or releasing anything. The assassin nodded as he thought.

"Yes, well…love potions of that sort and such large amounts of liquor never add up to make rose petals and sexy music, she was way out of her mind and, if what you say is true, she was massively depressed…but that's still no excuse for blaming you" he agreed. He looked down her and lay his hoof on her belly, and proceeded to rub it. Luna giggled.

"You always did like belly rubs" she cooed. The assassin smirked.

"Not as much as you" you he retorted before he tickled her a little. The mare wriggled around a bit as she laughed, Blood Moon grinning at the princess of the night's foalish form. He stopped tickling and returned to just gently rubbing along her belly. "I wouldn't forgive her, if I were you, but try to put it behind you; Tia's Tia, and she sees herself as above everypony now…I sometimes think about going back there just to teach her some manners" he muttered before he paused "again" he added. Luna giggled slightly, her thoughts still a little muzzy from the rubs.

"I sometimes wish you would just come home" she replied. Blood Moon's hoof faltered slightly on her tummy, prompting Luna to look up and catch his distant face.

"You have no idea how many times I've thought about doing that. I considered going back for your birthdays when I first set out, but when you started invading my dreams and I started to find the bounty notices around Equestria I thought it less than prudent" he told her. Luna suddenly looked horrified, an expression Blood Moon didn't regret invoking.

"You…you what" she asked shakily.

"I would have stopped by, maybe a few times a year, I could have been a valuable ally to you, somepony to do your dirty work but capable of offering zero accountability" he said, watching her eyes get damp again "wars won before they started, threats ended before they were realised and the amount of time you've been putting aside to give me grief could have been used much more productively" he listed, watching Luna's face show her heartbreak. She sniffled again.

"You…you…"

"Evil, mean bastard?"

"Yes" she sobbed, pulling him in again "why did you have to go and tell me that" she demanded "I was laying here, happy that we were getting along again, and then you have to go and tell me that I could have had my daddy the whole time anyway" she squeaked, regret lining her words as a boulder sat in her chest and refused to leave.

"Why? So I could make you understand just how much I've hated the fact that my own daughters wanted me dead" he leaned back "so you could see this is just as much your and Tia's fault, as it is mine." Luna felt like she'd been stabbed in the chest.

"B-but I-I…you" she continued to stutter as he looked into her eyes "oh, damn you Blood Moon" she cursed as she put her face to his chest, quietly weeping once again. Her fore-legs wrapped around his back as she listened to his heartbeat, which was much slower in his dream state. "I'm sorry" she whispered. Blood Moon pulled back and looked her in the eye.

"That's all I wanted to hear" he said as he hugged her back, tighter this time. "Look at that, I got one of my girls back, and all it took was some blubbering" he commented, prompting a small laugh from Luna.

"Look at that, I got my daddy back, and all it took was my big sister bucking me half to death" she commented in return. Blood Moon couldn't hold down the slightly disturbed laugh. After a while, the pair had resorted to lying on the slightly chilly grass with each other, Blood Moon leaning on the bigger mare while he absentmindedly curled her night-sky mane about his hoof. They stayed together for a while, no words exchanged between them, and they just basked in the company.

"So" Blood Moon started, trying to fill their limited time together with at least a conversation "how've you been" he asked casually "well, y'know, asides the dubious fun with your sister." Luna giggled slightly.

"What would you like to know?" He shrugged.

"I dunno, met any stallions?" Luna turned her head back to him, but when his hoof vacantly went over her shoulder muscles found the knots, his hoof slowly kneading them, she changed her song, relaxing into the grass again, and a big, relaxed smile found her face.

"Hmm, not really. I keep getting looks from the guards but…well, you know what I'm getting at. One thing on their mind and all that" she mumbled. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Really, after all that time alone your first priority wasn't to get laid?" Luna snapped her gaze around.

"Blood Moon" she exclaimed, but said assassin was just laughing at her embarrassment.

"Eh, just saying" he assured. Luna turned over, onto her back and crossed her fore-legs.

"And I'll have you know" she suddenly seemed to lose confidence in what she was about to say, a red blush on her cheek "I-it was my first priority." The stallion laughed again, rolling onto his own back as he cackled like a mad stallion.

"So tell me little Luna, how does one sate one thousand years of lust" he asked with blunt humour. Luna paused for a while.

"Six, all night guards, five rounds… four couldn't patrol for a week" she finished with a slightly smug grin on her face. The assassin rested his head on his hooves, which rested on Luna's belly.

"That's my girl" he chuckled, Luna laughing with him. After a second, he frowned. “Wait...just now you told me-”

“I was hardly going to tell Celestia my coital habits in that kind of situation...not that it would have made any difference” she mumbled. He just chuckled again.

“Eh, don’t feel so bad. Lonely most are those who have everything. You just needed some more...intimate company, at a guess.” Luna smiled and nuzzled him gently.

"You never did once put me down; you were always proud of the smallest of efforts, you were proud of me when I managed to escape lessons that once by escaping down the drain-pipe, hay, you were even proud of me when I stole your sword that once" she recalled.

"It's because I had no reason not to be. I told you right and wrong but I also had to give you credit when you worked up the courage to break the rules, or defy the word of your parents, because I knew they were strict with you" he explained "and to be able to break into my chambers, find my sword and actually steal it was a pretty impressive feat. Even for a four hundred year old filly" he added. Luna sat up, prompting him to do the same as they looked at each other.

"Well, even with the stuff any other father, including my actual dad, would have been massively annoyed at, you were still proud; when I broke my virginity when I was only sixteen, well y'know, in Alicorn years, you didn't shout or rage at me, like my dad, you weren't disappointed with me giving myself to a stallion I'd met in a stream, like my mother, you weren't even angry with the fact that I'd begun dating a commoner, like Tia. You didn't even mind when I brought him home, like Faust. You just supported me, you were there for me." Her eyes showed a few bad memories. "You were the only one who'd talk to me about him" she chuckled slightly "I've just noticed; I had most of my 'girl talks' as a filly and a young mare with you, my uncle and bodyguard rather than my big sister, mom or even my nanny." Blood Moon shrugged.

"That's what I did" he said. Luna smiled grimly. "You'd taken a major step in your life, losing your virginity is a big thing for a mare, despite your age you were practically still a teenager but you didn't regret it despite how everypony treated you, you stayed with him for your love." Luna sighed at days long past.

"You were the only one who'd listen or even hug me when I heard he'd been killed across in the griffon kingdom" she murmured, remembering how distraught she'd been when she heard the Pegasus who'd been her first coltfriend died in a skirmish against a few of Discord's cultists back in the war. He had, at least, died in battle. Blood Moon recognised the signs of somepony recalling bad memories and put a hoof on her shoulder. Luna had tasted the pains of losing her first love, a pain Celestia had never had to, and probably never would, endure.

"Harrowing Wind had been a good stallion; I still don't get what everypony's problem had been with the poor guy" he admitted. Luna shrugged and hung her head. She'd never really had another relationship after Harrow had died.

"I wanna stop remembering this no-" Blood Moon lunged at her and put her in the same full-body restrain he'd put Pinkie in a while back and used the same tactic to cheer her up as he'd done with the pink, party pony. Luna's uproar of laughter was something that the ex-foalsitter hadn't realised how much he'd missed in his time away from her. He was glad to hear it again. Once he was done with his tickles, Blood Moon finally stopped, obeying her begging of mercy from him but he didn't release her from his grip. "I needed that" she giggled.

"I can tell" he answered. He let her go and they fell to the floor, both on their backs, side by side and Luna still tittering slightly. "So…anything else interesting happen" he asked.

"Not really" she answered. Luna felt a gaze on her and looked to find Blood Moon watching her. She returned his look for a while before his hoof went to her nose and he poked her.

"Boop" he muttered as he pushed down on her muzzle. "I just booped ya, whaddya gonna do about it" he grinned. Luna grinned back.

"Imma boop you back" she giggled as she poked his nose "boop" she giggled as Blood Moon chuckled foalishly. She liked it when Blood Moon treated her like a filly; he didn't treat her like a foal like Celestia did, he didn't patronise her or treat her in an overly protective manner and then insist it was for her own good. He just acted like she was the cute (well, cuter), mini version of herself now; he had fun with her, he goofed around, he booped her and hugged her. He made her feel like she wasn't a day over six hundred years old. "I've missed this" she said quietly.

"I'll bet I've missed it more."

"Is that a challenge?"

"You'll never beat me at Killable Kombat." The mention of the video game perked her interest.

"Oh yeah? I've got the high score in the castle" she said proudly. Blood Moon revealed his own, and her pride hit the bottom of an endless pit and she felt like crying a little. The assassin, ever sympathetic with Luna, rolled to the side slightly and wrapped his hooves around her neck in a hug. "I'm getting closer to your high score" she muttered, trying to boost her own ego slightly. Blood Moon chuckled, and kissed her forehead.

"Yeah, maybe you'll get there someday" he reassured as he pulled back "…maybe in five thousand years" he smirked. Luna pouted, and Blood Moon had to restrain himself from squeezing her in pure unbridled love of the adorableness; Luna could pout like nopony else. When he released her and rolled away again, Luna spoke again.

"Blood Moon" she started, nervous about something.

"Something the matter?"

"T-Tia knows where you are now" she told him. Blood Moon nodded nonchalantly. "I-I didn't tell her" she added.

"I never thought you had" he told her. He looked at the mare of night lying beside him. "Lu-Lu" he started. She hummed her attention and looked at him. "I think Celestia ordered an attack on Twilight and the rest of the Elements of Harmony" he revealed. Luna sat up, shocked but she didn't let herself panic.

"What?"

"I'm not too sure myself; recently, Hardhoof, the guard lieutenant in Ponyville attacked Twilight and her friends to get to me. He's WAY too much of a cocky dumbass to be able to strategize like that, not without some kind of help anyway. So I have two scenarios here; one, is that Loaded ordered him to do so, for reasons still unknown; two, is that he was ordered to do so by Celestia to get to me" he explained. Luna smiled slightly and shook her head. "What's so funny" he asked, curious as to the joke.

"I don't think Tia would have her guards do anything to the elements of harmony" she said. Blood Moon nodded.

"Yeah, I thought it was unlikely too, but-"

"No, you don't get it; she wouldn't do anything to hurt Twilight or her friends. Celestia doesn't see her as a mere student anymore. A while back, I noticed the way she was talking about her, how she treated and acted around her, how much she seems to care for her. I pointed it out to Cadence" the name didn't mean much to Blood Moon, but he knew it belonged to the Alicorn princess of love and that she was Shining Armour's wife "and she looked into it. From what she's seen of Celestia around Twilight, she sees her as a daughter" she explained. "A deeply, beloved daughter" she added, to drive the point home. Blood Moon put a hoof to his chin as he thought.

"Really" he murmured. That changed things; if Celestia really did see Twilight as her daughter, then there was little to no chance of her having Hardhoof attack her. Now that he thought about it, since Shining Armour was her big brother, he wouldn't have let it happen himself. It did, however, raise one more question; was Celestia aware of the corruption within her forces? The Goldhooves had control over almost all of the lieutenants over Equestria, were they all as bent as Hardhoof? Yet another question in a seemingly endless stream of them.

The assassin suddenly felt his eyelids grow heavy, a sign that he was about to awaken. Luna seemed to notice this and turned to him.

"Seems our time is drawing to a close" she observed.

"Seems so" Blood Moon answered as he watched the forest flicker around him. They stood and embraced for a final time. "I love you little Luna" he told her. She nodded.

"I love you too, dad" she answered. He gave her a final, loving squeeze before he released her. He was about to fully emerge from his slumber when Luna stalled him. "Blood Moon" she said.

"Yeah?"

"Could-could you come visit me…some time, y'know, quietly" she asked. He grinned and hugged her again.

"You don't get it, do you Luna?" She pulled back and raised an eyebrow. "You're the princess of the night, of darkness and of shadow. I've always been there anyway" he said before he flickered from existence.

Skulduggery's eyes were wide open. He felt Celestia's lips move across his own, slowly, seductively, carefully, teasingly almost, if she hadn't been so invested in their mutual lip contact. It was a sensation he'd never forget for as long as he lived, the feeling of Celestia kissing him. The Alicorn pushed in further, the detective feeling her kiss harder. He mentally shrugged and kissed back; the princess of the day seemed to be pleased with his efforts as he felt her grin slightly. She turned her head to avoid their horns bumping together as she lightly closed her eyes. Skulduggery followed suit and closed his eyes, but before they were completely shut, Celestia pulled back suddenly.

"I…I shouldn't have done that" she told herself, standing up to full height to put as much distance possible between them as she put a hoof to her maw. She seemed awkward and had a shameful blush on her face. "I'm sorry Skulduggery, I…I didn't…"

"It's alright Celestia" he answered. They were both talking very quietly, and refused to look at one another. The air in the room grew very heavy and the awkwardness could practically be tasted.

"Listen, that was wrong of me, I shouldn't tempt or tease you like that" she said a little shamefully.

"Don't worry about it" he told her. Celestia shook her head.

"No…it's that…I don't want this to change our friendship at all" she told him. Skulduggery nodded.

"Yeah, I understand. Don't worry about it, we're too good a friends to let something like this come between us" he reassured. "I mean, you're my princess, and I'm too disciplined, cold and heartless to feel that way about you." They both knew it was a blatant lie, that neither of them felt the same way at all anymore, but couldn't say it aloud simply because of Celestia's station in this world.

"Yes, agreed, thank you for understanding Skulduggery" she said with a small smile on her face. Yet another lie: how she wanted to re engage their kiss, maybe carry it to the bed… The grandfather clock chimed ten, prompting Skulduggery and Tia to look over at it. It was a random and tissue-thin excuse, but the detective took it.

"I should be going, villains to catch and all that" he muttered. Celestia nodded.

"Quite" she said, her regal manner coming back, ten-fold to try and block out any emotions she kept trying to convince herself were unwanted. "I shall see you next time you have something to report detective Skulduggery" she told him "goodbye" she said simply. Skulduggery knew where her manner was coming from, and didn't take it personally. He tipped his hat to her as he took a step back.

"Aye, and you princess" he replied as he turned and trotted for the door. Once he got there, he paused and looked back. "I…it was a good kiss" he said quickly before he swiftly left. All sense of duty and station dissipated at the compliment, and Celestia wanted nothing more than to gallop out after him and clamp her lips to his and never let him go. But she didn't. Something was stopping her from moving; something was stopping her from following him and fulfilling her desires.

"Thank you" she mumbled to herself. She looked back at the pictures she'd left on her dressing table and trotted over to them. She sifted through them and found one of just her; she bit her lip and did something devious and risky, and something she probably hadn't thought through completely. She lifted it with her magic and with a flash of her horn it was gone, sitting comfortably in one of Skulduggery's coat pockets.

With a small smile, she hid the rest of them in one of the pictures in one of the lockable drawers and turned the key, hiding them with a vibrator, small pot of lube and a mixture of cookie dough, one of which she kept in there for emergencies. She trotted away and plopped herself on her bed, sat on her flank. She was suddenly at a loose end; she'd no paperwork to do, couldn't do anything to help with investigation as she had to leave all the informants, following clues and detective-ness to Skulduggery and the likes. She took a breath and hopped off her bed again, moving for the door.

As she passed her mirror, she caught her reflection in it; she was slightly flushed and her lipstick was smeared, no doubt Skull had a pink tint to his lips now. She smiled slightly at the memory still fresh in her mind as she took a wet wipe and ran it over her lips before she re-applied the make-up to her maw. Puckering her lips to make sure it was evenly distributed, she stood up again and trotted for the door. As she past Luna's room, she heard her sleeping soundly. She smiled slightly before she put her disgruntled look back on her face and trotted aimlessly around her castle, mulling over recent events.

Blood Moon seemed to have retreated back to Fluttershy's home. What he was doing there, she'd never know; Blood Moon holding out with such a delicate and innocent pony? It shouldn't have been possible; she hoped he hadn't corrupted them somehow, gotten inside their heads. Next to her mind was her and Luna's current relationship; she didn't like Luna being upset, but she'd have to understand that sometimes you had to take responsibility for what you didn't do as much as what you did. Then, inevitably, her thoughts went to Skulduggery; she replayed the scene over and over in her head, the kiss. He'd called her a good kisser, and she had to admit: he wasn't too bad himself. She thought about the talk they'd had; it was obvious that he liked her more than just a friend or boss now, and she wasn't sure if she didn't see him as something more herself now.

Then she thought about the gravity of what she'd actually done; as princess, she was expected to remain neutral between the three races of pony, though now that she'd kissed Skulduggery, a unicorn, she could be accused of favouritism. It made little sense to the princess of the day, but she was certain that's how the nobles would react, specifically the Goldhooves. She wondered how many problems this could bring up, now that she'd kissed somepony she was supposed to rule. Now that she'd shown romantic feelings towards somepony.

"Discord's antlers, what's so wrong with me liking a stallion" she muttered. She sighed deeply and plotted a course for the kitchen in her head, planning on grabbing a big slice of cake. Or maybe the cake was a lie, and she was just after booze? No, after last night, she just wanted some frosty, sugary, sweet, tooth-rotting goodness.

"Auntie?" Celestia perked up at the voice, recognising it anywhere. She looked around for its source. She looked behind her and found the Alicorn; she had pleasant pink fur, the colour calm, gentle and soothing, the hairs clinging tight to her skin, as most of her ilk's did, her wings were that of a swan, though slightly more delicate than Celestia's, and were pink with purple tips; her mane and tail three tone-a light purple/dark pink was the most prominent colour, a cream streak running over the top of this colour while dark purple went beneath it-was styled simply, curving slightly before flicking and curling at the tips, spiralling almost on the tail; her eyes were kind, but were truly beautiful in the love they expressed, they were light purple and almost foalish in their size and innocence; her horn followed her fur's colour, the alicorn following her kin's suit in length and point; an ornate crown sat atop her head, flat at the bottom and flicking out into three tips, the outer two curving and the middle one having a purple jewel on them, another jewel in the centre; she wore a golden necklace around her neck, a slightly curving pattern in the middle; on her hooves were golden shoes, flaring in a flower-like pattern around her legs; on her flank was her cutie mark, a crystal heart with golden flairs around it. Her curves and contours were something any stallion would drool at, and would be the cause of any number of requests for dates, were she not betrothed; they actually gave Celestia and Luna's a run for their bits.

"Cadence" she exclaimed as she cantered over to her and wrapped her fore-hooves around her neck "what are you doing here" she asked. Cadence didn't let her go, not that Celestia minded; Cadence could hug like no other pony in Equestria.

"Shining Armour told me how you were acting about this 'Blood Moon' character" she answered as she nuzzled her aunt's chest "I left the Crystal Empire in the hooves of my advisers and counsellors for a few days so I could come see you" she explained as they released each other. Celestia smiled, feeling the small spark of warmth in her chest.

"Oh, thank you Cadence. But that really wasn't necessary, I'm…fine" she posed as she caught the younger Alicorn's look. "Cadence" Celestia asked as said Alicorn cocked her head at her elder. A blush then exploded across the pink Alicorn's as she took a step back, a hoof going to her mouth.

"Auntie…" she started, her tone making a stone in Celestia chest drop "w-what did you do" she asked, making the same stone gain a few tonnes. Celestia bit the inside of her cheek sheepishly; Cadence simply knew love in a way Tia couldn't possibly hope to match, and since sex was an aspect of love- "Oh auntie" Cadence squealed as she lunged forwards and wrapped her fore-legs around her suddenly confused aunt's neck "oh, I'm so happy for you" she almost screamed, a huge smile on her face as her face as her hind legs did a small, exited dance that complemented her 'little sister's first crush' excitement. Cadence caught herself, and pulled back a little, a big smile on her face still.

"C-Cadence?" Said princess moved past Celestia and she followed with her head as Cadence's wing went over her back.

"So, who's the luck stallion" she asked merrily, a small skip in her trot. It suddenly snapped into place for Celestia; Cadence hadn't picked up on her and Luna's debauchery last night, she'd picked up on her and Skulduggery's kiss. The thought of their supposedly 'forbidden' love prompted a small blush from Celestia, and Cadence noticed it, no that it was exactly subtle against her white fur, and her smile and the spring in her step only increased.

"C-Cadence, please, there's nothing going on, I assure you" she insisted. Cadence, however, didn't consider this meeting as one to be taken too seriously, and didn't believe her aunt's argument.

"Are you sure" she said playfully. Celestia's muzzle scrunched in frustration as she looked left and right.

"Can we at least take this to my bedroom" she hissed slightly as she turned around and cantered for her room. Cadence smiled slightly and followed behind, the pair of them soon returning to the princess of the day's chambers. Celestia trotted inside and waited for Cadence to trot inside before she closed the door behind them. When she looked back in her room, she found her adoptive niece sat on her bed, having apparently been made by her chambermaids that were apparently ninjas. Get in, do job, get out. Silent, no question and above all else, never let your face be seen.

"So" Cadence sang, sat on her flank, propped up with her fore-hooves behind her and her hind-legs dangling over the side as they swung playfully "what have you been up to" she asked with a small giggle. Her niece's juvenility proved to be contagious, and Celestia soon found herself incredibly, and inexplicitly, excited as she cantered/skipped to her niece and hopped on the bed beside her. Celestia suddenly felt all too much like a teenager, but she wasn't sure if she cared though.

"Well" she started "I…it was kind of a 'heat of the moment' thing" she answered. Cadence waved her hoof.

"Oh, I'm sure it was purely by accident" she assured sarcastically. "What did you do" she asked, sounding like a young gossip-monger. Celestia smiled slightly as she sat properly on her bed, legs curled beneath her.

"W-well I-I sort of…k-kissed him" she revealed. Cadence's response was immediate; she squealed again, throwing her hooves around Tia's neck and laughing in glee.

"Oh, auntie, I'm so proud" she burst out, remembering some of the times the Alicorn princess of love had insisted Celestia go out on a date sometime, to take the edge off, but Celestia having answered with 'I have no time, desire or need for any kind of relationship, Cadence'.
"So" she said at playful length "who's the lucky stallion?"

"H-his name I Skulduggery" she answered. Cadence's reaction was a little different this time; it was playful, but a little more…maturely so.

"Ohh, kissing commoners, now are we? I didn't think that was your style" she teased. Celestia smiled slightly, turning her head away from Cadence.

"Oh, stature has nothing to do with this…oh, who am I kidding, of course it does" she pouted. She took a long sigh. "Who's damn idea was it to make it socially unacceptable for a princess to like somepony like that when they're of lower born blood" she asked nopony. Cadence gave her a sympathetic look.

"I thought it was your father" Cadence murmured. Celestia huffed.

"Father always was a stickler for doing things 'regally' you know" she answered quietly "it's hard to believe that a decision made…millennia ago is affecting me today." Cadence's own mood lowered with her aunt's.

"I feel so sorry for you auntie" she told her "if it makes you feel any better, I don't mind it at all; as far as I'm concerned, you can love anypony you choose to" she told her. Celestia shot her a short look when she said the word 'love'.

"Yes, well; if you really don't mind, would you mind keeping this a secret?" Cadence nodded.

"I will auntie, don't you worry" she assured "if, in exchange, you tell me what else's going on" she posed, the more political side of her princess stator coming out.

"What do you mean?" Cadence gave her one of those looks, one of those 'don't try and fool me' patronising looks.

"There was a disturbance in the force" she said dryly "come on, auntie, I'm the Alicorn princess of love; that extends to the love between families too" she pointed out. Celestia gave a 'damn' look when Cadence revealed that she'd noticed her and Luna's falling out too.

"Oh, well that's nothing you should concern yourself with" she said slightly bitterly. Hearing her tone of voice, Cadence's worry increased. "We…we just disagreed on something, is all" she said tightly.

"Aunt Celestia" Celestia recognised her stern tone of voice; she only used it when addressing a misbehaving foal or somepony annoying her "what. Happened" she demanded gently.

Celestia didn't like answering to anypony, it was one of the things that had rubbed off of Blood Moon onto her own character: let it be so that your pride will hold your head up, so that you may never bow to anypony. Neither liked bowing to anypony (in fact, Blood Moon detested the idea, that being one of the many reasons he and her father hadn't gotten along well) but it was only Celestia who didn't like talking about this kind of thing with other ponies; one might describe Blood Moon as being feminine for that, but that was pretty difficult to do when you'd just seen the stallion rip out somepony's spinal cord, pelvis and intestines before making a banjo with them and then playing it…playing it well.

Celestia glanced at Cadence's questioning face and growled out her frustration. She crossed her fore-legs like a filly, and pouted. She went on to tell Cadence what had happened last night, sparring the pony embodiment of love few details, and watching as her face grew more and more shocked, confused, slightly aroused at one point and finally slightly disappointed.

"Well" Celestia asked, awaiting her opinion. Cadence stood, that look of disappointment still on her face. She put a hoof on Tia's hoof.

"Aunt Celestia…I really hope you realise what you did" she said, shaking her head slightly. Celestia glared at her trotting form as it headed for the door.

"And what's that supposed to mean" she demanded. Cadence didn't answer, instead she just kept trotting.

"I'm going to see if Luna's alright" she said. Celestia's glare turned to a death stare as Cadence continued trotting.

The Alicorn princess of love pushed through the golden door, closing it behind her. When it was shut she sadly shook her head. Her aunt had a way with looking past her own flaws, looking over her own faults and seeing what everypony else did and bending it to her defence. She'd done it before, once or twice, some more major than others. Cadence opened Luna's door softly, peering inside and finding darkness peering back. She trotted inside and closed the door behind her.

"Luna" she said quietly, trotting towards the bed and looking over it; she could faintly see the outline of the princess of the night's body. Her horn lit up in a light, baby blue glow and she cringed sadly; Luna had obviously cried herself to sleep, and judging by the large stain of water next to her eyes and head, she had cried a lot. More than a lot. But what confused her was that she had a slight smile on her face. She raised her hoof and nudged her slightly to awaken her. "Aunt Luna" she cooed. The dark mare stirred in her sleep before her eyes fluttered open and she found Cadence's glow meet her, her light dimmed down so it wouldn't strain her eyes.

"Oh, C-" she gave a small, cute yawn, Cadence coming close to mimicking Rainbowdash's signature 'squishy face' in response "Cadence" she tried again. "It's good to see you" she greeted as her hoof went up and wrapped around her neck and pulled her in for a quick hug, her drowsy state almost making her fall out of the bed before Cadence eased her back in. "What brings you here?" Cadence hopped onto Luna's bed and sat next to her.

"I was just talking to Celestia" she said, Luna's face suddenly growing depressed as she plopped her head down onto the pillow again "and she told me about what happened" she revealed. Luna should have been bothered or concerned by this but didn't really give a damn; she knew that her sister had started it and wasn't going to let anypony tell her different.

"My sister can be a bitch sometimes" Luna muttered. Cadence smiled slightly at her aunt's choice of words.

"Don't tell her I said this but…" she laid her head down next Luna's so she could look into her in the eye "she really can" she agreed. Luna seemed to brighten up a bit, her smile slight but there. "I want you to know aunt Luna; I'm on your side, Celestia seduced you and…well we needn't go into details" she mumbled, a small blush on even the love goddess's face at their debauchery. Luna offered a small smile in response.

"Thank you Cadence; it feels good to know I have somepony on my side" she said. Cadence nodded in response, silently welcoming her to her support.

"Aunt Luna…Shiny told me about a stallion named 'Blood Moon'. Who is he, because from what Shining Armour told me, he sounds like pretty bad news" she said. Luna huffed slightly.

"There's neither good nor bad when it comes to Blood Moon; he's a…a beautiful monster, the shadow that distinguishes darkness from light. He's the bad guy that works for good ponies" she answered slightly poetically. "He's was our foalsitter, with a heart of gold and pure darkness at the same time, a truly kind psychopath" she finished.

"That was beautiful" Cadence murmured. Luna smiled slightly.

"Thank you."

"Auntie, I don't want to ask Celestia right now…so can you tell me what he was like? Blood Moon, because you make him out to not be a so bad stallion, but Celestia makes him sound like the next Discord" she said. "So could you tell me what he's like? Please" she asked, her eyes pleadingly wide. Luna smiled, glad that she was older than somepony around here so she could tell them stories.

"Alright Cadence, since you asked so nicely" she giggled. "Anyway, the first thing to know about Blood Moon…"

Mistakes

Chapter twenty three: Mistakes…

Twilight's eyes fluttered open. Something felt off.

She couldn't put her hoof on it, but something was definitely off about her surroundings; she groaned to herself as her eyes closed against the sunlight attacking them, loitering on them so the darkness couldn't get back to them. Her maw opened wide of its own accord as she yawned, hugging something to her body; she opened her eyes again, slower and more cautiously this time, and found that she was holding Scootaloo to her chest. She couldn't hold down the slight smile when she found the filly's own small smile on her face as she hugged the mare's chest back. The thoughts that crept into her head were of the inevitable; her conversation with Rainbowdash the other day resonated inside her head, the Pegasus's comment about Twilight mothering Scootaloo at the forefront of her mind. She wasn't sure how she felt about it; in her mind, adopting the filly with Blood Moon was one thing, but actually being a mother to her was quite another. How should she treat her, what exactly would it entail? It occurred to Twilight that this was one of those subjects in which there were endless amounts of books on, but none of which were truly helpful; from what she had read, motherhood was apparently natural for a mare, but the magenta mare just didn't see it, mainly because the only thing that was really natural to her was magic, everything else in her life she'd had to actively learn: trotting, speaking, making friends even, dancing and fighting, hay, she'd read a book called 'colt and marefriends, 101' before Rarity and Applejack had come by the day they'd been abducted.

Twilight felt Scootaloo stir, and looked down to find her snuggling further into her chest, her head nuzzling her in her sleep. Twilight felt a strange sensation in her chest, similar to her feelings towards Blood Moon but stemming from different roots. She had to admit it to herself; she defiantly felt differently towards the little filly after their small heart-to-heart the other day. But, even if she felt closer to the filly, she couldn't deny how scary the prospect was; yes, Blood Moon was an experienced, and technically a trained, father but she was still uncomfortable with the prospect. Hay, she was still only in her early twenties, she'd barely lived her life, and now she was expected to raise a filly? Confliction wasn't the right word; every time she'd try and convince herself she wasn't going to go through with it, she'd remember the filly clinging to her chest with the loving smile on her face. She really needed advice on this, maybe she could go to Celestia when this had all blow over or maybe her own mother. She couldn't help but smirk slightly when she thought of their reaction when she asked a question like that.

"Hey, mom, got any advice for raising a foal?" Twilight Velvet and Night Light's eyes snapped open and their jaws seemed to gain a few tonnes. Twilight's father's eye twitched slightly while her mother seemed to stop breathing. Velvet seemed fit to faint, while Night Light looked like he was about to kill whoever had it necessary for his daughter to ask such a question.

Twilight couldn't help but giggle and shudder simultaneously at the prospect of Blood Moon meeting her dad; Shining Armour got his protective nature from him, but if Shiny was protective then Night Light was capable of burning Equestria to its founding stone if it meant shielding his little Twily from the dangers of real life. He was likely to want to kill Blood Moon, but Blood Moon was very likely to stand up for himself: it wasn't a confrontation likely to end in smiles and clinking tankards of cider together.

Twilight was stirred from her thoughts when she felt Scootaloo stir against her chest again and looked down to find the Pegasus filly waking up; she blinked her eyes and yawned quietly, her maw going wide. Twilight almost suffered a heart attack from the cuteness. Scoots looked up at the mare holding her and smiled at her. Twilight suddenly didn't care about suddenly having foals or having to mother Scootaloo, and just pulled her further into her chest as she squeezed her. It was a remarkably satisfying feeling, hugging the filly, and Twilight was suddenly leaning towards taking her in despite her doubts; waking up to see a little face, truly happy to see you, was just too good a feeling to give up. Meanwhile, Scootaloo giggled into the mare's hold and nuzzled her chest.

"Morning Twilight" the filly greeted, her smile still on her face. Twilight giggled slightly and smiled back.

"Morning Scootaloo" Twilight replied. Scootaloo's smile went wider as she rested her head on Twilight's chest. Then their eyes snapped open as they realized something; they looked up over their bodies and looked around themselves. Fluttershy was still sleeping, spooning Twilight as it happens, but they were a pony down; where in Tartarus was Blood Moon? They got up quietly, Scootaloo gaining a purple glow as she was magicked quietly out of the bed by Twilight, while said mare did her best to move silently out of confines of her comfy bed and Fluttershy, doing her best to copy Blood Moon's movements. She'd have to ask him for lessons on moving quietly, it could be extremely useful. The two trotted quietly out of the room, both pausing and cringing as they stepped on a loose floorboard, sending a squeak through the quiet room but thankfully not waking anypony. One of Spike's snores seemed to have covered it. They both started trotting again, slower and more cautiously this time, before they made it outside the room. When they did, they were met with not quite what they were expecting: singing.

With confused looks on their faces, they approached the closed door to the bathroom, where the singing appeared to be coming from. They frowned and looked at each other as they each heard the words that were muffled slightly by the door and the shower that was blasting down on who could only be the assassin. The filly and mare glanced each other before Twilight put her hoof to the door and pushed it open. The words they heard were slow and slightly horse, but what really got them was the harmonica rift between each pause between the lyrics. The steam in the room coming from the shower drifted out of the bathroom when they opened the door, revealing Blood Moon in the shower, his mane and tail slick and sticking to his body, his fur following suit; he had shed his bandages and apparently his stitches too, and the sores had apparently taken sudden leave. His wounded side was clean of any and all boils, apparently having healed overnight and dissipated from his body. The only evidence of them ever being there was the faint scar left by Rarity's stitching, spanning right across his body, and the scarring left by the sores themselves, a row of small and ugly blots on his skin. He apparently hadn't noticed the two new souls in the bathroom and he continued to sing and play his in instrument. His voice was deep and slightly horse, his words slow and rhythmical.

"They gave me thirty years…" he played a few notes of his harmonica "an' ah did none…

Spent mah life on the run… with mah bottle of rum…

I outran the law… can't take it more…

Ah lived all mah life… at the edge of a knife…

But mah clock is tickin'… the plot thickenin'…

The walls are closin' in, and mah hair is growin' thin

No more" the harmonica came back, longer "no more…ah can't take it no more, no more, now
that mah life's become a bore…

Ah headed back to mah home… to live mah life alone…

The day that ah die… is feelin' close by…

But the day ah returned… is the day that ah learned…

You can't defy the law for a gig, for this is the story of Ronnie Biggs

Oh no more… no more… no more, no more, ah can't take it no more…" The assassin went into a short harmonica solo, his hooves moving the short metal instrument up and down his maw in a blur, the notes leading seamlessly to the next before he finished with a grand flourish. He still hadn't noticed the pair of ponies trot into the bathroom while he'd been singing and playing, and put his hoof on the tiled wall surrounding the bathtub, speaking quietly to himself as the harmonica faded away, burned instantly to nothingness by black fire.

"Rest in peace Biggs, you crazy bastard" he said to himself as he used his magic to turn the tap on the side of the wall off before stepping out; he took a deep, sighing breath, low and apparently sad, pausing for a second before his horn glowed as he magicked a towel over to him, drying himself off with it; throughout this, he still hadn't noticed his marefriend and daughter enter the room. He rubbed the towel all over his body, rough and fast to quickly dry himself before he ran it through his mane, leaving it messy and sticking out at odd angles, no doubt with no small amount of knots and split ends to it, not that he really cared. When he was finished with that, he looked up and jumped slightly when he saw the mare and filly. "Hey" he said, slightly awkward, as though caught doing something questionable.

"Hey" Twilight answered. Scootaloo just waved. "Up, I see" Twilight noted.

"Uhhh, yeah, I guess" the assassin answered. They stared at each other for a few seconds, a confused and slightly awkward Scootaloo looking between them, until Twilight lunged.

"Blood Moon" she cried as the magenta mare dived for her coltfriend, wrapping her hooves around his neck and kissing him for all her worth. Blood Moon's injuries were a apparently still a little sore, that fact making itself known to him when he growled into his mare's kiss and fell to his side. Twilight tried to get off of him, but he wouldn't let her; instead, he just held her down on top of him, engaging her in the most passionate 'I'm back, feelin' good' kiss he could.

Truth be told however, he was not in the best of conditions; for one, he was sore all over, for two, his deeply scared side stung whenever put too much weight on it and for three, his head felt like somepony had ordered the entirety of the Equestrian army to march through his skull. Despite this, he pushed the pain down and just kissed her back as heartily as he could; Blood Moon's hoof strayed dangerously close to Twilight's plot, the mare's own hoof darting down, slapping playfully and pulling it up again to less questionable places as she pulled back and grinned into his face.

"Naughty" she whispered.

"Can you blame me" he retorted, a grin of his own on his muzzle as he flashed his roguish grin. The mare gave a grin of her own, kissing around his nose.

"We've got company" she giggled, motioning her head back at the orange filly. Blood Moon kissed her a final time and hugged her tight before he nuzzled her a little, Twilight returning his sentiments. The assassin looked over Twilight to find Scootaloo, gagging with her maw wide open and pointing a hoof down her throat. Blood Moon smirked. "Get over here Scoots" he said, the filly cantering over to him as soon as he made the invite. She leapt onto the stallion, landing, thankfully, on the side that hadn't given way to the blade that had almost opened his lungs. The stallion, mare and filly all embraced at once, laying peacefully on the bathroom floor without a care in the world, the assassin glad to be back with his lover and daughter. When the assassin grunted in pain again, Blood Moon having shifted in a disagreeable way, Twilight and Scootaloo pulled back, the dark stallion not stopping them this time.

"Are you okay" the purple unicorn asked tenderly. Blood Moon nodded, still holding his side with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Twilight helped him up, letting him use her as a crutch as he stood while Scootaloo did her best to act as a crutch on the other side of him. Once he was stood up properly, they were guiding him out of the bathroom when the three ponies heard Blood Moon's name called.

"Twi, Blood Moon, where are yah" the southern drawl called through the cottage, concern lining the mare's voice.

"Twilight, Scootaloo, come out" a similarly southern yet younger drawl shouted.

"Applebloom" Scootaloo replied, looking left and right out of the doorway. Blood Moon and Twilight joined her before long, finding the orange and yellow filly outside the bathroom. Applebloom was rubbing tiredness from her eye, but Applejack looked a fresh as a daisy, her early morning starts to begin her chores apparently paying off.

"Mornin' Twi" AJ greeted before she turned her head to Blood Moon, her smile growing wider "well, look who's up" she noted, the assassin shooting her a small smirk.

"Morning' Applejack" the assassin greeted in return, nodding his head at the apple bucker. Applejack was surprised to find him so spry, but could tell by the way he was leaning on Twilight slightly that he was still sore, not that it really surprised her, given the wounds that he'd had. She moved to the side, letting him trot/hobble back into the bedroom and onto his, Twilight and Fluttershy's bed. After getting him there, Blood Moon dumped himself on the mattress, Fluttershy jolting awake.

"No, please don't whip me again master, I-wait, what" she asked both the figure in her dreams and the ponies in the room, half her mind still stuck in her dream. Blood Moon chuckled and rested on his back, his fore-hooves remaining on his chest. The butter yellow mare rubbed the sleep from her eyes to find the assassin before her, looking at her partly sleeping form with an amused grin on his face. "Blood Moon" she squealed as she moved in and kissed him heavily on the lips before pulling back and hugging him "you're alright, I'm mean, y-you are okay, aren't you?" Blood Moon chuckled, holding down the slight stinging in his side, and hugged her back.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I mean I've been better but I'm alive" he answered. Applejack, Twilight, Scootaloo and Applebloom were all watching with smiles on their faces, but when the assassin looked past them, he found that the other elements of harmony were still asleep, plus Sand Stalker and Sweetie-Belle. The assassin looked up at the bedpost to find a slumbering Phoenix; he reached up and fussed his chin until he awoke to find his master finally up. His eyes showed a smile and hopped down to him, padding around on the pillow his head was rested on, nuzzling his head with his own. Blood Moon smirked and returned his pet's gesture. Blood Moon looked to Dusk and scratched between his ears; the little critter seemed to enjoy the attention, and followed his hoof when he pulled back a little. Blinking his eyes open, he found the assassin and immediately scampered over to him; the little mouse sat on his nose before he seemed to activate 'doctor mode' and pulled his eyelid up for some reason, checking him all over. "Yes, I'm fine" the dark stallion told the mouse with a small laugh at the critter's concern, using his hoof to put him on his head. He picked up a small scrap of paper from one of the draws in the bedside table and screwed it up before he tossed it at Sand Stalker; the ex-soldier jolted awake before the assassin shouted "up stallion" in his best commando voice.

"Sir, yes sir" the Saddle Arabian answered automatically before he frowned "wait, what?" He looked over at the sound of a laughing pony, and found Blood Moon cackling like a mad-stallion. The merc growled slightly as he got up, before he trotted over to the assassin's resting place. "It's about damn time" he muttered as he approached "what took you?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"Eh, things" he answered. The assassin was well aware of the fact that everypony was forced to approach him and stand over his bedridden form; it wasn't something he enjoyed, but it was something he would have to endure for now; he knew that the 'dull stinging' was telling him that there was something deeper and very probably much more serious wrong inside of him, maybe internal bleeding or a broken rip agitating a lung or maybe a kidney. Sand Stalker, meanwhile, had looked back at Rainbowdash.

"Hey, Dash, look who's up" he called back to the sleeping weathermare. She snorted and stirred in her sleep, snoring slightly. "Dash" he called again, louder. She didn't wake up. With a disgruntled look on his face, he trotted over to her and poked her belly. "Dash, up" he told her sleeping form. She stirred again and turned over. "Rainbowdash." He tapped her on the head. The cyan blue mare grumbled and stirred again before she finally woke up.

"Hrm, wha…whas goin' on" she asked into the pillow.

"Get up" Sand Stalker repeated as he whipped the covers off her. The blue Pegasus grumbled and sat up, scratching her windswept mane.

"What" she demanded. The Pegasus nodded his head over at Blood Moon.

"Look who's up" he answered. RD looked over at him and smiled slightly.

"Oh, hey" she said before falling back to sleep gracelessly. Blood Moon smirked.

"It's good to see you too Dash" the assassin chimed back. Blood Moon decided that there was no point trying to wake up anypony else, given that Rarity struck him a s the sort that enjoyed her beauty sleep; Pinkie was just too cute to wake up, what with her happy little smiles and snores; Sweetie-Belle looked too comfy in the grip of her sister; and Rainbowdash didn't look like she was getting up today at all. During his thoughts, Twilight had hopped onto the bed beside her coltfriend and snuggled up to him a little. She looked over the side of the bed at Spike and nudged him a little.
"Spike" she cooed "you up?"

"Frremeged." Twilight giggled. "Dergbern" the sleeping dragon answered intelligibly. Twilight smiled again as she leaned up and looked back at Blood Moon.

"So, if you don't mind my asking, what happened to you" she asked as she leaned her head in
the crook of his neck. Blood Moon turned his head to her slightly.

"What do you mean?" Sand Stalker answered.

"When you were asleep some…strange things happened to you" he revealed. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Strange things" he repeated slowly "I had a temperature" he got a nod "sores" another nod "they were filled with some kind of puss" another. He seemed to be thinking about something.
"Did I respond to anything" he asked carefully, his head cocked slightly. Twilight answered this
time.

"Kinda…I mean, we put a bottle of…well, we don't really know what it was" she admitted "but you didn't seem to like it." Her horn glowed as she picked up the same bottle Zecora had left behind and floated it to Blood Moon. The assassin took it in his hooves and turned it around in them; he got a familiar vibe from it, and realised that he'd felt this feeling before: when he'd been dreaming last night, he'd felt a foreboding and 'hackles raising' sensation that had caused him to gallop for it in his dreams. This must have been the cause of it. Something occurred to him and he grunted.

"Did anypony burst any of them" he asked. Sand Stalker nodded.

"Yeah, that zebra, Zecora, she popped one or two to try and find out what they were" he informed. Blood Moon nodded and rested his head back on the pillow, a smirk on his lips.

"She didn't find out a thing, did she?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah…how'd you know?" The assassin simply grunted in further amusement as he shifted himself up the bed until he was sat on his flank.

"Because, Twilight, those sores were what remained of the anti-venom keeping the poison out of my system" he revealed. Twilight frowned, Sand Stalker's expression following her.

"You were poisoned" the mercenary asked. Blood Moon nodded.

"I was. From what I can guess, the guard that hit me must have been using a poisoned weapon.” The assassin looked down himself, looking at the scars left behind by the boils; he judged the shape and size of them, determining from them the strength and identifying the most likely candidate. “Looks like Nirnroot venom” running a hoof up and down his sore side absently. Sand Stalker frowned.

“Nirn venom? I could whip up a cue to that with the plants on the edge of the Everfree, hay, Twilight and Fluttershy probably could. Why go through all the trouble?” The assassin shrugged.

“At the time, the poison was too deep into my system to identify it properly. Rarity was the only one up at the time, and she doesn’t really have a background in medicine. Leaving to my immune system seemed like a good idea at the time anyway” the assassin shrugged. Sand Stalker just shook his head in disapproval.

“I’ve met kamikaze troops with better self-preservation instincts than you” he muttered. Blood Moon just chuckled.

"So, why did it smell so bad" Twilight asked from the side. Blood Moon glanced at her.

"And why did it explode" Sand Stalker added. Blood Moon glanced at him.

"Side effects" he answered simply. That answer satisfied nopony. He rolled his eyes. "To answer your question, you must know this; the reason my body does that is because of a spell that was placed upon me during my training, so long ago. However, at the time, like many other types of magic and spells, the spell wasn't well developed. Starswirl was yet to be born and the Alicorns kept a lot of their magic to themselves, so many spells went unrefined, and because of that, many spells of this magnitude had side effects, the side effects in this circumstance being that it's rather…combustible when mixed with…well, anything really and that said explosion is rather…well, the two of you did smell it" he trailed off. He'd smelt it once, a while back, and he had to admit; he hadn't eaten for two days straight.

"What about the temperature" Fluttershy chimed. Blood Moon shrugged.

"The same ends as the boils. Thanks to the puss, my immune system works overtime to be rid of it, but it can't so it tries harder to get rid of it, but because of the magic, it still can't, and the cycle just repeats; try to work, don't work, get hotter, try to work again, don't work again, get even hotter, and so forth" he answered before he looked around. "Anything else, Applejack, you've been quiet, Applebloom, Scoots?" The farm hoof smiled slightly.

"Nah thanks, partner. Imma havin' enough trouble wrappin' mah head around what tha' rest o' ya'll been talkin' 'bout" she replied good-naturedly.

"I wanna ask something" Scootaloo exclaimed, hopping besides her father. The assassin looked over to her with a grin.
"Yes, daughter dear?" He immediately wished he hadn't replied.

"What were you doing last night, to come back like that you must have been fighting off an Ursa-Major" she told him. Blood Moon, Twilight, Sand Stalker, Applejack and even Fluttershy flinched. Applebloom caught it, raising a confused eyebrow, but Scootaloo had her eyes closed as she hopped up and down on the bed and missed it.

"I'll…tell you later" he answered. Scootaloo went to answer his reluctance with insistence but was cut off when they heard a lady-like yawn from across the room.

"What time is it" the upper-class accent asked. Everypony gathered around and resting on Twilight's bed looked over to Applejack's to find Rarity and, subsequently, Sweetie-Belle rousing from their slumber.

"Mornin' Rare" Applejack greeted as she cantered hastily over to the bed to catch the white filly on the brink of falling out of the bed. The white mare looked up to find the orange one looking over her.

"Good morning Applejack, darling" she returned before she saw what she was clutching "oh, Sweetie-Belle, are you alright" she fussed as she helped her back onto the bed.

Whilst this was going on, Sand Stalker hoof-bumped Blood Moon and trotted away to give the dark stallion some room after telling him it was good to have him back before retiring to his chair. Fluttershy yawned and stretched before kissing Blood Moon again and making her way outside to tend her animal friends. Applejack elected to join her while Rainbowdash final woke up and went outside to stretch her wings.

"Stay low 'Dash, we gotta keep hidden" Sand Stalker called out. Rainbowdash waved a laid-back hoof.

"Yeah, yeah, I will" she unconvincingly reassured. Sand Stalker didn't buy it, and took off after her. RD pushed through the door, finding Celestia's bright and happy sun shining down on Fluttershy's cottage as well as the rest of Equestria. She took a deep breath through her muzzle, taking a deep whiff of the clear, countryside air as Sand Stalker came up beside her from behind. The cyan Pegasus looked back at him. "I said I'll keep low" she told him. The stallion snorted.

"Yeah, sure you will" he replied. Rainbowdash snorted back and trotted a little away from the small house, the Saddle Arabian following her. The mare stretched herself out, arching her back and pushing her fore-hooves out from the rest of her body as she spread her wings, Sand Stalker copying her; both Rainbow and Sand discreetly compared their wings to the other's, a subconscious reaction for any Pegasus. There was no real advantageous wingspan, those with larger wings had greater endurance and straight-line speed, but a Pegasus with small wings was much more nimble and faster around corners. Sand Stalker and Rainbowdash had similar wings sizes, the stallion's a little larger and more muscular than the mare's but both leaned towards a sensible mix between speed and agility. "We'll go a little ways into the Everfree and come back, okay" he suggested. Rainbowdash shrugged and took flight, not caring about their rout, her blue wings beating several times as she began to fly, Sand Stalker following soon after.

They flew over the deep green sea with speed, working the cramps out of their much beloved wing muscles. Rainbowdash seemed most glad for it, out of the pair of them, and preformed loops, barrel rolls and other assorted basic stunts to get the blood pumping. The merc watched her go in an impressed relaxation, his eyes watching her as his head stayed in place.
After a while, 'Dash began to get bored of not being able to practice any of her more advanced tricks and retired to just flying alongside Sand Stalker.

"So…um, Uncle Sand?" Said Pegasus looked over at her.

"Yeah?"

"What…what were they like?" The old stallion of course knew exactly who the mare was talking about, but feigned ignorance. He wasn't going to enjoy this conversation.

"Who?" RD made a 'duuh' face.

"You know who, my parents" she answered.

"Oh" he muttered. "Well, what do you want to know" he asked as he slowed down so he could speak to her properly.

"Just what they were like" she answered casually, crossing her fore-hooves as she slowed down with him "I never really knew them, so I wanna know what they were like" she told him. Sand Stalker saw the request as reasonable, but still didn't want to answer her; he'd had a long, long time to perfect his cover story, and perfect it he had, having been working on it ever since he’d discovered Rainbowdash had moved to Ponyville. But that didn't change the fact that he felt very uncomfortable with the prospect of discussing Rainbowdash's parents with her; his conversation with Blood Moon on the rooftop came to the front of his mind:

"Am I the only one on this roof who wants to tell her?"

In all honesty, he truly did, but he knew he couldn't; he owed it to Blazing Trails to keep his and his wife's existence a secret. He decided to try his best at answering the mare's questions.

"Well, they were good ponies, a lot like yourself in fact: they were loyal, headstrong" he smirked at his memories "fiercely competitive and true Pegasi, through and through." His mood took a downturn. "But…they didn't suffer fools, they were good to each other and their friends."

'They could be the most brutal of fighters but the most passionate of lovers.' He remembered hearing rumours about the two of them slaughtering a griffon assassination squad before going on to make love in the gore. The mercenary had a sneaking suspicion that that had been the day 'Dash had been conceived.

"They were strong ponies, looked after each other and others."

'They were loyal to their country and defended it with honour.'

"They stood by their friends and family" he looked at 'Dash "and they loved their daughter very much" he told her. Rainbowdash smiled slightly, glad to know that she knew her parents a little bit better now, but couldn't block the pain welling up in her chest. Sand Stalker caught her look and decided she didn't want to talk about this anymore. "Race you back?" The cyan mare's competitive nature ignited and so did a fire behind her eyes.

She didn't even stop to acknowledge his challenge; instead she just reeled back and shot forwards in a streak of rainbow. Sand Stalker grinned and took off after her, his mustard fur and black tail casting a faint streak of dark yellow and black stripes behind him; it wasn't as glamorous as RD's rainbow trail but he liked it, no matter what anypony said. The old merc quickly found himself neck and neck with 'Dash, and so did the weathermare. Her pride burned fiercely and told her to push harder; the mare narrowed her eyes against the wind rushing into her eyes, straightening her neck and body to increase her aerodynamic qualities, her wings beating harder and much more powerfully. Sand Stalker grinned at the challenge and followed suit, pumping his wings harder than he had in a long time. Rainbowdash's plan had been to leave him in her dust by now, but he was still lingering on her tail; her youth gave her the advantage over the old stallion, but he held his own against her well. The sprint was raising the stallion's heart rate like nothing had in years, adrenalin flowing through his veins like a tidal wave of power coursing through his body. He hadn't felt this kind of excitement in years.

And he was beginning to enjoy it.

The stallion's epiphany broke down a wall inside him, and he was hit by a powerful second wind. Rainbowdash could do nothing but watch as he began to pick up speed again and slowly, but surely, began to push past her. The mare growled slightly and ordered herself to pick up the pace; she hadn't a clue as to how he was doing this, he must be getting tired by now. She looked up at him to find him looking back at her, a grin on his face that would have matched Blood Moon's insanity perfectly. She frowned slightly at his expression for a second as he lunged up before he went into a steep dive into the Everfree's tree's branches; Rainbowdash gasped in panic, shock and amazement as he disappeared through the leaves of the trees. She swallowed and dived down after him, following the suddenly energetic fifty-five year old.

Rainbowdash found her adoptive uncle darting between, around, under and over tree branches, shrubbery and other assorted plant life. The Pegasus had to admit that she was astounded with the merc's agility and speed. His wingspan may have been wider than 'Dash's but he made up for it by pulling them into his body when passing through tight gaps, free-flying for short times before he opened his wings again and started flying once more. Rainbow kept after him, moving as fast as she could in the dense shrubbery. When he found a clear-ish patch he rolled over until he was flying on his back, his fore-hooves holding his head up as though lounging on the beach.

"Come on 'Dash, keep up" he goaded with a smirk on his face. Rainbowdash growled at him; she was not going to let him get away with that. She darted after him, her rainbow trail coming back, and made after him.

Sand Stalker gave a hoarse laugh in return and rolled back over, resuming his normal style of flight. Before him were a wall of thick branches, the wood and bark cracked and split in places, probably by more flying creatures not as agile as the mustard mercenary. He darted to one of the stronger branches and landed on it, leaping nimbly to another again before doing the same to another, jumping from tree to tree with the grace and skill of a twenty year old. Rainbowdash could only watch in awe, pride and slight jealousy as her elderly uncle suddenly became a ninja. Sand Stalker left the bulk of branches and leapt to the air again, flying once more. He hadn't felt like this in decades, not since his wife and child had died… he wished he hadn't thought about that. He shook the thoughts from his head and-

He got no further before he smacked into the tree.

Rainbowdash hadn't seen the whole thing, she'd heard it more than actually witnessed it. The only reason she'd known was because she'd heard a dull, wooden 'THUD' and an angry, deep, aged yelp of pain. She flew towards where she guessed it had come from and looked around; the mare was a little deterred by the sound of a growl in the distance, though she'd never admit it, but she didn't let it scare her away. She continued in her search and soon found a deep dent in one of the trees. Below it was a broken off branch, below that another and another below that and below that was a grumpy looking Pegasus mercenary, rubbing his head. Her eyes snapped open and she flew down to him.

"Uncle Sand" she exclaimed as she flew down to him "are you alright" she asked as she landed next to him. The mercenary looked up at the rainbow mane and tailed Pegasus, and for a second he saw his daughter looking over him. Then he blinked and Rainbowdash was back, the cyan blue fur washing over the white desert sand of his ten years old's fur, the multitude of colours that composed her signature rainbow mane flowing over the sky blue and white mane that had rested upon his daughter's head. It was lost on nopony who'd ever met her that she looked just like her father's homeland. Sand Stalker shook the memories from his head, not wishing to dwell on them now. He'd save that for his dreams tonight. He then realised that his adoptive niece had been speaking to him throughout his whole thought process. "-Okay Sand? You took a pretty hard knock just now" she pointed out. The stallion nodded and rubbed his head again. Rainbowdash helped him sit up, the merc resting on his flank and reaching up with his hoof, pulling off the beanie he kept there and tenderly touching around his head. He flinched slightly when he felt the sore bump on his head.

"Damn" he muttered, feeling the head wound. His time in the army had left him with a hard head, and a thick skull, both figuratively and literally. The way RD gasped when she saw his head revealed why.

"Woah" she breathed as she looked at his skull. She couldn't resist looking closer, the merc letting her get closer as she brushed his black and aged silver mane to the side. Most of his head was covered in a single stitch, his mane being cut across the old war wound.
Rainbowdash wasn't much of a doctor when it came to this sort of thing, but she knew he'd been lucky when he'd acquired this wound. It looked to have come very close to his brain.
"What…what happened to you?" The merc shrugged.

"I joined the military" he answered as he slipped that hat back over his head "getting hurt is sort of one of the occupational hazards" he answered. Rainbowdash frowned.

"Wait, they let you stay in the army with a wound like that?" The Pegasus didn't know much about the army, but she did know that such serious injuries tended to warrant an honourable discharge. Sand Stalker just smirked at her obliviousness.

"Maybe not in Equestria, but the Saddle Arabian military is very different to Celestia's forces" he answered. He spread his wings and took flight again, feeling it not a good idea to hang around in the middle of the Everfree. "Back in Saddle Arabia, the forces I belonged to consists of highly skilled warriors called 'Kinsmen.' When a stallion, or mare, joins the army, assuming they're of age, they will be grafted into the Kinsmen at a young age to be trained in the ways of the desert." 'Dash had joined him as he rose above the leaves and branches, hovering next to him as he finished. Sand Stalker stretched his back out and took to flying forwards once more, at a speed more suited to his age, and Rainbowdash followed after him.

"The ways of the desert" the weathermare repeated. Sand looked back at her.

"A little cheesy, I admit, but it's the best way of describing it" he retorted. Rainbowdash met him with eyes that continued to question him; she wasn't curious about the actual training, per se, that was Twilight's department, but she did want to know more about her uncle's past. "Put simply, we were given a year to learn; they didn't slow down for the weak, didn't give advanced work for the strong, everypony was given the same training, no matter your age, race or gender. It was the most intense twelve months of my life; they broke me, rebuilt me, broke me again before going on to break my broken form. After that, they didn't need to rebuild me; everypony in the squad, who was cut out for a place in the Kinsmen, had stopped breaking. We had now snapped. Four of us stopped giving in, stopped taking the abuse and the rigorous training; at the beginning of the training regime, we were told that any insubordination would be punished with a one on one fight with the 'encouragement' or one of the fully trained Kinsmen. Every one of us stood up to them, and the four of us fought like animals; we'd been repeatedly broken and didn't care about the combat training we'd received." He smirked at a memory. "I remember that one of us actually taking a bite out of one of them" he added "a real, big bite, like a mouthful out of the poor guy." He looked over at the mare and caught her slightly disturbed face and, not wanting to make her throw up a high speed, neglected to tell her it had actually been him that had been to be reduced to cabalism. "Anyway, when we fought them and mostly tore them apart through sheer, unbridled insanity after been broken down to our base instincts, we were approached by the Kinsmen's leader, Commander Dune, and told that we'd passed the test" he said with a slightly nostalgic hint to his voice. "After that, we were dropped into the desert." Rainbowdash looked at her Uncle with a distraught look on her face.

"So…after all that, they threw you into the desert" she said over the wind rushing past them. He nodded.

"Yeah, we were left there for eight months; our only orders were to survive. Only two of us succeeded" he said quietly. Rainbow felt a little sorry for him.

"Who was the other guy?" Sand Stalker shrugged.

"Never really knew him, just another stallion. He was assigned to a different platoon of Kinsmen than me. Anyway, after that the actual training started; the two of us were taught things we'd never forget: how to hide, survive, fight, kill, torture, infiltrate, sabotage but mostly, we were taught how to use our swords" he told her. "The scimitar, we were told, was to become our best friend. Our sword, our shield, our armour and our only still rock in an ever flowing sea of confusion. It was the only thing we could trust, and the only thing we could rely on. We learnt our lessons well" he told her. Rainbowdash watched him tell his tail with the kind of unbridled attention she normally reserved for the Daring Do novels, but couldn't do anything to show it; that kind of awe could only be expressed in the mind, so she just nodded and looked ahead of them.

"Hey, we're back" she noted as they came into view of Fluttershy's home. They decreased altitude until they had landed. They trotted towards the door, but as they were about to push through, Sand Stalker paused and stalled. Rainbowdash looked back. "What's up" she asked. Sand Stalker hesitated.
"Why don't you go on, I wanna…get some clean air, clear my lungs of the air from the Everfree, y'know." It was a flimsy excuse to sit outside with his memories, but Rainbowdash recognised this as one of those times where it was necessary. She smiled slightly.

"Yeah, sure, no problem" she told him, nudging his shoulder slightly. RD went inside to leave him to his thoughts. Inside, she found Blood Moon and Twilight sat at Fluttershy's chess board.

"Hey" Twilight said, her seat facing the door. Blood Moon turned in his seat to face her, nodding her way. Twilight caught the look on her face. "Hey, are you alright" she asked with concern. RD shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she answered "I'm just a little worried about Sand Stalker" she told them. Blood Moon frowned.

"Why?"

"Well, on the way back, we started talking a bit about my parents and his past…I think I upset him a little" she murmured. The assassin gave her a sympathetic look.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. He just needs some time to think" he reassured her. The dark stallion wasn't sure if he believed his own words; the mercenary was similar to him, in that they both had a lot of bad memories; the main difference between them was how they handled those memories: Blood Moon bottled up his emotions, only letting them out when he fought with passion. That said, those were rare times. Sand Stalker, however, seemed to slowly leak his temper out; he didn't blame him, from what he could tell he had a potentially lethal temper, not to mention a very short fuse. That was probably what he was doing now, sitting outside by himself to slowly relive his anger. Or maybe just his pain. Blood Moon wished his temper worked like that; while the mercenary could just work it out of his system with, what he could only supposed to be, mediation the assassin's was more…complicated. He got angry over many things, be it somepony annoying him deliberately, somepony trying to rip him off (be it the cherry sales-stallion or a client who liked to think they were clever) or just bringing up bad memories. The dark stallion's temper was the type that burned and bubbled beneath the surface; it reared its ugly head whenever the stallion got annoyed, creating a vicious cycle: get angry, work it out getting while getting angrier and so forth. It was only training and discipline that stopped him from snapping every time somepony shot a dirty look his way and going on a murder bender. The assassin was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Twilight say his name.

"-Blood Moon could help him out if he gets too bad" Twilight was saying. The assassin looked at his marefriend.

"Hmm?" Twilight put a flat, annoyed look on her face.
"I was saying you could see if Sand Stalker is alright if he starts getting too depressed" she told him. Blood Moon nodded.

"Oh… yeah, sure" he looked at the clock "if he's not back in say…I dunno, an hour, I'll go see how he is." Rainbowdash seemed relieved, smiling slightly.

"Thanks" she said, trotting over and hoof bumping him. "Hey, where's Fluttershy?"

"Outside" Twilight answered. The Pegasus thanked her and trotted outside, the magenta mare turning back to her game. "Come on, it's your move" she told him. Blood Moon looked back down at their game. Blood Moon was on the ropes; Twilight's king was in the corner, well-defended by her other pieces. Blood Moon's side of the board was looking much more damaged: he had four pawns left, a rook, a bishop and his king. Twilight's queen was after the assassin's rook and king, the rook apparently acting as a sort of bodyguard to the king after he'd sacrificed his queen to protect his it. It had been a noble sacrifice, and he'd promised the taken piece a good burial. His bishop had taken a bunch of Twilight's pieces from across the board but his pawns were mostly useless; two were blocked by Twilight's own white pawns, one was lingering at the side of the board, trapped, while one was Blood Moon's fall back that he moved further up the board when he had no available move.

"So, what were we talking about" he asked as he moved his spare pawn up the board again.

"*I* was scolding *you* for being so laidback when you woke up" she told him. After their loving rekindling, Twilight had turned on Blood Moon like a worried nanny, constantly fussing over the smallest of scratches. She'd spent the last hour telling him to act a little more considerate about everypony and getting hurt; to a lot of other ponies, it's likely they wouldn't see the sense in her words, but the assassin saw only affection; telling him that everypony was worried about his condition told him that he had ponies that cared about him and were waiting for him at home. It was at this point Blood Moon had to remind himself: he had a family again. He had a filly willing to wait up for him at night to come home, a mare who worried for him. He'd promised both himself and Twilight that he'd be more careful, so they needn't have to wake up to him in such a state.

"Yes, I was about to tell you that I'm sorry…for the fifth time" he replied as Twilight took the trapped pawn.

"Maybe so, but…" Blood Moon considered himself a good husband/coltfriend/partner/whatever you wanted to call it, but he was no fan of being lectured; as any stallion would be, the assassin was well versed in the art of 'zoning out' and did so to his much beloved Twilight as he planned his next move. It must have been all of five minutes before he came back, Twilight's voice slowly increasing in volume until he could hear her again. "…Know you probably don't like this, but it's only because I love you, and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you" she was telling him. Blood Moon looked up at her and smiled warmly.
"I know Twilight, and I love you too" he told her. Twilight gave a warm smile of her own.

"You didn't listen to a word I just said, did you?" Blood Moon kept his smile.

"Nope." Twilight's smile turned to a grin as she rolled her eyes. The assassin saw no other move and simply moved his pawn up the board again.

"About time" Twilight said as she moved her queen into a position to set up an offensive against Blood Moon's defending rook. Blood Moon moved the pawn up the board again and let her take it the rook. Twilight grinned. "Two more moves and we're at check" she told him. Blood Moon analysed the board and mentally confirmed her claim.

"I forget, what are we playing for again?" Twilight grinned and leaned in, whispering into his ear; the artist of the face drew a grin across his muzzle as she spoke. "You evil mare" he grinned as she leant back.

"And only me" she repeated, leaning her head on her hooves. The assassin's grin turned to a smirk.

"And if I win?" Twilight winked playfully and the assassin got the idea.

"Pity you're not going to win though" she told him with a sarcastically pitiful sigh. The assassin smirked again and moved his pawn up the board again, letting it hit the far side of the board. The magenta mare went to move her piece before she realised what he'd just done; Blood Moon picked up the black pawn with his magic and exchanged it for the taken queen. Twilight blinked at the sudden change.

"No."

Her king was blocked in by her own defences.

"Nonono."

There was no move she could make; the rules declared she had to make a move to defend her king, but there was nothing she could do: the angle Blood Moon's queen was coming from was flanking her defences, a pawn defending the king's immediate corner, but she hadn't bothered with a side line defence, assuming his lack of pieces could reach the blind spot. Her other defences were either unable to reach a defending spot or wouldn't change the course of the game, he'd take the defending piece and go on to check her again.

"NonononononoNO."

Her hoof went to the game again before pulling back, going in and pulling back again, the hesitant move repeating itself at least fifty times before she realised he'd beaten her with her own near-victory. She looked up at her coltfriend and found his face; the grin wasn't smug or condescending, simply one of pride and victory. She still wanted to rip it off his face though. The assassin moved his hoof in, very slowly, and his scuffed, calloused and rough dark grey hoof went to her white king and slowly, so agonisingly slowly, tipped her most important piece.

"Check…"The small 'clack' that sounded when the king hit the chess board might have well have been an explosion right inside Twilight's head. "…Mate."

"What-what-what…what happened?" Twilight had never lost a game of chess before, asides against Celestia that is, and her skill and winning streak in the game in Ponyville was a major source of pride for her. The loss in the game actually tempted a few slightly hurt tears in her eyes. Ever the sympathetic assassin, Blood Moon moved his face towards hers, slowly, and pushed his lips to hers. Twilight quickly melted into the kiss, the feeling of love washing over the feeling of defeat, but it ended when Blood Moon pulled back quickly.

"I beat you" he told her. Twilight's hurt came back a little.

"How" she demanded. Blood Moon smirked and lifted the pawn Twilight had neglected throughout the whole game until the end.

"With this little guy" he told her. Twilight blinked. "The pawn is the hoofsoldier in the war of chess. The rook is the merc, the soldier of fortune; he's good but has no worth. The bishop is the sniper; he sits in wait across the edge of the board before pouncing from afar. The knight is the cavalier; he leaps over the crowd and takes the other troops by surprise. The queen is the bodyguard, the most powerful piece but the one we most often sacrifice for the king. The king is the charge, our leader but most vulnerable piece. But one thing that almost everypony overlooks" he waved the pawn around in the air a little, bringing attention to it "is that this guy, can be exchange for the queen. He is the assassin." Twilight went to argue, but nothing came out. Blood Moon laughed slightly at her gaping maw. "Take what you did for example: you were after my king, focusing on your defence at first, making your king safe, and going on the attack second. You went after all of my stronger pieces, taking the rooks, bishops, knights and the queen. But what you looked over, was this single troop, stalking the battlefield" he placed the pawn back on the board "you looked over my assassin."

"But-but-but, I-I had you on the ropes, I was gonna beat you" she told him. Blood Moon laughed again.

"Dear Twilight, there is no such thing as 'winning' and 'losing' in war and battle. There is only won and lost, victory and defeat, no middle ground. While there is one pony standing on the field, there is still a chance of victory" he explained with a grin on her face. Twilight just pouted. The assassin chuckled, leaned across the chess board and poked her nose. "Boop" he grinned. Twilight frowned but giggled at the same time.

"What was that" she asked. He just chuckled again.

"Just something to cheer you up" he answered. Twilight shook her head and concentrated on the board, her horn glowing as the pieces did the same and put themselves in the correct positions.

"Play again?" The assassin shook his head.

"No thanks" he answered as he stood.

"Aww, please" she begged, her eyes growing to that of a puppy dog's. Blood Moon may have been immune to the effects of a mare, filly or colt's wide eyes (a stallion doing that tended to freak him out) but he could still appreciate the curtness, and was glad of one fact between the two: that they were dating. He moved in and kissed her adorable face, directly on the lips.
Twilight's eyes went from innocent and big to wide in slight shock but by no means disappointed. The assassin stood up as they kissed heartily, Twilight not letting him disengage as soon this time. Blood Moon pulled back slightly, kissing her cheeks and around her face, the mare giggling a little. He disengaged the kiss properly this time, Twilight licking his nose slightly as he did.

"Twilight, I've been around longer than your books have even a hope of going back. Chess is even older than me. I've played more games than years I've been alive; I can come up with over forty thousand strategies during the course of a game; that was just one of them. I'm not going to play you again, because I already know the outcome" he told her. Twilight frowned slightly.

"Are you saying I'm dumb" she asked. He smirked.

"No, just that you're not as smart as me" he answered. Twilight rolled her eyes again, pecking his nose as he turned away.

"Hey, Blood Moon" she started as she followed to him "I was wondering about something." He turned to her.

"What about?" She frowned as she spoke, more inquisitive than confused.

"About that song you were singing earlier…" Blood Moon smirked and sat on the empty couch.

"Oh, that" he muttered as he invited Twilight to sit with him. Instead of sitting next to him, she elected to sit on his lap, snuggling up to him. Blood Moon smiled at the feeling of cuddling with his marefriend and wrapped his hooves around her belly, kissing her neck lightly. Twilight couldn't quite believe just how romantic her coltfriend could be when they were just having a conversation. "Well, it was a song about an old friend of mine" he told her "Biggs, or 'Ronnie' Biggs as he liked to go by, was a robber." Twilight had soon frowned.

"What kind of name is 'Ronnie'?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"I honestly don't know; the only explanation he ever gave was that the name 'Biggs' wasn't very memorable, so he came up with a nickname everypony would remember." Blood Moon himself frowned. "He never did elaborate where he'd got it from" he mumbled to himself, Twilight still hearing him. "Anyway, he'd been a train robber about forty or so years ago, becoming a bit of a folk-hero and an urban legend in the process. Anyway, he helped take a mail train for two point three million bits in taxes, bank exchanges and a few other mailed payments and the such; his job was staging the getaway and helping find a train driver so they could get it to the unloading point. The robbery went well, relatively, and they got away, but the guards rather literally stumbled across them when they were counting the loot. They were quickly arrested and thrown in the dungeons before being put on trial. Celestia already knew they were guilty, even without all the evidence they had, and sentenced them to thirty years in the Canterlot prisons. Biggs escaped." Twilight was shocked; she knew that the Canterlot prisons were second only to the dungeons under Canterlot palace, so for somepony to escape was an incredible feat.

"How" she asked automatically. Blood Moon shrugged.

"It's really not that exciting, he himself told me that he wished for a more romantic tail; he made a ladder out of bits and pieces he could gather from the prison over around fourteen months until he could use it to escape. He'd managed to get a message to a few friends outside prior, and he landed right in the delivery carriage awaiting below. From there, he had false travel papers arranged with his cut and made his way to Prance. There, he had face altering operations and incantations used upon him to hide his identity while he sent word to his wife, who followed him to Prance to meet him there. Now both as fugitives, they lived on the move as wanted ponies for about thirty years until he fell ill and decided to come back to Equestria." Twilight nodded.

"So…what about the song?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"Just a little something I threw together in respect for him. It's not too hard to make basic rhymes like that when you concentrate" he explained.

"Wow…" Twilight started. She'd have said something like 'you don't seem the type' but she already knew better. "What happened to Biggs?"
"Like I said, he returned to Equestria; he was quickly detained and arrested again. I found out this morning that he died in prison." Twilight frowned.

"Again, how?" The assassin pulled out a small piece of parchment. It was a simple message, signed by somepony called 'Charmer'. It explained that he had died peacefully in his sleep, wishing that his old friend should know. "When did this get here" she asked as she took the message in her hooves.

"This morning; I found a pigeon tapping on the window in the bathroom" he told her.

"How did he find you" she asked as she continued to look over the message. The assassin shrugged.

"Tracking pigeons; they're remarkably skilled" he answered simply.

"Who's this Charmer" Twilight asked as she gave Blood Moon the message back. The assassin put the message away again.

"His wife, no doubt she'll be for the grave soon too" he said solemnly. Twilight could sense his thoughts and snuggled into him further.

"So, how did you meet" she asked in an effort to change the subject.

"I was the one who arranged the passport for him. A friend contacted me and told me a friend of his needed out of Equestria, so I went to another friend and had him falsify a few travel documents to get him out of Equestria. I was also the one who managed to smuggle him through a few checkpoints on the way to the docks too" he added "after that we stayed in contact, pen-pals y'know, knowing it was likely he'd have few friends back here to pass along any useful information." He took a long breath. "We were good friends; there was always room for one more at Biggs's place. I just hope Charmer and their kids don't take it too hard, I know I'll miss the mad bastard" he said fondly.

"I'm sorry" she said. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Don't be. Ronnie wasn't the first of my friends to die before I did" he looked down at his marefriend "and he won't be the last." The corners of Twilight's eyes went down as she nuzzled him, the dark stallion returning the favour. They sat together for a time before Twilight looked at the clock; it hadn't been very long, but she felt it prudent.

"Blood Moon, do you think you should go see how Sand Stalker is?" The assassin looked at the clock in return; it had been twenty minutes, not nearly as long as he'd said, but Rainbowdash's reaction had him a little worried. He shrugged.
"I guess so. I'm gonna go see how he is, I'll be back soon" he told her, kissing the top of her head and helping her up off of him so he could stand up. Before she'd risen, Twilight turned over on top of him and kissed him again, Blood Moon stroking her jaw slightly before they pulled back; Twilight followed him as he pulled away, her face a little disappointed.

"How'd you get so good at that" she asked quietly. The dark stallion chuckled.

"Success lies in preparation" he answered with a small grin, Twilight returning it as she pecked his cheek. Twilight turned to the stairs and trotted for them, swaying her flank a little more than strictly necessary, and left the assassin to his thoughts and small grin. Blood Moon turned to the door and trotted for it, pushing through it and looking around; he quickly saw Sand Stalker, and despite the fact that Celestia's sun was shining down on them happily, dark clouds lingered over the mercenary's head. Blood Moon went over to him and stood behind him. "Sand" he asked cautiously. The merc turned his head and the assassin saw the face of a stallion who had seen more than he wanted to in his lifetime, and was ready to forget.

"You've been through it, haven't you Moon?" Blood Moon raised an eyebrow at the mercenary's question.

"Through what?" The merc turned his head back slightly, glancing at the assassin, and offered the seat on the ground besides him. Blood Moon obliged at sat on the grass next to his friend.

"You've lost a wife and child before, haven't you" he elaborated. Blood Moon's head hung slightly lower as his own memories swept through his head.

"Indeed, I have" he replied quietly "it's not something ponies are truly capable of living through." Sand nodded.

"How did you cope?" Blood Moon glanced at him.

"I lived. I kept on living. I don't 'cope' Sand Stalker, I just live through it because there's nothing more I can do." He looked back at the house, where Twilight, Fluttershy and Scootaloo were. "I live on, 'till I can find somepony out there, somepony else to love. It's hard, and by no means helpful in the long run, but it's what I do" he looked at the merc "don't forget how to love, my friend" he said as he nudged his shoulder "that's the worst thing you can do" he told the mercenary. Sand Stalker didn't say anything for a long while.

"I remember a little while back when I thought you were still a kid" he muttered "still new to this town, nothing but a skilled assassin. Now look at us now; Sand Stalker, a simple Kinsmen, sat with Blood Moon, the assassin never to be seen, caught or killed" he said slightly whimsically. Blood Moon grunted slightly amusedly, but something the merc had said caught his attention.

"You're a Kinsmen?" Sand Stalker recognised it as a way to get his thoughts off of his lost family, but took it.

"I was a Kinsmen. I was discharged from their order, remember?" Blood Moon smirked.

"There's more to being Kinsmen than just a title, Sand. It's the training, the heart and the pony that makes the Kinsmen" he retorted. Sand Stalker raised an eyebrow at looked at Blood Moon.

"Wait, are you a..." he trailed off as the assassin looked over and grinned.

"I was trained for the first thousand years of my life, Sand, throughout that time I was trained in ways that would live on through the years and had been around for even longer. The ways of the desert, have been around for as long as the desert itself my friend." Sand Stalker was impressed, to say the least.

"I never thought you to be a Kinsmen, Moon" he told him. Blood Moon just smirked.

"And much more" he added. Sand Stalker raised an eyebrow.

"Then how come you got back here like you did before then?" The dark stallion shrugged.

"Because in almost every fight I've ever been in, I've been holding back" he answered "admittedly, it's another pride thing; nopony has ever forced me to resort to my full capabilities” he smirked a little cockily “not even Celestia and Nightmare Moon."

"Nightmare Moon" Sand Stalker repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, who do you think distracted her long enough so that Celestia could get to the elements of harmony? I made sure I was hidden though, both because I didn't want Celestia trying to kill me at the time, and because I didn't want to be remembered in the story. It wouldn't have been easy to keep a low profile" he added.

"Interesting" he mumbled. Blood Moon knew Sand Stalker was becoming absorbed by memory and thought. Blood Moon stood, knowing that the merc was better now but neglecting to ask him, knowing it would defeat the purpose, and went to trot away, but turned right into Scootaloo. The filly smiled up at him, the assassin smiled back, but he could tell something was on her mind.

"Need to talk" he asked with a raised eyebrow, a small grin on his lips.

"If you can" she answered, having apparently heard some of Blood Moon and Sand Stalker's conversation. The assassin's answer was his horn sparking to life and lifting the little Pegasus onto his back with his magic. He trotted away from the merc, not wishing to have any kind of 'father-daughter' in front of the stallion. He took her to the same spot on the stream they'd sat on before when he'd first told her he'd 'adopt' her. They sat down, side by side, and watched the stream for a while.

"So" he began "what's up." Scootaloo seemed to be preparing herself for something, taking a deep breath through her muzzle and calming herself.

"Daddy" she began, looking up at him "why did you come home the way you did" she asked. Blood Moon swallowed lightly, but before he could answer, Scootaloo spoke again.
"And…can you not change the subject this time, please?" The dark stallion took a deep breath and considered his answer. He was about to answer her question with another lie, but she climbed up him slightly and put her hooves on his chest and stared into his eyes. "Please, tell me the truth" she said. Blood Moon sighed and hung his head. He couldn't keep up this lie, he hadn't told his daughter about his occupation, and if he were honest, he'd never planned on it. He took another breath.

"Very well Scootaloo" he began. "Do you know what the word 'assassin' means, Scoots...?"

Cadence and Luna had been talking for a long while now, the princess of the night mostly leading the conversation with the princess of love listened intently. Cadence had, inevitably, been a little disturbed by Luna's scent and stains at first, but had soon grown content, given her… duties as the Alicorn princess of love. Luna's description and stories about Blood Moon had Cadence both amazed and rather worried about meeting him, if she ever did that is; to Cadence, this Blood Moon sounded like a rather two sided pony. Not two faced, per say, but more an estranged pony, a deep, complex and very probably broken mind living inside an aged head.

At the moment, Luna was in the middle of one of many stories of his time watching over her and Celestia. She had a little trouble following it, given how much Luna was laughing at the memory, her words coming out too quick and between bouts of laughter, but from what she could tell, it had something to do with a bucket, a pickaxe, five goats, a bandit and five gallons of cider. Pulling Cadence out of her thoughts was Luna, howling in laughter again, her words slurred slightly by her mirth.

"And-and then he took the pickaxe, and he-and he HAHAA, he used it to-to" Luna's voice was lost to her laughter again, her legs wrapping around her barrel and holding her sides as she laughed heartily. Cadence couldn't hold down the small grin as she sat up and watched her aunt laugh again, finding her howling auntie funnier than the story itself.

"Y'know, this story might be easier to tell if you stopped laughing" she advised, her grin still present. Luna nodded in her laughter, but still couldn't stop. Cadence shook her head and watched her continue to express the humour she seemed to find in this story, something she'd probably never hear if she had to hear it from Luna. It took all of five minutes for Luna to calm down enough for them to talk properly again.

"S-sorry Cadence, but if you knew the story, you'd be laughing just as hard" she told her. Cadence gave a lopsided smile and huffed slightly.

"I doubt anypony could laugh as hard as you aunt Luna" she retorted as she stood up from the bed. "Now, I think it only prudent we get you cleaned up" she said, her words prompting Luna to look over herself and realise the state she'd been in for the past hours. She nodded her agreement and stood beside Cadence. It was then she realise just how sore her hips were, not to mention her for-hooves. She fell slightly, Cadence catching her as she fell, holding her up on her back.

"I, uhhh, may need some help" Luna said, giggling sheepishly at the awkwardness of their situation. Cadence gave a long winded sigh, but her slight grin didn't drop. She helped her tired aunt into her washroom, using her magic to lift and drop her into the bath tub. The shower head gained a sky blue glow as it was lifted from its stand, the taps doing the same, and soon Luna was being blasted by pleasantly cool water. The princess of the night sat on her flank, while Cadence moved the shower head around to get at the dirtier spots.

"Aunt Luna, may I ask you something" she asked as she moved the shower head around to get the love juices out of her mane.

"Of course" Luna answered, using her own magic to scrub a sponge over her body.

"After all this time, and how saddened you were when he left, how could you just…forgive him?" Luna chuckled slightly as she washed under her fore-leg.

"Cadence, you never really met your parents, did you?" The pink Alicorn shook her head.

"No, all's Celestia told me was that she found me in a village in the eastern territories. I'd been born an Alicorn but nopony knew, or wouldn't tell me, who my parents were. You, Celestia, Twilight and Shiny are the only family I've really had" she answered. Luna smiled slightly, but could sense Cadence's curiosity as to who her parents were again. It wasn't something she regularly expressed, but she still wondered.

"Well, it's because of that you've never had family leave you. You don't know what it's like to have somepony you loved, who loved you back, be with you all your life and suddenly leave. Especially somepony like Blood Moon; he's proud and stubborn, so when he does apologise with sincerity, you know he means it with all his heart. That… and he's strangely lovable when you get to know him, so I missed him when he was gone, and even though I hated him for leaving us, having an actual conversation with him made me realise how much I'd missed him" she explained. Cadence nodded slightly in understanding.
"You really do love him like a father, don't you" she murmured. Luna nodded.

"I still do. My father, your great uncle, was never home in mine and Celestia's youth. He and mother were always too busy conducting the war, off in the Everfree. Mother loved us dearly, like we were the only fillies in Equestria, but father…I sometimes felt he only saw us as a means to an end, heirs and just that, rather than actual daughters." Luna looked over at Cadence, finding her torn expression. Luna smirked. "So, how's that opinion coming along" she asked with a smile on her face. Cadence shook her head.

"I'm still not sure; some of the stories you told me were pretty dark, but others were so noble." She sighed. "I find myself wanting to meet him" she answered. Luna chuckled.

"Be careful what you wish for" she advised with a tune in her tone. Cadence smirked, aiming the shower head at Luna's face and blasting her with the water. Luna scrunched her muzzle as the water hit her, before she took the sponge she'd been using in her hoof and threw it at Cadence, hitting her square in the face with it. The squeegee ran slowly down her face, slapping onto the floor before her; the Alicorn's face was flat.

"We, are not amused" Cadence glared. Luna giggled as Cadence sprayed her again. In the end, neither stopped attacking each other with water or suds, Luna's bath/shower ending with the two of them having a water fight. As the two of had their fun, Celestia was busy being angry.

The solar princess stalked Canterlot palace like a python, her expression less than happy.
The way Cadence had left had her more than slightly enraged; she was muttering to herself about how her sister and niece were acting, treating her like the bad-guy, making her seem like the one who'd gone mad. She trotted down a random hallway, something in her head telling her to go this way. Her snarled lip and glare were attracting the attention of some of her staff and guards. The bulk of her guards had been treated to Celestia's perfect face and sultry manner this morning, and were rather confused by the change, no small amount of them sending concerned but weary glances her way. Celestia marched past a bunch more of her guards, staff and other assorted ponies until she realised why she'd come this way; she'd arrived at the kitchen. With a small shrug, Celestia pushed through the door and trotted right in. She meandered to a side-unit and sat at it with a sigh, resting her pouting face on the sideboard. Her sigh caught the attention of two of two earth ponies, the cooks, both of which Celestia knew well.

The first was a mare, her fur was the colour of a sponge cake, her body pleasantly plump and slightly shorter than the average pony; her mane and tail were reminiscent of cake frosting, it was two tone, a strawberry red and vanilla with what appeared to be rainbow coloured sprinkles scattered around on it; she had kind, cream eyes and a pretty face of round yet happy proportions; on her flank was a round, traditional cake, white frosting being spread over the top with red strawberries sitting around the edge of the pre-frosted cake. She had a protective nature, similar to Celestia's 'motherly' nature only it was more of a…'momma' nature. The mare's name was Frosting, or Frost for short.

Behind her was her mirror opposite; a stallion, around the same height as one of the royal guards but much thinner, his body grey with brown over his hooves, looking like he'd stepped into mud coming just below his knees; his mane and tail were grey and brown, two layers of grey sandwiching the brown, both were long and wavy, his tail clinging to one of his legs while his mane went low, draping over the left side of his neck; his face was thin and slightly bony, matching his thin physique, but in his maw hung an oak brown smoking pipe, faint smoke rising from it with every puff. In all honesty, nopony knew the name of this stallion, as he never spoke, instead he grunted in two different pitches; the higher pitch being his yes and the lower no. Nopony knew why he didn't speak, some say his chain smoking had killed his vocal cords, others that he'd never learned, many that he simply couldn't be bothered, but he'd apparently never spoken at all in his life, and it was because of this, everypony just called him 'Pipe'. On his flank, as one might expect, was a simple pipe with a puff of black smoke rising from it.
Despite the pair's near polar opposite attitudes and bodies, they had been happily married for a good fifteen years now, and working in Celestia's kitchens even longer.

"Hey there, honey" Frost greeted in her signature sassy voice. Anypony else would have been tossed into the dungeon for referring to Celestia as 'honey' but Tia and Frosting had an understanding; you give me cake and you can talk to me however the hay you like. Pipe just grunted.

"Afternoon Frost, Pipe." Pipe grunted again. Frost went to the fridge to grab a piece of cake for her favourite visitor, but faltered when she caught her face.

"Are you a'ight suga'? You seem a little down, baby" she commented as she took a plate of cheese cake to the solar princess. Tia looked down at the treat, the fact that cheese cake was one of her favourites not lost on her, and sighed again, resting her head on her hoof as she poked around it with the fork in her magical grip.

"Oh, Frosting, it's been quite the…trying day" she admitted. Frosting's eyes widened slightly, genuine concern shining through the expression. Pipe looked over, finding her beaten and tired face, and grunted.

"You wanna talk about it, hun?" Celestia smiled slightly as the taste of strawberry and frosting hit her tongue, the pleasantly cool dessert plopping nicely into her tummy.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt" Tia conceded as she took another bite of her cake. Frost nodded her head.

"S'all ways nice to talk honey" she agreed. Pipe grunted. "So" Frost started as she leant on the side unit "what's got ch'ou all worked up, hun?" Celestia sighed again, the action conveying a clear message. "Don't worry baby, there's plenty more where that came from" she assured, gesturing at the half-eaten cake before Celestia. The princess of the day smiled slightly.

"Well…me and Luna have had a little falling out" she answered. Frosting chuckled slightly.

"Oh, honey. Tell me somethin' I don't know. You're and Moon-pie's" Frosting's pet name for Luna "woke me and Pipe up before dawn, and we done pooped, out after all-uh, never mind sweetie. Anyway, we were all woken up good 'n early thanks to that little spat. Jus' what was goin' on anyhow baby?" Celestia sighed heartily, glancing left and right with her eyes, before she resigned to tell them what happened. The…details may have been a little…detailed, but after all the princess of the day had discussed with Frosting and Pipe, she'd trust them with her life.

Apparently, they were a little unprepared though; Frosting's face had turned bright red while her lower jaw had gained a few tonnes, while Pipe had stopped stirring the mixture of cookie mix he'd been stirring, his pipe falling in with his shock. That said, beyond that he hadn't lost face. Frosting blinked a few times.

"Daaayum, girl" Frosting drawled. Pipe grunted as he picked his pipe up, cleaned it off and put it back in his maw. "Here's me thinkin' me an' Pipe could get freaky" she commented. Pipe grunted, a small smile on his face. "So, that's what ya'll was 'talkin' about" she said slowly. Pipe grunted with a nod. Celestia, meanwhile, had finished her cake and Frosting had brought her chocolate fudge cake; in the language of cakes (only slightly less popular than the language of flowers) fudge was the cake that helped deal with pain. As was cheese cake. As was upside down cake. As were all cakes, but chocolate fudge tasted best, so live with it. "Sounds to me like you done goofed, bambi" Frosting sighed. Celestia frowned pointedly at her.

"What?" Pipe turned his head; the minuscule movement told anypony who knew him to be careful; he was very protective of his wife and his life as a chief in the military hadn't all been spent whipping up five star dining with boot-laces and moss. He'd fought, fought well, during his time in the solar guard and wasn't afraid of Celestia, not if it meant protecting his beloved. Frosting, meanwhile, had crossed her fore-legs on the table-top, cocking her head at Celestia.

"You know what ah'm talkin' about" she replied. Celestia's frown turned to a glare as she stabbed the fork into the cake.

"I'm afraid I don't" she shot back. Frosting wasn't scared about Celestia losing her rag with her, she knew she liked her baking too much to do anything drastic, and pressed the point.

"You know what I'm sayin' hun." Frost pointed a limp hoof at Celestia. "You done bucked your own family, sister" she said with a slightly unappropriated grin on her face. Celestia's glare went back to a frown, a teased pout accompanying it.

"Well…that doesn't change the fact that she started it" she retorted. Frosting giggled, turning back to her husband.

"You hear that smokey bear" her pet name for Pipe "she done think that Moon-pie's getting' up on her." Pipe grunted. "Listen sunbeam; ah know, you're all bothered and hottin' up about this whole, 'Blood Moon' thang, but ch'a can't be takin' it out on your little sis" she told her. "You were done drunk and you'd drunk down that 'love potion' but it don't mean that it was lil' Luna that started it all." Celestia went to argue but faltered for a reason she couldn't pin down, biting her lip slightly. Frosting giggled at her silence. "Ya'll know y'know ah'm right. Y' can feel it, can't ya" she grinned, leaning over and putting a hoof over her heart "right here, right baby?" Celestia tried to disagree but couldn't, tried to think of an argument but couldn't, tried to tell herself Frosting was wrong but couldn't. Tried to tell herself that she'd done nothing wrong…but couldn't.

"I-you-I-but…dammit" she cursed. Frosting giggled. Pipe grunted.

"I got that a lot, back in the 'hood" she grinned. "Now, go give your little sis a lovin' an' make up, y'll feel better fo' it, believe me" she advised as she stood from the counter and went back to her baking. Celestia stood with her and rounded the table until they met, wrapping her forelegs around Frost's neck.

"Thanks Frosting, you always know what to say." Frosting smiled and returned the embrace.

"Momma know baby, momma know" she answered as they released. Frosting stepped back, watching Celestia quickly finish the cake she'd given her before going.

"You too Pipe" she called back. Pipe grunted. Celestia trotted back to her and Luna's quarters, careful to keep regal while passing anypony, and soon found her way to Luna's bedroom. She lingered outside, both planning what to say and to fully swallow her pride, but as she did so, she started to hear feint talking. Celestia could only suppose Cadence had stuck around to comfort Luna, but she could only wonder what they were talking about. Celestia took a breath to clear her mind before she raised her hoof and tapped the door lightly. The dull murmur of conversation faltered, and the sound of hoof on floorboard approached the door. The door opened to reveal Luna.

"Luna…"

Scootaloo's eyes were wide in fear. She took a step back, towards Fluttershy's cottage. She backed up another step. And another.
"Scootaloo" the dark stallion said quietly. In response, tears began to well up in the filly's eyes. Blood Moon took a step forwards. Scootaloo took a step back. "Scootaloo" the assassin said again. The Pegasus's maw opened to speak, but nothing came out; instead her lower jaw wobbled slightly below her upper jaw, the tears still tempting to flow.

"Y-you-you're an-" she took another step back "an assassin" she squeaked. Blood Moon nodded. Her eyes widened again in horror. She looked up at his towering form, his red eyes, his unnaturally dark mane, his scarred face and sharp horn. This stallion, who she'd loved so much, who she'd seen as a father, who she'd seen a family in. He was none of these things now, he was a killer, a stallion with blood on his hooves, death in his heart. He wasn't somepony who was there to protect you, he was a simple murderer.

"Scootaloo, I-"

"F-for fifteen…thousand years?" He nodded. "How many" she demanded. The assassin's eyes went to the ground.

"I-I'm not sure…I lost count at…" he trailed off.

"Tell me" she exclaimed. The assassin could see her grief turning to anger. He sighed once more.

"M-more than I'd care to count" he answered "as many times as my heart has beat, at least." Scootaloo's lip wobbled.

"Y-you're nothing but a murderer" she told him. Blood Moon took a step forwards.

"No, I-"

"A killer, a liar, you're an assassin" she screamed at him. Blood Moon had been accused of a lot over his life, insulted many times, but Scootaloo's words cut him particularly deep.

"Scootaloo, listen to me, please-"

"NO" she exploded "leave me alone" she shouted at him as she turned away from him. Blood Moon grabbed her around the barrel and stopped her from leaving.

"Scootaloo, would you please listen to-"

"NO" she screamed again "GET OFFA ME" she roared, twisting and turning in his grip. She managed to turn in his hooves until her chest was against his.

"SCOOTALOO, damnit, just liste-" the filly's hoof flashed as she struck him across the jaw, leaving a red mark.

"LET ME GO" she ordered as she squirmed from his grip and galloped for the cottage. There were no thoughts going through her mind, only fear. No other message was conveyed by her brain, nothing was said to the filly by her mind, nothing but one thing: run. She obeyed. Scootaloo galloped away from him and dashed quickly for the house. "RAINBOWDASH" she cried as she escaped the dark stallion, the stallion who now she hated, who now she didn't want to know, who was no longer her father. The stallion she never wanted to see again. She galloped for all her worth, her wings fluttering in a primal need for more speed, to escape the danger, and burst through the door; Fluttershy and Applejack had returned from feeding the critters, Pinkie Pie having joined them, and all three found Scootaloo burst through the door, tears streaming down her face. Applejack was about to speak when Scootaloo's sobbing form rushed by, galloping up the stairs, bursting through the door and finding Rainbowdash lounging on Fluttershy's bed, Rarity, Twilight and Spike with her. The mares in the room quickly spotted her, but the filly didn't care about anypony seeing her; she just galloped over to the cyan Pegasus and lunged for her, landing heavily on top of her and just sobbed into the confused Pegasus's chest, the bewildered mare holding her to her chest.

Outside, Blood Moon had watched her go his mouth open to say something and his hoof rose to stop her but nothing came out, his hoof slowly returned to the ground as he hung his head.

"Damn" he said quietly. He sat back on the ground and watched the water trickle by for a while. After what must have been half an hour of wallowing in self-pity, the assassin heard a voice call his name.

"Blood Moon" a familiar voice said. He turned to see his magenta marefriend, Hunter perched on her shoulder, approaching from the cottage, looking back at it as she trotted over to him, a worried look on her face. "What's wrong with Scootaloo" she asked as Hunter fluttered to his shoulder. The assassin looked back at the stream, Twilight sitting next to him.

"I told her what I do for a living" he revealed simply. The mare's own mood lowered when he said this, her head leaning on his shoulder and her legs wrapping his neck.

"Oh, Blood Moon. Oh, I'm sorry" she told him as she nuzzled his head slightly. The assassin's head hung lower as he thought about the repercussions of telling Scootaloo about his job; she likely hated him now, didn't want to know him anymore. He swallowed back his emotions when he realized that after such a short amount of time, his daughter didn't want to know him anymore.

"Don't be" he murmured "this is just…one of the things you get used to when you're an assassin" he said quietly he said as he rested his own head on Twi's. "It's just…it was so fast; one second we're a happy stallion and filly…the next…" His mood went from unhappy to downright depressed, both Hunter and Twilight sensing his mood as they both nuzzled him.

"You want me to go fetch Fluttershy" she asked. Blood Moon nodded.

"Please? I really need some…care and attention." Twilight nodded and stood, kissing his cheek before she left.

"Sure" she told him. He stayed silent for a while, the dark clouds gathering over him both figuratively and literally. He looked to the darkened sky and watched the grey clouds roll in to replace the clean, white ones that had been there but a second ago. The assassin's grief turned to anger and his look of anger became one of rage as he glared at the dark clouds.

"Damnit" he whispered "damnit" he muttered "dammit" he said "damnit" he growled "DAMN IT ALL" he roared to the skies as he sprang up, picked up a moderately huge rock and hurled it into the Everfree forest, flying far into the distance, in his anger. It was unknown to him that he'd just knocked out an aspiring explorer on the cusp of discovering the secret of the origins of Discord, but was eaten by a feral griffon guarding the place when the stone struck him and knocked him out.

Unawares to the historical breakthrough he'd just foiled, Blood Moon flopped back onto his front and glowered at nothingness in pure aggravation. Hunter had squawked in displeasure and flapped off of him momentarily before returning to his shoulder. The assassin looked up at his bird, finding the phoenix's glare looking back. Blood Moon's hoof went up to his head as he fussed him gently, mumbling out a small 'sorry.' He moved his hoof away from a slightly less annoyed bird's head and tucked his hooves beneath him, resting his head on one of his right fore-hoof. He didn't like being unhappy, nopony did, but his mental state gave him a tendency to dwell on the things that gave him such emotions, despite his efforts to steer clear of such ideas.

After a while, he heard the door to Fluttershy's cottage open and shut. He looked around and saw Twilight and 'Shy trotting towards him. Looking back at the stream, he didn't have to wait long to feel the pair of mares come to a stop either side of him, resting on their fronts next to him and nuzzling him between them, Hunter hopping off his shoulder and landing on the ground before him to give them room.

"Twilight told me what happened" Fluttershy said quietly as they continued to nuzzle him. Blood Moon didn't say anything as she rested her head on his and put a wing over his back. Twilight, meanwhile, had rested her head next to his as he put a hoof over her shoulder, pulling her into him. "I'm sorry Blood Moon, but I'm sure Scootaloo will come around…sooner or later" she finished quietly. Blood Moon didn't say anything in response; instead he just hummed his unconvinced agreement. Both mares felt for him, but understood that he didn't really want to talk right now, so they decided to just let him ride out his grief in their company until he was alright again.

The assassin appreciated their gesture, it felt good to be in, what might be called, a 'normal' relationship; he'd looked after them when they couldn't look after themselves, like when he'd rescued them from Hardhoof, and now they were here for him when he needed them most; when he was feeling lonely. He knew for a fact that most other ponies of his ilk would scoff at his current thoughts of a relationship that included emotional attachment and being there for one another, talking about their 'feeeeeling' but he didn't really care about their opinions; in fact, should they have said anything to him about it he'd probably just frown at them, say 'shut up' and hit them or something. Yeah, that would probably get the message across.
He didn't keep track of how long they lay there, everything dulled and became numb, everything but the mares comforting him and the water trickling along before him. Maybe it was half an hour, maybe the full sixty minutes. Perhaps two hours, perhaps three. The only thing that told him a significant amount of time had passed was that the sun had moved, Hunter had seemingly gotten bored and gone hunting while Twilight and Fluttershy seemed to have dozed off on him. He'd have done the same, only he still had Scootaloo on the mind; he just couldn't seem to get her off her mind.

'Damn stupid emotions, who needs them?'

After an amount of time had passed, Blood Moon heard the door open for as second time; he looked back to see Applejack, Feather Heart and Mayor Mare trot out. He nudged Twi and 'Shy awake, the mares blinking awake and yawning slightly as he stood up from beneath Fluttershy's wing. He hadn't bothered to wait for them to awake properly. He wasn't feeling very gentlecoltly right now. The orange mare trotter over to them quickly, glancing behind her slightly as she went.

"Hey, Blood Moon, what's goin' on with Scootaloo? Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle went up to her a while back but still haven't come down. What's goin' on?" Blood Moon lowered his head, grumbling something.

"It's complicated" Twilight said for him. The apple bucker nodded her understanding before she turned to the side slightly.

"Well, whatever the case, Miss Mayor and Feather Heart are here to see ya" she told them "might ah suggest we head inside before we start talkin' though? Ah think all the bad emotions flyin' around are puttin' a damper on the weather" she observed, looking to the grey clouds in the sky. The assassin murmured again and lead the way inside without saying a word, not greeting the mayor or Feather or even acknowledging their arrival. With a worried spring in their step, the mares followed the depressed stallion. They found him sat in the front room, a completely new demur having washed over him; he was no longer wallowing in his melancholy, now he was channelling his grief into his silent anger.
As she went to talk, Mayor Mare glanced behind her at the other mares in the room before she spoke to the master assassin turned weeping ex-father.

"Blood Moon, if this is a bad time, I can come back-"

"No, this is what I need, something to take my mind off of my sorrows" he told her. Every mare gulped slightly; there was absolutely no emotion in his voice, it was deep and endless, like a bottomless pit. A void. This voice made his normal manner of speaking sound like Pinkie's 'Smile' song. "I trust Feather has told you what I found out at Fancy's place" he continued. Mayor nodded.

"Yes, she did" she answered cautiously "and it seems this is your cue to make your move on the Goldhooves" she said. He nodded. "But not now" she told him. He looked up at her.

"And why not" he demanded. Mayor flinched; she didn't like this version of Blood Moon.

"Because…well look at you; moping around, completely cut up by whatever's happened. Fancy Pants will be nothing compared to this hit, and I'll need you in top condition if you're to do this properly" she told him. Blood Moon looked up at her again, then he stood up, then he narrowed his eyes and finally, he took a single step forwards. Everypony moved away from him as his glare turned to a snarl.

"I'm going to tell you" he took an eerie pause "one thing Mayor" he explained. He took another step forwards, but the tan furred mare was frozen to the spot in fear. "I…am in no better mood than right now, to kill somepony. That can be the Goldhooves, Celestia, Discord himself" there was another one of those pauses "or somepony in this very room, and I won't care a damn." He took another step forwards. "This contract is NOTHING compared to the things I've done" he told her harshly. He tapped her chest, felling her heavily beating heart as he did. "You'll remember that when you tell me what I want to know" he told her. Mayor would have nodded, but she was still scared stiff.

"Blood Moon…calm down" Twilight said as she approached cautiously. The assassin whipped his head to her.

"WHY THE BUCK SHOULD I" he roared "if you think, for one second, I'm the type to just settle down when I'm angry, you're dating the wrong stallion" he told her. Twilight recoiled at his words, back peddling a great distance, but she put on a brave face and trotted back up to him.

"I-I've never thought you were the wrong stallion" she told him. The dark stallion snarled.

"Well you should" he growled "the things I've done-"

"That's all in the past" she told him, cutting him off. His expression turned slightly savage.

"Not all of it" he hissed "that night, a Fancy's place? I bucked Fleur, for information no less, I didn't give a damn! There were so many other options I could have taken, but I didn't. The fastest and the easiest" he told her. Twilight's eyes were wide, small tears tempting.

"Y…you what?" Blood Moon leaned in menacingly.

"You. Heard. Me." Twilight swallowed heavily, both in fear and to hold back the floodgates.
"You wanna know something else?" Twilight would have said no, but she was too distraught and scared to do so. "Me and Rarity?" Said white mare's eyes widened.

"D-darling, now's really not-"

"We kissed. When I got back; my mind dead and my body broken, but I still had enough energy to cheat on you" he hissed. Fluttershy's and now Rarity's eyes now all had tears tempting, while tears really were running down Twilight's face now.

"W-why would you tell me something like that" she nearly wept. Blood Moon leaned in with a fearsome gaze, the likes of which she'd never seen before.

"Because. I, am an evil, blood thirsty, soul stealing, Tartarus bound, roofless, lying, cheating, murdering, thieving…Assassin. I deserve nothing but death" his snarl turned to a wolfish grin
"but I've already cheated that already."

Everypony was paralyzed; Twilight could now see the assassin behind the stallion, Rarity was now much less confused as to how his wounds had gotten on his body and the mayor and secretary could now see just who they'd gotten themselves involved with. And all of them were terrified at his threat of death. Blood Moon turned away from Twilight and looked to Mayor Mare.

"I don't care if you don't think I'm ready for this" his neck twitched "I don't give a damn about your opinion. Information. Now." Mayor nodded shakily, her breaths laced with fear and confusion as she reached back and took a wrapped up piece of blue paper from a saddlebag he hadn't noticed before and held it out to him. The assassin took it in his hoof and stashed it away. "The next time you'll see me, ponies WILL be dead" he looked between them all "and you'll probably never see me again" he told them. That was the last thing he said before he teleported from the room.

Twilight blinked once. She was broken, distraught.

Everypony was. There was no point trying to blink back tears, they were already flowing in abundance down her cheeks, though she couldn't sob; she was breathless, empty. Her heart was broken, her soul was split but her pain was internal, she kept it inside; she could feel it, the crushing sensation in her chest. She felt as though Blood Moon had just stabbed her. She looked around the room; Mayor Mare and Feather Heart looked like they were regretting going to Blood Moon with their problems, Applejack looked like somepony had just told her that her family had just burned to death, Fluttershy's face couldn't been seen behind her mane, but she could hear her weeping and Rarity…

Twilight didn't know what to think about Rarity anymore; she'd kissed her coltfriend and hadn't told her herself. She felt slightly betrayed, but she couldn't be angry at her; not only because of all they'd been through together, but because she felt she couldn't be fine with Fluttershy trying to give her coltfriend a blowjob but be angry at Rare for kissing him. The sound of hooves on stairs came from upstairs. Everypony looked over to the stairs, finding Pinkie and Rainbowdash trotting down, Scootaloo having apparently decided to linger upstairs, Applebloom, Sweetie-Belle and Spike staying with her.

"What's goin' on? We heard shouting upstairs" Rainbowdash said when she'd descended the stairs. The rainbow mane and tailed mare looked around and caught the petrified and distressed faces. "What happened? Where's Blood Moon, Twilight?" She trotted over to said mare and looked at her face. "Twi" she asked when she found the unicorn's tear-stained face and dead expression.

"AJ? Fluttershy" Pinkie Pie asked the orange and yellow mares. The pink pony trotted over to Rarity, whose eyes were locked on the spot Blood Moon had just teleported from, and waved her hoof in front of her. "I think they're broken" she commented. Rainbow sat down before Twilight and tapped her head a few times to awaken her.

"Twilight, are you okay?" The purple mare's lower lip wobbled a few times as the flood gates opened again, her face falling onto Rainbowdash's shoulder, weeping into her fur. To the rainbow and bubble-gum mare's surprise, everypony else did the same soon after; Rarity's dripping mascara dripping down her face gave away her tears, more sobs emitted from Fluttershy while Applejack let out a sharp breath, laced with sorrow as she did the same. Before the pair of confused mares knew it, everypony had broken down and was in tears. "Twilight" RD asked frantically, holding her by the shoulders, "what's the matter? Was it Blood Moon? What happened? What did he do?" Twilight took some time to push back her tears before she answered.

"He…he snapped. He just…snapped" she said shakily. Rainbow and Pinkie exchanged a glance.

"What do you mean? Who snapped?" Twilight blinked.

"B-Blood Moon… he-he" she broke down again and fell onto the Pegasus's shoulder
"Rainbow, I thought he was going to kill us" she wept. Rainbow glared.
"I knew it, I knew he was no good! Where is he, I'll kick his flank" she told them all, hitting one hoof into the other.

"No…Rainbowdash…I-I think it was because-"

"Who the hay cares why he did it, he still threatened to kill you all, and I'm not standing for that" she exclaimed. Twilight hung her head.

"Rainbow…it's because he told Scootaloo what he does" she said solemnly. RD raised an eyebrow.

"That he's an assassin?" She looked at the stairs. "So that's why Scoots was so…" she shook it away "no, it doesn't matter, who cares why?"

"Rainbowdash, you hadn't seen him…he was just…broken, a dead stallion trotting…I've never seen somepony look so defeated before" she said. Rainbowdash took her by the shoulders again.

"Twi, would you quit trying to defend him! It's obvious that unless everything's going his way, he's gonna snap like that. Twilight, he's NUTS!" Twilight looked around the room at her friends.

"W-what about the rest of you" she asked.

"Twi…ah'm with Rainbow on this one…that stallion just isn't…right in the head" Applejack murmured.

"I dare say…Rainbow's right" Rarity added. Fluttershy didn't say anything. There was silence for a time, a time where all of them were too busy processing what had just happened, what they'd just been thinking about. Blood Moon was capable of ending all of them without breaking a sweat; they'd all trusted him to keep his temper, to keep calm and not hurt them. They'd all trusted him, but now…they were no longer sure. There was a shift in the calm air, the elements of harmony looking over to where Mayor Mare and Feather Heart were sat and found them standing.

"W-we'll be going now" Mayor said quietly. The six of them nodded and offered no argument. The two of them moved swiftly for the door and left promptly, as though the assassin was still within the grounds. There was another silence. Everypony subconsciously sat in a circle, safety in numbers, and continued to retreat into their minds until they were ready to speak.

"W…what do we do" Fluttershy asked. Nopony could answer, because nopony knew the answer.

"Would he stay away from us, if we didn't want to see him anymore" Rainbowdash posed.

"Ah think we should tell Celestia" Applejack piped up. More suggestions as to what to do about Blood Moon were thrown about the room, some more extreme than others, until Twilight spoke up.

"I can't believe you all" she told them. Everypony looked at Twilight; her head was lowered and her mane was casting shadows over her face.

"Whatever do you mean, darling" Rarity asked. The purple unicorn looked up at her friend.

"After all he's done for us, after he saved our lives, after looking after us all…he loses it and you just turn your backs on him" she said, her voice empty.

"Twi, ya'll don't seem to get it; he threatened to kill all of us. You, me, Spike, the girls, everypony. What Rainbow said earlier is right, the stallion's nuts" Applejack said. Twilight's head snapped up, and there was a new fire behind her eyes.

"OF COURSE HE IS" she exploded, making her friends back peddle a little "he's fifteen thousand years old, he's been alone most of his life, he's well within his rights to be completely insane, and you're all getting on about him being a little out of it?"

"Twi-"

"I'm not finished" the magenta mare snapped at Rainbowdash "you of everypony should be most ashamed! I thought you'd be more loyal towards him" she shot at her.

"Why would I be loyal to that mad-stallion" shot back. A strand of Twilight's mane popped out of place.

"How can you have a problem with somepony being mad? Just look at me and Pinkie!" Said pink mare frowned at her.

"Heeey." Twilight gave an apologetic shrug.

"That don't change nutin'; we still can't trust him with all ah lives, not afta something like that" Applejack argued. "Twi, how can ya'll expect us to trust him now?"

"Because of everything he's done for us! Applejack, who got you to talk when nopony else seemed to care?"

"B-Blood Moon" the applebucker murmured.

"Pinkie, who was there when you needed somepony, somepony who would understand, the most?"

"Mooney" she answered.

"Fluttershy, need I say more?" The animal caretaker blushed a little. "Rarity, whose little sister would be that much farther away from her cutie mark without his guidance?" The seamstress didn't say anything. "And Rainbowdash, who was it that prompted you to forgive Sand Stalker?" Rainbow muttered something that sounded a little like 'Blood Moon.' "After all he's done for us, you'd just turn your backs on him? Ever since the battle, he's treated us like nothing less than princesses, like he'd treat Celestia and Luna." Everypony but Twilight hung their head in shame and thought, trying to come up with an argument or excuse. In the end, Rarity spoke up.

"But Twilight, you saw how he reacted when something didn't go his way, with that kind of attitude who can-"

"No, not when something didn't go his way, when he and Scootaloo fell out, when he felt his daughter had left him. Don't you understand? Blood Moon has no reason to live on his own, so he's always looking for one; we're his only reason to live because he needs somepony, something, worth living for, worth fighting for. And if that something, that pony, leaves him… he loses his will to live" she explained. Twilight voice dropped a few octaves. "How come I'm the only one who can see this?" Nopony had a response to that, nopony could dispute such a…heartfelt argument. Everypony hung their heads again, not even attempting to try and argue.

"But-but what about Fleur? H-he-he said he…y'know with her" Fluttershy said. Twilight hummed in agreement.

"Yeah…we'll have to talk to him about that" she said.

"Talk to him? Twi, ah think ya'll are bein' a bit too kind-hearted with him. He cheated on yew, ya'll shouldn't jus' let that go" she insisted. The purple mare nodded.

"I know, I'm not just letting it go, but…it's something we'll need to talk about" she answered. There was silence for a second.

"What about Rarity?" Rainbow's question rang through the air, everypony's eyes going to the weathermare then to the seamstress. Rarity looked between the all eyes locked onto her, swallowed and blushed slightly.

"Don't ya'll have anythang to say, Rare" Applejack asked pointedly. The white mare glanced at the applebucker.
"Y-yes. Twilight, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed him and…there's no excuse for my actions. I'm sorry, you too Fluttershy, I know how you feel about him." She hung her head in shame. "I don't want this to pull us apart so…I-I'll…distance myself, so to speak, from Blood Moon. If he comes back." Twilight smiled slightly at her friend.

"It's alright Rarity. I can't be fine with Fluttershy kissing him but be mad at you, can I?" The white unicorn smiled back. Twilight's expression hardened slightly. "But I need to have some serious words with that stallion" she glared. Fluttershy, to everypony's amazement, followed suit and everypony promptly gulped; they'd rather get an ursa-major angry before Ponyville's resident animal caretaker. The tension dissipated some after the promise for retribution against Blood Moon, and everypony reclined to more comfortable spots around the room.

Twilight, however, stood and went for the door; she opened it to find Hunter perched on one of the trees outside. The bird of fire quickly spotted her and glided towards her, landing on her shoulder, seeing the mare as a way away from the annoying, chirping company of the other birds. Around four of them had already 'accidently' fallen off the branches. Twilight had taken a bit of a liking to Hunter; he reminded her a lot of Blood Moon. She scratched his head a little, trotted for the stairs, and climbed them.

As she ascended them, she began to hear the sounds of quiet conversation and the aftershock of tears. She went to Fluttershy's bedroom and pushed through the door; inside were Spike, Sweetie-Belle, Applebloom and a tearful looking Scootaloo. The Pegasus was wiping away lingering tears with her hoof as Spike tried to cheer her up, 'Bloom and Sweetie rubbing her back reassuringly.

"Hey, c'mon, it'll be alright. You've still got Rainbow and everypony" Spike said quietly.

"Don't forget us" the yellow filly added. Scootaloo smiled slightly, but tears still fell from her eyes.

"I know guys. And thanks for trying but…" her lip wobbled again as the tears came back before she pushed them down again "we were gonna be a family" she said quietly.

"Maybe you still can" Sweetie suggested. Scootaloo looked distraught.

"No we can't! He's an assassin, he kills for money! Why would anypony do that, why would I want to even know somepony like that" she asked them. None of them had an answer.

"But…you seemed so happy together" Spike said. The corners of the Pegasus filly's eyes went down.

"I know, but… I can't love a killer" she said. Nopony, or dragon, could argue with her.

"What about Twilight" Spike asked, prompting said mare to back out of the room a little.

"I…I don't know. I-if she still likes him, I don't know if I could live with her" she answered. Twilight felt her heart break a little.

"Why" Spike replied.

"Because I don't want to be related to somepony who kills for a living. I don't wanna be the daughter of a murderer."

"But…but he's not so bad" Spike and Sweetie-Belle said at once.

"I don't care if he isn't so bad! I don't love him no more, I don't even like him" she argued.
'Bloom and Sweetie exchanged a glance.

"You'd take Ponyville orphanage over Blood Moon?" Scoots hung her head.

"Yes…no…ye-…no, I'd take Blood Moon over the orphanage…but I wouldn't take an assassin over the orphanage" she answered. Spike raised an eyebrow, or at least, the dragon's scaly version of an eyebrow.

"So you're saying…he's not bad?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter how nice a pony he is. He's still a murderer" she answered. Spike hung his head, feeling slightly depressed; he knew from his own family problems that Scootaloo was better off with Blood Moon, but he didn't know which side to come down on: Scootaloo's argument of 'killing is bad' which was very true, or his and the other filly's argument of 'family is important.' He decided to try one last time.

"But…don't you think you'd be better off together?"

"No! He doesn't need me, and I don't need him" she told him. Twilight wanted so much to step in and argue, but knew she wouldn't be able to get through to her. Scootaloo was sure in her opinion, sure that she was right. Maybe she was, maybe having an assassin as a father, as a lover even, wasn't a good idea. She'd have to wait it out, and see where this went.

Wait. Wait and hope Equestria would live through the assassin's rage.

Luna waited. And waited. And waited some more. She and Cadence had gotten done with their shower/water fight and moved swiftly onto a small Killable Kombat tournament before Celestia had interrupted them. When Luna had answered the door, Celestia had said her name and just sort of…stopped, like the record was broken. The princess of the night waved her hoof in Celestia's, trying to bring her back to reality. The princess of the day didn't know what had happened to her; at first, following Frosting's advice had seemed simple at first: find Luna and tell her you're sorry. So how come, now that they were face to face, it suddenly seemed impossible.

'Come on, just say it you coward. Say it, I'm sorry. See, not so hard, c'mon!'

Celestia blinked.

"Lu-Luna. I-I-I'm…s…so-s…" Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Yes" she said at length, rotating her hoof. Celestia took a breath.

"Lu-Lu, I'm…so...so…" Luna narrowed her eyes, she knew exactly what this was, knew exactly what her sister was attempting to say. She put her muzzle into Celestia's.

"You can't say it, can you" she hissed "you just can't bring yourself to admit it, can you. Admit it, admit that you were wrong, admit it was you." Luna watched as her sister tried and failed to speak again, her maw opening and closing, trying and failing to form words. When she saw that she couldn't, Luna blasted air through her muzzle and snarled a lip slightly. "Leave me alone" Luna grumbled. She turned away and stepped back into her room.

"Luna" Celestia exclaimed, following her in. Luna snapped her head around.

"Save it Tia, I don't want to hear it" she told her sister as she turned back and continued to the seat she'd been sat on.

"Luna, be reasonable" Celestia pleaded. Luna turned back again.

"Be reasonable?" she stood up, squaring up to her sister. "How can you say that, how dare you say that after the way you treated me! If you wanna talk about being reasonable, talk to Blood Moon." Celestia glared at her sister.

"Do, not bring him up" she hissed. Luna rolled her eyes.

"Tell it to my flank, Tia" the princess of the night retorted, turning away once more and heading for the window. Celestia growled, a vein on her neck popping up slightly.

"You want me to say it, you want to hear it? Fine! Luna" she cantered after her sister, who was glaring out of aforementioned window, and spun her around "I'm sorry, with all my heart I am, I was wrong, more wrong than I've ever been before, more than I thought capable" she practically shouted into her sister's face. "There! You happy" she demanded. Luna continued to glare at her sister; she reached up with her fore-hoof and pushed her sister back a little. Cadence watched from her spot on the couch, peering timidly over the back of it, peeking over until only her eyes, her horn and the gold covered shoes holding her up could be seen. She had so hoped that the two of would talk this out, but this hadn't been what she'd had in mind.
She watched as the two of them continued to glare each other down, very possibly on the edge of coming to blows. That was, until, Luna threw her fore-legs around Tia's neck.
"That's all I wanted to hear" she answered. Celestia seemed taken off guard, her eye going slightly wide, before she reacted, returning the gesture by hugging her sister back. To say Cadence was relieved was an understatement; she'd been genuinely concerned that the two of them were about to start fighting or shouting again, but now they'd made up, or at least they seemed have. The pair of Alicorns held each other for a while, their embrace getting progressively tighter as time went on, Luna nuzzling her big sister's chest lovingly while Celestia ran her hoof through her night-sky mane, the silky texture remarkably soothing to her.
"Tia" Luna started.

"Yes" the solar princess replied. Luna nuzzled Tia's chest again, rubbing her head into her further.

"I…I wanna see Blood Moon again" she answered quietly. Celestia pulled back, her fore-legs remaining around the smaller mare's neck. She couldn't meet her eyes, resigning to looking at her muzzle instead. Celestia slowly swivelled her eyes up to Luna's, finding her conflicted and questioning gaze. She couldn't face her with the answer.

"Luna…you know we can't…we…I…" she looked into her sister's eyes again. To her slight shame, she broke, pulling her sister in again. "Lu-Lu, I wanna see him too" she answered. It should have been heart-warming, it should have been a spark of hope in the mass of dark clouds that was their relationship with Blood Moon, but it somehow didn't, it hurt them a little more than it should. The two of them wanted nothing more than to hug Blood Moon again; Luna wanted to see him in person, but Celestia just wanted to see him. There was a problem though, a chink in the armour, a flaw in the plan. They knew he would want to see them, but how could they approach him? Ten thousand years didn't go away in a few short days, so much pain didn't go away with a couple of hugs and a few nights missing each other. That kind of pain never truly went away.

There was a flash of light, and Blood Moon appeared in a dark, dank alleyway. Shadow and darkness reigned supreme here, no light could penetrate the unnaturally deep darkness, no hope could invade this almighty gloom. Blood Moon felt at home.

The assassin wasted no time trotting in forwards, kicking bags of trash out of the way, barging past a few homeless ponies and battering past an overturned trash can. The streets of Canterlot were bright, happy, most were well-guarded and populated. But the alleys and the backstreets were dark, quiet, sinister. After all, the criminals needed somewhere to ply their trade.

The assassin pushed past a few other ponies and assorted waste, his nose now home to no small amount of bad smells and his hooves were already stained with black slime and mud. He turned a corner and stepped onto an only slightly better looking side street. The cobblestone road the dark stallion now traversed was home to many ponies, almost all of which of questionable motives. Thugs, thieves, mercs and even a few fellow assassins used the alleyways and back streets to get around the city; some said that the rooftops were the thieves' highway, but Blood Moon saw the darker, more subtle alleyways as the railways; they didn't reach nearly as many places and weren't as fast but you were much less likely to be made by the guard's. That said, train robbers were all the more abundant. The dark stallion had been here all of three minutes, and he'd seen just as many muggings and thefts as he'd gone on his way. Blood Moon was in no mood to intervene, and as such, crime was allowed to fester once more. That said, for all the crime and corruption back here, there was also a small society, civilisation almost.

It was a theory Blood Moon had long harboured: a den of thieves and murderers starts in chaos, but given time, the strong will rise, the week will support them, and structure will grow. The infamous Thieves' guild was one such result of said theory of organised chaos; the brown leather hood clad highway-stallions, cat-burglars, pickpockets and other assorted robbers that silently roamed the streets of Canterlot, Manehatten and probably even Ponyville alike. Though it was here, the spaces between true society, where their power and influence was most prominent. Still, thanks to the current guild master, the back alleys were no longer simple cesspits where the undesirables and outlaws crossed cities, and this backstreet was no longer a place where criminal's simply came to rest, but instead was a semi-sort-of-successful bazaar. Small and slightly broken stalls offering dubious goods were sat along the walls of the wide alleyway, most owned and ran by stallions, and some mares, who looked like they'd seen much better days. Perhaps the saddest thing was that they hadn't.

No matter its condition or crime rate, Liar's Retreat would be home to many fugitives, outlaws, criminals, murderers and thieves than even Celestia herself knew. Blood Moon trotted past a few of the more permanent businesses; to his left sat an old wooden door, built into the basement of an old storehouse. The sign on the door read 'Ragged Flagon' but the assassin had never really paused to admire the sleepeasy of sorts that housed no small amount of bootleg cider, wine and other spirits, not to mention the drugs that flowed through the veins of most of the patrons. On his right was a pawn shop of sorts, where 'magical' trinkets of all sorts could be purchased and non-refunded. A little ways more into the street was a fence, a place that was frequented by no few sinister looking brown hooded ponies. Almost across from that was a smithy, a place called 'Sparks and Horseshoes' where pretty much all of the ponies went shopping for half-decent weapons and armour. As Liar's Retreat came to an end, more garbage was strewn around and less reputable shops and stalls were sat. When a tall, shadow covered wall met the ground, Blood Moon raised his hoof and put it to one of the bricks; he pushed against it and it gave way, sliding into the wall. The brick slid back, and another followed and another and another, until and pony wide and tall dent in the wall had formed before the bricks swung back as though on hinges, revealing a black, iron door. He stood before it, looking it up and down for a while before he banged his hoof upon it. There was a small pause before a sliding shutter at eye level opened to reveal a pair of eyes.

"While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'." The wrong line in the infamous poem, but easiest to remember, not to mention if somepony knew the poem, they were less likely to guess the answer to the password.

The figure behind the door's eyes had widened in recognition, remembering the assassin's voice. The pony put the shutter back into place, and the assassin's ears were met by the 'thunks' and 'clunks' as the locks, chains and other assorted defences were released. The door swung open to reveal a mountain; the stallion behind the door was of huge proportions.

The infamous door-stallion of the Shadow Weavers; his name was Brick. The name suited him. The enforcer, rather than assassin, wore a brown leather coat over his chest and back, the white shirt beneath opened slightly at the top to reveal chest hairs so masculine they had chest hairs of their own; his fur was beige, stained with dirt and sweat, while his mane and tail was dark green, a streak of lime running through it, both of which were also dirty and tangled. He'd had a simple youth, the son of a bricklayer and a mother who'd died giving birth to him, but after his father had died during an unfortunate accident, he'd been lost in the world. He'd stumbled across the Shadow Weavers when he'd helped out one of the more senior assassins, helping the mare take down a bunch of timber wolves to have attacked her. The mare, better accustomed to stealth than combat, had been grateful and had shown her gratitude by trying to mug him. After a short fight, the assassin's weapon had broken and Brick's legs were too wounded from his defence to try and fight. The assassin had then asked him to join. He'd taken up her offer and never looked back. The two were actually in a relationship now.

Brick looked Blood Moon up and down, his maw confused but his eyes held a glare.

"You've got a lotta nerve comin' back here" he growled. The dark stallion glared back.

"I've never been one to get scared off" he retorted. Brick snorted and took a single step out of the doorway. He moved slowly, very slowly, towards Blood Moon, his eyes narrowed at the stallion as his weapon, a great sword that sat on his back instead of the Shadow Weaver's standard katana, began to dimly glow.

He lunged.

And threw his fore-legs around the assassin.
"Blood Moon" Brick roared in delight as he bear hugged the killer "where in Tartarus have you been" he demanded as he reared up, coming close to crushing Blood Moon.

"I've…been around…Brick…would you let me-ack-go now?" The enforcer dropped him and backed up a little, a big grin on his face.

"Heh, sorry boss" he said, scratching the back of his neck. Blood Moon cocked his head.

"Who's home?" Brick shrugged and turned back into the hole in the wall, bidding the dark stallion enter.

"Eh, a few ponies. Few new recruits turned up a few days ago, said somethin’ about you sending them here, but they’re out on jobs. Anyway, I think everypony’ll be glad to see you though." Brick lead the way down into the hideout; black, brick walls lead down into a shadow covered abyss, the odd candle illuminating the stairway in a dim light. At the bottom of the stairs was another black door, this one made of thick oak wood; Brick pushed through and shouted into the room on the other side: "hey, look who turned up!" The assassins in the room, maybe fifteen of them, all turned to the doorway; when the assassin trotted through, four of them turned back to what they were doing, three nodded his way in greeting, five gave verbal greetings and waved, and three trotted up to him. Ember Spark, Falling Leaf and Candle Light.

"Hey, Blood Moon" Ember greets. The assassin nods her way, trotting past her. Ember follows him with her gaze, confusion in her expression.

"Boss, you okay" Leaf asks. He gets no answer. Candle looks at brick.

"Do you know what's up with him?" Brick shrugs.

"That's Blood for you rookie; ain't no point in trying to understand him" he replied before he turned back to the stairs and his post. Ember, however had been unsatisfied with the answer and trotted after Blood Moon; she followed after him, tracking him as he trotted to his personal quarters. She watched as he pushed through the door to his 'office' and close it behind him. Ember, now joined by Candle and Falling Leaf, trotted to the assassin's room in unison. Ember raised her hoof and pushed through the entrance.

The door opened to reveal Blood Moon, sat behind his desk, with his head held in his hooves and taking long, tired breaths. Blood Moon looked up and Ember swallowed lightly; the emotion in his eyes, or lack of, rather unnerved the hardened assassin as she gazed over him.

"Blood Moon, are you okay" Leaf asked from besides Ember.

"You look at this face" he pointed at his face, his mangled, ugly face of scars and wrinkles. It was world-weary and fatigued, wise around the eyes, experienced on the forehead and around the maw, broken at the muzzle and dead in the eyes themselves. There was a slice of flesh taken out of his ear and his mane cascaded over his forehead and around his horn, the tips reaching his eyes. He looked through the hairs at them, his glare diluted very slightly little by them. They could see the pain in his expression, the hurt. The anger. "And you tell me, if I look okay" he growled.

Success lies in preparation

Chapter twenty four: Success lies in preparation

When the dark stallion had answered Leaf's question, silence reigned supreme, not so much in awkwardness, but in fear. The other assassins had been too afraid of their leader's reaction to say anything to him, to do anything at all. They'd never seen him in such a state before, never seen him so angry. Even Ember Spark, the trio's highest ranking assassin, had never seen Blood Moon angry before; she'd seen him annoyed before, pissed off and frustrated, but never truly enraged before. Never like this. Falling Leaf, ever stoic, was least unnerved by Blood Moon's behaviour, but that wasn't saying much; his legs were shaking ever so slightly and his brow was leaking the odd droplet of sweat. Candle Light, however, the youngest and least experienced of all the Shadow Weavers in the room, was petrified; when he'd first met Blood Moon he'd been most afraid by the stories he'd heard, and the rumours he'd caught wind of that circulated the Shadow Weavers themselves. Now though, he was more afraid than he'd ever been before; during his training, he'd been put up against fellow trainees and a few more experienced assassins, he been dumped in the wild and told to survive, he'd had to kill a defenceless stallion who'd been roped to a chair and, just before he'd been sent on his first contract, he'd been knocked unconscious and woken up in the middle of the royal army's barracks in the dead of night; he'd been clad in his assassins gear, but unarmed, unarmoured and with no equipment. Just a scrap of paper that read: get out alive. But now that he stood before Blood Moon, in all his furious might, he'd take the days in training any day.

Blood Moon let his glare bore into the ponies before him, his assassins, the ponies he'd seen grow up in the Shadow Weavers, seen raised by retired, killed or still active assassins. Now that they were in better light, he could make out what they were wearing; most were in their civvies, Ember Spark in a simple brown vest while Candle wore a white shirt, a black jacket on top. Falling Leaf simply wore his assassin gear, brown coat and white shirt, the hood draped over his neck and the mask hidden away somewhere. He had a generically handsome face, a thin scar on his jawline, cutting through his stubble.

He knew their faces, bodies, minds and attitudes well already; not many ponies knew it, but he was inside the walls of the Shadow Weavers more often than they knew, observing them from afar and from the shadows without them knowing. He'd always seen the Shadow Weavers as a sort of family, there was no real structure to it, but if one thing was for sure, it was that Blood Moon was the father; he looked after everypony, organised everything and made sure everything went smoothly. One thing he always made sure to do so, however, was to never take his anger out on the assassins under his banner; not because he knew he could kill the lot of them without much effort, but because the Shadow Weavers were born out of respect and affection.

Blood Moon had no problems with fellow assassins forming bonds closer than friendship, more than once a pair of assassins had gotten married thanks to their time together; he didn't exactly encourage it, but he did see to it that no relationships were disturbed by the more…'traditional' assassins. But something the dark stallion did encourage was that when a filly or colt was brought in because of them having no parents, that they raise them like their own; this was for three reasons: one, because when the foal grew up, there was the threat of them trying to be 'clever' and sell them out. Having somepony in the walls of the band of assassin that was loyal to them made them less likely to try and betray them. Secondly, since the young had been brought in off the streets because they had no parents, the assassin bringing them in was likely to form a protective bond because of it. Why not make it official, let them have parents, had been Blood Moon's thinking. Thirdly, Blood Moon had no desire to lead heartless killers; the difference between a ragged band of murderers and an honourable order of assassins was as thin as a blades edge, and it was exceedingly difficult to keep them to the correct path. If the assassins had somepony to be soft with, a foal for instance, they wouldn't be dead on the inside; they wouldn't just be killers, they'd be ponies.

Now, however, Blood Moon was in no mood for niceties, in no mood for kindness. In no mood for showing the good stallion he could be. He took a single breath.

"Leave" he growled. Ember and Candle swallowed slightly; there was that voice again, no emotion, no life, nothing. Leaf and Candle's nerve broke and they slowly backed out of the room, not bothering to turn away from the dark stallion. Blood Moon looked down at the papers on his desk for a second; jobs available, assassination logbook, reports and this month's fatalities. The assassin couldn't be bothered with paperwork right now, and looked up from his work; he found Ember Spark still stood before him. He narrowed his eyes again.

"Have you forgotten how to take orders, Ember?" His voice still had that… void-like feeling to it.

"I'm not going to leave you alone like this Blood Moon" she told him. The assassin snorted.

"Is that so?" Ember squared up to him, his desk really.

"Yes, it is. Blood Moon, we've known each other for a long time now, and I've never seen you like this before" she told him. Blood Moon took a breath and rested his head on a hoof. The mare trotted around the desk until she'd reached the side of the dark stallion. She cocked her head at him. "What happened Moon?" Blood Moon slowly turned his head to her.

"I don't need your concern" he growled at her. Ember smirked and cocked an eyebrow.

"Are you so sure about that?" Blood Moon stood from his seat, slowly advancing on Ember Spark; the mare backed up as he moved forwards, swallowing slightly.

"In case you haven't noticed, Ember, I am in no mood to have anypony disagreeing, messing, playing with me or trying to screw me over." He tapped her chest. "I am in no mood for games, so act like a mare, like an assassin, and grown the buck up" he ordered. Ember growled at him slightly.

"Or what? Blood Moon, you're acting like a colt whose first fillyfriend just broke up with him" she tapped his chest back "what in the hay happened" she demanded. Blood Moon's lip snarled, but he caught his anger before he snapped her neck and backed off a little, his temper subsiding ever so slightly. He sat back on his seat, swivelling towards the oak wood table. He cast his gaze over the table top, his eyes resting on the picture he always kept there. Him and her. Their foals too. She had sunlit cream fur, a gold and sunset red mane and tail, curling around her unicorn horn, spiky in a few spots. Her eyes were brilliant, cyan blue, kind and peaceful, but easily capable of going much harder. He bowed his head as the unwelcome memories swarmed into his mind.

It was an appropriately huge turnout. She'd been much loved by her friends, by her family. By her husband and her children. They lowered the coffin into the plot of empty ground, into the meter and a half deep hole, dug to house the corpse of a pony; the pony so many had turned up to bid their last farewells to. Blood Moon wondered, should he ever die, if this many ponies would visit his funeral. He doubted it.

His now dead wife had been a much loved artist, a pony of great imagination and even greater skill about the canvas. He watched two ponies, a stallion and a mare, trot towards the grave. They cleared their throats as they went said a few words; the stallion, a pony called Crimson Sunset, spoke first.

"Our mother…our mother's death was…I guess it would be unfair to call it untimely" he started unsteadily "but it still…still seems so unfair, to have to stand above this grave and say these words." He paused, taking his time to gather his thought and take a few breaths; a few stifled sobs tempted, his sister, Rising Moon, approaching his side to offer her comfort. She put a hoof on his shoulder, the stallion looking back and smiling his thanks before he began again.

"Our mother led a good…long life, she loved those around her as much as they loved her" he said solemnly. Blood Moon wondered if the crowd got the second meaning behind that. "We…we were a close family, me, my sister here, our father and mother; she was the….the one who kept us together, throughout any arguments, any of our little spats, she would always step in we'd be all lovey again" he told them with slight humour in his voice. His mood plummeted again. "The day she fell ill, we all thought nothing of it, thought she'd pull through easily. Everypony but dad. We all thought he was wrong, that he was foolish to doubt our mother's strength. 'As tough as an old boot' we used to say" a few tears fell from his face "what are we saying now?" He sobbed a few times, his magic pulling out a small rag and blowing his muzzle on it. "We're saying goodbye, we're all telling each other how much we miss her…because…because nopony listened to our father, the only stallion that sat by her side every day and night" he paused again, the crowd's silence washing over everything and everypony "the only stallion that truly knew her" he finished. Crimson broke down again, his sister leading him off the small podium. Rising Moon took to the stage when her brother had sat down, looking out over the small sea of sad faces and black suits and dresses. She took a breath.

"My…my brother's words hold truth, more truth than anypony wants to imagine" she started, more hidden meaning in her words "but there is something to add" she told them. Crimson Sunset looked up at his sister, Rising looking back, and found his conflicted expression; they held gazes for a second before the elder brother nodded his head. Rising Moon took another breath. "Our mother's death will, and has, hit us all hard. But…that's…" She couldn't continue, couldn't tell them what she, what they'd all, planned to tell them. She swallowed slightly as she swiftly changed subjects. "…Not what mother would want, she'd want us all to remain strong, as strong as she always was…because that's what she'd want, she'd want us to be happy" she said with a small, forced grin "she always saw the best and happiness in everypony, always saw the good in them…always saw the best" she said quietly. Without another word, she stepped down from the podium and sat next to her husband and brother. The gathered ponies then turned their attention to the grave, preparing to pay their last respects, to begin tossing some soil onto the coffin and dropping a flower in with it, but before they could, two ponies moved through the crowd; when the ponies felt the presence behind them, they looked back, and their eyes widened slightly as they gazed upon the ponies. Celestia and Luna trotted forth.

Blood Moon knew this would happen, this being why he was watching from the shade of nearby trees, a big, beaten up brown trench coat over his back, the collar popped to hide his face. The Alicorns of night and day looked around the congregation of ponies, very probably for Blood Moon, before they gave up and just watched the proceedings. Blood Moon knew what they were doing; they were waiting for him, waiting for him to reveal himself. The assassin could wait. He knew what this would devolve into; a waiting game, a few days, maybe a week, they'd be patient but they were no assassins. Blood Moon could wait all year if need be. Some of the ponies at the back discreetly left, fellow assassin and other ponies of dubious qualities coming to pay their respects. You know you'd done at least something right in your life when your enemies came to offer a few kind words. The ponies all stepped forwards, dropping their respective flowers onto the coffin; roses, bluebells, violets, daffodils, small bunches of mountain flowers, one or two sunflowers. The brother and sister to have spoken stepped forwards next, their families following; Crimson's wife and filly followed him, the foal clinging to his neck as he held her up in his fore-hoof. His horn sparked to life and a black and red rose, the colours spiralling into each other, floated from his daughter's hooves. It dropped onto the coffin silently, his tears following it. Rising Moon stood beside him, her husband next to her, her own horn sparking to life as her own rose floated to eye level; she stared at it for a while before she dropped it onto the coffin alongside her brother's; it looked the same as Crimson's only the colours spiralled the other way. Blood Moon wanted to go to her grave and pay his own respects, only Celestia and Luna's presence prevented that. He could do it, take them on, but not here, not now. Not at her funeral. Not over her grave. He could wait.

Celestia and Luna stepped forwards, their own horns sparking to life as flowers of their own materialised from nothing; Celestia's was a golden sunflower, the petals reminiscent of the sun on her flank. Luna's was a nightshade, the flower head bigger than natural. The pair of flowers dropped to the coffin, the large plants giving off a tiny 'thud' as they hit home. Though he couldn't say it, he appreciated the gesture. The congregation started to spread; they knew of Blood Moon's questionable qualities, and knew that he would be the one to lower the coffin into the ground, so he could be sure to pay his respects as well. The son and daughter of the deceased held their ground, but bid their families leave them. Celestia and Luna stayed in place, completely still, not to mention a respectable distance behind Crimson and Rising. Blood Moon's children knew his story, his relation to the solar and lunar princess, and didn't say anything, didn't even acknowledge them.

An hour passed, and still the princesses, son and daughter remained.

Two passed, and still they stayed.

Three passed, and still no change.

Four passed, and Crimson and Rising's family came to check on them.

Five passed, and their families brought them a bite to eat.

Six passed, and Crimson's child cantered out to him.

Seven passed, and the filly had fallen asleep in his fore-hoof.

Eight passed, and the son and daughter decided to retire.

Nine passed, and night had fallen, Luna forced to leave to raise the moon.

Ten passed, and she came back to stand by her sister.

Eleven passed, and still they stood.

Twelve passed, and the less reputable members of society came to pay their respects.

The night passed, and still they stood.

The day passed once more, and still they stood.

The night passed for a second time in their stand-off, and still they stood.

As the day turned to night once more, they gave up, both hanging their heads slightly as their fortitude broke.

"Come Luna, he can out wait us easily; we've more important things to attend to anyway." Luna nodded and yawned slightly into her hoof as they both left. Blood Moon waited an hour before he trotted from his spot in the shadows. He stood before her grave silently. He didn't cry, he couldn't, not anymore. He'd done his weeping. His horn sparked to life as a bouquet of roses, black and red, appeared in his hoof. He said a few words, too silent for even him to pick up, and dropped them into the grave. He turned his head to the mound of dirt besides him,
and took up the shovel.

It took him all of forty-five minutes to shovel the dirt back into the hole; he felt slightly bad for piling dirt into her grave. It was an impure substance hiding a pure mare. When he was done, he looked up at the gravestone; black stone, the outline of her cutie mark chiselled into the stone. Below that, a few words.

Rising Sunset

4012-4101 P.D.W

Much beloved mother, wife, friend and sister.

A good mare in a bad world, taken from us too soon.

Blood Moon sighed once more. P.D.W. Post Discord wars. He sometimes wondered what age he'd be buried in, most likely P.A, post apocalypse. He reached back with his hoof and grabbed the dagger there; a curved blade, a fire-like pattern engraved into the metal. The hilt was well-polished bronze, the handle wrapped in brown leather. Water droplets landed on the metal; Blood Moon looked to the skies and found the grey clouds hanging overhead, the weeping skies. He grunted. Even Equestria herself was saddened by her passing. With yet another sigh, he stabbed his dead wife's blade into the earth before her gravestone. He then reached back and grabbed his own weapon, laying it before her own. A mark of respect and a message to the future; that she was better than he. That she was on better standing in life than he was. It was the way it was and the way it will always be. Always.

Blood Moon set the picture in his hoof down on the table silently. Ember, meanwhile, had sat on one of the seats before the assassin's desk, watching him think, watching him remember. The dark stallion looked up at her and found her looking back.

"Tell me, Ember…have you ever been in love?" Ember Spark smirked slightly.

"You know me Moon; I don't settle for one, it's not practical. I charm my way into my mark's clutches before cutting his throat. I'm not gonna settle down for a while" she told him. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow, Ember Spark returning it with a smirk. "No Blood Moon, I've never been in love; flings, lying romances, a few two week romances." The dark stallion gave his own smirk.
"I can tell by your voice that may be changing" he answered. Ember glared, frowned, pouted and blushed all at once.

'Bull's-eye.' The assassin had no reason for asking this; he was unhappy, angry, depressed, so he decided that messing with Ember was the best path to take. Well, finding somepony to hug would be the best idea, but he wasn't about to reveal his back to a bunch of ponies renown for back-stabbing.

"W-well…I-I…Shut up Moon" she blurted. The assassin chuckled dryly as he stood up. He trotted over to a small cabinet and opened it with his magic. He took a pair of glasses out of it, alongside a bottle of whisky, carrying them to his desk in his magic. With a smirk on his face, he set the glasses down and filled them both with the booze. Ember took hers quickly in her hoof, gulping it down just as fast. The assassin chuckled as he followed suit.

"So tell me, who's the Shadow Weaver's latest couple" he asked with a laugh, propping his hind-hooves up on the table. His voice was quiet and low, but was no longer as endless as the void, and held a little mirth. Ember scrunched her muzzle up a little.

"I-if you tell him, I'll gut you" she told him. Blood Moon laughed.

"I'd like to see you try Ember" he told her. Ember grimaced; no use trying to threaten a master assassin with violence. "So tell me" he insisted.

"No" she grumbled "and quit treating me like a filly" she told him. Blood Moon shrugged.

"What, can't a stallion have fun?" Ember shot him an annoyed smirk.

"No, you can't, not at my expense anyway" she muttered.

"Can you at least describe him to me" he asked as he refilled his and her glasses. Ember sighed.

"Pegasus, orange fur-" She was cut off when the assassin on the other side of the table burst out laughing, laughing so hard he almost fell out of his chair.

"Candle Light, really? He doesn't seem like your type" he chuckled, necking another glassful of whisky down. Ember growled slightly.

"Blood Moon, c'mon, I thought you'd be a little more…conservative, at least" she told him. The dark stallion quit his laughing and calmed down. He sat up properly on his seat and leaned on the table, resting his head on his hooves.

"Right, sorry" he answered. He cocked his head. "Does he know?" Ember grunted.
"What, that one of the Shadow Weaver's most accomplished, beautiful, deadly and notoriously single mare likes him?" The assassin grunted.

'Diggin' the modesty there, Ember.'

"Yeah." Ember rolled her eyes.

"It's not that simple" she told him. Blood Moon stood up.

"Yes it is" he answered, stretching out the first word to at least nine syllables. Ember followed him with a raised eyebrow.

"Where are you goin'?" Blood Moon glanced back at her.

"Healing vats" he answered, feeling the uncomfortable tickle in his side once more. Ember hopped off her seat and trotted after him. Blood Moon continued to the door and opened it, taking a single step back as Candle Light fell through when his support suddenly disappeared. Blood Moon looked down at him with a raised eyebrow.

"You call yourself an assassin" Leaf asked as he helped him up. Candle grumbled something. Blood Moon glanced back and caught Ember's blush.

"Did you at least hear anything" Blood Moon asked, always testing his assassins, not to mention trying to ease Ember's blush. Candle shook his head.

"No, the wood's too thick to eavesdrop" he answered. Leaf clouted him around the back of his head.

"I told you" he grumbled. Candle rubbed the back of his head, muttering something else. Leaf looked up at the dark stallion. "Are you alright now" he asked cautiously. Blood Moon shrugged.

"I've been better" he answered as he trotted past. Leaf was about to ask where he was going but Ember beat him to it.

"Healing vats" she told him swiftly. Leaf raised an eyebrow, Ember shrugging in return. The dark stallion lead the way to the healing vats, the three Shadow Weavers trailing behind him; they traversed the halls of their hideout quickly, black brick and the odd candle being their only company. The halls of the Shadow Weaver's hideout had been built into an old, abandoned mine, so old that even Celestia had forgotten about it. Blood Moon sometimes wondered how she'd react to finding out that most of his operations had been based right under her nose.

The mines had once been owned by a wealthy mineral and gem dealer who'd gone bust when his mines had run dry. He and his family had gone on to mine everything from coal to buck-all after that, desperately looking for something to sell. In the end, they'd just sold it to Blood Moon, who'd paid for it with a single pouch of bits. Because of their desperate searching, the halls of the nameless hideout were long, numerous and went deep beneath the streets of Canterlot, and were filled with a small city beneath Equestria's capital. But down here, only one sort of pony trotted: assassins. Before long, Blood Moon had led his company to the door, labelled by an iron sign that rested above it that read 'healing vats.'

Pushing through, Blood Moon found his way into a room filled with four huge barrels, great wooden planks that were circled by a pair of black iron rings. Inside the gargantuan barrels, was a deep, dark, slimy but by no means unappealing liquid. It sloshed around like thin tar, sticking to the pony like the same substance. The assassin, already undressed, just hopped into the mixture of healing tar unceremoniously, while Ember, Candle and Leaf just watched awkwardly.

"Come on in, the tar's great" he said dryly as he relaxed and leaned his head against the rim of the barrel. Ember shrugged and slipped her vest off, Candle and Leaf following suit as they stripped off. When the three of them were sat comfortably in the vat, Candle looked at his boss.

"So…uh, what was with you earlier?" Blood Moon sighed. They weren't going to let this go.
_____________________________________________________________________________

Skulduggery didn't like stakeouts.

They were boring, tedious and, in this case, incredibly unhygienic. At the moment, he was sat silently in a dumpster, the lid propped up ever so slightly by his horn, disguised by a toilet-roll tube poking out. He had a small camera in his coat pocket, alongside his flashlight, notepad and trademark magnifying glass. He was waiting for a suspect in a smaller case he was working, a 'side case' as he liked to call them, that he'd gotten back to after his investigations into the Battle of Fancy, as it had been nicknamed by his peers, had come to a halt.
He thought about that; almost all of his cases that involved either Blood Moon or the Shadow Weaver always came to a dead end after around two days of investigations, no matter the crime or situation; he was always met with a snag, cold trail or lack of new evidence. It never changed.

Now, however, he was on the trail of a cheating husband, nothing too fancy or special, but something to keep him busy and in liquor. The dumpster he was in was across the street from a 'love hotel', as they were called by the general populous, and he was waiting to see if his suspicions, notes and the information given to him by his client, the cheated party, were correct. He'd been here for all of two hours, and so far the marriage was intact. However, his hopes for a continued love were shattered when he saw the client's husband trot into the hotel with a mare who wasn't his wife. With a small glow of his horn, the camera floated to eye level as he took a few pictures of the two of them. The pair actually kissed while he was snapping evidence, pretty much sealing the deal, not to mention his pay check. Skulduggery waited until they'd entered the hotel and it was safe for him to leave his latest hovel, in an extensive collection of them, and hopped out. He looked at the pictures he'd just taken, the camera producing the images instantly. He checked them over for a second before he slipped them into one of his many pockets.

He cantered out of the short alleyway, glancing left and right as he did so. It was late afternoon, the golden light of Celestia's sun replaced by a majestic bronze glow as it crept slowly behind the horizon. As the detective trotted his way to his client's home, he cast his gaze over the ponies before and around him, taking them in and remembering their faces, bodies and cutie marks, specifically their marks. The pony mind had a great affinity for remembering the cutie marks of others. Throughout his observations, he allowed his mind to wander; it had been a few hours since his and Celestia's 'conversation' and he was still of split mind about it; on the one hoof, Celestia had kissed him, and on the other Celestia had just bucking kissed him. He hadn't a clue how to react to that, who did, but it was still something his mind just wouldn't drop. That said, it wasn't exactly surprising. Not only had one of the princesses of Equestria just told him she wished to be his friend, she'd actually gone on to kiss him afterwards; he couldn't even guess what had been going through her mind at the time. Loneliness? Desperation? Affection? He didn't know, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know.

He couldn't hold down the grimace/smirk when he realised that, not four hours ago, his thought track had been precariously similar to this one, only before his conflict had been born of something as innocent as friendship. Now, however, it was the prospect of romance.

'No' he thought 'nothing like that could be born of a simple kiss. It was a heartbeat thing, an on the spot…fling, I guess.'

Skulduggery was brought from his thoughts with a metallic 'thud' and a sharp pain on his head. He backed up a few steps, growling and holding his head as he looked up; lost in thought, he'd trotted into a streetlight. Turning his head and glaring at the smirking ponies around him, he continued on his way. He bowed his head, adjusting his hat slightly, and restarted his thoughts; who was he kidding, this was any stallion's dream come true, Celestia was one of, hay, the prettiest mare in Equestria, rumour was that once upon a time she'd had droves of ponies, griffons and even some of the horse nobles of Saddle Arabia lining up and asking for her hoof in marriage. After declining each and every one of them, all hope of anypony forming a relationship beyond business or simple friendship was dead and lost. Now, however, Skulduggery was on the brink of doing just that; who in Tartarus was he to turn down such an opportunity?

After a while, Skulduggery found himself both unwilling to dwell on his thoughts any longer, and at his client's home. He trotted up the steps of the small townhouse and knocked on the door. He heard hoof steps from the other side of the door, alongside the voice of a mare saying something to somepony else that was muffled by the door. After a few seconds, the brown, wooden door was opened by a mare; she was a generically pretty Pegasus, peach fur and sky blue mane and tail, peach eyes looking back into the house.

"Put that down dear" the mare told a filly; that made Skulduggery flinch: the kid's father had just cheated on her mother. When the mare had looked out, she smiled in that way a client dose to somepony they've hired; a sort of respect, mixed with gratitude but not lacking the 'I'm paying you' seasoning on top. "Oh, detective, hello again." Skulduggery tipped his hat silently before looking up and down the street.

"Evening Mountain Dew" he returned. She was a mare who made her living by flying to the tops of mountains and bottling up the fresh, clear and ever-spring air before selling it as a perfume/air freshener. They stood in silence for a few seconds, Dew not really knowing the social protocol for the 'detective/client' situation.

"W-would you like to come in" she asked anxiously. Skull nodded; he wasn't oblivious to the ways of neighbourhood gossip, hay, it was how he'd gotten the bulk of his information for this case.

"Please" he answered as the mare stepped aside, allowing him entry. She guided him to the living room and bade him sit on the couch; the detective didn't take much notice of the home, but what he did notice what that it was your average 'townie' job.

"Would you like anything?" Skull shook his head, it wasn't polite for the employee to take anything from his boss, but she still went into the kitchen to fix herself, and possibly her child, something. As the detective examined some of the ornaments scattered around the room, the filly sat before him, a curious look in her eyes. Skull wasn't too good with foals, subsequently, he just smiled at her like he would a stallion or mare. The filly smiled back, her wide, beaming grin making his own turn a little more honest. The filly earth pony had dark red fur and a peach mane and tail, likely gotten from her mother, while her eyes followed her fur. She wore a diaper on her flank and didn't seem to have a cutie mark yet, but hay, she was still young. Dew trotted back into the room with a cup of something hot and a Sippy cup of juice for the filly, the child taking it happily. "Now Alpine, it's rude to stare" Dew said softly. The filly, or Alpine as Skulduggery now knew, looked back at her mother with the Sippy still in her little maw, grinning around it, before she trotted wobbly over to her mother, sitting on her flank before the seat her mother had sat upon.

The silence came back for a while, the filly's happy gurgling and the mare's periodic sips breaking the silence now and then.

"So…" Dew started awkwardly "d-do you have anything." Skulduggery, already knowing the answer, said nothing as he slipped out his evidence and floated it over to her. The Pegasus placed her cup down on the table besides her and took the photographs in her hooves; she looked through them all quickly, there were only six in all, and as she did so, Skulduggery watched her get more and more teary-eyed. He took a long, shuddery breath, as she was slowly reduced to tears, the filly looking back at her mother.

"Mamma, what matter" she asked eloquently. Dew sniffled a few times before she reached down and picked her daughter up and held her against her chest.

"N-nothing Allie, but we're… not gonna be seeing daddy for a little while" she said softly. Alpine nodded a few times, her young mind not really comprehending what her father had done but recognising her mother's pain, nuzzling her a little. Dew smiled slightly as she nuzzled her back. Skulduggery watched this for a while, not thinking it prudent to get up and demand payment when she was like this. They continued to embrace and nuzzle each other for a while, but before long Alpine had fallen asleep. Skull watched as Dew took her daughter upstairs, probably to her room and cot. When she came downstairs, Mountain Dew looked like she cried a lot more on the way down stairs. Skulduggery's practiced eye made a most intelligent observation.

"You look like you could use something stronger than that" he remarked, nodding at the steaming cup. Dew huffed in bad humour.

"I don't drink, weak liver" she answered. Skull nodded once.

"Are you alright?" Dumb question, but one that needed to be asked, one that simply gave her release she evidently needed.

"No. Eight years of marriage, a two year old filly and a life I've worked so hard for, all of it…" she couldn't finish.

"It's not necessarily the end" he retorted "you can still save it-"

"Oh stop" she said irritably "this isn't the first time. I've caught him myself before, about a year ago. He said he would never do it again, but ever since, his boss has been having him work much longer hours" she said in bad sarcasm. "I hired you to find out if my suspicions were true" she explained.

"What will you do?" Dew glanced at him, not impressed by his questions.

"What do you think? Divorce his sorry flank and take him to the cleaners. My mother always said that everypony pays for their crimes, one way or another." The smoke-grey detective nodded; he didn't care for her methods, or her attitude, but he couldn't blame her. Mountain Dew gave a long sigh as she stood. "Listen, I don't mean to be rude, but he'll be back soon, and I'm sure I'm boring you. Just let me get your fee and-" She was cut off when the door swung open heavily.

"Honey, I'm home!" Dew's head whipped around to find her husband, of orange fur and dark blue mane and tail, trotting into the living room. He found his wife and smiled slightly before he spotted Skulduggery rising from the couch. "Who in the hay are you" he spat.

"I'm a detective" Skull replied. Dew cantered into the room.

"Crag, you're home early" she observed. 'Crag' looked suspicious.

"Yeah, something came up and I had to come back" he growled as he looked between the two of them "just what in the hay's going on" he demanded.

"I was showing her some pictures" Skulduggery shrugged. Crag squared up to him.

"Were you? A stallion home alone with my wife, and all's he's doing is 'showing her some pictures?' I doubt it" he spat.

"Crag! What's that supposed to mean?" He whipped his head to her.

"You know what I mean! I've seen the way you've been acting around me, always so awkward and quiet, I knew it, you're cheating on me with this bum aren't you!" Skull snorted.

'Playing the blame game are we? This'll be good.' Crag, however, had heard the snort and whipped his head back to the smoky stallion.

"And what's your buckin' problem!? Coming in here, bangin' my wife!" They heard the sound of a filly crying from upstairs. "While my daughter's home too, you're a piece of work aren't you!"

"Crag please" she begged as she tried to get pasted him to get to her daughter.

"And where the buck are you going! I'm not done with you!" Skulduggery hadn't been with any mares through his life, but he prided himself on being a gentlecolt, and though he was no sexist, he always stood up for a mare.

"Leave her be" he growled. Crag lost it and swung his hoof at Skulduggery, catching around the head and knocking his head to the side, his hat flying off.

"And who the buck are you to tell me what to do." Skulduggery didn't answer, he just wiped his hoof along his maw and found the smearing of blood there. He glared, cracking his neck left and right. "Ooo, a fighter are we, c'mon then y' bucker!"
Skull wasted no time in obliging him; he moved in quickly, swinging his fore-leg in a small arc, striking Crag across the temple, following it up with a left hoof jabbing into his snout, drawing blood. Crag stumbled back, grunting in pain and holding his muzzle, as Skull kept up his assault; he swung his left hoof upwards, the stump at the end of his leg finding purchase on Crag's jaw as he stumbled back. Crag was sent back further through the room, led by Skulduggery's painful guidance, and found himself against the wall; he picked up a lamp next to him and tossed it at the detective, catching him in the temple; the round base of the light struck Skull in the brow, blood pouring from the thin gash, as Crag followed it up by lunging at him. From there, the fight devolved into a simple scrap, a brawl, with the two of them rolling around on the ground as they tried to get in a decent angle or some distance, neither one allowing the other to do exactly what they wanted to do too. Crag rolled Skull over the top of and slammed him into the table side-unit to them, a few small figurines falling onto them. Skull grabbed one in his hoof and broke it over his opponent's head, Crag responding with a grunt of pain as a lump developed. They rolled back into the middle of the room as Dew shouted at them to stop, swinging clumsy hooves at each other as they did so. Crag managed to push Skull off him a little as he threw a strong but blind haymaker into his shoulder, a dull crack playing the tune of 'dislocated fore-leg' for all who would hear it. The detective fell off of his opponent with a growl, holding his left fore-leg with the other, as Crag stood up; the detective swung his hoof again, finding Crag's jaw as the stallion got pushed away again. The detective stood again, his stance wobbly, and advanced on Crag again, the dislocated leg making it no easier. Crag lunged, taking them both off their hooves again, and the brawl reengaged.

After rolling over each other again, tumbling into a big cabinet and bringing pictures and other possessions down on them, Skull beat Crag's head against the wood. Dull, wooden 'thwacks' were the detective's reward, a small dent developing under Crag's head. Crag managed to push Skull off of him again, looking much worse for wear, and picked himself up; he bull-charged the detective, the pair of them tumbling into the kitchen. Dew followed them out of the living room, Alpine still wailing upstairs, and watched their fight continue. Crag took another swing at Skulduggery, the detective ducking beneath it and returning the gesture with an uppercut. Crag swung his hoof again, finding purchase in the investigator's jaw, following the bruised jowl with a jab to his snout and a clumsy swing to his temple. The quick right-left-right disorientated Skulduggery, his eyes rolling around his head a little before he shook his head to clear it. When he got his sense back, he was met with the sight of Crag clutching a knife in his hoof, the stallion wasting no time in lunging at him. The pain of Skull's dislocated leg disappeared for a while as he used his fore-hooves to stop the weapon coming down on him, swinging the blade, using its momentum against its master, and stabbing it into the ground. Skull took Crag's head and turned it to the side, beating his temple brutally against the back of the weapon until he'd broken his skull and knocked him out in a bloody mess.

Standing up as straight as he could, Skulduggery limped out of the kitchen, breathing heavily, limping badly and holding his head with his dislocated leg. Double the pain. Yay.

Dew watched him patiently as he picked up his hat, brushed some lint off of it and placed it on his head. He was panting heavily from the encounter, clearly out of breath, and in very clear pain from his injuries. Silently, he reached for his dislocated fore-leg and clutched it in the other; he wrenched it back into place with a badly bottled up scream, panting for more breath afterwards. He looked up at Dew, the blood trickling from his head wound obscuring his view a little. He looked around the room, finding it trashed after his scrap, the floor littered with pictures, little figurines and other assorted household items. Still gulping down air, Skulduggery looked up at Dew.

"You may wanna…call the…call the guards" he said between breaths. Dew nodded a few times. "Show 'em the…the pictures and tell them what happened…they'll understand" he said quietly. Dew nodded again, still a little wary and uneasy about the detective. She trotted for the cabinet Skulduggery had beaten her soon-to-be-ex-husband's head against and pulled out a thin, brown envelope and held it out to him. Skulduggery took it and opened it. Inside was a bank exchange notice for a few thousand bits. Useless at a stall or actually buying anything, but good for easily and quickly exchanging money between accounts. Basic payments for a P.I. Skull tipped his hat to her. "I'll see you" he told her as he trotted for the door.

"I hope not" Dew mumbled as she looked around her broken living room. Once outside and having closed the door, Skulduggery trotted calmly down the steps leading to her home and paused.

"Buck, buck, buck, buck, buck, buck, BUCK" he grumbled, holding his head in pain. He staggered around a little as the pain hit him, a dull throbbing developing in his skull as the pain started up as the adrenaline wore off. He started on his way home, a small but noticeable limp in his left fore-leg. "Another day, another bit" he put his hoof to his muzzle, finding the blood "not to mention another bloody nose" he muttered as he started on his way. The detective's home was not far away, so getting back to his bed was high on his list of priorities, even higher than cashing the exchange notice. He got a few looks from the ponies he passed by, a few guards noticing him too but taking no notice; they knew him as a private detective, not to mention his rep as a bit of a trouble maker. Skulduggery pushed through the door to the apartment block he lived in; an eight story building that wasn't exactly run down nor high class. Unnoticeable, subtle. Just what he needed.

He climbed the stairs slowly, making his way to his sixth floor apartment. Upon arriving at the door to his home, he picked the lock open (he'd lost the key a while back) and headed inside.
A simple two-bedroom job. There was nothing exactly outstanding about his home, it wasn't messy nor overly neat, but he always made sure to keep the lighting low. There was no real reason, he just liked the atmosphere it gave. He trotted into the spare room, the room he'd claimed as his 'office' of sorts. He sat at his desk and massaged his open wound. There was already an open bottle of especially hard cider on the desk, next to a shot glass. As was the ritual, he poured himself a glass and held it to eye level. He took a breath. What had he done today? Told a wife of eight years that her husband had cheated on her, trashed her home and left without a word.

"What do I regret Celestia" he asked the room "I regret becoming a detective in the first place" he said, the shot of apple and alcohol replacing the gap the words had left.
______________________________________________________________________________

Leaf, Ember and Candle had responded to Blood Moon's story with mixed reactions.
Ember had a small grin, perhaps prompted by either the fact that her boss was discussion relationship problems or that he actually had a relationship to have problems about. Leaf, as ever, remained completely stoic about the situation. Candle Light, however, seemed rather conflicted; he hadn't known Blood Moon for long, and had only had two interactions with the stallion, one consisting of discussing a contract with him and the other consisting of little more than him being angry.

The dark stallion's eye whipped between the three assassins, waiting for a reaction or answer; all's he had was their facial expressions and eyes. He gazed at Leaf; he was surprised, to say the least, that his boss was discussing his love life, but even more so at how he'd come back from the job. There was more to his thoughts, but it went beyond instinct and emotion, as such, it was lost to Blood Moon. Ember was most amused; she seemed partly relieved that Blood Moon had found himself a mare, and partly shocked that it was one of the Elements of harmony, specifically Twilight. He also noticed that she seemed grateful for something, though he couldn't see thoughts through her eyes, but he guessed it to be something along the lines of relief that he was dating somepony. Candle was most predictable; he seemed annoyed at the assassin's mood swings, scared at the prospect of another, confused at the conversation, slightly relieved at the fact that Blood Moon seemed equine rather than a monster, amused by him having relationship problems and, finally, genuinely concerned for him. That fact touched Blood Moon.

"Well" he prompted of the silent assassins. Ember blinked once.

"I, um, well I guess…uhhh… I agree with Leaf" she said quickly, pushing attention away from her. Blood Moon looked at said stallion.

"Intriguing" was all he said "Candle? What do you make of this" he asked of his apprentice. Blood Moon was proud of the question, in that he'd basically just done exactly what ember had done, only much more eloquently. Candle raised an eyebrow.

"Well…I guess I'm surprised that you're dating Twilight, for one, and…after what happened with…" he waited for input.

"Scootaloo" Leaf provided.

"Scootaloo" he repeated "I can't really blame you for your reaction. From what I've heard, you're kinda…unstable, no offence" Blood Moon raised a hoof to assure none was taken "and you seemed to show real affection for the filly. But taking it out on the mares was wrong; losing control is beneath an assassin like you."

The room was silent.

Ember Spark was gaping at the young stallion, rather literally, as she subconsciously shuffled closer to her crush. Both of Falling Leaf's eyebrows were in his mane-line in both shock and purely because of how impressed he was with his apprentice's assessment. Blood Moon just grinned.

"Candle, what rank are you?" The stallion blinked in confusion.

"Oh, uh, I'm still a novice sir" he answered.

"Well consider yourself an Assassin now" he said. He didn't vocalise it, but the young stallion was both taken aback and honoured to have been promoted, not to mention that he'd been bumped a rank, by Blood Moon himself.

"I…uhh…I…Thanks?" Blood Moon just smirked.

"Anyway" he said like no promotion had been given "I appreciate your honesty Candle. But all things considered, what do the three of you think of the contract?" Things suddenly went darker, the room's atmosphere dampening as the shadows seemed to get darker than before.

"The Goldhooves, huh" Ember said "we've been preparing for a contract on them for years, only barely anypony has the balls to put one out on them" she said off-hoofedly. "A little while back, another Reaper went after them…" she trailed off. Candle looked over at her.

"What happened" he asked, apparently incapable of reading her facial expression. Ember glared at him slightly.

"Let me put it to you like this: they came back inside an envelope." Candle shuddered and swallowed slightly. Meanwhile, Blood Moon had gotten up from the bench built into the inside of the barrel, his usually silvery grey coat now jet black, shiny and dripping back into the healing tars. The tips of his mane were in the same state, the whole of his tail following suit. He trotted out of the vats, the 'quick-fix' formula (as it had been 'lovingly' nicknamed by the other assassins) having reduced the stings, tingling and dull throbs of pain to tight, almost scar-like sensation that would dissipate in a few hours. The other ponies watched and followed silently, drying themselves with the nearby towels. Blood Moon lead the way back to his office.

"So, any ideas as to how we get to them?" He trotted for a few seconds before he realised that he was alone. He looked behind him to see Ember, Candle and Leaf with gob-smacked, horrified and slightly slackened faces respectively. "What" he asked.

"You mean…you're going after them" Ember demanded. Blood Moon blinked.

"Yeah" he said. The three assassins looked between each other. "I thought we'd already established this" he told them "what's the big deal, anyhow?"

"Well, it's just…" Ember trailed off.

"You're going alone" Leaf finished. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow before a smirk met his lips.

"What? You think I'd take away your chance of ripping out Loaded's guts" he asked mischievously. That seemed to settle Ember and Leaf, but Candle still seemed troubled.
"What's the matter kid" the dark stallion asked. Candle didn't say anything, but Leaf apparently recognized this situation; he put a hoof on the shoulder of the stallion who he'd come to see as a son and gave him a look of concern he reserved only for Candle Light.

"N-nothing sir…it's just that was a little worried for you" he explained "I've heard stories about the Goldhooves, how they…" he gulped at the memory "…'deal' with the enemies they can get their hooves on." Blood Moon understood; he'd heard the stories too, about the nightmarish basement of the Goldhooves estate.

'Basement. Estate. Oh yeah.'

"I just remembered" he told them, his trotting resuming, the other following after him "I've something to show you" he told them. Arriving back at the door to his office, Blood Moon pushed through and used his magic to clear his desk, prompting everypony to stand around it. He spread the blueprints Mayor Mare had given him across the table and watched as they Ember's eyes gleamed, Leaf grinned and Candle looked confused.

"What is this" the tiger orange fur stallion asked at length.

"These, kid, are the blueprints to the Goldhooves's…hoof's, ah screw it, it's the blueprints to their estate, is what I'm saying." He tapped the plans. "This is our secret weapon, our way in" he told them. "We gotta takes these down to Tinker so he can give them a look" he mumbled as he rolled them back up and put them in his mane. As he cantered out of the room, eager to get things started, he caught Candle smile slightly. All of the new guys and gals liked Tinker; he was, rather literally, a mad scientist. He was responsible for all of their weapons development and pretty much all of the Shadow Weaver's technological advancements. He worked and practically lived in a room on a level or two below Blood Moon's office; as they pushed through the door, it became obvious that was no lie.

Tinker's room was any scientist's both wet dream and nightmare; there were machines and computers and flashing lights and whirring things that Blood Moon was fairly sure he didn't even want to know what they did. Besides that, there were no small amounts of papers, crushed and empty cans of energy drinks and half-eaten hay-burgers that still lay in their take-out containers. Stood at one of the many consoles about the room, was tinker himself; he was a unicorn, his fur slate and his mane navy blue, spiked up from the amount of electricity around him, singed in other spots because of his experiments and pink at the tips because of his strange preferences in life. His cutie mark was a pair of screws that were without nuts. Loose screws. I'll let you make of that what you will. Over his back was a white, lab coat, greyed and black in some spots and with pockets filled to the brim with rather useless junk that included a paddle-ball, stick of chewing gum, a hologram-flashlight and a pair of fluffy, pink hoof-cuffs.

Blood Moon cleared his throat and knocked his hoof against the doorframe, announcing himself, as Tinker exclaimed 'Domed, I domed yah!' When he heard the sound of visitors (no doubt having heard their digestive tracks too) his head whipped around overly excitedly. His eyes were covered by a pair of goggles, his horn blackened and sighed slightly, and his face a little bony and old, but his expression and attitude, not to mention the tropical shirt he wore beneath his coat, gave off the unmistakable aura of youth. Blood Moon had never looked into this pony's eyes, and he never would, because he was fairly sure he'd never come out alive.

"Blood Moon" he practically roared as he cantered over and lunged at him, only to be caught by the laughing Hunter and get nuggied hard until he let go. "How you been" he asked, his spiky hair mussed up and swaying slightly as he tried to regain a balance he didn't have.

"Not too bad" the assassin lied with a shrug "you?"

"Same as ever!" Translation: you DON'T wanna know. "Hey, look! Candle, good to see you little bro" he said, bro hoofing the stallion "Ember, stunning as ever" he complimented, about as smooth as gravel, the mare smirking his way anyway. He didn't bother to acknowledge Leaf, not after that time the Enforcer had broken his snout. (It had actually been the first time they'd met.) "So, what's up boss" he asked as he dumped himself into a swivel chair with wheels. Hours of fun, for a pony like Tinker. Blood Moon responded by pulling out the blueprints and laying them flat, the scientist holding them down with a few bits of random junk. Tinker's eyes widened in a flash, his grin almost demonic. "Aaaaaaaaaall right" he mused, scratching his scraggly stubble. He glanced up at Blood Moon. "You finally goin' after the Goldhooves, huh?" The dark stallion sat opposite him.

"Yes, but this ain't gonna be easy. I need you to look over these plans and draw up the necessary equipment and whatever else you can come up with" he explained. Tinker nodded as he looked back down at the plans.

"Bitchin', I can do that" he answered "what about you?"

"Me and these three are gonna do some recon on hoof, get a feel for the place" he answered. The scientist nodded.

"Sure, whatevs, that should give me enough time to get a good look at these and…and…uhhh…"

"Think" Candle provided.

"Yeah, that's the one" Tinker answered before he fell silent and became consumed by the plans. Blood Moon rose from his seat silently and left the room promptly, preferring to be out of Tinker's company than in it. Blood Moon liked the stallion, and he was smarter than he looked, but he was about as crazy as Blood Moon, only the assassin hid it better.

"So, now what" Leaf asked as he exited the scientist's lab/home.

"We do what I said" Blood Moon answered. "You and Candle will take to the buildings, find us a good way in and out over the rooftops, while me and Ember will take to the streets and take a look around the walls and surrounding area. I wanna know that place inside as well as out by the time this day is done" he declared. The tree assassins nodded as they split up, Leaf and Candle going one way, presumably towards the armoury to get Candle's new coat to signify his equally new rank, while Ember and Blood Moon went off towards the dark stallion's quarters again.

"So what's the plan" Ember asked.

"Basic couple job. We'll dress up in hoodies and stick close together. Nopony will look twice, and if they do, we'll make them uncomfortable" he answered with a shrug. Ember gave him half a glare.

"Are you doing this on purpose, I told you, not two hours ago, I sorta like Candle" she hissed as another assassin passed them, nodding at Blood Moon.

"I know, but I'm not taking the time to think up a decent backstory to two alter egos. Trust me, I'm not one to break up relationships-"

'Asides, apparently, my own.'

"-So you don't have to worry about that" he assured her. Ember's glare dissipated slightly as she turned her head back to their rout as they came to his office. He trotted up to the wardrobe at the side of the room and slid it open, grabbing a grey/green hoodie and a plain brown leather jacket, tossing them back at Ember, who caught them out of the air as she slid off her vest and replaced it with the items of clothing Blood Moon had given her. When her head had popped through the hole in the hoodie, she found that Blood Moon was wearing a similar attire; a dark blue hood over his head and a black denim jacket with grey accents. The jackets covered their cutie marks while the hoods covered their faces, the fact that all ponies had to cover both making both assassins slightly jealous of the griffons for a second. Blood Moon rummaged through a small crate at the bottom of his closet and pulled out a pair of butterfly knives, throwing one to Ember, watching her slip it into the chest pocket on her hoodie, the stallion slipping his into the sleeve.

They left his quarters, trotting a little closer to each other as they sank gracefully into character, and met Leaf and Candle standing by the exit in their assassin gear, the smaller stallion' green coat replaced with a wine-red one. Blood Moon looked between them for a second before he spoke.

"Alright ponies, let's roll."
______________________________________________________________________________

Scarlet Blade had been a personal Goldhooves mercenary for a long time now. She a was renown blade for hire throughout the blade for hire world, known as one of the most fierce, deadly and merciless mares in the world. As such, it was only fitting that the mare was given the position of security Capitan within the walls of the Goldhooves estate. Even so, her latest job didn't do much to boast her skills, talents or reputation. The original contract had described her job as a 'multi-positional occupation' that ranged from guard to personal escort for members of the Goldhooves family. Now though, she been told by her, in her opinion, overly paranoid boss to take a patrol route outside and watch for suspicious activity.

So, that morning, she woke up alone once more in her bed and prepared for her day. Recently, the stallion she'd been paired off with by the Goldhooves, Hardhoof, had been seen less and less around the estate. Granted, his job was guard lieutenant in Ponyville but he'd never really cared much for his career in Ponyville. He'd always had his eyes and a bigger prize, the position of guard Captain for all of Equestria. Whatever the case for his absence, she still missed the fact that she could at least wake up every day with somepony. Of course, this had nothing to do with romance; just that a surprise morning buck was a nice sensation for a drowsy mare.

She'd washed and showered already, and was now in the process of dressing herself in her armour. Admittedly, she still wasn't over the loss of her morning, as Hardhoof had taken to jokingly calling it, 'morning cocky' so there was a vibrator raging around inside her marehood. She started at the mirror for a while; she was a pretty-ish mare, her fur was deep red, spots having gone silver in a whitewash style she rather liked, and her mane and tail were golden, a red streak running through the mane. Her cutie mark was that of her namesake; a bloody bladed broadsword. Though perhaps her most distinguishing feature was the eye-patch on her right eye, the strap reaching around her head, her remaining eye showing its colour had been as gold as her mane. She turned to the armour mannequin next to her mirror; the Goldhooves, mainly because of her stature, had allowed her to keep the armour she normally wore: blood red plating, metallic bronze accents and black leather beneath. There was a sword leaning against the mannequin was identical to her cutie mark; a long, dual bladed broadsword that was almost tinted red from the blood stains that had covered it over its life. She slipped the sword onto the scabbard on her back, built into her armour, and reached back with her hoof. She had to admit, it would have been easier if she had a horn but she loved her wings too much to give them up. Or at least, that's what she would have thought if she wasn't pulling something from her secret place; as it was, her thoughts were reduced to:

'Ggggggaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh…put it back in dummy…'

Taking a few breaths, trying to regain herself as she dripped slightly from her rear-end, she flicked the vibrator to its 'off' position and hid it back inside the only lockable draw in her and Hardhoof's room. She trotted out of the well-lit room into an equally well-light hallway. The Goldhooves may be paranoid, to such an extent that they disliked having shadows and darkness in their home, but they could at least do it in style. She passed a few other guards, all of whom nodded her way, and she acknowledged none of them; she didn't like the other guards, they were unprofessional, their armour and uniforms were always sloppy and didn't treat her like an equal. Or at least they hadn't, she'd solved that problem when she'd ripped one of the guard's balls off when he'd gotten too touchy feely.

That was something to be said about Scarlet; she was no normal mare. She was very unfeminine, didn't bother in talking away problems and was more of a stallion than more than half of the guards protecting this place. Her mane fell into place as she trotted, hanging slightly above her left eye and it only added to the glare she sent to each and everypony she met. She stole another guard's apple as he went to take a bite and swiped another's water bottle as she stepped outside, necking the water quickly and eating the apple in a few bites as Celestia's sun shone down on her. The golden light made her squint slightly before her eye adjusted to the light. Scarlet cracked her back and spread her wings, the powerful muscles glad for the relief after too long without activity. She took to the skies for a while, flying low over the estate, outside the usual airborne patrol routes as she forged her own path.
She frowned suddenly.

She thought she'd seen something, a black dot on one of the rooftops. She hovered for a second as she tried to decide whether it had been a trick of the light or not, but soon decided that she was going to check it out anyway; better safe than sorry. She swooped down and landed on the rooftop gently; she drew her blade in one hoof and looked around herself slowly, searching for whatever she had seen, if she-

Thwak

Scarlet Blade's eyes rolled up into her skull as she fell unconscious, the world growing dark around her, but not before she saw a familiar looking mask step from the shadows.
Candle Light watched as the mare fell down, Falling Leaf having chopped his hoof into her neck. The Enforcer looked up at the Assassin, a glare hidden by his mask.

"Next time, wait for my mark" he growled.

"Hey, don't be so harsh" came the smooth voice of Ember as she stepped out of the shadows Candle had been in. Blood Moon came last as he stepped up to the fallen mare; he bent down to see her face. He didn't know her, but she looked like any other merc.

"Anypony know this one" he asked. Candle and Ember shook their heads, but Leaf didn't do anything. Blood Moon looked over at him. "Leaf?"

"…We dated once" he answered. For the second time in a day, the four ponies were completely silent. Falling Leaf in a romantic relationship? It didn't seem possible, the stallion was too stoic, too silent, too…boring to even have a hope at that kind of relationship. Candle Light's reaction was perhaps the most understanding, the pair's pupil/teacher relationship giving him a better look into his personal life. That said, even he had an eyebrow raised. Ember was stifling giggles badly, wishing she was wearing her mask so they couldn't see the tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Blood Moon couldn't give a rat's ass about the Enforcer's past relationships.

"Think you can get any information out of her" was all's the Hunter asked. Leaf shrugged.

"Probably. She only knew me when I was a Learned Novice, so she probably won't recognise me now. That should shock her, make it easy to squeeze information out of her" he mumbled, mind always on the job, despite his distant voice. Blood Moon nodded once.

"Good. Take her back to the hideout, tie her up-" Ember giggled again "-and then get back here." Falling Leaf nodded as he hauled the Pegasus onto his back, his strong earth pony body making lifting the light Pegasus easy on him. He vanished in a spiral of leaves. "Right, now we should have some inside information soon enough. Let's get to it" he said as he turned to the edge of the roof. Ember followed him, not before she glanced back at Candle and winked at him flirtatiously. The visual flirt gave the young stallion a boost of confidence, his chest puffing out slightly, as Ember giggled and hopped off the building with Blood Moon.

The landed before a bench, swiftly sitting on it and wrapping up together and giggling at nothing as a patrol of guards passed them by. When the gold clad ponies were far enough away, they immediately stopped their giggling and stood up; they looked to be joined at the hip, Ember's head snuggling up to Blood Moon's as they giggled and laughed at things they hadn't said.

There were too many eyes on them; the crowds were being watched by the guards stood atop the walls surrounding the Goldhooves estate as well as the other mercs trotting around the grounds, not to mention the solar guards trotting on the other side of the street. Public displays of affection may make ponies used to coldness and little emotion, such as guards, uncomfortable, prompting them to look away, but a well-trained guard may glance Ember or Blood Moon's cutie mark. He needed to find a dark spot, somewhere to take stock of the situation. He instructed Ember to laugh naughtily as he guided her to a dark alleyway; they stepped into the shade and stepped away from each other, both taking up a position either side of the alley so they could see all there was to see from this spot. They both sunk into the shadows and kept their hoods down, the combined glare of Celestia's sun and the deep shadow making them nearly invisible.

"So why Candle anyway" Blood Moon asked from the blue, mentally marking up the spots and patrols on this piece of the wall. Ember grunted a little.

"I thought we'd dropped this" she told him, her own eyes darting all over the wall and the main gate.

"I did drop it. But that means I can pick it up again too" he told her, sinking a little deeper into the shadow as a guard cast his gaze over their hiding spot. He could smell Ember's smirk.

"Touché" she mumbled, wondering if she'd used that right "whatever. I'll tell you why Moon. It's because he's brave enough to talk to me" she told him. Blood Moon angled his head at her a little, not quite glancing at her, but getting the same message across.

"If that's true, why not Leaf?" Ember grunted again.

"Because he's the same rank as me. He has no need to be scared. Ever since I made Novice, everypony always treated me like a Master. They always cowered away from me and offered the utmost respect. And the ones who didn't, treated me like a piece of fruit; something to be used and tossed when you're done with" she explained. "It's probably because he's Leaf's protégé, but he's not scared around me and he's real nice to me. Or at least, he's the right amount of nice, y'know?"

"Sorta. I guess I can see where you're coming from" he answered. He smirked. "Kinda cute actually, almost like you're-"

"Oh, baby" Ember groaned as she fell into Blood Moon's awaiting fore-hooves, the pair's lips meeting as they rubbed each other against the other. The slightly disturbed and aroused guards trotted past hastily, wishing these crazy kids could keep it under their tails. Ember kept it going for a second until she was sure the guards had left in proper before she pulled back again, resting on her side of the alleyway.

"-Finally growing up, getting your first crush and all that" he finished, as though nothing had happened at all. Ember tried to growl at him, but it came out as a small giggle as she found his smirking face; not even she was immune to the Hunter's charms.

"Easy on the tongue next time, buster" she told him, prompting another laugh from the assassin.

"Not bad?"

"Not bad, but your lips are too chapped" she told him, the dark stallion nodding as he stored the information away for future use. "Anyway, shut up, it's not like this is my first crush" she told him "I mean, when you and me first met, I was sorta…swept away" she told him. Blood Moon became a mix of both bemused cockiness and slightly disturbed stallion.

"Yeah, I'd never seen a seven year old blush so hard before" he told her, a slightly accusing hoof aimed at her. Ember laughed.

"Hey, lay off! I was young!"

"That's my point" he answered, still grinning "I may have inclusive standards, but they're inclusive standards, for mares. Even my tail don't swing that way" he smirked. Ember responded by sauntering over to him and caressing him slightly.

"What about now" she asked, trotting the line between slutty and sultry perfectly. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side slightly as his smirk turned to a grin.

"Hmm, maybe I don't know" he mumbled, brushing a strand of hair out back into its place. They both suddenly heard trotting from up the alleyway; it was the same guards. Blood Moon cringed slightly; there was a very distinct possibility that the show Ember had given them earlier could turn into a problem, given that they looked to be about to head to a hotel; they didn't have the time nor inclination to do that though, so they went with much more dangerous option. Ember took the initiative, slapping her hoof against Blood Moon's flank as their faces dived back together, both of them getting progressively more precarious with their hooves. As Ember's hooves drew blood to Blood Moon's stallionhood, Blood Moon's drew moisture from her slit as the guards trotted past quickly, practically galloping, and left them to it. When the guards had left, Ember didn't move. "You gonna get offa me" he asked with a grin. Ember smirked back, her head cocked.

"Do you want me to" she purred "didn't you leave your marefriend just now? I'd have thought you'd need something to take your mind offa things" she told him, feeling the oh-so-familiar feeling of a stallionhood hardening beneath her hoof. She angled it to her exposed marehood and let the tip tease her, slipping in ever so slightly, her blush growing slightly.

"What about Candle?" Ember sighed deeply.

"Moon, he's still new to the Weavers. He barely knows me, hay, I barely know him. The only pony he really talks to is Leaf. I may like him better than almost all the other stallions in the order, but I'm still not just gonna throw myself at somepony who'd probably have a heart attack rather than retune my sentiments. I'm gonna give it a few years, see how things pan out" she told him, making some pretty dangerous (and alluring) hints. Blood Moon smirked again as he thrust, half of his length going inside Ember's marehood. She bit her lip and threw her head back. "Oh, Moon" she groaned, burying her face into his shoulder as he spread her lips.

"Alright you two, cut it out" a voice said from beside them. A trio of guards, the mercs under the employment of the Goldhooves, stood watching them. Ember gulped as her marehood clamped down on Blood Moon's dick involuntarily. The assassin pulled out his hidden blade and willed it to go flaccid as Ember clambered off of him.

"R-right, sorry" she said sheepishly, scratching the back of her neck "got a little carried away I guess" she said. "Let's go honey" she told Blood Moon, who's red eyes were boring into the guards as he made sure the mare under his charge got away safely. He waited until Ember was a step behind him until he turned with her.

"Where d'you think you're goin', sugar flank" one of the guards called after them. Both Blood and Ember rolled their eyes at once; they were those kinds of guard. Blood Moon and Ember froze, as though suddenly scared, and didn't move as the guards moved up beside them, mainly her. "We could send you two to the dungeons, y'know. Public indecency. Or we could have you put in the Goldhooves dungeons for crimes on their property" he told them, the lead guard, as he brushed his hoof along Ember's back. "Or…we could be persuaded otherwise."

Blood and Ember moved at once, their movements graceful and in perfect sync; Blood Moon flicked his right hoof and the butterfly knife slipped out of his sleeve and into his hoof. He didn't bother unsheathing it, and instead slammed the metal handle into the guard's eye. Ember went with something more powerful, sacrificing speed for overall power. She slammed her fore-leg into the guard's throat and took him by the back of the head, bringing his head down to the ground. Both spun at once, Blood Moon making a show of spinning and flipping the butterfly around his hoof as he unsheathed the blade, Ember simply whipping it out of the pocket and, making one simple flick, the gleaming blade was out. Both slashed the small blades quickly, not allowing their opponents to unsheathe their own. Blood Moon, ever valuing speed over power, opened a smooth gash in his guard's neck. Ember beat the back of her weapon over her guard's head and followed through by stabbing it through his cheek and ripping it out.

Both guards now bleeding, they both made a flourish of movement; Blood Moon's painted a smile on his guard's throat while Ember's planted the small knife in her guard's skull and brain. Ember heard a wooden 'clunk' and looked up to find Blood Moon holding the staff of a spear just over her head. The other end of the spear was being held by an earth pony guard, the guy who'd had the smart idea to try and force sex out of her to keep quiet about what they'd caught them doing. Blood Moon gave a vial snarl as he snapped the blade off and tossed it aside. Ember ripped her blade out of her blade and held it in her hoof, looking like a mirror image of Blood Moon as they thrust their weapons at once; brutality had taken over Blood Moon's mind as he stabbed the guard in the eye, Ember following suit, but didn't go far enough to kill him. They both pulled their weapons back, the eyeball coming out with them, and shoved them into the guard's mouth, beating his lower jaw up to keep his maw closed. He swallowed instinctively and shuddered as his eye sockets wept blood. They both spun their grips on their weapons and slashed their blades along his neck, making two eerie smiles along his neck. He wobbled slightly before he fell, but neither had seen; they spun around and tossed their butterfly's into the air, the weapons closing mid-air, and catching them mid-air before slipping them into their opposite sleeves, all in complete and perfect unison.

They then trotted out and glanced left and right before they trotted away from the crime scene as a mare screamed and a bunch of other ponies cantered to the source as the mercs and guards argued over whose jurisdiction it was. Meanwhile, Blood Moon and Ember trotted like a couple out for a stroll towards another alleyway, the spot they, Candle and Leaf had agreed to meet. Blood Moon and Ember leapt up to a fire escape and quickly climbed it. At the top, the found Falling Leaf and Candle Light already there, the elder assassin leaning on the lip of the roof.

"Your doing" Leaf posed, nodding at the mass of ponies gathered around the spot they'd killed three guards not three minutes ago. Ember smirked a little too much to look quite innocent. Leaf shook his head. "Anyway, we're all done here. You?" Blood Moon turned swiftly to business mode.

"Yeah. We mapped out the guard's outside and around the front gate, alongside this, our hostage and Tinker's progress, we should have enough to go on" he decided.

"Back home" Candle said. Blood Moon nodded and the two masked assassins disappeared in leaves and feathers. Blood Moon's hoof raised and he spanked Ember square on the ass as he teleported, bringing her with him. Ember gave a cute and suggestive little 'ooh' as she felt the contact, but grinned back at him either way. They'd ended up just outside Tinker's lab and promptly trotted inside.

Inside, he hadn't seemed to have moved though the two knew he'd very probably invented three things, broken up with his marefriend, had make-up sex and gotten back together with her, made three more assassins want to either commit suicide or kill him, disproved around four theories as to the meaning of life and come up with around nine more, all of which very probably had at least something to do a flying spaghetti monster he kept going on about.
"Hey Tin-" He was cut off when Tinker raised his hoof and cut him off. He was muttering something only Blood Moon could hear, and it both aroused him and made him reconsider the existence of his lungs. Tinker looked up and both caught the momentary look on his face; that was why Blood Moon kept him in the Weaver despite him not being a real assassin, that was why he made sure no harm came to him, that was why he endured his constant jests, that was why Blood Moon knew Tinker was the best of the best in his field of work. It was an indescribable look of utter intelligence, of concentration, ultimate thought of the deepest and most complex variety. It was genius given form. But then it went away, to be washed away with the bright look of pure joy that Blood Moon felt would look more at home on Pinkie's face.
Or maybe Pinkie's would look better on Tinker's. Blood Moon made a mental note to never introduce the two. Either because the world would implode or neither would ever get any sleep again and he'd be shelling out a lot on bed frames. Either way, the assassin shuddered.

"Heya boss, how goes it?" Blood Moon smirked.

"Pretty good. We've got a hostage, plenty first-hoof knowledge on the place and now we're just waiting on-"

"Nopony! I got it all worked out" he exclaimed as he stood up. "Come see" he prompted as he led the way to a nearby workbench, Blood Moon grabbing the blueprints as he went. On the wood and iron table sat a few items of interest ranging from armour to masks and knives to small balls with a small fuse coming off. "Right, so there's a few things I've been tinkering with, see what I did there, and I was wondering what you think of them, so I'm gonna run them by you." Blood Moon shrugged.

"Alright, shoot." Tinker responded by picking up a bow looking object, the limbs compacted down halfway along them.

"This" he gave it a small flick, the limbs of the bow popping out before clicking into place with a small metallic 'snap' "is the recurve bow. A compact, high range, high power bow used for all sorts of bow and arrow situations" he explained. "I've been thinking of a way to allow our none-unicorn assassins a more powerful long-range attack without using magic. I had my eureka moment when I decided to start looking back instead of forwards, so I threw this puppy together and, hey presto!" Tinker had handed the bow to Blood Moon, who held it in his hooves and pulled the string back a few times before he frowned. "Light, huh? I had the Pegasi in mind when I was making this; it's nice and light, powerful up to at least half a mile and it's light enough for 'em to use with ease" he explained as Blood handed it to Ember, who made similar appreciative and inspective motions.

"Anything to shot from it" she asked, glancing at the scientist. Tinker beamed like a colt on Hearth's Warming Eve as he handed the mare a quiver of arrows, with heads ranging from standard broad heads to heads of small caskets full of either explosive chemicals or noxious gasses.
"Take your pick" he insisted as Ember took up a saw-tooth arrow and drew back the string.

"Wow, it is light" she mumbled, getting a feel for the weapon. She looked down the arrow and released the string; with a 'thunk' it embedded itself deep into the wall. "Not bad" Ember Spark praised, setting the weapon down before she fell too in love with it.

"What else" Blood Moon asked. Tinker picked up a pipe. Blood Moon took it up. "A blowpipe" he concluded.

"Yes, buuuut." Blood Moon glanced up to find Tinker bringing down a battle-axe; his eyes snapped open for a second as he raised the pipe in defence. What looked like flimsy, light wood stopped the heavy iron axe dead in its tracks. Blood Moon gave Tinker a glare that would haunt Tinker's dreams for a few weeks as he pulled the axe back and rested it on his shoulder. "It's practically indestructible" he finished.

"Good to know" Blood Moon muttered as he loaded a steel dart into the back of the pipe of gave a sharp puff; the dart embedded itself into the same wall Ember had shot her arrow into.
"Nice" the dark stallion said as he placed it back on the table "next?" Tinker picked up a pair of bracers.

"Put these on" he instructed. He held them out to both ponied; Ember and Blood shrugged and took one each, before going to put them on. "NO, left hoof" he corrected. Blood Moon shook his head as he complied, Ember following suit. Once they both had them on, they took a look at them; they were black, made of a relatively thick leather and held the Shadow Weaver's symbol on them, a blood red dagger, the outline of a simple loom etched across the blade. They were strapped to their legs with numerous laces beneath the leg that kept them tight to the hoof. "Now, tense your leg muscles" Tinker explained once they were done admiring them. They complied and both watched in fascination as a thin blade shot out from beneath the leg, between the securing laces and the leather around the bottom of the hoof. Blood Moon gave a grin the devil would cower under while Ember looked like she had just orgasmed. "Nice, right" Tinker said, both pride and smugness in his tone and on his face. They both nodded silently. "A little while back, a stallion showed me something like these; he was Istallian, wore black and red robes and armour, swords, daggers, the real deal. Look like an assassin himself. Real smooth guy too. Anyway, he wanted the designs of our hoof-bows, so I agreed to hand them over in exchange for something equally as useful. I think I made a good exchange" he said. Blood Moon nodded once.

"You're damn straight" he muttered "these are great. You'd never know they were armed" he said quietly, still examining the silver blade. Tinker nodded.

"Aren't they? The only down side is the metal; it needs to be light, strong and easy to forge. Such a metal exists, but it's as rare as a sober Irishmane. Moon Silver." Blood Moon nodded a few times, taking in the words but still transfixed by the hidden blade.
"Ember…remind me to…to…to…sweet Celestia these are awesome, anyway, remind me to divert more funding to the mining and geological research division. Tell them to be on the lookout for Moon Silver too" he said. Ember nodded as she tensed her leg muscles again.
"Anything else?" Tinker went on to describe to the pair the rest of the weapons and armour laying on the table before them; they consisted of an optical zoom for the gasmasks, stronger yet lighter armour for the coats, a different weave of metal in the swords that made them stronger yet easier to balance and finally a clump of black dust.

"What's this" Ember asked, having lowered her face to the small pile of pure black dust. Tinker gave a small, demonic giggle as he struck a match and advised everypony to stand back. Once they had, he dropped his match onto the dust and watched it combust. Ember hadn't seen it coming, and promptly gave an embarrassingly shrill squeal as she hopped away from the explosion, into the defensive fore-hoof of Blood Moon, who held her in a bodyguard's protective hold. Granted, Blood Moon had flinched badly too, having taken a full step away from the table. Ember's glaring head popped out of Blood Moon's body, though she didn't step away; partly from paranoia and partly from affection. "What was that" she demanded, her voice laced with both fear and anger; she didn't like being caught off-guard, didn't like anypony seeing her scared.

"Here, here" Blood Moon agreed, seemingly as agitated as Ember.

"That is…well, I don't really have a name, but some of the guys have taken to calling it 'boom dust!' I kinda like it, but I've been trying to think of a more serious name, maybe like black powder, but not so boring." Blood Moon glared slightly.

"That's your concern? The name! This is a highly explosive, easily hid material. You no longer have jurisdiction in the implication of this, it's too damn dangerous! I mean, think about what would happen if the somepony like the Goldhooves got a hold of this! Dose the phrase, weapon of mass destruction, ring any bells?" Tinker looked deflated.

"Ahhh, come on boss. Not this again, it's just like the dynamite and corpse reanimating gas! It'll work, trust me!" Blood Moon picked up the blow pipe and beat the scientist around the head with it.

"That's not my concern; it's how it'll be used is what concerns me! Does anypony else know the formula?" Tinker shook his head dejectedly.

"No" he mumbled at length, sounding like an upset child. Blood Moon released a slightly calmer Ember Spark and nudged him slightly.

"Hey, chin up. You still did a good job with the blades" he assured. Tinker lit up again.

"Thanks boss" he said, sounding just a little too much like Pinkie Pie.
"Don't worry about it. So, you think all of this'll help us out when we're goin' after the Goldhooves?" Tinker nodded.

"Yeah, I'm not tellin' ya how, that'd spoil the surprise, but trust me, they will." Blood Moon nodded.

"Great. I want you to make a few more of these, this won't be a one pony job. Thinking of which, I'm keepin' this" he said, holding up the hidden blade. "Actually, now that I think about it, make sure only Reapers and Masters get these, and make sure they know how to used them. If they're rare, I don't want them to go to waste" he added. Tinker nodded.

"Sure thing boss, have fun with it" he called after them "you too Ember" he said without looking up, making the mare attempting to sneak out with it cringe and mutter a small 'damn.'

"Thanks Tinker" she said, pecking him on the cheek. Tinker didn't look up from his work, but his smile turned into a classic Cheshire grin. "So, now what" she asked as she came up beside Blood Moon.

"We see how our guest is doing" he answered, trotting away from Tinker's lab and towards the holding cells. They arrived promptly, finding Candle Light and Leaf in the room opposite, watching their captive through one-way glass. "How is she" Blood Moon asked as he came up beside them. Leaf remained silent for a second before answering.

"She's awake. Scared, confused. She's gotten angry, desperate, she's demanded answers and now she's just given up. Silence for about half an hour" he answered. Blood Moon nodded and stood beside him; the mare in the room was sitting at a steel table on a steel chair, her bored looking head resting on her left fore-leg while her left played absently with her mane.

"Leaf, you're up. Talk to her, try and get her to talk. Use whatever means you have to" he explained. Leaf nodded wordlessly as he trotted out of the open door of the observation room and into the interrogation chamber. The mare raised her head quickly to see who had entered; she found the masked, coated, armoured and, most importantly, armed Shadow Weaver enter. She gave him a truly fearsome thousand-yard glare as he sat before her.

"Who are you, where am I" she demanded evenly, her tone majorly pissed off. Leaf remained silent. "Do you have any idea who I am? I'll give you three seconds to let me out of here before I rip you a new one!"

"Charming" was all Blood Moon mumbled. Leaf had remained silent, observing her from behind his gasmask, watching the droplet of sweat run down her neck.

"Scarlet Blade" Leaf started, his metallic tint worsened by the gravel he added to his voice. She stiffened, apparently shocked he knew her name.

"Who's asking" she shot back. Leaf cocked his head to the side.

"You work for the Goldhooves, an estate guard." Scarlet narrowed her eye.

"And what if I do" she demanded, having crossed her fore-hooves.

"Answer my questions and I won't dip you into a vat of acid" he told her in an eerily calm voice. Scarlet gulped once.

"Do we even have a vat of acid" Candle asked.

"It's called a bluff" Ember answered with a smirk.

"Go ahead" the merc shot back "I'm not saying anything" she told him. Leaf cocked his head again.

"Why's that? Loyalty? Payment? Make things easy on yourself Scarlet, just answer my questions and no harm will come to you." Scarlet glared again as she leaned over the table a little.

"Let me out of here, little colt, and no harm will come to you" she hissed. Leaf was still for a second.

"Answer my question" he said. Scarlet and Candle Light raised an eyebrow.

"You haven't asked me asked me anything" she said.

"Why do you refuse to answer my questions. You have no reason to remain loyal to the Goldhooves." She glared once more before she smirked.

"Hardhoof. We're, how do they say, courting." Blood Moon laughed. He stepped out of the room and into the interrogation chamber, his hood down. He stood behind Leaf, who had acknowledged his appearance by turning his head back slightly. The assassin smirked slightly.

"Do you know who I am?" Scarlet shook her head, her eyes still narrowed at him. "They call me the Hunter." Recognition and fear exploded on her face, the mare sinking back into her chair slightly. "I guess you do now" he grinned. He trotted up to the mare and leaned on the table before her; his wolfish grin unsettled the mare and she wanted nothing more than to curl up into a ball and cry a little. The Hunter was the kind of pony, when you heard more about him, the more you feared him; Scarlet Blade had heard a lot about Blood Moon. "I suppose I should tell you, you no longer have any reason to be loyal to the Goldhooves anymore" he said. Scarlet gulped.

"W-why" she asked quietly.

"Hardhoof's dead" he said bluntly, his twisted mirth still putting fear into the mare; her eyes widened.

"H-he's dead" she repeated. Blood Moon nodded.

"Yeah, I killed him. Tied him down by his guts over a bamboo shoot, cut off his legs and set some Timbers after him. I reckon he's nothing but a pile of maggots by now" he goaded. The dark stallion knew he could be very harsh when he wanted to, and took no steps to tone down his menace. He enjoyed indulging himself from time to time. Scarlet just watched as he continued to smirk at her, an unbearable smirk that she desperately wanted rip off his face. So she did.

She lunged at the assassin, pushing him off his hooves and pinning him to the floor; she swung her hoof against his head, feeling it make contact with nothing. She blinked; he'd vanished. She felt a sudden strain around her neck and felt her airways cut off. "He was a pathetic fighter" he hissed "drew me out my kidnapping six mares, then threatening to rape and murder them and pin it on me, just so he could get to guard Captain faster. Did you really love a stallion like that? You're loyal to a family like that?" He tightened his grip as she started spluttering for air, snorting and grunting. "If so, I hope you're a much better warrior than him" he growled. As the world went black around Scarlet's vision, she felt the world become weightless around her as she fell to the floor, her breath coming back to her in a rush as she sucked in air greedily. Blood Moon stood up. "Leaf, ask her your questions, and if she doesn't answer, cut out her other eye with a rusty spoon" he ordered. Scarlet Blade held her throat with her hoof, rubbing it gently as she coughed and heaved. She looked up at the other assassin. He didn't seem to have moved throughout her and the Hunter's antics, simply observed. She crawled back to her seat and fell onto it, resting her head on the table; she hated this, being held hostage, being scared, having somepony who could kick her flank without breaking a sweat breathing down her neck. She looked up at the brown clad stallion and something occurred to her.

"He called you Leaf" she said, something in her head telling her that was somehow relevant. The stallion responded by reaching up and pulling off his mask, pushing the hood off of his head. When he looked up again, her eyes snapped open. "L-Leaf" she murmured. He nodded once. She suddenly got angry. "You sonofabitch" she growled as she stood, pushing the table to the side and squaring up to him "the last time I saw you I'd just been sent on that contract in-"
"Be quiet Scarlet. We may have history, but don't think that'll distract me. You're my prisoner now, and you're gonna answer my question; we're going after the Goldhooves and you're gonna tell us everything we want to know." He drew his blade and aimed it at her working eye.
"Else say goodbye to your vision" he growled. Scarlet got the idea he wasn't bluffing. Her nerve broke; the combined efforts of her sore neck, the blade aimed at her eye, the Hunter's visit and slight sorrow at Hardhoof's death all worked against her as she broke.

"What do you want to know?" Blood Moon smirked.

"We'll leave them to it, we have more to do in order to prepare" he told Candle and Ember. As he trotted down a corridor, he continued his orders. "Candle, you spread the word; make sure everypony knows about what we're planning. We're gonna need more than just the four of us to take on that place" he told them. Candle paused.

"Wait, four of us" he repeated. Blood Moon looked back absently.

"Yeah; me, Leaf, Ember and you" he listed. Candle frowned.

"M-me? You want me to come along?" Blood Moon stopped completely and turned to the young assassin.

"Yeah, why?" Candle swallowed once.

"It-it's just that I thought this seems like a contract Masters and Reapers would perform. I mean, I'm still just an Assassin" he pointed. The dark assassin grunted as he nudged Candle's shoulder.

"Hey, you've done well so far. I have faith in your skills, you have some too" he advised as took a step back to continue on his way. "Now scram kid, you've got work to do" he said with a grin on his face. Candle followed his advice and turned away, cantering for the common room. Beside him, Ember smirked.

"Y'know, you always treat the rookies like kids" she noted. Blood Moon shrugged.

"That's because they pretty much are. He may be in his twenties, only a little younger than you, but in comparison, you're practically in your fifties when it comes to maturity and skill. Hay, you're younger than Leaf but you're still a higher rank." Ember frowned.

"I'm a Reaper, he's an Enforcer. We're the same rank." Blood Moon shook his head.

"This has already been explained to you; in a room with you, me and Leaf, as the Chapter Leader, I give the orders, but with you, Leaf and Candle, you give the orders because of your superior skill in stealth and your greater experience. Trust me, just go with it" he advised. Ember shook her head.

"What are we doing anyway?" Blood Moon gave a long sigh.

"The absolute best part of an assassin's career; paperwork." Ember's groan of agony made her sound like a filly.

"Reeeeeally? Do we have to?" Blood Moon nodded with an annoyed look on his face.

"Yeah, I've got eight cubic-assloads of paperwork to catch up on and you've gotta take a good look at these plans, figure out a good way in and out" he told her. Ember sulked all the way back to the Hunter's office.

Once they arrived, they settled down for the long-run; Blood Moon leaned back in his chair, his horn glowing as he held the log book up, a raven feather quill scratching everything down; he knew that all assassins hated paperwork, and that very few kept note of what happened, so he'd decided to take on all paper work within his chapter; assassins KIA, completed contracts, contracts received, contracts in progress, the take, if the client attempted to be clever, targets taken alive, targets eliminated and any promotions. It was gruelling, boring work, but somepony had to do it. He wouldn't allow those under his charge to fall into disorganisation. That wasn't his style.

"What is it with you Ember" he asked, an hour into their work. Ember didn't look up from her maps and notes.

"What'd you mean" she answered.

"You tell me you like Candle, then not three hours after, you and me are almost bucking in an alley. What's up with you?" Ember grinned deviously as her eyes swivelled up to him, Blood Moon looking back at her from between his levitating papers.

"Why'd You ask" she answered. Blood Moon grunted as he looked back at his work.

"Conversation" he half-lied. Ember giggled as she looked down at her maps again. She took a long breath before she answered.

"Because, Blood Moon, I may have developed a thing for Candle recently, but I've liked you ever since I met you." Blood Moon grunted.

"You were seven, Ember" he reminded her. Ember Spark shrugged her slender shoulders.

"I remember" she told him.

Ember Spark sat on the street side. She was dirty, her mane and tail mussed up badly, her stomach empty and thin. Her eyes were empty and sad as she watched the world go about its business. Manehatten hadn't any time to spare for another homeless filly; her mother and father had apparently given up looking for her and returned to their lives, the wealthy and successful didn't care for the riffraff on the street side and the poor hadn't anything to spare.
Recently, the small pony had taken to thievery to sustain herself, snagging an apple of an orange with her tail and galloping for her life as the guards pursued her before hiding in a sewer pipe. She was beginning to regret her dreams for adventure and excitement, wishing she'd just endured her parent's pushing and overly annoying protective tendencies. At least she'd have a bed to sleep in. She watched a trio of ponies pass her by; the elder two held their noses up high, a stallion with a well-kept green mane and tail, his fur light yellow and his cutie mark an orange trotted with a mare with pale yellow fur, her orange mane kept in a fancy do that reminded the filly of a beehive, while her cutie mark was three orange segments. The third member of their party was a filly, around her own age, and had the same mane-style as the mare. Her mane and tail were a pretty blond, her face freckled, her fur orange. She had green eyes that filled with concern when they fell upon the homeless filly.

"Are yew-you alright" she asked, her voice suspiciously upper class. Before Ember could answer, the orange filly was dragged away by the other two ponies, who she suspected to be her parents.

"Now, Applejack, we don't associate ourselves with filth" he snobby mare told her. Ember glared.

"You mustn't talk to yourself much then" she shot back. Her eyes snapped open before long; what had she just said, what had she just done? The mare gasped horribly as the stallion narrowed his eyes and bared his teeth.

"Guards" the mare practically screamed in fury. A single second later, two gold clad guards had appeared.

"Yes ma'am" one asked in monotone.

"Apprehend that-that…ruffian, at once!"

"On what charges ma'am?"

"She assaulted me and my niece" she told them. Ember's eyes opened.

"I did not!" But the guards weren't listening; they were already advancing on her. The corners of Ember's eyes went down in fear. She looked around for support, but the street was suddenly very empty; her eyes passed over the filly, and they locked long enough for her to catch her mouth 'run!' Ember quickly complied.
The grey filly turned and galloped for it, taking the guards by surprise for a second before they growled and gave pursuit. Before she'd even taken the first corner around the block, her lungs were already burning. Her breaths were ragged and harsh, her lungs desperate for more air than they were getting; she was too far away from her sewer pipe, and there was nowhere else she knew to hide. Her only hope was to find a crowd and loose the guards there, but at the rate they were gaining, they'd have her before long.

Her galloping came to an end when she rammed into a black shape that had just exited a building. He was doing a good job at not being spotted, as she hadn't even noticed him. She bounced of the big pony and landed on her flank, holding her head. She looked up with wet eyes, from both the panic and the pain; there was something hard hanging from his side, beneath the cloak he was wearing. The big pony turned to her, looking down at her; her heart froze in fear. His eyes were pure blood red. His face was badly scared and mangled. His mane was as black as midnight. There were a few errant spots of blood on his face. Fresh blood. She couldn't describe her fear, but the sudden, sharp scent of urine did the job well. He smiled warmly at her fallen form; his hoof moved forward and she flinched, but relaxed slightly when she felt his hoof grab her and pull her up. She opened her eyes to find him watching her with a strangely kind eye that didn't suit his face one bit.

"You alright kid" was the first thing this mysterious stallion said. "You should really look where you're going" he advised good naturedly. She didn't say anything, just watched as this stallion watched her back. He seemed to be taking her in, observing and analysing every detail. He seemed to pay particular attention to her eyes. She didn't get that. What was so special about her eyes? They were fire orange, the inside of the left side hot-red, making them look like flames. It was no real surprise, given that her parents had been blacksmiths; ash fur, smoke mane and tail while her eyes were the fires of the forge, not to mention, the only real colour on her. The stallion's fascination with her eyes was wiped from her mind when she heard the sounds of guards cantering behind her, closing the distance. She looked back to find them slowing down as the noticed the hooded and robed stallion before her. Ember froze in fear, thankful that her bladder was empty, and watched as they continued to approach. Then, her vision was blocked when a black shape obscured her view as the dark stallion stepped before her.

"Who're you" one of the slightly panting guards demanded.

"Nopony interesting" he retorted "what's going on here" he asked calmly, reasonably.

"That filly just assaulted a mare and her child. We're here to apprehend her" the guard explained. The stallion looked back at her with a slightly confused look on his face.

"This one" he asked as he stepped to the side slightly, granting them view of her. The guards glanced at her for a second before their eyes went back to the stallion.

"Yes. Are you her father?" The stallion shook his head.

"No, don't even know her. But you say she's assaulted a mare and another foal?" The guard was beginning to look irritated.

"Yes sir, she did. I was unsure at first too, but somepony innocent doesn't gallop that fast." The stallion looked back at Ember, finding Ember looking back at him desperately.

"Depends on the situation" he retorted. The guards had been advancing again, but stopped when they heard that.

"What's that supposed to mean" one of them asked cautiously.

"Look at her. She's obviously homeless, hungry, scared. She hasn't said a word to me, and she looks like she can barely hold herself up, never mind try and attack a fully grow mare and a well-feed foal." Though Ember couldn't see it, she could hear the glare in his voice. "The scared can gallop as fast as the guilty, guard" he told them. His voice tone was no longer even or calm; now it was challenging, threatening. The guards glared back.

"If you intend to defend this filly, you're aiding and abetting a criminal" he told him. The stallion cracked his neck.

"If it's wrong to stand up for somepony, send me to the dungeons" he drew a blade swiftly "if you can." The guards drew their own swords and lunged. What happened next…

Ember's eyes widened in terror, tears falling from the corners and down her face as she watched him…watched him…Blood spurted from them, covering the wall of the apartment block next to them. There was a gurgling scream and a gut wrenching 'crunch' as the first fell. Ember threw up. Then there was a flash of sparks and the sound of whistling winds for a fraction of a second before there was a dull 'thwack.' The second guard fell the his front as chest as two gold-metaled boots rolled away. There was another sickening crunch, accompanied by a 'squelch', more blood leaking from the guards. She heard the sound of armoured hooves on cobblestone as more guards approached. She couldn't look away, couldn't blink, as he went to work. He spun and twirled gracefully, blood falling to the ground in litres; some of it fell onto Ember, and the small filly threw up again. She fell to her side and watched in terror as he stabbed, slashed, cut and killed guard after the guard. Why didn't they stop? Why didn't they get the message that he couldn't be beaten? Why were they still fighting? Why was she still watching?

After what must have been five, whole minutes of slaughter, all in broad daylight, he stopped. He stood amongst broken and dismembered guards, some spasming slightly in death, some groaning in pain, others not making much fuss. He wiped the blood from his blade and slid it gracefully into its sheath, turning back to her. She looked up at him, he looked down at her, and his horn sparked to life. The filly felt herself get picked up as he placed the tired, scared filly on his back. A second later, she felt a wrenching feeling all over her body, as though her whole body, specifically her gut, had been pulled from all angles all at once. When the wrenching feeling stopped, she opened her eyes wearily. They were somewhere else.

It looked to be a small, yet well-kept, apartment, somewhere in Manehatten. The stallion's horn flared again and Ember felt herself get floated from his back to the couch, where she lay down on it. The unicorn then went into another room, where he stayed for a few minutes, before he came back. He was bare now, his cloak and hood stashed away somewhere, and Ember could see his face better now, in the new light. He was a ruggedly, un-handsome stallion. There was very little about his face that was at all appealing, yet it still held her attention with the rugged ugliness. But, somehow, it didn't disgust her. It must have been those deep eyes of his.

"Are you alright?" She shivered slightly; in all the excitement before, she hadn't notice his voice: it was deep, creepy and dark, rough and horse to a whole new degree. Yet he spoke in a very gentle manner, as though he had experience with foals. Ember nodded wordlessly. The stallion cocked his head to the side. "I'd ask you if you're hungry, only it's kinda obvious" he told her. He disappeared again, into another room, and gave Ember chance to take a look around her surroundings; the room was simple: the walls were covered in light blue wall paper, a few wooden shelves and bookcases scattered around. There was a deep oak coffee table before her, a few scattered books and a newspaper upon it. The couch she sat upon was comfy, soft, if a little big for her. The one thing that caught her eye was the amount of pictures around her. They all seemed to of the same four ponies; the dark stallion, an impossibly pretty mare and two younger ponies. She stood up and looked closer at one; the mare in this picture seemed heavily pregnant, or at least she thought that as the word, and the stallion seemed very happy. There was another nearby; it was him and her again, only now there was a newborn foal in her fore-legs; the mare looked tired, the stallion holding her up, but not so much as she couldn't hold her child in a loving embrace. She looked back and found that the stallion had reappeared; his horn was glowing again and there was a big plate of steaming nachos in his magical grip.

"Hope you like them, there all I can make" he admitted. He set them down on the table, two glasses of juice coming down with them, and sat on the chair beside the couch. He made no invitation, simply watched her. After five seconds of the standoff to end all standoffs, he cocked his head. "I know you're hungry, you should eat" he said. Ember realised that her stomach was rumbling rather violently at the prospect of food, and she couldn't hold back any longer. She cantered over to the table and sat at it, taking the corn snacks in her hoof, making sure to find one covered in plenty of cheese, and bit into it. The filly didn't care about the flavour, simply the fact that there was food in her mouth. The stallion seemed to have looked away, gazing at the pictures around the room, probably to give her some privacy while she ate, and she took advantage. Her lack of table manners shone through as she shovelled as many nachos into her maw as quickly as she could, munching down on the gooey cheese, crunchy nachos and nicely off-setting sour cream, before swallowing more food down than she had in the last few months in one mouthful. She washed it down with a few chugs of her juice before she went back to the food. "You needn't eat so fast, you're not on a time limit" the stallion told her. She glanced up at him to find him looking at her from the corner of his eye, a small grin on his face. She swallowed what she had in her mouth and smiled back, the colour back in her cheeks making her positively glow. He turned his head to her fully, his grin having turned to a smile. "You're a very pretty filly" he complemented "may I ask of your name?" She blushed at the complement, looking away bashfully. She suddenly liked his voice a little more.

"I-I'm called…E-Ember Spark" she told him, only slightly easier with him now than she had been before. He smiled.

"An equally pretty name" he said, prompting more redness from the filly. "My name is Blood Moon, young one. A pleasure to meet you." She swallowed down what she'd been eating and nodded.

"You too, mister Moon" she said. Blood Moon grunted.

"Please, my name is Blood Moon. Call me by it" he insisted. She nodded wordlessly again. She resumed her eating, taking her time now, and watched Blood Moon turn his gaze back to the rest of the room. When she had finished, Blood Moon stood up and took the now very empty plate back into the kitchen. Coming back into the room, he looked over her for a second. "You look like you need a bath" he commented. Ember absently smelt herself before cringing slightly. He smirked. "I'll run you one." He trotted into another room and she soon heard rushing water filling something, the scent of bubble bath filling the air. After a few minutes, he came back. "Bath's all set up, soap and such are in there. Take your time" he said. He trotted away, before he noticed she hadn't moved. "Something the matter, Ember?"

"I need you to wash me" she told him, like it was the most obvious thing in the world. He blinked.

"You do?"

"I'm only seven" she told him. Blood Moon gave a deflated sigh before he held a hoof to bid her enter the bathroom. She did so, the stallion behind her. Ember quickly hopped into the bathtub, enjoying the warming feeling of the water and the bubbles on the top. Blood Moon sat beside the bath and his horn glowed; the sponge and soap did the same as they rubbed together lathering up the sponge before he ran it over her front. "Who were they" she asked as he scrubbed away the dirt on her chest.

"Who?"

"The ponies in the pictures" she clarified. He shrugged.

"My wife and foals."

"You have kids" she asked, noticing their absence. He chuckled slightly.

"No, not anymore. They're all long dead now." She looked down slightly.

"Oh…I'm sorry."

"Don't be-forwards" she leaned forwards so he could scrub her back "thank you-I have my memories. They'll do me for now." It seemed her young mind hadn't noticed that he looked almost exactly the same in the pictures as he did now. "What about you" he asked as he scrubbed along her fore-leg.

"What about me?"

"Who are your parents, your family?" She looked down slightly.

"MY mommy and daddy are smiths, and they wanted me to continue the family business, but it's boring and noisy. And I don't like the stuffy rooms we have to work in. I wanna go on an adventure, see Equestria, do something cool with my life" she explained. Blood Moon grunted.

"I've never met such an ambitious seven year old before" he commented. Ember pouted.

"I'm nearly eight" she mumbled. Blood Moon laughed.

"Maybe so, but you're still pretty young to be running away from home" he said. She crossed her fore-hooves.

"That's what everypony says. I don't wanna go back home. Mommy never let me go outside to play and daddy always made me help with the forge when I wasn't in school." Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"You're a brave young mare, you know that?" She blushed again, bashfully smiling and shuffling around in the tub. "But you're still only four" he pointed out. Ember shrugged.

"They always told everypony else who said that that I'm advanced" she said. Blood Moon considered that; it made sense, given how eloquent she was, and how much she could gallop before getting tired. He got an idea.

"Ember, did you see what I did to the guards?" She shivered again. A small 'mm-hm' was her answer. "What do you think about it?" She sniffed lightly at the memory.

"It-it really scared me, but…but you helped me out…so…" she trailed off again, unsure how to judge the memories.

"Yes, I helped you out, but the way I went about it. Do you think it was a good thing?"

"No" she answered immediately.

"Was it right?" She went to say no again, but something stopped her. She didn't know what, but something in the back of her mind told her that what he'd done may have been bad, but it had been for the right reasons.

"N-n…yeah…I-I not sure" she answered. "I mean…you helped me out so…I guess that's good, but the…I don't know" she pouted. Blood Moon smiled.

"All things right, aren't necessarily good. Admittedly, that may have been a little overkill, but you get the point." She mumbled her agreement. "Ember, do you still want your adventure?" She nodded quickly, looking back. "Listen, I like you; you're a brave young mare with more guts than some stallions I've met" he told her. She blushed again.

"Thank you Blood Moon. I like you too" she told him. The stallion smiled.

"Thank you. Ember I want to offer you an adventure; I represent an…an order of sorts. We take in the homeless and give them a home, a family, and we teach them. We'll teach you how to fight, how to defend yourself, how to do the things I did before. It may not be what you had in mind, but you'll get your adventure, your excitement. You're brave, smart and strong, and you gave my question thought. You've also gotten away with thievery before, so you may have a hidden talent." Ember didn't register that he knew about something she hadn't told him about. "Would you like that? To come with me, to train hard and learn things your parents will never teach you. To become an assassin." She looked at him for a while, for a long while, as she thought. What were her options? Stay on the streets and live like a petty thief to survive, alone and cold. Or go with this stallion; she barely knew him, but she had already decided that she liked him a lot. She didn't know what an 'assassin' was but she got the feeling it wasn't a good thing. But what had he told her. 'Not all things right are necessarily good?' She blinked a few times before she looked up at him.

"Okay" she said. Blood Moon grinned as he lifted her out of the tub and dried her off with a big, fluffy towel.

"Good. You can sleep here tonight, and we'll set out for Canterlot in the morning" he told her as he finished rubbing the towel over the damp spots. "You should get some sleep, we'll have a long journey tomorrow" he told her. Ember nodded a few times, rubbing her eyes as she realised how late it was. Seven thirty. He pointed in the direction of another room, which she went into to find a big, well-made bed. She hopped onto it and quickly snuggled under the warm duvet. Blood Moon smiled a nice smile and bid her good night as he closed the door, darkening the room. Ember decided that she loved that stallion, then and there, and promised herself, and him, that she wouldn't let him down.
Ember Spark looked up from her work at the assassin hidden behind the logbook and other papers; she sometimes wondered if he knew her motivations, why she was such a fierce fighter, why she was so quiet when she wanted to be, why she always trained hard and why she always worked to her greatest ability. She often wondered if he knew how he really felt about him.

He probably did now, after the stunt she'd pulled in the alleyway; they'd done stuff like that before, kissed, held hooves in public, not to mention that one sleepless night they'd spent together in a love hotel. The main downside to that night had been the fact that he'd kept it under his tail. She remembered distinctly the five hours she'd spent laying on her side, bedroom eyes, rose petals sprinkled over her, wearing a sexy, see-through pink nighty and G-string. He'd kept his gaze out of the window the whole night, not looking back at her once, and constantly making idle conversation about wanting to snap the target's neck for keeping them cooped up all night with a weird smell in the room. It apparently hadn't hit him that that was the perfume she had been wearing and the pheromones she'd been releasing.

She smirked at the memory; that was one of the pluses about being Blood Moon's personal protégé. Their relationship was a strange one, in that everypony thought they saw each other as father and daughter, but it was as simple as them being partners in crime. They didn't exactly flaunt it in front of everypony, but it was still true. Now that they'd almost had sex, outside the needs of the contract, she wondered where it would go. He'd told her about his recent relationship problems, and wondered if he actually saw it as breaking up with Twilight. She knew he was loyal with his heart, but that he wasn't with his loins. That said, that did stem from one of the tenements of the Shadow Weaver's code; in that it was mandatory to satisfy a mare in heat in desperate need of relief. Many saw it as the stallion's way of just banging all the mare's they could, but, in Ember's experience, it was extremely useful to have a full order's worth of stallions (and mares, depending on your mood) to sooth your heat.

She shook the thoughts of her order from her head, not wishing to dwell on the thoughts of work right now, and put her thoughts back to the stallion before her. She couldn't help but wonder where Twilight Sparkle and Blood Moon's romance had bloomed from. She shrugged it off, concluding that she'd probably never find out anyway. She yawned and checked the ticking grandfather clock in the corner; ten thirty.

"Blood Moon, you wanna pack thing up for the night? I'm getting bored of going over the same plans and I'm pretty sure we're gonna need a good night's sleep if we're gonna get the job done properly tomorrow." Blood Moon put the log book down on the table before he burned the majority of the papers up; he cracked his back and neck, working out the cramps, and relaxed.

"Yeah, good idea. We should hit the sack" he agreed.

"Don't hit it too hard" she smirked. Blood Moon smirked back as he stood from his seat and rolled his neck again; Ember's smirk turned to a grin as she admired the stallion's muscles. He put his right hoof to his left as he unwound the laces under the bracer before he placed it on the table, Ember following suit, putting her blade next to his. He trotted over to the bed built into a crevice in the wall, the fireplace and cornering wall either side of the king-sized bed.

"G'night Ember" he said drowsily, his sleepy state suddenly hitting him. Ember raised an eyebrow and sauntered over to him, putting her hoof on his chest and moving her face to his, pressing her lips to his. She pushed him down, crawling on top of him as he went down. She grinned and giggled as she did so, finding a weird spark ignite inside her. Love? Perhaps, but she'd never considered herself a truly loving pony.

'Time to find out' she thought as she held herself up with her fore-hooves as his wrapped around her barrel. Her eyes widened as she felt herself get thrown to the side, swung over the dark stallion's body and land on a soft mattress. Blood Moon's horn sparked to life as she was lifted up, the covers moved for her and set back down again as the covers wrapped over her. She quickly found Blood Moon under the covers with her, a grin on his face.

"Good night Ember" he repeated, leaving no room for argument. Ember gave her cutest pout as she moved up to the stallion, pressing herself up against him.

"Goodnight Moon" she replied as his horn put out the candles, the darkness invading her mind as she rested her head under Blood Moon's and soon fell to sleep.

Blood Moon smiled as he felt her relax and quickly fall unconscious as sleep took her, wonder what she'd dream of. Likely the time they'd first met. He wondered where their relationship would go; he'd never taken a romantic interest in Ember before, because he'd watched her grow up, grow into an assassin. She'd been his pupil, his protégé, her whole life. She was very dear to him. And that was the problem; she was too much to him to be a romantic interest… or at least, that's what he'd told himself during her maturity. He wouldn't lie to himself, Ember was an attractive mare with a great attitude and sass, of course he liked her, but for whatever reason, it just didn't feel right for some reason. It wasn't a family-like affection; they'd established that their relationship was a partnership long ago, so it wouldn't interfere with the fact that, sometimes, they would have to get frisky to keep their cover intact. It was just the way it was when you were partners like Ember and Blood Moon. Admittedly, they didn't use that partnership too often, as both enjoyed working alone as well as with each other, but it was still one of the best partnerships in the whole of the Shadow Weavers.

He took a deep sigh. Was his and Twilight's relationship over? Was he cheating on her by being here, or had their time together been another of his many, many flings over his life? He didn't know, he wasn't sure if he wanted to know, but that was a real possibility. Had they broken up? He sighed again. It was a stupid question; of course they had, what with the show he'd put on before he'd left. Hay, they'd probably already told Celestia about him and his whereabouts. Still, it had been nice while it had lasted, but it was just then end of another chapter of his life.

The end of another chapter in an endless story.

And preparation lies in knowlage

Chapter twenty five: And preparation lies in knowledge

Ember felt warmth around her. It was weird, because she was used to waking up under her covers when she fell asleep in the hideout, but somehow the warmth here felt different, like it was focused on certain parts of her body: the top of her head, over her shoulder and on her flank. She squeezed her eyes together a little, as her sleep escaped her, the assassin grumbling a little as she felt her brain turn to mush in her sleepy state. Her eyes opened and she found a black blob in her view.

'Oh, yeah.'

She grinned as she remembered last night, what had happened yesterday, and snuggled into Blood Moon. That had been him, the strange warmth, his legs cuddling her and her head rested beneath his, his tail draped over her flank. She put her own fore-leg over him and pulled herself further into his body, feeling him stir slightly himself. When their stomachs pressed together, their nether regions precariously close together, he stirred again, his eyes starting to open. She grinned a naughty grin. Ember Spark moved in and kissed his eye, keeping it closed, and nuzzled him a little.

"Morning" he murmured. She kissed around his face a little.

"Morning Moon" she returned. She felt his muscles tense as he got up, but she held him down. "Stay in bed a while, we'll need as much rest as we can get" she told him. Blood Moon, normally, wouldn't have agreed but at the moment he was comfy, warm and in no mood to wake up. He nodded wordlessly and relaxed against her again. Ember grinned. She moved her hoof slowly, grabbing the pillow her head had been rested on for the night and gripped it gently. With a stealth that could only come from years of experience, she slowly squirmed out of Blood Moon's sleepy hold, replacing where she had once been with the pillow.
After fifteen minutes of substituting herself with the cushion, Ember was free from her partner's embrace, and she stood from the bed, looking over him fondly. The look of fondness was soon replaced with the naughty look of mischief as she turned around and left his dark room.

A while later, Blood Moon's eyes opened again when he noticed that Ember seemed a little too soft; his horn sparked to life as he let the glow build up, illuminating the room in his grey glow. She was gone, a pillow in her place; he took a deep breath and shrugged, assuming she wouldn't leave unless she had a good reason to, and resumed his sleep, glad at the prospect of a lie-in. He staked the cushion on the one his head lay upon, and relaxed his muscles; he relished the sensation of being able to sleep in his own bed, in his own quarters, but couldn't help but miss the sensation of company. He pushed the thoughts of Twilight and Rising from his head as he killed the glow in his horn, willing himself back to sleep to avoid the memories. Maybe catch Luna before she went to bed.

These thoughts were killed when a deep, dark, fire red lit up the room. He looked over his body, back at the room, and found Ember stoo-

'Starswirl's beard...'

He swallowed once as he turned himself over, finding her grin spread further over her face as she leaned against the wall in a…slightly, questionable manner. The red glow her horn produced could only complement her striking attire and smouldering expression. Her raven black mane shimmered glamorously, clinging tightly to her body as though she'd just washed it, and her tail did the same. Her eye shadow was a little more abundant behind her eyes, drawing more attention to the fiery irises, creating the illusion of her eyes literally smoking. Her fur, like her mane, looked recently washed as it clung to her skin and, most importantly, her curves. But it was the nighty over her that really got the blood rushing. The thin, pink material, which could easily have been designed by Rarity, wasn't exactly see-through, but it was translucent enough to draw the eye and tease the mind, forcing the Hunter to use some of his imagination while getting treated, not to mention distracted, by the rest of her. It daintily covered her back, draping over her sides and slightly over her flank; her muscled chest was revealed to the stallion, the nightdress parting in a V, tied at the top with a cute bow.

She gave him a heart melting wink as she sparked some of the candles to life, killing her red glow, leaving the room illuminated but still appealingly dim. She blew him a kiss which made a lump run down his throat as he swallowed and appear in the bed sheets as the all-knowing one assumed direct control.

"So, Blood Moon" she started as she approached agonisingly slowly, her flank swaying in ways that made the Celestia-damned wall track her plot as the assassin's hidden-blade continued to extend. And he wanted stab only one mare with it. "You like" Ember finished seductively as she swung around. Blood Moon pretty much came then and there. It was only now that he realised she had a G-string over her flank; it was the same design as the negligée, pink, so agonisingly almost see-through, tight to her body and finished with another cute bow at the base of her tail. Her smooth, round, ash grey, butt-cheeks sucked in the middle string slightly, the outer two staying tight to her flank. She grinned a grin that almost killed the dark stallion as she flicked her tail slightly, revealing the sumptuous spot of debauchery given form that was that was the mare's ass, crossing one leg over the other to push the cheeks further together. Blood Moon couldn't speak, the attention his brain was giving to his body had been diverted to his eyes and mainmast, his voice box rendered obsolete, and all he could offer in return was a single nod of his head. Ember grinned again, truly living up to her name, and giggled slightly, her fore-hoof reaching back and running down her flank teasingly; she began at the base of her tail, rubbing herself down towards her not-so-secret spot, where she slipped her hoof beneath the single strand of string that comprised the only thing blocking Blood Moon view of her marehood, lifting it out of the way slightly, letting the dark stallion have too brief a glance at her slit before it was hidden away again, her hoof riding up her plot again, the G-string raised with it, until she drew it away and let it snap down to her plot again. Her blush only complemented her steamy face as she kept the grin on her face, spinning gracefully back to Blood Moon and sauntering up to him. "I'm glad" she told him, coming to a stop next to his desk (now mysteriously cleared of papers) and leaned against it. "I've been keeping this little item under ice for a while y'know. Just waiting for a certain somepony to turn up" she spun again, leaning against the side of the desk with her fore-legs as she spread her hind-legs enticingly. "I wanted your…professional, opinion" she told him, her tail flicking to the side once more. Blood Moon just swallowed again, feeling like a young colt facing his V-card getting punched. Ember took note of his silence and giggled at him once more; she leaned her head on one of her hooves and let the other stray back to her plot and caress herself a little. "I picked it up a while back" she told him, running her hoof up her flank and lifting her tail, letting it linger in the air for a second before she let it fall again "got it from a mare in Ponyville, in fact" she revealed, slipping her hoof beneath the string and running it down her flank. She let her hoof stray around her plot until it met her leg, sliding it under and letting it keep going until she let it stray close to her pussy…and pulled back again. "Fell in love with it the second I saw it" she told him, running her hoof between her flank cheeks "but she wanted a hoof and a leg for it" she said sadly, making flirtatious circles in her fur. She giggled naughtily as she made a rough line through her fur, pushing her flank in before letting it bounce back into shape like jello. Really…tasty…jello. "But we managed to work out a…compromise" she said with a smirk on her face as she watched him twitch a little beneath the sheets, teasing him more by running her hoof down her leg. She let it glide down slowly, over every sumptuous curve and alluring muscle, arching her back seductively, letting her juicy plot hang low, as she reached her hind-hoof before letting it come back up again, just as agonisingly slowly as before, until she met her plot. She grinned as she gripped it, held it and squeezed it for a second before letting go again. "Let's just say I…helped put out a fire" she teased, letting her hoof go beneath the G-string once more, sliding it over her pussy before she let it snap back against the sensitive skin. A little moisture flew out as the pink material met the pink skin, sending feint ripples over her butt. She bit her lip lightly as her blush deepened. "Originally, I got it for that love hotel contract" she told him, swaying her plot to and fro. "I was ready for you that night Moon. Ready and willing to spread my legs for you" she said, waving it up and down for him. "I was waiting for you to turn around; I was perfumed up, dressed down and horny" she told him, jiggling her ass in perfect rhythm, making it bounce and shake and ripple and… sweet Celestia, how he wanted to buck her now. "But you didn't turn, did you" she told him, stopping the jiggling. His eyes went sad and he made noises like a disappointed dog. "No, you didn't" she said, agreeing with something he hadn't said "so you couldn't scratch my itch." She put one hind-leg up on the desk and slid her fore-hoof to her crotch. "Now, however" she trailed off, moving the string and one of her lips to the side with her hoof.

Blood Moon swallowed again, his eyes locked on what must have been an agonisingly, blissfully tight cunt. He felt something in his head bitch-slap him back to his senses, likely one of his voices, and he blinked once. And grinned.

"So, it's my professional opinion you want, eh?" He asked his question as he stood from the bed, the sheets falling off of him, his erect stallionhood swinging proudly to attention between his hind-legs. Ember Spark, seeing that he had come around, nodded her head with a deviously sexy grin on her face. He cocked his head slightly as he approached, the fact that his cock was at full mast making it a little awkward, and gazed over the mare before him.

"Let's see" he said slowly as he got up close to her; he advanced until her flank was squashed against his chest and ran his own hoof up her leg. "You're sure" he asked as his hoof rose slowly up her leg "I can be quite-" he spanked her "-thorough, when I want to be." The warmth of her flank still against his chest, she turned her head back slightly and grinned her answer. The stallion grinned back. "Alright then" he said quietly. The dark stallion moved his head down to her backside with deliberate slowness, taking his time, feeling her flank grind against his body until his face met it; her pushed her tail out of the way with his head, and gazed at her dripping pussy. He wasted no time.

Blood Moon crammed his muzzle into her slit, getting a fine breath of her slightly musty aroma. He grinned again as he pushed his muzzle into her opening, hearing her moan quietly in response. Spurred by her reaction, he teased her marehood up and down with the tip of his nose, making sure not to touch her clit but coming dangerously close to it. Feint mews and whimpers were his reward, the sounds and sensation of having this usually so strong and independent mare bent over before him turning him on further. He pulled back suddenly and eyed her over.

"Well" he said in an official tone "firstly, this G-string leaves very little to the imagination" he started. Ember looked back with an innocent look in her eye.

"Is that bad" she asked, her playfully young tone sparking a dominating fire within the stallion.

"Quite the opposite" he said in a low rumble. He moved in, his oral-muscle finding her fur as he slapped his tongue against her ass. Apparently taken by surprise, Ember gave a small, suggestive, 'ooh' when she felt the moist contact. "It's dirty back here" he told her. Ember tensed when he went over her cutie mark.

"Oh, yes it is! Please clean me off; I'm a very dirty filly!" Blood Moon couldn't hold back the eye roll; he knew Ember knew he disliked sexual clichés, thanks to one of their many weird conversations on the job, and apparently found it funny in antagonising him. He wouldn't let that slide. "Ouch" was all Ember said when he bit into her soft ass, not enough to draw blood or leave any marks, but still enough to hurt. "A little gentler next time Mooooahhhh!" Blood Moon bit her again, on another spot this time, and made sure it hurt her. He'd make it feel better afterwards. She took a few deep breaths as the pain subsided and threw back a glare mixed with a sultry grin. "Y'know, we still haven't gotten to the blowjob yet" she reminded him. He shrugged.

"I'm better with pain than you" he answered. Then he spanked her again. She groaned in more pleasure than pain. He spanked her again, harder this time, leaving a red mark. Ember responded by throwing her head back in bliss. He spanked her again, an audible 'slap' echoing through the small room.

"Oh, yeah" she breathed. Again, harder. "Mooooon" she groaned. He assumed stance, leaning on her hind quarters and raising his hoof; he brought it down again, hard, and he saw the ripples run through her flesh. "Sweet Celestia" she gasped.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you" he said, making a circular pattern with his hoof along her fur. She nodded her head. He smirked and spanked her again. "I knew you got through torture training too easily" he said. She whipped her head back.

"What's that supposed to meeeaaahhhhaaa, oh-oh…haaa…" Her head slumped onto the table as he twisted his hoof into her pussy through the G-string some more.

"That you're a dirty." He pushed it in again, not letting the string slip past his hoof as he hoofed her. "Horny." He pulled it out and spanked her again, much harder than before, right across her cunt. "Sex-crazed." He used Ember's natural lube as he put his hoof to the perky little rosebud that was her asshole, pushing it in a little. "Cock addicted." He pulled his hoof out of her ass again and spanked her across the little hole. "Little." He rubbed around her marehood again, leaning up her body until he came face-to-face with Ember. "Slut." She turned her head to his and clamped her lips to his, making out with him in the sloppiest, noisiest, most daring way she knew possible as they shuffled up the table together, his hooves holding her tight waist as hers wrapped around his neck as they pulled one another together.

"Blood Moon" she said between sloppy kisses. He answered with a small 'hmm' as their tongues took up sword and axe, fighting for dominance. "You. Are a mean." She grabbed his flank as he lifted her hind-leg and teased her pussy. "Insulting." She grabbed his cock, hard, and made him grunt in pain. "Evil." She bit his tongue lightly as they kissed, making him growl in pain. "Little stallion, and I love you. I've loved you since the day we met. And I want you to buck me, buck me like there's no tomorrow; I want you to have to postpone the contract for a week because I can't trot straight, I want your cum to drip out of me for a month, I wanna be so sensitive after I'll orgasm just from you looking at me, I want your cock to shape my slutty little pussy into your own personal buck-tunnel, I wanna taste your cum on my tongue every time I take a breath, I want you to turn my fur and mane white with your jizz. Blood Moon, show me what this assassin can do with his hidden blade."

The phrases, 'turned on' and 'aroused' did not do the current state of Blood Moon's sex-drive any justice. His dick was harder than diamond, his balls were locked and loaded and each and every one of his sperm had just cracked their neck left and right in preparation for the long-haul.

"You're a dirty little whorse, aren't you" he grinned. Ember held his face in her hooves as she grinned back.

"Maybe, but I'm your dirty little whorse" she told him, pulling his face to hers as she kissed him; for a second, all the dirtiness and perverted behavior vanished, and was replaced by nothing but passion, romance. Ember's tongue no longer wrestled with Blood Moon's but they danced, rolling over each other lovingly, pressing their faces and bodies together with just as much affection, as the assassins truly expressed their feelings; no sex, no slutty language, no perversion, just two ponies, two ponies of the land of love and harmony, showing a love Princess Cadence herself would envy. Then, Blood Moon raised his hoof and spanked Ember right on her cunt. The mare blushed and screamed into his maw as he tickled her clit; she screamed and groaned into his maw, her tongue licking his as they pulled back slightly. She crossed her powerful legs and kept his hoof in place. She reengaged their kiss in proper, peppering little smooches all over his face as she pulled back. "Don't think I'm gonna let you get on topa me all the time" she grinned, wrapping her hind-legs around his barrel and fore-legs around his neck. "Foreplay, I'm in charge" she told him seductively; Blood Moon grinned.

"Alri-Huu!" he was cut off when Ember tightened her grip around him with her legs and forced her tongue down his maw, making low, suggestive groans as she tongue-bucked his face.

"Uh-uh" she said, her tongue still down the stallion's throat "no talking without my say-so" she told him after she'd pulled her tongue back into her own mouth. Blood Moon just smirked. Ember rolled onto her back, smirking back at him, and let him slide down her body; she relished the feeling of the dark stallion's body grinding down her own, his lips peppering kissed down her chest, belly, pelvis and eventually-"I don't think so" Ember sang from above, gripping his mane harshly as she held him away from her cunt "don't you know how to treat a lady?" Blood Moon raised an eyebrow in dry, visual sarcasm, Ember returning it with a little giggle. "Woo me, Moon" she half ordered half begged as she lay down on the table, her legs spread wide.

The assassin struck like a playful puppy; he nuzzled her nether regions, running his tongue up the inside of her thigh, before he gripped both her hind-legs in his fore-legs. He took a look at the panties she was wearing-

'Yep, they're panties.'

-And yanked them off of her with his teeth; he made sure he went at it slowly, taking the time to appreciate her taste on the material as he gazed down at her opening. She was a petit and tight mare, the lips already puffy and ready for a cock to spread them, the smooth, grey skin surrounding the pink inner walls decorated with feint, black hairs. He grinned again. She'd shaved them into a little love heart; he looked up her body, the underwear still in his maw, and caught her looking down at him, her face flushed and her lips smiling.

"Thought you'd like that" she cooed, her hoof brushing past and around the cute tuff as she poked at her clit slightly. He flashed a devilish grin, only punctuated by the wolfish teeth that held her panties; he looked back at the heart, figuring a master of the blade wouldn't have much of a problem with something like that, and got back to undressing her. He moved back, down her slender legs, his hoof running down her muscles. He flicked them off teasingly, whipping his head to the side, and tossed them away. She held her legs up, pressed together, propping herself up by holding her plot in her fore-hooves. Blood Moon worked his way back down, slowly spreading her legs, running his tongue down her again and kissing his way down both legs until he found his way to her crotch again. He leaned in, inhaling deeply as he took in her lustful aroma, until he found his muzzle pushed against her marehood.

He kissed her lips, putting force behind it, pressing his maw to her sensitive nerves as he pecked and smooched all over her slit. He heard her take sharp breaths every time his lips made contact with hers, small shifts of her lower body pushing her mound further into his face as he kissed and teased her pussy, but never actually ate her out. It was too soon for that. He ran his tongue up one side of her crotch, deliberately avoiding her marehood, and kissed around the grey skin until he felt a hoof on the back of his head.

"Alright Moon, enough teasing" Ember told him, a truly stunning grin on her lips as she looked down at him, her head cocked suggestively to the side. She nodded her head back in her own direction. "Let's get to it." She didn't give him a chance to argue; instead, she just forced his muzzle into her pussy, where he quickly got to work.

Blood Moon's slick tongue showed itself capable than more than just disarming speech as he worked his way into Ember's cunt, tasting her tight, velvety walls, the love juices seeping out in response to his teasing and her fore-foreplay and the tonguing she was now receiving; as Blood Moon ran his oral muscles around her sexual muscles, his hooves worked their way around her legs, searching for her flanks. He grinned around her cunt when he felt her push down on his head when he tried to concentrate on looking for her cutie marks. He gripped the image, pinching her lightly as he went back to work on the mare's eager marehood. She groaned and wiggled a little as his tongue ran right up her slit; she tensed a little when he pushed her lips to the side.

"Uuhhhhh, yeaaaah" she drawled, her speech broken by lust "scratch that itch" she breathed, sitting up slightly more as she pushed his head even further into her cunny. She giggled lightly when his tongue went way down and hit her rose bud slightly, tickling her before he pulled it sharply up and pushed all of the breath out of her lungs. He grinned at his cue to go to work.

He stabbed his tongue in and out, hitting every little bit of her cute little cunt as he pleased her, stimulated her, fired off as many pleasure receptors at once as he could. Up top, she squirmed and twisted, pushing his head down, all the while she tried and failed to regain her breath as he continued to force it out of her with strategically placed tongue strikes across her pussy. He kept the tight grip on her flanks, spanking her lightly when he could, and made no attempt to go easy on her as she started to take small, shallow breaths, begging for mercy but urging him to keep up his efforts at the same time as she writhed in his grip. He felt she was having too easy a time of it when he heard her gasp, and decided to do something about that pesky breathing; he flicked his tongue rapidly over her cunny before it struck out at her weak spot. Ember's eyes snapped open, her maw falling open as her tongue fell out in ecstasy and noiseless scream rising from her throat that came out in a few smalls 'eep's. The Hunter was relentless in his attack on her clit, stabbing it with his tongue incisively to push the air out of her as she took breaths too shallow to fill her lungs. Ember's lungs were on fire, almost as hot as her loins, and she needed to breath, needed air, but the pain in her chest only intensified the pleasure in her pussy. She needed to take a breath, but not now, not when she was so close. She pushed the stallion's head into her crotch again, feeling her end coming. She'd never had good stamina for this sort of thing and it soon shone through in her burning desire to breath, her ability to take a breath stalled by her stallion's continued attempts to both please and pain her, but she'd literally die before she stopped him eating her out. Not when she was so close…so close…just…a little…more…

"Oh, Moon…ahhhh~ oh, babheee…oh, sweet Celestiaahh…Blood Moon, baby, I'm gonna…gonna…I'm gonna…CUUUUMMMM" she exploded, clamping his head down to her crotch with her fore-legs, locking her hooves down with her hind-legs as she shook, shook hard enough to vibrate the table she was atop of. She screamed, or at least she did the best she could with her empty lungs, her back arched in spasms of pleasure, jolts of ecstasy firing up her spin as she almost fell back, one of her fore-hooves holding herself up as her other remained on Blood Moon's mane, her hind-legs draped around his neck, as she took deep, heavy breaths, coming down form her orgasmic high slowly as she deflated slightly, leaning on the stallion still licking her cum up after gulping down as much of the squirting mare's fluid as he could, letting her continue to ride out her orgasm in the pleasant after-glow. She released the tight grip that remained on his head and looked down at him fondly, his mane slightly spikier than usual after her continued grip on it, and hers in need of another wash after the amount of fluid she'd sweated into it during their sexual escapades. "That was…" she took a few more panting breaths "…amazing" she finished between more slightly ragged breaths.

Blood Moon rose from his sitting position, gently sliding Ember off the table as he stood; they both ended up on their hind-legs, Ember leaning on the table and Blood Moon on Ember. Ember felt herself go slightly light-headed, finding Blood Moon's face so close to hers. His grinning face; it was mangled and ugly, but by Celestia did that grin stoke her flames. Their position was arguably romantic, standing close together, just basking in the after-glow with each other, and nothing more; no kissing, no fore-play, no sex. Just smiles and eyes she desperately wanted to just dive into. There was something about his slightly superior height though, something about the way he had to look down at her that made him superior to her, made him so pleasingly intimidating. It pointed out the fact that she could be easily overpowered and raped by the stallion before her but no, he just made love to her and made her feel good. There was something heart-warming about that that made her feel that weird tingling feeling in her chest again.

Blood Moon's hooves slowly crept up her fore-legs, over her shoulders and towards her face, cupping it lightly as he pulled her face into his, pressing their lips together again. Ember smiled into their kiss, relishing the feeling of bliss that was kissing with Blood Moon. She wondered if he knew how good a kisser he was. Probably. Subtlety and tack was quickly thrown out of the window when Ember threw her fore-legs around his neck and forced him to the bed, propelling him back by falling onto him and dropping on his body when they landed.

"You've got three options. All of which are holes" she told him. He grinned, finding it pointless to waste time talking. He rose his hoof and slapped it against her flank, wrapped his hind-legs around her barrel to keep her in place and pushed their lips together again. Ember soon got the message as to what he was after. After he'd kissed her in ways that quickly got her wet again, his hoof constantly fondling her plot, she pulled back and lapped at his nose a little and moved down his body, kissing and grinding his body the whole way down.

She quickly came across his stallionhood, giggling as she rested her head on one hoof as the other playfully batted it side to side.

"I gotta admit it Moon, I was expecting something more…substantial" she said with a playfully teasing tint to her voice. Blood Moon grinned; throughout his sexual career, never once had a mare screamed out: 'IT'S SO BIG'. And never once had he been really bothered by it.

"Ember, what are we." Ember opened her eyes and looked up at him in a way that was cuter than it should have been. She gave a small 'hmm' in response as she suckled his ball softly before she released him.

"Assassins" she answered before she went back to giving his testis some tender loving care and attention with her sumptuous lips and tongue. Blood Moon nodded as he rested his head on his fore-hooves, enjoying the sensation of a mare sucking his balls and being able to relax while it happened.

"Exactly. We favour the well-placed small blade over the clumsy Warhammer." He looked down his body to find her looking past his cock, balls still in her mouth, her eyes still so gosh-darn adorably wide as they met. "I can do things an overly well-hung stallion could never do" he told her with a grin on his face death herself would flush under. And if rumours were to be believed, she once had. Ember grinned around his balls as she released them, letting them bounce a little as she let them go.

"Is that so" she said as she raised herself, running her tongue up his length before she grinded her chest up it after. "Well, if that's the case…" she didn't finish, instead she chose to busy her tongue with more important matters; the head of the assassin's dick was soon treated to Ember's skilled tongue, the wet muscle dancing around it in slow, long movements which drew a steady stream of pre-cum from him to mix with the saliva she was spreading all over his stallion hood.

"Been practicing Ember" he asked in quiet bliss, the grin on his face making his pleasure well- known. Ember lapped up some more of his pre tantalizingly slowly, her wide, well-practised tongue quickly replacing it with more of her slick oral-lube before she smacked her lips teasingly, licking her saliva and his pre off her lips.

"Lots" she answered at length, massaging his dick in both her hooves, getting her chest nice and dirty as she rubbed it against her front with slow, deliberate movements. She gazed over his relaxed body, his loose muscles and warm smile as he rested his head on his hooves, his eyes closed in total relaxation. She gave a fond chuckle and grin before her mind returned to debauchery; she looked down at his throbbing cock, deciding it was too clean. She opened her maw and let her tongue out again, her spittle slowly drenching his pole, her hooves that were still massaging him and her chest, his cock rubbing it into her. She leaned down again, opening her mouth and engulfing him before going all the way down to the base. He loosed a badly held-down groan and thrust into her maw a little, matching her slow and teasing speeds with his own relaxed movements. Ember's eyes opened as she held him down, their gazes meeting in the middle, and smirked around his cock; she went up, her lips running all around his width while her tongue worked up and down his length, the smooth and moist muscle tempting out even more pre than before. One hoof went to his balls, fondling, teasing and gently squeezing them while her other went down her body to her own genitals, slowly rubbing around her marehood and clit. She liked it slow; it drew sex out and made it feel more intimate.

She bobbed her head up and down in tandem with her hoof poking her clit and stroking around her inner walls and lips. What she did to herself had effects on Blood Moon; when she flicked her clit, she squeezed down on his dick more with her lips; when she poked it, her fondling of his balls got more aggressive; slowly tracing around her lips prompted groans from her, vibrating her partner; while when she pushed her hoof in she'd squeal lightly around him, sending a rush up his spine. After a while of hoofing and blowing herself and him respectively, she released him and worked her way up with little kisses.

"Gonna blow your load yet" she asked, her head cocked to the side, her left eye winking at him while her hooves continued to jerk him off. He shook his head.

"Not even close" he answered, still grinning. Ember's grin became worryingly mischievous.

"Good" she whispered, punctuating her word with a puff of breath aimed at the head of the cock before her. Her warm breath prompts a shudder and a sigh from the stallionhood's owner, making her grin in satisfaction. She moved in again, her lips wrapping around his mainmast and sucking him up and down again; the difference here? Her horn was aglow, and all's the stallion could feel was the warm confines of her maw on the outside of his dick and a weird, tingling sensation from the inside. He shuffled and squirmed slightly, Ember Spark's fore-hooves keeping his cock in place, writhing around slightly in her mouth as his face tensed and twitched slightly in response to both the mare's spell and her lips. He was beginning to get used to it before Ember's red glow flared slightly and the tingling sensation felt like one of the strangest feelings Blood Moon had ever felt. Strange, but by Discord's antlers did it feel good. It was almost like getting a blowjob from inside as well as out, as weird and slightly disturbing as that may sound, it was really the only way to explain it.

"Cheat" he groaned. Ember looked up and over the dick she was still sucking and smiled, letting it pop out of her maw.

"We're assassins. We don't play fair" she reminded him.

"Touché" he answered. Ember giggled, whipped her mane away from her face and got back to his dick with a small 'om' as she enclosed it. Her movements were no longer slow; she moved her head up and down as quickly as she could, dividing her mental efforts between sucking him off and maintaining her spell. Her tongue went to the tip of his cock, wrapping around it and jerking him off as her lips went up and down him in tandem with the pulses of the spell. Before long, she'd perfected her rhythm and every half-second he was pleasured by the feeling of her lips going down his dick, her tongue massaging his tip and the spell pulsing throughout him. He grunted as his grin dropped, only to be replaced by a look of pure animalistic bliss as his mind broke slightly, reaching the tip of his orgasm. "E-Ember…g-gonna cum soon" he warned. Ember responded with a simple 'mm-hm' as she kept up her luxurious sucking. Blood Moon felt his balls tighten as he got ready to let loose inside Ember's mouth; his right hoof reached down and took her by the back of her head, feeling the silky, moist mane there, and pushed her down and brought her up faster than before, Ember's efforts reduced to keeping her lips clamped over his cock and her tongue moving, Blood Moon's efforts to further stimulate himself breaking her concentration on the spell. "Aaaahhhh, Starswirl's beard, Celestia-dammit" he growled as he picked up his pace, Ember's head forced to bob up and down faster than she was used to, small groans coming from the both of them. The dark stallion's neck twitched slightly as he felt his pleasure spill over, holding Ember's head in place. "Breakfast" he growled. Cum shot into the mare's mouth, the substantial load flowing past her tongue and into her awaiting stomach, the mare swallowing it all down greedily until it became more than she could handle; the lock around his cock she'd formed with her lips gave when the cum overflowed her maw, the cum spilling out and over the rest of her body. His orgasm kept up, Blood Moon riding it out with a long-winded growl as his hips twitched and thrust slightly, a new smile forming over his drooling lips as his muscles relaxed and his balls emptied themselves all over Ember. Once he was done, Blood Moon's breaths had been reduced to simple panting, his chest and stomach rising and falling with each deep lungful of air.

He looked up and over his body to find Ember, covered in cum, some dripping from her mouth and onto her hoof, looking adorably bewildered. She looked up and found him watching her, the mare swallowing what was lingering in her maw and grinning back as she climbed onto him, grinding her body, his cum slickening the process, until they came face to face.
"Enjoy that" she asked with a grin. Blood Moon answered by kissing her, tasting himself on her, and groping her behind. They stayed connected for a while, the both of them groaning into each other's maws. The grinded their bodies together, rubbing the assassin's cum into the both of them, until the friction along his shlong had re-hardened Blood Moon and the same hard stallionhood poking around Ember's cunny prompted moisture from Ember. "Blood Moon, baby?"

"Hmm?"

"I want more" she told him "you may have turned my fur white but I can still trot straight, I can't taste your cum on my tongue and my mane still feels clean" she listed off. Blood Moon responded by pushing them both off the bed and onto the floor.

"Alright then" he said from atop her, grinding his cock along her stomach "you've got three options, all of which are holes" he mimicked. Ember giggled as she lifted him off of her and trotted to the wall next to the stallion's bed; she planted her hooves against said black-bricked wall and spread her hind legs; her horn flared up and her lips gained a red glow as they spread.

"Dose that answer your question?" The twitching in the stallion's cock was all Ember needed to get her answer; Blood Moon trotted over to her, nuzzling her ass upon arrival before he nudged her tail out of the way with his horn, running his tongue up her crotch, southern-hairs, up her pussy, over her ass and around her tail muscles, tickling her a little before he hopped up a little and mounted her. He leaned over her slowly, his tip teasing her entrance, and wrapped his left fore-leg around her barrel while his right turned her head to him. When he'd turned her slightly timid looking expression back to himself, they made eye contact for a second before Blood asked back:

"Dose this" and thrust his hips forward; Ember was rammed forwards from the force of his thrust, the tongue lolling out of her maw making brief contact with the wall before he pulled back and thrust back in, his balls slapping against her crotch. Her eyes had opened wide and her pupils were pinpricks as her hind legs quivered and shook, her blush raging across her face like a fire had been ignited inside her cheeks.

"Moon" she breathed out in bliss, agony and pure love. Blood Moon grinned above her, leaning his weight on her flank as he kneaded his hoof into her flank. He felt her cunt clamp down on his dick, milking him for cum that wasn't ready to show itself yet. He'd made her cum with one thrust. Then he frowned, felt something strange seeping around his stallionhood, too thick and much too warm to be cum, Ember's silence confusing him a little too. He angled himself and looked around their united bodies before his eyes widened; blood.

"E-Ember…are-were you a…" She turned her pained, pleasured and altogether, too stimulated gaze back to him.
"Virgin? Yeah, I was." The stallion's mouth suddenly went dry.

"Ember, sweet Celestia, I'm sorry, I-"

"Blood Moon, honey, don't worry about it" she cut in "don't ruin it." The stallion shot her a small half-grin to signify his shutupance.

"Yeah but…had I had known…" she clenched his dick in her walls.

"I know, I know" she said, the pain in her expression subsiding "you'd have been gentle, slow, would have done everything in your power to keep the pain away but, really, I don't mind" she clenched her vaginal muscles again "it feels…really good" she revealed. Blood Moon grinned again and lifted her with his magic, dick still inside her, and carried her awkwardly over to the bed, where he laid her down and flipped her over until they were both facing each other.

"I knew you got a little too into that torture training" he mumbled. He looked over the suddenly very vulnerable mare, finding his heart melting at the sight of her slightly nervus expression, deep red blush, big beautiful but slightly frightened eyes and the cute little bow beneath her head, finishing the adorable image with a grand flourish. He felt his grin come back when Ember looked him in the eye. "Ember Spark…you really know how to live up to your name, don't you" he said. Ember grinned and nodded once. He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, her fore-hooves wrapping around him, and made a few shallow thrusts before he leaned up again and frowned. "Ember, it's hot, it's adorable but it's gotta go" he told her, taking the negligée's bow in his teeth and untying it before he slipped it from her back and shoulders, up her slender fore-legs and whipped it away. Now butt-naked (which felt much more revealing when somepony's dick was inside you than when you were just trotting around) Ember Spark's lust ignited again, all inclinations of innocence washed away as she wrapped her hind-legs around the stallion's waist.

"Alright hon, quit stalling. Fuck me." Blood Moon grinned. He moved his hips back as far as Ember's legs would allow him before he slammed back inside her; Ember threw her head back, a small groan slipping from her throat. Blood Moon thrust again, prompting more groans from the mare. The stallion planted both his fore-hooves either side of her head to brace himself, his head hanging over Ember's, and steadied his hind-legs against the bed; he resumed his thrusts with much greater speed and power, Ember's occasional sharp breath and groan taken to a whole new level of arousal as moans and screams ripped from her throat. She tried to match his thrusts by returning the favour, awkwardly slapping her hips into his as he stabbed into her time and time again, each jab prompting more groans from the pair of them as their cock and pussy rubbed together, the friction flaring a heat inside her that had nothing to do with physics.

After a few more failed attempts at matching their motions, Ember and Blood Moon had finally found a perfect pace for the pair of them, made obvious by the way the two of them groaned and took as deep and as ragged a breath as they could in between thrusts. The wet 'slap' of their crotches meeting was the music of the day, the pair singing along with breathless complements, tiny groans and sighs, sharp breaths and grunts and small screams, sometimes not all so small.

"Oh, ahhh, Bloooohaaa…Blood-hah yes, th-THERE, right there-Blood Moon, baby, I'm-AHHH, yes that's the spot, hit tha-AHHH, AHHH, AHHH!" Blood Moon never did find out what Ember was going to say when he apparently found her G-spot, Ember's speech patterns reduced to aforementioned screams of ecstasy. Her back arched with every thrust, her fore-legs pulling her body into his as she hugged his neck close to her body, her hind-leg muscles contracting and tensing, her slender hooves going into the air, her perfectly curvy legs following. "BLOOD MOON, BLOOD MOON, BLOOD MOON, I'm-I'M-I'M G-GONNA-GONNA…"

"CUM" the mare and stallion screamed and roared respectively, Blood Moon giving her one, long, deep, powerful thrust as he shot his load into her awaiting pussy and womb, her own cum dripping out in big droplets, her back arched, her legs thrown into the air again, pulling her stallion into her chest and her screaming maw wearing a big smile as she climaxed hard around his cock. They rode out their orgasms together, Blood pumping a few times while Ember squeezed her pussy around his cock a little to carry their pleasure for as long as they could; Blood Moon's cum had filled Ember's cunt to the brim, his white, thick, sticky essence dripping from her grey pussy, her womb having expanded slightly to hold as much as it could before it was forced out around the pussy-plug that was the assassin's stallionhood.

Eventually, their bodies couldn't take the pleasurable strain and the blissful agony of an overly prolonged orgasm ended, their muscles relaxing in perfect unison as Ember fell back onto the bed, Blood Moon following after her, laying on top of her as they took heavy breaths, their eyes unable to open after they'd spent all their energy fucking just now.

Both with sore throats after they'd screamed and shouted throughout their orgasms, Blood Moon fell off of Ember and rolled to her side. The fore-legs they normally kept rested on top of their bodies were laying above their heads in fatigue, both still panting after their sexcapades. Blood Moon rolled his head to the side and looked at Ember, who soon turned her head to him and looked back, and both started laughing and giggling respectively until they wrapped each other in their fore-hooves.

"Have fun" Blood Moon asked quietly. He felt her nod drowsily.

"Perfect" she answered. They were silent for a while. "Blood Moon?"

"Ember Spark?"

"I can still trot straight."

…

There was only one conceivable answer to such a statement.

"You…slut" he mumbled. Ember giggled slightly.

"Hey, you did promise me" she told him. He frowned.

"I did no such thing" he answered. Ember gripped his gooey cock and wiped off some of the cum, bringing it to eye-level.

"Really" she answers "this says differently" she says, motioning at the cum. She soon lapped the cum off her hoof like a hungry foal after a few licks of the ice-cream.

"Why? Whhhhhhhhyyyyyyy?"

'I. Don't. Know…'

"Well, only one thing to do then" he answered, electing against the respiting spell in favour of a more natural fuck. Ember grinned in pleasure as she rolled on top of Blood Moon, holding herself up as she kissed him heartily, her hoof between her legs as she jerked his little assassin back to life. She released his lips for a second to look back, aiming his stallionhood at her marehood. Blood Moon grinned and took her flank in his hooves, deciding to take matters into the same said hooves. "Hey, Ember, when was the least time you ate?" Ember, inevitably, frowned a confused frown as she raised an eyebrow.

"About a day ago, with all the excitement I haven't had the chance. Why?" Blood Moon grinned and let his action speak for him; he thrust his stallionhood up, feeling the tight resistance for a second before it gave way to his dick. As did Ember. Her scream was that of raw pain, her blush an inferno under her cheeks, her eyes wider then seemed possible and her pupils dilated to the literal size of a pinprick, tears welling and falling from the corners of her eyes as her tongue lolled out again. Her scream ripped out of her throat with agony following in its wake soon after, her fore-hooves falling to her sides as she died a little. Her breaths were ragged and uneasy as the tears continued to fall from her eyes. "Ember, you okay" Blood Moon asked from beneath her. Ember looked down at him vacantly, her tongue still lolling out, her eyes still slightly empty. She managed to drag her tongue into her mouth and respond.

"You. Are. A. Total. Mother. Bucking. Bastard" she told him in-between ragged breaths. Blood Moon chuckled, glad to see her sense of humour wasn't damaged. She looked down herself,
trying to find his cock; it wasn't in her cunt, which could only mean… "Blood Moon?"

"Aye?"

"Your dick…it's…it's up my ass…isn't it." He nodded once. She gazed down at him for a second, the assassin beginning to fear he may have taken things a little too far a little too fast. Then she grinned, rotating her hips, placing on hoof on her ass cheek, the other going down to his stomach to steady herself.

"And here's me without my Stetson" she sighed, her pussy dripping onto his crotch. "Enjoying yourself down there?" He nodded. She grinned. "Good." She spun on his cock until his eyes met her sumptuous, round ass, watching it jiggle a little. After a quick 'how'd you do' nod, he spanked his hoof across her plump, bouncy hill and took her in his fore-hooves, lifting her up the length of his cock before he dropped he again, feeling the whole of her (dare I?) hole riding down his dick. They groaned as one, the pressure and stretch of both their current fun spots sending them back down the road to becoming little more than quivering mounds of moans and pleasure. Ember's groans were less frequent than before, thanks to the pain added to her pleasure, and found herself weakening thanks to her sensitivity; she fell back, into Blood Moon's grasp, and felt his fore-legs wrap around her barrel as he thrust into her ass. They grunted and groaned together, Ember's fore-legs reaching around and holding Blood's head; turning their gazes to each other, their lips met again as Blood Moon pounded into her tiny rosebud relentlessly, prompting squeals of pleasure and pain from the mare as the stallion could only grunt and shudder from the sensation of fucking a mare up the ass.
Admittedly, he leaned toward vaginal more than than anal but he still took the chance whenever her could, he just tended not to really ask for it.

Preferences aside, Blood Moon's efforts to fuck Ember silly were making waves throughout both their bodies; the tightness of her virgin ass squeezed him like nothing else could have a hope of matching; the intensity of his thrusts was burning Ember's insides like an furnace, the friction between his dick and her asshole sending ripples of pleasure through her body; Ember could feel a blissful soreness developing in her flank and hind-legs, specifically in her bud, and her legs were getting increasingly numb. Ember Spark could feel her anus tearing slightly, pulling away from Blood Moon's kiss to grunt in slight pain. The stallion paused in his movements and Ember glared.

"Did I say stop" she demanded. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow with a smirk; holding her chest with his right hoof, Ember wrapping her own around it to keep her grip on reality, his left went down their bodies and took her leg. He lifted it to give himself more leverage and room to move and resumed his fucking her; Ember's pleasure swept through her like a wave, her back arching and her teeth biting down on the stallion's hoof, none too lightly either. She groaned and breathed out small screams, tensed and twitched, contracted and relaxed uncontrollably as her insides were very likely messed up rather badly. And she couldn't give a damn.
The floodgates broke without warning, the pressure in her ass that was almost tearing her apart ripped a scream of ecstasy from her as she abruptly hit her climax with an intensity she normally reserved for intimidating targets; now though, her mind was as far from work as it could get, her thoughts torn between the pleasure in her pussy and the ripping pleasure and pain in her ass as Blood Moon continued to thrust. It all went away suddenly when he pulled out. Her brain was lashed with disappointment for a second before she felt her stallion lift her off of him and get from beneath her. She was lost in the void of pleasure and confusion for a second before she noticed a cock hanging before her, its owner standing on his hind-legs before her, a fore-leg on her head.

"You said you wanted to taste it" came his voice from above, reminded her of her original desires. She blinked once; yes she had. With a small shrug that only reached her left fore-leg, she took his cock in hoof. It was, thankfully, clean of any…turn-offs, despite its last location, and in her sex-hazed mind, she didn't think twice about taking it into her maw and running her tongue and lips over every inch, bobbing her head back and forth with lustful and slutty determination to get him off; she heard him grunt from above and felt him tense in her maw. She released him and took him in both fore-hooves, running them up and down with speed and intensity rarely seen outside the bedroom. Her mouth was opened as wide as she could get it, her tongue lolling out in anticipation for the- "Ember!" There it was. His load shot out of her with force, splattering over her face, mane, eyes, hooves and, most importantly, her open mouth; her tongue was covered in at least three layers of the stuff, more white, sticky sperm going down her throat and into her awaiting tummy. She jerked him off continuously, letting him ride out his orgasm for as long as she could keep it going before his long flow of cum was reduced to his Moby Dick spitting a few small shots of seamen onto her face and chest.

Blood Moon had a goofy smile on his sex-drunk face, his normally impeccable balance failing him as he wobbled a few times; he felt hooves on his crotch helping him down as he sat in a graceless lump before another, much whiter, graceless lump. He looked up to find Ember, her mind just as broken as his, looking down her cummy fore-legs and chest.

"Satisfied?" Ember looked up at her partner, finding his smouldering grin looking back. She tensed and shuddered for a brief second.

"I…I think I just came from looking at you" she drawled before she fell back, head landing on the pillows they'd abandoned a while back; her hind-legs were spread wide, his cum pouring from her "I can't feel my hind-legs…my face, a lot of my body and mane are covered in your cum…all's I can taste is cum…my pussy hasn't returned to its normal slit yet…you're still pouring from me… so…yeah, you could say that" she said finished with a small laugh, wiping the cum from her face and lapping off her hoof before she looked up at him, grinning again. "C'mere" she said, holding her fore-legs open for him. He gladly obliged, falling into her embrace and returning it with one of his own.

They basked in the silence of post-fucking for a while, letting their breathing return to normal, and just lay together, neither really caring about the cum, sweat and love juice covering them pretty much everywhere. After a long while, Blood looked up at his partner.

"So…how was it?" She opened her eyes and grinned at him.
"Perfect" she answered, nuzzling his chest fondly. "I couldn't have asked for a better first time" she answered. Blood Moon smiled as he pulled the now sprawled and chaotic covers over them with a tired spell. They lay together for a long while longer, their breaths synchronised, and held each other closely.

"Ember?"

"Hmm" she answered, nuzzling him again as she wrapped her legs around him tighter.

"That was your first time?" She nodded without looking up, her weary smile still on her face as she snuggled her cum-covered face into his chest.

"Yeah… I may work with seduction a lot, but not sex. Their throats are always opened before they can get to me like that" she said sleepily before she yawned. "I was…I was saving myself for somepony special…you" she told him. He smiled down at her fondly, kissing one of the few none-cummy spots on her fore-head as they fell to sleep together.

"Blood Moon?"

"Yeah?"

"What are you thinking about?"

The stallion looked up at Ember, finding her soapy and damp form at the other end of the bathtub. When they'd woken up together, only one thing had been apparent: the smell. I don't know if you've ever been victim to the scent of such amounts of dry cum, but lemme tell you, it ain't nice. The pair of assassins had apparently gotten the same idea, as they were now sat in Blood Moon's personal bathroom (he refused to call it 'suite', because you don't eat toilets), soaking in his bathtub together. The stallion and the mare were at opposite ends of the tub, occasionally rubbing the other up and down with their hind-hooves in after-play, and cleaning their cum off themselves. Though, true to promise, no amount of mouth wash seemed to be getting the stallion's taste out of Ember's mouth, not to mention, no matter how much she cleaned out her secret place, there always seemed to be a little more lingering in there. Not that she cared.

"Lots of clever little things" he answered, scrubbing under his fore-leg. Ember smirked, caressing his semi a little with her hind-hoof.

"What in specific" she replied, running shampoo through her mane, trying to get out all of his cum, despite already having a well-lathered head.

"Well, my current relationship with Twilight, my current relationship with you, my current relationship with Scootaloo, how mine and Luna's relationship may go, what I'm gonna do when I finish this contract, what I'm gonna do about Celestia, wondering about the order's current cash flow and if there's any to divert to this job, why the Changelings attacked Ponyville, why the Goldhooves thought it was a good idea to go after the Elements of Harmony, I'm running a mentally simulated chess game between me and Starswirl in my head, trying to figure out how to kill myself once and for all, beginning to miss that contact on my stallionhood" he waited a second "no longer missing that contact on my stallionhood, considering the promotions to doll out after this contract when it's all done, whether or not to stick around here with you or ask you to accompany me in my travels and figuring out what to ask Loaded when my blade's against his throat." Ember blinked a few times.

"Whoa" she said at length, feeling a little dwarfed in mental capability. Blood Moon just chuckled as he returned to scrubbing his soaped up hoof up and down his under-leg, trying to get rid of the insistent smell under there. She leaned back in in the tub, grateful for the fact that the taps were in the middle of the tub, and cocked her head at hm. "How can you have so much going through your head at one time" she asked. The stallion shrugged.
"When you get to be my age, that tends to happen. I've got you, Luna, Celestia, Twilight, the other Elements of Harmony, hay, the whole of Ponyville to worry about, all on top of my duties as Chapter Leader here. Not to mention all the memories rattling around in my head" he answered. Ember's gaze went slightly concerned.

"And you're always trying to figure out how to die?" Blood Moon faltered when he went to scrub the grease and dandruff out of his mane, tensing slightly.

"Well…yeah" he said quietly. He heard Ember sigh from across the tub.

"I know it's selfish but…I really wish you didn't have to think like that" she said. Blood Moon gave another shrug.

"Sometimes, I do too. But I have very little to live for now."

Blood Moon had told Ember about his peculiar qualities a while back, her along with few others in the order. She was one of the few he trusted with such a secret, what with the fact that he'd trained her as an apprentice, practically raising her throughout the time he was present in the hideout; Ember always seemed happy to see him turn up, no matter how her day had gone. He glanced up to catch Ember fixing him a troubled look, likely thinking of a way to turn his thoughts away from suicide. Her anxious gaze turned to a grin as she leant back in the bath, raising her soaked, shiny, bubbly hind-leg and started running her fore-hooves up and down it slowly, seductively, as she washed her perfect legs in the slowest, most sultry way know to pony, the water dripping from and down her leg. Blood Moon grinned; had it not been for their antics earlier, that would have sent the blood rushing.
"You always know how to brighten a stallion's day, don't you Ember." She grinned cutely, her small blush only perfecting the closed-eye smile as she lowered her leg. "How are your legs doin', anyhow?" She grunted slightly.

"Well…I can sorta feel them now" she muttered, trying to get the blood flowing through her legs again by massaging the veins inside. They were quiet for a while, the only sound in the room being the flowing of water and scrubbing of sponges.

"Ember?"

"Yeah?"

"…Why?" She frowned as she looked up, pausing in the process of scrubbing the cum from her chest.

"Why what?" Blood Moon watched her with a curious look in his eye.

"Why did you start coming onto me so suddenly? I mean, I've never seen you so…eager before. Were you in heat?" Ember smirked at the notion of it being her time of the month before her mood dropped a little.

"Moon…it's because I'm scared" she told him. That took him off guard.

"What. Why would you be scared?" She took a long breath.

"Because of the contract. Haven't you even heard the stories about the Goldhooves?" Blood
Moon shook his head.

"No. I only even heard of them when Mayor Mare told me about them. They seem to have gotten the picture that I wouldn't just kill anypony they wanted me to, so I guess they kept their distance. I've only really heard rumours and stories, like the basement Candle mentioned for example. I've only really been able to put pony to tail in the last few days" he told her before he raised an eyebrow. "Why?" She took another breath.

"Well…it's because I have. They're the kind of stories that rival yours for brutality and scare tactics. I mean…" she shuddered. Blood Moon gave her a concerned look of his own, opening his fore-legs to offer an embrace she gladly accepted. He wasn't used to seeing her so scared, she was normally so fearless, so fearsome. "I had sex with you…in case I…well, I died. I didn't want to leave this world without you knowing" she said. Blood Moon squeezed her a little.

"Ember, listen to me; you're not going to die this day. Nor the next. Nor the day after. The day you die, is the day your hair grows thin and grey, you have children and grandchildren who love you very much standing around you and you're ready to let death take you. Not a day before, and not a day after." Ember smiled slightly and snuggled into him, Blood Moon electing to restrain from telling her that her soapy hair was getting into his eye a little.

"Thanks Moon" she whispered. They lay together a while, the stallion beginning to notice a pattern developing here. "Moon."

"Yeah?"

"I really don't wanna wrinkle in here" she told him. Blood Moon laughed a little as he helped Ember off of him, Ember stepping out of the bath and helping him out. They each took up a fluffy white towel he kept in here and dried themselves off, Ember's efforts to get the water out of her fur a little more conservative than Blood Moon's simple frantic rubbing, his mane coming out looking like a hedgehog. Ember giggled lightly at his spiky head, pointing at the mirror to, prompting him to look around and find his reflection. He gave a bemused grunt and turned back to her, finding her own mane a little out of sorts.

"You may wanna comb that or something" he said, levitating a brush out for her. She took it in her own magic as she stood besides him, the pair of them brushing some order back into their manes. As the stallion ran the comb through his mane, he spoke up again. "Hey, Ember."

"Yeah?"

"What's the difference between oral and anal?" She paused in her brushing and looked at him with a cautious and amused look on her face.

"I don't know" she said at quiet length.

"One makes your day, the other makes your hole weak." Ember gave a dry laugh before she shoved him.

"What is it with you and your bad jokes" she asked as she resumed her brushing.

"A good joke makes you laugh, a bad joke brings everypony together in hatred towards it." She shook her head again, bumping her flank into his. Once they'd straightened out their manes, they turned away from the mirror and trotted out of the room. Blood Moon came to a stop before the G-string Ember had worn; with a small grin, he picked it up and twirled it around his hoof a little.

"Where did you say you got this?" Ember gave a small smile as she lifted the nighty with her magic.

"Carousal Boutique" she answered "one of Miss Rarity's" she said the name in a sarcastically upper-class tone "finest works, apparently." Blood Moon looked down at the panties again.

"I can tell" he answered. Ember giggled as she trotted over and took the underwear in her magic.

"So can I" she answered, caressing the feint line in his fur where his stallionhood was sheathed, prompting it to poke out slightly to investigate the fuss. She tossed them into the laundry-chute on the wall, before turning back to Blood Moon.

"They'll be brought back here y'know" he reminded her. She held his face in her hoof as she held his grinning face close.

"I know…I think they'll be more useful here anyway" she answered, kissing him lightly. During their brief contact, Blood Moon felt her wobbling.

"Still can't feel your legs, huh?" Ember huffed mirthlessly. "Ember?"

"Is…is it normal, for me to be so scared" she asked suddenly. Blood Moon's confused frown turned to a concerned one.

"Ember… Fear is our sharpest blade, but it's also our strongest shield. It's what helps us recognise when we've met our match, when we can go no further. It takes a different type of courage to stand down than it takes to stand up. Different, but by no means less important. Swallowing your pride, especially for somepony like you or me, is nearly impossible, because we know we can do things no normal pony, no normal unicorn, can do with relative ease." He turned her face up to his. "Ember, I'm not going to force you into this contract, if you don't think you can do it, or if you just don't want to, that's your opinion and your judgment. I won't disagree with that, but what I will do is tell you that, even though it may be selfish, I truly hope you'd reconsider because there is nopony in Equestria I'd rather have by my side than you. I'd take you over Luna or Celestia herself, because I'd trust you with everything and everypony deer to me in a heartbeat, because I know I can trust you. Just like you know I'll always be there for you, at the drop of a hat, I'd be there to catch it for you. Because we're partners." Ember nodded into his chest, nuzzling him lightly.

"Because we're partners" she repeated. They stayed together for a long time, their mutual embrace slowly pulling them into one another. "Blood Moon?" He nodded from above. "When I said I love you, that wasn't just my lust talking. I really do" she told him. The assassin smiled slightly.

"I love you too Ember" he replied as they kissed each other passionately.

He just wasn't sure how.

Only after a few minutes of kissing and hugging were they prepared to let go of each other. The dark stallion grabbed the blueprints from one of the draws in his desk, presumably where Ember had put them to protect them from their earlier activities, and stashed them in his mane. They made their way down the corridor between Blood Moon's quarters and the main stairwell, Ember with a glow in her cheeks, spring in her step and precariously happy tail while Blood Moon's grin never left his face as he watched his favourite assassin get to act like the foal she'd never had the chance to really be. That said, that flickering tail made him feel a little wrong about that mental image.

They made their way to the mess hall, a level below the floor Blood Moon's office was on, and a level that only really had the mess hall and kitchens on. The Hunter had spared no expense when it came to the food he served the assassins under his banner; he'd always thought the phrase 'an army marches on its stomach' was a little extreme, but there was some trust to it.
The meals served to an army, or band of assassins as it were, was one of the best ways of assessing the condition of said army; admittedly, the field rations were another matter, having gourmet meals in the middle of battle just wasn't practical, but he saw nothing wrong with them being able to relax at home. Right now, breakfast was being served by the small group of mare and stallion that made up the waiters and waitresses for the assassins. There was no exuberant dress code except the name tag and basic, white serving outfit. It wasn't lost on Blood Moon that every now and then when it came time to take an inventory one or two of the waitress outfits were gone for a few days before miraculously reappearing, a little too clean. He didn't really care; if the mares wanted to make a little extra scratch, or just had a fetish, who was he to argue?

A few of said waiters and waitresses were milling around right now, wiping down tables and waiting for assassins to serve; the stallions wore a white shirt and black apron over it, while the mares wore a white shirt, reaching down their backs until it made an overly short mini-skirt and a black apron of their own. The stallion didn't objectify mares, they just seemed to like the attention. He wasn't complaining, neither were any of the stallions. Or mares, considering the waiter's shirt were normally unbuttoned at the top to reveal a hard chest.

Service aside, Blood and Ember quickly scanned the hall. The only ponies in here, besides the staff, were two stallions, one in a wine-red leather coat and the other in an oak-brown coat. They both had their hoods down and masks off, an empty food-tray pushed to the side while a glass pitcher of apple juice rested besides them, their glasses both half empty/full, as the assassin wasn't about to get into another argument with Ember over that. Leaf spotted them first, glancing their way and looking back to Candle before he looked back over at them with a stern look on his face.

"Where the hay have you been" he demanded "we've been looking for you two for three hours" he told them.

"We're you sleeping all this time" Candle asked.
"Or just in bed" Leaf muttered as he looked down at his juice before taking a swig. In doing so, he missed Ember's blush and Blood's grin.

"More or less" the dark stallion answered "how's things? Candle?" The young stallion looked down.

"Candle Light" Ember prompted gently.

"Nopony wanted to help" he answered. Blood Moon deflated slightly.

"Damn" he said in a quiet voice. He'd hoped that the prospect of finally being able to kill the Goldhooves would have tempted at least a few of the less sane assassins, or maybe some of the more ambitious ones. The Goldhooves reputation was beginning to annoy him; Ember scared and now this?

"So it's just us then" Ember concluded as one of the waitresses working the dining hall approached and set down today's breakfast; fried eggs on toast, apple juice, high-carb energy bar and assorted fruit. She'd given Ember a plate and Blood Moon another, a pot of coffee accompanying it. Being Chapter Leader had its perks.

"I'm sorry sir, but everypony I told all had the same reaction; their eyes would light up for a second but then they'd just…"

"Crap themselves" Ember suggested, mouth full of egg and hot bread. Candle gave a small shrug.

"Pretty much, yeah…some more literal than others" he added quietly. Blood Moon swallowed down a toasted egg sandwich, taking a few chugs from his juice before he spoke again.
"Leaf, get anything out of our guest?" He was silent for a few seconds. Blood Moon was suddenly worried about the prospect of this contract. "Leaf?"

"Yeah" he said reluctantly. Ember frowned at him.

"Well, why are so-" she gasped suddenly. "Oh my gosh…d-did you…"

"I questioned her Ember, nothing more" he cut in. Little good it did when Ember was already laughing into her hoof.

"What, what's so funny" Candle asked a bemused Blood Moon, giggling Ember and a grumbling Falling Leaf.

"Let's just say, our own little Leaf got more than just answers out of Scarlet Blade" she smirked, looking back to her food.
"Oh" Candle said obliviously, dropping it anyway. The three senior assassins waited a single second. "OH" he said louder, sitting straighter, a small blush on his face. "Y-you mean he-he, y'know-"

"Yes, Candle, my young protégé; I had sex with my ex-marefriend and prisoner" he grumbled. The floodgates opened for Ember, laughing so hard she almost fell off her seat, even Blood Moon was chuckling quietly to himself. Deciding to prolong the limited mirth that was available to the Shadow Weavers, he took the opportunity to poke fun at him.

"So, how'd that happen" he asked. Leaf, clearly unimpressed, rolled his eyes.

"I was using our time together to get more detailed information out of her. I had her scared, not truly malleable. I needed full control to get useful information out of her. So, I decided to use the time we'd dated to my advantage, bringing up past memories she probably didn't want to remember. Before I knew it, we were just talking about old times and I'd forgotten about the interrogation. Then, I realised how late it was and took her back to her cell…I'm fairly sure she started to come onto me to try and escape, but…" Ember laughed again, Candle joining in now.

"And here's me thinking it was weird you having a marefriend, but actually capable of pleasing her? Never in a million years" she laughed. Blood Moon just smirked as he shook the thoughts away.

"So anyway, what did you find out?"

"Yeah, how was the pillow talk" Ember added, prompting more laughs from Candle. Blood Moon and Leaf clouted their apprentices around the back of the head at once, Ember and Candle's laughs cut off at once, both grumbling quietly in pain, rubbing the backs of their heads.

"Yes, anyway. As you might have guessed, security is tight; the building is guarded 24/7, shifts organised so there's never a gap in patrols. They only hire mercs with prior combat experience and military training, making sure that they're disciplined. The estate itself is built around defence too; there're skylights built into every celling so there's always light inside; it's a centre-square design, balconies overlooking a main hall in the middle of the house. There are three levels; the lowest is the common area for the family, the second the more personal areas where business is conducted and kept track of, while the top floor belongs to the family's bedrooms. The basement is where the staff and live-in guards live, while the subbasement is where the supplies are kept."

"Do we have any idea as to the layout of the rooms" Ember asked "the blueprints didn't seem to name each room." Leaf nodded.
"Yeah. Scarlet tells me the ground floor is divided into three major room, bathrooms not included; the kitchen, to the left of the main door, the family living room adjacent to it and the library to the right. On the first floor, Loaded's offices are above the living room, the trophy room above the kitchen and the smoking room above the library. On the second, the master bedroom is above Loaded's office and other rooms belonging to other family members are to the left and right. But behind the master bedroom is a safe room" he revealed. Ember frowned.

"That wasn't on the plans" she said.

"It wouldn't be. It's apparently their secret room; the only reason Scarlet knew about it was in case they were attack so she would know where they were attacked. According to her, she was the only guard to know of its existence." The three assassins nodded a few times. Silence overtook them as they thought about the information, but after only five seconds of said thought, the doors to the mess hall flung open and a frantic looking assassin cantered through.

The four of them turned their heads to the door, the cooks and waitresses doing the same, and saw the pony to have slammed the doors open look around the canteen for a second before he spotted Blood Moon and his comrades sat at the table. Relief washed over his face for a second as he made his way over to them.

"Blood Moon, thank Celestia I found you" he panted, signalling he may have been galloping around looking for them. Blood Moon nodded at him.

"Hey, it's, uhhh… Redwave, right?"

Redwave nodded. He was one of the assassins to have been born into the order, rather than adopted like most were; his parents were successful assassins, one a Master who travelled a lot, and the other the Chapter Leader of the Manehatten chapter of the Shadow Weavers. True to his name, Redwave was a born navy-stallion, known for taking contracts overseas and Captioning his own ship. Though because of his love for the sea, he'd had to divide his time between his passion for the sea and his passion for the kill, as such, he was only a Cutthroat. His fur was sunset red, his mane a black Mohawk, his tail shaved short. He wore his rank's dark blue coat, though his katana was replaced with a gently-curving cutlass. He had grey stubble on his chin, a scar over his left eye, an eye-patch over the same red orb, though he only wore this so he didn't have to waste time letting his eyes adjust to darkness.

"Aren't you tied to the Manehatten chapter" Ember asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, but I heard what was going on over here. Are you really going after the Goldhooves?" They nodded.
"Yes, the four of us" Leaf answered. Red nodded a few times in understanding before he spotted Candle's red coat.

"You're taking an Assassin along" he asked. Before anypony could defend him, Candle spoke up.

"Yeah, they are. You have a problem with that Cutthroat" he shot back, his eyes narrowed slightly. Red shook his head, knowing he was practically an Apprentice outside his chapter.

"No, just taking note" He assured hastily. Blood Moon decided to get the conversation back on track.

"Why do you ask Redwave? Are you interested" he asked. Red nodded.

"Yeah, sure as hay I am" he replied with gusto. Ember raised an eyebrow.

"Not many ponies were so enthusiastic to get in on this around here. What makes you so keen?" Redwave was quiet for a second.

"Red" Candle prompted, their young age building a small, unstable bridge between them.

"We've got history" was all Redwave said.

"What kind of history" Blood prompted, offering him a seat. When Redwave sat down, a waitress gave him his breakfast for today, winking at him flirtatiously; Red simply shot her a roguish grin that made Blood Moon proud. When the mare had gone, Red's mood dipped again.

"Forty days ago, me and my crew were sailing just off the Feathered Lake, (the name of the piece of ocean between Equestria and the Griffon kingdom, as named by the griffons) transporting goods from the Shadow Weavers in the Griffon capital to other assassin on the field, on the outskirts of the country, beyond the great hunting forests, at least a four hundred leagues away. We were attacked by what looked like privateers. At first I thought they were under the employment of the griffons, but I noticed they were all ponies. We sunk, but we managed to take them with us. Me and one of theirs washed up on an island, and I beat some information out of him." Blood Moon could suddenly see where this was going. "The Goldhooves sunk my ship and killed my crew. I want revenge" he told them, his voice having darkened significantly. Blood Moon nodded a few times.

"That's all the CV I need" he said, clasping Red's back in his hoof in a way that said 'welcome aboard.' The dark stallion looked between the assassins, who were now gazing at him, and looked between them, judging their skills, weaknesses and preferred partners. "Alright ponies, we have our information, we have our equipment, we have our numbers-"
"Wait, you mean it's just the five of us" Redwave asked. Candle shrugged.

"I did a little recruitment drive yesterday, told everypony in the chapter what we were up to, and nopony wanted to join us." Red nodded his understanding, looking a little less enthusiastic than before.

"Anyway" Blood Moon restarted "all's we need now is a good plan to get ourselves in and out of there. Ember?" The mare nodded as Blood Moon pulled the blueprints from his mane and splayed them on the table, watching Ember clear her throat and mind.

"Alright. Yesterday I was going over these things, the maps of the surrounding buildings and cross-referencing that with our recon information. Now, with the information Leaf has provided us with, we have two options, as far as I can see.

The first option is loud and proud: three of us go in from different sides, attacking from three different angles, splitting up the guards inside and outside, while two of us slip inside. Now, once the attack starts, the Goldhooves are gonna go straight for their safe room, right? That's where the key part of this strategy comes into play; we'll know exactly where they are, but that's also where the main downside comes from; the Goldhooves will be inside their safe room and we'll need a way to get them out, us in or a way to kill them from outside, gas or something."

"I can cast seals onto surfaces, in theory, I should be able to cast an explosive seal onto the door or wall strong enough to blow through" Blood Moon supplied. Ember nodded.

"Alright good. Anyway, that's one option, the loud one, here's the other:

The five of us will go over the rooftops and take out a guard on the wall to the east side, one each and all at once. We'll have only one shot at that before things devolve into an all-out war. If, however, it works we'll have a way in and out. We pick the bodies up and prop them up, but we can't take their gear because one of the other guards will notice as there are sconces and fires on the walls." Candle frowned.

"If that's the case, who's to say nopony notices us killing them and moving the bodies." Ember grinned.

"That's the hard part. From what I saw yesterday, there are six guards on the wall, around five paces between them. So that makes twelve targets between us, the guards and the sconces."

"And how do you suggest we put out the fires from across the street?" Blood Moon smirked.

"Clever" he mumbled. "Yesterday, me and Ember paid Tinker a visit. He's made come highly compact and powerful bows, not to mention a selection of arrows. I think what Ember is getting at, is the water barrels I spotted. Small casks of water used to put out fires and torches." Ember nodded as everypony got where this was going.

"Yes" she confirmed as everypony suddenly recognised what they had to do "we have to fire at least two arrows at once, in perfect timing to make it look like a gust has taken out the flames while the guards drop with the lights. All from across the street on a dark night. Then, we've gotta get across said street fast enough to lift the bodies to make it look like they're alive, and reignite the flames, all quickly enough to make it look like it was the guards who did so." Candle gulped, Redwave took a breath, Leaf ran a hoof over his face and Blood Moon grinned.

"And this is all just getting inside" Redwave asked. Ember nodded with a grin.

"Yeah, after all that, we gotta remain undetected to keep the alarms quiet. We'll have to move in a line, taking out every guard we come across to make sure they don't recognise anypony else dead, hiding the bodies as we go. Once we get to the building, we pick open a window or door and slip inside. Then, we split up. We each take a floor, me and Blood Moon going to the top floor, Candle and Redwave taking the second while Leaf takes the bottom. When we find Loaded, Prosperous, Quillrunner or anypony else, you kill them, no time wasted." Redwave snarled lightly.

"Something up Red" Blood Moon asked.

"I want Prosperous to myself. She was the one who hired those privateers, pirates, whatever to sink my ship and kill me." He looked up in a way only somepony who had been truly wronged could. "She's mine" he told them. Blood Moon nodded.

"Aye, and Loaded's mine. He set his son after the Elements of Harmony. I want to know why." Ember blinked.

"Alright then" she said at length. "Here's another idea; instead of taking different floors, we each look for somepony different. Me and Blood will take Loaded-"

"Me and Candle will go after Prosperous" Redwave interjected.

"And I'll take any stranglers" Leaf said, his head nodding in agreement with the plan "I have a few scores to settle of my own." Everypony seemed to have inadvertently taken the quiet plan as they imagined ripping apart the family they all hated most with silent rage and vengeance.
"I'd like to point out though" Blood Moon said after a minute of fearsome silence "if we pull this off, we'll be making history. This won't be forgotten easily" he reminded them. "And we'll make sure that the whole of Equestria knows who made such a dark mark on her history" he told them. The other four assassins raised an eyebrow.

"What do you mean?" Blood Moon's grin was the most menacing thing they'd ever seen.

"We're gonna burn down their home and carve our symbol into their throats" he told them. Everypony, even Candle Light, gained a grin to match the dark stallion's. Blood Moon looked at the clock on the wall of the mess hall; it had just gone one o'clock. "Alright ponies; get ready, rest up, say your goodbyes, get your equipment from Tinker, make sure your weapons and armour are in pristine condition, mentally prepare yourselves and meet up at seven tonight at the entrance common" he ordered. (The entrance common being the first hall you stepped into in the hideout, a mixture of an entrance hall and one of the common rooms where a lot of the assassin hung out before and after contracts.)

The assassins all nodded as they stood and followed Blood Moon to Tinker's lab. Nothing much was said, they were all still imagining what they'd do to their respective targets when they finally got their hooves on them. They'd arrived at the scientist's home before they realised it, Candle bumping into Ember's flank. He blushed, swallowed and apologised, but Ember, had just looked back and winked at him. He'd blushed even more. The five assassins stood at the door, Ember and Blood Moon having entered, and watched him and his marefriend, a pink mane and tailed, cream furred mare with Pegasus wings, her face pretty and a little dirty, her brain as crammed with information as Tinker's and only a little more sense than the stallion she was dancing the Salsa with at the moment. She wore a lab coat similar to Tinker's, a shirt on her chest that matched her eyes and mane, and a red piece of silk in her mane to keep it out of her eyes. Tinker glanced up for a second upon hearing the door open over the sound of the music and grinned his greetings.

"Hey boss" he said, spinning his partner.

"Hey Tinker, Tamper" the dark stallion returned, greeting the stallion and the mare. Tinker dipped Tamper deeply, and she looked back at them, her head upside down, and smiled a sweet smile.

'Remind me to never introduce her and Pinkie.'

"Got it."

"Hey Boss" she said, excitement and laughter in her slightly breathless tone. Blood Moon smirked and nodded her way. They soon finished their dance, spinning and twirling and stepping around each other in ways that even impressed Blood Moon until the ended with another deep dip, Tamper's hind leg reaching up past his torso in ways that made Blood Moon glance at Ember, who had glance at him, and smirk. Tinker raised his lady and set her on her hooves, both bowing and stepping back. Tinker pulled the needle off the record, kissing Tamper on the cheek as he did, prompting her to blush and giggle like a filly.

"Having fun" Ember asked as the approach. Tinker glanced at his mare and winked at her.
"Not as much as I would be if you weren't here" he grinned. Tamper laughed and slapped the back of his head.

"We can come back if you want" Blood Moon suggested. Tinker shrugged.

"Nah, I can hold it in. For now." Blood Moon shook his head as he pushed that particular image from his head.

"Good. Anyway, I can only hope you-" Tinker pointed at one of the metal walls with hooks poking out, a large manner of weapons and armour hanging from them.

"Yep, all done. I love my lady, but I always keep my word" he assured. Blood grinned.

"Good job Tinker, you too Tamper, I'm sure you helped" he thanked.

"Astute as always boss" Tinker said as Blood Moon and Ember joined the others at the small armoury. "I expected more of you though, I was prepared to make a bunch more" he pointed out, nodding at the four sets of equipment. Blood Moon sighed slightly as he piled his stuff on his back.

"Yeah, recruitment drive wasn't so good. Turns out the more you know about the Goldhooves, the scarier they are" he answered. Tamper giggled slightly as she hopped on the table and sat on it, her right-fore hoof tussling Tinker's mane.

"Now who does that remind me of" she asked Blood Moon, who just chuckled.

"Yes, well. Thanks again Tinker. I'll be sure to tell you how it goes" he assured as he trotted out with Ember.

"I expect souvenirs" Tinker called after them. Blood Moon chuckled again, accompanied by Ember's giggle, and trotted back to his quarters. The pair made idle conversation on the way, but there was only one thing on their minds.

'Don't fuck when we get back, don't fuck when we get back, don't fuck when we get back. Need to conserve energy.'

Okay, two things. They both recognised the danger of what they were about to do, and both felt like they needed to do something to ease the tension, but couldn't think of anything. Blood Moon's eyes kept jumping to Ember as they trotted, her lack of juvenility not lost to him, and Ember couldn't help but notice his small glances.

"Blood Moon-"

"Ember-"

They cut each other off and offered the stage to one another at the same time, Blood taking it after some insistence.

"Ember…are you alright. Whenever we're alone you go quiet." Ember smiled slightly.

"I guess I'm still…you know, basking in the after-glow. I think you may have gotten me a little addicted to you after all we did together." Blood Moon's tension was eased a little as he leaned in and whispered into her ear.

"I'm not above a quickie" he told her. Ember giggled and kissed him, adding a little tongue.

"Now, what's up with you" he asked in return. Ember was uneasy again.

"I-it's just that I'm still a little anxious" she told him. Blood Moon understood, nuzzling and embracing her with his head at once.

"I think they all are, Candle, Redwave and Leaf I mean. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Truth be told, I'm worried for you too, hay, of course I am; you're my student and partner. I love you Ember, you mean a lot to me. Believe me when I say, if it comes down to it, I will die for you" he told her. In reality, that didn't mean much, but Ember still deeply appreciated the sentiment.

"Thanks Moon" she said quietly as she returned his embrace. They made it back to Blood Moon quarters soon after that, both letting their armour and equipment slid off of them.

The new coats covered the whole of their bodies in thick leather, black for Blood Moon and midnight-blue for Ember. The leather was at least two inches thick, but was lighter than it should have been. The leather covered every bit of fur and skin over the pair of them, the collar reaching up and around the neck, a stylised metal plate clasping the two pieces of leather together. The leather ran down all four legs, the leather splitting at the knees to reveal red for Blood Moon and smoke-grey for Ember, small metal clasps went up and down the coloured leather. The hooves were covered with soft-sole leather boots, silver buckles strapping them to the assassin's legs. The belly of the coat had smooth, flowing designs, the same red and grey as the knees, the soft curves and flickers reminded Blood Moon of the flames 'battle' produced. Up the chest were three belts and buckles, used to tighten the coats to their chest and maybe hold a few other oddments. Around the waist was a belt, similar to the standard issue belt given to all Shadow Weavers, only there were more pouches to hold darts for the blow-pipe, smoke bombs and a small set of gear used for infiltrating. The back of the coat was simple leather, though across the back would sit holsters for the recurve bow, the quiver of arrows for said bow and the blow-pipe, though the leather straps were yet to be buckled over them. The hind-legs of the coat were covered in leather of similar designs to that of the fore-legs, well-placed spots of colour adding a level of style and 'I can kill you and look good doing it' to the armour. Over the covered cutie marks was the Shadow Weaver's symbol, the blood-red outline of a dagger, the simple outline of a loom inside the blade, a line going down the width of the blade, another coming off the bottom at a forty five degree angle, forming another line going down, which would form another angled line going up and so forth, until the hilt of the blade was reached, the guard consisting of a thicker line, the grip holding the same pattern as the blade to represent the leather wrapping around it. The red symbol was set against a black background, a smoke-like circle on Ember's gear. The symbols on either side were covered slightly by the snake-tail end of the coat, accented by the colours on the knees. Their tails were let out of a small hole in the hind-quarters, the coat-tail draping over them. The hoods had the same hole and accents about the trim, their steel-grey masks changed little, besides the iron rim about the right eye, the telescopic sight.

Both donned their armour, taking their time, as they'd suddenly realised they hadn't a clue how to actually put this stuff on. They slipped into the coats first, hind-legs going in first as the other would pull their partner's tail through; they slipped their fore-hooves into the sleeves before they buckled the chest up, each helping the other with the slightly awkward straps. The hind-boots went on next, Ember giving Blood a show as she lay on her back on the bed, lifted her bare leg up and slowly pulled the boot down her slender leg. It only made the stallion's armour a little tighter, but he still felt it against the leather. He'd have to get Tinker to install a well-hidden zipper for just such an occasion. Not to mention it'd make peeing easier, as it were, he'd just have to live with it. They both put the fore-boots on next, slipping their hooves into the lithe leather until they met the ends, buckling the straps tight. They both took up their hidden blades, tying them down against the left fore-leg, flexing their muscles and watching the blade release to make sure they worked. Then, the bandolier went about them, the main strap going across their chests, under the left fore-leg and over their backs, the secondary strap for the blow-pipe going under the right fore-leg and buckling to the front of the bandolier.

Then came the scabbards to their blades, simple black wood tied to the belts with a black, silk sash. Finally, they strapped the Shadow Weaver's signature hoof-bow to their right hoof.
Then they went about their arms; the quiver to the recurve bow was strapped to their backs, beside the compacted bow which sat between aforementioned quiver and the blow-pipe, strapped to the smaller bandolier strap. They filled the pouches on the right side with throwing knives, smoke bombs, ammo for the blow-pipe (steel darts, sleep poison, adrenalin churning darts or 'berserkers', leather darts, paralysing darts and explosive rune-etched darts), ammo for the hoof bow and a basic field medical kit.

It would probably be wise to explain to the more astute reader, who has probably noticed that the presence of the hoof-bow makes the blow-pipe obsolete, and visa-versa, but actually since the blow-pipe is completely silent and the projectiles invisible in the air, not to mention, much more versatile given the lack of machinery around them it makes up in stealth what it lack in power, while the hoof-bow has a faster draw, more power over shorter range and better stopping power. Not to mention, more weapons opens up more murder variety.
Once down with the ammunition, they looked to their blades, their primary weapons; both Blood Moon and Ember had the same weapons, a katana and a wakizashi, a shorter version of the same weapon. Tinker had apparently changed the weapon's weave, or, the way the metal had been smelted together and forged; according to Tinker, this different weave of metal made the balance of the weapon better while decreasing the weight but not sacrificing the damage they were capable of dealing with a lack of strength or blade width. Also, explained as an added bonus by Tinker, they were constructed in the Soshu Kitae method, or the seven layer forging style. Blood Moon was fairly sure Ember didn't have a clue what that meant, but he was forever amazed at either Tinker's skills around a forge or his list of contacts. Both had a black metal tsuba, identical to the sword Blood Moon had first used when he'd arrived in Ponyville, while the gips were wrapped in black leather, the pommel grey. Done with admiring their weapons, they slipped them into their respective sheaths, the wakizashi below the katana.

Done with arming and armouring themselves, they turned to the mirror and both smirked; despite the thick armour, almost excessive arsenal and ammunition, they looked good. Ember gave a small giggled at their situation; about to go on the hunt for corrupt aristocrats, and here they were admiring each other.

"How in the hay dose Tinker do it, Moon" Ember asked as she leaned her head on Blood Moon. The stallion grunted amusedly as he held Ember's head in his hoof and lent his head on hers. Though his mind was on their position, his eyes on hers in the mirror, he couldn't help but notice and appreciate the flexibility of their armour.

"I haven't a clue, but I'll be damned if he doesn't earn his pay check" he replied. Ember giggled again as they turned to each other and let their lips meet; they were quite the pair, stood armed to the teeth in the kind of gear only an assassin would wear, and they were doing nothing but showing affection for each other. Once they had pulled back, nuzzling each other a little, they turned back to the room and picked up their masks, sliding them under the bandolier.

Once they were done with their equipment, feeling a little too light for everything they were carrying, but weren't complaining either way, they made for the meeting point. They got a few looks from the other assassins they passed, all of them recognising the hard looks on their faces and stepped out of their way as they passed them by. Upon arriving in the entrance common, they found the other assassin to come with them. Candle's armour was wine-red, accented with black; Leaf's was oak-brown, accented with dark green; while Redwave's armour was dark blue, accented with a very dark purple.

When Blood Moon and Ember had approached them, the both of them slipped their masks over their faces and lifted their hoods, their manes ponytailed and peeking through the small hole in the hood. Blood Moon gazed at the assassins before him before he spoke.
"Ponies" he began, his gaze still passing over each and every one of them; Leaf, so cold and stoic, here because of his duties as an assassin; Candle, so innocent and brave, here for his first taste of a real assassination; Redwave, so aggressive and dark, here for simple vengeance; Ember, so deadly and beautiful, here for him; and then there was Blood Moon himself, so brutal and silent, here for answers. Quiet the team they made. Quiet the legend they'd make. "Let's move."

Apex predator

Chapter twenty six: Apex predator

The assassins nodded as they watched him head for the steps, following him up soon after; as they approached the top, Brick looked back and stood from his seat. He watched them advance the door he guarded slowly, his head watching Blood Moon in specific; it wasn't every day Blood Moon set out on a contract with other assassins of the order, mainly because of his fearsome independence when it came to work, but to actually see him in the Shadow Weaver's infamous gasmasks was an altogether different matter; that meant he was going to kill under their name, rather than his own, and that he was paranoid about his face being made by guards or civilians. That was another oddity about this picture.

Brick silently opened the door for them, releasing the chains, padlocks, deadbolts, tripwires, second door, dispelling the magical barrier, opening the third door, playing the maddeningly specific riff on the guitar, sacrificing the lamb, drawing the devil's summoning seal and finally unchaining and opened the last door, he raised his hoof and granted them exit.

"Good luck" he said after them when the last assassin had crossed the threshold into the outside world. Blood Moon looked back and nodded his thanks without speaking. Brick closed the door and left them to it.

Blood Moon took a breath, muffled and given a metallic ring by the mask, and looked around himself; Celestia's golden sun had turned bronze in the late evening hours, long shadows cast by her low sun as Luna's moon prepared to climb the horizon and take its place in the night sky amongst the stars. But down here, in Liar's Retreat, the beautiful bronze light did nothing to help the scenery; the long shadows simply helped crime to operate more easily, the bronze glow made the black slime across the ground a sickly orange colour while all the ponies milling about in the wasteland were quickly deterred from their own little slice of Tartarus by the late hours.

With an unseen order, the assassins moved; they cantered for a fire-escape, Blood leaping up and grabbing one of the railings and hauling himself up. He turned and gripped Ember's hoof, pulling her up, Leaf, Candle and Red following. They climbed the rickety metal stairs, leaping to the railing and moving up the wall briefly until they grabbed the next metal sill on the third level, where the stairs were out. They continued to the roof, the dark stallion heaving up Ember after him, Leaf needing no help while the nimble Candle helped up Red's heavier earth pony body.

Blood Moon took a second to admire Canterlot's skyline; the dim, bronze sun cast a truly stunning silhouette of even the most rundown of buildings, creating a spectacle that would prompt a smile from even the most cold-hearted of ponies. Canterlot may be home to almost all of the corruption in Equestria, but it was a truly beautiful place to call home. The stallion felt Ember next to him, turning his masked head to her and grinning. Though they couldn't see each other through the masks, they both felt the other's smile.

At another unseen command, Blood Moon and his fellows turned and galloped down the rooftops, hopping over the lips between each house, some making a better show than others. A combination of a billboard and a few smokestacks created a small obstacle for the free-gallopers. Blood dropped to his side and slid beneath a billboard; Ember leap-fogged a chimney stack, likely enjoying herself a little too much; Leaf grabbed a washing line and swung around and over until he came around again, letting go and letting his momentum take him over the billboard; Candle leapt through the thin gap between the chimney and advert; while Red took the same line Leaf had and leapt off the side of the building, the line coming loose and letting him swing around the outside.

They galloped on, leaping, hopping and dancing around other obstacles until they came to wide street between two blocks. Blood Moon leapt to a street lamp, to another one on the other side and to the building opposite, Red following him while Ember, Leaf and Candle balanced across a long-ass washing line, spanning the street below. They followed the building around a corner, taking a right, and dropped a story to smaller homes. The rooftops here were slanted down, chimneys in greater abundance, as they leapt across them as black shapes against the gold sun. They galloped for more buildings, taller than the ones they were currently on, and leapt at the walls; Blood, Ember and Leaf scaled the walls easily, picking out loose bricks and hoof-holds while Candle just flew up, Red making use of the construction going on around the tall townhouse and slashed a rope holding up some loose bricks and shot up. There was another gap, this one a simple alleyway, and they all leapt across with ease, making a gasp-inspiring display for the foals playing in the alley below.

Blood Moon led his company over more rooftops, hopping over a fallen chimney and sliding into a small gap in the side of the roof, ending up inside a home. He leapt from a wall, grabbed the chandler, swung across the ceiling and threw an open window, landing next to Ember on another lower down rooftop. They set off in a gallop again together, the other three right behind them, and took another gap, leaping like a cat through the air and clutching the balcony on the high-rise apartment opposite; they shimmied around the corner and took a side wall-eject, clutching the balcony on the lower level, across from the other apartment, and throwing themselves at the building next to the apartment block like a pair of lunatic acrobats. They came up in a roll, Ember just behind Moon, and set off again with the others on the other side of the building.

Before them lay the last challenge of their journey; another apartment block, six stories high, and another street between them. Blood and Ember increased their galloping speed, their hooves thundering across the roofs, and waited until the last possible second to jump. They paused for a second, letting themselves drop over the side until their hind-hooves were against the side of the building, and pushed out as hard as they could. The pair altered their postures mid-air, flying like a cat would pounce on its prey. They flew gracefully through the air, making another stunning image for the ponies below who wouldn't look up, despite their children's instance. Both met the balconies on the building heavily, Blood gripping with his fore-hooves over the lip and his hind-legs against the brick work, giving himself a little more leverage. Ember met the building in the same way, in the same posture, but lost her grip with her left hoof; the dark stallion reached down and caught her quickly, hauling her back up to safety before they looked at the progress of the other assassins; Leaf had copied their tactics of making a leap, his powerful earth pony muscles making it easier on him; Candle had dropped down with Red and landed on another washing line between each building, crossing it gracefully and silently before they met the apartment and clambered up until they met the others.

All five of them resumed climbing the building, launching themselves up, off the balcony and catching the one above before repeating the process again, and again until they came to the top of the tower. They cantered to the other side and crouched down, watching the guards mill about. Blood Moon looked to the horizon; there was still light.

There was method to his madness; if the Goldhooves had organized the watch in such a way nopony's station or patrol rout was unattended, then the next best thing was to catch the current shift at the end of their hours. They'd be tired, looking for their relief rather than intruders and less likely to investigate disturbances. The dark stallion looked to the other assassins in a 'you know the plan' kind of way. They nodded and drew their bows, flicking them out before looking back at their targets; they were aiming for the wall due east of the estate, the main building blocking the light and making need for artificial light and sconces.
They all looked for their targets; as Ember had said, there were six guards and six flames, twelve in all and they needed to take them all out at once, between the five of them. They all drew arrows; most of them drew a broad head and water casket each, enough to extinguish three guards and three fires. Blood Moon pulled out two broad heads and a casket, Ember a single broad head and a two caskets. Enough between the five assassins to do the job quietly and create a gaping hole in the Goldhooves estate's defenses. Blood Moon narrowed his right eye, closed his left and took a deep breath, holding it in.

Across the street, a merc was watching the streets below him nonchalantly until the light beside him went out with a piercing 'hiss.' He jumped half a pace away but didn't yelp, the other guards wouldn't let that go for weeks, and took a look at the brazier. He scrunched his face in annoyance as he went to relight it.

"Damn winds" he muttered to himself as he went to cast the simple fire spell. He paused and frowned when he saw something poking out of the embers; it looked like an arro-

Thunk

The guard suddenly grew an arrow in his neck as he gurgled for a second before he fell. In the next two seconds, all the fires atop the wall went out, one after another, the guards attending them grumbling similar things to the guard to have died first before an arrow impaled them through the neck, throat or head. It happened like clockwork; the guards below waited a second for the flames to reignite themselves before they looked up at the guards and started to shout a few things up to them. Meanwhile, the five assassins they were unawares to made their move; they snapped the bows shut and placed them on their backs, leaping for the wall; Blood and Ember dropped down into a fire escape. Ember went past the guard rail, grabbing Blood's outstretched hoof, and swung him over to the 'scape below them, him pulling her down after. The mare landed on the side of the metal outcrop and pushed of, leaping to the wall while Blood Moon loaded another arrow into his bow; he loosed the arrow and watched the thin, reinforced fishing wire unravel across the gap before his arrow stabbed into the wall, creating an improvised bridge for a quick-escape. As they were doing so, Leaf, Candle and Red just jumped the gap and landed on the other side, moving quickly as they tore the arrows out of them and stood the guards up on dead legs. Ember and Blood soon joined them, propping up the guards and relighting the fires as they dropped off the side. Blood Moon lingered for a second as Ember dropped from the wall, a lit match in his hoof, before he tossed it back and hopped off the building into a thick bush of soft flowers, a bird or eagle calling somewhere as he dropped.

Blood Moon crouched in tall grass, the thick greenery covering him and his comrades well. For such an allegedly paranoid family, so Tartarus-bent on security, they had a rather foolish concept of a 'secure garden.' The bushes and grass easily obscured anypony sneaking through, the guards patrolling having to actively search through the shrubs and flowers to make sure they were empty, because for all they knew they weren't. I mean, the one meandering towards a seemingly normal bush right now didn't know that it might have an armored, armed, silent assassin inside, waiting for him to get close so they could-

The blade slipped between the metal plates easily, cutting through the leather like a hot knife through hot butter. The guard slumped against Blood Moon, his hidden blade stabbing into the side of his neck, through the jugular and protruding out the other side. He pulled his kill into the bushes and pulled the blade out again, the satisfying 'shink' whispering as it retracted into his wrist; the dark stallion wasn't bothering with trying to refrain from killing now, the first tenant of his code taking the back seat to his third tenant. He dropped the corpse to the ground and looked up, joining the other assassins as they crawled forwards slowly, their hoof-steps silent in the shrubbery, grass and delicate flowers brushing past them as they sneaked through. Blood Moon and Ember Spark used their hidden blades repeatedly, getting a feel for the weapons, as they came across guard after guard. They may have secured a way in and out with some effort, but just moving through the gardens was what was really difficult; there must have been a guard not every three paces, another guard right next to him. Blood Moon leapt into a large bush of some unnameable flower to allow himself a moment to look around.

He spotted Leaf burst from the grass with a small whisper of sound as the grass moved around him, grabbing the guard before him and snapping his neck with brutal efficiency before he dragged him down, back into the growth. Candle and Red were moving slowest, the pair sticking together after forming an unofficial partnership, and cut down only the guards who got too close and who would spot them cutting down said guards. Their shorter blades, the wakizashi, got progressively bloodier as they progressed slowly towards the main house. Ember was furthest along, the small blade on her hoof barely having a moment to rest in its sheath before it slipped out again, into the neck of another guard unawares to her presence.

The assassin looked up at their current destination. It dwarfed Fancy Pant's home, and that was no easy feat; it must have been at least a hundred meters wide and a hundred and fifty deep, easily a hundred tall, not including the towers and spires atop the towers at each corner. The walls were made of pure white stone, pure marble pillars along the front of the house and sides of the house, framing the main door and great stained glass windows. The main door was dark lilac, black iron outlining it, thick oak wood making up the door itself while the hinges seemed to be made of gold, at least they were coloured that way. Either side of the door were two guards, clad in simple black iron, swords on their backs and spears in their grips. Basic mercs. There were an abundance of windows up all sides of the building, well-made stained glass window stretching up to the second story. There were generic patterns, simple abstract colours not making up a real picture. On the second story there were arch-shaped windows reaching up to the third level, where there were smaller windows, Prench-windows if he remembered correctly. He didn't know for sure, but if he had to guess, around nine of the…he took a quick count, fifteen rooms on the upper floor were occupied. Looking up, Blood Moon could make out more guards stood atop the roof, watching the grounds below, though he needn't worry about them; the shadows and vegetation down here was too thick for the mercs on the ground down here to be able to see through them easily, never mind those guys.

Blood Moon looked back to the lower side of the house. Over the door was a small balcony, another pair of guards perched inside, watching however would go in and out by reading a newspaper and sipping from a cup of coffee. There were more balconies around the building, a bunch more mercs milling around upon them. The terrace at the top, however, was void of any guards, likely the family's personal porch, though he couldn't see anypony up there.

Blood Moon skulked out of his bush and re-joined Ember as she opened a guard's throat with her blade, stabbing it into her foe's neck as she eased him down. They nodded their respective greetings before they moved again; it had been maybe five minutes now, and they'd only covered a third of the garden. Granted, they were moving slowly and were stalled every time they came across a guard, but Blood Moon still felt the needed to move faster than they were. They needed a distraction. He held his hoof up, just slightly above the tip of the grass, and every assassin stopped moving. He reached back and took hold of the blow-pipe. He loaded it with a berserker dart and scanned the garden for a viable target; he knew he only had five of these darts, mainly because the concoction was so complex, so he had to conserve ammo.

He raised the pipe to his maw, his training days giving his the knowledge to use this weapon effectively, and took aim at one of the small groups of guards who thought it was a better idea to stand and talk instead of doing their jobs. A quick blast of air, and the small projectile lodged itself in one of the guard's neck. He twitched slightly, his hoof going to his neck like he'd just been bit, the other guards asking him what was wrong as he looked around the shaded shrubbery in confusion and annoyance. Then his neck twitched badly as the poison took hold of his adrenalin flow and pumped it harder than it was ever supposed to go; his aggression shot up as his muscles flexed and his head whipped to the nearest guard and slammed his hoof into his face before he lunged onto him with a roar of anger and started beating the crap out of him. Blood heard another small 'fhit' and glanced to his left to see Ember in a similar stance to his, her pipe to her maw and taking a quiet breath as she watched her dart strike her target, watching Blood Moon's in confusion as he scraped with four other guards. He had a similar reaction to the venom as the first guard, his neck twitching before he roared in anger and lunged for the tussle going on between five other guards.

Blood Moon made motions for the other assassins to move again, the five of them darting forwards and advancing on a nearby window. Leaf came up behind a guard chuckling slightly at the rumble, the brown clad assassin leaping up, wrapping his fore-hooves around his foe's neck and snapping his neck, rolling gracefully out of his kill, the dead guard following him into dense vegetation. Blood Moon and Ember took out a pair of guards watching the proceeding battle between adrenalin drunk guards and other guards trying to calm them, sticking their blades into their necks and pulling them back into the grass. Candle stuck his blade between another guard's ribs, ripped it out and sliced his throat, pulling him into the bush as Redwave scrambled up a relatively tall tree and dropped onto a pair of guards, both of his swords draw as he rammed his weapons into the backs of their skulls.

They met again at the lowest window, Red quickly approaching the guard stood next to it, the merc absently turning his gaze to the assassins; his eyes shot open and he took a breath to shout out before Redwave slammed his head into the wall, once, twice, thrice until he dragged his limp body away and dropped him into the grass. They gathered around the window as Blood Moon slipped a set of lock picks from the six and lowest pouch on his belt, working them inside the annoyingly complex lock. It took him fifteen tense seconds before he could open the lock, putting the picks away as the other assassins kept quiet watch. Ember opened the window slowly, finding a merc on the other side; Candle stabbed his small blade into his neck, pulled him out and passed him to Leaf who tossed him into the grass. Redwave leapt through first, blades still drawn, and scanned their surroundings from the shadows. He gave them a silent 'all-clear' and they slid through the window one by one. Blood closed the window, leaving it open a crack so they would have a way out. They sunk into the shadows when they heard a voice yelling.

"What in Tartarus is going on" a stallion exclaimed from one of the upper levels. The peered up and found a dark tan furred and gold mane and tailed stallion looking down from the second level.

"Nothing Lord Loaded" one of the grunts shouted back "just a few of the guards getting a bit…boisterous" he answered. Loaded snarled.

"Well tell him he can act a bit 'boisterous' down at the job office. My wife is trying to have a relaxing, bucking, bath and I'm trying to work here" he shouted back, turning back to what Blood Moon could only guess was his office. He'd hated the stallion already, but now he just plain didn't like him on a much more personal level; somepony who fired a guard instead of conducting an investigation, or even asking a single question, was the kind of pony he just couldn't tolerate. A rich fool, in other words.

The dark stallion looked at the other assassins, finding them looking at him, and nodded his head. They got the message as Leaf stole away, hunting for whoever he was after, Candle and Red moving for one of the many bathrooms while Ember waited for Blood Moon. The stallion nodded to the mare and she moved with him.

They stuck to the shadows, moving for one of the staff stairwells; they moved for the corner at the other end of the building, watching a maid exit a well hidden door there. It wasn't lost on the assassins that the Goldhooves had created another flaw in their security by trying to keep up appearances, keeping their staff low-key while they traverse grand staircases. They found the door cracked open, and pushed it open a slither more as they slipped through. They returned it to its previous state and climbed the stairs, sticking to the dark corners of the small, square-shaped staircase. They reached the second floor quickly, opening it to reveal a maid about to push through the same door.

All three ponies tensed, only Ember having the sense to draw her hidden blade and aim it at the maid; she wore a classic Prench-maid outfit, her fur peach and her green mane dyed black, her natural coloured peeking through the roots. She took a sharp gasp, taking a single step back as she covered her mouth. But she didn't scream, didn't shout, didn't do anything to give away their position or presence. At first, Blood Moon thought they'd scared her into fainting, but then he noticed the dried tears on her face, the bruise on her eye. He took a second to look into said emerald-green eyes; pain, betrayal, hatred. She'd just been slapped in the face by her boss, likely Loaded's wife. She blinked once as she gulped before she nodded to them wordlessly, passing them by without fuss.

"Good luck" she said quietly as she descended into darkness. The assassins gave her a nod in return. One disaster averted, they continued on. Blood Moon and Ember continued to hug the shadows, their silhouettes merging with the shade coating them in shadow. They crept to Loaded's office, finding a pair of guards either side of the door; Blood Moon drew his wakizashi slowly, without noise, and leapt with graceful silenced into the air; the guard closest had his neck run through with the small-blade, the stallion clambering over him and stabbing his hidden blade into the other's jugular, the dark stallion rolling out of it with unnatural grace. They dropped, Ember's horn quickly flaring as she cast a spell on the bodies, watching them float upwards. Gravity inversion. A difficult but massively useful spell in this line of work.

They stood either side of the door and nodded at each other; Blood Moon looked through the lock. Nopony could be seen. He hummed in thought, hoping they hadn't missed him. Ember put her hoof to the doorknob, the lock open, and pushed it open with a small creak. They both grunted quietly in frustration; he wasn't here. They gave the office a quick look over but there was nothing interesting in here, nothing but a pair of supporting beams. Blood Moon grinned lightly; he trotted over to them and put his right hoof to his horn. The Alicorn light up as his hoof ran up, sparks flying up it, and he pressed it to the oak wood beam and turned it ninety degrees. There was a small sizzling and the brief scent of burnt wood before it dissipated into the air. He went to the other beam and repeated the process before returning to Ember.

"Explosive seal" she asked quietly, her eyebrow undoubtedly raised. He nodded.

"Yeah. They'll only blow when I want them to, so don't worry" he reassured. She nodded her understanding.

"Whatever. Where do you think Loaded'll be" she asked. Blood Moon's gloved hoof went to his masked face and rubbed his chin.

"Depends. The fire's still alight, so he may have just gone to the bathroom, or he may have turned in for the night. Thoughts?" Ember's head looked down in thought before she looked again.

"Let's take a look upstairs first, if he's not there he can't be far. The closest bathroom from here is upstairs" she told him. Blood Moon nodded and held his hoof to bid her lead. She nodded and peeked her head out of the door and peered left and right, motioning for him to follow with her hoof as she trotted out. Blood Moon let Ember guide him, the mare having a better idea of the layout than him, and took to following in her wake as she skulked before him. He glanced over his shoulder every now and then, looking for incoming threats, but only saw distant blobs of shadow that posed no threat. They climbed the stairs again, just as careful as before, and looked through the keyhole for anypony approaching, not willing to put their chips on bumping into another disgruntled worker. There was nopony coming, thankfully, and they stepped out and returned the door to its previous position to cover their tracks. There was light coming from the door, another pair of guards at the door, and they figured that was where Loaded was. They moved in again, Blood Moon throwing a knife at the closest guard as Ember leapt into the air, the other guard hearing his comrade fall and turning to him, and pounced on him, ramming her blade into his jugular. Blood Moon used the spell Ember had on the guards, watching them float to the ceiling, and turned to the door. This one was locked, Ember taking up her picks this time as Blood Moon kept watch. She worked the door quickly, pushing it open, quietly and stepping inside, Blood Moon following after her.

He closed the door behind him and looked up to see Loaded sat on a big leather chair in a corner, a table besides it, an open window behind it, purple drapes fluttering in the cool evening breeze. The sun had set completely now, Luna's moon illuminating the night, and lights and candles light around the room offered bright illumination to the room. He was facing them, his eyes focused on the documents in his grip; he was wearing a thick smoking coat, red and dark orange patterns criss-crossing along it. He had a cigar in his maw, a steady flow of smoke rising from it, and a glass of brandy next to him. He didn't look up from the papers he was looking down at as his horn sparked to life and his cigar floated from his maw.

"Prosperous, could you close the window for me dear? It's a little chilly tonight" the pair of assassins rolled their eyes at once; all's he'd have to do was roll his S's and he'd sound just like a snake. The pair of assassins remained silent as they approached him, Loaded frowning at the silence before he looked up and found a pair of gasmask and leather clad ponies trotting towards him. His eyes widened and he went to shout for his guards, Ember cutting him off when one of her throwing knives stabbed into the cushion between his hind-legs, barely an inch away from his stallionhood. The breath of wind on his most precious jewels was all the encouragement Loaded needed to shut up. The pony in black leather trotted straight up to him, ripping the pages from his hoof, batting away the cigar and resting atop of him, a blade growing from beneath his hoof.

"Alright Loaded, time to answer a few questions…"

Candle Light followed in Redwave's wake, the pair of them splitting from Ember and Blood, while Leaf had melted into the shade in ways that were way too effective for an Enforcer. The Chapter Leader and Reaper had gone their own way, along the wall a little before he'd lost sight of them in the deep shade at the other end of the hall.

Meanwhile, him and Red had scaled the wall they'd stuck to, climbing up it quietly, using the pillar built into the wall and other outcrops there to look good. Picturesque and epic beasts and animals, hawks and roaring lions, protruded from the heads of the columns, to which they clung before they hopped back and grabbed onto the marble railing protecting anypony walking above them from a perilous fall. They peeked through the gaps between the small stands holding up the railing, finding their rout unguarded. They hoisted themselves up and rolled into the shadows again. They looked left and right down the balcony, finding guards at either end approaching them. They moved quickly, slipping through the darkness together, until they found their way to a door, just beyond the glow of one of the guard's illumination charms, and slipped inside.

It was an eerily dark smoking room, expensive looking books above them in expensive looking shelves. Stuffed animals were around the room, roaring bears and soaring birds of the hunt, diving down for their prey. Candle didn't like the mounted kills, dreading the fact that the Goldhooves had an actual trophy room filled with more of these. Besides the animals, there were thick rugs, into which their hooves sunk, an abundance of chairs and round tables upon clean glasses and glass decanters sat upon silver trays, ashtrays, liquor and Tobacco cabinets, paintings upon the walls, undoubtedly valuable ornaments scattered around and a phonograph in one corner, a record ready to spin.

While Candle had been looking around the empty room, Red had his masked eye to the keyhole, watching the guards pass them by. He waited until the guards had passed them before he pushed the door open again, Candle following him out. They moved again, following the guard heading towards the front of the house. The guard they were shadowing was completely unawares to their silent presence, despite the fact that Candle, who was behind Red, was barely six paces away from him. Redwave stopped suddenly and held his hoof up, Candle doing them same, minus the hoof, and pointed to his left; a door, the light on, and steam rising from beneath the door. Candle quickly got the idea and put his eye to said door's keyhole; there was nothing interesting inside, except the naked mare showering, the curtain remaining neglected at one side, her shimmering body in full view of any peeping toms. In Candle's opinion, she was doing it deliberately. All and all, it wasn't Prosperous, not unless she'd dyed her mane amber and her fur silver. Candle looked back at Redwave and shook his head, the pair of them following after the guard continuing along the balcony, Candle willing away the slight tightening in his leather.

The guard came to the end of the balcony and sighed in boredom before he turned, trotting on his way. Candle and Red dropped from the ceiling they clung to, landing silently on the marble tiles, and watching him go for a second before they jumped at the wall.

There were a great abundance of decorative patterns engraved into the wall, more protruding from it. Primarily, there was a wide, circular stained glass window above the main door, letting silver moon light seep into the room in purples, blues, gold, yellows and reds, casting a round piece of light art on the hall below. Around said window were more of the fearsome creatures that had sat at the top of the marble columns on the ground floor, the heads of roaring lions and tigers and bears, dragons and manticores and serpents and other great beasts, all perfectly carved from the white stone. The pair of assassins weren't interested in artwork at the moment, however, and simply leapt to the nearest hoof-holds and clambered along the wall.

It was a tense silence under which they worked their way across the wall; neither could afford to lose their concentration, because they might lose their grip, and they might fall. Falling from this height wouldn't kill either assassins, specifically the Pegasus of the two, but the guards below probably would. Their breathing stopped when Red did just that; his hind hoof slipped off his hold, a dragon head, and his other leg followed, his left fore-leg falling with them. His whole body weight was hanging precariously from on one hoof, swinging slightly with the momentum of almost falling. Candle tried to make his way back, but Red waved his hoof and stopped him, not wishing to jeopardize both their lives with his blunder. He felt his hoof slip as he waved his other hoof to stop Candle, and his other soon shot up to join it. He pulled himself up again to a crouching position, his weight on the lion-head below him instead of the dragon head. After recovering, he took a much needed breath and looked up to find Candle waiting for him.

They resumed the climbing, Red taking much greater care now, and made their way to the circular window in the middle of the wall, shimmying along the lower edge until they heard a voice from below.

"Hey!" They froze, their nerves on end and their breaths caught in their throats. "Hey, Warblood, have you seen Axe Head and his lot." The pair of assassins gave a sigh of relief, but didn't dare move in case they attracted attention to themselves.

"No, not since the sun went down. Why?"

"Well, the night shift just took up their posts and couldn't find them." There was a pause.

"Boss ain't gonna like that" Warblood mumbled. They heard hoof steps from below, moving away from their positions and resumed climbing across the wall. They soon found their way to the other side, dropping down onto tired but still strong legs and quickly darting for the shadows again.

"Why didn't you just fly" Red hissed as they stole along the wall to the nearest bathroom. Or at least, the nearest by their memories of the plans.

"I'd have stood out too much, blocked the light" Candle hissed back “c’mon, that’s Initiate stuff.” Red just shook his head. Their remaining trip went on silently, until they came across a door they seemed to recall as belonging to a bathroom. The pushed through, finding it dark, and grumbled in defeat. Empty again. They snuck out of the bathroom and continued along the walkway, sticking to the shade at the walls. Strangely, there were no guards on this side, not any more anyway, and their progress went unhindered. They reached the other end of the indoor terrace and found a staircase built into the corner, probably used by the staff and guards instead of the marble stairs the reached up from below the balconies and connected the two floors, another identical set of steps above leading to the top floor, the steps on this side mirrored by the ones on the other side. There was plenty of light on these stairs, thanks to the skylights, so the assassins avoided them but these staff stairs and the just barely shaded walls provided exactly what they needed to traverse this place. The pair of them took the stairs silently, knocking out a guard to have come down at the wrong time and hiding the body in a shadowed corner. When they reached the top floor, the found it guarded not quite as heavily as it should have been, the doors to what they guessed to be Loaded's chambers unattended, while the walkway on the other side were only guarded by one stallion. They trotted along their balcony, slashing the guard's neck when he looked around at the wrong time, hiding the body in a well-placed broom closet, and continued to the bathroom on this side. Before long, they came across another lit door. With there were no guards around for the time being, and they took the opportunity to look inside. Just another guard thoroughly regretting his last meal. Feeling slightly queasy, they made their to the other side, though despite the lack of guards, they remained quiet; they didn't want to get caught off-guard and they didn't know if there were any in the other rooms.

Before long, they found the last bathroom on the upper floors. Silently, the pair hoped with all their hearts that they hadn't wasted their time up here, when it turned out that Prosperous was on one of the lower levels. There was light coming from inside, so that was a plus, but would this be their mark, or another guard with stomach problems? Candle put his eye to the keyhole while Red took watch; inside was a bathtub, filled with water, bubbles and a mare; she was facing away from them and the three maids inside, but Candle could tell who it was from the distinct mane being washed by one of the maids. He looked at Red and nodded a victorious nod, the Cutthroat nodding back his understanding, and they pushed through the unlocked door.

The maid nearest the door heard it click open and nonchalantly turned her head back to look who had entered; when she saw the gasmasks, leather coats and armour, the weapons covering them and her reflection in their eye pieces, she nearly crapped herself. But before she could scream, or give her fellow maids warning, the wine-red leather clad pony put a hoof to her maw and shook his head. She swallowed almost audibly and nodded her head, terrified.

The pony withdrew his hoof and put it to his mask; she watched in confusion as he pulled it off, finding a handsome yet young stallion's face hidden beneath it. He had tiger orange fur and a cream mane and tail poking through the back of his hood and through the rear end of his coat respectively. He mouthed words to her.

"Friend. We won't hurt you. After her." He nodded at the mare currently soaking in the bathtub. "Leave. Nopony will hurt you. Trust me." The mare nodded, the fear to have gripped her body having loosened. She looked back at the other maids and tapped their shoulders; she had them prepare for a shock, which they got but took admirably well, and quickly got the message. When the other maids had gone, the one washing Prosperous's mane making an excuse of 'let me get something to rinse that out with ma'am', the one Candle had had his silent conversation with lingered for a second before she leaned into his ear.

"Make that bitch suffer" she whispered. Candle just shot her a wink to which she apparently liked as she trotted out, after her friends. Red shook his head amusedly at Candle for a second before their minds returned to the job. Candle replaced his mask and watched silently as Redwave approached Prosperous.

"How long does it take you to find a-HHHMMFF!" Red clamped his hoof around her maw to silence her screams as he leaned in.

"Do you know who I am" he demanded, his voice, normally a little horse from barking orders at sea, was the sound of grating metal now, disguised by the air filters in his mask. The mare shook her head in fear. "I'm an assassin. An assassin you have wronged" he told her. He moved his hoof away from her maw.

"What in Tartarus did I do to you" she demanded. He growled and glared at her from behind his mask, leaning his head towards her ear.

"You. Sunk. My. Ship" he told her. Apparently, Prosperous recognised him.

"You're the sea captain, the one who's been blocking the Feathered Lake with you supply transports" she concluded. Redwave nodded. Suddenly, Prosperous smirked. "Well, what did you expect me to do" she chuckled "we needed those trading routes empty for our dealings with the Griffin Kingdom. I couldn't have my husband's good threatened by the likes of you now, could I?" Red snarled.

"You couldn't risk one boat? We were transporting supplies, not pirating the coast" he hissed. Prosperous gave a gorgeous laugh, a laugh too pure and beautiful for a mare like her.

"No. I couldn't. You captained a brig of assassins. What, did you think I'd just let you live and hope you didn't try and take our goods? Hope you wouldn't attack us?" Redwave growled again.

"You'd have lived longer" he told her. Prosperous laughed that laugh again.

"Oh, my dear stallion, no" she told him before she saw his slightly cocked head. "Yes, you're a stallion. You're not quite as…" her eyes strayed down "disciplined, as the others to have tried to kill me" she told him with a smouldering wink. "Anyway" she continued "no, I couldn't let you and your access to those seas at all, because we want them. Full control of them. So I couldn't let one ship that didn't sail under our name float. Same way that I can't let an assassin who doesn't work with us live." Prosperous's hoof flashed and a knife swung at Red. From behind, there were the sounds of a scuffle as Candle Light was attacked.

Red wave dodged the first swipe of the mare's butterfly knife, which had apparently been attached to her in a black, curve-hugging, strap on her hind leg. The assassin ducked beneath the second and tried to draw his blades, but Prosperous cut him off when she stabbed at him; he turned his body to the side and slipped past her stab, standing on his hind-legs, and grabbed her outstretched hoof. He wrenched the knife from her grip and turned to help Candle, who was facing off five guards. Their bodies limp on the floor while he held their severed heads, that is. Red looked back at Prosperous with a look on his face so smug he almost bent the mask into an arrogant grin.

"What was that? Some kind of attack? Please, I was trained to dodge that sort of thing while you were still sucking cocks for two bits an hour" he said in a cocky tone. Prosperous's smile had left her face, the mare gulping lightly, before she just shrugged and relaxed into her bath again.

"Low rent, useless brutes anyway" she muttered. "No matter. If you were going to kill me, you'd have done it already" she told him. She tensed slightly when she heard him laugh slowly, dryly almost. She looked up to see his bowed head bobbing with each laugh.

"You really think I'm gonna kill you? No…death's too good for a piece of scum like you" he told her. Prosperous took a breath as he put a hoof to her face delicately. "No…I'm gonna do something that's gonna send me right to hell when I done with you. But you know what? Somepony's gotta do it, because it's exactly what you deserve" he told her as he unbuckled his belt. Prosperous's eye widened.

"W-what are you doing" she demanded in a small voice as he pulled the chest of his coat open, releasing the buckles along the leather across his body until his chest, lower body and groin were revealed. "What are you doing" she demanded again in a slightly stronger but more fearful voice "put that away" she told him as his erect stallionhood bounced out of his coat. Her eyes widened in fear once more as he stepped into the bathtub, standing on his hind-legs as he pinned her against the wall.

"Just how many of these have you ordered, eh? How many times have you paid off some lowlife to attack and violate some poor mare? Or how many lives you've ruined by having them abducted and raped in the street, huh? How many wives, daughters, mothers, aunts, nieces, marefriends and fillyfriends have you got whoresing for you after you've had your thugs fuck 'em in an alley against their will?" He leaned in until the cold metal of his gasmask was pressed against her face and his warm stallionhood was pressed against her groin. "How many times have you laughed at them while you watched it happen?" He angled himself until his tip was against her lips. "Have you ever had it happen to you?" The mare gave him a soul-burning glare.

"I'll give you one more chance to get away from me before I scream for the guards" she told him. Red laughed again.

"Oh, you'll scream. Trust me, you will." He took her by the waist and spun her around, bending her over the side of the bath, spreading her hind-legs with his own before he held his tip against the lips of her clenched marehood. He looked over at a horrified Candle Light. "Kid, you may wanna look away" he said as he thrust in.

Prosperous writhed and kicked out, the water splashing around below them as Redwave thrust into her. She tried to turn and strike him, but Red would just push her back down and get back to violating her. Her time in the bathtub had left her slick and wet, both on her fur and skin and around her marehood and rosebud, but the struggling she gave cancelled it out. She growled and screeched as she tried to turn and rip his eyes out through that mask of his, but a hard, a very hard, slap to her flank and the stallion leaning over her back soon stopped her.

"Behave" he growled in a voice that would haunt her nightmares until the day she died. She gasped and panted as the stallion straightened up again, putting his fore-hooves on her upper back to hold her down as he resumed his fucking. She'd stopped trying to resist now, just gave up and resigned to her fate as she sobbed and whimpered. From above, Red cocked his head at her sudden calmness; if she was going to try and ride this out with dignity, she had another thing coming: she'd violated and humiliated countless mares before he'd even gotten his sea legs, and now it was her turn.

Prosperous gasped slightly when she felt him pull out suddenly, looking back to see if he'd given-

Her eye widened and her pupils shrunk to the size of a speck of dust, as he plunged back in, in a very different spot, not originally made for a stallionhood, but where he fucked her all the same. But it was her scream, her pained, humiliated, terrified scream that told everypony, everypony on the estate, what had just happened to her as her rosebud was stretched to almost breaking point, a drop of blood dripping from her virgin ass. And it was at that point, she'd never be able to look at any stallion the same way again.

Falling Leaf, despite his rank in the Shadow Weaver, was better accustomed to stealth than many knew. This fat was made obvious when he effortlessly melted into the shadows around the sides of the main hall, his coat of deep brown melting into the black that obscured him perfectly. He may have been an Enforcer, but he was a brute strike nopony saw coming.

Admittedly, this was a good thing, as he'd indirectly given himself the hardest time between himself and the other four assassins to have accompanied him, though for all the wrong reasons; Candle Light and Redwave weren't as experience as him and the others, specifically Candle, who only days before Blood Moon had showed up had he been on his first contract; Blood Moon and Ember had a hard time of it because of their goal, Loaded, who was an unpredictable stallion at best, and would be difficult for them to pin down, not to mention, he'd be the most heavily guarded; Leaf, however, was bringing this on himself with what he had set out to accomplish here. He had to find, and kill, any lingering Goldhooves family members that weren't been killed by the others.

So, with silence in his step and darkness on his back, he made his way to the nearest point of interest; the living room. There were windows with creases in the glass, obscuring details of the next room but allowing light to pass through. Between these glass panels was the main door, a brown oak door with more of the obscured glass panes letting light through. From inside, Leaf could make out the orange glow of a fire burning, and the silhouettes of ponies moving around inside. He stared at the door from his piece of the shade, watching the brightly lit entrance with an eagle's eye, waiting for some kind of opening he could exploit, or a distraction-

"Hey!" He froze, his eyes darting to a spot just inside the main door. "Hey Warblood, have you seen Axe head and his lot?" He relaxed again, but not before he took his chance to move; he looked up at the upper level balconies, finding no guards peering over, and the guards down here were all focused on the crumb of excitement going on during their watch. He darted along his shadow, taking the same route as Ember and Blood had earlier, and paused at the wall. The guards were still having their conversation, and he probably only had three seconds to get through the doors.

He darted forwards into the silver moon light; no doubt one of the guards glanced at him as he moved as quickly as he could, and pulled the door open as quickly and as quietly as he could before stepping inside and closing it behind him. Such a simple task had never been so nerve racking for the experienced Enforcer, but he'd apparently gotten it done without a hitch. He turned around and looked inside to find three ponies, a main and two well-dressed ponies, sitting before a fire. It was an eyebrow raiser, to say the least, that the maid was so close to the stallion resting with what looked to be a young colt. The stallion's head turned to the maid and they kissed for a second, leaning their heads together. Now things made perfect sense.

'Seems we have a cheat in the family, eh? Well, the decent thing to do would be to leave them to it and let them enjoy their evening. Pity I'm not a decent pony.'

Candle looked left and right before he found what he was after, a reasonably sized piece of paper that could easily hold this image. He held it to eye level and concentrated on the paper between his eye and the scene he wanted to capture. For a brief moment, the picturesque image of a mare, her stallion and son was captured on the piece of paper in full colour, in striking detail, before it faded and was reduced to a picture that would normally have taken hours to perfect. The image clearly captured the stallion who, if Leaf's information was correct, was known as Entitled, sat with a mare who was not his wife, Quillrunner. To make matters worse for them, he was sat with his son, who didn't look the least bit surprised by his father's dealings, suggesting he done so before.

With a smile on his face, Leaf tucked the image under one of the straps across his chest and turned back to the door; he peeked out of a small crack between the door and the frame and found nopony around, the assassin only capable of hoping the balconies were bare. He crept out slowly, his eyes scanning his surroundings, and dashed for the safety of the shadows again, coming to a stop outside the library. With a shrug, he went inside, not expecting to find anypony, but instead saw a mare, at the end of the corridor created by the numerous shelves of books, sat at a table, hunched over a book with a small lamp illuminating the words. He moved further into the library, intent on figuring out who this mare was and, if need be, kill her. He froze to the spot and quickly dashed for cover when a guard turned the corner, almost trotting straight into him. Leaf crouched down and watched as the black iron clad merc continued on his way. Leaf looked up the bookshelves and found that they reached the ceiling, removing the possibility of him climbing over them. Falling Leaf peeked around the corner of the bookshelf, finding more guards milling around, some in the aisles of books, some sat exhausted on chairs, others finding the energy to do their jobs while some seemed to have just lay on the ground and passed out.
This was going to cause some problems.

Leaf darted out of his hidey-hole, into another dark space between bookshelves. He trotted on until he made it to the other end of the shelf, where there was less light, and poked his head around; nopony was there but he could hear the sound of a guard coming up from behind. He stole around, slipping past one shelf and into the next isle. There was a guard kipping on the floor here, though he didn't seem to have hit R.E.M yet, so it would be easy to wake him up. Leaf to care in stepped over him, his constant shuffling only making it harder, and almost tripped when the guard took a hold of his leg. Leaf's head snapped back, prepared to slaughter his way out of here, when he noticed the guard had grabbed his leg in his sleep.

With an annoyed and relieved sigh, he pulled his leg away, only for the guard to tighten his grip with a small 'no, don't leave me again momma.' Clearly, a stallion with parental issues. As it was, these parental issues were getting in the way of a highly risky contract, so Leaf opted to put this sleeping stallion to sleep, pressing on a few nerves and knocking him out cold.

Leaf stood again and continued on his way, darting between shelves unnoticed, and came to a stop on the other side of the room; the guard going up and down this side had already passed by, giving Leaf a chance to move up again, darting into the bookshelves again when he felt eyes on him. There were now three shelves between him and his target, and twice as many guards. Leaf moved along his current shelf until he came to its end, poking him head out and finding it clear to move; he did, and he heard a small gasp from the end of the room. He froze again, his blood pumping faster than had when he'd been free-galloping his way here, as he waited for whatever was going to happen to happen. He looked to the ground, finding the shadow of a slender, well-shaped mare trotting slowly for his hiding spot. He held his breath and focused his mind, feeling the sharp tingling in his forehead. A dark, forest green glow took hold of his body as he shimmered slightly.

The mare looked around the corner and found nopony there; shrugging it off as a trick of the light, she turned back to her reading spot and sat down again. Falling Leaf released his breath as he shimmered back to visibility; an invisibility spell. A useful but highly straining incantation; he knew he'd have a headache in the morning. Leaf looked around the corner again and found that his mark had sat down again, he looked in the opposite direction and found that the coast was clear. He darted forwards, lunged for the mare and wrapped his hoof around her mouth, silencing her, before he dragged her kicking and muffled screaming body into a specifically dark corner.

He shoved her into the crook and blocked her in with his body, holding his fore-hooves either side of her head to hold her gaze to his.

"You know, for such a paranoid family, your guards are very undisciplined" he told the mare below him. She was a pretty mare, as all Goldhooves mares were, of blond fur, slight freckling around her muzzle and a bronze mane that reached down to her back in her sitting posture, a black streak in it, her tail following suit, only much shorter. Her eyes were gold and her cutie mark was a golden quill, drawing an ornate G. If Leaf was correct, she was called Goldquill, one guess as to how she got her cutie mark, and was the youngest sister of the Goldhooves family. Goldquill looked up in terror at the stallion clad in leather and gasmask before her, feeling her heart sink a little in fear.
"P-please-please don't kill me. I'm not like the others" she begged, her eyes tearing up a little. Leaf grunted.

"That's what they all say" he told her, gripping his katana with his right hoof, sliding it out intimately and setting it against her throat. She gulped slightly as she tried to squirm away.

"Please, please believe me. I'm not like my sister, like my brothers, my parents. They're bad ponies, but I'm not like them. I'm just my sister's assistant for Luna's sake" she almost sobbed. Leaf was unfazed.

"Give me one reason why I should believe you" he said in a dark tone, pushing the blade of the weapon further into her neck.

"I-I can help you" she told him, her voice cracking.

"I doubt it. I trained for fourteen years before I was even allowed to pick up a real blade, never mind open somepony's throat." She shook her head as much as she could.

"No, I-I can tell you where my sister is, her husband too" she told him.

"I already know where to find her cheating husband. I'm gonna let the press rip him apart instead" he answered.

"M-my sister then" she pleaded as tears ran down her face.

"Why should I believe you? For all I know you're setting me up." She shook her head again.

"I'm not, please, I'm not. I just don't wanna die. My sister is a bad pony, I've tried to reason with her, but mom and dad have just…corrupted her" she said. Leaf decided to play with her a little.

"And you feel there's no way back for her" he asked, his head cocked. She shook her head again, her slight confidence growing.

"No, I've tried time and time again to get her to stop what she does" she answered.

"And what does she do?"

"She-" she sniffled again "she's just a younger version of mother; she's had mares she felt looked better than her raped, she runs her own whorse house, she bribed and seduces officials and governors. She was lined up to become the mayor of Ponyville so she could run it into the ground, then the family would swoop in and save it at the last second, making themselves look like heroes so my mom and dad could get voted into Celestia's council of advisers. Please, I'm nothing like them. I don't wanna die, I'm scared" she told him. Leaf leaned in.

"I used to be afraid of the dark too, you know? 'Till I was told by a great stallion, a stallion who could take a shit on your family from such a height, Loaded would think Father Time himself had crapped on him, a stallion who explained to me, that the darkness isn't necessarily full of demons and monsters. That, since we don't know what's in there, it might not be so bad." He heard a small, long winded tap on the ground and looked down to find that Goldquill had peed herself.

"Please, don't kill me" she begged between near silent sobs, her fore-hooves covering her eyes as she turned away from the assassin, trying to hide away from him. Leaf suddenly couldn't do it, not because he suddenly believed her, but because he simply couldn't kill such a pathetic creature. He got off of her and settled back onto four hooves.

"Alright, fine" he grumbled, hating being cheated out of his kill by his damned pride and confusing morals. "Where is your sister. And let me remind you, I found and got to you undetected once. I can do it again." She nodded a few times. Leaf could tell by her expression and body language that if she'd been acting scared before, she certainly wasn't now.

"S-she's on the third level, above the smoking room, in her bedroom" she told him shakily. He nodded and stepped back, opened a window and held his hoof out. She looked between him and the window in confusion.

"Leave. Now. You're not going to go to the guards, you're not going to go to anypony. You're just gonna find the nearest hotel, rent a room and cry yourself to sleep. Got it?" She nodded silently as she passed him by, more tears streaming down her face in both terror and gratitude as she clambered clumsily out of the window and cantered into the night, Tartarus bent on finding somewhere to lie down so she could have a little cry. Or probably a big one.

'That's two down. Now, let's see who else is around.'

He hopped out of the open window and looked up along the wall; there were some indentations and outcrops for his to grab onto as he climbed up, enough shadow to keep him obscured and another open window on the second level. He frowned in displeasure when he noticed there wasn't one open on the upper level, but he'd have to make do. The guards in the library had just noticed Goldquill was missing.

He stood on the window sill and leapt up, grabbing the top of the window and pulling himself up. His hind-legs disappeared just as a guard glanced absently at the open window before shutting it. Leaf scaled the wall like a master, building climbing being one of the areas he was an expert in, and soon found his way to the open window. He peeked through, finding this and the other side of the hall guarded up here, but that the door leading to Loaded's office was unprotected. He hopped through the window, and though Leaf didn't much care, he assumed the dead bodies on the ceiling may have something to do with the hole in security outside Loaded's office. He turned and made his way up a set of well-hidden stairs, climbing up them with haste until he came to the top of them, slipping out and back into the comfort of the shadows. There was one guard up here, on Leaf's side, and he hadn't noticed, or didn't care about, the lack of his comrades. Leaf didn't waste time on subtlety, instead he just shot him through the heart with a broad head and hid the body in a broom closet. He trotted for the only room with a light on, and pushed through.

There she was: Quillrunner. She had dark purple fur and a sparkling black mane, flowing down her neck like a waterfall, the tips ruby red, reminiscent of her mother. Her tail followed suit, clinging to her flank and hind legs. She had a perfect body, curvy, hard muscles comprising her legs, a plump, round flank, probably a good mount for all the stallion's she'd 'persuaded' over her life and perfectly mixed body of hard and soft, her fur clinging to every line and contour. Her face was pretty, a soft curving jaw, alluring pink eyes and lashes so thick and full the seemed to comprise one (think Maud Pie). The cutie mark on her soft rump was a quill, similar to her sister, only this one was a black feather and facing the opposite direction, though it drew the same ornate G. She was drying her hair with a soft towel, apparently having just gotten out of the shower, and had a pair of cute, rimless glasses perched on her muzzle. She was, simply put, a perfect specimen of female beauty. And she made Leaf sick to his stomach.

There was a dull 'thunk' as one of Leaf's throwing knives stabbed into the wall an inch from her head, Quillrunner giving off a small shriek as she snapped her head to Falling Leaf. She was enraged for a second before her eyes widened; she recognised the gasmask, the infamous mask of the Shadow Weaver, she recognised the coat, their signature armour and clothing, albeit, it seemed to have been upgraded, and she recognised the oak brown colour to his leather. But, most of all, she recognised his stance, the way he held himself, and how she could feel his stare through his mask.

"Ahh, you again" she greeted, a knowing smirk on her face. She felt his glare in her bones.

"And you again" he returned, taking a few steps towards her. She even recognised the way her trotted. "Quillrunner, the one black mark on my record, the one blot on my reputation."

"The one that got away" she finished, still wearing her slightly smug smirk "come back for me then, have you?" He said nothing as he continued to approach, drawing his blade when there were a few steps between them. "What? Not even going to humour me in my final hours? Oh, woe is me that I can't have an engaging conversation with a dull, mostly silent assassin" she sighed sarcastically.

"I'm not an Assassin. I'm an Enforcer" he corrected. Quill simply shrugged her perfect, slender shoulder.

"Be that as it may, you're still a Shadow Weaver, and, now you'll correct me if I'm wrong won't you, the Shadow Weavers are a very proud band of assassins, who pride themselves on killing their targets, no matter what. Am I right?" Leaf just growled as Quill continued to smirk.
"Am I also right in saying that, when you had to return the fee, twice fold, and declare the contract a failure, you were demoted and made an Enforcer once more?" He grit his teeth.
"And all because of little old me?" He cracked his neck.

"Yes, all because of the manipulative, cowardly, corrupt little slut stood before me, I was demoted from Master back down to Mercenary, because she went galloping like a filly to her daddy, whining that somepony was out to get her, rather than standing up for herself" he growled as he thrust the sword at her in an accusing manner. "Let me tell you mare, you have no claim to fame for out-galloping me! You are not untouchable, for escaping me! You hid away, like a foal afraid of the Headless Horse, and you quivered and coward for months on end before you remerged, treated like a princess for escaping me! Not anymore Quillrunner, now you di-" He was cut off by the huge crash from behind him.

Redwave pulled out of her marehood and let Prosperous slump to the floor, her fore-hooves incapable of holding her up after five forced orgasms. She took heavy breaths, tears dried to her face as she rolled to her side to see the assassin tucking his stallionhood away and
buckling up his armour again. He looked down at her, and she could feel his smirk.

"Was it as good for you?" She almost broke down again, more tempted than ever to just curl up into a ball and cry for a few days as she relived the horror of the last half-hour or so.

"You're a monster" she told him. He chuckled dryly, his tone dark.

"How many other mares do you think have said that to the rapists you sent after them when they'd been violated? No, I'm not the monster here, you are. I'm just the assassin who put you in your place" he told her. She sniffled a few times.

"What gives you the right" she demanded as the tears came back "what gives you the right to just…do this?" He snarled at her as he leaned down.

"What gave you the right to watch those mares, those innocent mares lose their virginity to stallions who took the in the street against their will, while you sat next to them getting off over it? Oh yes, I've heard the stories. Everypony has." He stood up again. "And I'll be sure to make sure everypony hears this one" he said as he started to turn.

"Why" she croaked "why like this? Why couldn't you just kill me? You think this is justice for everything I've done?" The assassin laughed, throwing his head back in genuine laughter, finding real hilarity in her words.

"You think this is justice? Ha, only somepony like you would define this as justice. No, this isn't justice. This is just what's right." She tried to get up, her efforts to stand reduced to just holding herself up on her fore-legs, her hinds too weak after his violation of her.

"You call this right? This isn't right, this isn't good." He looked back at her, watching her from the corner of his eye.

"All things right, aren't necessarily good" he told her as he left the room with the other assassin, who'd remained silent throughout the whole event. Prosperous just sniffled a few times before she broke down, bawling into her hooves as quietly as she could. She didn't know what was worse; that she'd been raped in heat, or that because of the sensitivity said heat brought, she'd cum with him three times. She'd need an abortion soon.

Outside, Redwave stood with Candle Light, who was unnaturally quiet, even for an assassin. Red watched him for a while.

"Candle-" He'd gone to put a hoof on his shoulder before the young assassin batted it away.

"Don't Red…just…don't" he said quietly. Redwave nodded as he took a step away. Candle wasn't sure what to do; he'd come to terms with murder a little after his first contract. Leaf had taken him aside when he'd noticed him being so quiet and had a few quiet, kind and much needed words with him. He'd slept a little easier that night. But…what he'd just seen, what he'd just witnessed…he couldn't comprehend it, he didn't want to comprehend it, Redwave had just forced himself onto a mare, right in front of him. Yes, Prosperous was an evil mare, through and through, but the point was that they were assassins, not rapists. And that, despite being only a little less evil than Nightmare Moon, she was still a mare. He didn't think he'd be able to look at Redwave the same way again. He gulped and shuddered a little as the memories came back before he beat them down with a big mental stick. He heard Red talking through the haze of thought.

"Hey, look, there's Ember and Blood Moon. We should go-" He was cut off when one of the black blobs that were Ember or Blood Moon was yanked from the spot they were standing on as the great chandelier hanging from the centre of the roof fell to the ground with an explosive 'CRASH' the pony who'd been yanked away from the balcony strung up by the huge weight and hung limply.

Loaded glared at Blood Moon, glancing at Ember now and then before returning his concentration to the assassin holding him down; he was dressed in thick black and red leather, the other in midnight-blue and smoke-grey. He took heavy, ragged breaths, his lungs filling and emptying rapidly as he tried to get his breathing under control.

"Who are you, how did you get in here, do you have any idea who I am!" Blood Moon tapped his throat with the flat of his blade.

"We're assassins, we killed and sneaked our way up here and you're a corrupt aristocrat we've been contracted to kill" the dark stallion listed in return. At that moment, a light seemed to ignite in Loaded's head and he chuckled lightly.

"Oh, please" he said at length, a light laugh in his voice. He raised his hoof, lightly pushing Blood from atop of him; the dark stallion let him. The kill was all the more satisfying when the target thought they were in control. Loaded continued chuckling lightly as he trotted for the liquor cabinet in one corner. "I've seen many would-be assassins in my day, all of them like you; confident, dark, threatening. All of them have fallen" he told them. Ember held back the snort, but not the comment.

"You've met nopony like us" she told him. Loaded laughed again, his magic holding up a shot of scotch.

"Admittedly, nopony has gotten into my personal chambers before, but records are made to be broken. Now, and I know this is a little unorthodox, but would be so kind as to tell me who sent you after me? I'll need to have them slaughtered in the streets like a dog once I'm done burning you at the stake" he told them, his voice casual. Blood Moon didn't hold back the snort.

"What kind of assassin gives up his client?"

"What kind of assassin reveals himself to his target?" Loaded had looked out of one of the windows, turning his back to the assassins. Blood Moon took note of the fact that there were no windows directly behind the bed, on the back wall, but that there was a slightly suspicious bust of Loaded. Classy. Done with observations, Blood Moon tore his wakizashi from its sheath and watched it impale into the plaster beside Loaded's head.

"An assassin with questions" he exclaimed, marching towards Loaded. He jabbed him in the snout and held the tip of his katana a hair's breadth away from the stallion's eye. Loaded laughed again.

"My dear assassin, whether you have questions or not, I'll be giving you no answers. You see, ever since you've been in here, my guards have been gathering outside the door, awaiting my word to-"

"I see no guards" Ember said from across the room, the door held open to reveal said lack of guards. Loaded growled a little. Blood Moon chuckled.

"Trying for a bluff, eh? Care if I join in? You're gonna survive this encounter. That's my bluff. As in I'm lying." Loaded snarled.

"You're not going to kill me assassin, my life is not yours to take" he spat. The assassin gave a chuckled again.

"I'm an assassin Loaded. All lives are mine to take. Now" he pulled him to his hind-legs and held him against the wall, slamming his head against it and putting the blade to his neck "are you going to play nice, and answer my question? Or am I gonna have to torture you to death like I did your son." Loaded frowned suddenly.

"What do you mean" he demanded. The assassin grunted in amusement.

"Didn't you know? Your son's been dead for about a week now. Rotting in the Everfree, food for the Timbers. I'd put good money on that he's nothing but a pile of maggots and rotting flesh by now" he growled "and unless you want to end up the same way, you'll do as you're told and answer my questions" he ordered. Loaded looked fit to burst; his body shook violently in rage, his face contorted in anger, his neck muscles clenching and a vein on his head looking a little too close to popping to be funny. Loaded suddenly lunged for the assassin pinning him to the wall, despite the blade to his throat, and managed to knock him off his hooves. In response, Blood Moon stuck him between the ribs with his hidden blade.

Loaded fell off him, gasping slightly, holding his wound as he tried to crawl away. Blood Moon picked himself up and stalked over to the aristocrat. Now he was angry.

"You're upset about your son dying? You're angry over you loss?" Blood Moon picked up Loaded's head by his mane and slammed him to the ground. "Tell that to the fathers and mothers whose lives you ruined through your manipulation and greed. Tell that to the assassins who came here with the right idea, but not enough skill to take you down." Blood Moon picked Loaded up and flung him at a leather chair, putting a hoof to the noble's stab wound and pushing him down hard, making Loaded tense in pain. "There are three other assassins here with us. Two are going after your wife and the other is going around slaughtering the rest of you, I suggest you make this easy on yourself before I get really pissed and take out my really bad week on you" he snarled. "Now" he wound his hoof back and clobbered Loaded around the skull "are you going to play nice, or am I gonna have to show you what your entrails look like?" Loaded gulped slightly. This one was different.

"What do you want to know" he asked, partly in submission and partly in curiosity as to what he had to ask. Blood Moon grinned a deadly grin.

"One thing: why did you send Hardhoof after the Elements of Harmony?" Loaded frowned.

"What?" Blood Moon growled and slammed him against the back of the chair, resting his sword on Loaded's neck.

"Why. Did. You. Send. Hardhoof. After. The. Elements. Of. Harmony?" Loaded frowned again.

"What do you mean? I never order him to attack anypony" Loaded replied.

"A likely story" Ember said from behind Blood "we know, hay you said it yourself, Hardhoof his your son. He takes orders from the Goldhooves, not Shining Armour, and that means he takes orders from you" she told him "why did you send him after them?" Loaded had looked at the female assassin.

"I didn't! My last orders to Hardhoof were to await his sister's appointment of mayor, nothing more." Blood Moon leaned in close.

"Are you sure? I know many ways of…shaking up, somepony's memory." Loaded sneered, and Blood Moon desperately wanted to rip it off.

"If I'd sent my son after the Elements of Harmony, I think I'd remember for Luna's sake" he barked.

"Then who did send him after them" Ember demanded.

"The buck should I know? The colt may have been my son but he was ambitious and arrogant. Too arrogant, too ambitious, I always said it would be his downfall. He'd had his eyes on guard Captain for a long while, so I can only guess that's why" he told them snidely.

"And you really think an idiot like Hardhoof could think up a plan like that" Blood Moon demanded harshly.

"Yes of cour-… Well, I… He could have, I mean…he's not smart but he's not dumb…" Loaded frowned as he looked up at the gasmask on Blood's face. "There was somepony else behind this, a hidden benefactor, manipulating my son!"

"Bullshit. Boss, cut him, he's spinning tales" Ember said, weary of trying to pry answers from this noble. Blood Moon was silent. "Boss?" Blood Moon didn't move.

"He's telling the truth." His voice was empty, dead. It wasn't the void of anger when he'd first showed up, but of silent frustration, angry with the situation rather than a specific pony. Ember frowned.

"What? Boss, what do you mean he's telling the truth?"

"I mean he's not lying" Blood Moon exclaimed as he hopped off of Loaded and trotted away, past Ember and towards the door. The mare was stunned.

"So…so we're just giving up, we're letting him go? Boss, we're the only assassins to have ever come this close to him, and now you're just…trotting away?" Blood Moon didn't stop.

"Yes" he called back. Ember growled and chased after him, Loaded too stunned to move.

"Blood Moon” she hissed “just because he'd innocent of the crime we thought him guilty of, doesn't absolve him the other atrocities he's committed" she persuaded. The stallion was unmoved.

"No, it doesn't, but he's innocent of the crime I'm here for. That means, on principle alone, I won't kill him" he answered. Ember went to talk before Blood Moon suddenly turned. "But make no mistake" he told Loaded, his hoof pointed at him "it won't be today, but I will get you. I'll find you, strap you to a wooden board and make you beg for something as sweet as death. I'll have you eating your own entrails before I'm done with you. You'll be begging for the devil's judgment instead of mine. Remember this day, Loaded Goldhooves, for it will be the last when you can sleep easy" he growled, his voice stabbing through the noble's eardrums and into his soul. Loaded just gulped.

Blood Moon and Ember stepped out of the room and slammed the door behind them. Ember soon turned on Blood Moon.

"I can't believe you did that! We had him" she told him, tapping his chest. The stallion seemed distracted by something.

"Yes, I know, but I have my reasons. But for now, we should gather the others and-HUH!" The stallion couldn't finish his sentence before something lashed around his neck and yanked him up as the huge chandelier that had hung from the ceiling fell, intent on lynching him. Blood Moon felt himself get dragged up, ripping his katana from its sheath with his hoof as he went. He took a hold of the wire wrapped around his neck and pulled himself up, creating slack around his neck with the short time he had. He felt his armoured hoof his the anchor of the pulley system and let himself hang for a second swinging wildly in the open air. Flipping himself, he planted his hooves against the roof and yanked down, lifting the chandelier and slashed through the steel wire, feeling the wire give around his neck as he dropped. As graceful as a Pegasus, he flipped himself to his hooves midair and landed in a crouch, the dust kicking up around him, and slowly raised his head.

Another figure dropped from above, a pony, a pony in all pale white and darkest black. His armour was bulky and thick, but unnaturally silent. He raised his masked head, his eye meeting Blood Moon's. The dark stallion narrowed his eyes.

"Cadaver" he greeted at length, his eyes narrowed as he felt the scar on his face tingle a little "to what do I owe the pleasure this fine night?" Cadaver grunted.

"Blood Moon" Cadaver returned, his body completely still. "It's been a while." Blood Moon gave a tight smile from beneath his mask.

"It has…not long enough, apparently" he replied in a wry, weary tone. They remained silent for a while, Blood Moon unsheathing his katana while Cadaver's magic gripped his bow-staff and pulled it from its holster, the retractable staves each side of the grip extending. They could both feel the impending battle approach, these old foes; as they stood, regarding each other, a bunch of guards surrounded them.

"Place your weapons on the ground" one of the six of them called.

"Freeze, don't move" another shouted.

"Lay on the ground, and don't even think about going for your weapons" yelled one more.

"Put your hooves, on your head!" Further conflicting orders were all cut off when four black blobs dropped from above, the slender one firing a bolt into another's throat while the brown one flung a throwing knife into the last's jugular.

"I see you've brought company" Cadaver noted, like nothing had happened.

"I thought we'd make this a full on rave" Blood Moon answered with a shrug "get some music pumping, some booze flowing." Cadaver snorted in disgust.

"So juvenile, so foalish. You don't deserve the title 'assassin'" he told the stallion. Blood Moon shrugged again.

"And you don't deserve such badass armour" he retorted. With that, Cadaver struck.
His bow-staff was intercepted by Blood Moon's katana, a loud, reverberating 'clang' echoing through the marble hall, the sound reaching every room of every floor; both assassins remained still, Cadaver wielding his weapon in his magical grip, while Blood Moon held his blade beneath his hoof, against his fore-leg. They heard more weapons unsheathe around them, the Hunter sparing a glance at his allies to see that they held their weapons, ready to fight.

"Stand down" he ordered, his eyes going back to Cadaver. He heard a startled breath.

"What, boss, he-"

"I said 'stand down.' He's mine" Blood Moon growled.

"Boss-"

"Reaper! As your superior, I ORDER you to stand down" he bellowed "this stallion is way beyond your capabilities, none of you are a match for him" he told them sharply. "All of you, I order you to leave this place and go back to the hideout." There was a pause before they finally compiled, sheathing their weapons and fading into the darkness.

"Good luck" Ember said as she faded away. Blood Moon grunted.

'I'll need it.'

Blood Moon looked back at his foe and their eyes met for a second. After that, they erupted into a flurry of movement; Blood pushed his sword against his foe's staff, Cadaver stepping back with the pressure, the dark stallion stepping away too, whipping his blade to an over-hoof grip and slashing it along Cadaver's armour; the white iron stopped the blade easily, sparks between the metals, and the two stepped in again. Cadaver brought his staff down and Blood raised his sword in defence, the pair locking once more.

Above, their raised voices and the sounds of clashing metals had attracted an audience; staff, guards and Goldhooves stood on the balconies, watching their dual like some sick spectator sport. Loaded pushed his way to the front, still holding his wound, and demanded to know what was going one. He looked down at the pair of assassins and smirked slightly.

"You kill that bastard, I'll double whatever you're being paid" he told Cadaver. The iron-clad stallion turned his gaze up slightly.

"I doubt somepony like you could afford my fees" he said back. Loaded just snarled before he doubled over in pain.

Cadaver and Blood Moon went at it again; Blood slipped under Cadaver's guard and slammed his hoof into his chest, lifting Cadaver from his hooves before he threw him. The armoured stallion crashed into one of the huge, marble pillars holding up the balconies, the ponies atop it shaking slightly as the structural integrity was weakened. Cadaver pulled himself out of the rubble, brushing himself off like being thrown into a tower of marble was a mild inconvenience.

He pounced again, bringing his staff down on Blood Moon, who took it on his sword and slipped past the strike, bringing his sword down on the back of Cadaver's neck. The stallion raised his hoof and caught it on the back of his gauntlet, pushing the blade away before spinning and beating his staff into Blood's face. One of the eye pieces cracked, Cadaver piling on the pressure by driving his staff into the same eyepiece until it shattered; Blood hopped back, the staff still lodged in his mask, and whipped his head away, throwing Cadaver off-balance. Blind in one eye, Blood took the staff in his face and pulled it free, the glass in the mask cutting around his eye, though thankfully not the eye itself. Shaking the sense back into his head, Blood failed to notice Cadaver had recovered his balance and reached back into his hidden pouches; the dark stallion looked up in time to spot six shrunken flying towards him. He raised his sword and deflected the lot of them, all six flying away in different directions and stabbing into the wall. The Hunter already smelt a trap, and soon found it when he felt something wrap around his fore-legs and restrain them, a set of bolas. He looked up to find Cadaver stood over him; Blood raised his sword in his magical grip and parried the first killing blow, dodged out of the way of the second and rolled away from the third. He slipped his hooves from the bolas and reached back to his own pouches, grabbing a smoke bomb and throwing it to the ground. Blood immediately dived away while Cadaver pushed away the thick smog with his magic and looked around the dark hall. He knew Blood hadn't escaped. He was just planning his next offence.

And planning he was. Blood Moon sat in the shadows, stringing up a trap with his blow-pipe, bow and the pillar he was behind. He twisted his hoof against the marble and stepped away, putting his pipe to his maw and puffing hard. The steel dart was caught from the air by Cadaver, who immediately fired one of the bows along his chest in return, electing to stay away from the darkened corner he'd been attacked from. In response, another dart was fired at him, this one from above. He caught it out of the air again. Then, as he scanned the ceiling, he was struck in the side by an arrow; he looked down to find it had a strange canister at the head, a green gas inside pouring out. He wasn't worried, the air filter on his mask would- Another arrow shot into his side, this one on fire. His eyes widened for a second before the fire ignited the gas. The resulting explosion fired him into the second pillar holding up the balcony outside the library; the ponies atop screamed and panicked as they fled from the terrace, either into the library behind or onto the perch that remained standing.
There was stillness for a second, Blood Moon watching the white rubble before an equally white hoof broke through the rubble, the rest of the pony it belonged to clambering out. Cadaver pulled himself out of the rubble and stood atop it, his armour dusty and his mane and tail stuck with more chunks of marble here and there. He shook the unwanted weight from his body and stepped from the small hill of stones and rock, standing across from Blood.

"As much honour as before, Hunter" he goaded. Blood shrugged.

"Some fight for honour, I fight to win." Cadaver grunted and lunged again. Blood Moon dodged out of the way of the first swing of his staff, and the second, but the third caught him in his shoulder while the fourth hit him in the face. He was thrown to his back, Cadaver standing over him before long.

"Tell me; you've pursued you're demise for a long time now. Now that you face it, do you fear it? Do you fear death?" Blood grinned.

"Do you?" His hoof met the floor and he twisted it ninety degrees, the air around the pillar he'd hid behind pulsing and getting forced out from the spot Blood Moon's seal had sat on, the pillar tumbling down. It fell from the base, the few tonnes of marble aimed right for them. More screams came from above as the whole manner shook, the walls and foundations incapable of holding up the weight of the balconies and upper floors. Blood slid beneath Cadaver, holding him down over him to take the brunt of the weight. Cadaver grunted in surprise when he felt Blood grip him, glancing down in shock, before he looked up at the pillar a meter above his head. He gulped a second before it hit.

An earth shattering crash echoed throughout the hall, dust flying and foundations rocking as the estate tried to come down around them. Blood Moon crawled from under Cadaver and the mountain of rubble, standing victorious over his fallen foe. That is, until Cadaver stood with him. He leapt up, his hind-leg spinning along the floor, his momentum taking him around and throwing the same legs into the air as he performed his rising kick. Blood leapt over the sweep and leant back from the kick, Cadaver landing on his hooves and bringing his staff down once more.

"You're mad" he rumbled as he struck. Blood lifted his own blade, the pair met in a lock, for the third time.

"Well that's good, because if I wasn't that probably wouldn't have worked." Blood didn't hesitate to step beneath their lock as Cadaver gave an aggravated growl at Blood's ridiculous comments; he brought his hoof up and struck Cadaver from below, taking him off his fore-hooves, and assaulted him with a rapid flurry of strikes; there was a dull metallic 'clunk' whenever his hoof met the stallion's helmet, his head thrown side to side, up and down, with every hoof to meet his obscured face. After fifty consecutive blows, Cadaver caught Blood's hoof from the air and pulled him into his own strike, slamming his hoof into his gut and pushing the air from him. Blood returned the favour by planting a heavy strike across Cadaver's temple. The armoured stallion shook it off and threw Blood Moon away.

The Hunter landed on his hooves, twisted his right hoof against the floor and watched as the air around Cadaver's head suddenly expanded, throwing him to the side. Cadaver was thrown to the side by the sudden explosion on his helm, crashing into a pillar holding up one of the remaining balconies. Blood Moon charged and leapt, bringing his blade down execution style; Cadaver looked up and caught Blood out of the air on his hind-hooves, holding him up and beating a fore-hoof across the dark stallion's face, balancing himself on his fore-hooves and taking Blood's neck in his hind-legs, intent on slamming his head into the marble rubble; Blood landed on his fore-hooves and things were a blur for a second, the ponies watching on blinking before they appeared again with Blood Moon wrapping his hinds around foe's his neck and flipping him over, reversing the throw; Cadaver's head met the ground, rolled to his hooves and threw Blood Moon off of him, holding his fore-leg up and sparking his horn to life; his staff flew into his hoof as Blood galloped for him again, grabbing his blade as he passed it, and brought it up.

Cadaver slid the blade up his staff and flicked it off the tip; he spun and jabbed Blood in the gut with the rear-end of the staff, stepping in a roundhouse and clubbing him across the jaw; Blood recovered and brought his sword across, bringing it down on Cadaver's head. It bounced off with a few sparks flying, the pair of them spinning away from each other before lunging again. They met each other's strikes with their own, Blood swinging his blade fast and hard, aiming for the spots unprotected by the metal all over his foe, Cadaver moving his staff with just as much ferocity as he met Blood's strikes in a shower of sparks and noise, looking for an opening in his flurry of strikes. They stepped back and forth as they struck at each other, neither miss stepping or missing a beat as their weapons danced together, trying to get around, past or through one another.

The dark stallion swung his blade, Cadaver catching it against his staff before he flicked it off, spinning and aiming his counter at an assassin who was no longer there. Blood Moon beat the pommel of his weapon into the back of Cadaver's skull and dropped from his foe's back, bringing the knee of his fore-leg into his opponent's spine. Cadaver grunted and spun, Blood catching the hoof against his fore-leg and spinning past, beating his right into Cadaver's temple. The armoured stallion stepped away and rolled to his hooves after he stumbled. Blood advanced, Cadaver leapt and ploughed his hind-hooves into Blood's chest before he dropped onto the back of his neck and pushed himself to his hooves again with his fore-legs. Blood rolled back and onto his hooves to spot his foe's advance, stepping out of the way of his thrust and slashing his blade along his chest, following it up with a pommel to the fore-head. Blood Moon swiped his blade at Cadaver's horn, the armoured stallion catching it against his armoured hoof and wrenching Blood's sword away.

Undeterred, Blood kept up his assault with a flurry of strikes; he jabbed his foe twice in the head, gave him a round house to the skull with his hind, brought his skull to his helmet, rammed his hoof into his chest and leapt around his neck, burying his hoof into the back of his foe's head. He swiped his sword back and took it in two hooves, aiming it at Cadaver's exposed neck. The armoured stallion spun, leaping from his hooves, catching Blood's head with his fore-hoof and bringing his head to the ground with a 'thwack.' Blood rolled to his hooves, lunging for Cadaver with his sword thrust. Cadaver leapt back and beat his staff over Blood's head, the Hunter dodging out of the way and countering with a swipe of his blade across Cadaver's face, sparks flying as he left a grove in the metal.

Blood followed through with a second strike, across the helm once more, and finished with a stab to Cadaver's chest. The armoured stallion then turned the tables; his hoof met the back of Blood's blade and pushed it up and away from any vital points; he heaved the Hunter away and flicked his bow-staff to the side. Four razor blades extended from the weapon, two at the tip, a small gap between them, and another outside them, another small gap between them and the inmost blades.

The pair lunged again, Cadaver leading with the bladed end of his spear and slicing numerous cuts into Blood's leather before he could get his blade in the way of each strike. They clashed, stepped back and clashed again, their weapons meeting between them as they did, their faces barely an inch away from each other as they stepped and met, ever moving in their dance of death. Blood swiped his hoof against Cadaver's own, knocking his balance from beneath him, and quick-stepping around his guard, bringing his blade against the back of his foe's skull. Another dull metallic 'clunk' sounded as Cadaver was thrown forwards and the Hunter followed through with a roundhouse that met the back of his skull, forging similar results. Blood leapt up and took his sword in hoof, aiming the tip at his foe's neck; Cadaver spun and knocked the dark stallion's blade off course, Blood Moon stepping too far and losing his balance as he stepped past the armoured stallion. Cadaver swung his spear once more, Blood ducking beneath it, and returning with a slash of his blade. The Hunter followed through, landing a strike on Cadaver's face and hopped back; he reached back for his pouches and-

His eyes widened slightly when he found nothing back there. He looked up to find Cadaver, holding a belt with many pouches in his hoof, letting it dangle for a second before he threw it to the balcony and out of the assassin's reach. Blood Moon narrowed his eyes and cracked his neck left and right. Cadaver charged once more, in response, Blood sheathed his sword in his bandolier, reached back again and drew his bow; he leapt to the side to avoid Cadaver's incoming strike, notched an arrow and shot it into Cadaver's side. The saw-tooth arrowhead penetrated deep into the armour, electing a growl of pain from Cadaver, before he turned and lunged again, knocking the bow from Blood's hoof before the dark stallion reached for his blade. Their dual re-engaged, sparks flying between their weapons as they struck, counted, over-countered, slipped out of said over counter and returned with another strike, the pattern repeating itself again and again.

Blood thrust his blade, Cadaver stepping to the side and ramming his weapon up. Blood dodged, rising to his hind-legs and beat his hoof across his foe's head, taking him by the mane and stabbing his blade at his foe's face; Cadaver moved his face to the side and let the blade slide past his mask, digging another groove into his mask. Cadaver beat his fore-knee into Blood's stomach and heaved him away, Blood returning with blade in hoof; Cadaver moved his spear up to intercept. He caught the strike between the blades and twisted it; there was resistance, Blood taking his blade in both hooves while Cadaver did the same with his spear. It devolved into a battle of strength until Cadaver shoulder barged Blood and wrenched his balance away from him with his spear. Cadaver struck Blood across the head and twisted his spear savagely.

The metallic 'snap' echoed across the hall as the broken piece of metal fell to the floor. Cadaver moved in again, not giving Blood Moon a chance to think; he beat his staff over the dark stallion's head and followed through with a jab to the guts with the blades. Blood leapt back, out of the way, and landed on his flank, rolling to his hooves. Cadaver was already before him; he spun and bucked Blood in the face, sending him rocketing back into the remaining pillar. The dark stallion lifted himself up, holding himself up against the pillar. He looked down at the broken sword in his hoof before he tossed it away and went for his other weapon. His eye narrowed. His belt was still missing, even if it wasn't, he'd left his wakizashi in Loaded's chambers, like a fool. He growled and advanced, pushing himself off the pillar and returning Cadaver's advance. The armoured stallion broke into a gallop, Blood Moon returning it as they charged. Blood leapt into the air, reaching back with his fore-hoof and grabbing the blow-pipe there. With a sharp blast of breath, he fired the steel dart into Cadaver's armour, hitting leather by sheer luck. The armoured stallion grunted, faltering in his charge as Blood came down and beat the blow-pipe across Cadaver's head. He followed through with four more strikes with the pipe until Cadaver caught it between his blades, like he had the katana, and twisted the blades. Blood let him, turning his weapon against Cadaver's; they each felt the pressure build in the weapons and awaited the inevitable break. There it was, an earth shattering splinter as the metal of Cadaver's spear broke.

The armoured stallion backed up in shock, looking down at the broken blades of his spear in astonishment. Then anger. He lunged for Blood Moon once more, striking him across the face and wrenching the blow-pipe from his hoof and tossing it away, bringing his staff down on Blood Moon's skull; the dark stallion caught it in his cross-hoof guard, wrapping his hooves around it and wrenching it away; he held it at both sides and bent it at the middle, a metallic 'creak' groaning out as he did. Cadaver narrowed his eye as his old, silver glow gripped his sword and slipped the blade from its sheath as he sunk into stance, Blood watching his foe's blade in envy and wishing for his own to fight with. The dark stallion tossed away Cadaver's now bent staff and rolled his neck.

Cadaver lunged for Blood, bringing his blade down on the assassin; the strikes were fast, furious and fearsome, his blade never staying still for a second as he danced around Blood Moon, looking for an opening. Blood blocked and parried each strike on his bracers, small sparks flying as the hardened leather and well-tempered metal met time and time again; Cadaver swung his blade around his head, Blood taking it on his bracer, Cadaver spun off the attack and retaliated with a second strike with his blade, which Blood caught on his bracer again. Cadaver leapt, his hind-leg firing at Blood Moon, who dodged and countered; his hoof met the flat of Cadaver's blade in defence, who stepped past him and swung his blade around again, Blood ducking under and retaliating with his own roundhouse kick with his hind leg, his hoof catching Cadaver across his helm before he came down again and thrust both fore-hooves at his foe; Cadaver took the heavy strike on his face, Blood Moon denting the mask slightly, and was pushed off balance, the leather-clad stallion taking advantage of his stumble; his right fore-hoof slammed into the eyepiece, the fore-knee following it in as he dropped low and swept his hooves from beneath him. Cadaver landed on his front, quickly rolling away as Blood's hoof came down to finish him, rising with his sword swinging hard and fast, leaving a groove in the marble floor as his upper-cut slashed through the air, Blood dodging left and catching the sneaky rip stab on his bracer and stepping past the strike to return with his own, his hoof meeting the flat of Cadaver's blade once more. They stepped back once more and resumed their attacks, Cadaver taking the lead with more strikes aimed at Blood's neck and other vital points, the assassin returning to his defensive maneuvers, stepping back and to the side, taking each strike on his bracers and avoiding his foe's kicks and other strikes. The armoured stallion gave a hard swing, Blood meeting metal with leather and stepping past, slamming his hoof into his foe's face; Cadaver shook off the blow and continued his onslaught, lashing out with strike after strike with his sword, sparks flying off of the dark stallion's bracers until Cadaver went low and sliced at Blood's gut. Blood Moon took the strike.

The dark stallion growled in pain as Cadaver's sword opened his stomach, blood seeping through his leather and skin as the assassin bucked him to his back and pinned him down with his sword to his throat.

"I'll admit, I was hoping for more of a challenge" he admitted. Blood grinned from behind his mask.

"I'm not done yet" he answered.

"Oh, but you are. I can finally add your name to my list" he goaded. Blood Moon grunted.

"Hate to burst your bubble and everything, but I can't die" he chuckled. Cadaver chuckled with him. He leaned his head in and spoke directly into the dark stallion's ear.

"I don't have to kill you to get rid of you" he whispered as he pressed the blade to his neck.
"Of course, Celestia probably won't be happy with finding out you're alive, but I think she'll be at least...appeased with what I've thought up." Blood Moon narrowed his eyes.

"Celestia?" He could feel Cadaver's grin.

"Yes. She charged me with murdering you. I thought it'd be harder than this, waiting here for you to turn up" he laughed a little "guess I'm gonna have to pay those mercs I hired to ruff up those mares after all" he said with a grunt. Blood Moon's blood pressure suddenly shot up.

"What!" Cadaver laughed once more.

"Oh, yes. To be honest, I didn't think you'd fall for the bait at first; I knew you were going to go after the Goldhooves when you killed Loaded's son, I just didn't know when. So, while I waited here, I had a few goons go kill the mares you've been holding out with the past week. Thought it might…draw you out" he smirked. "Now, say goodnight, Hunter." Blood Moon put his hoof against Cadaver's shoulder to hold him back for the single second he needed.

"My time will come Cadaver" Blood Moon growled "just not today." He flexed his left leg and the blade extended, the assassin stabbing the armoured stallion in the spot between his armoured shoulder and neck. Cadaver growled in pain and rolled off, holding his wounded shoulder. He looked up to find Blood Moon stood up and charged, but another explosion rocked the whole estate. He looked back to find Loaded's office crumbling into the living room, the main bedroom following it. The rest of the house caved in at the back, the only thing holding up the bulk of the house being the last marble pillar. He suddenly spotted a faint circle on the remaining pillar, and knew what was going to happen. He whipped his head back to Blood Moon.

"You're insane" he roared "you'll bring the whole place down!" Blood Moon laughed before the pain of his wound hit him.

"Have I ever told you…the definition…of insanity?" With that, he turned his hoof ninety degrees and let the explosion rock the whole estate as he disappeared in a cloud of dust as the marble hall collapsed around them.

The roof caved in first, the guards atop falling into the house as it collapsed; the walls came down with the roof, pulled down as the stone roof hit the balconies and ripped them down, the walls breaking at the mortar and crashing to the ground. The staff and guards all screamed, the Pegasi amongst their numbers taking to the sky and carrying their co-workers, while the Unicorns that were capable teleported away from the danger zone. The earth ponies leapt from the windows, thudding to the ground with a few broken legs between them, but all together better than what would have happened had they stayed in the house. Cadaver stayed in his spot, the building crumbling around him as he remained stoic and still.

When the dust had settled, Cadaver looked around himself. Blood Moon was gone, nought but a destroyed estate and his slightly chipped pride in his place. He heard the sound of the approaching guards and took his leave, vanishing into the night. The only small spark of satisfaction he got from this was that he knew Blood Moon wouldn't be happy to find the Elements of Harmony in the state he would. He'd made sure of that.

Blood Moon had teleported a block away from Goldhooves estate; the contract had been a disaster, the job in ruins, but as of right now, that wasn't on his list of cares. All's he cared about
now, was getting back to Ponyville.

"Boss, what happened?" Blood Moon very nearly sliced Candle in half nothing but his hoof. He whipped his head around to find the four of them, Ember, Leaf, Candle and Red, all stood behind him on the roof he was stood upon. He struck Candle in the face, beat Leaf around the head with the Enforcer's blow-pipe, head-butted Redwave and slapped Ember.

"I GAVE YOU A DIRECT ORDER TO RETURN TO BASE" he roared. He barged past them. "You do not disobey a direct order like that" he growled "but right now, I don't care. We've gotta get back to Ponyville. The Elements of Harmony are in trouble" he told them. To say they were confused was an understatement.

"Ponyville? Blood Moon, we've gotta get back to base, avoid the guards" Ember argued. Blood Moon rounded on her.

"Listen, I know you're right, I know you are, but I won't let those mares die. And I'll need your help" he told them. Ember raised an eyebrow; he sounded almost…desperate?

"Moon…I-" She was cut off when Blood Moon doubled over in pain; he held his gut and Ember looked down at the spot that seemed to be causing him . Her eyes widened as the air left her lungs in shock as her eyes met the deep cut in his stomach. Blood Moon looked up to find her concerned gaze and shook it away.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll live. But we've gotta get back to Ponyville. I…I can't make it by myself; I'm too tired, I'm in too much pain. Ember, please, I need your help." Ember swallowed. Never once had he asked for assistance like this before. She nodded as she put her neck under his fore-leg, holding him up.

"Yeah, sure Moon, c'mon" she answered. Ember looked up at the other assassins, taking charge for the second, and nodded. They nodded back and disappeared in a spiral of leaves for Red and Leaf and feathers for Candle. She looked down at Blood Moon, hearing him growl in pain, and readied him. She teleported, feeling the strength sap from her system after the massive jump. She swayed unsteadily, her mind numbing and her strength leaving her; she wasn't used to such big teleportation's.

When she looked up again, she spotted a rather colourful battlefield; there were fifteen thugs, all grey, brown and black, any colour dulled by years of war and espionage. Some were armed, some weren't, some were unicorns, some Pegasi and others earth ponies. Besides them, however, were some of the unusual combatants she'd ever seen; one was a Pegasus, notably older than the others, who wore an eye patch, a beanie and wielded a scimitar in his hoof, holding off a trio of mercs. The other was a pink mare; her mane and tail were completely straight and her eyes and smile… They'd haunt her dreams until the day she died. Other than that, she held a freshly bloodied knife in her hoof, her face, mane and body covered in equally fresh blood as she cut down a few mercs. The other three were a purple unicorn holding back a few other unicorns firing spells at her, while the other two were an orange earth pony she swore looked familiar and a cyan Pegasus who was currently brawling with another two mercs. Candle, Leaf and Redwave had joined the fray as soon as they'd arrived, Leaf killing one and moving to another, while Candle and Redwave took another each. Ember herself went to join the fun when she noticed that Blood Moon was missing.

Applejack held back the stallion she was brawling with, beating her hoof across his head whenever she could, the stallion getting a few hits in too. She threw her foe to the side, hoping to get some distance so she could buck him, but he dragged her with her.

"Ju's who are yew" she demanded as they exchanged blows. The stallion grinned a slightly bloody grin.

"The stallion who's gonna kill yo- AHG!" The farm-hoof watched in confusion as his back arched and his face contorted in pain, his hoof going back before he was thrown to the ground from behind by one of the ponies wearing the gas masks that had shown up out of nowhere and his face was broken to a pulp by the same pony a he was curb-stomped.

Rainbowdash growled and spat and grunted as her and her Pegasus enemies darted around the air, striking out at each other; she was faster than the two of them, capable of getting in more hits, but they were much stronger than her, and had combat experience; more than twice she been countered and thrown to the other, who'd grab her before he hit her across the head. She landed, panting, and the other two came down with her, both grinning at her with deadly intentions. There was a sharp 'snap' and one of the merc's hooves went to his neck, holding it as blood spat from it as he fell. The other looked to his ally and was taken down by a stallion who appeared from a black blur, holding up the merc by his throat before he twisted his grip on his neck and snapped his neck. The masked stallion in black leather looked at her for a second before he moved again.

Pinkamena was having fun. Only she wasn't having fun. She was smiling, only she was smiling for the wrong reasons. But all smiles were good, right? If she smiled, other ponies smiled with her. That was the way it had normally been, anyway. But the stallions before her didn't look to happy; she'd tried cutting smiles into their faces, and that hadn't worked too well; she'd tried drawing smiles on their bodies with her cake-cutter, and they didn't seem to like that; then she'd noticed they didn't want to smile, and Pinkamena knew they was only one thing to do with that kind of pony. MAKE THEM BLEED.

She'd stabbed and cut them both already, but they didn't seem to want to die. She didn't get that. They were very content with making her die though, but that was a laughable notion; you couldn't kill laughter. No matter if it was laughing at a funny joke, or your mutilated corpse. Her knife sung through the air like her 'Smile' song, and bit into their flesh like a Manticore ripped apart a filly. She pranced happily to the side as she dodged about, and opened their flesh and grew aroused at their entrails. She ducked under their slices like she was playing limbo, and cut out their eyes and ate them. Her fun was stopped suddenly, however, when a black blob cut across her view and took her new friends off their hooves, both choking to death as their bruised throats swelled and closed. She looked up at the mean pony who'd killed her friends, and had factices about ripping out his intestines and making a cupcake with them.

Twilight was not enjoying herself. When these thugs had turned up, she hadn't known what to think, but now that she was trying to fight two of them off, she really wished she'd had more time to practice her fighting with Blood Moon; at the moment, she could do nought but try and remember what he'd said, about always moving and stepping properly, and so far it had saved her life more times than she'd like to count. It wouldn't save her though; already, more than one spell had cut it too close, and her mane and facial fur were both badly singed and blackened. She gotten a few good hits on the ponies fighting her, but she couldn't spare the time to charge up a powerful spell to do some real damage to them.

The magenta mare suddenly miss-stepped, stumbling slightly, and she knew she was done for; even with her moving, she'd almost been hit at least five times, so still, falling over no less, she was a goner. But it never came; as she stumbled, she looked up to see a unicorn stallion in black leather leap over her right-most foe, snap his horn off and jam it into the lefts eye, while his left hoof shot towards the right as a small, metallic 'shink' rang out as the unicorn dropped, a blade having gone through his eye and into his brain.

Leaf, Redwave and Candle Light all dropped their foes with quick strikes to their torsos and necks, Leaf opening his enemy's jugular, fast and neat, as Candle stuck his blade through his merc's neck. Redwave went for something more 'seaworthy' as his cutlass opened his foe's stomach before he stabbed it up through his skull, lifting him from his hooves for a second before he dropped him. The three assassins looked to the other three mercs, facing a single stallion with an elderly grey mane wielding a scimitar. He made short work of his enemies as he slashed a cross onto the first's chest and stomach, blood and gore pouring from the deep cuts, killing the second by cutting off the hoof holding his weapon and dragging him onto his sword. He turned to the last and struck him across the face so hard he spun, his back exposed; the old stallion stabbing his blade through the back of his head and wrenching it with a brutal strength to the side, letting it spin until it had gone around once and his dead face was looking at the Pegasus warrior, who trotted past him and wrenched the blade free with graceful and badassed nonchalance.

In the short silence of the aftermath, there was a scream. Everypony looked to the direction it had come from; it was Blood Moon, his mask laying a little behind him, straddling the last merc as he dug the merc's broken off horn slowly into his chest, above his heart.

"Where are they" he growled in a low voice, just loud enough for everypony to hear. The guard spat blood at him. Blood Moon was unimpressed. "I don't have time for games" he growled. He pulled back the horn before he stabbed it down into the merc's shoulder, letting him try and pull it out again as he kept his hoof atop of it and held it in. "I'm gonna ask you again" he struck the merc across the face with tooth shattering strength. Even Ember flinched when she heard the bones crunching under the Hunter's hoof as they met the stallion's face.
"Where are they" he asked in an overly calm voice. He didn't wait a second before he struck the merc again. "Where are they?" Another crunch. "Where are they?" Another gut wrenching crunch.

Twilight gulped as she watched the stallion beat information out of the merc; it was obvious what he was after: when the mercs had first arrived, they'd found Fluttershy and Rarity outside, tending to the critters. They, for the second time in a month, had been kidnapped by a bunch of hired killers. But what really made her pity the stallions who'd gone off with them was that they'd made off with the Cutie mark crusaders too. She found the strength and resolve to slowly approach the stallion beating one of her and her friend's attackers
senseless, gulping slightly when she heard the sharp contact between hoof and face.

"Blood Moon" she said quietly, standing a little behind him. He didn't do anything to acknowledge her. "Blood Moon" she repeated. He faltered in his strike.

"They took them Twilight" he said. The purple unicorn gulped slightly; the growl in his voice, the darkness, the murderous intent...the almost casual, monotone tone.

"I-I know they did Blood Moon" she answered unsteadily.

"I'm going to find out where they took them" he turned his full attention back to the merc at his mercy "it's up to him how many pieces he'll be in when he does." The merc gulped. Twilight didn't say anything; maybe something of Blood Moon had rubbed off on her, but she didn't much care about what happened to this merc.

"I suggest you tell him" she offered the broken merc. He took a few shallow breaths as he looked between them.

"B-buck you" he spat. Blood Moon struck him across the face once more.

"If you don't tell me, I'm going to give you an extensive lesson in the torture techniques I'm very well versed in" he hissed. The merc remained silent. Blood Moon took him by the hind-leg. "First, we start off by doing as much non-lethal damage as possible; this generally consists of removing the legs in some form or another-"

"The Everfree Palace" the merc barked suddenly "they were taken to the Everfree Place" he said as his nerve broke. Blood Moon grinned as he took him by the mane and chin.

"Was that so hard" he asked. Blood Moon felt a hoof on his shoulder.

"Blood Moon…don't. He's not worth it" Twilight said quietly. Blood Moon looked back at her, finding her pleading eyes. He sighed as he looked at her for a second; she didn't want to see anymore death today. He wrenched the merc's neck upside down. Unfortunately, it wasn't her choice.

"No, he wasn't" he answered as he stood. He looked to the ponies that had showed up.

"Ember, Leaf, Candle, Red! You're all staying here. Make sure no more of these mercs show up" he ordered. The pony, a mare apparently, in midnight blue spoke up.

"No way Moon, you're wounded and-"

"EMBER! That's an order" he reminded her. The mare shut up and held her ground as she audibly snarled at him. Blood Moon disappeared in a flash.

He reappeared inside the Everfree Palace. Before him were five more mercenaries.

'How many's this now Cadaver, twenty mercs? A little overkill.'

Blood Moon trotted towards them, taking his time, and the ponies turned to face him. They advanced on him, four stallions and a mare, three earth ponies, a Pegasus and a unicorn. The Pegasus attacked first, Blood Moon slipping past his lunge with a small spin and opening his foe's throat with his hidden blade, the dark stallion's trot never once stopping; the second and third, a unicorn and an earth pony, attacked next. The earth charged and Blood Moon's horn flared as the shadows cast by the silver moon around the broken walls burst into flames that lashed out at the stallion, quickly engulfing him and burning him to nothing. The unicorn fell when Blood caught his magical bolt and threw it back, blinding him for a second before he was impaled on Blood Moon's horn. Finally, the earth swung his hoof; Blood Moon caught it out of the air, put his spare fore-hoof against his foe's chest and ripped his leg clean off before he kicked him onto his back and throttled him to death. When the last breath of life had spluttered from the merc, his gaze ever-so-slowly turned up to the last merc, a mare, stood at the end of the hall, holding a struggling filly hostage. Scootaloo.

Rarity and Fluttershy, both weeping in fear and relief, held Sweetie-Belle and Applebloom respectably, Scootaloo having been wrenched away from Fluttershy by the desperate mare. The two innocent mares held their respective fillies to their chests, covering their eyes from Blood Moon's wrath.

"Stay back" the mare called over, holding a knife to Scoot's throat. Blood Moon didn't stop trotting towards her. She pressed the knife into the orange filly's neck further, prompting Blood Moon to pause. She smirked with a sudden confidence. "That's better. Y'know, you really live up to your stories. I wish I could be there to watch the boss cut your balls off and feed them to you" she hissed. Blood Moon cocked his head.

"Tenebrarum" was all he said. The mare frowned for a second. "Let it embrace you" he continued. The mare suddenly noticed something wrong with the shadows in the room; for one, his was reaching over to the shade cast by the wall, a strand of shade reaching over to her own light spot. Then she felt a sudden warmth that tingled her whole body. A scream ripped from her throat as she suddenly burst into black flames. Blood Moon continued to the fillies and mares, picking up Scootaloo and carrying her to the others, stepping lightly over the ashes of the former mare. "How are you" he asked simply, looking over them all. They seemed alright, the mares and fillies attesting to this as they nodded. "Any wounded?" Rarity spoke, albeit a little shakily.

"Y-yes, that awful mare cut Scootaloo" she said, nodding at the filly on Blood Moon's back. She gurgled something. Blood turned his head back slightly.

"What?"

"I-I don't…feel too good" she answered in obvious pain. Blood Moon didn't say anything; instead, he held his hoof out, Fluttershy and Rarity hesitating a second before they took it. There was another flash, and they landed outside Fluttershy's cottage. Scootaloo groaned and fell from Blood Moon's back. The dark stallion quickly turned to her.

"Scootaloo? Are you awake?" She gurgled again. Blood Moon looked at the cut on her; it went across her stomach, it was deep, it would probably scare too, but she wasn't bleeding so badly anymore. He heard the sounds of hooves approaching.

"What's going on, what's up with Scootaloo" Rainbowdash asked.

"I don't know" Blood Moon answered quietly as he looked over her. He put his lips to the opening on her side and sucked for a second before he pulled back so fast he almost gave himself whiplash and spat out the toxin. "Oh no" he said in a dead voice "Dead tree root extract" he said quietly. Rainbowdash was looking over Scootaloo too now.

"What? Dead tree root extract? What's that" she asked in a panicked voice. Twilight gasped.
"What? What's up? Twilight, what's going on" she asked, nay, demanded, her voice and expression showing panic and dread. Blood Moon mumbled something. RD looked at him. "What? What did you say" she asked, her voice still scared as she wheeled around, looking for answers.

"It means, it's incurable, Dash" Sand Stalker was the one to say quietly. The cyan mare whipped her head to him.

"What? What do you mean there's no cure?"

"It means there's nothing I can do" Blood Moon whispered. RD turned to him.

"What!?"

"It means there's nothing I can do" Blood Moon growled as he grit his teeth in anger. Not at Dash, not Scootaloo, himself. But Cadaver. It was for precisely this reason, Rainbowdash's frantic search for a way out, a way to let her little sister live, that he never killed an innocent. Dash was speechless for a second.

"B-but-you-I" she stuttered. She suddenly turned on Blood. "THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT" she roared as she lunged at him, the pair rolling over as they shed tears, beating the crap out of each other. "EVER SINCE YOU GOT HERE, IT'S JUST BEEN ONE TREK THROUGH TARTARUS AFTER ANOTHER" Blood Moon hit her in the teeth, chipping a few. "THE GUYS IN THE MARKET!" She struck Blood across the skull and broke her hoof, but she didn't care. "THE CHANGELINGS!" Blood Moon took her by the shoulders and head-butted her. "PINKAMENA!" She hit him in the muzzle, blood spurting as she broke it. "THE DAY WE WERE KIDNAPPED!" Blood Moon struck her in the gut, pushing the wind out of her. "THE DAYS ALL OF US WORRIED SICK OVER YOU!" Rainbowdash bit into the hoof keeping her back, biting through the leather and into the flesh in her adrenalin fuelled rampage. "THEN YOU THREATENING TO KILL US ALL!" Blood Moon hit her across the face, leaving a black eye. "AND NOW THIS! SCOOTALOO'S DEAD BECAUSE OF YOU!" Blood Moon managed to throw her off of him and stand up on shaky hooves. Rainbow glared back at him, breathing heavily, snarling and snorting.

The rest of the Elements of Harmony watched as their friend and Blood Moon fought like dogs, snarling and growling as they lashed out in anger and desperation. They both looked bad for it, blood pouring from them in spots, bruises developing in others. Rainbow spat out some blood gathering in her maw, and snarled again, Blood Moon cracking his neck as he prepared for another bout. There was a small cough from besides them, Blood and Rainbow looking over at the teary-eyed Elements of Harmony, their little sister and the hard faced Sand Stalker. None of them had moved, not even Pinkamena, who seemed to have gone away for the time being. Blood Moon looked down at Scootaloo. He quickly forgot about Rainbowdash and cantered over to the filly. Rainbow lunged for him, but Blood Moon just turned, gripped her by her mane and swung her down to Scoots. If she was going to die, she was going to die surrounded by friends and loved ones. The near-dead filly looked up at everypony, her small breaths strained and laced with pain.

"B-Blood…Moon" she managed to whisper out. The stallion leaned in closer.

"Yeah" he answered quietly. Scootaloo couldn't finish before she passed from this world.

Scootaloo woke up. She could feel herself laying on something, like hard ground, but she couldn't find the energy to open her eyes. Where was she? Was she alive? Had Blood Moon heard what she'd had to say? She didn't know. She hoped he had.

After lying on the ground for far too long, she found the strength to open her eyes. She looked around. It was a void. Nothingness. Total whiteness for as far as she could see, and in this flat and open landscape, that was forever. She was alone, but she didn't feel alone. This place of emptiness didn't feel so…empty. She took a step, and recoiled; her hoof-step was a small explosion, right next to her ear. It echoed continually around her, the sound bouncing off of the emptiness around her. She placed her hoof down again, carefully this time, and looked around. When she looked up, she yelped in fight.

It was a mare, but like no other mare she'd seen before; her fur was pure white, only her faint outline distinguishing her from the whiteness of the void. Her features were plain but pretty, her fur unscathed by scar or blot. Her eyes were as white as he fur, kind and soothing in a strange, almost unnatural, way. She was built like a lady, muscled and thin but by no means athletic. Yet, this mare seemed weirdly powerful in her atmosphere, like she could snap the world in half with the blink of an eye. But it was her mane and tail, as dark as the purest darkness, that really caught the filly's attention; they flowed over her back, past her flank, draping over her shoulders and below her hooves. And it kept going. Her mane and tail passed through whatever it was Scootaloo and the mare were standing on, cascading into the nothingness at the bottom of the void, or at least the darkness at its edge. She smiled kindly at the filly.

"Hello Scootaloo" she greeted. The filly felt a small comfort in her heart. She could listen to that voice all day. She suddenly remembered what had happened.

"E-excuse me, b-but, where am I? Where's Blood Moon, Rainbowdash, my friends? What happened? Who are you?" The mare's face suddenly went sad.

"Oh my" she said quietly. The mare approached the filly, and Scootaloo felt no inclination to back away. She bent down to her, meeting her at eye level and gave her a kind but sad look. "I'm afraid, young one, you stand in purgatory, the space between existence and inexistence. I am death. And you, my dear, are dead" she said gently.

At that, Scootaloo broke down and cried.

The end of an era

Chapter twenty seven: The end of an era

Scootaloo wept. And wept. And wept…

She wept for many reasons; her death wasn't what weighed so heavily on her mind, not that her existence had come to an end, but it what came with it that truly broke her; she felt a hole in her chest grow steadily as each realisation hit her: the rest of the Cutie mark crusaders, Rainbowdash, her other friends, the parents she'd always wanted to know more about but now never would, the family she'd never have with Twilight and maybe Blood Moon…her cutie mark.

Perhaps she should have felt selfish, maybe she should have been disappointed with herself for the excess pain in her chest when she realised that she would never see the mark on her flank, that she'd never know what her true talent was, what her destiny would be. That she'd never truly left the ranks of the 'blank flanks.'

How much would she miss? Who would miss her? Would she be remembered by anypony? Why had she died anyway? Was it that mare who'd grabbed her when Blood Moon had showed up? So many questions spun through her mind, so many things she wanted to know, wanted other ponies to know, but now she'd never be able to know, now she'd never be able to tell everypony else. What it had truly meant to have friends like Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle in her life. How much she'd wanted to thank Rainbowdash for taking her under her wing. Everything she'd wanted to do in her life…

Death watched silently. A crying filly. She'd seen this sight too many times to count, but she'd never truly get used to it; not like a soldier, or an old stallion or mare, not like somepony who'd gladly give their life for somepony else or, who wasn't afraid to die because they'd already lived their life. But the filly before her, no older than ten, she hadn't lived her life to any degree of entirety; she'd had just enough to get a taste and want more, but the prospect of life and living had already been stolen from her by some cruel, cruel fate. She watched the filly weep for what must have been hours, the small orange pony sat on her flank, her back arched in defeat, her fore-legs resting on the flat of purgatory while her head remained bowed, her sobs leaking from her maw as tears fell from her face and hit the ground, sending ripples through the floor.

Death waited patiently. The filly would rise and meet her fate when she was ready. Still… She couldn't help but feel slight pity for her; she didn't even have a cutie mark yet. As she sobbed and wept, her chest rising and falling rapidly with each breath, she seemed to quieten as her strength left her, her resolve for self-pity crumbled as a hard-headed personality and strength shone through, although, it was a very dim light.

The filly looked up at the mare, finding that she was still watching her with an endless patience, and sniffled a few times. More questions suddenly flooded her mind, questions she shouldn't have really cared about at the time, but battered their way into her trail of thought either way; since when was death a mare? Where was her infamous cloak and scythe? Why was it that she was so welcoming rather than repulsive? Why was her presence such a…comfort to her? She felt herself reminded of Blood Moon; a pony who sewed death and reaped it with just as much skill, but somehow she was still seemed…friendly almost. Scootaloo's strength cracked again as the image of the blood red eyed stallion crossed her mind, her gaze going to the floor to hide her tears in their magnitude.

The Pegasus broke down completely when she that realised she didn't want to die.
The dam broke and she fell to the flat where her hooves had rested, covering her face with her fore-legs and shaking with each sob that escaped her. She didn't want to die. It wasn't her time. It wasn't her turn yet. She wasn't ready. She hadn't even learned to fly yet! What kind of Pegasi couldn't fly!? There was so much she had to do yet, so much she wanted to say; to tell Blood Moon how bad she felt for judging him so harshly, to tell Twilight how grateful she was to have agreed to mother her. She looked to the floor and clenched her jaw as her tears poured from her eyes as she remembered her brief time with her family.

Sitting outside with Twilight, the two just hugging.

Laying with Blood Moon when he'd first told her he'd take her in.

The day she'd first met him, how she'd looked up at him with curiosity and fear as 'Dash had held her to her chest.

When Blood Moon had picked her and her friends up from the school, deciding to tell
Cheerilee that she was his daughter. And how almost heartbroken she'd been.

Waiting up for him that night, finding him watching her with the affection in his gaze while she dreamt of him taking her away from the orphanage forever.

The pain cut through her like a hot knife when she realised how she'd left him; she'd told him she hated him, maybe she had at the time, but now that she'd lost him…she felt the hole in her chest grow. She hadn't been able to apologise. Who was she kidding? He hadn't heard her last words, she hadn't been able to hold on long enough. The tears kept falling as her mouth opened to sob, but nothing came out, just a silent scream of frustration and grief as the tears kept falling.

Death lowered her head in pity; it seemed this filly had too much to live for to want to die yet. She had too many ponies, loved ones and friends, too much love to give before she passed away. But it was beyond her now. She wasn't going back.

Only one could go back.

Death moved as silent as a plague, stopping before Scootaloo. The filly looked up, her eyes filled with heart-breaking tears, and found the dead white and endless black mare looking down at her with a kind of empathetic pity in her gaze. The filly did nothing but keep crying, silent now, as the mare reached down and wrapped her fore-leg around her neck, her head going the other side as she embraced her. Scootaloo was confused at first but soon didn't care; she just wanted comfort now. She wept quietly into the mare's shoulder.

Scootaloo didn't stop her crying for a while, not until she'd dried her tear ducts, wept herself raw. Death helped her up and guided her away from the spot she'd been sat upon for the last few hours. She trotted slowly, their steps echoing around them like explosions. They trotted in silence for a while until Scootaloo spoke up.

"Uh, e-excuse me? D-Death, ma'am?" Death looked down at her charge.

"Yes, little one?" Scootaloo looked back up at the aspect of death for a while before she answered; why was she so mesmerised by this mare? How is it that something so ugly and brutal as death could be so…beautiful and perfect? She reminded her of Celestia in the way she held and carried herself; she was motherly, caring and compassionate, but the little filly felt that this mare ousted even the solar princess in that respect. It was a strange sensation, in that she felt as though this mare should be intimidating in her beauty and poise, but she was just so welcoming. Scootaloo realised she'd been silent for the last few minutes and swallowed, looking away from Death.

"W… What's going to happen to me?" Death was silent for a while, prompting Scootaloo to look up. Death had her head cocked slightly, her grey eyes watching Scootaloo with curiosity.

"Strange" she said quietly "a pony of your age has never asked me that before" she murmured. She looked away from Scootaloo and to the sky, prompting Scootaloo to look up with her. The void cast white fog, high above them, forming a dome of obscurity that sounded them on all sides. Death's gaze seemed to scare the fog away before long, and it soon scattered. Above, Scootaloo was met with a sight she would never forget; stars. But like no stars she had ever seen before; they seemed closer than that of the night skies she'd seen in Ponyville, even when looking through Twilight's telescope. It was almost like she could reach out and touch them. There were more of them too, so many more. Their abundance was almost unnatural, too many for even Luna to command. The shined brightly, all of them, some winking down at her, others shining proudly while more still formed images in the skies.
Before Scootaloo could question Death's actions, the mare had spoken.

"That, is what will happen to you" she said quietly. Scootaloo looked at Death for a second, suddenly noticing they had both stopped.

"I… I don't get it. I'll become a star?" Death nodded without looking down from those heavenly skies.
"In a way, yes. Your life may have been short, but it was also good. You stood up in the face of loneliness, searching for a family to love, making friends that accepted you. You, despite any shortcomings" Scoot's wings tingled slightly "have always risen to the challenge, even going on to face your fears. Your life, despite being painfully short-lived, was one of goodness and integrity. For that, you will rest eternally amongst the spirits of those who came before you." Scootaloo looked back to the stars.

"You mean…" Death nodded.

"Yes, everypony to have left Equestria, all good, now rest amongst the stars. You will live in total comfort, never wanting for anything. You will be free to watch those close to you and those who come after. You will meet all who came before you and all to come after" she explained. Scootaloo was quiet for a while, prompting Death to look down at the silent pony. To the aspect of death's slight surprise, she seemed even gloomier.

"So…I'll be able to watch them...but I won't be able to speak with them? Rainbowdash, my friends, Blood Moon and Twilight, I'll just have to watch them?" Death nodded.

"Yes, this is true." Scootaloo looked back at the rippling surface that she was sat on, feeling her pain well up again. She needed to change the subject, move her thoughts away from that…hole in her.

"W…well…I… W-what about the bad ponies" she tried in an attempt to distract herself. Death shrugged slightly.

"To Tartarus with them" she said absently "to writhe in torture for all eternity at the hooves of the devil and the other atrocities that are trapped with him" she explained. It was clear she had no wish to dwell on the subject. "Now, come child, it is time." Scootaloo blinked, her tears blurring her vision slightly, as she stood and followed Death.

"T-time for what?" Death looked down at Scootaloo.

"For your judgment" she answered. Scoots couldn't help but swallow. Death looked back to their path as she continued. "Fear not, you possess the innocence of youth" she assured. The filly nodded and continued to trot with Death in a seemingly random direction.

"So… What's the…the judgment?" Again, Death shrugged.

"Exactly that; you will be judged on your past actions and judged if you are bound for the heavens, or hells" she answered. Scootaloo nodded again.

"Who will…judge me?" Death stopped and Scootaloo came up beside her, watching the blank and empty space before them. Death didn't answer the filly's question for a while; in the end, she simply raised her hoof.

"Him" she answered as a black smoke swirled around with the white fog for a second before it spewed out from the deep mist and formed a towering figure. The figure had no features and very little in the way of features. There were three things to this big, giant thing: he sat at a desk. His body was formed from flickering, flame-like shadows. And his eyes were glowing, flickering, blood red orbs. For a moment, Scootaloo thought Blood Moon had come to save her, to strike a deal with Death or something, but it was soon revealed to be a pointless hope. This figure was not a pony. He had a straight back, his fore-legs more flexible than that of a pony, and he seemed to have claw-like appendages at the ends of his limbs. His mane reached down to his shoulders, flickering and burning constantly, and draped over the black suit that was quickly forming over his burning black body. The stitching and threads soon formed a well-tailored, black suit, a blood red tie around his neck and a shirt as white as the void over his chest. The desk of black fire before him soon settled, forming black wood, polished to such a degree Scootaloo could see herself in its reflection. Her, but not Death.

The figure had completely arrived, his black suit covering his body; leather gloves over his strange claws; the desk, at least fifty stories high, carved from black oak; his black mane flickering like the figure's face; while his evil orbs of blood red watching Scootaloo, staring at her, knowing everything about her.

Faced by this malevolent figure of supreme majesty, Scootaloo had but one thing to say:

"Meep!" The filly darted around Death's legs, hiding behind her, and quivered in fear.

"Scootaloo Skyburner the first. You stand before the Representative. Your judgment is at hand."

'Skyburner the first?' 'At hand?' What's he talking about?'

The 'Representative' had a huge voice. The smallest of breaths followed suit with his one hundred story high stature, shaking the very ground she trotted upon. He had an eternally deep voice, his words coming out in a bellow that echoed through the empty space endlessly.
Meanwhile, Death looked back at Scootaloo, finding her terrified form hidden behind her, and looked back at the Representative.

"She's scared and young, Representative, I shall speak for her." The Representative looked to Death.

"So be it. Make her case."

Death nodded once.

"She was taken from life on the eighth day, of her ninth month on her tenth year. Scootaloo Skyburner the first was once the daughter of Hardwheels Skyburner the second and Driftwind Cloudturner the seventh. She was recently taken under the wing of Rainbowdash Stormbringer the first in a sisterly bond, and adopted by Blood Moon Shadow Weaver the third, whose lover, Twilight Sparkle Starweaver the first, agreed to mother her along with him."
The Representative nodded.

"Blood Moon, indeed? I see… Continue."

Death nodded once.

"She has lead a short life, full of loneliness she has met with courage and hardship she has met with fortitude. She is a natural born…" The next words were blocked to Scootaloo's ears, the Representative and Death's discussion of the cutie mark she didn't have held back from her. She wasn’t exactly sure why, but she could only put it down to some kind of mercy; that she wouldn’t be teased by what would have been. "…Though, she did not realise this" Death finished, her voice coming back. The Representative nodded.

"I see. A pity, that she did not realise her destiny. Continue."

Death nodded once.

"Scootaloo is an honest and brave child. She gained the respect, friendship and love of those around her through honest means, despite ample opportunity for guilt-trip manipulation. Upon finding fear within the darkness, she found courage in those she held closest to her heart. When met with challenge, she rose to it, standing by her friends and loved ones. Though not always the voice of reason, she has always been loyal to those close to her. It is because of these reasons, I deem her fit for an eternity amongst the stars and peace within closure." The Representative nodded his head.

"Agreed." He turned his gaze to Scootaloo, who had left the safety of the protection of Death to watch the two of them talk. "Scootaloo Skyburner the first, by result of your integrity, bravery and honesty, I deem you fit for eternal solaces amongst those who came before you."

Death looked to the left.

The Representative followed her gaze and a deep, rumbling sigh escaped him. A black blaze was burning up the fog of the void, the fires burning up the smog, ashes flitting away as the flames ate up the fog.

"W-what's that" Scootaloo asked as it drew closer to them at an alarming rate. She looked up to find the Representative watching her with an estranged gaze. Scootaloo looked to Death, who was watching her with the same expression. "W-w-why're you looking at me like that" she asked timidly, backing away from them. Death fixed her with another pitying look.

"It seems…somepony isn't ready to give you up just yet" Death told her. Scootaloo looked between Death and the Representative as they flittered away, the mountainous figure behind a desk that dwarfed many of the buildings of Manehatten burning away quickly as Death gave her a small smile. "You're a lucky filly" she said before she was swallowed by her mane and tail, falling into the abyss after the flow they both gave, leaving Scootaloo alone with the black flames but a few paces away. She swallowed lightly before it hit her as she felt her resolve crumble, her fear gripping her as she covered her head with her fore-legs, little good it would do against the raging tidal wave of flame heading towards her.

The black flame met her fur and skin, and… Well, the rest does not bare description.

Scootaloo shook. Her body trembled in trauma, her mind numb, her spirit cracked, near broken.

'What just happened to me?'

Scootaloo's senses were blurred and numbed, her mind disorientated while her stomach churned violently, like she was aboard a badly-rocking ship. Her eyes were clamped shut and unfocused, her ears buzzing, but she could feel herself in the fetal position, wrapped up in her fore-hooves, her tail forming part of a small cocoon around her. She could feel the tingling all over her body slowly dispersing, as it did, she made out more details of her surroundings; as the buzzing faded, she discovered that wherever she was seemed silent; as the blurring in her eyes went away, showing the backs of her eyelids, it was revealed that wherever she was seemed pitch black; and thanks to the weird 'pins and needles' feeling leaving her, she figured out she was laying on something soft.

Her throat was dry, her stomach empty and she was in desperately stiff. The combination of sensations prompted her to try and move. She didn't get very far. She groaned lightly, shifting herself slightly, attempting to turn over and get her blood pumping properly.

"Scootaloo?" Said filly heard a familiar voice say her name, though she couldn't place it. She opened her eyes to find a blinding darkness meet them, but she could make out the silhouette of a pony. She heard the sound of a horn sparking to life, so that was RD out, and a grey glow emit from it, so that only left…

"B-Blood Moon" she asked the grey glow, her vision still blurry and unclear, but she could make out the grey stallion sat next to her, sat on the bed she was apparently laying upon, leaning against the wall.

"Are you awake" the dark stallion asked as her vision cleared, slowly but surely, and began to make out more details of the stallion. She shifted, making a small attempt to nod her head.

"Yeah" she managed to mumble out. She could make out the stallion shifting down to her.

"Are you alright?" Her eyes finally cleared and she could now clearly see the assassin, illuminated by a dim, grey light. The assassin. The stallion who she'd met, and quickly grown to love as her father, who'd quickly come to adore her. It had all changed when he'd told her what he did, but her time in the void had shifted her perspective. But right now though, there were other things on her mind.

"W-whaa" she managed to drawl out, wrapping her fore-legs around whatever she could get a hold of. She suspected it to be some awkward grip of his skull or something. "W-what happened, where are we, w…what happened to me?" She heard him take a deep breath, laced with regret, and felt him push her off of him until he shuffled up a little and pulled her in again, careful to be gentle with her sleepy and frail form. He wrapped his hooves around her barrel and pulled her in tight.

"You… You were…you…died, Scootaloo, murdered by that mare" he answered. Scootaloo answered him by squirming into his protective hold a little more.

"But…why? What happened, who was that mare?"

"That mare, was a really bad pony. She was a mercenary, like Sand Stalker, only very cruel. She was scared, I had her cornered, so she decided to use you as a shield. I killed her" he told her, not bothering to hold anything back anymore "but she'd already cut you, with a poisoned knife, it seems." Scootaloo nodded slightly and thought about it, breathing in the faint scent that was washed away blood on the stallion embracing her.

"I…I think I remember" she murmured, casting her mind back to an unwelcomed place. She could recall the ponies, or mercenaries, approaching the cottage; she and the rest of the Cutie mark crusaders had been outside, playing, while Fluttershy and Rarity had been finishing up the outdoor chorus for the day, not to mention calling in the three fillies. They had been grabbed quickly, the mare shouting something about 'drawing him out' before Rarity had managed to scream for the others. Sand Stalker, AJ, RD and Twi had soon showed up, Spike having been apparently told to stay inside, and the mercs quickly took the fight to what they must have seen as an easy win. Scootaloo remembered squirming and struggling, trying to escape, but had soon felt a white-hot pain in her side. That must have been the cut Blood Moon mentioned. Apparently, they hadn't counted on Blood Moon turning up so soon. "B-but what happened after" she asked quietly. She heard Blood Moon take another deep breath through his muzzle, laced with shame or sorrow or…something, something else she couldn't place. He released her from the hug and held her away a little, cradling her in his right fore-hoof while his left went to her own. He took her little hoof in his bigger one, and held it to the light. She found a small scar on the flat of her hoof and an identical one on his.

"Scootaloo, before I explain this to you, I want you to know…the only reason I did this, was because of how many ponies were hurt by your passing, and that I didn't make this decision lightly" he uttered quietly, but the still and silent room made his words come out as a rushing wind through a still and tranquil forest "and, that if you weren't so young, I wouldn't have gone through with it." Scootaloo gulped lightly as she turned her hoof a little, looking at her new scar from different angles.

"W…what did you do?" He took another deep breath before he answered.

"I…I shared my blood with you." The filly frowned and looked up at him.

"What does that mean?" His downtrodden face was cast in small shadows, thanks to the glowing in his horn.

"It means…” he sighed, searching for words “Scootaloo, you're like me now." When the revelation hit her ears, her eyes widened in shock, the corners going down in dread as the thoughts of what may come of her hit her, after watching how Blood Moon had gotten over his long life.

"You…you mean I…I'm immortal." He nodded his head.

"Technically." Scoots frowned. How was one immortal yet not immortal?

"Technically?" He nodded once more.

"You… You'll live longer, much longer, than most ponies. One thousand five hundred years at a guess. But, until your 'natural life' expires, in around eighty years or so, you're as un-killable as me." The phrase 'un-killable' made Scootaloo shudder.

"You mean…"

"Like what happened, yes" he answered her unasked question. "That was what I go though, every time I come back." Scootaloo instantly buried her head into his chest, nuzzling and hugging him with all her worth, while her wrapped his fore-legs around her again. She couldn't have imagined that kind of pain before, but going through it again… It didn't bare the thought. "Actually, I'm rather proud of you; when I first went through that, I couldn't move for three days” he told her. Scootaloo smiled slightly.
"That's because you didn't have you to cuddle" she told him. The assassins grunted lightly, prompting the filly in his hooves to look up at him. "What's wrong" she asked him, finding a slightly his slightly pained face. He looked down and smirked slightly.

"Right in the feels" he answered. The small Pegasus giggled and lay her head down on his chest again. Blood Moon was silent for a while, stroking her mane as they took quiet breaths, feeling warmth spread through his chest. Scootaloo's comment meant more to him than she could possibly imagine.

He let her rest in silence for another few minutes, feeling her slightly tensed muscles relax in his grip, her breathing slowing to a state of near deep-sleep, though he knew she was still awake. Something occurred to him.

"Did you see her" Blood Moon asked suddenly, his voice quiet as he relaxed onto his back, Scootaloo still held against his chest. Scoots looked up at him.

"Who?" He didn't say anything for another second; it was difficult through the dim light, but the filly could almost make out a distant gaze in his eyes.

"Death" he replied. The little Pegasus looked down, curling up and snuggling into his chest. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"No, it's alright" she answered half-heartedly, bracing her mind against the memories. She felt it a little odd, that she'd have such awful memories at such a young age. Then again, any and all normalcy in her life had been wiped away when she'd met Blood Moon. "Yeah" she said after a small while "I met her when I first…got…there" she said unsurely. The dark stallion nodded.

"Purgatory? The void." He felt the filly nod. He hummed in thought, Scootaloo feeling him rumble from her vantage point. "Yes. I'm very well versed in that place's…qualities" he mumbled. They were silent again for a few minutes. "Scoots?" She gave a small 'hmm' in response. She was feeling remarkably tired, despite having just woken up. "Was…was she well? Death, I mean." The little pony frowned.

"Yeah, I guess" she said at confused length. Blood Moon nodded again.

"Good" he said simply. Silence took over once more, this one more overwhelming than the others; neither really wanted to talk, just lay with each other and silently bond. They'd both been through something nopony would, should, ever go through and come back from. Blood Moon turned to his side, letting Scootaloo lay on the mattress while he held her against him so she could rest more comfortably.

"Blood Moon" she mumbled out.

"Yes?" She looked up at his face; his eyes were closed, but his face was angled over her, watching over her. His hooves were wrapped around her, keeping her close to him, so close she could feel his heartbeat, while his tail and hind-legs wrapped around her, forming a protective hold all around her. She felt safe in his hold, protected.

"I… I'm sorry about what I said, and how I treated you." She sniffled suddenly as she realised her guilt. "You were so nice to me, and everypony else, but I… I… I'm so sorry" she told him, her voice cracking slightly as she put her face in his chest, realising just how much she wanted him to return her sentiments. She felt him hug her tighter.

"Don't be sorry Scootaloo. You treated me like I'd expect anypony to treat an assassin, to gallop away screaming…" She almost broke down when he outlined it like that. "But, you…you didn't stay gone" he continued, prompting her to pause in her near-tears. "You were well in your rights to scream for somepony, anypony, when you awoke up to see me, but you didn't. You didn't try and escape. You didn't leave me" he said quietly, growing distant towards the end. Scootaloo squeezed his chest in her fore-legs, wrapping him in a much needed hug.

The filly looked up at him again, but in a new light. When they first met, they hadn't anything in common. At the school, they'd discovered a hole they both had in their chests. Over time, they'd come to fill each other's gaps in their hearts, growing closer in an almost unnaturally close bond between the adoptive father and daughter, despite the lack of similarities between the two. Now, however, they were kindred spirits; maybe it was her inexperienced mind, but the filly didn't truly see the implications of her potentially long life, but what she did see, was a very long time with the stallion she embraced now, who held her in return in a way that made her feel safety and love she hadn't felt since the blurred, distant memories of her parents.

They had both suffered the unexplainable pain of coming back from the dead, and now both had a life ahead of them that would inevitably involve the other, now that she was bound to live longer than anypony she knew.

"Blood Moon" she started, her words muffled a little by the stallion's hard chest.

"Yeah" he answered, his own words rumbling through his and her bodies. She looked up at him, prompting him to look down.

"I… Do you still love me?" He watched her for a second, his slightly empty gaze making her heart break a little. Then he smiled and pulled her in again.

"Always" he answered. Scootaloo gave a smile of her own as she returned his hug.

"Blood Moon" she asked again, her head against his chest once more as she mumbled her words out. He hummed in response. "A…am I… Are you… C-can we be a family again?" Blood Moon smirked and chuckled lightly. She looked up at him, wondering what was so funny. "What?" She was a little annoyed that he wasn't taking this seriously.
"Now Scootaloo" he started, his grin still on his face. He rolled onto his back and held her over him, letting her little legs dangle over him a little. "That, was a dumb question" he answered as he pulled her into his chest. Scootaloo squealed and giggled as they embraced again, more than happy to be in each other's loving hold once more. To them both, it felt comfortable, natural, almost like they really were a blood family. Something occurred to Blood Moon at that point. "Besides" he said at length, pulling out of their hug and leaning her against his chest, holding her scarred hoof in his clean one and holding his own scarred hoof up to the dim light that had reignited on his horn "you have my blood flowing through your veins now… You're my daughter now, for better or for worse, and I'll never leave you. I'll never let you go. We're family now" he told her. Scootaloo looked down at his hoof with a slightly curious look in her gaze, holding his big, scuffed and callused hoof in her little, clean and unscathed hoof. They were still very unalike, but she felt that because of this, this scar they shared, this event, even though it had pulled them apart, they would get closer because of it.

Scootaloo frowned suddenly at her newfound wisdom, but didn't question it; she already knew it to be true, given their current position, and was glad of it. They needed each other more than either probably knew. She put her hoof to his, pressing them together, and felt the small ridge in their hooves where the scars lay. She looked up at him and found him watching her, a smile on his face, and felt on of her own grown in return. She turned flung her fore-legs around his neck as she cuddled with him, feeling his own wrap around her once more. The soft, gentle and loving embrace of a father and daughter, who loved each other more than they thought they could.

There was a knock at the door, the two cutting their hug short as they looked at the spot the noise had come from. It was only now that Scootaloo realised they were still at Fluttershy's cottage.

"Hey, she awake" came a familiar, slightly strained voice. The door creaked open to reveal a lit light outside and a cyan mare, her mane and tail a windswept rainbow, her concern filled eyes a shade of dark pink. She pushed through the door and quickly spotted the awake and relatively-well Scootaloo. She instantly smiled and cantered over to them, Blood Moon letting the filly up so she could embrace her adoptive big sister. The orange and blue ponies soon found themselves with their fore-legs around each other's necks, both holding each other tight. Rainbow caught the dark stallion behind her little sister, Blood Moon returning her gaze, and sent a small nod his way. Their reconciliation had been…shaky, to say the least, her broken hoof, now wrapped in white bandages with a splinter around it, courtesy of 'Shy and Sand Stalker; her chipped teeth, Twilight having fixed them for her with her ever impressive array of spells; black eye, left to bruise after some ice had been applied; and his broken muzzle, having been rather sickeningly snapped into place by its owner; not to mention the bite marks in his hoof, all served as a reminder to them of their brief scrap. After a short talk during their wait for Scootaloo to awaken, they found they now shared a different respect. RD lifted Scoots up a little as she gave her a final, loving squeeze before she set her giggling form down and ruffled her mane a little.

"You all good, squirt?" The filly nodded her head once happily.

"Better than good" she answered. The mare giggled adorably, more so given her tough nature, and hoof-bumped the filly before she looked at Blood.

"So, uhh… We ready to go" Rainbow asked the assassin. Scoots raised an eyebrow.

"Go where?" The small Pegasus felt the stallion get up behind her, the lights in the room flicking on with the filly's awareness, and trotting around to her field of vision.

"We're leaving for the time being" he answered swiftly "we were discovered by an…old friend of mine, through means I'm still…unsure about. Anyway, if one foe knows our location, more may too. We've got to leave before somepony else comes after us." Scootaloo nodded a few times as he looked out of a few windows, his paranoia creeping up as his loving rekindling with Scoots ended and he remembered why he'd needed a loving rekindling in the first place.

"Well, everypony is downstairs and waiting for us, we're waiting on you" she said to the pair of them, having plopped down next to the filly and held her to her side with her wing. Said filly looked up at the mare.

"Waiting? What do you mean?" Blood Moon answered.

"You've been asleep for around five hours now. It's two in the morning" he told her. Scootaloo frowned.

"Oh" she answered "so that's why I'm so sleepy" she answered, yawning into her hoof. The assassin smirked and held the door open.

"Well, you would be either way. You've experienced a very demanding…turn of events" he replied as Rainbowdash let Scoots hop off the bed and trot after Blood Moon, the mare following after them. The stallion lead the way downstairs, Scootaloo finding the CMC, Elements of Harmony, Spike (who was in an in-between state of napping and doing a bad job of staying awake) and Sand Stalker sat around the front room, along with four other ponies in weird suits she didn't recognise. Three were stallions, one was a mare, all of them keeping to themselves in a dark corner. "Look who's up" Blood Moon announced, everypony looking up and finding the filly hop off the last step. They all smiled warmly, Sand's more of a small grin, and Scoot's friends trotted up to her and bombarded her with questions. She took no notice, instead she just threw her fore-legs around them, only just realising how much she'd wanted to see them. Sweetie-Belle and Applebloom were taken aback for a second before they returned the hug.

Blood Moon left them to it, looking around the room at the other ponies and one dragon gathered there; some were nervous, others awkward, one had started snoring, some a little wary of him still while the rest just kept to themselves. After a few minutes of questions and assuring she'd tell them later, Scootaloo and the others returned to the group, watching the adults stand and sit in silence. The three fillies didn't understand what was going on, but they got the idea that it had something to do with Blood Moon and the four new ponies, given that everypony but Sand Stalker was avoiding looking at them. The dark stallion turned his head towards one of the many perches in room, finding a fire coloured bird and black mouse watching him. Blood Moon wasn't afraid to say that his relationship with his pets had gotten a little…strained, to say the least, and that his actions the day he'd left for Canterlot hadn't been something they'd forgotten. As it turned out, Twilight had sort of unofficially adopted Hunter while he'd been away, Dusk just sticking around with the phoenix, and they both didn't like him quite as much as they had before all this. Dusk made a point of sitting on his hind-quarters and crossing his front paws, his eyes narrowed at the stallion, while Hunter flapped his wings a few times and fluttered over to him, coming to a stop before him and landing on the corner of the couch before the assassin and looking him in the eye with a lava-freezing glare. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"What? What do you want me to say, huh?" Hunter narrowed his eyes, the assassin reading his facial expression.

You know what I want you to say.

Blood Moon sighed and looked away from his bird, though the word 'his' was a little too presumptuous at the moment.

"You know I am already. Do I really have to say it out loud?"

You're damn right you do.

Blood Moon gave another sigh, this one deeper and a little more reluctant than the other, before he looked up at his bird again.

"Alright then" he started, reaching up and fussing the bird "I'm sorry, okay? What I did was wrong, and I apologise." It was perhaps the most bog-standard, off the rack, standard issue apology ever that Blood Moon given, a very subtle hint of sarcasm in his tone, but it seemed to have pleased Hunter either way, more or less, who rolled his eyes at Blood Moon's words and nuzzled him lightly, the dark stallion returning the favour. Meanwhile, Twilight leaned into Fluttershy.

"What's he apologising to Hunter for" she whispered. Fluttershy leaned back.

"Hunter's very protective of everypony. He knows Blood Moon did something to scare us all and wanted to make sure he was sorry for it" she whispered back. Twilight couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.

"He really got found his spirit animal in that phoenix, didn't he." Fluttershy simply giggled.

During the two mare's brief conversation, Hunter had returned to his perch on Blood Moon's shoulder, Dusk had sat upon his head, finding it within his limitless mercy to grant the age old assassin forgiveness for leaving him behind, and Blood Moon had taken a breath, looking around at everypony.

"Alright, you all know what to do" he said, his tone not nearly as happy as when he'd spoken with his pets, prompting the gathered ponies to stand in a circle, Twilight waking Spike, the drake grumbling some, while the older ponies stood side by side in Fluttershy's living room. Blood Moon stood between Scootaloo and one of the new ponies, Sand Stalker between them and the other mares, while the little sisters stood next to their respective big sisters, Spike teetering next to Twilight. Blood Moon looked between them and took a breath. This wasn't going to be easy.

He closed his eyes and focused his magic, his horn sparking to life and quickly growing; teleporting oneself, or a small load, was simple enough for a unicorn such as Blood Moon, but transporting such a large amount of ponies would be much more difficult. The problems came in the form of two things: one, he had to keep track of all ponies traveling so they didn't get lost during the teleportation and flung across Equestria, and two, he had to deal with Ember, Twilight, Leaf, Redwave, Candle and Rarity's magic, which may disrupt his own during his casting of the spell. He'd asked them all to push down any magical energies so he could focus, reducing any interference in his search for a clear pathway through the ether of teleportation, but it didn't seem to be making it much easier. After a while, he captured the image of his location in his head and pictured him and his passengers there, in a safe spot for them to appear. With a bright flash, they all felt the gut wrenching feeling and teetered to a stop in a bog.

Immediately, Rarity squealed and hopped atop a rock.

"Eeeeeewwww" she groaned, trying her best to stay atop her perch "a little warning next time" she asked. Blood Moon wasn't hearing it; instead he held his slightly sore head as it throbbed from the concentration he'd just exerted. He didn't like transporting such large groups, that was what trains were for, but it had to be done he guessed, if he wanted to keep them safe. That, and there weren't any trains around here.

A wave of nausea hit him and his balance escaped him for a second; two ponies went to his aid, Twilight and Ember. It was at that point one of the assassin's more 'overbearing' problems came to light when the two mares noticed each other's advance and backed off, unsure of how to proceed. Ember recognised Twilight from contract descriptions, namely the one where she'd been hired to kill her brother, the mare abandoning the contract when she realised why the client wanted it done, said clientele being the son of a certain should-be-dead aristocrat. Twilight, however, didn't know the mare before her, the leather clad unicorn having kept to herself throughout her short stay at Fluttershy's place, but recognised the look on her face, not to mention her attempt to help Blood Moon.

In the end, it was Sand Stalker who helped his friend up again, the stallion having enough experience with mares to know a silent standoff over a stallion. He put his hoof under the assassin's fore-leg and raised him to a steadier posture. Blood Moon thanked him as Dusk gave him a pint-sized head massage while Hunter blew some cold air his way with a few flaps of his wings. The assassin trotted towards the small, burnt down remnants of a shack.

"Ju' what are we doin' here anywho" Applejack asked as she looked around, her sister held close to her. Applebloom wasn't complaining.

"This is where we're holding up for the time being" the assassin answered, hopping over some deadwood and into the 'inside' of the shack. AJ frowned, looking around at everypony, specifically Rarity. The white mare seemed horrified.

"Now hold yer horses there partner, ah may not be the prissiest o' mares, but ah sure as hay don't think ah could stay out here, never mind the girls" the apple bucker told him, cantering after him.

"Agreed" Rarity added "never mind all this…filthy mud and bog water everywhere, but Sweetie-Belle is going to catch a death of cold." As if to drive the point home, the filly sneezed.

"They've got a point boss, not even me or Leaf could survive out here for too long" Ember said as the dark stallion kicked a few bits of charred wood around, muttering something about a door moving.

"We're not staying out here" he called back absently as he retraced his steps.

"Then where are we staying, it's too late out to linger" Twilight said as she started shivering, Spike cuddling next to her for both safety and warmth. They all heard the phoenix caw lightly, his wing pointed at something they couldn't see, the dark stallion giving a small 'aha' and heard metallic clunking from his position.

"We're staying here" he answered, prompting the ponies and dragon to follow his voice. The found him stood before a black iron hatch, the door open and laying on its roof, the pony wide square open before Blood Moon. Rarity had hitched a ride on AJ and hopped from her back onto the wood that wasn't much better than the mud outside. She looked down into a pitch black abyss.

"Errr, if I may darling… Well, what exactly, is here?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"My old home" he answered before he leapt down, Hunter fluttering off his shoulder before flying down to him. Everypony looked between each other with confusion and caution in their gazes before Twilight looked back to the hole. She shrugged and took a hesitant step towards the hatch and took a deep breath, as though she were about to perform a high dive, and hopped down. There was the sound of rushing wind for a second before she felt herself caught by the stallion below, Blood Moon helping her to her hooves and looking back up the hatch. "Come on, we ain't got all day" he called up.

Up top, everypony looked between each other again. Spike hurried after his big sister, slightly worried for her, and leapt down with the grace of a rock, the dark stallion catching him and passing him to Twi, whom he held onto like a rock in the sea in this dark, unfamiliar place. Scootaloo trotted easily up to the hole and jumped down, Rainbowdash following her soon after, Sand Stalker going after her while everypony else stayed still. The Shadow Weavers waited for the ponies before them to jump down, so they could make sure nothing that may be hiding in this bog took them from behind, while AJ, Rare, 'Shy, Pinkie and the other fillies remained still. The pink pony, still quiet after Pinkamena coming out, moved slowly for the hatch and looked down it. Her mane and tail had regained their 'poof' but her colours were still dull. She looked back at her friends and gave a dull shrug before she hopped down, Blood catching her and helping her to her hooves. AJ didn't really know why she was so nervous, it probably had something to do with how Blood Moon had left the other day, but she knew for sure she didn't trust him yet. She took a deep breath to strengthen her resolve and turned to Rarity.

"Yew go on sugarcube, ah'll look afta the girls" she assured. Rarity nodded and bid Sweetie-Belle go to her before she stood at the side of the hatch. She swallowed once before she leapt down, the stallion down there catching her in his fore-legs and letting her steady before he placed her on her hooves. Applejack looked down at the fillies at her hooves, finding them looking up at her, and smiled weakly. She picked them up and put them on her back, trotting to the edge of the hatch. She hopped down and landed in the fore-hooves of Blood Moon, the stallion setting her down. He looked up the hatch and called to the ponies still up there, before he looked back to the ponies already gathered in the large, black-bricked room they were all in; it was a perfect square, big enough to comfortably house at least twenty ponies with room to lounge, but was completely unfurnished; they stood on plain, black flagstones, the room illuminated by the sconce on each wall, four candles on each keeping the room well lit. There was a door on each wall, all identical except for the N, E, S and W atop them all. Blood Moon caught the mare in leather and let the stallions land by themselves.

He looked around before shrugging.

"Welcome to casa de Luna Sangue" he introduced. He pointed to the door marked 'N'.
"Armoury" he looked at the fillies "off limits." He pointed to the door marked 'E'. "Main house." He pointed to the door marked 'S'. "Training hall and gym." He pointed to the door marked 'W'. "Food storage, kitchens and dining room. Make yourselves at home" he said as he meandered into the main house. Everypony blinked at his bluntness, though they guesses they shouldn't really be surprised anymore, and went about their ways. The leather clad ponies followed Blood Moon into the main house, Sand Stalker slipped into the gym while everypony else decided to stick together. Finding themselves left to their own devices, the mares found themselves at loose ends.

"Soooo… What do we do now" Rainbow asked, kept to her hooves thanks to the relatively small room as they all looked around.

"I say we explore" Pinkie suggested with gusto, reliving no small amount of the ponies in the room with her sudden Pinkie-ness.

"I'm afraid not Pinkie" Twilight said from the side-lines. The pink mare paused mid-air and deflated slightly as she returned to the ground.

"Awwww" she moaned as she fell gently "why not?" Twilight's argument was to point at Spike, who'd curled up at her hooves and gone back to sleep after trying to stay up too long. This prompted both 'd'awww's from the gathered ponies and a glance at the fillies; Scootaloo was wrapped up in her tail on Rainbow's back, Sweetie-Belle was snuggling up with Rarity's tail, who was glad her hind-quarters were facing a wall, while Applebloom was being cradled in AJ's fore-hoof.

"We've gotta get the little ones to bed" Twilight finished, nailing it home for them.

"Be that as it may, darling, we don't actually know where the sleeping quarters to this place are" Rarity reminded her friend, speaking quietly after realising that her little sister was asleep on her back. Twilight blinked as she remembered too.

"Well…guess we get to do a little exploring after all" the purple mare agreed, prompting an excited 'squee' from Pinkie. They all trotted for the door Blood Moon and the leather-clad ponies had gone through, and found themselves in-

"Oh my" said a Rarity with sparkling eyes. Everypony filed in slowly, their eyes widening and their maws opening in slight shock. They hadn't been quite sure what to expect, but it sure as hay hadn't been this.

They'd trotted into a dimly lit family room, the blazing fire in the hearth illuminating the room with flickering oranges and reds; the walls were more of the black brick, but were barely visible behind everything upon them; the room was about the size of the main library at the Golden oaks, but laid out differently, more rectangular than circular, the furniture placement creating small segments for different activates; towards the centre, there was a long, four-seated couch, white that was made dark by the lighting, and a few big arm-chairs scattered around it, three in all. They were all placed facing the roaring fire and the big table in the middle, black oak wood, close enough so the occupants wouldn't have to raise their voices to talk, but far enough away to give them some space. On the far side of the room was a small library; the far wall was completely covered by the numerous shelves on the wall, only broken by the door the shelves were built around. In this light Twilight couldn't be sure, but it almost looked like all the books over there were stories. There was a cosy looking alcove at one side made by an outcrop of wall and the shelves of books. There was a comfy looking beanbag in the small hidey-hole for readers, and a more conventional two-seated sofa close-by it. Opposite the fireplace, encased by the outcrops of wall creating the reading alcove, was the liquor cabinets, the small refrigerator and a phonograph, playing soft and relaxing saxophone, all lit by a baby blue light from above that didn't interfere with the other lighting around the room. To the left of the ponies, housed by the other outcrop of wall encasing the tiny bar space, was another door, this one unmarked. The door the Elements of Harmony had trotted from was beside another alcove to the left of them, the door being in the centre of the wall, this alcove filled with nothing but plump cushions and pillows, perhaps a spot where ponies would sit and rest on more intimate nights, while the other side of the entrance was a simple wall with another door on the wall coming off of it. Twilight took a second to look over the things on the walls; there were no small amount of paintings, some oil, some pastel, some paint and others interesting pieces of less conventional art, one in particular being a stunning image of a sunset, in remarkable detail, all made by a piece of folded and creased cloth, creating a black and white sun. There were also a few ornaments scattered around, some perfectly sculpted clay owls and big-cats of prey, a few small wood-carved boats of astounding detail and what appeared to be sculpted, three dimensional cutie marks; she could tell, because one was a stone-carved blood-red ouroboros, a grey-bladed sword stabbing through the loop. Next to it was what appeared to be Celestia's cutie mark and Luna's beside that. Twilight couldn't help but frown at what appeared to be empty spots. The group of mares trotted further into the room, their hooves sinking into the warm and plush black carpet, feeling the warmth of the blaze melt the coldness from outside. It was, put simply, luxury in its purest form.

Fluttershy, the last one in, closed the door behind her and came up next to Twilight.

"Oh my" she breathed quietly, not wishing to break the peaceful atmosphere.

"What d' ya'll say ta jus' sleepin' in here" AJ asked in a similarly low octave.

"If the living room is like this, think of just how cosy the bedrooms could be" Rarity retorted. None of them could really think of an argument for that. They decided to try the door closest to them, pulling the door open and trotting through the on the right. Luck apparently favoured them as they stepped into a big, beautiful bedroom that Twilight was fairly sure Rarity was getting a little aroused over.

The candles had flickered to life without need for aid, revealing the room to them in a nice, dim glow of friendly fire. The black carpets continued into the bedroom, dark red swirling into an exquisite pattern in the centre, the two colours spiralling around each other like a whirlwind, smaller spirals coming off the main, bigger on in the middle of the carpet, creating the illusion of real motion on the ground that might give somepony motion-sickness if they couldn't feel the rug beneath their hooves. There weren't as many pictures around this time, not to mention any ornaments, and the room was fairly simple in lines of decoration. Instead, this room was fashioned around comfort; the heating in the room seemed just perfect for every mare in the room, not matter their current preferences or body temperatures. Blacks, dark reds and purples were the prominent colour for this room's design, accents of silver and white accompanying them. There was little in the way of furniture, maybe half a dozen wardrobes and chests of drawers along the wall to the right of them, while the semi-circle wall of the room to the left of them was home to all the beds, another six in all. Each bed was built into its own little alcove, formed by the walls either side, and had a pair of dark purple drapes with subtle, silver and white designs on them, flowing and smooth, reaching up the outer edges in flowing waves while the inner patterns were picturesque stars and moons, the silver accents sparkling slightly. The mares took a closer look at the beds, finding them plush and comfortable, the covers and pillows were warm and thick, keeping the cold out and the warm in, and were of black and red, designs similar to that of the drapes across them. Twilight had spotted a door at the far wall from the door she and her friends had entered from and meandered over to it, pushing it open.

'The master bedroom' she concluded with a small grin on her face. It was a deliberately romantic and relaxed setting, soft red lighting and a warm temperature, soft and laid-back music emitting from the phonograph that had started up when she'd opened the door. There was a single, big wardrobe at one side of the relatively large room, more black oak wood, a chest of drawers either side. Twilight could only guess one chest had been for Blood Moon, the simple and likely unused draws made from the same black oak as the closet, a few belts and ties organised atop of it, a quaint hat stand next to it with a black Stetson, a black top hat with a red ribbon around it, a brown wide-brimmed fedora with a darker shade of brown ribbon around it, a bowler hat, a black flat cap and a fez of all things hanging from it. The other seemed made for a lover or partner, judging by the…emptiness of it. Noticing that sort of depressed Twilight.

The purple mare trotted back into the bedroom, finding that her friends had taken her advice about getting some sleep and had all chosen beds, the fillies sharing with their respective big sisters while Twilight watched Spike curl up at the end of her bed, shuffling under the covers. The purple mare smiled warmly at the scene and went to climb into bed, before she remembered something. She trotted to the bed Rainbowdash and Scootaloo were sharing, finding the filly wrapped up in both the covers and the mare holding her. She leaned down to the sleeping filly and spoke softly into her ear.

"Good night Scootaloo" she whispered. She straightened up, not expecting an answer from a sleeping filly, but was caught when two little, orange hooves wrapped around her muzzle.

"Good night, Twilight" Scootaloo replied. Twi smiled lightly and nuzzled her, the filly returning the favour before she fell to sleep in RD's hooves. The sorceress stood up and returned to her own bed, glancing Fluttershy as she went; she leaned down and kissed her on the cheek, or she would have, had the Pegasus not suddenly opened her eyes and put her lips to Twilight's, the pair making out for a second before the yellow mare released the purple one.

"Good night Twilight" the sleepy Pegasus said as she snuggled back into her pillow, half-hoping her unicorn companion would join her. A little disappointed, she heard Twi step towards her own bed.

"Good night Fluttershy" Twilight replied as she crawled into her claimed bed, instantly drooling over the comfort and relaxation she felt when her back and weary muscles hit the soft mattress. It wasn't long before her eyes closed and she fell to sleep.

However, elsewhere in the assassin's home, sleep was forbidden for the time being.
Blood Moon had lead his small company of assassins through the living room, through the door to the left of the entrance and into his office. The dark stallion lead the leather-clad ponies up a short hall decorated with red wallpaper, a black oak wood rail splitting the centre of the room and leading into black wallpaper below it, sconces flickering with flames in small alcoves along the length of the short hallway; the black carpet was replaced by shining black marble, each step sending a small 'clip-clop' through the room. Every piece of wall that wasn't indented with a flame waving around inside it was home to a gold-framed painting, getting gradually more skilful as they approached Blood Moon's desk.

The first one on was of a sunrise over a grassy meadow. The meadow was still and peaceful, the grass given a waving motion in the image with the brushstrokes, while the sun was a well-captured rendition of the orb of fire, but by no means perfect. That would come later. Opposite the sunrise, was the picture's opposite, a moon-rise, the silver moon rising over the same grassy meadow. The golds and reds were replaced by deep silvers and blacks, the grass given a pretty silver glow over its green, though it wasn't a professional's perfect work; brushstrokes could be seen here and there, colours melded where they shouldn't, that sort of thing.

The next three or so space were filled with these paintings, by no means perfect but kept in a perfect condition, lovingly maintained and preserved; a slightly better image than the last, a slightly more perfect sunset, sunrise, moonset or moonrise. Sometimes the location would be different, sometimes there would be a critter or two frolicking, but the intent was still the same; these were the painter's practice. The artist was slowly getting better at her craft. And Blood Moon had collected and kept every one of them.

By the fourth wall, the images had changed, a different image this time. Now, the picture on the left wall was a melding of both the sun, and moon. The sun setting while the moon rose; the meadows before each side followed suit in lighting, cut perfectly in half, the left half gold, red, orange and bronze, while the right was silver, white, grey and black. Nocturnal and daylight critters flew and frolicked across both sides, an owl fluttering before the sun while a dove flew before the moon. A black cat stalked the grasses of night while a lion stood proud amongst the grass of field. The picture was titled, 'our two sided world.' The opposite wall was home to a portrait, a beautiful black cat stood proud atop a cool rock against a starry, night sky. The cat's black fur was shiny and smooth, her ears pricked to reveal the pink skin within, her golden eyes turned to the side, as though watching something off the canvas. 'The second greatest Hunter' was this picture's name.

The final walls were home to another set of images. The picture to the left wall, was of a dark, stormy night, painted as through from one of the rooftops of old Canterlot, a noir night of shadows, thick clouds in the sky and rain pattering the cobble streets below and the rooftops above. The rain water was flowing and perfectly captured and transferred to canvas, the water flowing from the roofs and spilling into gutters and alleys while the moon gazed down at the scene and cast it in silver and grey. 'The darkness at the end of the light' was its name. The picture across was of a simple bowl of fruit, innocent enough, until one gazed into the shiny, red apple and found the faint reflection of the stallion and mare doing something rather questionable atop a table. This picture was without name, but Blood Moon had personally named his 'Hidden innocence.'

The hall ended and lead into a circular room, a hearth blazing to the left, the white marble mantle housing a pair of black vases full of blood-red roses, another picture above. Everypony but Blood Moon took a second to gaze upon this master piece, framed in solar gold and painted with only the finest tools and paints. It was a family, two teenage ponies, a colt and filly, and two older ponies behind them. The mare of the older two was of sunlit cream fur, well-kept and shining in the portrait, a moon sliver necklace around her neck, the chain holding a familiar ouroboros, a dagger stabbing through. Both snake and blade were the same moon-silver as the chain, though the centre of the curling snake was filled to form the locket the mare wore constantly. Her mane, appearing to be better accustomed to freedom, was wrapped in a pretty braid that hung down her face, a flare flicking out at the end. It held a strange resemblance to that of a paintbrush. Her unicorn horn seemed well-polished while her eyelashes were thick and perfectly full, flickering out at the corners of her eyes. The same cyan eyes were closed to reveal the sunset red of her hair daintily applied to her eyelids, her cheeks blushed lightly as she locked lips with one very lucky stallion. The mare had her head tilted away from the painter, the stallion's towards it; Ember looked to the stallion sitting behind his desk, finding a strange resemblance between them. The dark stallion who could only be Blood Moon was slightly made up, his mane washed and smooth, kept from his face with a piece of red ribbon, the overly-long piece of fabric reaching over his neck as he kissed his wife. Before them, the colt and filly were grinning half bashfully and half amusedly at their parent's antics; the colt, Crimson, was of deep crimson fur, midnight black streaks stretching up his back like flames thanks to a rare but remarkably badassed fur defect, similar to Luna's night-cloud black flank, only a little more extreme here. His mane and tail were similar to that of his father, windswept and free, sunset gold with a streak of blood red running through them both. The filly, her grin slightly less bashful and a little more amused and smart-flank, much like her father, was sat before her mother; she had fur identical to her father's mane, only glossy and well-kept, while her mane and tail were most definitely of her mother; they were a deep sunset red leading to the flaring tips of light gold.

Ember swallowed lightly as she looked away from the picture and back to Blood Moon, finding him watching her. She gave him a weak smile, to which he nodded to in return.

"So, what happened boss" Leaf started, sitting in one of the chairs before the assassin's desk. Blood Moon took a breath as he raised his hoof and fussed Hunter, the bird hopping off his shoulder and settling on a perch hanging from the roof, Dusk reclining into the assassin's mane once more.

"We were compromised" he replied simply. Leaf grunted.

"Yeah, I got that much" he answered as Ember took the other seat, leaving Candle and Redwave to stand. "Who was that stallion?" Candle nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, I've never heard of a stallion who goes around in armour like that" the Assassin added. Blood Moon shrugged and leaned back in his chair.

"You wouldn't have. Cadaver and I are old friends" he said with a wry smirk on his face. Ember raised an eyebrow.

"Cadaver?" Blood Moon nodded.

"Yes. The assassin of assassins. He's known for taking jobs that require him to kill other, well established, well skilled assassins and defeating them in open combat. He's good, very good… We've fought before, and he left keepsake that day" he explained, running a hoof down the scar on his face. Ember raised her eyebrow once more.

"It was him who did that to you?" The dark stallion nodded.

"Aye, he did. But I gave as good as I got" he said with a more sincere smirk. "Let's just say, he had to modify his mask some that day" he said with a chuckle.

"When did this all happen" Leaf asked, bringing them back to the point "I've never heard any stories about this."

"You won't have. It all happened around two hundred years ago and it was a very…private affair" he answered with a shrug. Leaf frowned.

"Two hundred years ago? How old is he?"

"Three hundred, at least." Redwave cocked his head.

"And, how does one reach their three hundredth year?" Blood Moon turned his head to the ever ambitious see captain.

"It's long been my theory, he uses Umbra Linguam." Ember seemed confused.

"The shadow language? What's that got to do with anything?" Her face slackened. "H-he's not like you, is he?" Blood Moon raised a hoof to calm her.

"No, I don't know his curse, but immortality is my curse because of my love for those around me, I have to watch them die, get it?" She nodded. "But longevity is a common side effect for those who practice Umbra Linguam; as I've explained before, the magic has its own awareness, right, and wants to survive. To that extent, the unicorn grows more robust and lives longer than most ponies, say around five to maybe six hundred years, maybe more if that mage is strong, that being how Starswirl grew so old" he added, always out to teach ponies of Equestria's rich history "that said, even though I've only fought him three times, he's never actually used his shadow magic. Maybe it's a pride thing…maybe I'm wrong and he's more dangerous than he first seemed, but whatever, I've kicked his flank once, I'll do it again." Ember glared suddenly.

"Kicked his flank! Blood Moon, he nearly killed you!" Blood Moon chuckled.

"Really, Ember? One thousand years of training, and that's how much faith you have in me?" The three other Shadow Weavers raised their eyebrows, but knew they were much better off not questioning the Hunter's past. Ember's glare turned to a badly amused grin.

"You wouldn't have so many scars if you just fought properly" she told him. Blood Moon shrugged.

"If I'd fought to the best of my ability, that fight wouldn't have lasted three seconds and it would have been a very boring night. Not to mention, I wouldn't have found out that the Elements were in danger" he retorted. Ember huffed and dropped the point.

"So, how exactly did the contract go" Candle asked, turning their meeting back to business. Blood Moon nodded.

"Indeed, well said Candle. On that note, how did you two get on" he asked, pulling a magically linked logbook from one of his draws, linked so anything written in this book would appear on its twin at the hideout, and visa-versa. Red spoke up.

"We found Prosperous, we taught her a lesson. She won't be able to look at a stallion the same way again and she'll think thrice before crossing the Weavers again." Red got a few looks from the gathered ponies, Candle especially. Blood Moon sighed slightly, marking down in the book.

Target tracked successfully. Broken through rape.

"I thought we were taught to avoid that" Leaf said quietly. Red didn't back down.

"It's what she deserved" he replied calmly. Ember whipped her head to him.

"Since when do you decide what's coming to who? We're assassins, not-" She was cut off when Blood Moon raised a hoof.

"Please, Ember. Even I've heard one or two of those stories" he told her, killing the argument. He looked back to the youngest pair. "Did you kill her?" Red shook his head silently. The dark stallion nodded his understanding. "Alright, Leaf?" The stoic assassin pulled his dirt from his belt, the paper crumpled slightly.

"Quillrunner's husband, cheating on her. That's him done and her humiliated." Blood Moon nodded and jotted it down.

"Anything else? Quillrunner herself?" Leaf shook his head.

"No, this…Cadaver showed up before I could kill her" he muttered, clenching his fore-leg muscles. He glanced up at Blood Moon. "What about you two? With Loaded, I mean." Ember pouted and crossed her fore-legs.

"HE, wouldn't kill him" she said bitterly, pointing a hoof at Blood Moon. "We had our blades to his throat, and HE wouldn't draw blood. After everything we went through" she grumbled. Blood Moon shrugged.

Target tracked successfully. Broken through intimidation. Personal vendetta posted.
Cliff note: Target home successfully demolished. Moral broken and standing reputation through other nobles and underworld destroyed.
Blood Moon set his quill and log down, petting Hunter softly as he did so, and leant back in his chair. He looked up to find three very unamused faces. Crossing his fore-hooves over his chest as he thought, he looked back at the assassins in his office and sighed to himself.

"Listen, we're all tired. Let's get some sleep and discuss things in the morning. The girls probably took the spare beds but the barracks will be empty; they're no different anymore anyway, just a little less aesthetically appealing." Ember went to argue but he cut her off with another raised hoof to stop her. "We'll talk in the morning, Spark. Let's just get some sleep" he said, Hunter flapping back to his shoulder and riding the assassin leading the four other leather-clad ponies to the barracks.

Upon arriving, Blood Moon took the doorknob in hoof and pulled it open to reveal the sleeping mares, before he set it against the wall besides the doorframe; he pushed it against the wall for a second before it gave way, opening to reveal an empty, basic yet comfortable bedroom. It was a rectangular room, the black carpet reaching the back wall, around fifteen beds going back, arranged into three by five rows. At the bottom of the bed was an oak chest, in which assassins would keep their possessions, and a lamp was fixed to one corner of each bed frame. Asides the beds and chests, the barracks were completely bare. Everypony quickly took to a bed, crawling in as the day's exertions caught up with them. They'd all lazily pulled off their armour and weapons, folding them up and placing them into the chests, their weapons going atop them. Ember stole a kiss goodnight from Blood Moon and lay in the bed opposite his, snuggling under the duvet and soon falling to sleep. Ember had planned to sleep with the dark stallion once more tonight, but apparently that was not to be. So, as Hunter hopped upon the bed knob not claimed by the lamp and Dusk curled up in the assassin's mane, Ember could only fall dejectedly to sleep as she realised that the stallion she loved was loved by another mare. And where there was another mare, there was a decision, and where there was a decision…there was a chance that it may not come down in her favour.

Ember gazed at the already dozing stallion and sighed softly, hoping that throughout whatever may happen tomorrow, nopony would live to regret it.

Celestia read the report in her hooves, her eyes slowly growing wider as her grin did the same. She looked over the piece of paper to the guard stood before the door to her chambers; when she'd been woken up by incisive banging on her door, and had promptly promised whoever had disturbed her sleep in would be sent to the moon for a few months, but upon reading this, she was starting to forgive him. The gold-clad stallion was having trouble keeping down his laughs, his eyes watering as he clamped his jaw shut to remain 'stoic' before his ruler. They caught each other's gazes and it just got even harder to not laugh. The guard took a shuddering breath as he pushed down his mirth.

"P-permission to leave, ma'am?" Celestia made the mistake of glancing down at the report again and had to bit her lip so hard she almost drew blood to stop herself from laughing.

"G-granted, soldier" she replied, taking a step back and closing the door. When the tiny 'click' sounded, it may as well have been the starting pistol; both Celestia and her guard completely lost it, the solar princess falling to her flank and laughing said flank off as she held the report to her chest with one hoof, trying to stop her ribs from splitting with the other, and promised to frame the report in her hooves. Maybe get it blown up by the photo developers and hang it from her balcony for all of Equestria to see. Outside, the solar guard simply curled up until he laughed so hard he was silent, his lung begging for air he wasn't about to give them. He stood as he started breathing properly again, holding his ribs as he hobbled back to his post. That was one for the grandkids.

Meanwhile, Celestia had flung herself onto her bed to laugh a little more, maybe to mentally poke fun at the Goldhooves, as she re-read the report. The hoof-writing was a little funky, as though the detective had been laughing himself when he'd been writing it, and judging by the tiny blots of water over the paper, he hadn't done a good job of holding down his mirth. She read the words but it still wasn't really sinking in, the only part she was concerned about was the part she was laughing at: Goldhooves estate demolished. She didn't care about the fatalities, the mercs were nothing but thugs, she didn't care about the culprits, as far as she was concerned she'd kiss them if she could find them, she didn't even care about the fates of the Goldhooves themselves. Sure, they'd all survived, but to the princess of the day, that just made things all the more tantalising, getting to watch as fewer and fewer ponies feared them, as their friends left them to the dogs, as their supporters abandoned them, as everything the corrupt little bastards had done crumbled down around them. She might even order the local newspapers to track everything that happened and reported it all in detail, just so she didn't miss anything. So Equestria wouldn't miss anything.

There was another, much more civilised, knock at Celestia's door, the mare turning to it and calling over:

"It's open!" The gold doors swung open to reveal two mares, of both wing and horn. Cadence and Luna stood side by side, Luna biting her lip as she held her breath, Cadence clamping her maw shut as they trotted inside. They trotted patently to Celestia's bed, hopping up and sitting either side of her. They were silent for a minute before Celestia spoke again. "So… Did you-" That was all she could get in before the three of them burst out laughing again, the three of them losing their balance as they fell to their backs on the bed, Luna blindly grabbed her ears in her hollering, Celestia covered her eyes and Cadence laughed uproariously into her hooves. They were quite the sight, these three wise ponies, and didn't let up in their laughs until it had devolved into giggles and sniggers. They remained on their backs, gazing blindly up at the ceiling, as they tittered and chuckled a little as their laughter died down, for now at least any way. Celestia took a calming breath, pushing her hoof away from her, and closed her eyes to focus. "So…I take it you heard the news" the solar princess started again. Cadence sat up, leaning against Tia's pillows, which said white mare had only just realized that had been made while her back was turned. She really had to get her chamber maids to give her troops some training in silence.

"All of Equestria heard, auntie" Cadence said, her smile still across her lips as she spoke; the princess of love had no love to spare for the Goldhooves, seeing as when the Crystal empire had reclaimed its stability the Goldhooves hadn't waited long to stir things up there either; she'd had just as much trouble with them as Celestia had. Maybe worse, seeing as she hadn't half as much experience as her aunt did when it came to ruling. Luna and Celestia had taken to much more regal postures, Luna relaxing on her front while Celestia sat on her flank.

"So what shall we do" Luna asked, a slightly devious grin on her face. There was only one thing on all of their minds, and it quickly devolved into a game.

"Well, it is our royal duty to see to the wellbeing of all our citizens" Celestia said at sarcastic length. Luna put a grave look on her face.

"Oh, curse our responsibilities" she said sourly.

"Now, now Luna, we must see to all our citizens. It's our duty, as princesses" she reminded her. Cadence watched the two of them, giggling quietly; she had to admit, yesterday had been a little awkward, despite her aunts' reconciliation. Admittedly, the pink Alicorn could understand their attitudes; yes, Luna had accepted her sister's apology but she was still ever so slightly bitter about it, while Celestia was still annoyed that they even had to have their reconciliation in the first place, though her annoyance was aimed at herself rather than her sister now. Though, Cadence had to say, how they were going about their annoyance/bitterness was most amusing.

It had started when they'd returned from lunch yesterday; she and Luna had decided to get back to Killable Combat (Cadence was Tartarus-bent on beating her nocturnal aunt at that infernal game) while Celestia had decided to retire to her room to try and figure out what to do about 'the pictures.' The princess of love wasn't too sure if she wanted to know what 'the pictures' were, but was damn curios. When Celestia had trotted through her door… Well let's just say everything had fallen into place. Cadence knew she'd remember the image till her last day.

"Of course you realise, this means war" had been all Celestia had said when the bucket of mayonnaise teetering atop her door had fallen upon her. Cadence had almost bitten through her lip, trying to hold down her laughter. It hadn't helped when she'd connected the dots, realising what somepony covered in mayo might look like to some. Luna always had, had always had a thing for poetic justice.

Back in the world of reality, Cadence couldn't help but giggle at the memory, still wondering how Celestia planned to retaliate; anypony close to the two princesses knew of their infamous prank wars, in fact, one of Luna's stories the yesterday had been about their first one, the dark stallion putting an end to it when he'd pulled a prank so perfectly brutal and hilarious that all other pranks before and after were forever put to shame, though, Cadence would be forever left in the dark as to what it had been, as Luna had never been able to finish her story about the bandit and pickaxe and the such. She still wondered about that.
Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna had quit stalling with their bad jokes pertaining as to how much they loathed going out to laugh at the Goldhooves, Luna watching her big sister don her armour, shoes and crown as she stood from the bed.

"I doubt they'll be too many ponies at day court anyway, given the circumstances" the solar princess was saying as she placed her crown atop her head and turned back to her niece and sister. "Shall we" she said, turning towards her door. Cadence and Luna soon followed after her, offering no argument.

Their trot through Canterlot palace was masked by the smirks on the faces of the guards and badly contained chuckling from the staff, the princesses' own grins making it no easier on them. Before long, the white, blue and pink Alicorns had all found their way to the entrance hall and were trotting out of the palace. Normally, protocol called for a company of solar and night guards to accompany the princesses, the detachment of Crystal guards with Cadence to escort her, but the three princesses simply had them stay. They wanted at least a little privacy to laugh at these broken nobles.

The Goldhooves estate, or what was left of it, was but a few blocks away from Celestia and Luna's palace, but the crowd outside could easily be seen from their vantage point. The three of them were noticed by no small amount of ponies on the street, thee princesses out for a stroll being so unusual after all, and everypony had either already guessed their intentions or were quickly figuring it out; even the paparazzi seemed to be giving them a break today, the fedora clad mares and stallions already busy with the Goldhooves to care about their rulers coming to see the carnage.

And carnage it was; by the time Celestia, Luna and Cadence had arrived, at least half of Canterlot was there to see their all-time favourite ponies sit in the gutter, trying and failing to go unnoticed by the masses. The three Alicorns made their through the crowd, the gathered ponies looked back and finding them approaching, stepping from their path and letting them past. Tia, Luna and Cadence soon found their way to the front of the crowd and got a good look at the wreckage.

The rear and side walls had somehow remained standing, but pretty much everything else had collapsed in on itself; the front wall was gone, the rooms had fallen into the foyer, and the roof now made up the floor. But none of the three princesses were interested in the estate itself, instead they looked to the small group of ponies surrounded by photographers, medics and journalists. Prosperous was the star of the show, but wouldn't let anypony but her daughter near her, Quillrunner glaring down any reports or medics to try and approach. Quillrunner's husband, Entitled, and their child were sat with her, trying to comfort their mother in law and grandmother respectively. It struck Celestia as a little strange how Prosperous seemed to be glancing at Entitled now and then, but shook it off anyway. Luna noticed the absence of one of the other Goldhooves who normally stayed at the estate, Goldquill, but simply chalked it up as a fatality. The three of them looked around for Loaded, but found that he was nowhere to be seen.

Celestia looked back at the ponies with them, looking for some trace of him but finding nothing nobles and peasants alike, smirking and muttering to one another. No few of them were quiet about it either, throwing insults at the family, telling them how much they deserved it and the such. Celestia looked at her sister and niece, finding them with small smiles on their faces, and had to look back at the Goldhooves to force her own down. When was the last time she'd gloated like this? When she'd rubbed her victory in the faces of her enemies? Not since Equestria's last war with the griffons, at least.

Suddenly, she heard raised voices over the hubbub of the crowds, the three Alicorns glancing around themselves before they saw two stallions appear from the rubble that had once been the estate. One was dirty and looked sore, his sharp suit replaced with off-white bandages that were stained with blood, his eyes holding heavy bags below them while his muscles were badly tensed. The other was relatively clean, his trench coat a little dusty from the debris and his expression angry. Loaded Goldhooves and Skulduggery; apparently they were in the middle of a conversation, a heated one at that.

"And I told you, the next time I work for you is when I play fetch with Cerberus" Skulduggery was shouting. Loaded growled.

"Need I remind you, that you are in no position to argue" the noble shot back. Skull snorted.

"Is that so? Look around yourself Loaded, you're stood in the rubble of what used to be your home. You're wearing bandages after you were stabbed in the ribs. You were barely an inch away from being killed. The Goldhooves are finished" he spat. Skulduggery went to turn away, though got no further when Loaded grabbed his coat's collar.

"Now you listen to me you filthy peasant; I am lord Loaded Goldhooves, and you will do as
you're told! You are under my hoof and all's I need to do is add a little pressure and-" He was cut off when Skulduggery's hoof shot up and grabbed his horn, squeezing it harshly and watching him writhe, angling his grip so Loaded was taken off his fore-hooves.

"I couldn't give a damn who you are, I couldn't give a damn what you have on me and I couldn't give a damn if you think you can scare me. Your name is ruined,your reputation is in tatters and you're about as scary as a fly right now." He applied more pressure to Loaded's horn and threw him to the floor, putting his spare hoof to his throat. "Now, you're under my hoof, and all's I need to do is add a little pressure and you die. I won't bother with ruining you, I'll just end it." He let him go and stood up properly, glaring at him. "I'm nice like that, y' see?" He turned away and trotted towards the crowds. He didn't get very far before a voice stalled his efforts.

"I never thought you one to put on such a show, Skulduggery." He didn't exactly freeze, nor tense, but he did pause. He swallowed lightly and turned back to the spot the voice had come from. He found her tall stature and white coat, confirming his suspicions, and simply grunted.

"Sometimes a spot of mischief requires a little theatricality, princess" he answered as he turned. He found the three princesses watching him, the detective raising an eyebrow at Cadence's presence, and bowed his head slightly. "Princess Luna, Cadence" he greeted. Luna simply returned his nod impartially, having few dealings with the detective, but Cadence gave him a strange, knowing smile. He had one or two suspicions as to where that stemmed from, and could only hope he was wrong. Despite having all three Alicorns watching him, he could still feel the ponies around him, watching him. He felt a little self-conscious, not to mention paranoid. Celestia apparently picked up on it.

"How have you been, detective" she asked as she trotted away from the already gossiping crowds, Luna and Cadence following after them. Luna couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at her sister's behaviour, but Cadence could only grin.

"Fine" he answered simply, slightly uneasy around the other two princesses "I can only guess as to why you're here, princess" he mused. Celestia shot him a small grin, watching him from the corner of her eye.

"Maybe, you're the detective" she lightly teased. Her tone made Luna's eyebrow arc again. Skulduggery grunted.

"You came here to laugh at the Goldhooves, perchance" he guesses dryly.

"Ever the intuitive one. Yourself?" Luna noticed that they had been lead around the corner and into another, much quieter street and were being lead around the mountain district by Tia. The morning sun casting a pleasant glow over their chosen path, a pleasant street between two rows of townhouses, fillies and colts playing on the quiet road while the rather royal group of ponies meandered past them.

"Loaded wanted me to track down whoever killed his son and crippled his family. I can only guess you know what my response was" Skulduggery answered with a shrug.

"A little quiet today, Skulduggery" she noted as the ball the foals were playing with rolled over to them, Celestia giving it a light kick back to them. Their little faces gained a smile as they gave a synchronised 'thanks princess!' The solar princess couldn't help but smile back.
"I'm always quiet" he answers. Celestia couldn't help but smirk at his short answers, but felt her concern bubble up all the same.

"Skulduggery, are you alright" she asked carefully. Skull looked up at her with a neutral expression on his face; not outgoing, not shut off. Impossible to read, this stallion.

"I'm fine, Celestia. Why wouldn't I be?" Behind them, Luna frowned and opened her mouth to speak:

"You will address her as princess, detective" is what she would have said if Cadence hadn't turned her head to her, giving her a small look that made her close her mouth. Luna couldn't help but comply, but with this, curiosity rose; why would Cadence be-

'Ohhhhhhhh my…'

Luna swallowed lightly and raised an eyebrow. The question was clear to Cadence, and she simply nodded her head. Her jaw soon unhinged itself as a blush sneaked onto her face while an almost teasing smile found her lips. The mouthed words to each other.

"No way!"

"Way."

Luna, for the second time in a day, had to hold down her laughter. Maybe she should have taken the opportunity to tease big sister, to berate her for dating a 'commoner' like she once had so long ago, but she didn't. Half because she was taking the moral high ground, half because…well…it was just so gosh darn adorable! Yes, she was the younger sister, and yes, Celestia was the one who should have been teasing her about first crushes and the such, but it was the simple fact that she'd had a coltfriend before her, so the metaphorical ball was in her metaphorical court. So, she decided to be a good 'big' sister.

"Oh, Cadence. I just remembered something I need to show you, back at the palace." Celestia glanced back, apparently oblivious or uncaring to her intentions, and gave them an absent look. Cadence, meanwhile, looked at her aunt with wide eyes, making a small whining sound, almost like a puppy not getting its way. Her message was, once again, obvious.

"But I wanna watch the growdups be mushyyy" she silently whined. Luna had to shake her head.

"No, I must show you now" she insisted. Cadence whined once again, this one pleading. Her message was less subtle than the last.

"But aunt Lu-Luuuu!" Luna simply smiled as she put a wing over her back and dragged her away.

"Come now, Cadence. We can't laugh at nobles all day, now, can we?" Cadence's whine was submissive this time, as she hung her head and trotted with the nocturnal princess.

"Yes, I…suppose" she mumbled, sulking after her aunt. Celestia and Skulduggery simply blinked when they trotted hastily away.

"What…was that" Skulduggery asked, well in his rights to be questioning his rulers right now. Celestia wasn't quite sure herself.

"You're the detective" she mumbled. Skulduggery grunted as he shrugged and turned back to their rout. Celestia trotted slowly besides him, enjoying the day she had sculpted for her subjects to enjoy; her sun was a particularly happy shade of gold, the heat it radiated forming small droplets of sweat on everypony outside, but the Pegasi's discrete gusts of winds countered that nicely. The raiser of the sun didn't need to collaborate with the ponies of the sky to make perfect days. She looked back at her top detective and got their conversation back on track, glad that her sister and niece had left them. "Well…I can think of one reason" she answered; she put on a confident tone, but inwardly, it left much to be desired. Skulduggery hummed in thought.

"That was…" the natural response should have been 'mistake' but he knew, even in his limited…well, non-existent experience with mares that that was a lie. "… Just…something that happened. We move on" he said quietly. Celestia nodded slightly.

"Yes…we move on. But, Skulduggery, it was still wrong of me; we both know that that…kind of relationship couldn't work between us" she said, Skulduggery raising a hoof to assure his understanding.

"I know Celestia, it's fine. I understand" he told her. The solar mare sighed lightly.

"I know you do…and that's what annoys me most" she told him. Skulduggery frowned at her words and looked up at her. The sun caught her just…so. He quickly looked back to the ground as he caught her meaning and his blood-flow, calming his nerves and pulse. He took a breath.

"Yes, well. Either way, I should get going…I've a…a case I'm on, I've been putting it off too long" he muttered as he looked back at his ruler, only to find she had gone. One corner of his maw tensed slightly; he didn't blame her, he just wished-

"Ahhh, detective" a voice said from behind Skulduggery. He turned his head and narrowed his
eyes. Four stallions, dark colours, sinister grins, earth ponies, looking confident in their numbers. Thugs.

"What do you want, kid?" The lead pony, black fur, rustic brown mane and tail, snorted.

"You" he spat. Skull raised an eyebrow.

"I'm flattered but my tail don't swing that way" he answered. The thug narrowed his eyes.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that" he seethed. Skulduggery sighed.

"What do you want" he repeated. He didn't like being snuck up on, and he hated even more that this was in broad daylight. Not to mention, that nopony was around, likely the foals had been called inside thanks to these guys passing by. Another thug narrowed his eyes.

"You. You've insulted Loaded, pissed him off. And, with his current situation, he's gotta send a message, so how's about your mangled body? I'm thinkin' legs broke, horn snapped off and an eye missing. We gotta make sure nopony messes with the boss in the near future." The detective raised an eyebrow.

"What would killing me achieve?" They laughed a little.

"Who said anything about killin' you? Oh, you're gonna wish you were dead, but we won't kill ya. We're nice like that" the lead thug grinned "we're just gonna make sure you're in a LOT of pain, and make sure you can tell ponies who did this to you, that the Goldhooves are not out to pasture." Another thug spoke.

"And who better to beat the shit outta than the stallion who seems to have a lotta fun humiliating Loaded?" Skulduggery grunted; revenge and a message to the masses? No better way to say 'don't buck with us.' Skulduggery simply cracked his neck left and right.

Two thugs charged, one swinging a hoof he ducked under and countered with his own strike while the second took him off his hooves, forcing him to the ground. He recovered quickly and rammed a fore-knee into his scapula, hitting the nerve just right and squirming from beneath him. Being on the floor in a four-on-one fight was a one way ticket on the pain train.

The other two thugs advanced, both at once. Skull's hoof found its home in one's jaw while the other grabbed his other fore-leg, throwing him to one of his friends. The detective found himself in a full neighlson, the other three advancing on him. The back of the older stallion's skull connected with the younger one's muzzle, blood and screams erupting from him. Skull slipped from his hold as his hat fell off, pulling one leg from the hold and stepping to the side as another thug's hoof made connection with his grabber's gut.

Skulduggery threw the now winded pony at his assaulting friend, the other two giving no pause. One threw a strike Skulduggery blocked and countered, while the other's hoof lamped him in the temple, sending him staggering. Another hoof came from nowhere, Skull raising a hoof and blocking only to find another hitting him in the shoulder. The same, dislocated shoulder from his fight with Crag. He growled as the ball and socket joint came lose and another tripped him, throwing him to the ground while another held him down. He looked up to find the four of them stood over him.

"Y'know old stallion, I can see why Loaded wants you dead and buried. I just wish it was us doing it" the lead pony growled. Skulduggery spat in his face. The rustic mane and tailed stallion wiped it spit off his face before he crushed his hoof into Skulduggery's jaw. The world spun for a second, words being spoken muffled and dull until his hearing came back. "-at's it, flip him over. Hold his legs. I'm gonna enjoy this, detective" the lead stallion spat. Skulduggery suddenly noticed he was on his front and his hind legs were being held by one of the thugs; he looked back and down his body to find the black furred stallion turning, raising his hind legs and-

Snap

Skulduggery's eyes widened as his pupils turned to pinpricks, tears welling in his eyes as the scream ripped from his throat. He writhed and struggle and kicked and roared, but none of it helped. The thugs laughed and jeered, spitting on him and beating rocks over his head, blood leaking from his skull and old scar, his coat ripped from his back as they kept pummelling his defenceless form. One ripped hairs from his head while another took a sharp piece of glass discarded on the street and shoved it between his ribs. More blood leaked from him while even more of his bones were broken, bruises were formed and insults were thrown. The detective covered his head and did his best to curl up into a ball, trying to reduce the pain of the abuse as much as he could. It was for nought when somepony bucked him in the stomach, forcing the air from him and leaving him gasping and spluttering. Another strike across his head threw his vision for a second, only for it to come back when a hoof made contact with his face, breaking his snout and probably leaving a shiner.

It all stopped suddenly, and Skulduggery felt hooves on him flipping him onto his back again. His senses were dulled and battered, he couldn't see anything but vague shapes and hear muffled sounds. He felt a hoof on his horn for a second before an indescribable pain rocked his nervous system, another scream of pain scraping from his throat.

"Hey, leave that guy alone" came the voice of a goddess, a true angle amongst ponies, the one pony he would forever owe his life to. The four thugs looked up to find somepony cantering over to them, other ponies watching from the safety of their homes, and hightailed it, galloping for a side street. A pony appeared in Skulduggery's rapidly decreasing field of view, hearing a few words with the vague shapes. "Alpine! Go fetch Mrs. Fireberry, tell her to call the guards, quick!" Skulduggery frowned his bloody brow as his vision cleared up enough to make out who was speaking.

'Mountain Dew…huh…' was the last thing he thought before he fell unconscious.

It was an appropriately huge turnout. Blood Moon trotted towards the coffin alone, a bouquet of blood red and black roses in his grip. Another funeral. He wondered how many he'd been to in his life. More than he'd like to count. He dropped the flowers before her coffin, a mark of respect and love. It was open casket. She was too beautiful not to deserve it. The dark stallion looked over the side of the oak wood. Her mane and tail had long since grown grey. Her fur was dull. The eyes, closed and peaceful, had turned dull and tired. He sighed. He brushed her mane away from her face and laid one final kiss on her cheek. She'd lived a long life, but he still felt she'd been taken too early. He turned around to find Celestia, Luna and another Alicorn, pink and significantly younger than the other two. Cadence, he guessed. They each had a flower of their own, the three of them setting them down next to his own. They each took a step back to take their final look at her before they closed the coffin and lowered her into the ground. Blood Moon looked absently at the grave stone.

Twilight Sparkle

The Element of Magic

978 P.N.M-102 R.P.L

Much loved friend, sister, mother and wife.

Once again, the Elements are together.

The assassin looked to the other grave stones; Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbowdash, Rarity, Fluttershy and now, Twilight. It was as her tombstone said; they could finally rest together in harmony.

Blood Moon awoke with a start, Dusk squeaking in displeasure as he was almost flung from his perch. A cold sweat ran down his back while his breathing returned to normal. That dream… he didn't want to see it again. Twilight, dead. The inevitable… Something he couldn't avoid, couldn't fight. Couldn't do anything about.

He shook his head, chasing away his thoughts on his dream, curios as to its meaning, if it were something obvious staring him in the face or something more complex, hidden away. Looking around, he found that he was alone, asides Hunter and Dusk, the phoenix recognising his master's distress and nuzzling him lightly. Blood Moon returned the gesture, glad that his bird was there, and slowly figured out that Ember, Leaf, Red and Candle had apparently woken up already and gone to breakfast. Starswirl's beard, that would be awkward; four assassins meeting with the Elements of Harmony, the Cutie mark crusaders, Spike and Sand Stalker. It wasn't likely to be the dinner party of the century.

He stood from his bed, making it with his magic, and awaited Hunter to hop to his shoulder before he turned and trotted for the door, pushing through it and stepping into the living room; it was empty too, nopony but himself and his pets enjoying his primary living space. He hadn't designed it, not a chance in Tartarus he could achieve something like this, but Rising Sunset had. Before she'd come along and added her 'mare's touch' to the place it had been about as exciting and captivating as the entrance hall. Well, what he called the entrance hall, his family had just called it the 'Square' because that's what it was. A square.

Hunter noticed the tears welling in Blood Moon's eyes and nuzzled him again, the assassin almost breaking down at the thought of such a simple concept. A few droplets fell from his face, running down his scar and pattering onto the carpet. Blood Moon sighed a deep sigh and straightened up, deciding he needed food to stop dwelling on his memories. He made his way to the Square and pushed through the door, trotting silently to the door marked 'W', he pushed through into the kitchens, before turning to the empty doorway and finding the still and awkward-

'Wait, what?'

Conversation was in full swing, small groups of ponies having formed and taken to conversing about different things.

"How in the hay did this happen" the assassin asked himself. Twilight was talking with, of all ponies, Falling Leaf about something, Redwave seemed to be regaling the fillies, Spike and Pinkie Pie about his tales of the ocean, sword fighting poses no extra charge, Ember Spark was talking to Applejack about something while Rainbowdash, Rarity, Sand Stalker and Candle Light were conversing about what could only be the Shadow Weavers. Fluttershy was simply keeping to herself, uncomfortable around so many new ponies. The dark stallion lingered in the doorway.

"I-I don't believe it. You can use magic" Twilight was saying to the stoic assassin. He nodded once.

"I can" he answered. Twilight blinked a few times.

"But-you-how…c-can I ask you a couple of questions" she asked, more begged. Leaf's eyes glanced at Blood Moon, who smirked in agreement, and the earth pony shrugged.

"Sure." Twilight quickly pulled a notebook from somewhere, probably the ether.

"Well, for one, how is that even possible? I know all ponies have their own forms of magic, an earth pony's strength and the Pegasi's cloud-walking ability for example, but only unicorns can actually actively perform it, y'know, for levitation like you did" she says, referring to Leaf grabbing the toast he was eating from the toaster with his magic.

"It's not easy" he admitted "I can only suppose you know how magic works" he said. Twilight nodded.

"Of course I do; pretty much any unicorn can use telekinesis, that being one of the most basic spells, but all other spells, teleportation, Rarity's gem-detecting spell, Blood Moon's Umbra Linguam and most any other spell the unicorn can perform revolves around their talent. Mine, being magic, means I can use just about any kind of spell" she said with no small amount of pride "and Blood Moon is an assassin, so anything to do with subterfuge and combat would come naturally, that, and he's had a long time to practise" she added. "But what's that got to do with you using magic?"

"It doesn't, I was just wondering if you knew anything about magic" he shrugged. Twilight glared at him. "Anyway, you know how unicorns conduct magic?" She nodded.

"Yeah, through the Alicorn of their horns." He nodded.

"And earth ponies can't conduct magic actively because…"

"They don't have Alicorn in their bodies" she finished. He nodded once more.

"Indeed." He waited a single second before Twilight paled slightly.

"Y-you mean…"

"Yes. When I was first inducted into the Weavers, I was taken into one of the sub levels. There, I was given an operation. They took the horn of a dead unicorn, made an indent in my skull and fitted the horn into said hole. So now, I guess you could say I have a somewhat hidden weapon" he told her. Twilight swallowed lightly.

"And…and this happens to every non-unicorn to be...inducted, into the…what did you call them, the Shadow Weavers?" He nodded.

"Yes, that's our collective name, and no, only earth ponies. You see, a Pegasi's wings-"

"The bones are made from Alicorn" Twilight cut in "so, what you're saying…the Pegasi use their wings to conduct magic" she concluded. He nodded. "That's… That's…"

"A disgusting crap on our way of life, somepony's evil attempt at playing Father Time?"
"Genius! I know that unicorns using magic is the way Equestria needs to be to remain peaceful and balanced, but, from a scientific point of view, it's amazing. And conducting magic through a Pegasi's wings, I'd never have thought of that." She looked over at Candle Light. "Is it hard?" The young stallion blinked and blushed lightly.

"E-excuse me?"

"Conducting magic through your wings, is it difficult?" He blinked once more as his blush receded with his knowledge, glancing at Leaf before he answered.

"Kinda. I guess you could say it's easy enough getting the magic to the Alicorn, but actually performing the spells isn't as simple, as the bone isn't exposed to the elements. Because of that, I have to channel the magic through my wings, while concentrating the spell itself away from my wings so it doesn't damage them. Get it?" Twilight nodded a few times thoughtfully, nibbling on the back of her pencil absently.

"What I wouldn't give to perform some tests" she mumbled. Candle paled slightly, Twi catching it and laughing hastily. "No, just kidding, I don't actually want to run any tests on you...unless you're up for it" she tried. Candle swallowed lightly.

"You can take that as a 'no' Twilight" Sand Stalker told her, re-engaging his conversation with the Tiger-orange stallion.

"So, who came up with it" Twilight asked Leaf, turning back to him.

"The Weaver" he answered simply, still half-annoyed, half-impressed with this mare, both because he'd thought she'd freak out with his information.

"The Weaver" Twilight repeated with a frown. Leaf nodded.

"Yes, our leader. Our…mysterious leader at that" he mumbled. Blood Moon lost interest in their conversation, and looked around the table; Redwave was exiting the kids and Pinkie with a tale as to how he went up against the vicious scourge of the seven seas, Hoofbeard, the two of them duelling an epic duel on the high seas. It amused Blood Moon to no end to watch him prance about with a wooden spoon in hoof, holding it as though he were fighting off hordes of enemies. Perhaps the best part was that Pinkie wore the exact same expression of awe as the fillies and Spike. Candle Light's conversation with Sand, RD and Rarity was probably least interesting, basic questions about who the Shadow Weavers were. The kind of information gathering Blood Moon expected from Sand Stalker, always knowing those around him, always knowing potential foes. AJ and Ember were having a strange conversation about the two knowing each other, the apple bucker and the assassin apparently discussing something about seeing each other long ago. Blood Moon would have listened in, had Ember not noticed him.

"Hey, look who's up" she said over the over conversations. Everypony's eyes went to Blood Moon. If it hadn't been awkward before, it was now. When he'd gotten back and…revived Scootaloo, he'd kept to himself. He'd taken her to the bedroom and shut himself in, nopony having either the nerve or incentive to come visit, asides Rainbowdash, who's fear, if she had any, was trumped by her concern for her little sister. As such, Blood Moon hadn't the chance to say…anything, really, his 'talk' with Hunter being the closest thing he had to any kind of apology.
Either way, the silence said it all. The assassins weren't happy with him for the contract, the Elements just plain didn't like him anymore, Sand Stalker's only opinion was that of looking after his niece while Spike and the other two fillies didn't know what to think anymore. Without saying a word, his horn flared as a cup of coffee floated over to him with a plate of toast and an apple, the dark stallion turning and trotting out as the fridge door opened itself and a chunk of cheddar flew out for Dusk while Hunter was perfectly capable of finding his own food. Blood Moon trotted into the Square and leapt up to the hatch and outside, the iron door opening at his whim before he took a seat on the hard ground, leaning his back against one of the burnt corner beams of the shack and relaxing into thought. His eyes vacantly scanned the horizon for anything interesting, nothing but bog and swamp meeting his eyes.

"Why is it you're so obsessed with building inside mines?"

'The foundations are already there and it's easy enough to make a home out of a hole in the ground.' He took a sip from his beverage as Hunter took flight, circling the air and searched for prey. 'What do you want?'

"What, I can't pass the time?"

'Not at my expense.'

"You're boring, at least let me poke fun at you."

'You do realise the last time I saw you I promised I'd shove your head up your ass.'

"You do realise that you're threatening a voice in your head with violence."

'I have my ways… Now what do you want?'

"To talk, you do realise that you're the literally ONLY pony I can talk with."

'And?'

"Well, the only pony I can talk with is the pony I'm meant to be sending insane. You do realise, I have no purpose because of you, right?"

'Black Star, I couldn't give less of a damn if you're meaningless or not, because that's always how I've seen you. You. Have. No. Purpose. And I really wish you'd stop talking to me.'

"Do you really wish that Blood Moon, really? That the only pony, entity really, that is guaranteed to be with you forever would stop talking to you. To lose that reassuring fact that, when everypony else is dead, you won't be so alone. That, inside this broken head of yours isn't just darkness and memories, but some actual company? Do you really want to lose that?"
Blood Moon paused, his answer of 'yes' on the tip of his tongue before his mind failed him.

"I thought as much."

'You've been practicing, haven't you.'

"Practicing what" a voice asked. Blood Moon blinked when he noticed he'd said that last thing aloud, looking around for the voice's owner. He looked back to find Ember Spark and Twilight.

'Sweet Celestia, have mercy.'

Blood Moon swallowed slightly at the sight of the two mares, stood side by side though not too close to each other. They were fixing him with pointed looks, not glares but by no means a soft look.

"Something the matter" he asked as he trotted towards the edge of the small island the burnt shack stood upon, surrounded by aforementioned bog water and swampland. He heard Twilight and Ember come up behind him.

"We need to talk" Twilight told the back of his head. Blood Moon's gaze went to the bird in the sky, Hunter calling before he went into a steep dive and sunk his talons into something that was now having a very bad day.

"About" he asked in return. They didn't answer him. Instead they gave him the ol' silent treatment; Blood Moon wasn't intimidated by silence, in fact, he was a little disappointed with Ember, thinking she could make him squirm with silence. Silence was the music of a true assassin. Blood Moon turned to them either way, and was met with two narrowed gazes. He narrowed his own eyes in return. If they wanted to have words with him, fine, but he wasn't about to curl up and let it happen. He was an assassin, and ponies didn't simply 'berate' an assassin. This would be no normal relationship discussion.

"Me and Ember were talking when you left" Twilight told him "after last night when you healed Scootaloo" she trailed off, her point made.

'How long have I been up here..?'

"And we want to ask you something Moon" Ember told him simply. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Get on with it then. If you think by dragging this out you're going to scare me, you've both got another thing coming." Both mares blinked at his words, not to mention his tone; they hadn't expected such aggression. Both mares swallowed slightly.

"W-what happened when you were gone? With Ember, I mean" Twilight asked. Blood Moon's eyes went to her.

"We kissed, made out, had sex. She admitted to loving me" he answered plainly. Ember narrowed her eyes a little more.

"You said you love me too" she reminded him. The dark stallion turned his gaze to her.

"I did" he confirmed.

"Then why didn't you say so" Twilight asked. Blood Moon narrowed his eyes once more; he could see what they were doing here, ganging up on him, alternating between speaker to make sure he remembered he wasn't alone with either one of them, trying to force him into a corner. They wanted him to slip up somehow.

"Love is a dangerous word" he answered. They were silent in their stand off for a second. The stallion broke the silence. "What do you want? I'm getting tired of dancing around the point here" he told them. Both mares glared as they took a step forward.

"You, Blood Moon. We've discussed this, and we've come to a conclusion. This herd you and Twilight have going on wouldn't work for me" Ember told him "I'm selfish like that" she added almost spitefully.

"So, you have a choice" Twilight told him "it's either Ember, or me and Fluttershy." Blood Moon snorted; so this was it. No discussions, no sensible meeting, just an on the spot decision. Well, if that's how they wanted to play it…

"So that's it, huh" he asked as he cocked his head "you want me to make a decision between two mares, who can't possibly love me anymore, or my student, the mare I've taught most of her life, my protégé?" He shook his head. "Y'know, I've a rule of sorts when somepony makes me chose between themselves and somepony else, it's 'whoever isn't making me choose.' But here, we have a problem: you're both trying to make me choose between you. So I choose neither" he glared. Twilight blinked in shock while Ember grit her teeth and narrowed her eyes to mask her heartbreak.

"W-what do you mean" the purple mare asked. The dark mare growled.

"I'll tell you what he means, he means he's a coward; he refuses to choose between us because-"

"The next time you call somepony a coward, Ember, make sure they're not me" Blood Moon growled in a sinister voice "you two are the ones who thought it would be a good idea to have all the important conversations without me, and before you try and say this is a cop out, let me ask you something; what is my curse?" Ember frowned.

"You're curse" she repeated, looking down in thought before she tutted "oh, here we go; the big speech about 'it's my curse to watch everypony around me die, so the last thing I want to do is hurt anypony close to me.' Sweet Celestia, what kind of assassin are you? At least have the balls to make a decision between two mares." Blood Moon narrowed his eyes again for a second; then, the earth at Ember's hooves exploded upwards. Spikes of rock shot upwards, surrounding her, enclosing her legs and poking at her stomach, one in particular reaching up to just below her neck. Twilight gasped and scrambled away from Ember, the grey mare remaining stock still in fear of being impaled. Blood Moon took a single step forwards and put his face into Ember's.

"You know, Ember, for all my gentlecoltly qualities, I am quite unstable and have killed for lesser reasons than somepony pissing me off." He snarled. "Yes, we're having some relationship issues, but let me assure you, I am no normal stallion and I'm not one to take shit from anypony. Now this probably makes me a bad pony, but I've never claimed to be anything otherwise." The stone spikes retracted into the ground. "I suggest you be more careful with your words" he told her. She bared her teeth in anger.

"You piece of dirt. I don't think I've met anypony quite so hypocritical as you; you betray Twilight three times and you've left me hanging for a real return to my sentiments for days now, or is that it, I was just sex with you! Somepony to buck and chuck when you're at a low point! And despite all this we've tried to be patient with you, but the moment we ask you to at least choose between us, you tell us neither are good enough for you anymore!" Blood Moon remained silent throughout her rant. "Well so be it! Why don't you just go fuck the corpse of you wife!" Twilight gasped, Equestria stood still and something inside Blood Moon himself snapped.

"Blood Moon, cool it, she didn't mean it."

It was no good, it wasn't enough; he'd already lunged forward and slammed Ember to the ground, straddling her as he beat his hooves into her face until she was nothing but a bloody and bruised pulp.

"YOU. DON'T. SAY. ANYTHING ABOUT HER" he roared as hoof met face time after time until he dug his appendage into the ground besides her head and ripped out another spike of stone; he held it in two hooves and thrust it down at her, Ember grabbing his fore-legs in her own to keep the spike away from her. Silent rage was nothing compared to this; his expression was enraged, his eyes had gone bloodshot and his face was contorted in anger, his teeth bared, a manic look in his eyes and a growl ripping from his face in place of breaths.

None too soon, the other three assassins clambered out of the hole in the ground, due to the sound of raised voices and attempted murder, and quickly flung themselves at the dark stallion. Candle and Red took him by the fore-legs while Leaf grabbed his neck in a chokehold. Blood Moon couldn't think of how to escape this hold in his angered state, flailing and kicking to try and get to his prey; Dusk had scampered off his head and retreated to the safety of Twilight's mane while Hunter returned from his hunt and perched on Twilight's shoulder, watching their master rage around in the grip of three assassins while he tried to murder the other.

"GET THE BUCK OFFA ME! SHE-" he whipped his left fore-leg from Redwave's hold and cracked his knee into his face "SHE INSULTED MY WIFE" he roared, striking Candle in the face and reaching back with both hooves and throwing Leaf off of him; he rolled onto the back of his neck and fore-hooves before he pushed and leapt gracefully to his all-fours and lunged at Ember once more. He was stopped mid-air by somepony grabbing his hind legs and holding on for dear life. He growled and snorted and roared in anger, likely scaring off a few of the native nasties around here, and flung his improvised weapon at Ember. It was aimed dead for her fore-head, but was intercepted by a mustard yellow hoof. Sand Stalker snapped his stone spike in two as he stood between Blood Moon and Ember. Blood Moon growled as he looked down his body to find out what was holding him down; it was Twilight, holding both his hind-legs with her fore-legs, her eyes leaking tears slightly as she fought to keep Blood Moon from killing Ember in what she could only guess to be the most gruesome way known to pony. He slowly calmed and his rage induced rampage came to an unfulfilled end as he relaxed onto the ground with a truly vile look on his face. After a few minutes, Twilight finally released him, letting him up; he turned his gaze to the ponies to have come up due to the sounds of bloody murder and evil. The Elements of Harmony, Spike and the little ones had joined them, finding Blood Moon attempting to rip out Ember's spine and shove it down her oesophagus.

"What're you looking at" he demanded of them all, all of them recoiling slightly at his tone and words. Everypony but Sand Stalker, Twilight, Scootaloo (bless her brave heart) and the assassins swallowed slightly, looking away.

"What happened here" Sand Stalker asked, his hard gaze locked onto Blood Moon. It wasn't lost on anypony that his scimitar was sheathed on his back.
"She insulted his wife" Twilight said quietly. Sand Stalker blinked a few times, looking back at the beaten mare. He snorted suddenly.

"You're a lucky mare" he growled, apparently not impressed with her choice of insult. He picked her up and laid her on his back, trotting back to the hatch and hopping down, though not before he looked at the other ponies and drake gathered up there. "C'mon, this isn't a circus act" he told them as he hopped down "and you two, they're gonna need some…privacy" he told Blood Moon's pets. They followed after him, some more eager than others as Blood Moon turned to the assassins. They watched him carefully, Leaf in specific, the three of them standing in a triangle. Redwave went to talk before Leaf beat him to it.

"She got what was coming to her. Nopony insults a widow's lost one and goes on unscathed" he said definitively. Redwave tensed on corner of his maw before he decided his superior was right. The three of them soon trotted past Blood Moon, back into the assassin's home. Blood Moon took a single, long breath, his eyes still narrowed at the horizon behind where his assassins had just stood. He felt a presence besides him.

"What do you want me to say, Twilight" he asked quietly.

"I-I just wanted to ask you something" she told him.

"You done enough asking" he told her sharply, whipping his head to her. From the look on her face, he could tell that she was scared, but holding firm.

"Just, answer me this" she begged, her eyes full of conflict. He growled and turned away, trotting to the edge of the small island and staring off into the wilderness, where there were no problems, only instinct. None of these 'relationship problems' just kill or be killed. That was something he could work with. While Blood Moon was contemplating galloping off now and living with the wolves, Twilight trotted beside him and stood at his side. "What did you mean" she asked simply. Blood Moon growled and turned to her.

"What did what mean" he demanded. Twilight turned to him so they were looking directly at each other, not three inches between them, though this wasn't so intimate.

"When you said, 'two mares who couldn't possibly love me anymore.'What did you mean?" Blood Moon was silent for a second.

"You and Fluttershy. After what I did, what I said…" Twilight could see the shame hidden behind his snarled lip and evil glare, the disappointment in himself. He shook his head and growled again, that veil of anger coming back thicker and stronger than before. "Don't try and kid yourself Twi, I can see everything about you through your eyes, every instinct, every emotion, every-" he would have said something else if Twilight hadn't moved forwards and pressed her lips to his. There was moisture to their kiss, though it wasn't from their mouths, instead, it was the tear that had leaked from Twilight. She pulled back after a second, leaving the assassin's veil of anger distorted by confusion.

"Well then, you can't see very well" she told him slightly harshly. She sniffled lightly as she tried to fix her glare. "Because if you could see everything about me, then you'd be able to see that I never stopped loving you. That when everypony was scared, I never lost faith in you. That when everypony was trying to figure out what to do about you, I never stopped believing in you, I never forgot what you did for us all. That I…" she looked him up and down for a second before she leaned her head on his chest "that I understand. You need somepony to fight for" she said at length "without me, Scootaloo, Fluttershy, somepony to fight for you're…you're just a lost and broken stallion" she told him. "And I know, I understand and I respect that, you've gone so long alone after finding somepony to love and w…watching her die…" she said slowly "after something like that, it's a miracle you didn't just kill me when we first met" she told him, looking up at him, but not taking her head away from his chest "but you didn't, we met, we spoke, we became friends, we fell in love… If somepony told me, years ago, that someday I'd be in love with an immortal assassin, I'd have laughed them off, but now I'd rather be nowhere else except with you, because I give you a reason to live, a reason to be…" she lowered her gaze and put her face into his chest again, one hoof going around his neck in a weak hug "and I can't stand seeing you without somepony to live for" she told him in a whisper.

She felt the stallion she was holding swallow, a small breath escaping his muzzle. She felt one of his own hooves wrap around her shoulders as his neck lowered to embrace her tighter than he could with just his hooves.

"Twilight" Blood Moon said quietly. The purple unicorn pulled back slightly.

"Yeah" she answered gently. She looked up to find small… She blinked, tears, falling from his eyes. The red orbs were closed and his head was angled down, the small droplets running down his scar and dropping to the ground.

"Why is it that you love me" he asked. Twilight blinked at the question before she put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Because… Well, I don't know" she pulled him in again, wrapping her hooves around him "because nopony else can, I guess" she said with a small smile on her face. Blood Moon huffed.

"W-why is that, Twilight? Why is it that you take the time to understand me, to…figure me out?" Twilight couldn't hold down her small titter.

"Because I love you" she told him. He huffed again.

"You love me because you try to understand me, and you try to understand me because you love me" he murmured. Twilight giggled.

"A continuous loop. Our love's an ouroboros" she said. The assassin blinked a few times.

"That…that…that was beautiful" he mumbled. Twilight couldn't hold down her smile.

"Blood Moon?"

"Hmm?"

"A-are you…okay now?" Blood Moon sighed.

"I…I guess, yeah, I'm better now" he mumbled as he put a hoof of his own over her back, pulling her in.

"Good" she said as she relaxed into his hold. They were silent for a while, relaxed, peaceful, happy together. Then Twilight broke the hug and took a step away. "Because I need to talk to you" she told him. Blood Moon knew what was to come. He let her go and straightened up his expression hardening again, though it was more serious than threatening.

"About" he asked.

"Fleur and Rarity" she told him simply. He huffed slightly and looked away.

"What do you want me to say Twilight? I won't make excuses, I won't try and beg forgiveness and I sure as hay aren't gonna try and explain this away. It happened, there's nothing I can do about it now" he told her. Twilight screwed her face up in frustration and a sudden anger.

"Then why did it happen" she demanded, a warning light flashing in her head; the original plan was to have a quiet and calm conversation, but it appeared that that wasn't to be.

"Because" he started harshly, yet confidently before he faltered when nothing came out of his maw. He growled in frustration. "Because it just did, what do you want me to say? I used Fleur for information at Fancy's place, yeah, I could have done it a different way, and yeah, there were a hundred different ways I could'a got information out of her, but at the time, that was the fastest way to get it out of her without hurting her. And Rarity…I don't know! It was just the moment, she'd just patched me up, and I don't know what came over me! Maybe it was just the atmosphere" he grumbled. He turned back to her. "I don't know what you want me to say Twilight" he repeated "so could you just get on with it and say something!" Twilight stood firm, seeing the shame in his face, knowing she had him. "And don't think you've worked me into a corner here Twi" he told her, pointing a hoof at her "I'm not the kind of stallion who takes anything sitting down" he reminded her. Well, there went that idea, but Twilight stood strong.

"You know what you're problem is Blood Moon?" He snorted.

"I have many problems Twilight, do you want me to make you a list-"

"You've too much pride" she told him. Blood Moon's expression darkened for a second before he grinned.

"Pride, huh? It's always the Celestia damned pride. Do you know how complex a pony's pride is? How complex a thing pride itself is? Time was, my motivations in life were protecting my charge, Celestia and Luna. When I left, it was nothing but pride, the challenge. I didn't need to keep my head above water, one contract and I was set for a decade. Y'know, for a long time, pride was all I had. My pride was the only thing keeping me from just sitting down in a ditch and staying there, letting the world go on without me. The only time I've ever fought for myself, was when I fought for my pride. To know I can't be beat, to know I'm at the top of my game." He laughed harshly, turning his head to the rapidly darkening skies. "And you know what? At this rate, pride will be all I've got period" he said with mirthless laughter in his tone.

"Do you know, if you didn't have so much pride, and you'd just let me say something, maybe your pride wouldn't have to be your only companion" she told him as she squared up to him, something about the stallion's hopeless speech bringing something out in her "all's I want you to do, is apologise, to tell me you're sorry! Why is it you can tell a bird you're sorry, but when it comes to the pony you actually hurt, it's a matter of pride that you don't?!" He snapped his gaze to her.

"Because I don't apologise, to apologise means I regret, I don't regret anything I've done" he roared into her face. Twilight snorted.

"So it's principle now? You can't, no sorry, won't apologise because of some foolish code? Some stupid belief?"

"'Stupid belief'! Before you call it a stupid belief, maybe you should understand the reasoning behind it; do you realise that if I regretted anything I've done, I'd be far more broken than I am now. I'd be a dead stallion trotting" he told her harshly, slamming his hoof to the ground.

"You're impossible! I'm trying to build a bridge between us, and you just won't let me! You know, if you just said I'm sorry I could forgive you so easily. I don't really care why you did anything, I know Rarity won't do anything with you, and I know you won't do anything with Fleur. So why can't you just say it!?"

"You want to hear me say it Twilight? FINE! I'm sorry, I apologise, I shouldn't have slept with Fleur, I shouldn't have kissed Rarity, let's completely forget that they both came onto me, not the other way around! Let's just assume this is all my fault, and just tell ourselves that it was the stallion, the assassin who did wrong, that it's always the bad guy's fault, so let's just pin all the blame on him" he roared before he turned, picked up a stone and flung it into the distance, hoping it killed something on its way. Twilight took this all in as she watched him take a breath, snarling at something and looking back out to the horizon. She trotted hesitantly over to him.

"B…Blood Moon, I-I'm sorry…I…I just…just thought that…" He turned back to her.
"That what? I seduced Fleur in the middle of a contract, that Rarity had nothing to do with the kiss we shared. I'm more loyal than that" he grumbled as he looked back to the horizon.

"I…well… W-was she in heat" she tried.

"Fleur? I don't know, I don't think so. I hope not" he muttered below his breath. Twilight looked at the stones on the ground for answers.

"Well I…well." She sighed. "Blood Moon, I want to make this work-"

"No" he said sharply, raising his hoof "don't, talk to me like some…relationship councillor, Twi, we've been together for just over a week, can't we just let sleeping dogs lie and-"

"No" she told him, just as sharply "I've already told you Blood Moon, I don't want to see you alone, and I don't want to be alone either. I don't want you to leave my life" she said as she hung her head, the implications of what he was saying hitting her "I don't want you to leave me" she said tearfully "I love you" she croaked. Blood Moon turned to her wordlessly and went to speak before she whipped her head up, her eyes narrowed furiously. "Blood Moon, tell me you love me" she said. It wasn't a command, as such, it was an invite. An opportunity.

"I love you" he replied honestly. She took a step towards him.

"Now tell me you're sorry for having sex with Fleur and kissing Rarity, and before you say anything, listen to what I'm saying; I want you to ap-olo-gise to me, not admit regret, not take any hit to the pride, not tell me that it was all your fault, just…tell me you're sorry… As much sense as that may make" she said quietly at the end. Blood Moon swallowed lightly. There was a long pause where nothing was said, Twilight's heart quickly sinking.

"Twilight… I'm sorry…" he said at length. Twilight met his gaze with her own downcast one. They stared into each other's overcast eyes for a few seconds before they fell into another hug, leaning on each other' bodies and wrapping their hooves around one another, almost like they were both suddenly too tired to stand up by themselves. Twilight nuzzled further into his neck.

"Blood Moon, I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have assumed, shouldn't have been so foolish as to think, that it was just you who…you know, started it" she mumbled. He nodded wordlessly. She leaned back and took his face in a hoof. "But…can you promise me something?" He didn't say anything.
"Can you please, not have sex with anymore mares, not going fooling around, not go kissing anypony" she asked as they relaxed into each other again. "The whole heat thing…I-I don't like it, but we already discussed that, I know how…strenuous it can get, and I…I trust you not to lie to me" she told him." Blood Moon nodded.

"Alright Twilight, I promise" he assured "just as long as you promise me something too" he said.

"What's going on up here" came a strained and hoarse voice before he could continue. Blood Moon and Twilight looked over to the burnt remains of the shack and found the other Elements of Harmony peeking out, Rainbowdash having spoken.

"Yeah, it was all loud then it wen' all quiet. We got worried" Applejack added. Twilight gave a small smile, but didn't move away from her coltfriend.

"Don't hate me" he whispered into her ear as he pulled back.

"I-is everypony okay" came Fluttershy's timid voice as she peeked her gaze over the side of the burnt shack.

"We're fine Fluttershy" Twilight said as she and Blood Moon turned to them properly, Twilight leaning her head on the stallion's neck. The butter yellow mare smiled warmly as she fluttered out of the shack and stood with her friends.

"Something needs to be said" Blood Moon said as he stood straight. Everypony looked at him, some easier than others.

"What" Applejack asked simply, her head cocked and eyeing him in a way that said that she wasn't sure if she trusted him or not yet. Blood Moon looked between them all.

"Twilight told me that when I left the other day, you were…uneasy" he said slowly. They went to argue, or maybe spitefully confirm his claims, Twilight included, before he raised a hoof to stop them. "But, that's not the point. I understand your reactions." He lowered his head, looking to the ground. "But…I've figured something out, and I've come to a decision" he told them. They all raised an eyebrow, Twilight a little worried. This feeling only worsened when he turned to her. "Twilight, when we first started dating, it was under the pretence that it would be a simple 'you-me' relationship, no complexities with your friends…to that end…" he turned to a suddenly very worried Fluttershy, trotting quietly over to her and stopping before her. "Fluttershy…it's over between us. You're a beautiful and kind mare, but…you deserve somepony warmer than me." Everypony pony felt Fluttershy's heartbreak. There was just too much to be contained by on pony. Rainbowdash's jaw loosened, Applejack couldn't hold back the widening of her eyes, Rarity put a hoof to her mouth, Pinkie gave a quiet, soul-shredding gasp that didn't do her sadness justice while Twilight was a combination of all four.

Something broke inside Fluttershy; it could have been her heart, maybe her soul. Her eyes quickly turned moist as her tears welled up, praying to whoever was listening that she'd heard him wrong, while her heartbeat hammered in her ears, each 'thum-thum' accentuating the crack in it. She tried and failed to form words for a few seconds before she finally remembered to talk.

"Wh…what?" Blood Moon's gaze didn't leave hers.

"It's over Fluttershy. I'm breaking up with you" he repeated. She felt her tears spill down her cheeks.

"Why" she asked in what may as well have been trauma. The assassin bowed his head.

"When I left…Twilight had to remind you why you loved me." The tears flowed in greater abundance as her maw contorted in sobs, her whimper sneaking out. She broke down and looked at the ground in pain. "You deserve a stallion to call your own, not have to share with somepony. And…I don't want some…damn love triangle."

"Because it's too cliché?"

'Not the time Black Star.'

What…what was this…this feeling of pure…hurt. She had been sad before…hurt…but never like this. Never so…crushed. Something snapped. Her eye twitched and she looked up, finding his gaze with her own; her lips curled in a snarl as she took a step towards him. Then she hit him with her secret weapon. She used the stare.

Blood Moon felt it instantly. True…fear, was the only way to describe it. He wanted nothing more than to curl up in a ball and cower away from this mare. That was, until, what had been drilled into him so long ago finally flared in his mind.

'The stare…'

The stare was a widely undocumented natural magic conveyed by the eyes. It was used to convey intimidation and fear through nothing more than eye contact. Legend told that it was the most powerful of all forms of 'visual magic', capable of countering a Cockatrice or even a Medusa's 'rock glare', or even Death's own 'fatal glance.' As far as Blood Moon's knowledge went, he knew of only a few other ponies who could use the stare; Nocturnal, Celestia and the Greytails. The Greytails were ponies who lived high on the slopes of Equestria's tallest mountain. They were known to wear blindfolds, as their stare was so strong, even a glance could break your psyche. Blood Moon knew this because they had trained him in the stare's use, him, Heartless and Rose Blood that is. Being taught how to use the stare was a long, time consuming process, consisting of meditation and silent contemplation. Blood Moon, thanks to his eye's other ability, had taken to their teachings well, and knew that there was only one thing to counter a stare. Another stare.

Blood Moon narrowed his eyes and let loose his own stare. He feels the effect immediately; the feelings of fear quickly recced as Fluttershy's own natural, yet untrained stare was quickly overcome by his own, boring into her own mind as her legs began to shake in fear before her eyes rolled back into her skull as she feinted. Blood Moon catches her on his fore-leg, yet soon passes her to Applejack.

"Tell her I'm sorry" he mutters as she takes her still-weeping, unconscious form back to the hatch and hops down it. Nopony could really face him after that, though nothing personal, it was one of any Ponyville's residents cardinal rules: you never make Fluttershy cry. Blood Moon felt a presence behind him.

"Why did you do that" Twilight asked him quietly. He took a long breath.

"Because I've no desire to date two mares at once. Not anymore. You've shown your true nature, your true feelings towards me Twilight. You take the time to understand, you took the time to make a bridge between us, you were stubborn enough to follow it through and you gave me the chance to make amends… You deserve my full loyalty, attention and love…and I can't do that with Fluttershy as well as you. You both deserve a stallion to call your own." Twilight sighed heartily.

"That doesn't mean I like this" she told him. Blood Moon shrugged.

"You're friends Twilight, I refuse to come between you. I'd rather be her friend too but that's her decision now." Twilight sighed once more.

"I hope she's okay" she said quietly. She couldn't say that she liked this, but she couldn't honestly say that she didn't like this either, so to that end she decided to just go with it and see where things went.

"She'll be fine. Just let her rest and think things over…she should figure out why I did that…she's a smart mare" he answered. Twilight nodded as they stood side by side for a little while, until the purple mare shivered.

"Can we go inside now? It's cold" she said with a tremble in her voice. Blood Moon smiled slightly as he moved into her and warmed her fur with his, nuzzling her all the way to the hatch. He waited for her to hop down first before he joined her, the two trotting into the living room together and finding Rarity, Rainbowdash and Pinkie Pie sat around the fire. They looked over and smiled slightly, still unsure of what to make of Blood Moon. The assassin veered off and trotted into the barracks, raising a few eyebrows when he trotted through the secret door.
Inside, he found Ember, being tended to by Falling Leaf, who looked up and nodded silently before he whispered something to Ember. She murmured something back as he stood and left the room. Blood Moon turned to Twilight.
"Give us a second" he asked. Twilight nodded and sat around the hearth with her friends. The dark stallion trotted over to Ember.

"Hey" she said quietly as he sat besides her. He didn't say anything. "Listen, Moon, for what it's worth, I'm sorry for what I said. I…I don't know what came over me" she admitted. Blood Moon looked down at her.

"Thanks, I guess." He made sure not to tell her she was forgiven. Ember picked up on it and turned over in the bed, searching for his hoof with her own and holding it lightly.

"I…take it you and Twilight made up" she said in a low voice.

"Ever astute, Ember" he answered. He looked down at her face and cringed; he'd really done a number on her. He face was swollen, her lips split, her eyes bruised and blackening.

"I got something on my face" Ember asked. The assassins smirked at her bad joke as Blood Moon turned to her properly.

"Here, let me get that" he muttered as he ran his hoof up his horn, a sparkling of magic running up with it as he did; he put his hoof tentatively to her face and pressed down lightly; as he did, the swelling went down with his hoof, her lips reforming as her eye went from bruised-black to her ash-grey fur as her face slowly reformed. Healing the damage you'd done yourself was always easier than trying to heal somepony else's. He pulled his hoof away from her newly repaired face and smiled slightly. "There, as perfect as the day I met you" he said. Ember giggled lightly as she wrapped her fore-legs tiredly around his fore-leg.

"Blood Moon, for what it's worth, I still love you" she told him. Blood Moon sighed as he cuddled her back the best he could.

"I know Ember, but I'm with Twilight now" he reminded her.

"I know, I know" she assured, nodding her head lightly "I…" she sighed, realizing she had no chance with him now, not after what she'd said "I'm sorry Blood Moon. And…I know we can't be anything more but…" She trailed off and he smirked.

"Ember, you'll always be my protégé. And we'll always be friends" he told her. She smiled again as she hugged his fore-leg even tighter.

"Thanks, Blood Moon" she said quietly, pausing for a while "Twilight's a lucky mare" she said quietly. Blood Moon grunted.

"I don't know about that" he chuckled as he stood up "listen, get some rest, you're still gonna be sore for a few hours" he told her "I'll have Leaf on bedside duty and-"

"Blood Moon, could you do me a favour, actually?" He raised an eyebrow. "Could you send Candle instead, it's just, Leaf's bedside manner isn't exactly…comforting" she said. Blood Moon grunted.

"From one stallion to the next, Ember?" She rolled sleepily onto her back.

"Can't a mare keep her options open?"

"Can't a stallion?" She tensed slightly, looking over her shoulder and sending him a glare mixed with a small pout. The dark stallion didn't know where the notion came from, but he got the feeling that if ponies had any kind of offensive hoof gestures, he'd be on the receiving end of one now. He shrugged and trotted out, a smirk on his face. "Just sayin'" he said absently, a small chuckle in his voice. Ember rolled her eyes at him and tried to get back to sleep.

'Well, it seems somepony is living to regret this decision. Me.'

Celestia burst through the hospital door.

It annoyed her.

It angered her.

It…it pissed her off.

That he'd been attacked, in broad daylight, in the middle of the street no less was bad enough, but what made matters worse, was that it hadn't been a minute after she'd left him. Not thirty seconds! As soon as she'd turned her back, the thugs, or mercenaries, or muggers, or…whatever the hay they were, had attacked him, beaten him half to death. She'd promised the pony to have had the guts to intervene, Mountain Dew, a hefty reward for saving her friend already, but it still clawed at her;

'Why in Tartarus hadn't anypony else?'

She shook the thoughts from her head as she, Luna and Cadence cantered through the halls of Canterlot hospital, looking for the detective's ward. That she'd only been told, after he'd been operated on annoyed her further still, for reasons that had confused the messenger to tell her; didn't they know what kind of healing magic she could perform? That was one of her strongest forms, damnit. Cadence and Luna had been ultimately quiet throughout their small campaign through the corridors of the hospital; the solar princess could only guess that it had something her worry for Celestia's well being for Cadence, and impartialness for Luna. Either that, or she'd clocked her and Skulduggery's behaviour earlier.

After realising they'd gone in a circle for the third time, Celestia growled at both herself and the architects of this hospital and looked for somepony who may know where her personal detective was being kept. She spied a doctor, or nurse, or it could have been the bucking janitor for all Celestia cared right now, and trotted up to him.

"Excuse me" she asked, always polite with her citizens, though her aggravation was still evident in her voice "but could you help me?" The pony in the white coat turned around and gave a good natured smile before he realised who it was.

"P-princes Celestia" he observed, blinking a few times, bowing hastily "to what do I hold the honour?" The princess of the day had to restrain the eye roll; more than once, Blood Moon had encouraged her to be on a more, 'social' standing with her citizens, and it was now she saw why: everypony kept cowering and it was very frustrating.

"I'm looking for a patient here, a detective Skulduggery" she told him. The doctor blinked again, this time in confusion rather than shock, and looked down at the clipboard in his magical grip.

"Skulduggery? He's just down there" he said, pointing at the one corridor they hadn't noticed. Celestia thanked him with a quick nod of her head before she cantered down said hallway and into the ward the doctor had pointed out. Well, it was a private ward, after being operated on so much, he'd been given his own room.

Celestia was suddenly very nervous; she'd never been so anxious since her days as a filly, the first attempt on her life. Blood Moon had taken the thrown dagger right to the chest and she'd thought she'd lost him for a few days. Then he'd come back, a hard yet slightly satisfied look in his eyes. That had been one of the days their bond had strengthened and gotten that much deeper.

Celestia shook the thoughts away, glad she had other things to occupy her thoughts with but not at what they were. She felt Luna and Cadence either side of her, her sister giving her a weak smile while her niece nuzzled her affectionately. Celestia steeled herself before she trotted through the door.

Inside there were two ponies, a stallion and a mare; the stallion was unconscious, laying on the bed, a heart rate monitor hooked up to him while an IV was slowly dripping into his left fore-hoof. The mare was stood next to him, a concerned look on her face as she sighed sadly, before looking up. This pony was at least a little more relaxed around her, simply blinking a few times at the royal convoy visiting the pony on the bed. Sure, the princesses made visits now and then to the sick and elderly, but she hadn't heard anything about this.

"Doctor" Celestia greeted as she stepped inside, trotting quietly to Skulduggery's bedside.

"Princess" the white coat clad mare greeted in return, bowing gently.

There was silence in the room for a while, only the rhythmic 'beep…beep' of the monitor breaking the silence, only calming Celestia a little bit knowing his heart was still beating. Or that the thing was plugged in, whichever you prefer.

"How's he doing" Cadence asked quietly. The nurse sighed once more as she looked back to her patent.

"He's stable, but it doesn't look good; multiple broken bones, internal bleeding, the scar on his head has reopened, the stab wound is infected, his muzzle isn't gonna look the same again…and he'll be trotting with a limp for the rest of his life" she listed. Cadence took a quiet breath, Luna hung her head while something cold stabbed Celestia in her chest.

"Is he stable enough to be moved?" The doctor blinked again.

"Well…I suppose, but he's-"

"Then you may want to stand back" the solar princess advised. The doctor took a few steps towards the princess.

"Princess Celestia, I must protest; not only am I not sure if he is stable enough to be moved, w-"

"I said: stand back" Celestia reminded sharply, making the mare swallow lightly as she did so "he deserves warmer surroundings" she finished quietly. In a flash, Celestia, Skulduggery, the heart rate monitor, IV drip and the detective's hat, which had been sat, battered and dusty on the table by the bed disappeared. Cadence offered a small shrug of apology while Luna teleported away, the pink Alicorn soon following. The both landed in Celestia's bedroom, only instinct and a lucky guess landing them with the princess of the sun and detective, and they both trotted to the bedside.

They watched as Tia sat by the P.I's side, silently, watching him take slowly and sleepy breaths. Their standoff went on for about three minutes before Cadence turned away.

"We'll give you some privacy" she said, trotting for the door. Luna, meanwhile, lingered.

"You really care for him, don't you" she said quietly. Celestia could only offer a faint blush and
shrug at the accusation.

"Guilty as charged" she answered in a mutter. Luna gave a sympathetic sigh and trotted over to her, nuzzling her lovingly. Celestia returned her sentiments thoroughly, feeling strangely…alone, in her time of hardship. "Is this how it felt…when Harrow died?" Luna tensed suddenly, and Celestia fear she'd struck a wrong chord. Then Luna gave a defeated and tired sigh.

"Not quite…I didn't have my sister to lean on" she answered. Celestia herself froze, pulling back slightly and looking her sister in the eye. She sighed in return.

"Then I am…deeply sorry" she told her as they nuzzled once more. They kept it up for a few seconds before Luna pulled back again.

"I'm just across the hall" she reminded her big sister. Celestia nodded her understanding and looked back to Skulduggery.

"Thank you, Lu-Lu" she said quietly. She waited a few seconds before she heard the soft 'click' of the door closing, still watching Skulduggery. "You can open your eyes now Skull, they're gone" she told him. He grunted and opened his eyes, though Celestia could tell it wasn't easy on him.

"Nothing gets past you, eh Celestia?" The princess gave a small huff.

"Heart monitor…it was beeping too fast for you to be unconscious" she answered, settling onto the bed more comfortably "Skulduggery, who did this to you" she asked quietly, her hoof brushing over his matted mane, gazing at him with concern in her gaze. Skullduggery held his eyes to hers for a second before he loosed a breath, looking back to the ceiling.

"Four of them, nondescript stallions, claimed to be sending a message for the Goldhooves: 'we're down but still kicking.' Seems Loaded doesn't want anypony looking at their crippled family and demolished house and seeing them as weak, so he sent these guys after me." He snorted, holding his ribs as they tightened painfully. "Sonofabitch" he growled. Celestia lay a hoof on his fore-head, providing a comforting presence.

"Take it easy" she said gently. He calmed down, his face still tensed in pain.

"Anyway, yeah, only Loaded would look at me and say 'hmm, four stallions kicking him while he's down will make us look real tough'" he grumbled, looking at the ceiling. "Besides that, there's nothing more I can say; these guys have probably already put a lot of distance between us and them, most likely with plans to get out of Equestria. And ain't nothing I say will do anything in court" he grumbled. Celestia looked down at him fondly.

"Look at you, Skull. Always the detective" she said quietly. He chuckled with her.

"Just doin' my job ma'am" he said, causing Celestia to giggle a little more. He seemed to remember something. "Thinking of which, have you seen my hat?" Celestia nodded at the brown, slightly battered fedora hanging from the bed post, Skulduggery following her gaze until it fell upon his headwear, prompting a smile better acquainted to seeing an old friend after a while apart. He looked back to Celestia, her sun catching her fur in that perfect way again. He could tell she was moving forwards, and couldn't do anything to stop it. Not that he would.

A banging on the door stalled their intimacy.

Celestia rolled her eyes impatiently as she looked over at her bedroom door.

"It's open" she called over, her voice and tone patient but her mood anything but. The door creaked open slowly. Celestia frowned, Skulduggery following suit; nopony was there, just a…birthday present? I was white wrapping paper, a gold ribbon around it tied in a neat bow on top. "What the…" was all Celestia could say as her horn sparked to life and the small box floated over to them, the door closing with it. She set it down on her bed and looked at it for a while.
"Happy birthday" Skulduggery guessed, his eyebrow raised. Celestia could only tense one side of her maw in confusion, cocking her head at the strange box. She suddenly noticed the card atop it; it glowed in her golden yellow as her magic took it and plucked it off the box, opening it neatly and raising it to eye level to read it.

On those cold lonely nights, and still eerie days, Pray you keep from the assassin's hard gaze

With a throat in his hooves, and an un-beating heart, The assassin won't rest 'till he's finished his art

With a blood soaken blade at the end of the fight, this killer will stand there with a face shaped from fright.

From dawn and from dusk and from winter and fall, never will you know when the assassin will call.

With a blood soaken blade at the end of the fight, this killer will stand there with a face shaped from fright.

From dawn and from dusk and from winter and fall, never will you know when the assassin will call.

The assassin stands over the good colts and mares, listening with pity to their ever hopeful prayers.

He'll take out his dagger and aim for the eye, nothing can stop him from making you die.

With a blood soaken blade at the end of the fight, this killer will stand there with a face shaped from fright.

From dawn and from dusk and from winter and fall, never will you know when the assassin will call.

The assassin will be there so silent and still, watching and waiting for the moment until. All who he meets will then fall to their knees, then shall he leave to collect on his fees.

With a blood soaken blade at the end of the fight, this killer will stand there with a face shaped from fright.

From dawn and from dusk and from winter and fall, never will you know when the assassin will call.

Celestia blinked in confusion. She reread the poem again in her mind, then once out loud for Skulduggery. He followed suit, frowning as his mind went to work.

"A re-working of the Assassin's Song" he murmured. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, it's called the Murder's tune. Time was, if you received this you had a day to either pay your bounty or be killed. But…" she lowered her voice to a whisper "if he really intended to do something…he wouldn't have sent a warning" she murmured to herself. Her interest suddenly picked as to what was in the parcel. Skull caught her gaze.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" Celestia glanced at him and shrugged. She took the ribbon in her hoof and pulled it loose, the gold thread coming loose easily, and gripped the lid of the box in her hooves; she took a breath and braced for whatever may jump out at her from this obvious trap, and whipped it off as fast as she could.

They both flinched.

Then blinked when they realised nothing had happened. They both looked back at the box with a raised eyebrow, peering inside. Celestia almost lost her breakfast. It was a head. A badly…severed…head. She heard Skulduggery gulp next to her as the smell of rotted flesh hit him, the flies around it making it no easier to keep her last meal down. She recognized the dead stallion, one of her scouts; he'd been assigned around some bog lands to the east, around fifteen miles from Cadence's old village, though that didn't much help her; Blood Moon could easily hide from her in that kind of environment for the rest of their lives. He'd had stark white fur, his light blue roots coming through, and grey eyes staring wide open at nothingness.
Celestia's eyes widened when she realised what this was.

"Oh my goodness" she breathed, her voice terrified. Skull quickly caught on and looked at her.

"What's the matter, Celestia?" The white mare simply blinked a few times at the box on her bed and the note in her hoof, glancing between them. "Celestia?"
"Skulduggery" she said quickly, her voice still an octave or two below a pitch that wouldn't panic the detective "y-you need to leave. Right now" she told him. The detective blinked.

"What, why? What's-" Celestia turned to him, her expression making a stone in the P.I's stomach drop.

"Please, Skulduggery, you need to go" she told him, standing from the bed and helping him rise, though it was more like she was pulling him off the bed. She dragged him towards the door, the IV and heart monitor coming loose as he did. Though he could still stand, the detective was still weak.

"Celestia, please, just tell me what's going on? What was with that message, the head?" The solar princess raised her hoof to stop him.

"Skulduggery, just please; go home, get some rest. You can't handle this in your current state-"

'I barely can.'

"-so just please…go home" she halfway begged of him. The detective took a deep breath before he nodded.

"Alright Celestia, you know where to find me" he reminded her. She nodded in gratitude as she watched him turn away.

"Skulduggery" she said, as though just remembering something. He gave a small 'hmm' and turned back, only for Celestia to lock her lips with his. He wasn't so taken aback this time, but it didn't change the mental conflict going on in his head. Eventually, he just gave another mental shrug and kissed back, feeling Celestia follow suit in a strange sense of urgency. She let it last a few seconds, not much caring who saw them, until they both pulled back. "I-if I don't make it through this…" She trailed off, turning away suddenly and shutting the door. Skulduggery was not settled by her request.

Inside her room, Celestia hung her head.

'Just when I wanted to see him again…'

She tensed her featured and glared, lifting her head and looking to the ceiling with a hard expression on her face.

"Alright Uncle Blood, if that's the way you want to play it" she told her empty room "I'm right here" she told the whole of Equestria.

"The die has already been cast" she heard his voice say.

It was the dead of night, the candles of Blood Moon's home having gone out to allow everypony to sleep. Twilight and Blood Moon had curled up on the couch together, just talking into the still of the night. She enjoyed being in the company of her coltfriend once more, and though she knew it would take time for everypony to warm up to him once more, specifically Fluttershy, she had faith in them. Mainly because neither Blood Moon nor Twilight wanted the dark stallion to cause a rift between her and her friends.

All long term events aside, Twilight had woken up, her throat dry, to find her lover missing. At first she'd assumed he'd gone to the bathroom or something along those lines, but then she'd seen the dim light coming from the door to the left of the entrance to the living room, alongside the faint voices in there. Of course, her first instinct had been to let Blood Moon have his quiet meeting, the business of assassins no place for a mare such as herself, but hot on its hooves had been pure, cat-killing curiosity, such was the path she'd set on to finding herself outside the office door, listening in on her coltfriend and his assassins.

"Are you serious" a voice she recognised as Leaf asked. She could taste her coltfriend's nod.

"I am. The pidgins have already been dispatched, sending the news across Equestria" he answered.

"Do you think they'll be enough of us, you know, to do this" a mare asked, Ember Spark.

"I do. So far, most attempts have been subtle, subterfuge. She's used to that now, has proper defences in place. Loud and proud however… She won't be expecting that."

"Why are we even doing this? I thought you and here were close once" the same mare retorted. Twilight sensed a shrug inbound.

"We were, but she's made this personal; me and Cadaver has history, a grudge to settle, and sending somepony as reckless as he is after me is just foalish."

"But she didn't know you've been hanging around with the girls" another voice argued.

"Oh, she knew Candle, trust me she did. She has her ways…Celestia knows pretty much everything" Twilight heard a small huff that could only accompany a smirk "not everything though" he said with a hint of smugness to his tone. "She sent Cadaver after me, likely under the orders of 'any means necessary.' Besides which, we're all assassins here; we're the blade, not the hoof that wields it" he reminded them.

"But boss, that doesn't mean she told him to go after the Elements-"

"Listen" the dark stallion cut off "I know you're all a little uneasy about this, but it is what it is. Celestia sent Cadaver after me for one reason, and one reason alone: hatred. If her hatred of me has gotten so deep she's willing to risk innocent ponies' lives to get to me, then she's just as bad as the rest of us. Worse, maybe, seeing as she's supposed to be protecting her citizens" he told them definitively. There was silence for a long while before the pony who'd been regaling Pinkie and the fillies with tales of pirates earlier spoke up.

"So…this is it then…" he said uneasily.

"Yes, Redwave. Tomorrow, Celestia dies."

One last job

Chapter twenty eight: One last job

Blood Moon stood before the glass case, staring at both the armour inside and his reflection. He could feel his blood red eyes staring back at him, looking deep into his own soul. Uncertainty. That was all he could see. Could he do this, could he go through with it? Last night he had been so confident in his choice, so confident in his intentions. Now however…

Every time he decided he was going through with it, his mind would argue against him. She's still your little girl, that optimistic little filly who only wanted to do the right thing. She's the mare who hunted you down for all of your life, who made any prospect of living a normal, social life impossible. She had good reason, you abandoned her. If I hadn't, more nobles would have died in one year than I've killed though my whole career.

He growled as the two sides within him came to blows, nothing but scrambled arguments and furious attempts to come to a conclusion rattling around in his head as he succumbed to frustration. He leant his head against the glass in defeat. He had no doubt that he could actually do it, but actually doing it was another matter entirely. She'd wronged him, he finally had an excuse to go after her. That was just it. Was this just an excuse to end this, just one last loose end to tie up before he finally got to that retirement he'd been putting off for how long now? He growled and looked to the ceiling, hoping to find the answer to all his problems. He snarled as he looked around himself, finding nothing to help him in his current mental battle.

His armoury. The home to so many trophies, weapons, armour, shields, the banners he'd fought under, the burnt banners he'd brought down single-hoofed. Memories. Just…more and more memories.

'So many memories…'

All he'd done throughout his life, everything he'd done; Celestia and Luna, raising a family, every one of his assassinations, all the mares he'd known, all the friends he'd seen die, all the funerals he'd watched from afar, the tears he'd shed while curled up in a dark corner, just waiting for an end to it all. His pride kept him standing back up, but it didn't stop him from falling down. Everything he'd ever done, everything he hadn't done, all had been in this chapter of his life. The fourth chapter in an endless book, entitled The life and times of Blood Moon. All under the ever vigilant searching gaze of Celestia and Luna. All…all while hiding from them.

Could he do it, close this chapter…close this volume of his story? End Celestia. Take so slight a comfort in an ending. To stop trying to escape his past. To finish this. To finally be given the freedom he craved throughout everything he did. Now that it stared him in the face, it was only now he could not look it in the eye.

He didn't have to… He could just send out another bird, telling the rest of the Loom he'd called it off. They'd be annoyed, yes, but they wouldn't say anything. Blood Moon was a feared and respected Chapter Leader. The Weaver wouldn't care either. He didn't care for much. The other side reared its ugly once again. He wished for an ending to all this…bullshit. To not have to cower in the shadows anymore. Blood Moon snarled at something.

He never cowered.

He turned back to the armour, looking the hooded mannequin in the eye, finding his own gaze looking back from the reflection in the glass. Further uncertainty. He roared in anger, leaping around and thrashing in the air in anger. He hated trying to make such a decision. It was just…impossible. He stomped his hoof into the thin, red carpet he stood upon, dust flying into the air. He grunted and growled out his breaths, cursing savagely, looking around himself in further frustration. His eyes passed over something on one of the small tables he kept in here, locking on what was atop it. He trotted slowly over to it, taking the dark brown, wooden frame in his hoof and looked down at the picture in his hoof.

It was of him, Luna and Celestia. Him in the middle, Luna's young form cradled in his fore-leg as she wrapped her fore-legs around his neck, a big, giddy smile on her face. Celestia was laughing as Blood Moon put his other fore-leg over her shoulders and pulled her face into his own, the stallion wearing a big, lopsided grin as they looked over at each other, their smiles warming Blood Moon and Celestia's heart as they looked at the same picture at once.

Blood Moon swallowed a lump in his throat as tears welled up, Celestia biting her lip lightly as her own tears welled behind her eyes. Such a…simple image, innocent, good…from a simpler, more innocent time. A few tears dropped onto the glass protecting the image, Blood's falling onto Celestia's face while Celestia's fell onto Blood Moon's. Blood Moon closed his eyes as he bowed his head, his tears still leaking from beneath his closed eyelids, Celestia just holding the picture to her chest.

It was impossible for the both of them to know they were doing exactly the same thing, at exactly the same time, both on different sides of Equestria yet connected through their pain, longing and hatred. They were both stood in their armoury, both staring themselves down in the reflections of the glass cabinets holding their signature battle-gear, surrounded by weapons and the trophies they'd once gathered, once taken. Both with the same emotions running through their hearts.

Neither ruler nor assassin truly knew why they kept this picture in here, perhaps it was the hoof of fate at play, placing them there by chance so they were sure to consider their actions; prepare her country for war, ready himself for one more contract.

Blood Moon opened his eyes and gazed down at the picture in his hoof, staring down at Celestia's innocent, young form, always eager to learn and discover, but always ready to face the trials of life and the responsibilities that came with her station. Celestia opened her eyes, moving the picture back into her field of view, staring down at Blood Moon's younger form, just as proud, just as hard headed, always quick for a joke and the first to smirk…just as warm-hearted and with a hoof first to his blade if it meant defending those he cared for.

The assassin and princess both hung their heads; they couldn't do it. Neither could face each other with a blade in their grip. Blood Moon realised just how different it was compared to first time he was meant to kill Celestia. Last time, four thousand years into his career, it had been plain old stubbornness and a rebellious nature shining through, an erg to disobey his 'superiors.' Now, he had no excuse, he had nothing to tell him not to do this with. Nothing but his memories. Celestia faced an altogether different problem. Throughout her search for the Hunter, she'd constantly dreamt up ways of punishing him, and each time she'd come close…she'd lost the will to look the problem in the face. Both had.

Forever with their eyes on the prize, neither could look at it when it was in their reach again until it went away.

Both took a long, sighing breath as they cleared their minds. Blood Moon looked down at the picture in his hoof. Celestia did the same. The pair of them were staring at the other's face again, wondering what the other would do. Blood Moon was unpredictable through and through, a mad-stallion. Celestia was smart, patient and strategic, she knew her foe, knew what paths he was least likely to take, most likely to take. She'd do whatever it took to counter what Blood Moon would do. The assassin of the pair knew how the ruler would act; in defence of what her enemies desired of her. Be it herself, her family or her country.

Blood Moon was after her, and from what she knew, he was to be less…subtle than he'd been in the past.

'A head on approach…' they both thought at once. 'Impossible' they thought in sync once more. Blood Moon smirked at the thought while Celestia grimaced. Impossibilities were what Blood Moon dealt in, and what Celestia had faced more than once. Both looked back to the picture they both held. They each wanted the other back, each wanted to see each other once more… More impossibilities.

Both fell to their flanks, Blood Moon falling to a stool behind him, Celestia to a chair she kept in there for polishing armour upon. Blood Moon covered his eyes with one hoof, his grip on the picture ever-tightening as he grit his teeth, tears creeping down his face while Celestia held her eyes in both hooves, sobbing openly into them as the picture clattered to the floor. Both wanted what they couldn't have. Both wanted the other, yet knew that they, themselves and Equestria as a whole would not allow it. Bitterness, pride and politics. These three barriers.

After maybe fifteen minute of begrudgingly letting his tears fall, Blood Moon looked up again, his eyes gazing down at the picture in his hoof.

'Lonely most are those who have everything they could ever desire.' He grunted. When he'd first said that, it was aimed at nobles who lived in the lap of luxury, yet alone. Never once at the time, when he was still foalsitting Tia and Luna, had he supposed that somepony's 'everything' would include that pony. How naïve he'd been. A young fool at more than two thousand years of age. Some might call that ironic.

His problems might go away if he removed the key factor. Get rid of his longing for Celestia. It was a shudder inspiring train of thought. As a parent, it was hard enough to watch your children die, of old age no less, but to watch them slowly wither away of broken heart, that he'd broken her heart to boot, was just so much…worse. It had to be done. It was what he stood for, after all; doing what need be done, no matter how horrid the thought. Hay, that was what he practically preached to the Shadow Weavers.

He'd done a lot throughout his life, in quantity he was evil in its purist form, a true black blot on Equestria's history, but in deed, he was practically a crusader of good amongst ponies. He'd saved Equestria from destruction twice, he'd closed shut the jaws of Tartarus single-hoofed, slain demons of power comparable to that of Father Time, ended the reign of a false tyrant king and put the true ruler back upon his throne. He'd done enough for Equestria to earn himself this.

The assassin raised his head slowly. He looked to the glass cabinet containing his infamous Shadow Scale armour and trotted over to it, raised a hoof and shattered the glass with one solid strike, letting it smash around his hoof and tinkle to the ground. He put his hoof to the armour, his battle suit, his dreaded armour of scales, the last thing so many ponies, dragons, griffins, creatures of the deep sea and Everfree forest had seen. His horn glowed dimly, the magic flowing through him and the armour he touched; the leather below the metal rippled and waved like liquid, reaching out to him and gripping him like an infernal, dark creature grasping him, pulling him into the void, yet instead of pulling him, it crawled up his hoof, just like the shadows of 'hide' and covered him in a dark brown leather suit, covering all four legs, hooves, his body, draping over his head in the hood and reaching a little down his tail. The dark stallion retracted his hoof and took a step back. The armour did the rest. The scales, spikes, twisted metal and cape all floated gently in mid-air, as though suspended by an unseen unicorn's glow. They moved like lightning, latching onto their proper place, whipping through the air fast enough to leave a feint vapour trail as they found him.

Heavy, metallic clunks and the sounds of grinding metal met his ears as the armour attached to the leather, covering him head to hoof in protective, black iron, thrice as strong as the size of the individual plates described. The metal formed demonic spikes over his back and shoulders, the metal of the hood giving him the look of an armoured eagle. The cape came last, slowly floating over to him and coming to a stop next to his neck, the black iron clasps latching to his shoulder-plates, the cape flowing down his side gracefully. When the formation was complete, the larger gaps in the armour glowed with an intimidating, blood red hue.

Blood Moon took another breath, this one long and hard, focused and primed, as he came to terms with what he had to do. He trotted forwards, the armour not giving a creak or a whisper as he stepped, his metal hooves silent in the room. His hidden-horn glowed once more, a pair of scabbards floating over to him. They were a traditional katana-wakizashi Daishō set, the hilts of both blades peeking from the cape he wore on his left side as they strapped to him. They were his finest pair, both identical in all but size, the pair of them a perfect reflection of the blades he'd worn when he first came to Ponyville, but of the make of the blades Tinker had given him the day before the Goldhooves contract, the Soshu Kitae forge method.

He was prepared; a suit of armour, a pair of blades, and a purpose in mind. That was all the Hunter needed. He stepped from the armoury, his steps quick yet measured, calm. He passed through the Square and stood in the door to the living room. He took a second to gaze at Twilight. He'd made sure to be up before she was, this wasn't the kind of thing he could discuss with anypony else and come to the same conclusion. He knew he needed to do this, and the reason for his motivation was sound…in his mind. He knew that nopony would agree with him in this light, but, he reminded himself, that was what the Hunter stood for: doing what need be done.

Still, the longing Twilight seemed to show pained him a little; she was clutching a big pillow in her hooves, wrapped up in a blanket on the couch, and her face showed that she knew the cushion wasn't him and she missed his presence dearly. His trotted silently into the room, his armoured hooves sinking into the carpet a little more, and came to a stop next to her. He pulled his hood off and leant down, kissing her lightly on the cheek.

"I love you" he told her, his words visibly settling her sleeping form "and I'm sorry for what I'm about to do" he finished. He looked up to find Hunter and Dusk resting on the back of the couch, well, just Hunter really, Dusk was sleeping in Twi's mane. Blood Moon ran a hoof over the phoenix's head, rousing him. The bird of fire blinked a few times before he found his master before him. "Hey buddy" he murmured, the bird recognising armour when he saw it and looking at Blood Moon in a confused manner. "Want to go on a little bonding experience?" The assassin's self-appointed guardian didn't need to be asked twice, hoping to his shoulder, nuzzling Blood Moon lightly. He probably noticed the dark stallion's grave manner. They went to turn away when they heard a squeaking from below. Blood Moon looked down to find Dusk, looking up at him half-worried, half-annoyed. Blood bent down to him. "I'm sorry Dusk, but I need you here to hold the fort. I gotta keep one of my pets safe, y'know?" Dusk kept a defiant look in his expression for a couple of seconds before he relented, dropping his gaze and nodding a few time. Blood Moon scratched between his ears a little, a small smile on his face. "Look after Twilight and Scootaloo, will you?" The mouse nodded in understanding, his face still a little downcast at being left out, but knew that his job was important. Feeling a little proud of the small critter, the dark stallion straightened up again, stepping away and trotting for the Square once more.

"Are you sure about this, Blood Moon" asked an accent of the sand. Blood Moon paused and turned his head back slightly.

"Technically" he answered. He turned around to find Sand Stalker, stood in the doorway to the gym, likely there to either train or get some privacy. The mercenary grunted.

"This'll destroy her, you know. Twilight" he pointed out. The assassin gave a small sigh.

"Probably, but it's what I need to do" he answered. The Saddle Arabian met him with a strange gaze.

"You keep telling yourself that, Hunter" he said quietly. Blood Moon gave a defeated sigh.

"Listen, Sand, we're a lot alike in many ways; we've both lost a family, we've both lost our way in life, we've both found somepony in the Elements…but if you were hunted down for most of your life by somepony, and were finally given a chance to end it, would you take it?" The old merc seemed to be in thought, deep thought, for a while before he answered.

"I would. And I did. All's it did for me was give me a little security, while taking away the one thing I was fighting, the thing I'd gotten so used to, I found I couldn't operate properly without it. You may be ready to leave this life Moon, but this life ain't ready to leave you." Blood Moon couldn't help but take those words to heart, storing them away for future study.

"Perhaps" he said after a while "but a mad stallion is the last stallion you predict. And I've never claimed to be sane." Sand Stalker took a long breath as he regarded Blood Moon.

“You know, for a stallion who founded a clan of assassins who dedicate themselves to cutting away cancerous ponies, by killing Celestia you’re opening the storm windows to a political shitstorm.” Sand Stalker narrowed his eyes slightly. “You know what this will do” he told the dark stallion. Blood Moon only smirked.

“Equestria’s strong, she’ll pull through this.” Sand Stalker simply grunted.

“Cut off the head…” he began. The assassin’s smirk held.

“Tell that to a Hydra” the assassin retorted. Sand gave a small grunt as they trotted towards each other and clasped their fore-legs together.

"Live with strength" the Kinsman started.

"Die with pride" the assassin finished.

"Good luck in this Blood Moon. I know you'll need it" the merc told the assassin. He held his gaze for a long second, a brief moment of both hatred for what the assassin was about to do, and a respectful understanding as to why he was doing it passing through Sand Stalker’s eyes.

"As do I, my friend. As do I" Blood Moon answered as they released each other.

With a nod, they parted ways, Sand Stalker trotting back to the gym while Blood Moon leapt up the hatch to find Ember, Leaf, Red and Candle already up there, awaiting his command. He looked between them all; they were all clad in their newly-acquired gear, weapons and all, their masks over their faces and as still as the grave.

"We ready to do this" Ember asked, her voice muffled by her mask. Blood Moon simply nodded. He took step towards the edge of the small island the shack was situated on, and put a hoof to his maw.

The whistle he loosed almost deafened the four assassins, Candle putting a hoof to his head to try and catch his dizziness as he almost fell onto Leaf, the stoic stallion letting him lean on his as he himself did his best to straighten his thoughts. Hunter's sensitive ears seemed worse for it, his balance escaping him as he almost fell off of Blood Moon's shoulder, the dark stallion moving his hoof up and holding him in place, giving him a soothing rub over his head for a second.

"What in the hay was that" Redwave demanded. There was a deep, foreboding roar in the distance, a shadow passing over them as they heard the sound of monstrous wings flap above them. The four assassins and phoenix all looked up, the ponies' eyes widening as Hunter went to take flight before he noticed his master's expression below his hood.

"Screw that; what in the hay is that!?" Ember's bellowed question rung out through all of their heads as a titan of grey scales and claws dropped before them with a huge thud, his weight likely rousing the ponies below their hooves. As the creature looked down at them, Ember's eyes widened in fear, Leaf drew a blade to defend himself and his student while Redwave prepared himself for his coming death.

"That, my young protégé, is a Gargoyle" Blood Moon answered calmly. This… gargantuan Gargoyle gazed down at Blood Moon and his company with vacant interest, his expression neither calming nor intimidating. His scales were stone-like grey, as though he'd been carved from a rock, everything about him as grey as the rest; his claws, the mane that reached around his head to form what could almost be a beard, his great abundance of muscles, his wings, the tuft of fur on his tale. The only colours about him were the stark white of those vicious looking teeth and the glowing scarlet of his eyes. Though, admittedly, these details held little interest for the ponies stood behind Blood Moon, instead the thing's sheer size was what captivated them. It stood at least twenty stories high, the muscles all over his frame making him look even bigger and intimidating.

Leaf had heard stories about the ancient Gargoyles; older than Nocturnal and Illumination themselves, more powerful than any creature of Tartarus, said to be the mythical embodiment of fear. Their powers were great and plentiful, and none to face them had even a chance of defeating them.

Of course, that piece of information was quickly discarded when this Gargoyle bowed before Blood Moon.

Watching with bated breath, the four assassins watched Blood Moon return the gesture, Hunter apparently having been prompted to do the same. The assassins looked between each other in confusion before following suit unsurely. They rose with Blood Moon, the Gargoyle keeping his head down at the dark stallion's level as he pulled his hood off.

"Grárvinda" the Hunter greeted, his hoof finding his grey, hooked and probably very well-used bill. "How are you my dear?" Ember blinked at least thirty times in a row, the other assassins faring no better; that thing was a she?

"Hurðarflaki" she said in return-Ember had to stop herself from slapping herself, just to make sure she wasn't still dreaming, or suffering brain-damage from yesterday, or something, ANYTHING but this. Grárvinda nuzzled his hoof. Albeit it was very lightly, but that didn't change the fact that this titan, this embodiment of fear and power, nuzzled Blood Moon's hoof like a common housecat. "You are well, I hope" she asked. Her voice was quiet, a little raspy, but beyond that was perfectly normal…or bland, given the circumstances.

"My week has been…varied" he answered, taking his hoof away from Grárvinda's maw "but I need a favour of you" he told her. Grárvinda cocked her head.

"Is that so? Consider me intrigued" she told him, settling to her front, almost caving in the assassin's home below.

"I plan to murder Celestia. I need your assistance in getting to Canterlot and your aid from the air" he explained. The Gargoyle gave a small huff.

"I remember when Canterlot was but a mountainside, habitable by only the most tenacious of creatures. Never did I, nor any Gargoyle, assume the ponies to be the ones to take that cliff face for themselves." Blood Moon shrugged.

"Tell that to Father Time" he answered. Grárvinda-again, Ember had to hold back to slap-giggled lightly.

"Indeed. You've convinced me, Hurðarflaki. You and yours may climb aboard" Grárvinda told the assassin. She moved one of her fore-claws and held it palm up, letting Blood Moon, Ember, Leaf, Candle and finally Redwave step upon her paw. They all had enough room to comfortably set up a tent and sleep for the trip, but Grárvinda had already moved her claw again, setting her passengers on her scaly back. "Hold tight, Hurðarflaki" she instructed, the others taking it as granted that they were to do the same. A few beats of her powerful wings later, they were airborne. Normally, Candle and Hunter would have flown by their own wings, but soon came to the conclusion they didn't have a hope of keeping up these speeds for so long. While Blood Moon was a still as a statue on Grárvinda's back, without need to hold onto anything, Ember's hooves were wrapped tightly around his stomach, holding on for dear life as the winds rushed past her.

"Another of your lady-friends" she roared into his ear, Blood Moon only just hearing her over the sounds of rushing winds and pissed off pigeons getting battered from the air. The stallion Ember was clinging to looked back to answer.

"No! She's my spirit guide" he shouted back. Ember raised an eyebrow, not exactly believing him.

"Spirit guide!?" He looked back and flashed her a wolfish grin.

"Every immortal needs some kind of friend!" Ember was at a loss; for one, a Celestia-damned Gargoyle, for two, a Celestia-damned Gargoyle, and for three, she hadn't a clue what that was supposed to mean. Blood Moon apparently picked up on her confusion. "Think of it like this: your spirit animal, the creature that you best pertain to, is the fox; cunning and quite, yet lithe and attractive" Ember couldn't help but silently curse his complement "while mine is the Gargoyle; old, powerful, strong and fierce. Not to mention, a little misunderstood!" Ember blanked; this Gargoyle was misunderstood?

She shook the thoughts away for the time being, and instead focused her efforts on holding onto Blood Moon, promising herself she'd ask him when she wasn't in danger of falling to her doom at one wrong move.

Blood Moon, however, just enjoyed the flight. For he knew, just around the corner, there was a change coming. And he doubted anypony would enjoy it.

"Thank you soldier, tell lieutenant Redwing I want hourly reports, and to continue to keep everypony off the streets." The guard saluted and turned away, galloping off to relay the orders. Celestia sighed. She'd been so sure. Certain, almost, that her old foalsitter wouldn't go through with this. But it seemed that she'd been foolish second guess her uncle.

She'd had a day to prepare, and still she knew it wasn't enough; she'd had every one of her guards, off-duty, on-duty, recently-retired if they were still in fighting shape, a few mercenaries she could trust, all of them at arms. They'd been called from their posts to mass in the main stretch of road between the main gate and the castle, (used to bottleneck foes while giving her own, more organised troops, easy exit) setting up on the rooftops along the stretch and all along the cobbled road. There must have been a few thousand in all. Then, she'd had all citizens stay indoors, any living on the stretch ordered to take shelter at least three blocks away, alongside the rest of the residents within radius of the inevitable battle. Lastly, she'd prepared herself.

The blade once wielded by her mother, a white-hot bladed weapon capable of channelling the fires of her sun through the metals, known as Sunrend, lay besides her. A slim, Dia-katana, the blade as long as he body, the tusba her famous cutie mark, the grip wrapped in gold and white ribbon, a miniature, metal version of her cutie mark hanging from a chain on the pommel. The blade rested on her bed in its scabbard, white Oakwood and solar-iron, her trusty dagger next to in its own, both the scabbard and grip following the katana's design, a folded-steel, straight-bladed, tanto combat knife. That weapon had seen her through both the Discord wars and all her trials to come after. Yet another gift, and lesson, from Blood Moon.

"Never put faith into a single weapon."

Besides her weapons, her armour stood on the mannequin that had held it down in the armoury. She couldn't find it in herself to don it down there, but she had a nagging feeling she'd need it eventually. So, up here it resided; solar-iron covered the mannequin's chest, stomach, back and flank, tri-layered in the golden metal, chainmail of the same metal covering the base of her wings while metal plates ran over the primary bones within. A purple jewel, identical to the one on her ceremonial armour sat in the centre of the chest piece, flame-like feathers of golden iron flaring from the precious stone, while her cutie mark was engraved into the flank. Greaves rested on the wooden pony's hooves, flat and neat over the hooves, engraved with patterns of the sun over the shins, the knees covered by the further-engraved knee-caps. Her helmet was by far the most diverse piece of armour upon the mannequin, the gold metal reaching around her jaw, over her fore-head and covering the rest of her skull, while beneath and before her maw were uncovered, her eyes left unobscured as well, as to give her proper vision of the battlefield as well as leaving her capable of bellowing orders to her troops. Her mane would be let out like a plume, her horn protected by the metal covering the base and the blade before it, the curved and golden weapon formed by a small tiara built into the helm.

There was another, much more frantic knocking at Celestia's door, the solar princess turning away from her armour to answer it.

"Yes" she asked. The door opened immediately to reveal another solar guard.

"Princess, there have been more reports of strange, dark figures around the entrance of Canterlot and just beyond. Orders ma'am?" Celestia sighed once more. This was the sixth time she'd heard this, the last guard to have been here telling her the same thing. She could guess how it had happened.

A citizen would meander up to a guard, comment about how nice the day was, exchange a few pleasantries and be off. But not before mentioning thinking they saw somepony in a shady spot, the pair of them laughing it off as the pony going mad from the glorious heat today. The guard would then bid the citizen a good day before going about his duties once more. He'd run into more ponies, most with nothing to say, but one with another comment about thinking they'd seen something. The guard would smile widely, telling him about how somepony had just told them the same thing, the two chuckling it off. Then there would be another to comment on it, and the guard would get confused, suspicious maybe. By the fourth time, he'd go to his superior, telling him about having a bunch of citizens telling him the same thing. The pattern would repeat. The private would tell the sergeant, who would brush it off as the sun making ponies see things. Then, three more would say the same thing and he'd pass it up. The lieutenant would get this report and act on it in the same manner. It was just too flimsy to look into. Then the other sergeant would say something, and he'd finally send another grunt to send word. It had finally reach Celestia's ears, and she knew exactly what this was.

Blood Moon was proud, but not stupid. He'd call in every available assassin under the Shadow Weaver banner, mass them at the gates to Canterlot and pull out a full, frontal assault. These ponies in the shade weren't the assassins making mistakes, or ponies getting lucky and spotting one, these assassins were sending a message: we're here. They may kill from the shadows, but they were more than willing to get in on a battle like this, and they wanted to make sure that it was a good one. Celestia was only thankful that Shining Armour was still out of town, training a few of the more promising troops for posts as lieutenant or further.

Back in the real world, Celestia nodded once.

"Thank you. Please, get these to both lieutenants Redwing and Quartermane" she asked of the Pegasus guard. He took both rolled up notes and stashed them in his armour, saluting before he galloped off again. The notes contained orders for both lieutenants, telling both to mass their stallions and mares for the incoming wave of highly-trained murders. Or, put simply, have your troops kiss their flanks goodbye.

With yet another sigh, Celestia donned her own armour, covering her body in the metal's protective layers. The black belt holding the scabbard to her body went over her right shoulder, the tanto strapping to her left shoulder. She grabbed her mane in a magical grip, holding it up and pulling it through the thin gap in the helmet, letting it fall down her face once more when the helm had settled on her head. Her horn flared once more, two pieces of ribbon floating over to her as her mane and tail wrapped themselves into a controllable braid. And then, just for old time's sake, she dropped the spell.

A golden flow of mist wrapped around her body, covering her pure white fur and soaking into it before it dissipated and flowed away. What was left, was a rather terrible sight; Celestia, now that her cloak had dropped, was shown in her true form. Every blemish, old wound and scar that was dotted across her body. Scars over her left eye, below her lower lip, crisscrossing her neck, deep gashes over her body, a claw mark on her chest. All of these were testament to the fact that Celestia was no simple, delicate ruler, no dainty monarch, that she was more than capable of taking the problems of Equestria into her own hooves, and on more than one occasion had.

Celestia took a deep breath as she got used to her 'new' look, releasing the spell she'd come to master and perfect over the centuries, to such an extent that she barely noticed it anymore, that she could even keep it up when asleep or unconscious. Or, though technically impossible, that she could use it while wearing magic inhibitor rings. Celestia trotted for the door, her skill in her armour keeping her silent, and pushed through the door to her chambers.

She paused as she went to follow the Pegasus guard down the hall, her eyes finding Luna's closed door. She was already asleep for the day, Cadence having likely crashed on the same bed with her thanks to a few more…subtle persuasions, I.E a cup of tea that hadn't been as pure as she'd promised. Celestia was glad that Luna didn't know about what was going on with Blood Moon, as she knew that she wouldn't be able to fight him. They were too close, and though Celestia wouldn't let herself hold it against her sister, this was a battle, and a battle was fought, not reasoned. No…this was Celestia's fight now, hers alone really, and she knew that nopony would be able to help her.

She trotted down the hall alone, everypony who wasn't a guard having retreated to their quarters and any guards within the palace having gathered in the main stretch. She was alone. It was a very isolating feeling, having everypony she loved either unable to help her or out to kill her.

The princess of the day soon found herself in the throne room. She looked around herself, casting her gaze over the stained glass windows depicting the most famous memories of Equestria's past. She could remember each and every one of them, when they'd happened, when the glass panels had been created and placed within the walls of the throne room. She sat daintily on her throne, her gaze meeting the empty room with a glare of thought and apprehension.

She got a sudden thought as she looked to her left flank, her fore-hoof digging around within between the metal of the throne and plump, silk red cushion she sat her royal flank upon.

'Let's see…cookie…dictionary…Equestrian law…photo album…dildo… Ah, there you are.'

She pulled her hoof out from between the cushions and levitated the objects to her vision. A pack of Mareverick cigarettes and a lighter. She really shouldn't, she knew, but given the circumstances she felt herself a little entitled. With a small breath, she placed one of the slims between her lips and sparked the lighter a few times before it lit.

Celestia inhaled the smoke, the taste of tobacco washing through her system while the stress of ruling a kingdom she hadn't wanted in the first place was given a small outlet. She loosed excess smoke through her muzzle, letting it flitter through the air and vanish into the atmosphere. She took the cigarette in her magic and held it away from her maw, blowing another small flow of smoke into the room. Maybe…five hundred years since she'd last smoked? With a grin, she remembered the first time she, Blood Moon and Luna had first 'hit the town' when she'd been much younger, when she hadn't the weight of a country on her back, when she and her sister were allowed some time to themselves, usually at the hooves of Blood Moon himself, when the three of them would just have fun. Celestia huffed lightly, flicking some ashes away; when Blood Moon had asked Faust out on a date. He'd made sure that punching bag wished it had never been born when she'd politely declined. It had taken him a while to learn to deal with rejection.

She took another long drag of the cigarette. With a small chuckle, she remembered when that one shady pony had approached Blood Moon when they were at a bar.

"Hey, you wanna buy some Death Sticks" the blue, Pegasus stallion asked as he slid smoothly to Blood Moon's side. Blood Moon cast him the smallest of glances before he let his horn sparkle lightly.

"You don't want to sell me Death Sticks" he told the pony, who nodded and let a slight-of-hoof hide his illegal merchandise.

"I don't want to sell you Death Sticks" he agreed automatically, going back to his drink.

"You want to go home and rethink your life" Blood Moon continued.

"I want to go home, and rethink my life" the Pegasus agreed again, turning swiftly away from the bar and trotting for the door.

With a small sigh, she leant back in her throne and put the cigarette back between her lips again, letting the smoke calm her and let her relive the memories without so much pain. She let her perfect lips hold the small stick in place while she inhaled and exhaled the smoke. She'd never truly see smoking as an altogether acceptable thing, given that they weren't called 'Death Sticks' once upon a time for nothing, but could definitely see the pluses to them. That, and she couldn't really get addicted to them. Being an Alicorn had its pluses, after all.
She let her gaze linger on her golden lighter, her sun engraved into the sides, and flicked it on and off in rhythm. She took the last few drags and stubbed out the bud on the arm of her throne, contemplating lighting another. That was, until, the doors at the other side swung open.

Three stallions. Three warriors. Three knights.

Long lost and almost forgotten was the royal stricture that a princess, prince, king or queen were allowed to appoint a champion. They were by no means part of the royal armies, Shining Armour's domain, or the Solar or Night guard, Celestia and Luna's personal factions of the army, nor were they of the Crystal guards, Cadence's forces. What they were instead, were the soldiers Celestia, Luna and Cadence would be personally represented by. Their Knights.

The first in the small triangle was the Lumen Knight, Celestia's champion; armour of pure, virtuous white and regal gold covered every inch of his body in thick armour, straight and neat, nothing in the way of decoration covering him asides Celestia's sun, engraved into the chest piece. The helm was simple, basic, yet strong and durable, obscuring his face with a piece of white metal, solar-iron accenting his jawline, while the space over his maw was dotted with small holes while three slits of metal over the visor allowed him to see. His sunset red mane flowed from the top like a plume, his tail shaved short. His unicorn horn was covered in a blade, similar to that of Celestia's, while on his back sat a simple, dual-bladed long sword and traditional, six-edged shield, Celestia's sun engraved upon the front metal. This unicorn was known as Light Guard.

The second was the Umbra Knight, Luna's champion. Blacks, greys and dark blues covered him in lighter metal, a less standard shape and forging method used for inspiring fear into foes, Luna's moon on his chest moon given a sharp and intimidating feel to it, the fearsome metals covering his chest, back and flank, his leg protected only by greaves. His mane and tail were once again used a plume and shaved short, yet this pony's helm did not cover his entire face, instead it was left uncovered so the vampire could sink his teeth into anypony he decided was having too good a day. His bat-like wings rested comfortably on his back, his pair of short swords and collapsed crossbow laying between the armoured wings. This vampire Pegasus, was Deadwing.

The third and final was the Crystalline Knight, Cadence's champion. His full-body armour was identical to that of his coat; crystal in appearance, translucent and gleaming regally. The dark grey jewels used to forge this armour were jagged and uneven, giving him the appearance of a walking diamond of sorts, while the Crystal Heart on his chest did little to portray his hard personality. He carried an axe of crystal and moon-steel, the large weight doing nothing to slow the earth pony down. He was known as Geode.

Celestia looked between them all, imagining that neither Luna nor Cadence would be all too pleased that she'd 'borrowed' their personal Knights, but if it came down to it she'd just pull rank. As it were at the moment, she didn't much care. Instead, she just gave them a single order.

"Make sure my foalsitter is well received" she said evenly. They all brought their right hooves over their hearts in a saluting manner, bowing their heads slightly before turning away. Rarely seen and rarer still heard, these knights. She watched them with a sort of admiration; aged, experienced, trained in the old ways of combat. They were well and truly the best Equestria had to offer, save Luna and Celestia themselves. And they didn't stand a chance.

Celestia instinctively sparked another cigarette to life, placing it gently in her maw. Damn, there went her 'once a century' rule. Well, technically she was owed five, so whatever. All thoughts of broken rules were thrown to the dogs as she heard the sounds of the door opening and closing. Was she sending them all to their deaths? Was she right to do this? Shouldn't she just face Blood Moon herself, instead of hiding behind droves of guards? Blood Moon, she knew, prided himself on fighting with his troops, his assassins, and was always at the front of the pack.

Maybe it needed to be done, to show Equestria that her forces would rise to any challenge. Or maybe so she had a hope of defeating him, setting him in chains or something when she was done with him. She could probably send him to Tartarus when she was done, another legend for the ages to remember. She smirked at the thought of Blood Moon sharing a cell with Tirek.

For now, however, she just sat back and waited for what was to come.

"Come on, daddy. Your little girl wants to see you again" she said around the smoke in her maw, puffing out unwanted plumes with her words. She moved the cigarette away from her maw, losing another stream of smoke to the side as she tapped away some ash. "And I can't wait to tell you just how much I've missed you."

Twilight stirred gently, squeezing Blood Moon in her fore-legs as her sleep escaped her.

'Good, he hasn't left yet.'

She nuzzled her coltfriend and snuggled into him some more, her hooves pulling him in some more as she cuddled with him. All murderous intentions aside, she'd really missed this, the day when she'd had to sleep with only Fluttershy for company making her realise how much she'd really meant it when she'd told her friends how nice it was to just go to sleep with him. She leant her head against him, breathing in his scent.

She narrowed her closed eyes and slowly opened them, hoping her stallion was trying a new aftershave. A pillow.

"No" she muttered, trying and failing to get up gracefully. She managed to sit up, looking down at the fluffy, white cushion she'd been snuggling with. "Nonono" she said, her voice growing slowly more panicked. The hamster running on the wheel in her mind finally got up, spinning the gears as she made sense of what was going on; she threw the covers off her body and sprang up, well, she fell of the bed and got up rather quickly but she'd tell anypony who'd ask that she'd sprang. "NonononononoNO!" She frantically looked around herself, searching for her coltfriend with wide and panicked eyes. "Blood Moon" she called, uncaring as to anypony she may be waking up "Blood Mooooon" she called again, galloping through the house. "Blood Moon" she shouted as she burst into the bedroom, cantering to the door to the master bedroom. "Blood Moon" she called as she flung the door open, looking frantically around inside.

"Twi" a southern twang asked as she went to go back into the living room. The purple mare stopped in her tracks to find Applejack waking up, rubbing her eyes as Applebloom did the same.

"AJ, have you seen Blood Moon?" The orange mare frowned.

"Naw, I've been asleep. Why, what's goin' on?" By now, everypony else had woken up too, finding Twilight's panicked state having a conversation with Applejack's sleepy one.

"It's Blood Moon, he-"

"The assassins that came with Blood Moon are gone" Sand Stalker told them all, his expression flat and his tone calm, as he cantered into the room. The Element of Magic's eyes widened.

"Oh no, not them too. That must mean…" she put her head to the ground, her hooves covering her head "no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!" She rocked her head back and forth on the carpet, everypony watching in confusion.

"Twilight, what's the matter" Rainbowdash asked as she hopped out of bed, Scootaloo following her.

"I-it's Blood Moon, he's gone" she answered. Rainbow looked back at the other mares, confusion in her eyes.

"Gone? Gone where?" Everypony suddenly noticed that Twilight was shaking, sobs leaking from her. At that point, The Elements of Harmony, Spike, who had only just woken up, and the fillies all cantered over to her, while Sand Stalker remained in the doorway.

"He-he's gone to-to" she sniffled a few times. How could this be happening, her best friend, her tutor, killed by her lover, her coltfriend? "He's gone to kill her" she said in an eerie state of calm. A few gasps and gulps ran through the small crowd of ponies as the words left her maw.

"K-kill who" Spike asked, his somewhat young mind now corrupted by the concept of death. Twilight looked up at him, her eyes still wet with tears, and pulled him into a hug. No, this wasn't what was supposed to happen, she was supposed to have woken up before him, or at least with him, and talk him out of this. She should have stopped him.

Meanwhile, Spike had returned his big sister/mother's hug, finding it both worrying and confusing that she'd be so broken about Blood Moon going off to kill somepony. He didn't know for sure, but that's what assassins do, right? Twilight's brief explanation the day he'd been gone hadn't really been enough fill in the gaps for him.

"Who" Rainbow prompted "kill who, what's goin on" she asked. Twilight looked over Spike's scaly shoulder to find her best friends, all watching her with worry, and couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Celestia" came Sand Stalker's voice, his hard and stable tone shaking Twilight out of her stupor slightly "he's gone to kill Celestia."

Silence. That was all that could be said for the Elements of Harmony. Celestia, the princess, no, The princess of Equestria, the most powerful country on the globe, the immortal ruler of all ponies, was to be killed?

It was such a…foreign concept. Celestia had been alive…forever, she'd always been there, and always would, to hear the words 'kill' and 'Celestia' without the topic being the princess of the day vanquishing a great beast wasn't possible, the words shouldn't be used in a sentence like that. But they had. Somepony was going to kill her. Her own foalsitter to boot.
None of the Elements of Harmony's usual quirks shone through; Twilight just kept crying. Spike had joined in. Pinkie Pie was looking to everypony desperately for answers. Fluttershy was holding a broken down Applejack in her hooves, the apple buckers head hung low as she tried to comprehend what was going on. Rainbow was speechless. Rarity just stared at the floor, unable to find her naturally 'drama queen' flare. The fillies just sat still, unwilling to offer their input.

During her tears, Twilight felt something atop her head. She blinked a few times as she realised it, straightening up, still holding Spike close, and looked up at the tip of her horn.

"D-Dusk?" The little critter nodded a few times. "What're you doing here?" He squeaked a few times.

"H-he says Blood Moon asked him to look after you" Fluttershy translated. Twilight blinked a few times, trying to adjust her thought pattern from sorrow to thought. She shook her head and blinked a few more times.

"W…well, when did he leave?" More squeaks.

"About an hour ago" Fluttershy says. Something inside Twilight lights up.

"Y-you mean he might not be there yet?" The critter shrugs. Twilight looked around the room at the confused faces, all of them facing her, looking for guidance. She bites her lip lightly. "We've got to stop him" she declared. Their faces were suddenly horrified, their expressions reminding her of when she'd told them that they were going to look for Blood Moon after his first appearance.

"Bu-but Twilight, if he's going after Celestia, if all of them are, what can we do to stop him" Rarity asked. Twilight swallowed lightly.

"I…I don't know, but I can't just sit here and let my coltfriend and teacher kill each other. I can't just…do nothing" she told them with a surprising strength. She looked between them all. "And I can't do it without you all" she added. More gulps and bit lips. Twilight took a long breath. "I'm not going to force you into this…but I need your help. I can't stop Blood Moon from killing the princess myself, so please, please,come with me" she begged. Everypony looked to be in worried thought for a few seconds. She got a weak, collective smile from everypony.

"Alright Twi, I'm with ya" AJ told her.

"Yeah, we got your back" Rainbow added. Everypony else was a little more quiet, but just as supportive. If a little scared.

"And how, pray tell, are we getting back to Ponyville? Or even Canterlot" Sand Stalker asked. Twilight turned back to him.

"Well…I may be able to teleport us back to Ponyville, but from there we'll have to take the train" she answered. "But…Sand Stalker, I know we haven't known each other for a long time, and that you've been sorta keeping to yourself, but I have to ask you…could you look after the fillies and Spike?" That got an eyebrow raised.

"What?"

"Please? I can't take them into what might turn out to be an all-out war, so I need somepony to take care of them, or at least take them to Sweet Apple Acres" she told him. Sand Stalker took a long, drawn out breath.

"I never did like escort jobs" he muttered under his breath "yeah, sure" he answered in an audible tone. Twilight thanked him and turned back to her friends.

"You guys don't mind, do you?" Rainbowdash said no easily, her trust in her uncle having improved greatly over the past few days, while AJ and Rarity looked a little more hesitant.

They relented either way, seeing no other option, and comforted a little by the fact that Blood Moon wouldn't forgive him if any harm came to Scootaloo, or the other fillies. "Alright, we should get outside so I can…get a better look of our surroundings, I guess" she said, finding it unlikely that she'd find anything of use up there anyway.

They all trotted out and clambered out of the Square, standing together-

"What in Tarnation?" Applejack's outburst had been prompted by the set massive claw-prints in the ground besides Blood Moon's shack. Pinkie looked at Spike.

"What" he asked in return.

"How were we not woken up by those" Rarity asked from AJ's back. Sand Stalker grunted.

"Speak for yourself" he mumbled "anyway, are we ready to do this" he asked Twilight as she looked around herself, finding nothing but fog in the distance and swampland nearby.

"Yeah, I guess" she answered in a mumble of her own. Everypony stood together, Rarity unwillingly standing on the ground between AJ and Sweetie-Belle. Twilight took a long breath as she cleared her mind, closing her eyes and picturing Ponyville. After a long while's concentration, her horn flashed and she, her friends, the fillies, Spike and Sand Stalker were in Ponyville. They were stood just outside the train station, a few boarding passengers and passers by jumping slightly at their sudden appearance. Everypony looked around themselves to assure they were safe, finding everypony present, then looked to Twilight.

"We're all here" Pinkie said brightly. Twilight smiled dimly before she fainted. A chorus of 'Twilight' went up, Applejack catching her on her back. After confirming she was breathing, Sand Stalker spoke up again.

"You should get going, get her on the next train to Canterlot and do what you gotta do" he told them as he ushered the Spike, fillies and Dusk, who had hitched a ride, towards Ponyville's apple orchid. They nodded and trotted into the station, Rarity sweet-talking the pony at the ticket booth to give them all one free of charge when they remembered nopony was carrying any bits. Sitting in one of the carriages in relative silence, Twilight using Fluttershy as a pillow for her head, they awaited the driver to call 'all aboard' and get whisked off to Canterlot. They would be lying, however, if they said they were looking forward to the end of their trip.

Grárvinda landed with a thud. While the inside of Canterlot may have been on lockdown, the outside of the walls was home to the ponies of shadow. It was an amazingly terrible sight, this mass of ponies all stood atop, around, before and within the main entrance to Canterlot. Blood Moon and his cohorts hopped from the Gargoyle's back, Blood Moon patting his hoof to her head in thanks before she took off again, landing a little ways behind the mass of assassins, no few of them stunned by the great beast's sudden appearance.

The dark stallion trotted forward, the ponies to have come with him scattering to the mass of assassins around them, while Blood Moon took to looking around himself as they did. Such variety. So many races fell beneath the Shadow Weaver banner, all of them dressed in by no means similar garbs, but all representing the same thing: loyalty. He approached the Chapter Leaders he'd contacted with the birds; Zaycor, leader of the Zebra tribal Weavers; Geld, leader of the Griffon Shadow Weavers; Grey Scale, the leader of the Changeling Shadow Weavers, and one of the few of the insect equines to have a name; Husk, leader of the Diamond Dogs Weavers; Dead Bolt, leader of the Manehatten chapter of the Weavers; Tenacity, leader of the Minotaur Shadow Weavers; and of course, Blood Moon's Canterlot chapter of assassins stood with them.

Around them, all the different races were mingling, talking, getting to know each other before they trusted their lives to one another. Griffons and Pegasi, earth ponies and Diamond Dogs, unicorns and Minotaurs, hay, just ponies and Changelings mixing like it was another Friday. Who said world peace was impossible? They'd formed a small ring around their leaders, another empty strip up the middle granting Blood Moon passage, all of them lounging atop guard houses and nearby rocks, some of them having set up a small training area and sparring arena in case of long waits. The gate was locked and sealed, the nervus looking guards atop the walls keeping any assassins away, only none of them were attacking yet so they were just getting scared. The gate itself had been left alone, the area before it vacant, while everypony, griffon, Minotaur, dog and whatever else had turned up in this en masse cocktail of lads and lasses preferring to socialise instead of goad their foes.

"Huh, some assassins."

'Say what you will, but just try and say they're soulless.'

Blood Moon stood with the other Chapter Leaders, all offering greetings, some admiring the Phoenix on his shoulder, a few giving off the vibe they were bored.

So different, yet so alike these beings. Zaycor was a renowned potion master, his nickname 'Poisoned Rhythm' well earned, a particularly large supply of poisons and potions of varying effects on his back, clad in a less urban version of the infamous Shadow Weaver coat and mask. His black and white furs were covered by black bear fur, a sash of red made from plain silk dyed with Manticore blood over his chest, bracers of ruff and unwashed bear fur on his fore and hind hooves. His dreaded mane fell over his wise face, a tomahawk-dagger combination hanging from his belt, while his face was covered in muzzle-only gasmask, the grey of his hard eyes staring over the top. Easily in his seventies and still in his prime.

"Blood Moon" he started in a voice deep enough to reach the centre of the earth "why have you lead us to our doom? To wait at Celestia's door is to trot this earth no more." Husk nodded his head, his race’s generic vest replaced with a black coat that reached his ankles, the red sash of his rank around his waist, a mask that could fit his race's muzzle non-existent. His stone-grey fur was as unwashed as any Diamond dog, but he had a certain cunning hidden behind his eyes.

"I agree with the Zebra. Not even a pack of this size could break through these gates and defences" he said in his raspy voice, his arms crossed over his chest.

"Who's to say" came a devilishly smooth voice. Every…creature looked to Dead Bolt, who looked back at them. The standard hood and mask were replaced by a black fedora atop her head, the coat opened to reveal a sharp white blouse beneath, the red sash replaced with a loosely tied red tie. Taking greater interest in blending in with the 'downtown', or whatever, society Manehatten assassins exchanged their intimidating masks for a more 'acceptable' garb. She was no doubt Redwave's mother, possessing his cheeks and eyes, small lines of age hanging below, her fur a deep maroon and her tail a greying, deep purple, both kept in a classy yet laidback style. She was a real looker, but it was the roguish smirk Bolt shot them, almost identical to Redwave's, that lifted at least a decade from her face that really got the knees wobbling. "I'm sure Blood Moon's got a plan" she finished.

"Agreed" came Geld's input, his garb identical to that of a standard Shadow Weaver, asides from racial needs from size differences and the such. His lion-half a molten-bronze colour, the eagle in him a deep gold, his wings a little lighter in shade. "Blood Moon would never call us all here unless he was certain in his thoughts" his strained voice finished.

"What's to say the Royal Guard do not also have a plan" Grey Scale posed, hissing his words out in a strained and quiet voice. The Changeling was covered in basic armour, colours matching his rank, only missing the mask, hood and undershirt, so his could strip it away in case he needed to change. "There could be spies hidden amongst us" he said quietly, leaning into the group.

"Unlikely" Tenacity retorted, his head high and his back straight, looking over the gathered assassins as they prepared for what was to come, coat and equipment in similar makes to Husk's "my and Geld's guys have been mingling, looking for any kind of trouble" he told them, his deep yet calm voice assuring them all.

"Not particularly subtle, don't you think" Grey's was answer. Tenacity shrugged.

"Exactly. Who'd suspect it?" Blood Moon smirked, the silent move capturing and drawing all attention to him.

"It's good to see you all getting along so well" he commented, prompting grunts from his allies.

"You have the Weaver's blessing, yes? Else this will be quite the mess" Zaycor inquired. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Not officially, but I doubt he'll care anyway." Dead Bolt snorted.

"Sometimes I wonder if that guy even exists" she mumbled before she looked to Blood Moon "so what's the plan?" Blood Moon grinned.

"Simple" he said as he made his way to the gates, his horn sparking as a platform of rock grew beneath him.

"Alright ponies, listen up, we got some serious shit to discuss!" That garnered the attention of every assassin gathered before Blood Moon, the other conversations dying down as all faces turned to him. "I trust you all know why we're here, but for any who don't, let's get one thing straight: we're here to kill Celestia." What should have been a roar of agreement came out as silent grins, the nodding of heads and small chuckles from these calm, quiet and disciplined assassins.

"Why, you may ask? Well I'll tell you why. Princess Celestia, raiser of the sun, ruler of Equestria, has had it too good for too long! We're here to change that." More smirks and chuckles ran through the crowd, but a few hooves, claws and hands went up too, Blood Moon waving them down.

"Now, I know some of you have questions, primarily along the lines of 'how in the hay do we stand a chance against Equestria's biggest stockpile of thugs that call themselves guards?' Well, I'll tell you that too; a while back, the Changelings invaded Canterlot, sneaking a few into the crowds while Chrysalis impersonated princess Cadence and fooled Celestia herself for more than a month, and when it came time to strike, the guards couldn't hold back the assault from both directions. However. That didn't change the fact that they were still beaten." A few slightly insulted snorts went through the gathered Changelings.

"Around ninety years before that, the Griffons attacked, using brute force to overwhelm the guards as they flew in and tried to take Canterlot from all angles. They too were beaten back. In fact, every race gathered here today, has been defeated once or more times by Celestia and her forces. Why do we stand a chance? Look around you. What do you see?" The gathered assassins actually looked around, a little confused as to what the Hunter was getting at.

"Variety" he eventually answered "never once has an army, throughout history, ever consisted of more than one race. Sure, there've been mercs here and there, but no real force consisting of such a diversity of troops has ever had the chance to take on Celestia's forces. And never will they again, for once this day is done, there will be no such thing as 'Celestia's forces'!" A small ripple of agreement ran through the crowd. "The armies of white and gold will become the army of red!" Another, larger, ripple of agreement went through the crowd, cheers called out here and there. "The protectors of Equestria, will be reduced to mere ashes, to protect the ground from the blood of their fallen comrades!" More cheers echoed through the dense crowds, a stronger wave of accord hitting the crowds. "On this day, this great nation's military will know the meaning of fear, will see what a true fighting force looks like and they will DIE FOR THEIR COUNTRY!" A full roar exploded from the crowd, prompting a grin from Blood Moon. "But know this" he said in a serious tone when their cheers had died down "our order's code still stands. Kill only those who seek to kill you, do not leave your brother or sister's back unguarded and pillage only the foes to have fallen. This fight is between us and Celestia, not Canterlot as a whole." A few more disgruntled, but by no means less agreeing noises rippled from the crowd, all respecting their current leader's position. "But, above all my fearless assassins" he waited for an appropriately suspenseful second "have fun" he told them, cheers and laughs rippling from the crowd. Blood Moon had the platform of earth he stood upon lower back into the ground and stood aside, letting Tenacity take the reins for a second. Ember meandered to his side.

"Not bad" she mumbled as Tenacity told his assassins what they would be doing. Blood Moon had grunted.

"I've never been all that good at 'uplifting speeches.' That's one of the reasons I enjoy being an assassin, silence and all that" he answered. Ember shrugged.

"Could have been worse" she reassured as the leader of the Minotaurs bellowed out their cue.

"Alright… Minotaurs" Tenacity roared, his assassins moving towards the gate. The muscular titans of half-bull, half biped of some description all put their hands to the door, digging their hooves into the ground behind and heaved. Quickly, the hinges groaned in protest, the metal bending to the will of these great beasts of muscle and power. After a long wait of a whole lot of pushing, masculine grunting, a few encouraging comments from behind and a whole lot of sweat, the hinges to the great gate finally gave, the two purple, gold and silver doors falling to the ground with a minute explosion, dust thrown into the air.

As the Minotaurs congratulated themselves and each other, flexing their muscles and fist-bumping each other, the other assassins clambered over the fallen doors and into the city, Blood Moon and the other Chapter Leaders leading the way. The great stretch lay before them, leading directly from the gate to the palace. Technically counter-productive in terms of security, but if one were to look closely, they would see the well-hidden vantage points, hidey holes, assassins perches and other ambush points that the guards would use to take down forces unawares as they advanced. Today, however, the only guards between them and their goal were in plain sight. Dead Bolt and Blood Moon had their Pegasi assassins take to the roofs, a few of Geld's griffons following, and await a signal to attack from above. As they trotted, Blood Moon picked out the winged ponies taking down the ambush the guards apparently had planned for them, claws and blades slicing through veins and necks silently as they moved along with the other assassins. Blood Moon couldn't help but cast a grin at the leaders with him as he counted out the small 'ahhhg's coming from the rooftops. There must have been at least a few hundred of them waiting in the 'shadows', as they called them. Celestia was wasting too many troops trying to sneak up on the guys who did the best sneaking, and her numbers were being severely cut down because of it.

'Never meet an enemy on his playing field, and never try to use their tactics against them unless you know you can do it better.'

"General Stone Greaves, 866 Post Discord Wars."

'Yep, after his Pegasus forces beat back a force of dragons trying to fly in.'

After a few minutes of parading through the Canterlot stretch, no less than three hundred assassins in coats, robes and armour of black, grey, red and brown stopped half-way into the city. They were randomly mingled and otherwise fairly unorganised, no form to their structure. Before them, maybe twenty five meters away, stood the gold and white soldiers of the Royal armies and Solar guard, a perfect rectangle of armour and weapons, races strategically placed for maximum efficiency in battle. At the forefront stood two guards, one an earth pony and the other a Pegasus. The earth was lieutenant Quartermane, of a hazel brown lion-like mane and tail, and grey fur, the Pegasus Redwing, his mane and tail amber while his fur was silver, asides his wings, which were as red as his namesake. Blood Moon held his right hoof in the air, the assassins behind him stopping while he kept going, Quartermane and Redwing narrowing their eyes as they trotted towards him.

When they met in the middle, Blood Moon looked between the two undoubtedly nervus guard lieutenants and smirked.

"Lieutenants Quartermane and Redwing. I've heard…nothing about you" he said dryly.

"Blood Moon" Redwing replied "we can't exactly say the same."

"Why are you here, assassin" Quarter spat. Blood Moon's smirk went a little wider.

"I'm fairly sure the small army behind you can tell you why" he answered.

"I don't supposed there's any chance of you surrendering, is there" Redwing guessed. Blood Moon's smirk widened again.

"No." Both soldiers narrowed their eyes again.

"Good" they said at once, turning away to return to their troops. Blood Moon quickly moved in return, grabbing their tails and pulling them back, both letting a small yelp escape their lips as they were heaved back by Blood Moon. The assassin released their tails and let the scales forming the bracers of his armour shift, the sharpened scales shooting out, forming blades inspired by the weapons given to him by Tinker, and stabbed into the bases of their skulls. The two lieutenants froze in their steps, twitching slightly.

"Never, take your eyes off the opponent" he told them before he threw their dead bodies to the floor, the scales returning to their places on the armour.

Blood pooled from their fatal wounds, the two guard's staring into the void as their mouths hung open. The guards across from the assassins all gasped, their leaders killed before them. A few jaws hung loose in shock, something that confused Blood Moon to no end; who the hay expected an assassin to fight fair?

Some of the more tenacious guards roared in anger, the others following soon after as they charged, organisation killed with the lieutenants as weapons were unsheathed, spells flared to life and hooves thundered along the ground.

"Hunter" Blood Moon began, the bird looking at him "let's hear a real battle cry, huh?" Hunter's eyes showed a lethal smile. The phoenix raised his head, spread his wings a little and let a great cry escape his throat as he took flight, likely unwilling to sit by and watch. Blood Moon was a little proud of his bird.

In response to Hunter's call, the assassins behind Blood Moon returned the guard's charge. With a grin, Blood Moon joined them.

A roar ripped through the streets of Canterlot as ponies, Griffons, Changelings, Minotaurs and dogs let their battle cry add to Hunter's. Hooves thundered for three seconds until both factions clashed.

And then they did.

Several guards fell before they'd even joined the fray, bolts growing in their necks as the assassins above drew first blood, the guards foolish enough to look up in confusion finding their own necks opened by claw, blade, magic or good old fashioned brute force. Pegasi and griffons alike flew from their perches, landing in the midst of the guards and around the sides, Diamond Dogs exploding from the ground in the midst of them while the changelings were lost in the crowds to flares of green fire.

The initial clash of combatants sent guard and assassin alike into the air in a small mountain of fighters until they came down again, the battle erupting in proper. Bigger fighters pushed their ways to the front to find worthy prey, smarter ones took to better vantage points, flasks of potions and poison exploded in blasts of smoke, poisoned blades ripping through flesh and opening hide. Dogs howled as they gave wounds, Minotaur's fists breaking guards and rock alike as the fired out strikes left, right and centre. Guards were felled by invisible forces, a snapped neck here or an opened throat there, their killer fading into the crowd again. And in the middle of it all, was Blood Moon.

The dark stallion had yet to draw his weapon, his expression passive as he trotted through the crowd. However, trying to keep from conflict in the middle of one was rather impossible. Errant guards of all races and creeds lunged for him, some falling to a swift neck snapping or
turning their weapons back onto them.

Blood Moon's sight was filled with combat, as were his ears and muzzle, not to mention his hooves. It was almost impossible to follow it all. Earth pony lunged, he sidestepped and took his head by the sides, twisting harshly as he stepped past another's sword, taking him by the hoof, twisting it all the way around, breaking the bone and forcing the snapped bone through the skin before shoving it into the owner's eyeball. A hoof wielding a blade came down, the killer's own jabbing into the gripping hoof and stealing the weapon, removing the head with the same blade. A guard was thrown at him from the side; he ducked, let him roll over his back, stood on his throat and struck the guard over the heart, stopping it with the broken ribs to have been forced into it. A hoof from the side, he parried it up, flipped its owner over his shoulder and threw his to his back, pulling him onto his front with the same leg before he wrenched it out of place. A strike from the front: parried, countered with a strike to the face, a knee to the cheek and fore-head to the skull.

Another blade swung for the assassin's face, the killer swaying backwards, putting his fore-hoof to the ground, spinning his hind-legs around and taking his foe's neck in his hind-hooves and wrenching the vertebra through the spinal cord. The dark stallion's fore hoof swung into another's jaw, following it up with a neat chop to the neck as he stepped to another; leaping up, his hind-legs slammed into the guard's chest, crushing the ribs and forcing bone into the heart and oesophagus. Landing on his fore-hooves and neck, he bounced gracefully back to his all four's and trotted forwards once, more guards taking the time to attack him.

Three struck at once, Blood Moon countering by leaping up, holding himself up on two of the guard's head while the third found his hind-legs either side of his neck as he was thrown over the assassins body, landing on his head as Blood Moon rotated his balance on the guards holding him up, landing on one guard's shoulders so he was straddling his head. A quick twist of his hips, and the guard's life was at an end, Blood Moon falling and snapping the remaining guard's horn off with his fore-hoof, catching it in the other and ramming it into the guard's jugular. A bigger guard charged him, Blood Moon leaping and round housing him heavily across the jaw, following through with a hoof ripping out his eyeball. Leaving the screaming guard behind, he continued trotting calmly.

Three more guards, two Pegasi from above with an earth from behind; the winged ponies dived as the earth pony tried to grab him from behind; he leapt into the air, his hind-hooves crashing into the Pegasi's faces, his fore-legs taking the earth's head as he flipped backwards, twisting the head around as he went. A dull 'crunch' was signalled another snapped neck, Blood Moon wrenching the head away from the body as the two guard charged again. The first was knocked from the skies by a severed head careering towards him, while the other's strike was dodged before the assassin stepped on his spine and ripped his wings off. Returning to the last, he parried the first blow, dodged the second and countered the last, pulling the guard past him with his fore-leg before he threw him to the ground, snapping the leg before he flipped him over and shattered the spine with a single blow.

The large battle had dispersed into smaller skirmishes by now, guards and assassins alike lying dead or unconscious between the fights. Surprise had taken down many of the guard's superior numbers, the few thousand of them reduced to no more than seven hundred within the first five minutes of the battle, while the original three hundred assassins had dropped to only two fifty, most of the still living assassins having been pulled out by their comrades. Such was the skill of the Shadow Weavers. Blood Moon trotted through the mess of clashes, dispatching guards now and then as he went.

Zaycor was stood with a few of his assassins, the mares and stallions facing the guards off with tomahawk, dagger, hoof or whatever else they'd brought along. Zaycor was the centre of the show, working his way through the guards with what could only be described as a dance of death, his small axe and blade spinning around him, growing steadily more bloody as guards were wounded and eventually fell to him. A blur of black and white spun past the gold and silvers, reds spurting from the as axe met meat and fur, dagger opened flesh and skin, strikes places strategically to cripple opponents before he finished them. The others assassins did their best to keep up with the elderly stallion, spears, short swords, tomahawks, chains leading to blades, daggers and bare hooves felling foes as they moved around and between each other, their weapons opening wounds and protecting themselves and each other.

Geld had his own claws full, him and his assassins rending guards asunder with their talons and powerful jaws, no few of their foes dropped with missing limbs. Unlike their zebra brothers, the griffons fought with brutality and ferocity, killing blows more common than simple strikes in their battle. Any griffon standing with Geld was stained with blood, gore and no few wounds, their armour and strong hides incapable of stopping the guard's blows, however, their adrenalin kept them from feeling it.

Grey Scale's first weapon, surprise, had soon turned redundant, as he and his changelings were surrounded and set upon by numerous guards, none of them wearing armour nor weapons as they fought hoof, fang and spell with unrelenting savagery as they fought for their lives and pride. Blood Moon watched, dropping another guard as he trotted, as the changelings were pushed back, no few of them taking to the skies to escape their fate, only to be shot down. Before long, changeling casualties ripped through the Weaver's numbers, only Grey managing to sneak out of the guard's wrath.

Husk and the other Diamond Dogs held their own, fist, claw and weapons defending themselves against the assaulting guards as they slowly managed to push the guards back, their superior size and strength giving them an edge as they let their brothers behind them burrow into the ground and come up behind their foes, taking their enemies from behind. Even so, the guard's superior numbers made the difference, keeping the dogs at bay, driving them towards buildings as they tried to corner them.

The Minotaurs looked to be having the most fun, their rippling muscles punching through guards all around them, leaving refinement to jobs of stealth as their fists left perfectly flat surfaces where faces used to be. Their trouble came in the form of unicorns keeping their distance and firing spells at them from afar, out of range of their melee fighting styles.

Dead Bolt's and Blood Moon's assassins had banded together, Bolt herself, Ember, Leaf, Candle and Redwave standing together and taking on a large bulk of the guards between them, while the other assassins held their own grounds around them. Ember and Dead Bolt proved to have complementing fighting styles, Dead Bolt working with joints, pressure points, locks, cripple points and throwing the enemy off balance while Ember would follow through with a fatality, opening throats, thrusting through the heart and lungs, taking limbs and driving her hidden blade through the eye. Leaf, as was his nature, took to his own path, cutting his way through whatever was to come his way, breaking bones, slashing throats and using whatever was at his disposal to fell his foes, bolts growing from throats and eyes, the quiver on his back half-empty, throwing knives singing through the air and landing in soft spots, the blow-pipe on his back having already been discarded in a guard's throat. Candle and Red stuck together, both stallion's blades singing through the air, sprays of blood following them, but it was evident that the two didn't have as much experience as the others, Red's limp and a missing mask testament to that, while Candle's left wing was crippled, his armour opened to reveal a deep gash.

Blood Moon left them to it, his objective lying before him. In the palace. He trotted the last few blocks, ending the lives of guards to approach from all angles as he went. He ducked under a flying blade and struck back, stepping around him as another attacked, catching her strike in his hoof, his hoof going up and snapping the leg before he threw her away, another charging him, the assassin leaping over him, grabbing him by the tail and yanking him back, his hoof finding the back of his foe's skull.

Trotting the last leg, he found his way towards the gate to Canterlot Palace. He raised an eyebrow at the guards atop the wall, stomping his hoof into the ground and catching the spikes of rock to fire out of the earth and throwing them at the guards. The sentries done with, he put his hoof to his maw, the same earth shattering whistle ripping from him. There was a flap of wings bigger than any mortal, or immortal, as Grárvinda flew over the mass of fighters. Ignoring the battle, she flew straight to Blood Moon's position, a bloody Hunter joining her glide as they came to a stop before him, the phoenix landing on his shoulder, breathing heavily. Blood Moon glanced at his pet and smirked lightly, the bird returning with his version of a smile. The dark stallion looked to Grárvinda and held his hoof towards the gate.

"Would you kindly?"

Grárvinda's eyes showed her deathly grin as she looked to the gate, gatehouse and walls protecting the palace. With a roar that bested any dragon, her claw landed on the gate and wall, destroying it all, as well as a few guards in there. Blood Moon looked up at her appreciatively, nodding his head in thanks.

"Many thanks, Grár" he said, the Gargoyle nodding her head in return. Blood Moon remembered the fight going on behind him, his memory prompted by the axe he caught on his armoured hoof, the spikes on his body firing into his foe before they returned to his body. He noticed Grárvinda's look, grinning lightly. "Have fun" he told her, the great beast taking off immediately and taking the fight to the guards still standing, Hunter following after her once more to rejoin the fray. Blood Moon looked to the rubble that used to be the gatehouse, trotting towards it and clambering over it.

"Was there really any need to have Grárvinda do that?"

'If I'm gonna storm Canterlot Palace, I'm gonna do it right.'

A few guards stood between Blood Moon and the locked door. He cracked his neck to the right as he approached the grunts, the four of them drawing weapons and readying spells. Two earths lunged Blood Moon, the assassin's horn flared as the shadows of the wall cast by the morning sun lashed out at the guards, four serpents of darkness grabbing them in their toothy jaws and ripping the screaming ponies to shreds. The unicorns loosed their spells at the assassin, the serpents intercepting them on their scaly hides as Blood Moon rode another over its brothers, leaping off and landing on one of them. His scales formed a blade in either hoof, the assassin stabbing them into the guard's neck at both sides and twisting it off. The other snapped his gaze to the assassin who'd appeared next to him, only to be hit in the face with a leg; he stumbled back, catching the severed head in his hooves and looking down at it in disgust before he looked back to the stallion, only to find a hind-leg connecting with his face and throwing him through the doors to the palace entrance hall.

The doors came down around the guard that had been fired through them, the gold, white and purple barriers crashing to the marble floor, casting dust into the air. Blood Moon trotted into the palace, the dust blowing away from him as though even the clouds feared him. Before him, stood three stallions who were by no means guards. Blood Moon snorted. The knight champions of Celestia, Luna and even princess Cadence stood between him and the door to the throne room. He hopped off the door and stood before them.

They stood in a row, emotionless, still, silent. Blood Moon stood across from them, emotionless, still, silent. A discrete gust of wind whistled lightly through the palace they stood within, disturbing the dust once more. Blood Moon cracked his neck left and right as he drew his blade, the knights drawing their own in response. This would be interesting.

The Crystalline Knight struck first, moving with a swiftness that betrayed his bulky appearance, his axe swinging for the assassin's neck. Blood Moon ducked the strike and dodged another swift swing of the dual-bladed weapon and countered with his own; the knight took the strike on his shoulder, the well-tempered metal sliding off the crystalline armour as he over-countered with his axe once more. The Hunter took the strike on his blade and stepped back to strike once more, only to be interrupted by another fighter. The Umbra Knight.

Blood Moon stepped back again, the pair of fighters attacking him together; the Umbra Knight took to the air, his pair of blades singing as he struck, the weapons searching for fur and blood as he slashed, stabbed, swiped and sliced at the assassin, Blood Moon taking each strike on his blade as he parried them away with nimble grace while the less agile crystal knight advanced on him, his axe swinging for the assassin's skull. The dark stallion rolled away as the two of them continued their assault with a brutal efficacy. They didn't make a noise between them, not a grunt nor a growl, while Blood Moon took their strikes on his weapon and let the sparks fly between them.

The Umbra Knight thrust both weapons as the crystal knight swung his weapon at Blood Moon's throat; the assassin's blade parried the Umbra Knight's blades away while the axe sung past his neck with a rush of wind. His hoof met the crystal knight's helm with an earthly 'crunch', a small crack appearing in the crystal armour; he followed through with his left hoof, shoving his crystal foe back. He leapt and took the Umbra Knight by his hooves as he attempted to regain his balance after Blood Moon parried him, the assassin taking him by the fore-hooves and pulling himself up until he wrapped his hind-legs around his foe and pulled him down, slamming the knight's head into the ground below.

Without given respite, the Lumen Knight charged. Blood Moon smirked at their confrontation; the assassin was more impartial to the way of the samurai, using a Daishō style of weaponry in a nitōjutsu/ittō-ryū fighting style, a traditional and old Japonyese sword fighting style of one and two blades that he was very well versed in. A knight, by comparison, would use a less grace and speed oriented combat style in favor of strong offence and relying on a solid skin of steel and shield to deflect blows. A samurai versus a true knight of the old ways. A fight for the ages.

The two met with a clash of steel, both stepping back and retorting with another strike. The knight's broadsword swung for the assassin's vital points, Blood Moon's katana taking it on the curve and parrying it past him while he stepped in, countering with a stab at his chest. The lumen knight's shield intercepted the strike, Blood Moon's strike cutting a groove into the protective plated metal as he spun past and angled another blow, his weapon coming down on the knight's back. The strong metals took the brunt of the attack, yet left the stallion otherwise unharmed. The Lumen Knight's shield met Blood Moon's face, sending him stumbling back.

The knight's blade thrust forward, aimed for the assassin's face; Blood Moon stepped out of the sword's path, returning with his own across the chest, sending more sparks through the air as the tempered metals met the hardened plates. The Lumen Knight sent another strike the Hunter's way, Blood Moon parrying it up and away from him and countering with a strike aimed at the knight's head, taken on his shield once more.

A bolt of darkness whipping past his face reminded the assassin that he and the Lumen Knight were not alone, Blood Moon rolling around the day knight to get a view of the night and crystal knights. Both were standing once more, the Crystalline Knight holding his axe over his shoulder as he regarded his foe in a new light, while the Umbra Knight reloaded his crossbow. Blood Moon turned his attention back to his current foe, the Lumen Knight slashing his sword across the distance between them and following through with his shield, Blood Moon parrying one and dodging the other, his hoof taking the wakizashi in hold and striking out with it as he drew it, the blade meeting the slits in the pony's helm and knocking him back as Blood Moon planted his hoof on his head and flipped over him and heaving his flank to the floor in the confusion, driving the shōtō through his short tail as he landed and rolled to his hooves again, galloping for the other two knights.

The crystal knight met his charge, settling into a stance better suited for battle as he took his axe in two hooves and shifted his weight to his hind-legs; the crystal knight's swing was something no sword could block nor parry without severely damaging the blade, as such, the assassin slid under the strike and rose behind him, taking his blade in his right fore-hoof in an under-hoof grip and driving it backwards into his foe's left hind-leg. The tip of the blade met the chainmail between the crystal plating of the knight's armour, pushing through the metal that was practically paper in comparison to the crystal armour. The knight elected a small hiss of pain as the blade bit into flesh a muscle, blood seeping from the wound as the assassin left his blade there. Letting go of the blade's handle, he turned his gaze up to the Umbra Knight.

He whipped his fore-hoof to the side, a few scales coming loose in the armour plating before he whipped his leg in the knight's direction, the black scales flying from his leg like thrown knives. The knight deflected the first three easily, but the four after them found their marks, his, piercing the thin membrane of his left wing and quickly taking it out of commission as the scales pushed through and returned to their spots on the assassin's armour with the deflected scales.

Done with disabling the crystal and umbran knights, Blood Moon looked back to the Lumen Knight, only to find he had disappeared. The sound of a blade mid-song prompted him to duck-and-roll away from his current spot, a few sparks jumping from his armoured hood as he avoided the knight's strike. Blood Moon tore his katana from his crystal foe's leg, getting another small growl of pain form the crystal knight, and returned to his duel with the Lumen Knight.

The knight of the day pushed Blood Moon backwards, slashing, cutting, thrusting and jabbing with his blade as his shield followed through with a heavy-hoofed swing to his face in an attempt to knock him off balance. Blood Moon took every strike on his weapon, more sparks flying between them as they fought with strength, speed and agility. The assassin parried a strike that left his foe open, throwing his enemy off balance and into the pommel of his foe's blade. Blood Moon back-flipped from his enemy, landing on his fore-hooves and jumping back to his hind-hooves again until he came to a stop next to his wakizashi. He picked it up and slid it into its sheath as the knight struck again, his weapon meeting Blood Moon's time and time again.

Blood Moon took a strike along his blade's curve, slipping past it and countering with a strike of his own. The metal of his weapon met the metal of his foe's shield, the knight parrying the assassin past and opening him to offence. Blood Moon growled as the knight's blade met his armour, likely leaving a bruise in its place. He knight followed through with a second strike across his chest, Blood Moon blocking it away with a 'clang', the knight was unrelenting with his offence as he transferred the momentum of the bounce from the blocked strike into a second strike, swinging his sword around and upwards, only for Blood Moon to parry the strike, the knight slipping his blade gracefully up Blood Moon's own and swing his blade the Hunter's way once more, across his chest, only for Blood Moon to dodge the attack. The knight let the swing whistled past Blood Moon as he dodged, pulling his blade back and thrusting it at the assassin. Blood Moon caught the strike on the tsuba, against his blade, and forced it upwards. He stepped in and rammed his fore-knee into his foe's solar plexus, pushing the wind from him. His opponent stunned, he leapt into the air and struck him across the face with a well-placed roundhouse that sent his foe flying in the opposite direction.

Blood Moon looked up to find the Crystalline and Umbra Knights stood again, blood leaking from their wounds as they stared him down. The Umbra Knight reached back and drew his crossbow, firing another bolt at him. Blood Moon deflected the projectile on his blade, looking up to find the crystal knight charging once more, a limp in his step.

The assassin met his charge, the knight swinging his axe with a small grunt, Blood Moon ducking under it and retaliating with a strike of his own, the weapon landing on his foe's knee. The right fore-knee bent inwards, the knight letting a badly contained growl of pain leave his lips as he fell back, landing on his flank and rolling not-so-gracefully to his hooves again. He was met with the assassin bucking him in his armoured face, a second crack forming in his helm and leaving it impossible to see through it. Blood Moon grabbed his foe by the plume of mane coming from his helm, yanked his down and rolled over his back until he came to the Umbra Knight.

The dark stallion hissed a vampiric hiss and he lunged for the dark stallion, his teeth bared as he tried for the assassin's blood. Well in the knowledge of how to handle a vamp, Blood Moon flipped his magical grip on his weapon and shunted the pommel of his blade into his opponent's mouth. There was a sickening 'crack' as the vampire's teeth shattered, the Umbra Knight falling to the floor as he concentration faltered him, holding his mouth in trembling hooves as tear welled in his eyes. He looked up to find the assassin stood over him. His foe's eerie hidden face and the vile pain in his jaws killed will to fight.

"P-please, have mercy" he begged through his hooves, the discreet air sneaking over his mouth stinging his nerves. Sheathing his blade, Blood Moon leaned down and pulled his hood off, his face contorted with terrible magic, the fur and skin dripping from his face and running over his maw in a ghastly image of hatred and despair, his skull exposed in spots while his upper and lower lips melded together in spots to create an image that would haunt the knight's dreams for as long as he'd live.

"Does THIS look like the face of mercy" he demanded in a guttural voice. He took his foe's face in two hooves, on either side of the jaw, and pulled apart, the Umbra Knight screaming as the skin and muscle slowly split, his bones cracking and crunching gruesomely as the Hunter, rather literally, ripped him apart. The helmet split in two as the assassin pulled his face apart, the metal groaning in displeasure as he yanked the head apart, the helm breaking apart and falling off as the knight's screaming became a roar of guttural agony, the leather binding his armour splitting as the rest of him came apart. The skull had split to reveal the brain, blood spurting out and the mane fell away and more cracks rumbled through the now very silent room. Blood Moon repositioned his hooves, forcing them inside the now very dead pony's head and steadied himself; with a final yank and roar of effort, the Luna's Umbra Knight was no more as he came apart in two bloody, equal sides.

The assassin stood on his hind-legs, holding the two sides up in his outstretched fore-legs, entrails falling from the Umbra Knight's broken stomach, blood pooling beneath them, the lungs hanging from one side as the stomach, liver and kidneys fell from his corpse, the heart held in only by the veins connected to the remains of the body. Blood fell in liters, covering the ground below the assassin and ex-knight, Blood Moon breathing heavily with a manic look on his face while the knight's entrails continued to plop from his body.

"ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED" the assassin roared to nopony, throwing the pony's remains to the ground and turning to his other foes; the Crystalline Knight, having removed his helmet to see properly, was looking incredibly pale, the pool of vomit next to him suggesting why, while the Lumen Knight was just stood off to the side, watching, unable to move. Blood Moon took advantage of their fear, lunging for the crystal knight in a mad haze. He struck the crystal guard across the face, spinning him, and took the crystal plating protecting his flank in hoof; he tore them off to find a newly emptied bowel, his hoof careering down and into the pony's back. He took hold of the spine in a death grip and yanked it out, the pony quickly paralyzed as some of the bone severed the spinal tissue as the assassin showed a practiced hoof at this, leaving his foe conscious as he spun him back around. The helpless pony swiveled his eyes upwards to Blood Moon, seeing a sight he'd never thought he'd have to see: a pony, holding his spinal column. Blood Moon took the stallion's lower jaw in hoof and yanked it open before he put the base of the spine at his mouth; with one, swift shove, he'd ripped out the pony's spine, and shoved it down his esophagus.

Letting the stallion choke to death, he looked up to his final foe.

"You still willing to stand between me and my target" he asked with a deathly and insane grin. He could hear the Lumen Knight swallow slightly, but he held his ground either way. Blood Moon grinned, rolling his neck, letting the stallion catch a glimpse of his blood-speckled face below his hood as he gave a wolfish grin. They advanced again, Blood Moon unsheathing both his blades while the Lumen Knight settled into a battle stance between Blood Moon and the throne room.

The knight charged while Blood Moon waited, the knight striking and the assassin taking the attack on his katana, retorting with his wakizashi; the shorter blade cut along the knight's chest, sparks flying once more, Blood Moon following through with a pommel-jab to his armoured snout, sweeping his fore-legs from beneath his foe with the flat of his blade, helping him up again with a pommel uppercut, slashing both blades in an X across his chest before taking both blades in a side-by-side grip, slashing both across the knight's chest at once in a diagonal and horizontal pair of strikes. The knight tried to fight back, raising his shield in defense and taking a few strikes along the defensive metal as he attempted a counter, blocking a katana strike and using his broadsword to stab at his foe, only for Blood Moon to step past him and fire a thrust-kick into his head, coming down again with both blades leading, the strikes racking across his foe's back. Blood Moon followed through with another combo of strikes; the dual-blades side grip across the face, chest and chest again, a pommel to the horn base, a tidy slice to the exposed rear of his fore-knee, another dual-uppercut sending his foe into the air and Blood Moon following him up, a powerful thrust-kick launching his foe through the doors to the Canterlot throne room.

The doors blasted open, the Lumen Knight landing on his back and skidding a little into the room. He rolled over and attempted to crawl away, only for Blood Moon to stab his katana through his back and pin him to the ground. The knight growled in pain, trying to reach back and withdraw the blade keeping him down as he squirmed helplessly. When he felt the assassin push the sword in deeper, he screamed in pain once more arching his back as he roared to the heavens. He fell limp to the floor, unable to move, his strength sapped from him and simply looked up at Celestia, sat in her throne, watching him die. He raised a hoof to her, in a last ditch attempt to survive, before Blood Moon took him by the helmet in both hooves.

"Princess" was his last, strained word before the Hunter snapped his neck.

The assassin yanked his hoof from the fallen knight's back, whipping it left and right to clean it of blood, looking up at Celestia as he sheathed it once more. There she was, the immortal ruler of Equestria. Well, almost immortal; she did not age and would never grow fatally ill, but a lethal blow would send her to the Alicorn afterlife. And she would be gone forever. Blood Moon trotted into the throne room, Celestia silently standing from her throne as they approached one another, Blood Moon's eyes darting from window to window as he looked upon Equestria's history, both ancient and new. It dawned on him with a grin that his dark colours were in none of these images, lost to time, forgotten to history. As it should be.

Blood Moon and Celestia stopped, a few meters between each other as they stared each other down.

Blood Moon stared at her. He had to admit, he knew she'd been hiding her scars, be he hadn't realized there's been so many. She was stood as regally as her title, perfectly poised and straight. She was so different now, not the filly he'd seen grow up. None of her usual innocence, none of her usual curiosity, none of her optimistic gleam. None of her happiness.
Celestia stared at him. He hadn't changed a bit, maybe asides the odd scar here and there, but beyond that he was exactly the same. The same exact foalsitter, the same exact father, the same exact stallion. The same exact pony who'd abandoned her. She narrowed her scarred eyes at him, taking a deep breath through her muzzle as they regarded one another.

"Celestia" Blood Moon started slowly, the name suddenly alien to his lips. The faint grin never once left his maw.

"Blood Moon" Celestia replied just as slowly, the name tasting like the bitterest of poisons to her. The grim expression never once left her face. The assassin suddenly sniffed at the air lightly.

"I thought you'd given up smoking…"

The stallionhood pumped into her with lustful ferocity, making Twilight squirm in pleasure as Blood Moon held her, made love to her and just generally made her feel good.

Twilight…

She wrapped her fore-hooves around his neck, pulling her lips to his as the pain of her first time was quickly replaced by the pure bliss of her first time, the blood coming from her treasure flowing away on a constant stream of her love.

Twiiiilight…

Her lover repositioned himself slightly, changing his angle, and the pleasure in her marehood was suddenly changed, focused on different spots, in ways that made her groan in pleasure and arch her back in ecstasy.

"Twilight, are you alright?"

The purple mare stirred slightly in her exhaustion-induced sleep, a soft voice penetrating her sweet dreams. Her eyes fluttered open to find a yellow furred mare looking down on her with a kind smile on her face, prompting a tired smile to creep across Twilight's own lips.

"Hey" she said sleepily, yawning soon after, sitting up properly as she stretched her stiff muscles. "I'm…" she cut herself off again as she stretched her back, her spin cracking in a few spots "I'm fine" she managed to get out "what's up?" Fluttershy smiled slightly as she leaned in to speak a little quieter.

"I think some of the girls heard your moaning" she said quietly. A blush soon warmed
Twilight's cheeks, swallowing slightly.

"O-oh, uh, oh" she answered eloquently. Fluttershy giggled lightly.

"Was it a nice dream?" Twilight blushed a little harder at her friend's gentle teasing.

"M-me and Blood Moon…doing…science" she answered bashfully. Fluttershy giggled again. Twilight took the opportunity to look around herself; she and her friends were the only ones on their carriage, most of them having dozed off on the moderately long trip to Canterlot from Ponyville. Looking out one of the windows told Twilight that they had almost reach their destination, maybe fifteen minutes between their current position and the train station.

Looking back at her friend, she caught her slightly distant expression, as though 'Shy was thinking about something, not to mention her close proximity.

"Fluttershy…" The butter yellow mare looked to friend.

"Yeah?" Twilight held her gaze for a second, biting her lip thoughtfully.

"Are…are you okay?" Fluttershy smiled slightly.

"I'm fine" she answered.

"No, I mean…Blood Moon" she finished at length. The reaction was immediate; the yellow mare's expression quickly went downcast, her gaze going to the floor, as her body went limp and saddened.

"Oh…um, well I, uhh…" The Pegasus's timid nature soon shone through with her sorrow, preferring to curl up inside rather than talk. "Well… I-I guess…"

"Fluttershy, I want you to know, I never wanted him to do that, and that-"

"Oh no, I never thought you wanted him to do that, in fact, I know exactly why he…um…" Fluttershy caught herself in her sudden burst of confidence, curling up again and hiding behind her mane. Twilight frowned.

"What do you mean? Know why he what?" Fluttershy, sensing she was in a corner here, swallowed gently and relented.

"W-well, i-it's the same thing as me and my animal friends; Angel Bunny is my only real pet, because I know I couldn't give all of the critters the attention I give him. H-he's not my favorite exactly, I just…love him a little more" she explained. Twilight was a little shocked.

"Fluttershy…" she said quietly "…wow" she finished. The animal caretaker just gave a bashful blush, too adorable for description. "I'm…really impressed, I didn't even think of it like that" she admitted. Fluttershy just shrugged gently. "But, if you don't mind my asking…do you…still, y'know, like me or Blood Moon at all? Like a friend, I mean" she added quickly. Fluttershy looked down.

"Well… I'm not sure… I know he doesn't want to come between any of us" she mumbled, looking up from behind her mane "and you never did anything" she continued "so I still love you" she said, wrapping her willing friend in a hug, her wings going around the purple mare. Twilight smiled a big smile, returning the hug with gusto, nuzzling her gentle friend with her head. Though, she had to admit, she wasn't quite sure what 'love' pertained to. And she wasn't quite sure she'd mind the more…loving, side of it.

"But…what about Blood Moon" Twilight asked, her words muffled a little by Fluttershy's embrace. The Pegasus deflated slightly at the question, pulling back from her friend as she sat back on the seat they shared.

"I...I don't know Twilight" she told her friend admittedly. "I'm just not sure. When he…broke up with me, I felt like my whole world had shattered. I don't like what he's done, I hate it" she said shakily, her voice cracking a little "I-I know why he did it, and I'm happy for you, it's just…" tears welled in her eyes as he lip wobbled, Twilight moving in and nuzzling her friend from the side, prompting Fluttershy to sniffle a few times as she strengthened herself again. "I still…I'm so confused; I don't know if I like him at all, or hate him. It's almost like if we can't be lovers, we can't be anything" she said lightly. She took a light sigh. "I…I don't know Twilight…I need to think about it" she admitted. She felt Twilight nod a little, prompting Fluttershy to look over at her again. "But…it really doesn't matter either way. I don't really need him in my life" she said with more strength than Twilight had ever seen in Fluttershy before. "I've got you, the girls, Angel, Spike, the fillies…and I think Blood Moon helped me realize something." Twilight gave a curious look.

"What?"

"That it's easy enough to be confident. I just needed some motivation; Blood Moon showed me the great things that could happen when I was" she answered. Twilight smiled at her friend's conclusion.

"Sounds like somepony has a letter to write" she giggled, Fluttershy following suit.

"Canterlot station, five minutes" the conductor called through the door, rousing the sleeping ponies and shutting the door after him.

"Hermm, whatsa, what" Rainbowdash asked as she stirred awake, scratching her mussed up mane as she raised her head.

"We're nearly at Canterlot, Dashie" came the answer of the pink pony who owned the flank the rainbow mare's head had been resting upon. 'Dash quickly woke up when she figured out what she'd been using as a pillow for the last while, blushing lightly and unwilling to comment on how plump, squidgy and…perfect it had felt.

The train quickly chugged into Canterlot train station, the six mares riding it soon disembarking. The train station, to their worry, was deserted. They continued through Canterlot, finding nopony and nothing on the side and back streets either as they continued through.

"It's like a ghost town" Rainbow commented, looking around the deserted streets.

"Please don't say something like Rainbow dear, especially considering why we're here" Rarity implored. RD gave a small, 'heh, sorry' in response as they continued through the overly quiet streets.

"Hello" Twilight called, hoping for a reaction. There was none, nothing but her own echo and the whistle of the wind.

"Hellloooo, anypony there" Applejack called, garnering the same response.

"Is anypony home" Pinkie asked the whole of Canterlot.

"Isn't everypony supposed to be inside" a gruff voice asked from behind them all. Each mare jumped at the sound of the dark voice, quickly turning to face whoever had spoken. A shadow wearing a fedora and trench coat stood out from the shade of one of the alleyways.

"W-who're you" Twilight asked the dark creature. In response, the shadow stepped from the shade and formed a pony, a stallion of dark colours. He trotted towards and then past the girls, all of them watching him go.

"You're Twilight Sparkle, right?" Said mare raised an eyebrow.

"That's right" she answered hesitantly.

"And these are your friends, Rainbowdash, Applejack, Pinkamena Pie, Fluttershy and Rarity" he listed. The Elements of Harmony looked between each other.

"Jus' who are yew, mister" Applejack asked pointedly. The pony looked back at them.

"My name is Skullduggery" he answered simply.

"Oooo, mischievous" Pinkie commented. Skullduggery gave a small grunt.

"Indeed… I can only guess as to why you're here" he said vacantly, still looking out at a street the girls couldn't see from their angle.

"We came here to…find somepony. Could you help us" Twilight asked. Skull shrugged.

"Probably, but I doubt it."

"What's THAT supposed to mean" RD asked from behind Twilight.

"It means, I should hope so, I am a detective after all, but in this mess, I doubt it" he explained. The girls all frowned as they trotted up to his side, AJ cantering up to Twilight.

"Are ya'll sure about this guy Twi? Ah mean, ah jus' don't like him, he's a little too…" she took another look at the pony "mysterious, for mah tastes." Twilight gave her a look that agreed with her but was unable to follow through with their shared suspicions.

"Not really, but he's the only other pony around so what other choiioooohhhh m-m-m-my goodness" she breathed as they arrived on Canterlot's main stretch.

Carnage, was the only word for it. Pure carnage. Blood, bodies and pure chaos had detonated in an ugly bomb of gore and death across the main strip of Canterlot, ponies both living and dead situated around what could only be a battlefield. Most of the standing ponies were clad in coats of red, black, grey and brown, all smattered in red and gore, while the rest were undoubtedly guards and soldiers. The six mares looked on in horror; yes, their time with Blood Moon had been marred with death and battle, the six mares no longer strangers to such scenes, but it was pure scale that hit them. This wasn't dead rapists nor corrupt guards either, these were royal, solar and night guards, just ponies doing their jobs having been cut down and murdered by the ponies still standing. Suddenly, a stone dropped in Twilight's chest.

"Oh no" breathed, cantering forwards slightly, uncaring towards the blood staining her hooves.
"Oh no, please Celestia no" she begged, her friends following after her.

"Twilight, what's wrong" Rarity asked, attempting to pick her way through clean spots. Twilight spun back to them.

"Shining Armour, he may have been here, he may have-"

"Twiliy?" Twilight perked up at the voice. She looked around herself desperately; it sounded healthy, calm, if a little annoyed.

"Shining" she called back, looking around herself before she spotted him; purple and gold armour, white fur and a blue mane and tail of dark and light blues. With relived tear in her chest, she galloped over to him, lunging for her brother. "Shining Armour" she squealed as he caught her out of the air and hugged her tight, Twilight returning the favor. "Oh Shining, I was so worried, I thought-"

"Twilight, what are you doing here?" Twilight blinked a few times and looked up; despite him holding her lovingly, her big brother had fixed her a very stern look, not to mention a disgruntled tone of voice. Twilight blinked a few times as she released him and took a step back, and it was only now that she noticed that her brother was leading a small group of maybe five or six troops through the gore, not to mention, that most of the remaining assassins had left. Then, Twilight realized she didn't have an answer for him. She couldn't tell him about Blood Moon, not to mention, Blood Moon was likely to have been right about her big brother's reaction to finding out they were dating when they'd had their first run in together.

"W-w-well, I-I mean I was, I-" Shining rose a hoof to stop her, sighing slightly.

"It's alright Twilight, it can wait" Shining told her. Twilight had to admit, she'd never seen her brother like this before; official, firm, sharp with her and apparently in no mood for hugs. He turned back to one of the guards. "You, take her and her friends back home" he ordered one of the guards. Twilight panicked.

"NO, I've gotta get to the palace" she argued. Shining cut her off with a small glare, though a confused one nonetheless.

"The palace, why would you want to go there?" Twilight bit her lip; if she said anything about stopping Blood Moon, Shining Armour would inevitably catch on, and she'd be stuck here explaining everything to him.

"I…just wanted to go see if Celestia is alright." Shining made a look that suggested he didn't by his little sister's story.

"I don't think so, she can look after herself, besides, according to some of my guards, one of the assassins made his way in there" he smirked slightly "I'd like to see what princess Celestia's gonna do to him" he said with a look Twilight had only seen in Blood Moon's eyes before.

"Captain Armour, do you even know what's going on here?" Everypony looked to Skullduggery, who looked back, and found him looking through one of the dead ponies, searching her pockets for clues.

"No, I don't, care to explain detective" Shining replied calmly, showing a certain respect yet short fuse with the P.I. Skullduggery responded by holding up the corpse he was looking at, showing it to everypony. Instantly, Shining bared his teeth. "Damnit, not the Weavers" he growled as he cantered over. Twilight quickly realized what the detective had just done, both her friends and the detective prompting her to go. She quickly complied, turning and galloping for the palace. Hearing her hoof-steps, Shining Armour turned back to his sister to find her gone. "Twilight, get back here" he called after her. When she ignored him, he growled again and turned back to his guards. "You lot, make sure the girls get to safety, and you" he glared at Skullduggery, who glared right back "I'll see to you later" he growled before he took off after his sister.

Twilight hadn't gotten very far before her much fitter brother had caught up with her, his hooves pounding the road behind her as he quickly gained. Fortunately, Twilight was much better versed in the art of magic than galloping, so a quick flash of light was all it took to appear in Canterlot palace's entrance hall. Two ponies lay dead in the most hideous of fashions, but neither held her attention. What did instead was the standoff going on in the room before her.

She still had a chance. She could stop them.

Then her brother appeared.

Shining Armour grabbed his sister from behind, hiding the pair of them against the wall besides the destroyed door.

"Twilight, what do you think you're doing" he hissed. Twilight squirmed free and cantered for the door, Shining grabbing her tail and hauling her back.

"Please, you don't understand, I've gotta stop them" she tried to explained as she attempted to wriggle free from her brother's hold.

"Stop what?"

"So…ten thousand years…and that's all you have to say to me" came Celestia's voice. Twilight suddenly stopped, going limp in her brother's hooves.

"That…" Shining Armour, inevitably, was a little confused. He moved carefully towards the door frame and peered around, Twilight looking with him, knowing there was nothing else she could do.

Blood Moon and Celestia stared each other down, both watching each other for any sign of sudden movement. Still, Celestia had a grim expression across her face, Blood Moon an ever smart-flank grin. The assassin shrugged.

"I thought it prudent" he replied. Celestia's neck twitched slightly, her left eye following suit and she bared her teeth.

"Prudent!? You've been gone for longer than most history books go back, you left me and Luna before the bit was in circulation, and all you have to say is I thought you'd given up smoking!?" The assassins shrugged.

"It's good to see you again Tia?" Something in Celestia snapped, her neck twitching gently once more as her horn sparked to life and her magic gripped her blade. With a roar to match any dragon's, she lunged forwards, bringing her blade down on the assassin like a mad-mare. Blood Moon drew his own and rolled to the side, Celestia's blade meeting the marble floor and slicing into in with ease. She followed the assassin with her gaze, ripping her sword from the marble and swinging it for him again, the dark stallion taking the strike on his blade with practiced ease, Celestia allowing her weapon to slide up his own and quickly spin, lashing a hind-leg out with lightning fast speed and sending the assassin into one of the white, marble walls.

The fine stone cracked and splintered around him, Blood Moon dropping from it and landing on his hooves again, the deep indent of a pony marking where he'd just landed.

He looked up at his foe, and cracked his neck left to right.

Celestia lunged once more, their weapons meeting with an almost blinding flash of light as they clashed, rebounded and struck again, the two never stopping in their movements. Celestia struck hard, and fast, her weapon meeting the assassin's with the ferocity of a wild beast, a small sun sparking between the two blades as they met, sparks replaced with a small sun as they met in equally powerful blows and strikes, blocked and parried by the similar weapons and they stepped around and towards each other, away and past on another in an extraordinarily complex dance of death, Celestia striking with her blade like a lunatic, grief and anger fuelling every one of her powerful strikes. Her blade shimmered sharply, white-gold flames igniting on the metal as she struck, an arc of blinding white light following her sword as she struck against her foalsitter, using the techniques he'd once taught her.

Her blade flashed down across his guard, the assassin taking it on his blade as he stepped past her next offence neatly and parried her follow through, taking the uppercut on the flat of his blade and stepping inside her defense. The assassin's smaller stature made it easy on him to out maneuver her, cleaving a neat X into her chest piece. Celestia stabbed her blade down, into his back, only for him to vanish with a blast of dust following his invisible movement. Blood Moon landed on the back of her neck taking her mane and throwing his and her weight to the side, dropping them both and slamming his foe's head into the ground.

Blood Moon rolled to his hooves again, leaving Celestia to clumsily scramble to her hooves, using her weapon as a support.

"Didn't I ever teach you to put your defense over your offence? A perfect strike is nothing if you don't have a perfect counter to follow up with" he goaded. Celestia growled.

The solar princess spread her wings, kicking up dust with the gust of wind to follow, and set the tip of her sword next to the marble besides her hoof. She crouched slightly before she shot forwards on her wings, her speed casting her from one side of the hall to the other in less than a second. In another blast of dust, Blood Moon had moved with her, his speed invisible to their audience. They met in a clash in the center of the hall, their blades locked at the tsuba and growling into each other's faces.

"It's clear, just blades aren't going to settle this match" Celestia hissed as they pushed back and forth, sparks grinding between the two "so, what do you say we up the ante?" Her Alicorn stature shone true as her strength built behind her weapon, pushing Blood Moon back several paces as her horn's glow turned to a glare.

Sunrend stabbed into the marble, cracking and splitting it like a spider's web, as lava burst from the ground. Celestia used her horn to conduct the magma like a conductor would guide his orchestra, the liquid blaze lunging for the assassin. The assassin stamped his hoof to the ground once, and in response, and wall of stone erupted from the ground, the lava spilling around it. The lava flowed around the stallion, crashing into the wall, spilling over and onto him from above and behind. His wall of rock reach over his back, protecting him from the magma, making a loop and splitting at the middle, reaching around the initial wall and shooting at Celestia. The two shots of earth careered at Celestia like a tribe of stampeding buffalo, though the mare of the day was unfazed; she raised her blade and slashed through the rock with ease, stepping into her lava like it was an innocent puddle as she galloped for her foe.

But two steps away from the stone defenses, the dark stallion broke through the stone, his blade in hoof as he brought it down on Celestia with a bull roar, his back arched as he sailed through the air. He brought his weapon down on his foe, Celestia showing some impressive speed by stepping out of the way and countering with a swing at his throat, the metal scales shifting and forming a throat guard along his neck; her foe staggered for a second, Celestia drew her tanto in hoof, thrusting it into his now exposed chest. Blood Moon stepped gracefully out of the way, careful to stay upon the platforms he'd formed from his attack, and took her offending hoof in his own, twisting it further than it was meant to go and taking the weapon for himself.

He leapt, leading with a round house to the face and following through with his katana, finishing with the tanto, the sword sending sparks across the helm and the dagger a small spray of blood as the metal met flesh. He dropped, landed on the stone bridge, leapt back, flipped hind-legs overhead and landed on the back of Celestia's throne, as careful as before to stay away from the lava.

Blood Moon stood crouched on the back rest, his hind-legs bent as he kept his balance on his left fore-leg, maw busy with her tanto and his spare hoof holding his own blade. Celestia whipped her head to his position, glaring at him before realizing what he'd done. His horn sparked once more and the platform of rock gained small ridges all over that shot upwards as sharp points, threatening to impale her. She leapt up and flew to the roof, where she landed inverted and gazed at him from above.

The assassin wasted no time, stabbing his katana into the wall behind and jumping backwards onto it, using the slight bend to add power to his jump as he leapt up to Celestia. He drew his wakizashi with his spare hoof and stabbed both into the ceiling, flipping himself to an inverted position and gripping both weapons in his magical grip. Their battle continued upside down, Blood Moon taking Celestia's attacks on both his and her weapons, using the agility of two smaller weapons to his advantage as he took her Dai-katana on one, slipped under and countered with the other, aiming for her face. Celestia took a neat step back as their weapons sparked off on another, taking her tanto in hoof and twisting Blood Moon's grip in an attempt to disarm him as he had her, only for the assassin to let go of her weapon before she'd finished her twist, taking his wakizashi between his teeth and grabbing the tanto from above them and drive it down at her.

Celestia raised her left leg to block the strike, the blade sparking down her armoured hoof until they held each other in a hoof lock. Blood Moon quickly spread his fore-legs and opened her up to offence, drawing his head back and slamming his fore-head into her face. Celestia growled in pain, the metal of her helm bending in with his strike as head met muzzle, breaking her nose and rendering her helmet useless in one go. Beyond that, she fell from the roof, her concentration broke. She flipped her fall as gracefully as a cat, spreading her wings and gliding to the ground, landing in the lava to which she was immune.

Blood Moon fell with her, landing on the second platform and standing above her, sliding his wakizashi into its scabbard. They gazed at each other with a glare in their eyes, Celestia slowly reaching up and pulling off her helm, throwing it to the side. It clattered through the lava and against the marble, leaving her face free. She was a different type of stunning in her true form, an admirable battle-maiden of great prowess rather than a perfect ruler, of unnatural beauty. She let her braided mane fall to the side as she sheathed her tanto once more, gazing up at her foe. Her would-be assassin. She narrowed her eyes slightly as she let her lava seep through the cracks of the marble, flowing back into the hole she'd made with her blade, Blood Moon's abstract barrier of stone falling back into the earth.

With a second spared to stare each other down, both charged once more; the assassin galloped with no weapon drawn, Celestia with her blade held aloft as she galloped for her foe. As they neared, she let loose a roar and brought her weapon down. Before it met Blood Moon's fur, he disappeared in a black cloud of smoke, only to reappear as a grey furred wolf.

The canine crashed into Celestia with a mountain toppling force, his dagger-sharp, white teeth snapping at her neck as his claws ripped at her chest. Twice as large as a normal wolf, his stomach, legs and neck were covered in dirty, dull silver-grey fur, his back, tail and head covered in fur as black as midnight, the wild hunter's eyes blood red and focused with an unnatural intelligence. Perhaps the animal to best personify Blood Moon, rather than the creature, was the wolf; capable of great silence despite its great size and natural affinity for battle. A stalker, rather than a true hunter, better at tracking its prey than taking it down, the cat's place, but a great hunter nonetheless.

The great wolf clawed and bit at her armour was an unrelenting ferocity, snarling and growling at her, a hungry drool leaking from its maw as he barked at her with deadly intent. Celestia struggled and growled from beneath the wolf, trying to keep anything vital from its jaws as she attempted to get her hooves underneath. She caught a break when the dog took a second too long to strike at her with its maw, instead receiving a fore-head to the muzzle instead. Blood Wolf whimpered in pain for a second, giving Celestia the chance to get her hooves under him and launch him off. The wolf sailed through the air, flipping over and onto its paws as it landed. Celestia got to her hooves in much the same way the assassin would, bouncing from her fore-hooves and neck to her all fours, and snarled at her doggish foe. She galloped forwards a few paces before she exploded in a flash of white smoke and burst from said cloud as a snarling white and gold saber tooth tiger, giving the creature's signature roar as it bounded forward. Celestia's chosen animal form, powerful and strong, fast and furious; the beat's fur a pure, dazzling white, slashes of a faint gold running through the fur, the dagger-like canines glittering and claws a light gold, the eyes Celestia's light magenta.

Blood Wolf gave a small howl before he returned Celestia's charge, lunging forward and meeting her in the air. The two clashed heavily, clawing, biting, roaring, barking, snarling, drawing blood, howls of pain and growls of anger, the two rolling around on the form. Celestia's saber form held true to the beast natural strength and power, the huge tiger easily capable of overpowering a wolf. Only, Blood Moon's lycan form was no normal wolf. His canine body was as big as Celestia's feline, his muscles just as powerful and his senses just as sharp. The only difference came in the form of weaponry.

Celestia's great, golden teeth rent the fur and flesh from Blood Wolf's back, the dog howling in pain while his own jaws clamped over her neck, drawing blood from her throat in shallow yet numerous wounds. Their claws ripped at each other's stomachs, Celestia's going deeper while Blood Wolf left more scratches across her white fur. Their tussle rolled them over and across the throne room, leaving bloody streaks where they had once been, yelps and pained growls marking each wound given. After a while of rather in-your-face clawing and slashing, Blood Moon's nature as an assassin shone through.

With a flash of smoke, Blood Moon reappeared, in the clutches of the saber cat; he slammed his hoof into the tiger's face, letting it whine in pain as he clutches his blade in his hoof, drawing the weapon and blood as he slashed the sword along Celestia's saber form, opening her chest as he hopped back, dodging the wild swipe of her clawed paw, hopping back again and slamming his hoof into the floor. Dust was cast into the air, obscuring him.

When it settled once, more a bloody and weary Celestia had returned.

She looked around the throne room. The red carpet was torn and stained with blood, the marble floor was cracked and splintered in no few places, a large bunch of the windows had cracked in spots, close to shattering and Blood Moon was nowhere to be seen.

"I'll admit Celestia, you've improved since last we fought" came Blood Moon's voice from all around. Celestia growled as she heard his thrown voice, coming from all directions.

"Come out Moon, I've no time for games" she barked, drawing her Dai-katana and holding it in defense.

"No sense of your foe, eh Tia" came his voice again, from all around. Celestia whipped around when she heard the marble behind her shift, looking at her throne to find that Blood Moon's blade had gone. "I'm an assassin, I hide."

"You mean you cower, uncle" she spat, still searching her throne room. How they'd done so much damage to it in so little time, she'd never know.

"No, Celestia. Cowering is not facing your foe. You just can't find me" he goaded. Celestia growled and went to retort, only for a burning pain to lash across her back. She barked in pain, her legs buckling slightly as she looked back. A shōtō was stuck in her side, the blade going deep, only the handle sticking out. She went a little light headed, almost losing her balance; the blade hadn't hit anything important, but she'd likely bleed out from the deep wound. She had to heal that wound.

"So you think you've outsmarted me, Blood Moon" she called out "you think you've beaten me, assassin" she spat as her magic gripped the blade and yanked it out. She gave a small whimper of pain, tears tempting, and stabbed the blade into the ground. The internal damage knit itself back together quickly, not exactly painlessly, no matter how good at healing magic you were, it was never without pain, but still a hay of a lot better than anything Blood Moon could conjure, she was spitefully sure of. The slight hiss to escape her came from both her, and her wound that was slowly burning away any infections, smoke rising from it as the spit skin reformed.

In the shadows, sat on one of the rafters deeper into the room, beyond the well-lit ceiling above the throne, was Blood Moon, healing his own wounds. That, and forming a plan. He needed time to think, to use the intelligence bestowed upon him by the training he'd once received. A plan of attack. Normally, the plan of attack was just 'attack' but here he required more tact, more subtlety. How does an assassin fell a foe who couldn't be killed in one blow, forcing him into open combat. A remarkably easy question to answer, actually; weak points, cripple points, disarming them, confusing them, a distraction. Creating an edge where one does not otherwise exist. Unfortunately, he had only his blades and armour, well, blade now, he's used the wakizashi to stall Celestia.

'So now what, Hunter?'

He got a truly evil idea.

He reached under his cape and took three scales in hoof, feeling them form a dagger in his clutch. He wound his leg back and threw the improvised blade, watching it sing silently through the air, curving back. The black, sharpened scales met their mark, landing right in Celestia's rear. The glorious bounty of flesh was split by the assassin's weapon, prompting a pained squeal to rip from her throat. Tears of both pain and humiliation welled in the solar princess's eyes, undecided in taking the weapon in her magic and pulling it out as her back arched in pain. Another kind of pain rocked her system when Blood Moon dropped from the rafter and landed with his right fore-knee meeting her neck, dropping Celestia to the floor as blood flew from her maw. The two ended on the ground, Celestia sprawled on the ground and Blood Moon stood above her, blade once again in hoof.

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle watched in horror as her lover and teacher fought, Blood Moon coming close to winning the fight. She could feel hot tears running down her face, her mind screaming at her in desperation to do something, to scream out 'stop' like she had when she'd first been victim to watching Blood moon fight, but she couldn't, her whole body was paralyzed in fear, anguish and pain. However, her brother wasn't; Shining Armour let go of his sister, standing from behind her and galloping over to the fighting duo. Blood Moon perked up at the sound of a charging pony, turning to find the guard captain galloping towards him. His first instinct was to strike him down, only hot on its hooves had been his relationship to Twilight. He hesitated for but a second, and it was all the stallion needed; he slammed his hoof into Blood Moon's face, spun and bucked him in the chest, sending the assassin across the room.

Shining Armour looked down at princess Celestia, finding her still coughing up blood, or the blood leaking from her throat or something to make her bleed from the mouth, whatever it was it was bad. He reached down to help her up only for her to bat his hoof away, getting up on her own hooves as her horn ignited, her mutilated throat reforming as she rose on her own muscles. Celestia looked up at the stallion, her heart dropping a little when she realized who it was.

"Captain Armour" she said in a slightly panicked voice "what are you doing here" she half asked, half demanded.

"Me and the troops saw smoke coming from Canterlot, we returned to investigate, only to find a town full of dead troops and assassins. What's going on?" Celestia looked around herself, only to realize Blood Moon had vanished again.

"Blood Moon, he's back, attacking, it doesn't matter! You have to get out of here, I can't let Twilight live through your death" she told him taking him by the shoulders. "Listen, just go, get out of here, you can't-" She was cut off when the ground behind Shining exploded and Blood Moon shot out, grabbing the guard Captain by the tail and throwing him back out of the throne room, listening to him slam into the wall, leaving a crack as he slid down, unconscious.

Shocked for a second, Celestia couldn't block Blood Moon's next offence; he swept her fore-hooves from beneath her, lifted her back to her hooves with a strong uppercut and leapt into the air, planting both his hind-legs into her chest and firing her back. Celestia fell to her flank, rolled over and skidded along her front.

She looked up to see Blood Moon stalking towards her, picking his wakizashi up and sheathing it with his katana. Celestia stood, her face a little bloody, and growled once more.

He stopped a few paces away.

"Come on Celestia, where's that fire? Don't tell me you've gone soft?" The solar princess growled at his taunt, drawing her blade once more.

"Alright then Blood Moon, alright. You want to see what I can really do." She rolled her neck once more and let her horn flare. "I'll show you, what I can really do."

Her wings flared and in an instant, she'd moved with an impossible speed, right before Blood Moon before a second had elapsed. She brought her blade down on the assassin, catching the afternoon sun on the metal, and met Blood Moon's crossed Daishō weaponry. He pushed his blades together and forced her own weapons up, pushing her defense away and driving both weapons forwards. When both blades were about to meet her chest, Celestia exploded into fire. The assassin gave a small yelp of breath as he dodged back, away from the flames. Sunrend flew past him, the blade formed from the fires of the sun as she swung for him, the air around him burning away as he hopped back, the fluttering of the fire singing past him as the weapon flew at him. It came down straight, the assassin back flipping away, and watching as the blade dug into the marble, turning it into magma before she pulled it out and stabbed at him, the assassin feeling the concentrated heat of the sun slash past him as he stepped past it, letting her pull the blade back and swing for him again, the assassin rolling away and out of her range.

The dark stallion looked up to a truly malevolent sight; Celestia, her mane and tail ablaze, her fur the white-hot of her mother, the magenta of her eyes taken by a fire red blaze as she stared the assassin down. The marble at her hooves cracked and splintered, the pillars either side of her splintering and coming close to tumbling, the roof above her tempting to fall in as debris fell to the ground.

The assassin grinned.

"That's more like it."

Celestia gave an angelic roar of anger as she swiped her blade at the assassin, the blazing sword sending cracks through the marble and burning up the red carpet as she swung at him. The assassin ducked beneath his foe's strike and stepped in, feeling the heat of the sun meet him as he advanced. He leapt, taking both swords in hoof in an under-hoof grip and brought them down on Celestia. Her mane and tail wrapped around her like a cocoon, the metal of the blades melting as it met the flames until nothing but the handles were left, Celestia's mane and tail of flame ripping from their protective position and sending a shockwave through the palace that shattered every window, splintered every piece of marble with ease and sent the assassin flying. He crashed through a marble pillar and through the wall beyond, landing in the air around the throne room only for Celestia to appear from said thin air only to kick him back into the throne room.

Landing on the ground, digging a groove into the floor and losing a small 'I'm gonna be sore in the morning' the assassin rose to his hooves, only for Celestia to appear next to him in her vengeful fury and put her hoof to the back of his head and shove him back down. She leant her head down to him and spoke into his ear.

"Tell me, Blood Moon, how's it feel to have me, you daughter, sweet little Celestia kill you?"

"Like a real bad hangover, only the mare I open my eyes to is ugly" he grumbled from his small crevice. Celestia growled, lifted his head up in her hoof and slammed him back down, cracking the marble further. "Hey, Celestia, you got any aspirin? I'm getting a little headache here." She roared, lifted him up and let her mane consume him, burning him from all angles at once. His roars of pain were something she'd remember for a long time. Her mane eventually spat out his smoking, burnt form, his body sliding across the floor. "Sssssssmoking" he managed to mutter out. With another growl, Celestia trotted over to him, lifted her fore-legs and brought them down on his spine, no doubt cracking his vertebra in no few places. His scream of pain brought a smile to her lips. "Owwwwwwwww" he managed to strangle out. Celestia pulled the hood from his head and took his mane in her hoof, lifting him to eye level.

"So, just where has your pride led you, huh? Where has your 'frontal approach' left you, hmm? You know Blood Moon, it's painfully obvious to me now, I wonder why I couldn't see it before. You're nothing but a liar. One thousand years of training and you can't even defeat me? The mare you trained yourself. You've so much more experience than me, allegedly, and you've so much more knowledge and prowess." She leaned her face in and sneered. "You're a bucking liar, aren't you? You don't have a thousand years of training, not a chance. Not when you're crippled form is just too familiar an image to me." She cocked her head and chuckled a mean chuckle. "Because, if you did have one thousand years of training in combat, in subterfuge, in anything really, you could take me easily. I mean, I've only had around five hundred years of fighting training, the rest was all princess stuff, you know, eloquence, ladylike mannerisms, that sort of thing" she said with a mockingly casual tone "and these ten thousand years haven't been filled with fighting practice, sure, a session or nine every years or so, but nothing like what you, apparently, went through." Blood Moon managed to flicker his eyes open, Celestia responding with and vile snarl and her head connecting heavily with his forehead. "Don't you look upon your ruler, you filthy peasant" she snapped, her hoof finding his gut "you don't have the right to look upon me you piece of shit." She snorted. "So tell me, how much training did you really have? One hundred years? One fifty? Just one? That wouldn't surprise me much." She shook her head at him, smirking cruelly. "Answer me Blood Moon" she demanded. She narrowed her eyes and struck him heavily in the gut, forcing blood from his maw. "I said, ANSWER ME" she roared, slamming her hoof into his gut once more, forcing more blood out.

Twilight, watching in dismay, finally found it in herself to move. She slowly lifted one, traumatized hoof, both from having to tend to her brother's wounds and watch the battle between Blood Moon and Celestia. She took a step, and she'd crossed the threshold.

Another, and she was on top of the broken down door, the only thing keeping Celestia's lava away from her and her brother earlier. Another, and she got part way across the door, only to feel and pair of hooves wrap around her barrel and pull her in, away from the room once more. The purple unicorn looked down, expecting to see white, only to find the midnight blue of princess Luna's hooves having grabbed her.

"Princess Luna" Twilight said in shock, finding her worried and pained expression looking down at her "what are you doing? I've got to stop them" Twilight tried, attempting to squirm free. Luna just held her tighter, her restraint devolving into a desperate hug of sorts.

"I know you want to stop my sister from killing somepony" she said a little obliviously, yet not all wrong "but I'm afraid there is no stopping her like this, Twilight" she said hopelessly. "I cannot stop her as much as you can't" she told her. Twilight looked back to Celestia killing her coltfriend with tears in her eyes as the realization hit her. She really was unable to help.
During their brief conversation, Celestia hadn't stopped forcing the blood from Blood Moon.

"SPEAK! YOU! WORM!"

Blood Moon responded by suddenly opening his eyes and pressing his lips to Celestia's.

The princess of the night's eyes snapped open in shock, Twilight gagged in disgust while Celestia herself blushed a pink blush. The shock threw her focus, losing her mane and tail's blaze while the assassin dropped from her lips and magical grip, the former of which she quickly wiped with her hoof in revulsion.

"Do you really think" the assassin's hoof met her armoured solar plexus, denting the metal in and crippling Celestia's stance "all's I learned back then was how to fight?" He turned, took her head in his hoof and flipped her over his shoulder, letting her crash to the ground. "They taught me how to fool somepony like you." He stepped up to her and took her head in his hoof once more, smacking her skull into the marble floor. "They taught me how to kill" a hoof met her face "they taught me how to survive" another strike connected with her face "but most importantly" he lifted her above his head with his fore-legs, slamming her back to the ground and casting more cracks through the marble "they taught me how to cheat." His hoof connected with her face again as he stepped down her body, taking her braided tail in his grip and raising to his hind-legs. He leant back slightly and stepped in a circle, pulling Celestia with him. He continued spinning until the princess of the day was getting spun through the air like ragdoll, their combined speed casting dust into the air. Eventually, Blood Moon let her go. The solar princess flew through the air at speeds just under Mach-1, hitting her throne and shattering the royal metals, the wall behind crumbling in agony as it came close to tumbling down on the two of them.

Blood Moon took heavy breaths as he stood still, his body sore, his limbs heavy and his spirit cracked slightly. He watched the rubble Celestia had vanished under carefully, his eyes darting over the chunks of marble. Light seeped from the gaps in the small mound, a blinding white light, the strange glow quickly intensifying before it detonated in a shockwave of flame and power.

The marble debris shot into the walls and floor, doing further structural damage to the palace, while the majority shot towards Blood Moon. The assassin dodged the first, leapt upon the second lunged at the third and took it in hoof, throwing it at the fourth, rolled under the fifth and struck the sixth with his hoof, shattering it.

Celestia emerged from the explosion, breathing heavily with an enraged snarl on her lips, her mane and tail ablaze once more. With a roar to oust any banshee, she flung herself at the assassin, her blade held high in her magical grip. It met the ground rather than the stallion, Blood Moon stepping away, then hopping over the low swipe, countering with a jab to the face that threw her next offence and opened her up to another strike from the assassin. He darted in and under the princess, his hoof finding the back of her knee and crippling her joint. He sent the same hoof upwards, into Celestia's diaphragm. Celestia gave a breathless scream as the wind was pushed from her, gasping for air as she rolled to the side, her mane and tail going out again.

"No matter…how strong…your magic and…and your offence" Blood Moon said between exhausted breaths, trotting around Celestia so his legs didn't buckle "fight with anger, and that red mist will obscure everything" he goaded exhaustedly.

On the ground, Celestia had finally regained control of her breathing, her lower chest still sore and bided her time before she had to get up. Half because she couldn't quite stand properly yet, and half because she needed a more opportune moment.

"No matter…how much we fight, Blood Moon…you will never beat me. Because I have something, that you don't" she managed to get out.

"Oh really? Pray tell" the assassin replied. Celestia looked up at him, and let her eyes narrow. Then, they caught alight, though with no normal fire; a purple blaze while her eyes turned green and a beam of darkness hit Blood Moon in the chest. He immediately fell backwards, holding his chest as a tight, constricting pain took hold of him. His heart was stopping. She'd hit him with Umbra Linguam, the word 'end.' An instant kill spell, nothing but cheap in the assassin's mind. But how, she wasn't in shadow she-

Then he saw it. Her shadow, stretched ever so slightly, to an out of place piece of shade. He looked up, and there she was. Philomena. Hovering a few meters in the air, in just the right spot to cast a shadow on the floor next to them, just out of his field of view.

'The bitch used the move we created together.'

He staggered back. He had to stop it, to heal, but he was wide open here. He couldn't use a spell to restart his heart with Celestia, not to mention Philomena, right in front of him.

"So, how does that feel Blood Moon? Your bird and you little girl" she said with a smirk, looking down her nose at the assassin. Blood Moon, still holding his chest, looked up and smirked.

"She's not my bird anymore" he answered. Then, like an angel with no better timing, Hunter darted through the window. The assassin would never be able to say how he knew, he just put it down to some backwards ass 'connection' between the two, but either way he didn't really care; miracles happened now and then. The bird of fire hit Celestia and Philomena like a speeding bolt, his streamline body hitting Philomena in a cloud of fiery feathers and displeased squawks. Celestia shouted out in shock, her attention thrown for a second, and Blood Moon used it to his advantage. He didn't have it in his for a spell, so, desperate times…

He fell to his back, and raised his right fore-hoof over his chest.

'If a perfect strike can stop it…'

His hoof came down on his with the force of a bull, striking himself in the chest and likely cracking a few of his ribs in the process. He struck right above the heart and felt the pain spike through his nervous system, but beyond that, it was bliss. His heart staggered to life again, beating harder than it should have been capable of beating, and he took a greedy breath, sucking down as much oxygen as he could. He looked up to see Hunter and Philomena fly out of the palace, duking it out, and Celestia watching them go. She turned back to the assassin to find him standing up again. She growled again, stamping her hoof to the ground.

"Don't you ever die?" Blood Moon chuckled.

"Throughout my life, Celestia, I've lost six fights, all of which ended in my death. I've never given in, I've never cowered away from a foe and I'll never stop fighting. It's my pride you see, tenacity, a never give up attitude. Because…where's the fun, in giving up, huh?"

Celestia just grunted, a blast of air pushing from her muzzle. She drew her sword in her magical grip, and held it above her head, perfectly vertical. It gained a golden glow, and she slowly pulled it around in a clockwise manner. The sword gave an unnatural groan as it drew a seal in the air, a strange spell circle of white and gold, ancient languages forming an ancient incantation in the sword's wake. Celestia slowly drew her weapon in a perfect circle, Blood Moon watching patiently as it happened. After five, long seconds, the seal was complete, hanging in midair, flaring slightly upon completion.

The pair locked gazes for a second before Celestia slashed her sword through the seal; the seal exploded into blinding white and gold light, an arc of magical light flying through the throne room, towards the assassin. Blood Moon responded by letting his horn flare, the ground behind him firing up to for columns of stone that cast shadow around him. As the arc of light careered towards the dark stallion, Blood Moon let his horn flare once more. His serpents of shadow burst from the darkness, all four of them hissing and snarling as the princess's attack slashed through them. Three of them fell to it, their heads dropping to the ground and bursting into black flames, while the last swerved away from the weakened spell, the arc of light coming to a stop a mere inch before Blood Moon's muzzle, the spell's momentum carrying a blast of wind and dust with it.

The remaining serpent coiled lightly before it lunged for Celestia. The white mare leapt upon its back and watched as the great serpent, the power usually reserved for the other shadow serpents further fueling this one, making it bigger, more powerful, and much more aggressive. It coiled back on itself and went for a bite at Celestia, only for the solar princess to leap off and let it sink its teeth into itself. As the serpent did too greater damage to itself for it to survive, falling to the ground as it exploded into black fire, Celestia landed on the cracked marble and galloped for Blood Moon, her blade held high, and spread her wings. With a sharp beat of her wings, she was in the air, coming down on Blood Moon from above, her sword singing through the air.

A torrent of black flame surrounded the assassin, forcing Celestia to catch her descent and hover in the air as the flames of change roared before her. Blood Moon was just visible inside the torrent of fire, watching her. He narrowed his eyes and the flames lurched for her, a tidal wave of fire falling onto Celestia. However, before the assassin's flames could reach her, her own flames exploded upon her once again. Her mane and tail's fire fought back the dark fire of the assassin's magic, slowly forcing it down until she'd extinguished it.

She descended and landed before the assassin, finding him standing on wobbly knees.

"Nothing else Blood Moon? I'm disappointed" she told him snidely, her lips curled into a sneer. She trotted towards him, flames flickering around her in a weak breeze as she held her sword over her shoulder, looking down at the assassin with a cocky grin on her face. They glared into each other's eyes for a while until Blood Moon's horn flared; Celestia stiffened as she felt something in her rear end shift and rip out with a small splattering of blood, the assassin's scales of darkness flying out and driving at her face. She caught the sharpened scales out of the air, an unimpressed look on her face. "Pathetic, Blood Moon" she told him before she drove the improvised dagger into his shoulder, between the scales.

With a small growl, the assassin fell to the floor, blood pooling from his wounds. He tried and failed to lift himself, his legs unable to take his weight, and fell limp to the ground once more. Celestia leaned her face down to him.

"Is this all you have to show? No taunts, no surprises, none of your infamous prowess?" She huffed. "I'm disgusted in you" she spat "you accuse me of going soft. You're the one who can't even pick himself up." Blood Moon attempted to lift himself again, failing once more. Celestia smirked. "What's this? No witty remarks? No insults? No passionate speeches? Nothing up your sleeves, no backup plan?" Celestia chuckled again, standing up straight before she gave a truly fearsome smirk. "I'm going to break every bone in your body. I'm going to systematically rip apart your vital organs so I can make you watch as I rip out each and every one. I'm going to rip off your limbs, then hook you up to a breathing apparatus and blood drip, to keep you alive. Then, I'm going to take you down to the lowest dungeons, strike chains through your mutilated body to keep you suspended, in eternal pain…and leave you there. Yes…that should do it; you won't be dead, but the next best thing, the mutilated corpse of a stallion still living…just. Tell me Blood Moon, any last words before I end this?" He grumbled something out from his spot in the broken marble.

"Celestia…did you ever wonder…what my last word was?" Celestia frowned.

"Your last wor-"

The solar princess was flung back by an indescribable force, sending her crashing into the pile of rubble that was once her throne. She looked up to find a sight that made even Celestia's eyes widen in worry.

Beyond the assassin, Twilight and Luna watched in confusion and worry respectively; the towers of rock fell, crumbling and toppling to the ground, every piece of earth missing the assassin, thanks to what can only be described as a shell of darkness. Twilight covered her eyes as a shockwave of power exploded from Celestia's blade and the shell, dust and wind blasting past her and Luna. They opened their eyes again to find that Celestia had brought Sunrend down on the shell of darkness surrounding Blood Moon, getting thrown back by the same shockwave.

The darkness seemed drawn towards Blood Moon; the shadows of the throne room all crept over to him, joining the shell of darkness around him and augmenting it, powering it. The bottom of the dark shell was pure black, four points reaching up the length and moving around the shell, casting darkness all over the cocoon of sorts. The rest of the shell was just barely translucent, the strange image of the shadows caught in a whirlwind contorting a clear image of the assassin within.

"What's going on" Twilight asked as Celestia trotted back to the shell, bringing Sunrend down on it time and time again, none of her strikes leaving a mark on the shell, every swing of her blade marked with a curse. The purple mare heard Luna swallow.

"You don't want to know, dear Twilight" she answered. Meanwhile, shadows were still joining the assassin's shell, the darkness forming a completely obscuring black shell. Celestia was still trying to break through it, her blade meeting the black shell with ferocity and power.

"Damnit, no, no, don't, no, c'mon, no" she growled out every time her sword bounced off the impenetrable dome, sparks flying off the shell and weapon. Celestia's blade struck the shell a final time, and suddenly the shell cracked, and splintered. It then shattered with an explosive force, far stronger than when Celestia had initially attacked the shell, sending what could only be described as glass forged from shadow through the air, the shrapnel digging easily into the walls and floor. Twilight drew a panicked breath as a torrent of the black shrapnel flew at her and Luna, covering her head in her hooves, only for it never to meet her fur. She opened her eyes to find a dark blue shield protecting her and Luna, looking up to find the princess of the night, her horn aglow. Luna looked down and smiled slightly before she dropped the shield once more, the two of them looking back to Blood Moon and Celestia.

Something had happened to Blood Moon. Where he had once stood, there was nothing but a dark mass, the shape of the most basic pony. There was nothing to define this creature, except the fact that it was the blank canvas on which a pony would be formed. The shadows that had formed the shell, the shrapnel lying around the throne room, all suddenly melted, dripping to the floor or forming puddles before it all darted back to the assassin. With every drop to find him, the assassin grew a little. The shrapnel embedded in Celestia's armour all melted and flowed back to the assassin, prompting her to look up. She found his bank form, stood motionless, watching her from the middle of the room. With every drop of shadow, he got a little taller, his horn grew, his muscles accentuated, his scars took form. Celestia knew she couldn't stop it now, instead she put the tip of her sword to the ground and heaved herself up on it, trotting over to Blood Moon. He'd gone past his normal size now, gotten taller, taller than Big Macintosh now or Shining Armour, his muscles following suit as he grew. Celestia stood before him now, watching his liquid-esc form grow faster than before. He was a little shorter than Celestia now, five inches, four, two, one, then his forehead grew past her own, then went further and then further still until he stopped, beating Celestia's six foot tall height with a six eight stature.

With the cease in his growth, the shadows seeped into him instead, his muscles building slightly, his horn growing slightly thicker and longer, his legs getting stronger, his body more powerful. It all stopped for a second. For a second, he was a blank shell of darkness so deep nothing reflected from it, so still he could have been an illusion, so quiet he almost wasn't there. Then, it shattered.

For a second time, the shell of darkness shattered around the assassin, falling delicately to the floor and tinkling to the ground, shattering almost silently to nothingness. Blood Moon stood once more. Taller than Celestia, his muscles a little bigger. His mane and tail hung in the air, fluttering like his black flames, gently curling and flickering in a wind nopony could feel.

They were just as badly washed as before, greasy and dull from his lack of care for appearances. They were both longer, the tail reaching to the floor, his mane reaching a little down his fore-leg before flickering up. His blood red eyes were eternally narrowed, his maw set in a growl. His armour had grown to accustom his body, covering his larger body and longer legs in its protective scales, the armour woven into the tail reaching the floor with the hairs ever moving hairs, the hood draped around his neck, the cape reaching down to his knees.

The assassin rolled his neck, moved every joint in his body to relieve a small crack and then spread his wings.

Twilight gasped, Luna gulped lightly and Celestia loosed a small breath.

Wings on his back. Silver-grey feathers. They certainly matched his personality and appearance; while Celestia had the wings of a swan, beautiful and elegant; Luna the wings of a darker bird of graceful flight, a raven; and Cadence the wings of a dove, dainty and pretty; Blood Moon had the wings of something all the more threatening. His were the wings of a hawk, an eagle, a bird of prey. A hunter.

The Alicorn bone cracked and settled, reliving years of stillness as the assassin took a long breath, settling his new form.

"You know, Celestia" came his voice. It had changed little, just as dark and malevolent as before, only now he spoke much quieter, much slower and much more deliberately. "If there's one thing I hate in this world…it's Alicorns. What they stand for, what they represent and what they are forced to endure." He looked back at himself, at his wings, and narrowed his eyes, turning back to the solar princess. "Specifically, this one" he said, tapping a hoof to his armoured chest. Celestia narrowed her eyes.

"I wondered if it would come to this" she murmured, taking a noticeably more cautious cause of action here. Blood Moon stepped, Celestia stepped with him. They circled each other slowly, regarding one another, Blood Moon with his head turned, his body facing the direction he trotted, Celestia keeping herself aligned with him.

"As did I" he said slowly. His scarred face was just as ugly as before, only now it was distorted by the natural beauty that came with Alicorn blood and bone, giving him an unnatural appearance of widely distorted, brutally ugly and impossibly good-looking face. If anything, it just made him look worse. "When, oh when, was the last time I changed" he mused quietly "a little before I left you and Luna, I think" he said absently.

They were silent for a few more seconds, slowly circling each other once again.

"Heritage. My blood, my legacy. What I truly am. An Alicorn. Hidden by Umbra Linguam. My last word. Wasted, some might call it, but to hide this form" he growled "anything…"

"Alright then Blood Moon" Celestia started, halting his small monolog "here we are. You, in your full power, versus me, in my full power." She raised her sword, cracking her neck once more, watching him. "Shall we dance?" Blood Moon took a breath. His horn glowed gently, a void growing before him.

The tear in the ether soon grew a handle, black leather, blood red diamonds covering the length. The assassin to the grip in hoof, pulling it from its whole in the universe. A tsuba came next, a black serpent, identical to Blood Moon's spell 'battle', coiling around and eating its tail. Then came the blade; silver steel, a blood red glowing tang running up two thirds of the blade, housed by shadow black metal as it slid from its ethereal sheath, growing until the katana reached the tip, coming free and re closing the gap in space. A katana. The assassin's weapon, forged by Father Time himself and given to him upon ascension. The bone of a Gargoyle formed the blade, the tang forged from the heart of a dragon, the shadows between life and death heating the metal and cooled by winds of the void. The Messorem.

"'Till the night is taken by dawn" he replied.

With a blast of dust, Blood Moon was gone. He reappeared before Celestia, the mare taking his strike on her blade; the dark Alicorn's sword pushed down on Celestia's with ease, Blood Moon's newfound strength coupled with Celestia's weakened form creating a strong advantage for the assassin. He slid his blade down hers, whipping the blade up again, Celestia taking it on her defence once again, aura's of golden light casted by orbs of darkness flashing every time the blades met. Each time the assassin struck, Celestia would parry or block, but she was driven back with each meeting of their weapons. Her defence was sloppy, Blood Moon stepping past with ease and slashing up her side, only Celestia's armour protecting her from a lethal blow. Although, every time the Messorem met the solar iron, it cut through easily, opening a shallow wound in her flesh.

Even Twilight, with her heavy lack of knowledge in the art of battle, could tell Celestia would lose this fight. Perhaps at full strength, she could hold her own, end this fight in a stalemate, but in her current condition, she hadn't a hope. Blood Moon really did have no intention of fighting clean here, he used her weakened state to its full advantage, his own new speed, strength, reflexes, senses, agility and magical prowess to finish his foe. Although, it wasn't lost on her that except the time he'd spread them to relive their age long cramp, he hadn't used his wings.

She was still a little shell-shocked from that; since when was her coltfriend…an Alicorn? Part of her told the other that she shouldn't really be so surprised with this development, but…wasn't there more to being an Alicorn than a pair of wings? A whirlwind of confusion and questions spun around Twilight’s mind; she had to know.

Twilight was brought from her thoughts when she heard a scream; she looked up to find Celestia falling, Blood Moon having swept her teacher's legs from beneath her with the flat of his blade. He flipped the weapon and drove the tip down at her face, Celestia rolling away and hopping back up, her wings spreading as she took to the air. Blood Moon didn't follow her, instead he whipped his blade to the side; the blade of his katana suddenly split, the individual inches of the blade coming apart, connected by a flickering red flame between them all, presumably the dragon heart of the tang. He turned the handle of the newly formed blade-whip in Celestia's direction, the sharp edges wrapping around her.

Celestia growled in pain as the metal bit into her, stabbing into her wings, her neck muscles and face. With a violent wrench, Blood Moon brought her back to ground, where he trotted over to her. The blades of the Messorem pulled themselves from Celestia's body, retracting into the assassin's weapon with a small 'chink' with each one to reform the blade. Blood Moon said nothing as he stood over Celestia, instead he just raised his weapon and slashed at her neck, Celestia's Dia-katana intercepting his strike and parrying it up the length as she got up once more. Her wings too sore to fly, she simply stood before the assassin as their weapons clashed, parried and collided in the air between them, both stepping around each other as their fought. This went on for forty-five seconds before a tired Celestia made a mistake.

Blood Moon's katana came down in a diagonal slash, Celestia intercepting it. She recognised the mistake before she'd even fully performed it, only she hadn't the time, room or energy to correct it; her weapon clashed with his at too steep an angle, their blades crossing at a tall, thin X shape. The dark Alicorn moved his handle, knocking hers away and giving himself ample room for a killing blow; he stepped past her defences, barged her with his shoulder, pushed down her blade with his own and brought it back up, aimed at her throat, driving it up through her oesophagus.

Twilight watched it in slow motion. She wasn't entirely sure where the notion had first come from, and, truthfully, she had only really just noticed it; for whatever reason, she'd had the blind hope Blood Moon wouldn't kill Celestia, that, for whatever reason, he wouldn't end her teacher's life, he would spare his daughter. She wasn't sure why at all, just blind hope in a guess. Already, she could feel her world crumbling around her; Luna would solely take the throne, ruling over both night and day. The other kingdoms and countries would see Equestria's weakened state; they'd attack. They'd fight Equestria for her land, her resources, they'd fight each other for sole ownership of the land. The peace of the world would crack, and splinter and eventually, the world would descend into anarchy. All because of one pony dying, all because of one fatal grudge and unstoppable assassin. Twilight would likely never see him again, he'd go to ground, hiding away from the wrath of the world. She'd lose her coltfriend, her teacher and with the inevitably ensuing war, her friends and family. All with the blood of one pony being spilled.

With tears in her eyes, with a sob in her throat and a tug free from her restraint, she stepped forwards.

"STOP!"

That one word. It had started this whole thing for her and her friends. 'Stop.' The first word she'd said to her lover. And likely the last thing. It echoed over the distance, time slowing to a pause as the single word travelled the space between them.

Blood Moon heard the word, but he didn't care. He recognised the reasoning behind it, but he didn't care for that, either. He knew the voice…

He turned his head, and there she was. Twilight. Watching him, watching him kill her mentor. Having watched him turn into an Alicorn. A stone dropped in his chest.

He'd turned his head.

Oh, how Heartless and Rose Blood would torment him for weeks for that slip up, how they'd constantly remind him of his mistake. Never, take your eyes of the enemy. It was but a second's glance, but it was all Celestia needed. She moved her head back, the assassin's katana cutting a shallow, red line up her neck and chin as she narrowly dodged the attack.

She moved back just enough, and took her blade in her hoof. She drove it upwards, into his neck. She didn't falter, she didn't stop, she didn't pause nor look away. She made no mistake. She felt an ever so slight resistance as the blade bit into flesh, beyond the protection of his armour. It sliced through the skin, cut through the muscle, stabbed through the windpipe and out the other end. And still she went, with a roar of effort and victory, she went, pushing the blade until the tsuba met his throat, a splatter of blood leaping out with the contact.

The assassin blinked as his muscles failed him, drooping slightly as he leant on the princess's blade. Right through the neck, a killing stroke. The kind of strike he'd use. He was a little proud of her. He felt Celestia heave again, making sure Sunrend had gone through the whole way. He looked up, watching her legs take a step back, and found her face. Her smug, condescending face watching his dying form. The glow in his horn flickered to a death, the glow on his blade flickering away like a flame dying in a breeze. It fell. He caught it.

Messorem fell into his hoof, he held it in both hooves and thrust it upwards.

Celestia realised her mistake too late. The blade had already pierced her neck, in the same spot she'd stabbed him, and had left the same wound. Punctured oesophagus, blood trickling into the lungs, severed spinal cord, blood loss and trauma. All thrown together to create a fatality cocktail.

"NO" Luna shouted out, stepping towards the pair of them, but was otherwise rooted to the spot in fear. She held her hoof out in a vain attempt to stop them, her eyes wide and panicked with tears of loss running down her cheeks. Twilight fared no better, only the burning pain in her heart stopping her from fainting from the shock.

Blood Moon and Celestia stared each other in the eye. It was over. It was done.

Blood dripped from their wounds, trickling down their maws and chins, their strength quickly fading. Blood Moon wasn't quite sure what would happen to him. He'd never died as an Alicorn before. He wasn't sure if he'd 'die' and go to purgatory, or if he'd be sent to the Alicorn afterlife, to stand with Father Time for eternity. Was this it? The end of it all? Celestia was doomed. She hadn't the energy to heal herself, the faint flickering on her horn told him that, that she couldn't gather the strength to cast the healing spell. It was worth it, he guessed, watching her die. To have an end to it all.

He stared at his quickly dying foe, Celestia, the mare he'd once called daughter. Killed by his hoof, at long last. Perhaps the only hoof that could kill her, he supposed. Celestia stared back at him, her vision fading. She saw her assassin, the stallion who'd tried, and succeeded, to kill her. His Alicorn self, so distorted and strange, a being who'd haunted her dreams for thousands of years. Her eyes bulged slightly as a puddle of blood spewed from her mouth, staining her chin and floor.

Blood Moon watched it happen with a sort of pity. Such a…delicate creature, she could be, despite her admirable strength. He raised his hoof a put it to her chin, dumbly wiping away the blood she'd puked up. Celestia watched him do it in a laid back and uncaring state of confusion, figuring die and let die their current situation. She heaved again, more blood coming up, splattering along the floor. Again, Blood Moon watched it happen. He raised his hoof, wiped it away from her maw. It lingered. He didn't move his hoof from her face until his balance left him, falling forward. His left hoof ended up on her shoulder, his right went to the handle of his blade. He grabbed it, Celestia cringed, and he yanked it out. She gave a strained cry of pain, tears falling from her eyes with the stinging pain that replaced the dull pain of the adrenalin masked stab wound.

Messorem fell from his grip, clattering to the floor. He stumbled again, blood trickling from his mouth. He looked up at Celestia; she was watching him with eyes filled with tears of pain, hurt, confusion. For a second, he didn't see Celestia in her current form, the battle-maiden, this ruler of a great and powerful nature. He saw her, in her young form, the little filly he'd adored once upon a time.

She was small again, her mane and tail pink again before she'd grown older and they'd developed their other colours, her expression one of innocence and curiosity rather than that of grim thoughts and the weight of a country on her back. Back when she could smile, for the sake of smiling. He remembered a few years after they'd first met; she'd tumbled and scraped her knee. The tiniest of scratches, but in her little mind it would need amputating. He wasn't sure if he wanted to know how she already knew that word. He'd wrapped it in a piece of damp binding, wiped her tears away and carried her back to her room in his hoof, making a promise of always being there to help pick herself up whenever she fell down. Promising that he'd never leave her alone. She'd smiled dimly before resting her head in his shoulder, her favourite spot to rest, and just lay in his hooves.

He tried to swallow back the emotions, but resulted in just shifting the sword in his neck painfully. He looked back up at Celestia; she was fading fast. He picked himself up again, a new burst of strength, and looked Celestia in the eye. His horn glowed, dimly, a grey light that flickered wearily along the Alicorn.

Celestia felt another stinging sensation, in her stab wound. A dull, tingling sensation at first, but it soon grew, grew to a tight, burning sensation in her throat. She moaned slightly in tired pain as she felt something sizzling in her neck, the smell and taste of smoke overrunning her senses. The pain intensified slightly and she cringed again, her legs failing her as she fell to the ground, her eyes still leaking. She felt something on her neck, a strange feeling of stillness. She took a breath. Her lips wobbled slightly.

She took a breath.

She was alive. She was still going. She'd make it through this.

The princess of the day looked up to find Blood Moon, his legs wobbling and his stance swaying gently. He took the blade in his hoof and yanked it out in one motion, cringing gently before he too fell. His face ended up in front of Celestia's, his eyes dull and tired. The red of his orbs met the magenta of hers, and he grinned softly.

"Hey Tia" he mumbled as blood continued to leak from his neck and mouth, pooling around him. Celestia blinked a few times.

"H-hey" she replied.

He grinned gently before the light escaped his eyes.

A shift in the wind...

Chapter twenty nine: A shift in the wind…

"Celestia" shouted a voice from across the hall. The princess of the day heard the sounds of hooves galloping along marble, rapidly approaching her from afar. She didn't look up from his body. "Oh, sister, are you alright?" She heard the same voice, but she didn't respond to it. She barely felt it when the owner of the voice scooped her up in her hooves and hugged her tight.

'Why hasn't he moved yet?'

"Celestia, Tia, are you alright" the voice asked again, concern in its tone.

'Why hasn't he turned to ash yet?'

"Sister, please say something, you're worrying me" the voice implored, holding her away a little as it spoke to her through muffling walls.

'Wake up damnit…'

"Celestia" the voice asked again, sounding scared and confused, desperate "please, please say something" it begged.

'Move…'

"Sister" the voice said softly, pulling her in again. Celestia suddenly burst into movement, her troubling wounds forgotten for a second as she lunged for the body of the assassin.

"MOVE DAMNIT" she roared, bringing her hooves down on his lifeless body, a splattering of blood pouring from his maw as she did. She raised both hooves and brought them down on him again. "MOVE" she roared, striking the corpse once more. She raised and brought both fore-legs down again and again, like a cave-pony from before even her time would, desperate panic taking over her. "MOVE, MOVE, MOVE" she roared, beating her hooves into his lifeless body over and over, each and every strike garnering the same response; that of splattering blood and slight movement, brought on only by her own ministrations. She brought her hooves down again, her voice cracking this time as she brought them down, her hooves failing to raise again. "Please move" she said quietly.

Celestia felt a hoof touch her armoured shoulder, looking around to find her sister watching with sadness in her eyes, the corners turned down and tears welling in her beautiful orbs.

"Tia…" she said at quiet length. Celestia looked back to the corpse in her throne room; the blood red of his orbs had gone dull and empty, his feint smile stilled on his face, his blood pooling around him and trickling away… Celestia felt something die inside her, felt something crack and split and break and…die, fade away as though lost on the currents. She suddenly burst into heartbroken tears of pain, falling into the shoulder of her sister, weeping into her shoulder.

This…this wasn't how she'd imagined it would feel. To finally stand over his corpse. It didn't make the pain of ten thousand years of loss go away it just…made it hurt more, like pouring salt on the wound. That empty feeling just grew wider, torn open by fierce hooves, the coldness turning to an arctic glacier sitting in her chest and refusing to move. She'd done it. Killed Blood Moon, the killer who could not be seen, caught or killed had finally had himself proven wrong; he'd been sent to the Alicorn afterlife to stand with the other deities to fall, Illumination, Nocturnal, Mother Nature, Lady Luck, Father Time, Shiva the Destroyer, Faust the Creator. The Alicorn of life and death would join those to have come before him in an eternal sentry, watching over everything forever, as was his destiny as an Alicorn. He'd never be seen on Equestria again, and Equestria would only see him in his influence.

Celestia sobbed harder and wrapped her fore-legs around her sister's shoulders tighter. What had she done? She'd lost him, forever. He'd made one final kill, only to bring her back with the last of his strength. His last contract, his only failure in his career. She shuddered with her sobs, her tear staining her sister's fur. His pride was something he held above all except those he cared for and loved, and even then, it was a very close second. He'd given up his ultimate source of pride, his work, assassinating ponies…for her? To save his… little…girl…

She just sobbed harder. She fell away from her sister, laying on the ground, holding her hooves to her eyes, sobbing for all of Equestria to see.

Beyond the walls of the palace, everypony felt a…shift in the wind, so to speak, everypony suddenly looking to Canterlot palace. The Shadow Weavers clinging to the shadows all made their way to the palace, hiding in the most unassuming spots, and looked through the broken windows of the throne room, finding the dead body of their leader and the weeping form of Celestia. Most of them bowed their heads in deep respect, their hooves going to their hearts. Ember, Leaf, Red and Candle all watched from a nook they shared, Ember looking at Blood Moon's body and gasping slightly. Her tears welled in her eyes and crept down her face, her lip wobbling in stunned shock. She blinked rapidly to try and chase away the speck of dust that made her see Blood Moon, dead. But it wouldn't go away. The image of the assassin didn't leave her vision. Not until the ever stoic Leaf, his head bowed deeply and his spirit thoroughly broken, put a hoof on her shoulder. Either through misinterpretation or an understanding of a deeper meaning, she fell into his shoulder, weeping openly, yet silently, as to not give away their position.

Guards all looked at the palace, Skulduggery looking up from the corpses as a strange feeling overtook him. He felt something deeper, as though somepony he cared greatly for was…hurt somehow.

In Ponyville, the town's mayor looked out her window, turning away from the mountain of paperwork on her desk to look at Canterlot. She'd never know why, or why her secretary trotted in at that moment with a grave look on her face, the two of them sharing a deep, foreboding feeling in their hearts. Somewhere else, in an orchard, sat three fillies and a dragon, all grounded to the yellow one's room. They looked up from whatever they were doing, meandering over to the bed and hopping atop it, looking out in the direction of Canterlot. The orange filly felt a deep…clawing sensation, as though something had just been ripped out of her, and felt tears well in her eyes, her friends noticing her sudden state and turning to her, only for tears to suddenly creep down her face. Sat alone in a bar, an old mercenary, nursing a tankard of cider looked up from his alcohol, looking in the direction of Equestria's capital, his mood suddenly falling as his gaze went down to his tankard again, lifting it in silent salute before downing the rest.

Deep in the Everfree, a zebra stirring a cauldron of strange, magical potion stopped suddenly, her will to work sapped by an unseen force. She looked to her door, setting the wooden spoon down as she trotted for the exit, her cloak fastening around her as she went. She totted for the hill nearby her home, standing atop it in the breeze of the self-controlled Everfree, staring in the direction of the great mountain that held Canterlot in the sky. As the wind blew her cloak and tail around, she couldn't help but sigh, saddened by something…

Taking a shower in motel between Ponyville and Manehatten, a mare with stark white fur, her mane a spikey, electric blue, paused as she washed away the evidence her and her marefriend's 'party' last night, cutting off the water suddenly and stepping out, the grey mare washing with her watching her with a gaze showing her own sudden mood swing and concern for her lover, watching her trot for the nearest window, looking out in the direction of Canterlot. She rested a hoof on the sill, peering out at nothingness as her partner trotted up to her from behind, both still sopping wet, and put a hoof on her shoulder.

Somewhere, on a lonely road somewhere in Equestria, a stallion in a suit of armour, the most unnaturally pale white and darkest of blacks, a brown, hooded, fur cloak over his back to cover the armour, stopped in his silent tracks. He looked up from the beaten path he trotted, frowning beneath his mask as he turned, turned until he looked behind him, to his right, finding nothing but an empty field and a scattering of trees around him. He tensed one side of his maw, raising his head and sparking his horn to life, stabbing his sword into the ground in grudging respect for a worthy foe.

In a place, beyond the reality of Equestria, a grey mare stopped in her tracks, the brown stallion leading her pausing with her, the small filly on his back looking back at her mother. The Pegasus looked back through the jungle, the leaves of the plants around her bigger than any house of Ponyville, up at the sky slightly in a seemingly random direction as something struck her, a feeling she couldn't pin down.

All over Equestria and beyond, mares and stallions, fillies and colts, all suddenly stopped what they were doing, robbers giving up their loot, muggers letting their victims go, assassins falling back from contracts with no reason, soldiers stopping in the middle of war, kings and queens caught in silence, angels looking down from the heavens, devils looking up from hell, the dead watching from the stars… All to find the body of the assassin they'd collectively once knew, lifeless. The one to have been there before all others no longer moving.

The stallion to never be seen, caught or killed seen…caught…and killed.

And at the centre of it all, was the stallion's lover. Twilight. She sat in the doorway, her legs failing her, fallen to her flank, tears streaming down her face, her eyes wide in disbelief, her mouth open slightly in disbelief…but she was silent, no sobs, no wails, nothing but an…eerie silence. She sat not alone, but with friends, all as silent and as in as much disbelief as her.

Celestia had never once stopped sobbing, her sister's eyes having grown just as moist as tears ran down her cheeks in abundance. She put her own face into her sister's shoulder, her sobs quieter and muffled a little by her sister.

Maybe…an hour, passed? More?

All's Celestia knew was that she'd started to cry just after school would start for fillies and colts, and by now they'd be serving lunch.

As her tears were reduced to simple, shaky shudders on her sister's shoulder, Celestia finally found it in her to stop. Her sister felt her move, leaning back with her as they looked into each other's eyes. Celestia's gaze dropped slightly, looking at her sister's muzzle rather than her face. They fell into each other's holds again, hugging each other tight for a second before they released each other once more, standing up.

As she rose, Celestia wobbled, Luna catching her on her back as she nearly fell.

"Sister, you need medical attention" she said quietly. On any other day, Celestia would have protested, arguing that she needed to see to her citizens, address the media and masses, brief the troops and see to everything else a ruler would when her capitol was attacked. But right now, Celestia was without her crown, without her will and without any energy to be a ruler. So instead, she simply relented, nodding gently.

"Yes, dear sister, you are right. I must get to the hospital wing" she murmured as she stood on her own muscles. She looked up to the door to find six ponies watching her. The Elements and…Twilight. "Twilight" she said with a sort of gentle strength, the mare hearing her through the walls of her pain. She looked up from the corpse of Blood Moon, finding the mare who had killed him. Her teacher. Her mentor. The mare who'd she'd spent more time with than her mother throughout most of her youth and teen years. The mare she'd come to see as a second mother, despite being the mother of all Equestria. She rose to her hooves slowly and trotted to her mentor, her pace leaving much to be desired. The young sorceress eventually arrived at Celestia's side, her head hung low, unwilling to look up at…her best friend. Instead, the solar princess knelt down to her, dropping to one knee and looking at her much beloved student. "Twilight…I'm sorry you had to see that" she said quietly before she almost feinted, catching herself on her sister, who guided her to the medical clinic. The mare of the moon couldn't bring herself to speak to Twilight, not after what she'd witnessed. Watching a life was by no means like taking one yourself, but they could be just as devastating. Especially watching a friend die. With her eyes lingering on Twilight, she failed to notice the pony she'd bumped into, looking up to see Cadence stood before her. They exchanged a brief look before they both bowed their heads in a sadness only one understood.

"Listen, I'm going to take Celestia to the medics, could you look after Twilight…please? I…I think they were close, friends" she explained. Cadence nodded wordlessly and trotted past her aunt. The Alicorn princess of Love sat next to her little sister in-law, Twilight looking up at Cadence as they sat on their flanks next to each other. Twilight's friends soon joined them, sitting around Twilight in silent comfort, Fluttershy nuzzling up next to her as they formed a silent, welcoming cocoon of warmth, comfort and a love she desperately needed right now.

Meanwhile, Celestia and Luna had already reached the medical wing, the small hospital in the centre of the castle to be close to everything, specifically the barracks, and Celestia was guided into the royal medical suit. Unicorns, earth ponies and Pegasi of all colours and codes flocked to her side, an ex-guard carefully removing her armour and setting it respectfully aside. Once nude, they all looked over every inch of her body for wound, finding fresh cuts Celestia herself hadn't noticed, broken bones, bruised organs, her muscles all suffering from a severe case of over-exertion and each and every one of her bones were all slightly more frail than when she'd gone into battle, her great use of advanced spells weakening the connection between her magical pool and horn. Before the doctors and nurses were allowed to work, Luna approached her sister.

"Celestia…what shall I have…done with…him?" Celestia looked wearily over at her sister.

"Have him moved to the morgue. And Lu-Lu…" Glancing at the ponies in the room, all of them scared of Luna enough to know that if that name left the room they'd probably be tortured to death, Luna went back to her sister's side.

"Yes sister?" The nocturnal princess felt a hoof graze over her leg, looking down to find Celestia looking for her hoof. She raised it and let Tia take it in her own.

"Please…don't leave me alone…" she begged under her breath. Luna swallowed slightly and nodded her head, sitting on her flank next to big sister and not letting go of her hoof as she fell unconscious. The princess of the night looked to one of the nurses.

"Please, have the pathologists take his corpse down to the morgue. And be quick about it" she added quietly, more a request than an order. The nurse nodded and took off the relay the message.

Meanwhile, back in the throne room, Twilight sat with her friends, big sister and a lover. Yet, she felt completely alone. A cold wind of depression swept away the warmth her friends provided, while the cool stone she sat upon felt remarkably empty, her body and mind telling her she was with friends, but her heart and soul telling her she was alone. She couldn't cry anymore. She was dry. She looked over his body, his corpse, with an eerily empty gaze, taking in every detail of his form. She wanted to remember him, after all.

The silver-grey of his fur, the pure black of his mane, the blood red of his eyes…

She felt she'd remember the eyes best, his blood red eyes. She'd come to see them as a point of comfort, as she knew that when those eyes stared back into hers, she was safe, loved, warm and content. But now, they were empty, cold and alone. Much like her. She felt tears tempt again, and suddenly realised she wasn't as dry as she'd first thought. She fell forward, leaning her head on his body, her hooves going over him as she held him, her sobs ringing out through the throne room with an empty echo.

Her friends watched in silent pity, their eyes clouded with their own tears as they watched Twilight morn her coltfriend with a seemingly endless flow of tears. Each of them felt an empty feeling inside them, like as something so important to Twilight was ripped out, something so important to them was ripped out with it. They felt the pain she felt, the hollow feeling in her chest. It was cold, lonely. They knew they would each be there for Twilight, but that no matter how much padding and love they provided, there would still be a hole there. They hadn't known each other for long, hadn't been dating long either, but they'd shown each other things nopony else could, provided each other with things no other could.

She'd shown him love after a lifetime of solitude.

He'd taught her that love could take you to unimaginable places.

She'd given him a pony to hold on cold nights.

He'd given her a pony she could truly bond with.

They'd given each other a family.

Now, they were gone, these lessons, these gifts of love and friendship. She'd lost him to her best friend. He'd lost her to his daughter.

Cadence watched with a confused, blind pity. She couldn't imagine why Twilight would be so broken over this stallion. She could feel her body acting on its own as she bowed her head and picked Twilight up with her magic, the young mare too distraught to notice herself getting picked up by the Alicorn of love's baby blue glow and carried away. She looked to the mares watching her.

"Come on girls" she said simply, the Elements of Harmony standing lifelessly as they followed after princess Cadence. She led them over the cracked, broken and mostly destroyed marble towards the collapsed doors. The ponies' downcast mood was offset slightly by the birdsong whistling through the window, none of the ponies capable of responding to it. As they approached the doors, Cadence spotted a small group of ponies heading towards them on the other side. She set Twilight on her back and killed the magic holding her up, looking up at the fallen doors; her mind stung slightly as she did, the side-effects of, what she could only guess to be, Celestia's sleeping pills, probably hidden in the tea she'd given her. She held her muzzle in her hoof, trying to be rid herself of the pain. She shook her head, unwilling to make it hurt more by casting a spell to get rid of it, and decided on using as little magic as possible.

With that in mind, she looked over at the doors and focused her horn on them, with a small intensity in glow and spike of pain, the doors were heaved to the side by an unseen force, dust cast into the air and an ugly groaning cat by them as they slid along the ground.
Shaking away the pain again, Cadence looked back to the ponies trotting past her and the girls. She recognised them as the forensic specialists from the morgue below.

"What are you doing up here" she asked quietly, as to not disturb the mare on her back, curled up into her tail and weeping softly. The lead pony looked up from his path.

"We're under orders from Celestia to take the assassin's body down to the morgue" he answered dutifully, apparently unfazed by the whole event. Cadence simply nodded in understanding, not saying a word as she and her company continued. The pink princess stopped once more as she spotted her husband's unconscious form. She turned from their rout and cantered for him, stopping besides him and leaning down.

"Shining" she said gently, her word stirring him slightly. She nudged his knocked out form and nuzzled him a little, stirring him again until he awoke. He squeezed his eyes shut for a second, rubbing his sore head a little as he did. He looked around himself in confusion before he realised what had happened.

"Uhh, did we…" he rubbed his head again, the pain of being thrown at a wall and landing headfirst coming back to him in a splitting headache. He looked up to find his wife stood over him, smiling slightly. "Cadence" he said, half relived and half panicked "what are you doing here, I thought-"

"It's alright Shining, it's over" she told him quietly. He looked down again, nodding his head gently in approval. Cadence helped him stand, both partners in the marriage holding their sore heads again. He looked around again, finding the girls with her and his sister on her back. He frowned and went to approach her, speak to her, but Cadence stopped him. "It's best if we leave her alone for now, she's been really torn apart by what's happened" she told him. The guard Capitan's eyes widened.

"Celestia, is she-"

"She's fine, Shiny, everypony's fine" she said, his voice going a little hollow. Shining Armour picked up on it but let it go, deciding to ask about it his sister was under covers and safe.

"Alright, shall we take her to one of the guest room?" Cadence nodded in agreement, the two leading the ever silent, Elements of Harmony through the castle and towards the rooms reserved for the most highest ranking guests, not to mention the more questionable ones.

With Twilight sat down on a bed, her friends surrounding her, Shining Armour and Princess Cadence sat in a quiet corner.

"So, what's this all about" he asked in a volume only he and her could hear, his gaze locked on his sister's weeping form. Cadence took a long sigh before she told him about the past few days.

A few hours past.

Down in the medical wing, the doctors and nurses had finished working quietly on Celestia.
Luna had stood close to her sister, holding her hoof silently as they all worked as a perfect team. They'd stabilized her, cleaned and closed all her wounds, cast spells on her muscles to massage, sooth and rest them, asked the nocturnal princess to heal her Alicorn bone, and done all they could to keep her healthy. For the most part, she'd be able to heal herself when she was conscious again, but the real wounds of this battle were by no means physical.

When they'd done all they could, the doctors had been called topside to see to the guards wounded in the battle prior to the fight between Blood Moon and Celestia. Left alone, Luna had taken the seat next to her sister's sleeping form, still holding her hoof.

She hung her head as she held her sister's hoof in two hooves, holding it in one, caressing it soothingly in the other. She took a deep, long breath.

"Oh sister, what have we done? We've lost our foalsitter, our father. Some of our closest family…" She took another long breath. "You killed him" she said at length "you've given him his release. Is it ironic? That the thing about himself he hated the most, is the only thing that could give him what he wanted most? I almost can't believe it: uncle Blood, dead. If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes" her voice cracked as a tear crept down her face "I probably wouldn't believe it" she said between badly contained sobs. She let go of Celestia's hoof and took to bawling into her own hooves, her sobs muffled a little by her hooves.

"Lu-Lu" came a tired, strained voice. Luna looked down at her sister's face, finding her eyes open, with no small amount of strain on her, gazing vaguely ahead of her. Tears fell down her cheek and onto the mattress she lay upon; her cheeks were bruised and swollen now, the strikes Blood Moon had left coming through, her eyes blackening with the bruises. It was a worryingly ugly sight to behold. Luna had hopped from her seat gently, leaning down to her sister's field of view.

"Yes, sister?" Celestia's lower lip wobbled as her tears came back again, her eyes closing as she shook with her sobs.

"I'm sorry" she sobbed quietly "I'm so, so sorry…I…I didn't think what would happen, I-I just…" Luna put a hoof on her sister's forehead, calming and quietening her.

"Celestia, there's no need to be sorry. He came here to kill you, to end the life of his daughter…but he didn't, our foalsitter's last action on this earth, was to save you." She smiled dimly. "Take some comfort in that, big sister" she advised. Celestia looked up at her little sister, looking for a second like a helpless foal, and buried her head in her chest.

"I love you Luna, and I'm sorry; he died saving me, and now we'll never get to see him again. I-I-" Luna held her sister in her hooves, soothing her with gentle hushes.

Throughout the night, Luna would never get her sister to stop asking for forgiveness, and neither of them would sleep the darkness through. Raising moon and lowering the sun from their room in the hospital, Celestia and Luna just waited the night away, sat together on the elder sister's bed as they cozied together in this first day of a new era. An era without the Hunter.

Meanwhile, above, Twilight and her friends had finally fell to sleep, the six of them snuggled together for comfort and warmth, Cadence dozing on the other end of the bed with her husband, who sat awake, his eye lingering on his sleeping sister.

His mind was awash with questions. Upon reaching the rank of Captain, he'd been privy to knowledge ponies of his age had never had access to, mainly because he was the youngest guard Captain in Equestrian history, but he'd never once been told about the princesses' and Blood Moon's relationship. Of course, he knew about the assassin himself, any guard did, but he'd never been told about this. He'd ask, but he got the impression that neither Celestia nor Luna would want to talk about it for a long while, if what Cadence had told him was true. And he rarely doubted his bride.

Twilight mimed sleep as she lay on the overly-large bed with her friends and family; how any of them could think she was asleep was beyond her, given what she'd gone through. Her mind was plagued with her few memories with her coltfriend. It had struck her, not long ago, just how few she really had. Sure, they'd gone through a lot together over the days she'd known him, but…a lot going on didn't amount to spending a lot of time together. Her first coltfriend had been taken away from her before she'd even had a chance to develop their romance properly. Now she'd be stuck wishing for more. It felt so…unfair to her; she'd been so sure that, outside Celestia's death and the fall of Equestria, no matter what happened between her and Blood Moon they'd always had time together, mainly because that was what Blood Moon had an unlimited amount of. She felt cheated. Cheated out of her life with her lover.

Her exhausted tear ducts gave no ground; they were well and truly dry from a day of mostly crying. It struck her tired mind that she hadn't even eaten today, but the pain in her heart had masked the pain in her stomach. Her body was without fuel to go on, and exhaustion soon trumped her depression as her mind was taken by the darkness of sleep. She took small solace in the darkness, as she now knew, that was the closest she was getting to her coltfriend.

The next morning, Luna woke alone.

She rubbed her eyes and scrunched her muzzle a little, looking around herself as she felt the sleep drain from her system. She must have dozed off during the night, and her comforting of Tia when they'd both retreated to silence and stillness.

Luna assumed her sister had slept with her, only she wasn't on the bed they'd shared the night before. She was, however, covered in the sheet on the hospital bed, the pillow she lay on plump and cosy for her and she realised she'd been snuggling with Ursa-teddy all night.
Looking up and around herself with a small blush on her face, hiding her teddy bear under the covers, she found that she was alone in the princesses' personal room of the medical wing. Nought but her, her stuffed sleeping companion and a small note on the table next to the bed resided in the room. A small frown on her face, Luna sparked her horn alight and lifted the folded letter to her eyes.

Luna

I'm sorry about leaving you so abruptly, but Elder Scroll came by while you were asleep (don't worry, he didn't see Ursa) and reminded me that I need to address Canterlot and Equestria, tell them what happened. Or, what 'happened' so to speak. I'd have woken you, but you appeared so peaceful, I didn't want to disturb you. If you wake up before noon, you can probably catch me before I address the media.

Tia x

Luna put the letter down and let a tight smile grace her features before she looked around the room for the clock. It was five to twelve. Figuring she had nothing better to do, she got up from her bed and stood properly, rolling her muscles and cracking a few bones as she relaxed herself. She was about to go when she noticed Ursa-teddy, sat there on the bed. Watching her. Silently. Possibly judging her fashion sense.

That bear could be pretty eerie when he wanted to be.

She sparked her horn to life and lifted him over to her, setting him on her back and trotting down the corridor. The halls of Canterlot palace were strangely lifeless, but then, given the loss of guards in the battle yesterday, the clean-up required and the repairs, not to mention any other duties that would need to be performed, it was no wonder that the palace was running on a skeleton crew.

The princess of the day reflected on what was bound to happen in the next few days; political movements were an inevitability after such battles, the Griffon Kingdom would likely use the opportunity to make a move on Equestria land through political scheming, nobles-who-we-won't-be-naming will probably take this chance to perform some other kind of dastardly deed, the nobles in general will be taking the chance to make money through buying and selling resources needed to repair the city or just garner some good PR, while the poor would at least find some work with the work forces. Luna was fairly sure she could get something together to pay the homeless for work. The loss of troops was another problem; Canterlot was severely under-defended now, the small army of troops that was required to defend every corner of Canterlot was now reduced to a filly’s hoof-full of ponies. There was barely enough to defend Canterlot Palace, never mind the city.

She sighed gently when the lack of care hit her. The troops were little more than numbers in her mind now, and she doubted Celestia felt different. Hay, she doubted Blood Moon had seen it any differently with the Shadow Weavers outside his own chapter; when wars became a regularity, the battlefield a second home and troops little more than pawns on a chessboard, a certain...numbness was inevitable. You only really cared about, or even remembered, the ponies who made an impact. It was just another of the countless curses of immortality, of having royal blood, while commanding an army: growing cold.

Her trot faltered slightly when she thought about what would transpire over the next few days, weeks, months and probably even years on a much more personal level. She and Celestia were in for a rough time, Tia in particular most likely. She'd watched the life drain from Blood Moon's eyes. Luna herself had seen that particular image too many times to count, but to even imagine watching Blood Moon's red eyes lose their spark sent a shiver down her spine. She couldn't imagine her sister sleeping properly for a long time, and even when she did manage to reclaim her sleep, it would be plagued with nightmares. She hoped to ease her through, but doubted it very much. After all, they suffered from the same wounds.

Luna didn't hold it against her sister. Blood Moon and Luna were cut from the same cloth, if the assassin's a darker colour; they were both ponies of war, warriors. Fighters. He would want nothing less than to go down with a fight. But at the same time, he and Celestia shared a similar trait too, in that they were both great teachers, and took pride in watching a student grow in their own right. One need simply look at Twilight or Celestia herself for examples for both. To be felled by his own student, in a sense that is, would fill him with pride in her.
Luna's worry extended to Twilight too. She didn't know how they fit in each other's lives, but she could tell the two had been at the very least close friends. A stranger doesn't show that kind of grief and loss. Luna couldn't help but wonder how deep their relationship went, knowing her uncles reputation around single mares when he himself was single. She frowned and shook the thought away.

'No…no, don't think like that Lu-Lu. She's practically Celestia's daughter, that would make-'

Luna suddenly had to hold back a small gag. After regaining her hoofing, she continued on her way. It was both a very amusing and disturbing thought; she knew Blood Moon to be…free spirited with his loins, that he appreciated the female form. Not to say he wasn't respectful of mares, he stood for freewill and never taking orders after all, but he certainly wasn't the type to pass up a pretty mare if the opportunity presented itself. She frowned once more and shook away the thought.

'No, not a chance, not a chance in Tartarus. Even if he was interested, Twilight is far too reserved.'

Confident in her conclusion, Luna decided to push Blood Moon from her mind. She'd have plenty of time for further grieving later. She suddenly noticed that her subconscious mind had led her to the entrance hall. She decided to magic Ursa away for the time being, given the guards and forensic teams around the room. Each and every science/police team looked exhausted, having worked through the night to
gather up any and all evidence from the battle, catalogue it and then see to the bodies. It was quite the feat they'd achieved, given that they'd worked towards the palace from the rear of the battlefield.

Luna frowned at one of the corpses some of the more experienced looking CSI's were gathered around, diverging towards it. She almost threw up. A pony, a guard of some description was in two halves. She frowned again, looking closer.

"Oh no" she said quietly, leaning her head down again "oh Deadwing, not you too" she said as she felt her body deflate, her expression showing her sorrow. The Umbra Knight. Gone.

She had to admit it to herself, she hadn't known the mostly silent vampire well, but what she had known she'd admired greatly. He was loyal, strong and ready to face any challenge set before him. His vampirism had allowed him to serve as her champion longer than any other, and he'd been ready to stand for his princess to the bitter end. And he had.

With a grieving sigh, she straightened up again, going for the door once more. No doubt Geode and Light Guard were dead too, killed by the assassin to have died by Celestia's hoof. Yet another job to see to; appoint a new champion.

Luna looked through the doorway to the outside world, finding Celestia and Elder Scroll stood in it, looking over a small set of notes. She trotted up to them, both looking up as she approached. Celestia gave her a tired smile, and colt, did it suit her. It almost looked like she'd been awake all night, not something that would surprise Luna, her eyes carrying heavy bags below, her mane and tail looking like they'd been hastily pulled back into shape while most of her body was bandaged and wrapped up, her right fore-knee splintered while her face had a bandage over it. She wasn't even wearing her armour and shoes, just her tiara. Luna embraced her sister gently, Celestia returning the favour, and let her go a little reluctantly. She could only imagine the kind of mental trauma she must be going through. Luna looked to Elder Scroll, who nodded, and looked back at Celestia.

"If you're sure you're up to it princess, that is my proposed speech" he said, inclining his head at the notes Celestia held in her weary magical grip.

"Yes, thank you Scroll, this will do just fine" she answered, the steward nodding his head again and returning to his other duties. Once they had a moment, Luna looked back at her sister.

"Good morning sister. How are you feeling?" Celestia gave her another small smile, this one more tired in spirit than body.

"The physical wounds are healing well. I'll be able to take care of them properly once my strength returns to me…" She trailed off, Luna raising a hoof to her bandaged chest.

"Tia…I asked how you're feeling not if you're healing well or not" Luna replied quietly. Celestia gave a small breath and hung her head.

"I'll be able to be rid of these physical scars soon enough, but the…other scars…" She trailed off again, Luna wrapping a hoof around her neck once more.

"Sister, I know your pain. I want you to remember Celestia, you do not have to go through this alone. You have me, Cadence, Twilight…Skulduggery" she said lowly. Celestia gave a small smile.

"It would be nice to see him again" she said in a volume she thought her little sister couldn't hear.

"I'll have him sent for then" the princess for the night replied a little teasingly. Celestia blushed.

"L-Luna. N-no, not when I'm like this" she hissed. Luna just giggled and booped her sister.

"Tia's got a coltfriend, Tia's got a coltfriend" she sang. Celestia scrunched her face, blushed and did a bad job of holding down her love of adorable little Luna, not to mention her laughter.

"I'm so gonna get you for that" she told her sister in a tone that wasn't quite stern enough to be threatening. The two laughed as much as they could, but both could feel the darkness underlying it. They both knew that they wouldn't be able to laugh sincerely for a long while.
When both sisters were done laughing, they looked into each other's eyes, both getting the same message as they hugged again, no longer with any kind of humour in their spirits.

"We should get out there, Canterlot's waiting" Luna murmured, her voice low and her spirit cracked. Celestia just nodded.

The pair trotted out to face the crowds, towards the destroyed gate to their palace. A small stage had been set up, a small wooden stand on which the solar princess's notes would rest.

The two mares trotted out onto the small platform, finding the majority of the news reports in the whole of Equestria standing before them. The hubbub of conversation died down as the two took their places, Celestia behind the small stand and Luna to her right. Normally, Cadence would stand with her, but she was otherwise occupied with her little sister in law.

Celestia took a deep breath through her muzzle, gauging the reactions of the ponies to her state. No few of them were shocked, unsurprisingly, and they all readied notebooks and other assorted note keeping implements. Celestia took another breath as she looked down at her speech. She'd taken a glance through it when Elder Scroll had given it to her earlier. It told a reassuring story of BS, how a group of experienced marauders had taken the front gate under cover of night before storming the city. It greatly exaggerated the success of the guards, enemy fatalities having skyrocketed in the report while guard losses had sunken slightly. It also told of how Celestia had led the defence herself, at the front of the pack. And that how Blood Moon had nothing to do with it.

She looked down at the collecting of cards. It wasn't lies exactly, nor any that didn't need to be told, but it still struck a sensitive nerve for her. Blood Moon's last act would go unrecorded throughout history. It was the way he'd want it really. To be forgotten. Celestia felt a tear crawl down her face, a small blot appearing on the speech she was supposed to give.

"Celestia" a small voice said from her side. The princess of the day looked to her sister, finding her concerned expression looking back. Celestia gave her a small smile in return before she looked back to her eagerly awaiting citizens. She cleared her throat and straightened up, looking over the crowds once more.

"Ladies and gentelcolts of the press" she began, reading off the cards. She looked back to the press, finding them watching her with baited breath. "We are here today, to explained just what happened yesterday, during the cowardly attack on Canterlot by forces…"

A flashing image of Blood Moon hit her mind, an image of him fighting off a one hundred strong Griffon assassination squad, sent by Discord shortly after Luna had been born. A snarl on his lips as a trickle of blood ran down his brow, his armour torn and his blade held up as he stood between the griffons and his charge.

"By forces… Forces unknown, as yet" she finished.

Another image, one of him changing Luna's diaper for the first time. That had been a laugh for everypony watching as the silent, professional, perfect assassin fumbled around with talcum powder and a fresh nappy as Luna giggled at him gleefully, pissing on him the whole while. Even Nocturnal had laughed that day.

"For the truth is, my little ponies…"

An image of him, her and Luna, all stood in the training grounds, Blood Moon trotting around both Luna and Celestia as he gauged their stances, their horns aglow as they held up blunt, wooden swords.

Celestia sighed gently as she held up the cards in her magic before flinging them away on the wind.

"The truth is, my little ponies, yesterday was not a cowardly attack" she said, the ponies in the crowd frowning and scribbling down notes "nor was it by forces unknown" she added, the sound of further scribbling floating to her ears.

"The fact is, the attack yesterday was led by a stallion I know quite well" she told them "a stallion I have known for a long, long time" she told them. She waited a second for them to think up tomorrow's headlines. 'Princess in league with tyrant warlord. Has princess Celestia met her match?'

"Yesterday, we were attacked by a force of assassins" she told them, a ripple of comments going through the expansive crowds. "Yes, you heard me right. Assassins. Assassins of the infamous Shadow Weavers assassins guild" she explained "and lead by their resident leader.
A stallion, some of you probably know very well" she told them, an almost stunned silence falling over the crowd. "His name, was Blood Moon. Blood Moon Shadow Weaver the third. He led these ponies through our fair city, laying waste to all that stood before him" she told them, more frantic scribbles and comments coming from the crowd.

"Blood Moon, lead the assault in search of me. He wished to kill me. I cannot tell you why, but what I can tell you is that the reasons were personal. He and I have a long, complex history" she told the crowds. "For, you see, once upon a time, Blood Moon…" she looked at her sister, her simply gave her a small smile in response, and took another breath. "Blood Moon… Blood Moon was once my foalsitter" she told them "once, he looked after me and my sister, protective us with his life." She lowered her gaze. "Times changed" she said at length.

"To make an extremely long, slightly boring in places and somewhat painful story short, my old foalsitter reverted to his ways of the assassin. Yesterday, he sought to take my life" she told them. One of the reporters spoke up.

"Do you realise how ridiculous and farfetched this sounds" he asked with no hint of sarcasm.

"Do you realise that interrupting a princess in the middle of a speech is a punishable offence" Luna snapped, her eyes narrowing. The reporter swallowed slightly and tried to hide amongst the sea of ponies, commenting about how much a bitch Luna was.

"As I was saying" Celestia restarted a little spitefully "yesterday, Blood Moon landed a killing blow on me. But, before I died, he saved me. He healed me back to health" she explained.

"Are we supposed to sympathise with this assassin" another reporter spoke up, a little older than the last, this one a mare. "Through his actions, most of Canterlot strip has been destroyed" she said, a ripple of agreement running through the crowd. Celestia raised her hoof to quieten them.

"Say what you will of Blood Moon and myself. The only reason I tell you this today, is so somepony might remember that a good stallion died yesterday. And it wasn't at the hooves of an assassin" she said before she turned away. "No questions will be taken" she told them as she trotted for the palace once more, the crowds behind her shouting out queries in ever increasing octaves.

By the time Celestia and Luna had made it to the palace, the crowds of journalists had taken to bellowing out questions after the princesses, demanding they explained Celestia's choice of words, the two of them ignoring everything.

Once they were stood alone in the throne room, Luna turned to her big sister.

"You did a good thing sister. He may not appreciate it but…if anypony deserves to have their story remembered, it's Blood Moon. It's certainly one of the more interesting ones" she said with a shrug. Celestia smiled, giggling a little.

"You've got me there. Who knows, maybe one day I'll write a book on it" she murmured before she cringed. Luna noticed, giving her a concerned look.

"You should rest, your wounds are still sore" she told her sister. Celestia nodded.

"Yes, I should get to my room, try and sleep off this pain" she replied, rubbing the knee Blood Moon had almost broken when he'd struck it from behind. Luna gave her another small smile, nudging her slightly.

"You want any company?" Celestia huffed.

"I'm not in the best of conditions for any 'shenanigans' Luna" Celestia replied. Luna responded with a small blush and raised eyebrow.

"I-I was talking about Skulduggery Tia" she corrected, her smirk badly hidden. Celestia blinked a few times, her own blush sparking.

"Oh, um, yes, of course you were" she answered, trotting away as fast as her wounds would let her, Luna laughing her flank off.

With a slightly embarrassed smirk on her face, Celestia trotted for her chambers. Though before she'd gotten five steps, her smile had vanished again. She could see that happening a lot in the coming months. Maybe even the coming years.

She doubted her or Luna would truly be able to smile again for a long while. Their foalsitter gone, their capital weakened, the armies severely cut down in numbers while having to come to terms with the fact that it was all over. Ponies were beings of habit, routine, and to have that habit broken would inevitably throw that pony. Despite their rather varied and complex lives, Celestia and Luna were too, ponies of routine. And part of that routine had been Blood Moon. Now he was gone…where would that lead them?

Celestia suddenly realised she'd been stood outside her bedroom for the last thirty seconds, lost in her mind. She shook her head to chase off the thoughts and trotted inside, pushing through the door and into her bedroom. Perhaps she could find some solace in her little hovel, in a world that she ruled but was forever turning, always changing no matter what she did, it was this room that would forever be her constant, the spot she could always rely on to be the same old spot she'd grown up, had the majority of her lessons as a filly, had so much fun with her little sister as a foal, had so many memories. Her 00, 00 on her map.

Once upon a time that spot had been Blood Moon himself, the pony she could rely on to never change and to always be there for her. That crook in his right fore-leg, her favourite spot to rest as a young girl. She remembered a day when she'd first started getting her mane's other colours. She'd been reaching her alicorn teenage years, long since having found a new safe spot in her world. Yet, for whatever reason, on that particular day she'd noticed something between her and Blood Moon. She'd turned back to him and said:

"You know, there was a time once, when you put me down and never picked me back up."
Blood Moon had looked up from the newspaper he'd been reading and gave her a blank look. The next thing she knew, he'd picked her giggled form up, as he had when she was young.

Her Alicorn body had been almost half her neck or so taller than him, but it hadn't bothered him. He'd offered to carry her around all day that day. She wasn't ashamed to say she'd agreed.

With a small, sad smile on her lips, she sat on her bed and curled up, comforted only by her memories. She skimmed through them all, the ones she felt most warmed her, and it was at this point she had a horrid realisation.

'So…this is what he goes through…'

She blinked a few times in realisation. She rested her head on her crossed fore-hooves, staring into the void. It…hurt. The realisation that her foalsitter had gone through this kind of mental pain and torture for so long. Pleasant memorise that only brought back the painful fact.

He was gone.

It was a cracking, splintering feeling in her chest. Her heart grew cold and her blood slowed in her veins. Before, it had been his death that had shaken the foundations of her existence, to know that the Hunter had died. But, now, she realised…he wasn't just dead. He was gone. His story was at an end but…that meant that he was too. His direct influence on this world was ended. Celestia couldn't cry, only feel the crushing sensation grow heavier on her chest.

Gone.

The word felt so…alien to her now. It meant the same thing but it represented something so different. Gone. Inexistent. Removed. A hole. Nothing. There was a hole in Equestria that was left by a Blood Moon shaped plug, but he…he wasn't there to fill it.

With a feeling of dead, lonely anguish building in her sole, Celestia rested her head on her hooved and prepared. Prepared, for an existence without-

Knock-knock.

Growling in slight frustration, her internal realisation and a small ending interrupted, she sat up and faced the door.

"It's open" she called over. How the last time this scene had played out for her sent a chill down her spine, a small spark of hope igniting in her. The door swung over to reveal a stallion. Just, not the right stallion, not the one she longed after. Well, not quite the right stallion.

"Princess" Skulduggery asked. His ribs were still bandaged, his whole body looking bruised and sore, one of his eyes blackened. Though the worse damage was what the nurse had described the other day; his muzzle was badly crooked and he trotted with a noticeable limp. Despite it all, he still wore his hat.

"Skulduggery" Celestia returned, her expression brightening slightly before she frowned. "Please, come in, but what are you doing here" she asked as she closed the door behind him. Skulduggery frowned in return.

"I was asked here by princess Luna. She said something about…" he trailed off when he realised what the princess of the night had done, both smirking slightly at Luna's antics. She'd gotten them together. Alone. Celestia gave a small smile.

"Well, now that you're here, I could use the company" she told him, bidding him come closer. She shifted slightly on the bed, inviting him up, and watched him hop up. They were silent for a long while.

"So…" Skull started, watching Celestia with a practised eye. Celestia knew what was coming.

"I take it you noticed the battle yesterday" she said dryly. The detective huffed.

"Only slightly. Blood Moon, huh?" Celestia nodded.

"You heard my…ahem, 'speech' I take it?" Skulduggery grunted.

"I did indeed. I can only wonder how the media will react to this" he murmured.

"I'll give you one hint: backlash" Celestia responded, her tone as dry as a desert. Skulduggery nodded in agreement, staying quiet as he regarded his princess.

"And how are you princess?" Celestia had hoped he wouldn't ask her that. She took a long sigh, lowering her head once more as she fidgeted on her flank. She was stuck in a strange limbo of wanting to curl into nothingness to get away from the question, while at the same time she wanted to be nowhere else. Skulduggery, meanwhile, waited patiently for an answer; this was no interrogation, and Celestia's façade was nowhere to be seen. Whether she realised he could read her like a book right now or not was completely unknown to him, but he got the feeling that the distraught mare wouldn't care either way.

Celestia took another breath. How was she doing? She didn't know, not for sure. She grunted. That was a miserable attempt to keep the pain down. She knew exactly how she was doing. She was…broken. The only reason she wasn't bawling into the detective's shoulder right now was because she had no tears left to cry. She knew in her heart she would though. She, the fool she was, hadn't taken into consideration just how much watching Blood Moon leave her would affect her when she'd been plotting his death for so many years. Was this why whenever he was within her clutches she'd always turn her head away, find herself unwilling to face the problem again until it was a good distance away again? Why she'd always make 'mistakes' when she could get him? Had it been her subconscious telling her that she didn't want him dead after all.

That said, Celestia had never truly wanted him dead anyway. She'd always had the reassurance that Blood Moon was unkillable and that if she ever did get her hooves on him she'd never be able to kill him anyway. Her original plan had been exactly what she'd told him during the battle; come so close to killing him before leaving him suspended in agony for the rest of time. She'd have her revenge, he'd learn her pain, she'd finish this fight as the victor but…he'd be there. He wouldn't be gone.

She drew a sharp breath and looked down at Skulduggery, who was watching her with a concern she'd never seen off the face of her sister, niece or foalsitter. She leaned her head down to his so she wouldn't have to speak up to him, the deceive moving his head in response.

"Skulduggery, you remember the night before we first kissed" she asked at a whispered length. Skulduggery drew a small, slightly bashful breath, collecting himself before he could blush. That wouldn't do his image any good at all anyway.

"Of course" he answered. In truth, while he remembered their kiss together much more vividly, that night she'd wept on his shoulder remained in his mind with a strange, ice cold clarity. He heard Celestia take a breath. "Well, if I hadn't spent most of yesterday weeping into my sister's chest, I doubt your shoulder would be dry right now" she told him. Skulduggery took a small breath as Celestia leaned back again, sitting again her cushions. He looked up her, watching her body as a single entity rather than watching the whole of her at once, as he so regularly did as a detective. She was bandaged all over her body, a splinter on her right fore-knee. She had a Band-Aid over her cheek and her eyes were bruised and swollen, her cheeks no better themselves when he looked again. Celestia caught him looking and glanced down herself, looking away.

"I…I did tell Luna I didn't want you seeing me like this" she told him honestly. Skull looked at her again, a small smile on his face.

"I don't see why not" he replied, a small hint of red on his smoke grey cheeks. He wasn't used to…flirting, he thought the word was. Celestia huffed, a grin on her battered face.

"Smooth" she said dryly. The two chuckled for a second, Celestia suddenly comparing the two of them. "Look at us Skull, aren't we a match made in heaven" she smirked, Skulduggery suddenly noticing that they were, indeed, in much the same state.

"A battered princess and a broken detective. The ruler and the ruled, standing on equal grounds" he said with a smirk, his hat casting a shadow over his eyes. He heard nothing but silence, looking up at his princess to find her gazing at him with a somewhat angelic expression.

"You know, Skull, you can be very profound when you want to be" she told him. He just shrugged. She took another sigh. "Listen, Skull, yesterday and today's events have…made me think. I…I always assumed my uncle, Blood Moon, was eternal, immortal, never ending. That he would always be there, whether hated or loved he would always be there. But…now, I know better. There is an end, to all things. Including you. Including me" she said, her voice quiet and thoughtful. She looked up to find him watching her, his head cocked gently to the side as he listened. She smiled slightly. "Skull, do me a favour and come over here, I'd rather not have to raise my voice when I say this" she told him.

The detective obliged, shuffling over to her on the bed, somehow retaining his dignity. When he was close by, Celestia took his hat in her hoof and placed it on the bed besides them, looking over his face and scarred head, his smoky grey fur and midnight blue mane, his grey eyes gazing back at her with wisdom and patience.

"Skulduggery, I've been alive for a long time. You're forty years old. I've known you for ten years. That is a heartbeat in my time, but for you it's…it's a quarter of your life. I don't know how much time you have left on Equestria, but I…" She leaned her head against his, her eyes closing gently as he watched and listened to her pour her soul out to him. "I don't want to waste a single second of it." Celestia took a steadying breath while Skulduggery gulped. "Over the past few days, you've been a still and calm rock in an ever churning sea of change that is…was, my foalsitter. You've been somepony I can depend on to be there for me. I wish to thank you, nopony has done that for me in a long…long time." He gave a small grunt.

"It was nothing Celestia…just what was right" he answered. Celestia closed her mind against the memories. Good and right. Two thoroughly different concepts to her now.

"It was not nothing Skulduggery. You showed care to a princess many are intimidated by. You approached me with concern rather than being blinded by my title. You had the courage to look past my façade to find the pain I tried to keep hidden." She pulled her head back and put her hoof to his chin, meeting his gaze and smiling a smile that etched itself onto the detective's mind. "Through your…uncaring of other's opinions and statures, you've gone on to show a care that has helped me through all of this" she told him, pulling his head towards her own as she met the advance with her own, pausing when their half-lidded eyes and slightly parted lips were but an inch away. "Thank you" she breathed as their lips met.

The beaten princess and broken detective both closed their eyes as they kissed, neither with the incentive to pull back, enjoying the intimacy. There was nothing to stop their embrace now, no second guessing, no threats of war, no nothing. It was just the two of them, melting into their kiss for as long as they could let it last. Celestia let her eyes close as she diverted her attention to her other senses, wrapping her hoof around the detective's neck and pulling him in close while Skulduggery caressed her cheek, both doing what felt natural in their lack of experience in intimacy. Well, true intimacy for Celestia.

The princess turned her head slightly as she pushed the kiss deeper, Skulduggery obliging her as he pushed back a little with her. Beyond their kiss and gentle caress, they went no further. She felt comforted by his presence, that she wouldn't have to face the coming hardship alone. In the back of her mind, she knew she had her sister, niece and Twilight anyway, but a more…romantic presence was a comfort like no other. Or at least, that was what Luna had once told her. And with the emotions sparking inside her at the moment, she was inclined to believe her.

The two fell back in their embrace, Skulduggery laying over Celestia's larger form as they held each other. They kissed and pecked in shorter intervals, getting their breath back after their long kiss, before they mutually pulled back, staring into each other's eyes.

"Well…that was something" Skulduggery commented, a smile on his face. The rare expression of happiness on the normally glum detective's face wasn't lost on Celestia who, smiling back, giggled a little.

"It sure was" she agreed, pecking his smiling face gently before pulling him into a hug. Despite his cold nature, the detective easily returned the embrace, feeling a better life ahead of him if he could lower his guard and just be a little warmer around somepony who obviously cared for him. With a small grin on his face, he wrapped his hooves around her neck and pulled her in as tight as she pulled him in. He was fairly sure that others had been hugged by Celestia before, but he doubted that anypony had held her in such an intimate fashion before. Well, maybe asides Luna.

They pulled back again, Celestia with a pink blush on her smiling face as she gazed up at the stallion. He had a smile of his own on his face, his cheeks a little red, as he gazed down.

"Celestia…" the detective started, gazing down at the mare of the sun, her midday sun catching her fur and making her glow in a beautiful golden light. She cocked her head slightly, her smile turning to a grin.

"Yes" she replied teasingly. Skulduggery couldn't help but grunt out a small chuckle at Celestia's antics.

"You asked me once if I wished to be your friend. Now I ask you, do you wish to be something more?" Celestia made an exaggerated display of thought.

"Hmm, that depends. What exactly are you asking me" she replied with a small titter. The hardened, ice cold detective chuckled again, rolling his eyes.

"I'm asking you, Celestia, if you…" He trailed off for a second, taking a moment to take in the surrealism of the moment; detective Skulduggery, private eye, asking princess Celestia out like a common colt and filly. He smirked at that image. "If you wish me to be your coltfriend, and you my marefriend?" Celestia felt like something was about to burst inside her, small tears of joy she couldn't see the extent of pushing through her eyes. She bit her lip gently before she answered, feeling her eyes water up a little. Once upon a time, she'd been disgusted at the thought of somepony saying those words to her, but now, it was all she wanted to hear. She leaned up, wrapping her hooves around Skulduggery as he let a hoof go to her jaw again, caressing her softly.

"Skulduggery" she began, her eyes going half-lidded once more, putting barely an inch between them "I thought you'd never ask" she answered, pushing her lips to his once more, the detective gladly returning her embrace as they met in another kiss. They let this one break after a shorter time, Celestia relaxing to her back, Skulduggery lying next to her as they held hooves, and basked in this spot of joy that she had been blessed with throughout this ocean of pain, longing and hatred. She got the impression that this relationship came from her being at a low point and wanting something to lift her spirits, but also that this was one decision she's made in the blindness of loss that she wouldn't regret. She heard Skulduggery chuckle. "What's the joke" she asked quietly, not taking her slightly dazed eyes of the ceiling. She felt him caress her hoof with his own, or, well, try to anyway, he was still inexperienced in this.
That said, he was still a pretty good kisser.

"Nothing, just wondering what this is gonna do for your social standing" he answered honestly. Celestia gave a small smirk of her own, huffing in small mirth.

"Well let's see; the Griffon king is constantly trying to woo me, failing miserably I might add, and he'd gonna be pretty pissed when I end up telling him I'm dating you" she replied, Skulduggery finding it both interesting and strangely comfortable when she spoke so relaxed with him around, though Glendrin attempting to court Celestia made him grunt, not to say it surprised him.

"Really? That pompous budgie tries to seduce you" he asked dryly. Celestia laughed at Skulduggery's choice of words, trying and failing to hold down her laughter by covering her mouth with her free hoof. When she thought it was safe, she made an attempt at speaking.

"Yeah, he-" Celestia clamped a hoof over her maw to stop herself from laughing again, pushing her hoof away from her to calm herself. When she was done, she started again.

"Yeah, every time he comes around for a trade meeting he invites himself up here to…try his luck, so to speak. Of course, it's as much fun as actually going bird hunting" she added, still smirking a little. Celestia wasn't about to mention what Glendrin asked of her, and regularly got, in order to keep things peaceful between their respective nations. It was something Celestia would never repeat, in fear of the utter shame that would come with the revelation.

To push the thoughts away, she turned her head to Skulduggery, lying almost seductively on her side. "And since when could you tell a joke" she asked, holding her head up with her hoof, an eyebrow raised. Skulduggery enjoyed the view.

"That wasn't a joke, I was just outlining a fact" he retorted. Celestia giggled a little, pecking him on the nose again. The clock chimed and they both looked over at it, finding that it had struck two in the afternoon. Celestia looked to her lover, her heart doing something funny when the word went through her head.

"Well, I shouldn't keep you away from your work any longer, detective" she sighed, slightly saddened by the fact that she couldn't keep him here.

"I don't have to leave" he answered. Celestia gave him a small smile.

"No, we don't want you to leave, but ponies will get suspicious if you're up here too long. You know the kind of conclusions the press can jump to" she reminded him. Skulduggery chuckled a little.

"That I do" he answered as he placed his hat on his head and stood from the bed. He turned back to her. "If you're sure I need to go" he said, trailing off. Celestia nodded once.

"Yes. I don't need headlines of 'Celestia dates commoner, royal family crumbles' or some other nonsense" she said with a small smirk on her face. "Besides, I think I need a little time alone to…reflect on things" she admitted. Skulduggery nodded in understanding, trotting for the door. He looked back and tipped his hat.

"I'll see you Celestia. If you need me, you know where to find me" he told her. Celestia gave him a sweet smile.

"That I do. I'll see you darling" she said playfully, electing a small laugh from Skulduggery.

"You too honey" he replied, getting a blown kiss and cute wink in return. Skulduggery sent her a grin and tipped his hat once more, his smile not leaving his face until he got outside the palace, and even then, he had to force it down so he could do his job properly.
In her room, Celestia's smile never once left her face as she fell to her back gazing at the ceiling in an almost lovelorn haze of giddiness and joy. She put a hoof over her heart, feeling it beat in her chest. He closed her eyes and giggled to herself, feeling just a little bit like a filly. She gazed upon the ceiling once more, her giddiness replaced with a gentle tone of happiness that generally came with something nice improving an otherwise horrid day. Blood Moon came back into the princess's mind, but it didn't make her unhappy.

Celestia sat up, resting on her flank, and sparked her horn to life. The album that had started her and Luna's short feud floated towards her, Celestia skimming through until she found the photo she'd had in mind. She decided that this day was the beginning of a new era for her; she decided to finally take some of Blood Moon's philosophy to heart. She wanted to live for herself, as well as her subjects. She decided to no longer be a slave. Her new relationship with Skulduggery was the start, a way of telling herself that she really didn't care if the rest of Equestria hated this. This was something she was doing for herself, no matter how 'selfish' some may call it. But at the same time, she felt such an occasion deserved a memento, something to mark its beginning.

She stopped flicking through the pages when her gaze fell upon the desired image. It was one of the few photos she had of Blood Moon in official regalia, the outfit and armour befitting the ruler of Equestria's bodyguard. Besides him, Luna and Celestia stood, Celestia standing only an inch below his full height while Luna stood at his chin. Nevertheless, all three were smiling, and it was for this Celestia had chosen this particular image. The three of them, happy, as a family. Back when times were good.

Slipping the photo out of its protective sleeve, Celestia sparked her horn to life once more. In response, a draw across the room opened itself and a gold frame floated out, coming to a rest next to the Alicorn. Taking it in hoof, she removed the back of the frame and placed the picture inside before setting it down on her bedside table. Celestia gazed at it with a small smile, gazing at her foalsitter.

Maybe, just maybe, his passing wouldn't be so b-

Knock, knock.

Without losing her smile but letting her manner go a little cranky, princess Celestia took a long, calming breath. She looked to the door, where the soft, almost reluctant knocking had come from. Standing from her bed, Celestia stood from her bed and trotted for the entrance to her room.

Opening the door revealed Twilight Sparkle.

Celestia was about to talk, or at least smile, before she noticed the condition of her faithful student. She was noticeably downcast, her posture sloppy, her eyes gazing at the floor while her face was blank asides a deep-rooted sadness, bags under her eyes suggesting she hadn't slept last night.

Celestia took a small breath and leaned her head down to her student, catching her eye. It was clear she'd been crying too, given the marks on her face.

'The poor thing. She'd probably never seen somepony die before…'

Giving her a sympathetic smile, Celestia put her hoof to Twilight's shoulder, rubbing her up and down gently and soothingly.

"Hello, Twilight" Celestia began. Twilight didn't answer. Celestia sighed quietly. "Would you like to come inside?" Twilight gaze a wordless nod, trotting slowly past her mentor. Celestia, not a little worried for her student, stepped out of her way before closing the door and following her in. Twilight came to a stop before Celestia's bed, falling to her flank lifelessly. More concerned than ever for her student's wellbeing, Celestia sat before her on the bed, gazing at her for a second before lifting her to the bed besides her with her magic. Sat besides one of the closest things to ever come to a daughter to Celestia, she put a hoof to her chin, lifting Twilight's gaze to her own. "Twilight, my faithful student…what troubles you?" Twilight swallowed gently.

"P-princess…do you think he's…he's happy, where he is?" The corners of the princess of the day's eyes went down as she figured out what was up with her student. Wrapping a hoof around her student's neck, she pulled her into a hug.

"Twilight…Blood Moon…he…" She sighed, deflating slightly. "Twilight, tell me, how did you know Blood Moon?" Twilight pulled back, gazing up at her teacher with sad and almost hollow eyes.

"We…we were friends…really, close friends… We met a few weeks ago. He came into town and…well, he quickly made a reputation for himself" she muttered as she remembered the assassin's first appearance. Celestia got the idea as to what 'reputation' related to. "After that, circumstances arose that made us tumble into each other's lives. Then…we became friends…we all did, Rarity, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow and Pinkie…" Twilight gave a small smile. "He touched all our lives…in ways we couldn't have imagined. This…stallion, who nopony knew a few days prior, just meandered into our lives and quickly made a huge impact on us all. We all consider him to be a part of our group, even if he is a little…unique" she finished quietly. Celestia gave a small smile; that sure sounded like Blood Moon. Celestia moved herself so she was laying besides her student, draping her wing over her comfortably as she lay her head down beside her.

"Twilight…did he ever tell you about his…troubled past?" Twilight gave a small 'mm-hm.' Celestia looked down in thought for a second; Blood Moon rarely spoke about his past, that being one of the ways he'd evaded her for so long; he'd made himself seem simple, boring. Forgettable, Impossible to track. For him to tell Twilight, and her friends, about his past said a lot about their relationship. "Then, Twilight, you know that…Blood Moon is exactly where he wants to be right now. He has lead a long life, full of heartbreak and pain. If there's anything that stallion wants in this world, it's an end to it all. I can guarantee you that." Twilight suddenly whipped her head up to Celestia, her tears flowing again, a deep hurt showing on her face.

"H-how could you say that" she asked, standing from beneath Celestia's wing. "He was my…he was my friend, he protected me and my friends…" She sniffled a few times. "He adopted Scootaloo, Ponyville has excepted him as one of their own, sorta. He had a life, a family again." Twilight then did something Celestia could never have seen her student doing before: she glared at her teacher. "You mustn't have known him very well at all, because all he wanted in this world was a reason to live, not to die" she argued, her tears pouring in earnest. "He didn't want to die" she told her teach half-heartedly, slumping to her front as her tears ran down her face "he didn't want to die" she said quietly before she curled into a ball, shaking as she cried again. Celestia put a hoof on her student's shoulder.

"I'm sorry Twilight…but…he…" Celestia couldn't think of anything to say, her mind going blank. Twilight was clearly in denial but…was she wrong? The solar princess lay down next t her, wrapping her hooves and wings around her student as she pulled her in close. "Twilight, I've known Blood Moon for a long time and I still make no claim to truly knowing him. He left me and my sister when we needed him most, stayed gone for over ten thousand years and when he came back, he came back to kill me." Twilight just sniffled again as Celestia lay on her back, holding the weeping mare like a mother would her upset foal. "But, if there's one thing Blood Moon showed me yesterday…" Twilight looked up at her mentor, finding tears running down her smiling face "it's that that stallion can make anypony cry, no matter the situation." She huffed in bad humour. "Would you believe me, Twilight, if I said that just before and during that battle, I wanted nothing more than to end that stallion? But right after, right as the light left his eyes…I wanted nothing more than for him to come back to me." She sighed gently. "That assassin's last act on this world was to save me. He brought me back from the brink, at the cost of his own life. I'm too sure what Father time will have done with him, but one thing is for sure…" Celestia sniffled, wiping her tears away "I'm gonna miss him" she admitted, her voice cracking. Celestia felt hooves on her, looking down to find Twilight hugging her, her hooves reaching as far around Celestia as she could manage. The princess of the day smiled slightly before she wrapped her own legs around her student, both planning to ride out their grief together.

Twilight fell asleep on Celestia before long, the solar princess letting her rest as the mare's exhaustion caught up with her. She'd had a trying few days, most, if not all, of them spent grieving for the Hunter. Celestia was still for most of the time, gazing blindly out of the window as she retreated back inside her head and memories. Celestia planned a small funeral for Blood Moon. She would cremate him and send his ashes to the wind. It would be poetic. Blood Moon would like that. After a while, day was taken by the evening, gold turning to bronze, and before Celestia knew it, it was time to lower the sun. Shining Armour came by to take Twilight back to their borrowed room, planning on taking his little sister to their parent's house tomorrow morning before escorting her back to Ponyville with them. Celestia felt it a good plan. If there was anything Twilight needed right now, it was to be surrounded by loved ones.

The princess of the day and sun stood upon her balcony, Luna on the watch tower, and both shifted their respective symbols to change the times. Celestia huffed. Change the times. Times really were changing. Blood Moon was gone, the political backlash was bound to hit tomorrow, repairs would have to begin, new champions to be chosen. A whole lot of work. But it wouldn't be all bad. She, Luna and Blood Moon finally had closure, she and Skulduggery would begin their first official day as mare and coltfriend (she was still a little giddy) and
Twilight had learned a valuable lesson in friendship.

How to let go of a friend that leaves you.

Celestia looked out at the night time world, looking for the darkest patches of darkness. This
was a new beginning. A new era. This was the start of a new age…

Celestia looked to the skies, watching the stars twinkle down at her, smiling gently as she returned his watchful gaze…

This, she knew, wouldn't be easy or nice. But maybe, she could get through it all.

Then she felt something cold tap on her neck.

A beauty to the madness

Chapter thirty: A beauty to the madness

Celestia didn't move nor breath, for fear of accidentally slicing her own throat. Only now could she feel the hooves on her back, the tingle in the air that was the unmistakable sensation of magic in use. The weight on her back was light, no doubt a small unicorn, two hooves low on her back, no doubt the hind legs, while another was lightly gripping her mane, pulling her head back to reveal the throat while she couldn't feel other fore-hoof, likely holding another weapon in case she disarmed the one in the pony's magical grip.

Despite all of this, Celestia wasn't panicked, hay, if anything she'd more or less been expecting this all day. Depressed, a severe lack of guards around the castle, she was tired, injured. Any assassin worth his salt would strike now. Still, blind hope invaded her mind for a brief second, forcing her to hold her breath for reasons beyond the fact she didn't want her throat opened twice in a week.

Taking a shallow, yet long-winded breath to clear her thoughts, she started talking in a diplomatic tone.

"If you were here to kill me, you'd have done so already" she told whoever was threatening her life. She heard a light, feminine snort.

"Get off her Loose Hoof" she said quietly, Celestia feeling the pressure on her back obey the voice coming from behind her. "Turn around, cast a spell or do anything I consider jumpy, and you'll soon find out where this stallion got his name" the mare's voice told Celestia. She decided to obey, for the time being, humouring this mysterious mare with obedience. She nodded her head once, curious as to where this would go. Celestia could practically smell the raised eyebrow.

"She seems rather calm. Do you think she was expecting us" the stallion, Loose Hoof, muttered to his cohort. The princess heard another small snort. It was likely both mares were thinking the same thing; Celestia was a princess, anypony of royalty was easily capable of holding her cool in such situations. Hay, the duchess of Buckingham once had a random stallion break into her chambers at Buckingham palace, only for her to keep him talking for ten or so minutes until the guards showed up and escorted him out. Celestia felt that, out of all the dukes and duchesses of the world, she liked her best.

Either way, both theories were correct; Celestia had more or less been expecting some kind of threat on her life and she indeed knew how to handle these kinds of situations calmly.

"So" she began once more, her voice just as calm and diplomatic as before "why are you here? I can only guess taking my life is not at the top of your list" she said. She felt the mare smile gently.

"Indeed. Your death is not on our list at all, or at least, not yet. We have other business with you" she said. Celestia cocked her head at the stars outside.

"Is that so? And what, pray tell, is said business?"

"Blood Moon" another female voice spoke up, this one a little deeper, a Manehatten tint to it. Celestia chuckled gently.

"Oh, how surprising" she said dryly. "I can only guess you caught wind of the news?"

"That he's dead? Of course. News reached Fillydelphia before you'd even given your speech earlier. Princess Celestia, I trust you wonder who we are." Celestia raised her eyebrow, an unimpressed half-smile going up with it.

"What gave it away" she replied, her voice as dry as the Saddle Arabian deserts. She heard the Manehatten mare give a small chuckle of her own.

"We, princess, are historians" she explained without answering the princess's jab "only, we are only interested in a specific story…" She trailed off, letting Celestia fill in the gaps for herself.

"Ahhh" the solar princess uttered gently "so…you've been documenting Blood Moon, hmm? And how long have you been doing this? A few years? A few hundred? A thousand?" She could hear the mares face turn slightly smug.

"Take that last guess, and multiply it by a factor of fifteen." Celestia frowned and went to look back at them, only to feel the steel of a blade against the back of her neck. Celestia stopped her efforts to gaze upon her captors, begrudgingly turning her head back to the outside world.

"Is that so" she said at last, her voice quiet.

"Indeed. We've been documenting his movements for as long as he's been alive now. Me and my ancestors have been watching him, recording him. It started as a means to replicate his immortality, but it has evolved into something more, something greater. To watch such a fascinating individual grow, learn, become strong, weak and everything in between." Celestia felt like laughing.

"So let me get this straight; you've been watching my old foalsitter throughout his whole life, observing him from afar. And he's never noticed you?"

"No. Not once" the mare replied "we've been completely invisible to him throughout our observations. Whenever we've actively watched him, too many to count were on his tail, and those instances were rare, highlights in his life that second-hoof accounts wouldn't do for.
Take the battle yesterday for instance." Celestia's mind went back to the battle within her walls. It felt so strangely far away to her now, despite the fact that barely two days had passed by. Celestia narrowed her eyes.

"That's impossible" she told them. She felt the mare cock her head.

"And why's that?"

"Because Blood Moon was the best of the best. He had no equal. There is no way somepony like you could keep track of him throughout his whole life, and never be noticed by him. Anonymity was one of his specialties, after all."

"If he has no equal why is he, lying dead, in your morgue?" Celestia bit back the insult.

"Because he was a good stallion, and a better father, who protected his charge until the end" she told them fiercely, close to breaking once more at the constant jabbing at her memories of the assassin. "Besides which…" she felt the mare cock her head once more "the only way you could keep track of Blood Moon, would be to have the best working for you" she told them.

"And?" Celestia gave a small laugh.

"And you don't have the best working for you. If you did, Blood Moon himself would be working for you, and Blood Moon works for nopony." She heard another small chuckle come from the mare.

"In that case, do you really believe we didn't have the best working for us?"

Celestia whipped her head around, ready to rip apart anypony who would disrespect her father's memory. Darkness greeted her. She looked around, tears of pain and frustration welling in her eyes as she clenched her jaw, her teeth bared and her horn aglow. She whipped her head all around, searching for her intruder. She didn't bother calling for the guards; whoever dared sneer at the Hunter's memory was hers and hers alone. But there was nopony there. Just her and the darkness, only the flickering of her fire illuminating the room.

'Wait, what?'

Celestia looked at the flickering fire, her memory void of the point she'd lit it. She trotted over to the fireplace, gazing over the seats before it. She and Blood Moon had spent many a late night sat in these, be it wrapped up in blankets as he read a book to her, or just cuddled up together on long, winter nights. One of the few memories that were more powerful that of her pictures, if only because it represented the closeness between them. Celestia sat her flank in one of the chairs, gazing at the flickering fire.

'Yes. This is going to be hard…'

She had a sudden longing for company, Skullduggery, Luna, Twilight, Cadence, somepony. Hay, the mailmare would be welcome right now. Although, she felt that what she'd said to Skullduggery earlier was correct, in its ways; she needed time alone, to be with her thoughts. Time to properly think and reflect on everything. Settling into her seat, she gazed around the room.

"Evening, Celestia." She jolted out of her mind, her relaxed and silent contemplation disturbed by a voice she knew all too well. Her eyes latched onto the chair opposite hers, and there he was. Blood Moon. In his unicorn form, as she best knew and loved him, how she best remembered him. Her eyes widened, tears welling as she reached a hoof over to him. She blinked a few times.

"B-Blood Moon" she asked shakily. He shrugged.

"What do you think?" She blinked a few more times.

"A-are you a ghost" she asked quietly. The assassin looked down himself.

"That depends. Am I dead?" Her eyes went sad again, her hoof going limp as she fell back into the seat.

"Yes" she muttered. Blood Moon shot her a small grin.

"About as wise as ever, Tia" he remarked. Celestia loosed a light sigh.

"Why are you here?" The dead stallion smirked at her.

"For the same reasons you've been blubbering all day, mourning me. For the same reasons you thought I'd abandoned you. For the same reasons you think it was a good idea to tell my story to the world. You're insane Celestia" he told her, his smirk still on his face. Celestia rolled her eyes.

"Wouldn't you know" she retorted. He shrugged.

"Well, I am a figment of your own mind" he replied "so I suppose I would." Celestia lowered
her gaze and shook her head at said head's antics.

"How do I get you to go away? As much as I miss you, I miss Blood Moon, not something my mind cooked up to either send me away on the crazy train, or try to comfort me in this time of hardship." She rubbed around her temples. "I have really got to go see the shrink" she mumbled. She looked up to find him lingering. "Well" she prompted. The phantom shrugged again.

"How would you get rid of me in life, Celestia?" She narrowed her eyes.

"I didn't want you to go. You left me" she shot back. He grunted.

"Nice" he muttered. Celestia sighed gently before she looked back up to the phantom.

“Am I really so nuts as to hallucinate you.” The dead pony merely shrugged.

“Evidently. You’re suffering mental trauma, far as we can tell” he replied. “Head wounds, possible brain damage and watching somepony die like that will do that to you.” Celestia just snorted.

“Guess that means it’s time for me to retire” she mumbled. The ghost shook his head, Celestia noticing the faint blur with the movements and his unnatural stillness, even by the assassin’s standards. He wasn’t even breathing.

“Oh come on, I’m a figment of your imagination and even I know that’s bullshit” the apparition snarked. Celestia chuckled.

“You know, I won’t lie, I’ve sort of seen this coming for a while now. But, if anything, I’m slightly disappointed with how...mundane my insanity is turning out to be.” The ghost crackled a laugh.

“You call this insanity? Nah, this is a sever case of longing and maybe even guilt. Insanity is when an assassin brings his last kill from the dead” he shot back, a smirk on his face. Celestia chuckled again. “But, Tia, know this; I do fear you’re not the same well-adjusted lady a raised. I am a figment of your insanity, and to put that in perspective, your hallucination just told you he’s an hallucinations, so, yeah, there’s that.” Celestia shrugged.

“At least you’re honest” she mumbled. The phantom didn’t react.

“I am you mania, those parts of your mind that are happy and creative and just so slightly homicidal. Sooner or later, you’re going to meet your dementia, and you will be by yourself. It will not be kind, it will not be patient and it will be all that you fear and hate. It will be your darkness” it told her.

“What… What should I do?” The phantom shrugged.

“What would He want you to do?” Celestia looked to the fire in thought.

‘Stand up. Be strong. Be free.’

“Why are you telling me this? Why are you helping me? And why in the hay does my mania apparate in the form of my foalsitter for crying out loud!” It shrugged.

“Because of the dark, light and grey in your head, I am the one constant you can rely on. I didn’t choose me, hay, I’m sure I’d be surprised that I’m not Luna, or your mother, or Faust, given the circumstances. Somepony who you could look to to always be there for you. But, in essence, I am the avatar your madness takes because I’m what your brain feels is going to give you a one-way ticket on the crazy train best. However, I am mania. And the goodness of that little bit of madness at the forefront of your mind far outweighs the bad, so, here I am.” Celestia only sighed.

“I want you to leave me” she said quietly. She didn’t quite believe her own words. “Please, leave” she asked, her gaze locked to the ground.

“I’m a figment of mental trauma and severe depression mixed with brain damage and head wounds. It ain’t that easy” it replied. Celestia sniffled once.

“Please just tell me. How do I get you to go?” The hallucination shrugged.

“You asked me that already, I already answered.” Celestia glared.

“You asked me how I’d get you to leave when you were alive. I told you that you abandoned me, that I never wanted you to go.” The phantom assassin grunted.

"Before I 'abandoned' you then" he replied. Celestia lowered her gaze again.

"I didn't have to. You were always there, but just out of sight until I needed you" she answered quietly. She looked up again to find him watching her with a kind smile on his face that didn't suit his looks one bit, but she felt was remarkably soothing against said features.

"Then that's where I'll be" he told her, his words making an impact on Celestia's heart.
She watched silently as he got up from the chair he'd sat upon, trotting past her, towards the shadows the light of the fire couldn't reach. He paused when he was next to her chair. He turned his eyes to her own moist ones, finding her conflicted, hurt and confused gaze watching him as he moved. He shot her a sudden smile, winking her way before he continued, talking quietly to himself.

"On those dark weary days and those cold windy nights, pray the assassin will watch over your plight" he sung to himself in a voice a little too merry for the occasion. He looked back over his shoulder at Celestia, casting her one last grin before he stepped into the darkness. "With blood on his hooves and death in his heart, the assassin will watch over from the end till the start" he finished, trotting into the darkness of the shadows.

With fresh tears rolling down her cheeks, Celestia sat back into her chair, a small smile on her face as the tiny reassurance that her foalsitter was comfortable in her head washed over her. Yes, that pretty much sealed the deal that she'd lost her grip on reality, but she'd rather be crazed and in the company of her foalsitter rather than being sane and alone. Probably not the most…sane, I guess, of choices but it suited her at the moment.

"With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall" she sang in her angelic singing voice.

"With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall.
The assassin will watch over all good colts and mares, always listening to their ever hopeful prayers. He will always watch over the weak and the poor, should you ever cross him he'll give you what for.

With blood on his blade and shrouded in night, the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall, year after year he will always stand tall.
The assassin will be there so silent and still, watching and waiting for the moment until. Those who have wronged you will fall to his blade, and never will he rest till the debt has been paid.

With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall..."

She’d enjoyed that song as a filly. He’d always sung it when it was too dark or scary for her to sleep, when her little mind created monsters and terrors of the night from shadows and small sounds in the night. It had always meant a promise to her, a promise few others who had heard in its lyrics, she felt. At least, not so personal, as real, as she had heard it.

That she was not alone.

Celestia bit her lip to stop it from wobbling. She wiped the tears away, looking back at the dark corner her foalsitter had disappeared into.

"Blood Moon?"

She got no answer. She stood from her chair, trotting over to the darkness, trying to peer through it, but it was hopeless; the darkness was like a fog, impenetrable to her. She trotted into the shadows in search of him.

"Blood Moon?"

Again, there was no answer. She looked around herself, suddenly finding she'd lost herself. Her bedroom was nowhere to be seen. She was lost in a dark void of fog-like shadows. She felt herself get scared.

"Blood Moon!"

There was still no answer. Celestia felt herself hyperventilating, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself. Celestia hated the dark. When the shadows were too thick to see through, when she didn't know who was there, when she couldn’t see the light at the edge. When neither the sun or moon was in the sky to guide her home. When she didn’t have a certain dark stallion to help her find her way.

She’d grown stronger. She didn’t need that stallion, any stallion. Skulduggery was real and true to her, and her heart. Shining Armour was somepony she could rely on to do his job and organise her armies when she could not. Blood Moon had once protected her. She didn’t need protecting anymore.

But here, in the dark, she needed him more than anypony.

She wasn't sure if this was a side-effect of her sun deity, or some kind of paranoid complex that had come about the first time an assassin had struck at her from the shadows. Her best guess was a mixture of both. The only thing that had kept her brave throughout her youth had been Blood Moon, but now that he wasn't here…

Celestia shook her head. She was probably going through some kind of traumatic…something, she hadn't read the chapter on physiological quirks that caused ponies to hallucinate during great loss. She began galloping blindly, looking for a way out of this fog.
There was none, no exit to this never-ending forest of darkness, just a fog that kept rolling, constantly obscuring her vision of more of the same blasted fog.

"Blood Moon" she cried out desperately, still galloping, her mind reeling and her body working overtime. Her lungs burned despite the short distance she'd gone, her mind a confusing tornado of thought and emotion, no coherent trail of thought going through her mind. She burst through a particularly deep cloud of fog, only to find that her perspective had changed. She was lower down, as far as she could tell given that fog looked pretty much the same from any height. Celestia looked down at herself, looking at her hooves; they were little again. She grabbed at her mane, finding it much shorter now, and gazing upon it revealed it to be a cute, dainty pink.

She was a filly again.

With this revelation came more fear. In her younger form, she wasn't capable of half, hay, a quarter of the spells she could perform as an adult. She couldn't fight, couldn't fly. The best she'd been reduced to was trying to get away from the danger. But the danger was everywhere. With renewed vigour, and terror, she fled.

"UNCLE MOON" she screamed in her filly voice, tears falling from her cheeks as she galloped like a mad-filly. "WHERE ARE YOU" she screamed desperately, still galloping.

"Celestia" a voice said. She skidded to a halt, looking around herself in confusion.

"Uncle Moon" she called again, tears still rolling down her cheeks.

"What are you doing, Celestia? Why do you gallop so? Why do you cry?" She sniffled a few times, her small hoof wiping away the tears.

"I-I'm scared" she answered. In reply, the dark stallion was formed from the fog cantering up to her pointedly.

“Why” it asked. Celestia sniffed.

“B-because-”

“Because you’re scared? Weak? Alone? Because you need your foalsitter?” Celestia felt tears tempt.

“No, because, I-I...I miss you” she told him. The phantom frowned.

“Do you? Are you not glad to see the back of me? The back of all of this? You’re as happy as you are sad Celestia, don’t try and deny it.” Celestia felt a tear crawl down her little cheek.

“No, that’s not true, when you died-”

“When you killed me?” Celestia’s tears fell in earnest.

“I DIDN’T KILL YOU” she screamed “you tried to kill me, you killed yourself, you were just too much of a coward to see it through” she told him, beating her hooves to the ground. The phantom cocked its head.

“Ahh, so you are glad I’m dead? You feel no remorse, no guilt, you throw away that which I did for you in sacrifice. Truly, a ruler to be feared and respected.” Celestia felt her tears again.

“I-I’m not a bad ruler! I’m loved and respected and-”

“Hated. And despised. And feared. You’re looked at with adoration when you smile down at the masses, but as soon as your back is turned they feel nothing but hatred, nothing but scorn. The other ruler are just as bad, they look at you as a whorse, an Alicorn who uses her body to get her way with griffons, who threatens the Changelings with destruction to keep them weak, who only tolerates the Zebras as long as they remain obedient. And, when the die is cast, and blow turns to blow, you differ to your student to do the dirty work and hide behind the Elements of Harmony.” Celestia broke down, falling to her side and curling up, bawling into her hooves.

“THAT’S NOT TRUE” she scream, sobbing “NONE OF IT’S TRUE!” She sobbed and brawled. “None of it’s true…” He leaned his head down.

“You know it is” he told her. She cried and sobbed harder. He grunted and stood. "Didn't I teach you anything" he demanded in a growl, trotting around her. He threw his hoof in the air in aspiration, making the filly princess flinch in her ball. "Never to be afraid, not to cower" he demanded. Celestia hid her head under her hooves, trying to escape her foalsitter's ranting. He was silent for a second. "WELL" he roared.

"Y-you told me to never be afraid" she answered quietly "but you told me that you'd always be there for me. Why should I listen to anything you'd say when you lie all the time?" She stood again, not remembering when she'd risen, and glared her uncle in the eye. He glared back, red meeting purple in a fierce battle of will.

"Don't question me" he told her, his voice a deadly growl. Celestia's glare went deeper.

"THEN DON’T LIE TO ME" she screamed in his face, both on the opposite end of the angry scale. His hoof flashed so fast she couldn't react to his strike, she didn't even know what had happened until she'd landed several meters away. She whimpered and sniffled, laying on her side, watching her foalsitter glare at her.

She stood shakily.

"You're not my foalsitter" she told him, trotting slowly up to him "you're the monster he thinks he is, but you're nothing like him." She held her sore cheek in her hoof. "He'd never hit somepony he loved." She took another step towards the phantom. "You're evil, a monster, you're nothing like him" she shouted, feeling her strength return to her. She stalked closer, the stallion staying stock still. "Now get out of my HEAD" she roared, starting as a filly only to grow into the powerful mare she was, her voice blasting away the phantom that was the darkness in her heart, the stallion filtering away to ash.

Celestia closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths, clearing her mind. Once she was sure her head was clear, the solar princess took a few ragged breaths, her eyes narrowed and her teeth bared.

"Celestia" the voice said.

"I told you to get out of my head" she snapped, a primal rage finding her eyes.

"Celestia" the voice said again, the fog around her drawing in. The princess of the day let her horn glow its gold, growling at the darkness around her growing closer, an almost claustrophobic feeling overcoming her.

She let her horn glow a bright aura of light to ward off the approaching darkness, only for it to easily eat through her magic.

"Celestia" the voice said again, sounding closer to her than before.

The princess of the day blinked her eyes open, only to find that she was laying on her side in pitch darkness, something obstructing her view of anything else.

"Celestia" the voice said again, nudging her a few times. She groaned and held her head in response, a pounding headache ripping through her skull without warning. She felt sick. Sitting on her flank, using the guard or whoever it was as a support to sit up, still holding her
head. "Are you alright?" She nodded groggily.

"Yes, I think. Just overcoming my fear of the dark" she muttered.

"You can't like Iron Mareden all that much then" the voice muttered, Celestia electing to chuckle slightly at the bad joke. She opened her eyes to find the assassin stood before her again.

"Oh, hello again" she told the apparition. The dead stallion cocked his head.

"Evening, well, night" he replied. Celestia watched him shrug away the decision with an air of hopelessness about her, a long winded sigh she hadn't released running through her system like a pressure begging for release. She hung her head and leaned it on the assassin's shoulder.

"Blood Moon…please don't leave me again. I can't imagine life without you. I have my sister,
Twilight, Cadence…but I want my foalsitter. I want my bodyguard. My uncle, the closest thing me and Luna have had to a father. I want my daddy. Please don't leave me again" she begged. She felt the stallion wrap his fore-legs around her neck, pulling her into a hug.

"Alright Celestia" he told her. Celestia relaxed into his hold, a strange sense of relief washing over her. Then she blinked.

She'd relaxed into a phantom's hold?

She sat up, leaning back in her dark corner, and could do nothing as her jaw came loose. Her hooves travelled over his face, touching it, remembering it but above all…feeling it. It was there. A few shocked, choked noises came out of her as she looked upon him. His red eyes, the scar, his wrinkles, the dirty mane, the sliver of flesh taken from his ear…the everything. Her hooves kept going, looking all over him. His neck, his body, two, three, all four legs, his tail…everything!

"B-B-Blood M-…u-uncle Blood…d-d-d…" she looked over his face again "daddy?" A small, half sad and half happy smile found his face.

"Hey Tia. I've missed you" he replied. Celestia replied by lunging at him.

And she laughed. She smiled. Tears of joy ran down her face as she held him close, hugging him for all her worth as she rolled around in the light of the fireplace, just glad to be with him again as she made up a lot of lost hugging time.

"Celestia" he said again. The princess of the day quickly caught herself, pulling back and looking at him.

"W-what" she asked, afraid that he wasn't here with good intentions and she'd just made a bit of a fool of herself. He grinned again, pulling his legs from beneath her constricting hug and wrapping his fore-legs around her neck and pulling her in close, Celestia relaxing and laughing again as they held each other for the first time, in a very, very long time, laying in the flickering light of the fireplace as she hugged and laughed, the assassin doing the same as he reveled in holding onto his little girl again, the two rolling around as they laughed and smiled and hugged and squeezed more than either had in millennia. She nuzzled and squeezed him like nothing she ever had before, not even Sparks (the name of her stuffed Phoenix) had been hugged this tightly by Celestia. Tears of joy, relief, the release of the overwhelming force that was the end to such longing and pure emotional ecstasy leaked from their closed eyes, Tia openly weeping onto her foalsitter while the same said stallion elected to cry into his daughter's shoulder.

All else was forgotten for Celestia, only the fact that he was back again occupied her mind in its entirety. She sobbed and laughed at the same time, shaking with each successive release of emotions, holding onto the dark stallion as she tried not to get swept away on a sea of emotions.

It was an indescribable, indescribable feeling, having him back after everything she'd gone through; think relief of scratching an itch after leaving it too long. Think the happiness of a husband or wife has when their partner comes home alive and well from war. Think the unreserved love a mother or father has for their children, and the children for their mother an father. Now imagine these feelings were put a hair's breadth away from your grasp, and you knew exactly how to find that extra reach, but just couldn't find it in you. A feeling of unrest, sadness and loathing all bolstered by the fact that you knew it was something about yourself that was stopping you from attaining it, an overwhelming feeling of self-hatred because of your own flaws that were stopping you.

Then imagine you'd overcome those flaws. A great dam would break, an end to the torture, an end to the grief and an end to the hate, all washed away by one fell swoop, and with this, the self-loathing would go with it. Imagine that cocktail of emotions, all centered around ten thousand years of a father and daughter split apart through nothing but, as they could see now, their own silly pride, their misplaced hatred of one another and their concern for the political backlash that would hit them.

"Blood Moon, dad" Celestia began as they relaxed on the floor.

"Yeah Tia" said assassin replied. The solar princess leaned her head back and gazed at the face of her protector.

"I've missed you" she told him. The dark stallion gave a hoarse laugh.

"You have no idea, how badly I've missed you too" he replied, kissing her tear-stricken cheek gently. Celestia gave a small chuckle, that devolved into giggles, which devolved into all-out laughter once again as she squeezed him tight, tighter than strictly comfortable, but neither squeezer nor squeeze really cared. After a while of laying together on the floor for a while more, basking in the hugs, company and general feel-good sensation of being back together, Celestia spoke up again.

"Blood Moon?"

"Hmm?"

"I have a question." Blood Moon leant back to properly look upon his daughter, his eyebrow raised slightly.

"Yes" he asked, already having a good idea where this was going. Celestia face broke into a hurt pout, not befitting the title princess nor said princess's age one bit, as she dumbly beat her hooves over her old foalsitter's head.

"What the buck" she demanded, Blood Moon amusedly fending off her attacks by raising his fore-legs to stop her hooves reaching him.

"Stop hitting me and I'll explain" he laughed. Celestia quickly gave up her valiant attempt to tap at his skull and picked herself up, sitting on one of the armchairs as Blood Moon stood before her. When he opened his mouth to speak, she cut him off before he got a word out.

"Wait, wait just one second" she asked, springing up again hastily, landing on her hooves before her horn flared and she disappeared in a flash of light.

Meanwhile.

"Thank you Fancy Pants, the night court and Canterlot as a whole thanks you for your generosity in helping rebuild Canterlot, despite your home being out of harm's way." The blue mane and tailed noble simply bowed.

"It's nothing, your highness" he said honestly. Before Luna could get another word out, perhaps to commend the stallion or dismiss him, the princess of the night's sister appeared in a flash besides her, grabbed her and flashed away again, leaving the ponies attending night court remarkably stunned.

When the rulers of night and day landed in Celestia chambers, Luna teetered on her hooves for a second, rubbing her head to be rid of the leprechauns dancing a jig in there.

"Damnit Tia, you can't pull me out of night court like that! I swear to Father Time, if you've been at the cider again I'm gonna-" She got no further before she noticed Blood Moon stood before her and her sister, watching them a little awkwardly, an almost sheepish smile on his face. Luna blinked a few times, her right fore-leg groping at the air in search of her sister, her mind blind and deaf to everything that wasn't her sister or foalsitter. Eventually, Celestia moved so her sister could rest her fore-leg on her back, the princess of the night pulling her in so she didn't have to speak up. "Fair sister" she began regally.

"Yes princess Luna" Celestia replied in the same manner.

"Is…is that…is that our" she sniffled, hiccupping slightly as tears leaked from the third pony's eyes "foalsitter" she squeaked in a tone Fluttershy would be better accustomed to. She shifted her gaze away from the stallion stood dumbly before her, looking at her sister. The princess of the day was nodding. Blind, deaf, numb and somewhat dumbly, Luna released her sister, trotting hesitantly over to him. She reached a hoof out, retracting it, reaching out again and retracting her hoof once more before she just took another step towards him and swung her hoof so hard he flew halfway to Tia's bed, the princess of the night lunging after her. "YOU SON OF A BITCH" she screamed, pummeling him relentlessly.

"Actually" he said, blocking, parrying and dodging most of her strikes "my mother was a whorse" he corrected, prompting Celestia to hide her laughs behind her fore-hoof, watching them from behind with wet eyes, while Luna's clumsy strikes were slowly reduced to her laughing alongside her sister.

Once the younger of the two sisters and the father had finished their cuddles, their time interlocked in each other's loving hooves shorter than the foalsitter's and Celestia's but by no means less touching, cute or deeply needed to the two ponies, the three had retired to sitting on Celestia's bed, the two sisters watching Blood Moon with ever so slightly pointed gazes as he began to explain to them what had happened.

"Well, for starters" he began "turns out I really can't die" he said somewhat disappointedly, the corners of both mare's eyes going down as he spoke.

"Indeed. I had assumed you'd go to the Alicorn afterlife, having died as one" Celestia commented. The assassin hummed his agreement.

"It's somewhat disappointing, actually" he remarked, prompting both sisters to shuffle a little closer to him. "But lemme tell you, waking up in a morgue? Not the most pleasant of experiences" he said in an attempt to lighten the mood. While Luna tittered quietly, Celestia frowned.

"Wait, so you didn't turn to ash?" He shook his head, his own brow frowning.

"It seems not, no. It seems it takes much longer for me to return to life as an Alicorn too" he explained. He turned his red eyes up to them, almost shamefully. "I…suppose everypony's been-"

"Completely torn up about your passing, yeah, you could say that" Luna spat, but couldn't hold down the small, choked sob. Celestia nodded her head.

"Indeed" she added spitefully "I've been going mad with the grief, Twilight has barely spoken and, as far as I know, the Elements of harmony have been in much the same state" she told him. All's Blood Moon could offer in return was an apologetic smile.

"I see" he said at length before he went quiet for a while. He huffed in bad humor. "I get the feeling everypony is going to be rather pissed off." The two princesses raised an eyebrow. "My bet is that all of yesterday and most of today has been spent in grief at the loss of our favorite assassin. I get the feeling a few ponies are going to be either disappointed or annoyed that I've come back again." He let a grin stretch across his maw as he leaned back, resting his head on his fore-hooves. "Funny ol' world, is it not?" At the lack of response, he turned his gaze down to look at the princesses. They were not amused. The assassin took a long breath. "Alright" he began "let's hear it." Luna and Celestia exchanged a look, almost speaking telepathically. Luna began.

"Where do your loyalties lie" she asked. A somewhat blunt and straight forward question, but not one that could be pranced around. It was an important point for both the rulers and assassin alike, Blood Moon cocking his head slightly in thought.

"Where they always have" he replied. Both princesses narrowed their eyes.

"That doesn't answer the question" Celestia told him. He sighed, looking away.

"My loyalties lie with myself and my own goals." He looked back to the mares. "But, it also depends on a few factors; for example" he put a thoughtful look on his face "would you be willing to accept a dumb old stallion back into your lives." Both solar and nocturnal mare's eyes welled up at his request, but decided not to answer that question just yet.

"Why" Celestia asked after a while of silence. Blood Moon cocked his head again. The simple, and vague, question of 'why' pertained to many things. He went for the one he'd most like to answer.

"We needed to get it out of our systems. Celestia, you and I have been at odds for ten millennia. That kind of grief and anger wasn't going to go away with a conversation like this. For either of us" he added pointedly. "I attacked Canterlot for two reasons; one, to make sure I could truly test your metal, and two, so I could be sure you and I had a real chance to…work our grievances out" he said with an 'I guess' kind of shrug. Celestia bit her lip gently in thought, Luna watching her sister think; she'd noticed how the assassin's answer had been aimed at Celestia more than herself, given her and her father's reconciliation in their dreams. All three were quiet for some time.

“By your actions, hundred, maybe thousands, of guards are dead. Not to mention your assassins too” Luna told him, her eyes narrowing slightly “Light Guard, Geod, Deadwing, you’re only lucky Shining Armour, Twilight’s brother, was out of town when you attacked.” Her narrowed eyes turned to a glare. “I don’t think I speak just for myself when I say you need to face justice for your crimes.” Blood Moon only grunted.

“The Shadow Weavers knew what they were getting into; they’re too proud to admit the threat of death lingers over them. They weren’t afraid to die” he told them. Luna didn’t let her glare up.

“That changes nothin-”

“That guards? Lu-Lu, Tia, let’s get one thing straight” he tapped his chest with his words. “Bad. Guy” he said, drawing both words out. “I don’t care about their fatalities, the Shadow Weavers were under orders to keep their fight to those who fought back. The guards who died were strong enough to kill. They were either strong enough to die, or they deserved to die for their arrogance and cowardice.” Luna snorted, going to speak once more. “And I am not the one who put your Champions between me and Celestia” he cocked his head “I’m not the one who put anypony between me and Celestia.” Luna huffed, looking remarkably pissed off, while Celestia quietly hung her head in shame. In retrospect, she now wished she had been at the front of her pack.

“You...you...you demon-tongued motherbucker” Luna grumbled, crossing her fore-hooves like an upset filly not getting her way. Blood Moon just smirked.

“Comes with the territory” he shrugged. “Beyond which” he told them both “I’m below the law.” They both frowned at his choice of words, the stallion chuckling. “Those above it think it so because of their power, wealth and influence. Those below know it so because they know how to evade it” he explained.

They were quiet for a while, mainly so Celestia could use the quiet to go over obviously consuming thoughts in peace. Blood Moon watched her eyes move back and forth, her head bowed as she gazed aimlessly at the covers of her bed, while Luna didn’t take her eyes off of Blood Moon. She couldn’t decide what she was going to do if she found herself lunging at him again; try to kill him, or just hug him more.

After more quiet waiting, Celestia looked up again.

“You were frontal so we could fight?” He nodded. “Why not just...I don’t know challenge me to a duel? Why waste so many lives?” He snorted.

“The battle makes for more interesting reading” he said with a grunting laugh “no doubt future generations will look forward to Canterlot history week and enjoy reading over ‘The Battle of Princess and Assassin’ or something along the lines. That, and a duel would be too simple, too formal, too...boring. Beyond which, in traditional Canterlot duels, katanas are outlawed by the third paragraph of the weapons chapter of the rule book. ‘No weapons not forged on the isles of Equestria’.” Luna frowned.

“Since when do you care about rules?” He shrugged.

“Tradition, formalities. If we, the oldest being of Equestria, don’t keep them alive, who will?” Celestia was waving her hoof to hush them, her brow furrowed.

"Alright, I… I see why you attacked en masse" she said at last, her gaze distant. She seemed to be in thought again. "But…" She trailed off. Blood Moon nodded.

"I know" he said. He took a long breath through his muzzle. "I don't know. I just…did" he told her. Celestia's gaze hardened for the first time in their impromptu meeting.

"No. I'm not taking that for an answer" she hopped off the bed to pace around, as she usually did when ranting or venting. Here, it was more or less both. "Blood Moon, you've been gone for more than ten thousand years. Yesterday, I saw you for the first time, the first time, in ten thousand years! And then I watched you die" she told him as she turned her hard yet slightly moist gaze to them "I've been broken in grief for the past day, something I never want to go through again, and now" she looked him up and down, forcing her lip to stop wobbling "now I suddenly have you back" she almost squeaked. She took a second to gather herself. "I don't know about Luna, and frankly, she seems to be taking this a might better than I am, but I'm…I'm…I don't know! I'm confused, I'm happy, I'm sad, I'm…bucking angry" she seethed "and, through all this, I think I'm entitled to a little more than 'I don't know'!" She sniffled gently. "So you answer me, NOW!"

With an ever open ear, Blood Moon took in every word. It pained him to know that Celestia herself had been through such mental torture. Her words reminded him of the fact that he'd more or less known this throughout all of his absence, only at the time he'd been blinded by the fact that her anger had shrouded her pain. It made him think.

He hopped from the bed and trotted towards her, stopping a few paces away.

"Alright Celestia, you want my answer, you want me to tell you why I abandoned you? I'll tell you. At the time, I thought it was because I didn't want anything to do with ruling a country, have anything to do with commanding. Maybe it still is. I thought I didn't want anything to do with the nobles outside of ending them. I still don't." He sighed. "But, not too long ago, Luna and I…stumbled into each other" he told her, making Celestia frown. "She made me realize, that…there is nothing I can think of, nothing I can imagine, that can make up for the pain of missing you, and missing Luna. So there's my answer Celestia. I don't know. I was young and foolish, I didn't know the pains of loss properly. There is no reason." Celestia swallowed deeply, her angry gaze only slightly marred by her tears.

"Because you were selfish" Luna said from behind him. Both Blood Moon and Celestia looked over at her, finding her stood from the bed and trotting towards her sister and foalsitter. Blood Moon frowned.

"What?" Luna glared.

"You valued your personal freedom over the welfare of you charge. Your own children." She held something back, but neither Blood Moon nor Celestia could tell if it was an insult, tears or something else. Luna stood and trotted over to them, her steps measured but somewhat shaky in her emotional turmoil. She trotted around the assassin and stood beside her sister. It wasn't lost on Blood Moon that Celestia had made no move to stop or disagree with her.

When Luna was next to her sister, she restarted her flow of hurt and shaming.

"When you left, Blood Moon, you took with you our trust. Did you know that neither of us have truly accepted the companionship of anypony else beyond each other? Tia only started taking on students because she was lonely when I became Nightmare Moon! Hay, if you hadn't left, it's likely I never would have become Nightmare Moon" she spat. Neither Blood Moon nor Celestia knew where this was coming from all of a sudden, but the dark stallion suspected it had something to do with either his re-reappearance, or his admittance of having no reason to abandon them. She drew a long breath. "I can't blame you for leaving because of the prospect of dealing with nobles, but I can, and will, blame you for leaving your only children. Your family."

We she finished, there was a strange stillness in the room. Blood Moon felt mildly insulted, Luna felt like something had been lifted from her chest while Celestia was glad that her sister had taken the opportunity to vent and grieve openly. To their surprise, the assassin responded by narrowing his eyes.

"So that's what you think, eh? You think that, I had every reason to leave, but I shouldn't have because of you two?" Luna held fast. His eye twitched gently. "If you think, for one second anything I've done through my life hasn't been just, you'd be right, but selfish? I looked after you, protected you, damnit, raised you for four thousand years. Throughout that time, everything I did was for the pair of you, every decision I made, every thought I had, every breath I drew and every beat of my heart was for you. Perhaps, I was in the gutter when your parents found me, perhaps, I loved every second of being with you, but that doesn't change the fact that, yeah, I live for myself and those I love. I don't take orders, and you two knew that. And, despite this, what did I spend four thousand years doing? Huh!" Both Luna and Celestia looked away, both without answer. Luna bit her lip lightly.

"I…I…y-…" Beyond that, she hadn't much to say. The assassin relaxed himself, a quiet sigh escaping him.

"Before you start accusing me of being selfish, perhaps you should take into consideration what I've done to earn being 'selfish'." Luna looked slightly ashamed.

"I…I'm sorry, I shouldn't-"

"Don't worry about it" he interrupted, raising his hoof "despite it all…I understand your…views…" His words prompted a small smile from Luna, Celestia glad of the understanding between the three of them. "But, I have some unfinished business" Blood Moon told them. Both princesses looked at him in confusion, Luna frowning while Celestia raised an eyebrow. In response, Blood Moon drew a blade from the ether, the familiar blade of the Messorem slipping from its hole in the universe. Luna gasped as Celestia took a single step back as he held the blade, now resized to better suit his smaller form, besides him. Luna gulped slightly while Celestia wished Sunrend was close by or, better yet, she could perform the assassin's Void Sheath spell.

"Blood Moon, what are you-" Luna was cut off when the assassin's blade flashed. The younger princess flinched, Celestia moving her hoof to protect her, but it was too late. Or, would have been, if the katana had been aimed for her.

Instead, the tip of the blade met the ground, resting gently upon the marble of Celestia's chambers, and its owner-

Both princesses gasped quietly, Celestia's hoof going to her maw while Luna swallowed gently, her lower jaw having apparently too heavy to stay up. When they had both been young, Blood Moon had explained something to them. Luna had asked him why her real father didn't like him, and Celestia had interjected with 'because he doesn't bow,' rather brightly, before he could reply. That day, he'd told them something. That he'd promised himself, because of all he'd been through and everything he was capable of, he'd never bow. Take knee, perhaps, to those whom he deemed worthy, but he never lowered his gaze. In fact, the only time he had was when he'd bowed before Rising Sunset the day he'd proposed. An, altogether, too magical night for the mare if rumors were to be believed. But beyond that, there were no stories, tales, rumors…anything, of the Hunter bending his knee. And here he was, doing just that, to the two highest symbols of authority, the thing he hated second-most in this world.

"Celestia, Luna" he began, his voice carrying well as he spoke to the marble floor "I kneel before you now, to ask for you forgiveness. Ten thousand years ago, I committed an atrocity against you, against myself and against the spirit parenthood across time. I abandoned you. This I know now, and I wish to atone for my sin. Princess Celestia Daywalker, and Princess Luna Daywalker" he looked up and looked right into their eyes "I ask of your forgiveness, and apologies. With all my heart, I apologies."

Both looked on with tears in their eyes. To any other, this would be the simple, and well-deserved, apology of a stallion who knew he'd done wrong. But to the princesses, who knew this pony, who knew this stallion… It was, meant and represented, something so much more. It told them he genuinely regretted something he'd done, something he'd once told them and himself something he never did, and regretted it to such an extent he wished to atone. Yet again, something he'd never done before in such honesty.

Luna had taken a small step forward.

"I forgive you" she told him readily, if somewhat shakily, putting a hoof to his shoulder as tears fell from her face once more. Only now, they were not aimed at what had once been, or what was happening at the moment, but what may happen in the future. Celestia herself swallowed the lump in her throat, looking over the serene seen with a sense of serenity. Tears leaked from her eyes, prompted by the same emotions and realizations Luna. Celestia herself, took a single step forward.
'A small step for a pony…one giant leap for…for…I don't know, a cricket or something-this isn't going as I planned...'

She put a hoof to his shoulder, leaned her head down to his, and spoke softly.

"I forgive you, father" she told him. She couldn't tell for sure, but a weight seemed to have lifted from Blood Moon's shoulders. He raised his head, standing straight again, and looked at his daughters in a new light. He took a long, quiet breath.

"Thank you" he told them. They smiled in return, the assassin not giving them long before he threw his hooves around them and hugged the both of them tight, the two princesses returning his sentiments to their fullest as they held each other in a way they hadn't in a long, long time. The two mares felt the stallion shaking.

"Blood Moon, are you…" Luna trailed off as they pulled back, finding him with a smile on his face and tears running down his face.

"Would you look at that…I got my other little girl back, and all's it took was my dying, tearing everypony I love apart, coming back and bowing for the first time in five millennia" he commented, almost absently. Both Luna and Celestia chuckled slightly at his words, all of them looking between each other with damp eyes and smiles on their faces.

After a while of blissful silence, the dark stallion swallowed down his emotions and spoke up again.

"So, uhh…now what" he asked, the three of them suddenly having no idea what to do with themselves. Luna cocked her head, masking her suggestion as an errant thought she'd plucked from the air.

"Well, Elder Scroll probably called off night court, sooooo…" she looked between her foalsitter and sister "Killable Kombat" she suggested.

Neither stallion nor mare could think of an argument.

As was the case was most fun, it went by way too fast for the ponies involved. Though, as the darkness of night cleared, the true nature of the princesses and Blood Moon's relationship was revealed to be somewhat…rocky.

As the night had gone by, while the glee of reuniting was still strong in the air, it became clear that their initial concerns had not been misplaced. Though easy going and laidback, Blood Moon still felt a little bad for leaving his daughters, while at the same time, ten thousand years of avoiding the mares whom flanks he had been kicking at the tournament fighter (Blood Moon- 96 wins, 84 losses. Celestia- 10 wins, 48 losses. Luna- 74 wins, 48 losses) last night, seemed to have left him slightly tense around them. Primarily Celestia, who seemed to still be bitter with her foalsitter after the overbearing happiness of hugging him again wore off. Luna, however, was both more loving of Blood Moon than her sister and more forgiving of him than same said sister.

As such, while Blood Moon and Luna shared a loving embrace at the end of the night, when it came time for her to bed down for the day, the assassin and solar princess had shared a wry smirk and foreboding grin. There were likely to be pranks in the coming days.

"So…now what" the dark stallion repeated. Celestia responded by rubbing her stomach gently.

"First thing's first, cancel my dinner appointments. Who'd have thought Luna could keep that much pizza, candy and soda hidden in her room?" Blood Moon replied by chuckling dryly, feeling his stomach hang a little lower than it had before. The duo came to a stop at the end of the corridor leading to the princesses and their bodyguard's chambers.

"But, in all seriousness, where do we go from here? As we know, the nobles aren't going to like this, Canterlot needs repairs as well as a magnitude of other things." Celestia nodded her head, mentally paper clipping 'plant banana milkshake on Blood Moon's door' to that list. Old, but gold. In more ways than one.

"I think, to start, we should tell everypony that you're alive, and work our way from there" she replied. Blood Moon nodded.

"Everypony, who needs to know" he corrected. Celestia shrugged a shoulder in response.

"That depends. Who needs to know?" Blood Moon shrugged in reply.

"Well, Twilight and the Elements, for one."

'No doubt I'll have to get word to the rest of the Weavers too.'

"That reminds me" came the solar princess's voice, snapping the stallion from his thoughts "just what is your and my faithful student's relationship? From what I can tell, you seem close" she commented. A strange look found her face. "You're not…" Blood Moon guessed where she was going and, instead of giving her a straight answer, gave her a 'bitch please' kinda look. Celestia looked relieved. "Well, that's good to know." Blood Moon was undecided as to what that pertained to, given that she'd answered his un-straight answer with one of her own.

"Where are they, anyway" he asked as they trotted through the empty hallways. Both ponies were glad of the fact that there were no guards to disturb them, namely because they were likely to try and arrest the assassin.

"They're probably getting ready to go now. I remember Shining Armour saying he was going to take Twilight to their parent's house" she replied. The stallion hummed in understanding before he frowned.

"Twilight's parents live here? In Canterlot?" Celestia nodded.

"Yes, didn't you know Twilight was noble born?" Blood Moon frowned.

"I didn't" he said at quiet length.

'Just goes to show how little we've actually discussed about ourselves…'

"Either way, we should be able to catch them before they leave" she told him.

As they trotted, a somewhat familiar sense of tension overcame both mare and stallion, both sending small glances each other's way.

"Blood Moon…" Celestia began. The assassin turned his head her way. "Will you answer me something?" The dark stallion smirked at her choice of words.

"If you do the same for me" he retorted. Celestia gave a shallow nod before straightening up, looking along their path as the assassin kept his eyes on her.

"Why…why did you choose now, to come back?" Blood Moon slowly turned his head until he was looking in the same direction as his daughter, before he grunted.

"Because…hmm, I guess because it was only now I was given a reason. Reasons, I guess." Celestia looked back to him.

"Go on" she prompted. He grunted again.

"I saw Luna again, had a chance to talk. Had a chance to go over old memories." Celestia smiled slightly.

"Yes…I think I remember her saying something like that" she said with a small frown. He grinned.

"What, before or after you bucked her?" Celestia almost tripped as she spluttered and tried and failed to get words out, looking desperately up and down the corridor they trotted.

"Sh-sh-she told you about that" she hissed, his voice slightly panicked and her expression blushed. He turned his unbearable grin to Celestia.

"Every. Single. Detail, Molestia" he smirked. Celestia groaned as she put her hooves over her face in utter embarrassment, laying on the floor and wishing the world would just swallow her up. Unfortunately, her luck wasn't that good and it was her uncle who was the earthbender of the family. Blood Moon just stopped with her and cackled like a mad stallion. She peeked from behind her hooves and watched him laugh for a second before another thought entered her mind.

"Did…did she tell you…"

"What, how you…reacted, shall we say? Yeah she told me" he said as he helped her up. "You know Tia, you can be a real bitch sometimes" he informed her politely. Celestia hung her head.

"Yes, I know, I don't think she's even forgiven me yet" she mumbled. The stallion gave her a sympathetic look.

"Well, if you need an impartial third party you help you two talk it out…" He trailed off. Celestia gave a small snort.

"What, like an uncle, or father, or…"

"Foalsitter" he ventured. The princess frowned at him.

"Would you stop calling yourself that? I don't need a foalsitter anymore." Blood Moon stifled a laugh badly.

"Bollocks, do you. You do realised I am going to tuck you in tonight, right?" Celestia had to bit her lip to hold down the laugh.

"Anyway, we're getting off topic. What were you saying before" she asked in an effort to sway the subject away from her age-appropriate needs.

"Yeah, right. Anyway, besides that there were a few other…occurrences that prompted a visit" he said cryptically. Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"Such as…" Blood Moon stopped trotting.

"For one…" he paused and looked the Alicorn up and down, gauging her "Celestia, I have reason to believe you ordered an attack on Twilight" he told her bluntly. Celestia blinked, once, twice, thrice.

"What" she answered eloquently.

"While I was in Ponyville, the guard lieutenant, Hardhoof, one of the Goldhooves, abducted the Elements of Harmony, specifically to get to me." He narrowed his eyes. "After exhausting all other trails and reasonable possibilities, I'm left with you. So, I'll ask you: did you order Hardhoof to abduct Twilight, and her friends, to draw me out?" Celestia looked mildly insulted, her mouth agape. She narrowed her own eyes.

"Let me put it to you like this; when you looked after me and Luna, would you have had a guard abduct me and her for a pointless venture?" She leaned her head in, her gaze of fire making a valiant attempt at intimidating the laid back assassin. "Oh, and Blood Moon, I suppose I should tell you; if you accuse me of making an attempt on my dear student's life again I. Will. Destroy you" she hissed. Blood Moon grinned; she reminded him so much of her mother sometimes.

"I thought as much" he replied, prompting Celestia to frown. With his own frown, he turned and continued trotting down the hall. "But, that does beg the question; if not the Goldhooves or you…who did set that guard on Twilight" he mumbled. As he trotted away, Celestia considered telling him about the ponies who'd paid her a visit before, but decided against it, seeing as she didn't want to suddenly make him incapable of trusting anypony, didn't want to worry him of attempt on her life and felt it was unnecessary anyway, given that these ponies were after documenting him rather than killing him.

"Is it not possible he moved on his own accord" she asked, cantering up to his side again. He shook his head.

"Neigh, he's…well, he was the eldest son of Loaded Goldhooves, so I'll let you put the rest together yourself" he said, Celestia smirking a little. "Anyway, beyond that, Luna, my rising memories and an abundance of other smaller things, I guess you could just say that my missing you finally trumped my loathing of coming back because of our tension" he finished. Celestia raised an eyebrow and smiled slightly.

"So you're saying that, after ten thousand years of avoiding me, you just thought 'eh, buck it' and came back because you missed me?" He shrugged.

"Yeah, pretty much." She chuckled gently.

"Why is that so easy to believe of you, Hunter?" Blood Mon perked up.

"Hey, that reminds me, where's Philomena?" Celestia frowned.

"I haven't seen her since the battle, but…why would that remind you of my phoenix?" He looked over at her.

"Well, all things considered, mainly because that's the name of the phoenix that 'Mena was fighting yesterday during our own little bout. My pet phoenix" he said. To say Celestia was surprised was somewhat of an understatement.

"Wait, you-what? That phoenix was yours?" He frowned pointedly.

"No living being is mine, nor anypony's. We're companions, friends. Tartarus to it, I'm just as much his pet as he is mine. But, yeah, Hunter's my buddy. I, uhh…" he thought back fondly to when he and Hunter had 'bumped into' each other at Fluttershy's cottage only slightly before this had all started "met him, a little while ago. He's saved my life twice, now that I think about it" he grinned. Celestia shook the thought away, though she didn't get very far before something occurred to her.

"So…where do you think they are now?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"I don't know, I'm neither a male nor fe…male…phoenix…" He and Celestia looked at each other at the same time, Blood Moon a small smirk and Celestia a slightly horrified, wide-eye look.

"I-if she ends up having chicks, you're so gonna get it" she told him, pointing a hoof at him. He sniggered.

"Ain't my fault he's a total player" he responded, Celestia batting him around the head in response. Blood Moon just laughed, Celestia giggling with him. As the continued trotting, they passed a guard, who instinctively bowed before the assassin spoke. "Get up" he told the gold-clad stallion. Blinking in confusion, the Pegasus was unsure what to do, as such, he found himself halfway between bowing and standing up straight, making it look like somepony hadn't tightened a screw somewhere around his shoulders and his neck had come loose.
As they trotted past, the guard suddenly noticed who had thrown his perfectly good grovelling.

"Your majesty, isn't that-"

"Stand down guard, I have it under control" she told him calmingly. The guard nodded unsurely before he returned to his patrol. "Is this how it's always going to be with you if you stick around" Celestia asked as they resumed trotting. The assassin shrugged.

"I dunno, probably. Besides which, you still owe me an answer." The princess of the day looked over at him.

"Go on then" she prompted. He gazed at her for a second, gauging her expression and stance once again, as though looking for a tell on her façade.

"Do you trust me?" Celestia stopped her trotting again, Blood Moon stopping with her, and let her gaze hold on the assassin. She mulled her answer over before deciding to answer honestly.

"No" she replied before continuing on their way. Blood Moon smirked at her back before he followed after her.

Trotting down another empty hallway and pushing through the last door, the pair found themselves in the throne room. What was normally a pristine, grand hallway of perfect white marble, stained glass and bustling crowds of nobles and peasants was now mostly destroyed, the marble cracked, the windows all but non-existent and deftly silent. Besides the princess and her bodyguard, only eight other ponies stood. Said ponies were Cadence, Shining and the Elements of Harmony, all of which looked extremely downcast. Nopony had noticed them enter yet, nor their approach, as such, both dark and light ponies could listen to their conversation as they trotted silently over.

"-omise I'll come visit soon" Cadence was saying as she hugged her little sister tight. Twilight returned the embrace thoroughly, squeezing her big sister like she was the last huggable pony in Equestria.

"I know. And…thanks. For being here for me, for all of us…I…I…know we've needed it" the purple pony replied. Her glum manner and downcast manner stabbed the assassin in the heart. Twilight had turned to her brother. "Can we go now Shining, I don't really wanna linger" she told him. The mare's big brother was about to respond, but saw Celestia approaching before he could. Instead, he nodded his head over at her, prompting everypony to look over. They found her trotting over, alone, and Twilight was the only pony who met her halfway.
"Hey, princess" Twilight greeted. Celestia leaned down and hugged her student, who hugged her back easily.

"Hello Twilight" she replied, feeling Twilight tighten her hug as they stayed connected. With a final squeeze, they released each other. "I, trust you're leaving now?" Twilight simply nodded.

"Yeah, I don't really wanna…stick around while everything's being repaired. I don't wanna get in the way" she lied. Princess Celestia smiled slightly, Twilight's lack of eloquence not lost on her.

"Well, if you must leave, may I ask something of you?" Twilight was really hoping Celestia wouldn't ask her to write a letter, explaining what she had learned from this experience.

Dear princess Celestia

Over the past days, I've come to realise an important part of friendship. No friend lasts forever. And, no matter how much you look to the other friends in your life, the pain of a lost friend will never truly go away. Some may say this is a good thing, because you'll never forget them if you never stop hurting. But I still think that it would be better if I didn't hurt at all, because after losing the friend I had in Blood Moon…I fear losing the friends I have in everypony else.

Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

She gulped and swallowed back the tears.

"Of course, princess" she answered. Celestia smiled gently in gratitude.

"Well, could you look behind me" she asked. Twilight frowned at the request but complied either way. Celestia moved out of the way, letting the purple unicorn look past her. Twilight watched as the Alicorn moved, letting her gaze find the spot behind her once she was out of the way.

It was a pony. A stallion, to be specific. Black mane and tail, silvery-grey fur with scars etched all over him, blood red eyes and a face that held an ugly scar and kind, apologetic smile.

"Hi" she said in an uninterested tone as the stallion cocked his head.

"Hey" he replied. They were silent for a second. "You…don't recognise me, do you" he told her. Twilight just shook her head, just as indifferent as before.

"No, I don't think I've even met you before" she told the strange pony. Said pony sighed.

"Alright" he said, approaching steadily, prompting Twilight to frown and back away a little "maybe this'll jog your memory" he said as he closed the distance between them too fast for Twilight to react. Before the young sorceress knew what was happening, the stranger had kissed her. And not just fleeting, like a full deal, tongue, lips, hooves, closed eyes, the lot. She found herself trying to lean back, but the stallion had already wrapped his hooved around her neck and held her close. Her eyes were wide in shock, her hooves were about to start flailing and attempt to strike this stallion, but then his tongue, which had somehow sneaked into her own maw, struck out against a sensitive spot, sending a shiver down her spine as she moaned, almost involuntarily. She felt her instincts take over, her own fore-hooves wrapping around the stallion's neck as she pulled him in closer and turned her head slightly as her own tongue started to join the party.

After a few seconds of moaning, blushes and rather stunned silence, the assassin let her go.

Twilight blinked a few times as she wondered what in the hay had just happened. She looked up at the stranger who had just kissed her, remarkably well at least, against her will, ready to slap him into next week.

"How dare y-" She stopped when she realised who it was. Shadow black mane and tail, as dark as midnight; a deep silver and grey fur, rigged with scars and wounds, a cutie mark of an ouroboros, a dagger stabbed through the loop it made; his eyes, blood red and naturally intimidating, were soft, the corners angled down in an almost apologetic expression that didn't befit his face one bit; said face was that of an ugly scar and numerous wrinkles that showed years of heavy expression, a bland shape and forgettable looks outside his distinguishing marks of age and battle. Blood Moon.

She blinked a few times, her lower jaw coming loose. She looked back at her mentor and friends, to find that almost everypony was in much the same state as she was, asides Rarity and Fluttershy, whom had fainted. Cadence was watching with a hoof going to her mouth in shock, a blush on her face, while her jaw hung an inch below her upper jaw. Shining Armour was just as gobsmacked as his bride, only he looked ready to kill somepony. Celestia…well, she was a combination of both Cadence and Shining Armour.

Looking back at her coltfriend, Twilight could think of nothing to say, so, Blood Moon elected to break the silence.

"Hey."

There was a flash of purple, and the world went dark.

Blinding pain woke the assassin. He stirred and groaned, moving his hoof to rub at his sore head as he squeezed his eyes together before opening them. He looked around, trying to chase away the steady pulse of pain rattling around in his skull as he figured out where he was. From what he could tell, he'd been taken to his old chambers, mostly bare after all this time. All's there was to furnish his room was the bed he was laying on, the rug in the middle of the floor and the door. He looked at the window leading to the balcony, the Prench windows letting through the moon and starlight. Much to his dismay, it was night time.

With another small groan, he sat up, only for something to hold him down. Looking down himself, he found Twilight snoozing next to him, her hoof draped over his chest and snuggling into him. With a small smile aimed at the cute scene, he put a hoof to her shoulder and shook her awake. Violently.

"Wake up" he barked. Twilight spluttered and stirred, groaning in tiredness and grogginess before she realised what was going on. She looked up at her smirking coltfriend and immediately smiled, throwing her hooves around him.

"Blood Moon" she cried "you're alright!" With another small smile, he returned the embrace, nuzzling his marefriend.

"Yeah, I'm fine" he chuckled before he frowned. "What happened? All I remember was a flash of purple and a…" he thought for a second before he pulled back from a sheepish looking Twilight "a dainty, unicorn hoof came flying at my face before I woke up here" he told her pointedly. Twilight laughed uneasily, rubbing the back of her head.

"Yeah…sorry about that…I, uhhh, kinda knocked you out for a while" she told him. She tried meeting his gaze, only to find a flat look on the stallion's face. "Sorry" she tried. Blood Moon sighed as he deflated slightly.

"I really wish ponies hitting me wouldn't be the first thing to happen to me when I came back to life" he muttered. Twilight gave a small, apologetic laugh, kissing the spot she'd struck.

"Oh, and Blood Moon?"

"Yeah?"

"What the hay" she exclaimed, pushing him down against the bed.

"Hey" he grunted in reply.

"I thought I asked you not to scare me like that again the last time you died on me! S-so…what the…what the…"

"Buck?"

"Yeah" she agreed she agreed heartedly, beating her hooves into the mattress like an upset filly. The stallion picked himself up again, sitting against the headboard.

"I'm sorry Twilight, I just-"

"You're 'sorry?' Do you realise just how broken and distraught I've been, how everypony has been? I haven't slept, I haven't eaten, I've barely even talked since you died" she told him. Blood Moon simply took a breath as he waited for her to continue, Twilight's gaze going down as her hoof found his. "I thought you promised me that you'd take better care of yourself when you woke up back at Fluttershy's place" she said quietly. Blood Moon looked down in thought.

"Yes…yes, I did. And I did break my promise to you. But there's nothing I can tell you Twi. I'm sorry, I do wish it had gone differently, but to be honest, it was all necessary." Twilight quickly looked up, about to interrupt before he cut her off. "Twilight, these last few days things have been…drawing me back here, to Canterlot and Celestia. You, Hardhoof, the Goldhooves, Luna, hay, my and Applejack's talk when we were apple bucking before and…and all these memories that keep creeping into my mind, the dreams I had when I was out after the battle at Fancy's. Twilight, nothing has ever reminded me so much of my little girls before, I've never had so much coincide before that led back to them…I've never missed them so much before" he said quietly. "I had an excuse to come back, and I acted on it. I gave both myself and my daughter a means to just let some anger loose and…and I guess it got outta hoof."

"Got outta hoof" she repeated "you were gonna kill Celestia!" He immediately frowned at her.

"I would never do something like that, what kind of monster do you take me for? I may kill for a living, ruin lives, steal, lie and a bunch of other stuff that probably isn't good for my karma, but I sure as hay don't kill my own children" he told her before he remembered himself “expect on reflex...apparently…” he finished in a mutter. The unicorn looked down.

"Right, sorry… It's just…what happened back there?" Blood Moon gave an empty smirk, turning his gaze away.

"You're going to have to be more specific" he replied. Twilight sighed in reply, standing from the bed.

"Alright" she said, raising a hoof to invite him out. He took it and stood next to her, following her as she trotted out and stood on the balcony, looking out over the dark fields of Equestria's night. She leaned on the stone railing and gazed over the shadowy wilderness for a second before turning her head back to her lover. "Let's start with an easy one" she said quietly. The stallion stood close by her, leaning on the guard with her.

"Sounds fair" he replied. Twilight turned her body and took his face in her hoof, looking into his eyes, as though looking for something, before she released him and looking his body up and down, the same look in her eyes.

"So…" she began "you're an Alicorn" she said simply. Blood Moon grunted as though struck and looked away.

"I…yes, I am." Twilight set herself on all fours again and stood close to him, her eyes burning with curiosity.

"How, when, who, why" she asked, one after the other, no pointed tint to her voice, just genuine wonderment. Blood Moon sighed again, looking up at the stars.

"My name is Blood Moon Shadow Weaver the third, born twenty-third of the month of Aquarius. I am an Alicorn. The Alicorn of Life and Death. It is my duty to watch and protect all things that live and exist, to guide them, and when their end come at the hooves of Shiva, the Destroyer and Endbringer, it is my duty and my curse to watch them die and make sure they are sent to their proper place, after life. I hide my wings, my Alicorn bone and blood, with the power of my final word of Umbra Linguam: heritage. What I truly am and where my bloodlines lead." He sighed deeply, his eyes falling from the heavens and gazing upon the ground before he looked over at Twilight. "I hope that answers your questions, Twilight, and any more you may have on the subject…I, don't enjoy discussing it." Twilight looked like she couldn't believe what she'd just heard, what he'd just told her. Blood Moon sighed and pushed off the guardrail, aiming to trot back inside before Twilight's voice stopped him.

"But, I don't get it; you were born a unicorn, what happened to make you like Celestia and Luna?" He shrugged.

"God works in mysterious ways. Father Time was looking for somepony to take that sphere, to ascend to godhood. According to him, my duty is one that had gone unfulfilled for the longest of times, souls taken by either Tartarus or the heavens at random." Twilight cocked her head a little.

"Why?"

"Because, Twilight, nopony wants what I've got. Twilight, why am I immortal?" She frowned.

"Umbra Linguam made you like that because you can't stand watching…on no" she breathed "don't tell me…" He nodded his head.

"Mm-hm. Alongside my curse of watching everypony I love die, I must also watch everypony, every griffon, Minotaur, Changeling, Diamond Dog, everything live and die. I don't get the joys of birth, just the…the horrors of life and death. That's one of the reasons I used my final word to hide it, I'd exchange anything to get away from it. As it is, I wasn't completely successful" he mumbled.

"But, why would you want to get rid of something like that? An Alicorn is the highest rank of rule, authority and magical ability in Equestria, the world. Any Alicorn is basically a god" she exclaimed, trotting over to him and putting a hoof on his shoulder "I don't even think I've heard of an Alicorn prince bef-"

"No. Let me stop you right there Twilight; I Am NO prince, and I'll be damned before I'm ever recognised as one! Let me put it to you like this: beyond my immortality, the thing I hate most in this world is authority. I hate ponies who think they're better than others and detest being told what to do. What's more, I hate ponies who make and enforce laws, specifically Alicorn rulers. As a rule, I generally don't like any Alicorns other than Celestia and Luna-we'll see about Cadence" he said before she could interrupt "and, most definitely, un-reputably, undoubtedly, do I hate, with all my heart-" there was a flash of black fire, prompting Twilight to raise her hoof in shock, and Blood Moon stood again, completely the same only this time, he was with wings "this one" he finished in a hiss. Twilight swallowed gently, looking over him with wide eyes. She could see it in his eyes. He really did, truly, hate this form of his.

With trepidation, she moved slowly around him, coming to a stop beside him. His wings were unfurled slightly in his anger, flexing and relaxing with his breaths.

"C-can I…" He grunted and shrugged, Twilight looking back to his wings and raising a hoof.

Her purple appendage rested on his black wings, the feathers wide and strong, the muscles powerful yet agile and quick-looking. "I don't see why you'd hate these" she told him. He looked back with mild interest. "They're beautiful" she told him. He grunted. With a better chance to get a good look at them, she took the majestic wings in more detail than she could before; the individual feathers were remarkable clean, almost glossy, in a stark contrast to the rest of him. Also, there were no feathers missing and they were impeccably preened. She could only guess the spell kept them in prime condition while they were hidden. The only real blemish to these wings was that they didn't look used enough. Even Celestia's wings were somewhat worn, if elegantly so. Twilight ran a hoof over the wings and feathers, feeling their smoothness, moving her hoof up and down, feeling him shiver under her touch. She smiled gently; she'd forgotten wings were a pleasure centre, in the same way a unicorn's horn was, and some earth ponies leg muscles were sensitive to direct nerve stimuli, such as tickling or massaging. "I almost can't believe it" she said quietly, her voice breathy.

"Neither could I at first" he remarked, flexing them a little before he spread them for her, a small 'flum' going up with them as the feathers spread and pushed the wind around. Twilight gave a deaf 'wow' as she examined his eagle-like wings closer, her hoof caressing the underside now. She felt his shiver and sigh. She smirked a little.

"You're enjoying this, aren't you?"

"Begrudgingly. I'm not enjoying enjoying this" he corrected. Twilight just giggled as she trotted to his front again. As his wings sank into his body again, she moved in close, the assassin wrapping a hoof around the back of her neck as their faces grew increasingly closer.

“Blood Moon?”

“Hmm?”

“You were going to kill Celestia” she told him again.

“Blowing off steam” he corrected.

“You and your assassins killed thousands.”

“Everypony dead was ready to kill.”

“You left me instead of letting me help.”

“I needed to do this on my own.”

“You’ve caused complete havok.”

“I’m not a sane pony.”

“You left me distraught for a day and a half.”

“I am truly sorry.” She moved in a little closer, caressing her neck against his.

“You told me you’re sorry” she whispered.

“I’ve learned a lesson” he whispered back, kissing her neck gently. Twilight just smiled and giggled gently, wrapping her hooves around his neck as his lips traveled up her neck and cheek until they met her own and they kissed again. "So…now what" he asked, breaking their kiss for only a second. Twilight just smiled as she kissed him, the assassin grinning as he returned the advance.

"Oh, Blood Moon" she asked, cutting off their intimacy prematurely.

"Yes?" Twilight pouted adorably.

"Why did you have to go kissing me in front of everypony" she asked, her voice and expression an image of a mother asking her silly foal 'now why would you go and do that?' Blood Moon just shrugged.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time" he answered. Twilight giggled again as she kissed his cheek and leaned into him. "You couldn't recognise me, so I figured you needed a…jumpstart, so to speak" he told her. Twilight smiled again.

"Oh, I should mention, Cadence wants to meet you, Celestia has a few, undoubtable intimate, questions and Shining Armour wants to kill you" she listed off. The stallion grunted.

"Tell him to get in line" he said dismissively before he picked up his giggling marefriend in his right fore-leg and trotted back inside "besides which, I still haven't fully apologised to you for worrying you so much" he told her. Twilight gave him a seductive look as she wrapped her hooves around his neck, his horn sparkling as he close the window behind them.

"What did you have in mind, lover colt" she teased. He gave her his roguish grin.

"Well, I think the library I keep in here is still in a few boxes lying around in here." Her 'seductress stare' dropped as soon as she heard the word 'library.'

"Ooo, library? Where" she asked, he head whipping around the room. He chuckled.

"I've still got a bed, you know." Twilight turned her head back to him, biting her lip as she was torn between reading and snuggling up (and likely more) with her partner.

"Uhhh…reading in bed" she tried. He laughed at her compromise and deposited her on the bed.

"Alright, did you want the Pony Sutra or doctorate studies: Thermo Dynamics?"

"Thermodynamics" she called back dryly, blushing gently at his first suggestion. He chuckled again as the book gained a grey-silver glow and floated after him, the stallion hopping onto the bed with his lover and sitting next to her, cosying up with her.

"So then" he began, looking over at her "light reading or foreplay?" Twilight giggled as, once again, they settled for a compromise.

As the night drew on, Twilight's weariness shone through. It didn't help much that she was wrapped up in a duvet that just seemed to eat away any stress and discomfort until she could swear it had formed a bubble of warm, comfy air around her, only her coltfriend's fore-legs wrapped around her barrel lovingly as he cuddled her disturbing it, his soft voice whispering the intricate details of heat and temperature and their relation to energy and work to her softly. Before long, the purple mare's day had caught up on her, and she felt herself fall asleep in the hooves of her lover.

Blood Moon, however, stayed awake. Once he was sure his beloved was sleeping soundly, he moved from her grip, exchanging himself with the pillow his head had rested on. Once he had successfully completed the substitute, he looked over her sleeping form with a smile, turning away and trotting for the door.

Having closed the door to his chambers with a silence he normally reserved for killing, he turned to the door marked with a golden sun, white metals making up the most part of the barrier while gold made up the hinges and edges. He pushed through just as silently, opening the door to find Celestia sat on her chair in the glow of her fire, looking through a book. She looked up to find her uncle and bodyguard standing in the doorway, smiling gently when her eyes fell upon him.

"Evening" she greeted, putting her book down as he entered her room and closed the door behind him "up, I see" she noted. He grunted.

"Yeah. That filly can really pack a wallop" he commented, rubbing his head again. Celestia chuckled daintily and offered him the other seat.

"So" she began, trailing off deliberately. He looked over at her, finding a somewhat dry and mockingly disapproving look. "You kissed my student" she said. He raised an eyebrow.

"Did I? I never noticed" he replied, just as dry. Celestia's mocking disapproval became that of real disapproval as she turned her gaze away.

"I can't believe you" she said in a low voice. He shrugged.

"Few can" he admitted. Celestia raised her hoof to cut him off, a little too late as it happens.

"Just…save it" she told him before she turned her head to him "how in Equestria, did you two get together" she demanded. Blood Moon frowned.

"Didn't you want me to save it just n-"

"Oh hush. Just tell me would you! She's the closest thing I've ever had to a daughter and I just found out that the closest thing I've had to a real dad is dating her" she said, her voice and expression showing she'd thrown up over it earlier. The stallion chuckled at her predicament.

"Are you sure you want more details to gag over?" Celestia shot him a pointed frown.

"You're damn straight. Don't think you're off the hook yet, Moon, I'm keeping a close eye on you until I know you're not up to something or going to disappear again" she told him. He looked half amused and half insulted.

"Celestia, if I were up to something, you'd never know about it, and I'm an assassin; it's my job to disappear" he reminded her "besides, what does that have to do with details of my lovelife anyway?" Celestia gave an almost regal snort.

"What does it matter to you? I'm just curious about how my faithful student got hooked up with my dear bodyguard" she told him. Blood Moon smirked.

"Very well then. We met, we became friends, she asked me to help her with fighting magic, I told her that she needed to learn how to fight properly first, I taught her proper hoofwork by dancing with her, we got into that dance and…well let's just say we finished it in the 'traditional' manner" he told her. Celestia just smirked at him.

"Really? You got into the nameless dance with her" she chuckled and shook her head "classic Blood Moon" she murmured. They were quiet for a while, only the crackling flames of the fire interrupting the silence. "You do realise, I am going to castrate you, right" she told him absently. He grunted a laugh.

"You so much as try and cut off my pride, and I will carve out a dick on marehood before jamming a cactus in there" he replied, a slight edge to his voice. Celestia gave a small smile, but couldn't hold down her shudder. Blood Moon looked over at her. "Anyway, it's way past your bedtime, what are you doing up anywho?" Celestia glanced over at him with a frown; Skulduggery had visited, her much happier mood greeting him alongside her barrage of happy kisses. After explaining what had happened, the detective suggesting he tail the assassin to make sure nothing was going on behind the scenes, Celestia quickly declining, they agreed to keep their relationship a secret. Though Celestia knew Blood Moon both wouldn't care and wouldn't let it slip without her knowing, she was rather nervous about telling anypony, never mind her father. That, and the whole 'secret love' act rather excited her. She realised she hadn't spoken for the last few seconds.

"I was waiting for you to wake up" she said, plucking the excuse out of the air. Her uncle quickly smirked.

"Oh, so you do want me to tuck you in tonight" he observed. Celestia quickly regretted her reasoning and even quicker found herself being carried over to her bed by the dark stallion. Despite the slight embarrassment and panic, she couldn't help but giggle.

"Well, since you insist" she relented as she plopped down on her bed. She got under her covers and felt her mind revert to that of a filly as he tucked her covers under her securely and kissed her forehead.

"Night, night Celly" he whispered with a smirk on his face. Convinced his mocking was done for the night, he turned away, only for Celestia to wrap her fore-legs around him before he could move a hoof.

"Goodnight, daddy" she whispered in return. The stallion's smirk turned to a small smile as he returned the embrace, nuzzling and squeezing her gently before they released each other.

"Goodnight. I'll be here in the morning" he promised, his words settling something in the princess's chest. With another smile goodnight, he closed the door and shut out the light, returning to his marefriend and leaving Celestia comfortable in her caretaker's shadows.

Remembering to forget

Chapter thirty one: Remembering to forget

Twilight felt her sleep drain away to a soft, rhythmical if slightly rustic tune. She stirred, her right fore-leg searching for something, or somepony, to hug in her drowsy state. When she found nothing, she forced her eyes open, finding an empty bed besides her. It was a comfy bed, the covers keeping her perfectly warm while the mattress supported everything with ease and practised comfort.

Twilght rubbed clumsily at her eyes with her hoof, yawning deeply as she stretched her back out, her hooves reaching for the skies as her spine cracked in a few reliving spots. Scratching her tussled mane, the purple mare looked around the room, trying to find whatever was making that blasted tune, and frowned upon noticing where she was. It took her a second to realise she was still in Blood Moon's chambers in Canterlot Palace, only now it was…furnished.

Twilight's horn lifted the covers off of her, the purple glow setting them down again before it made the bed as she hopped off of it, still looking around.

It was all very 'Blood Moon.' A single black rug, red patterns decorating it, covered most of the floor between the bed and doorway. Around the room were a number of different spots furnished with items likely pertaining to different methods of relaxation. Towards one corner were a couple of bean-bags, a table between them with what looked like coffee and toast on it; to her left, where her coltfriend had grabbed their book from last night, was a large shelf, familiar black oak wood reaching the ceiling with a multitude of literary works of both fiction and non-fiction, instead of the boxes that had been kept here last night. Before the shelves of books were chairs and a couch, the same white as the chairs back at the assassin's home, smaller tables around them. A wardrobe sat in a small nook besides the bed, identical to his other wardrobe back home. On the other side was a small bedside table, a glass of water perched atop it. Opposite the bed was a fireplace, a black marble mantel framing it in rose and thorn carvings done to an excruciating detail. There were two black arm chairs before the fireplace, a liquor cabinet between and a small table either side, complete with ash trays, decanters and shot glasses. Aimed at an empty, white wall was a projector, couches and seats positioned around it, a rug between the wall and seats, what looked like a mini-fridge at the side and a cabinet full of film canisters opposite.

Beyond these more prominent features were smaller pieces, tables scattered around, arts tastefully distributed about the room, a desk and office chair pushed against one wall and a few door leading to rooms beyond, likely a bathroom and, if Twilight knew her lover, an armoury of some sort somewhere.

All of this was quickly drowned out again by that rustic tune that had disturbed Twilight's slumber coming back again, a wordless song she didn't recognise drifting in from the Prench windows, now home to drapes of black and silver, that were open. Between the two Prench windows was a large grandfather clock, deep black wood identical to his wardrobe's wood forming the case and dark bronze making up the metal works of the hands and most of the clockwork inside. It read eight thirty, somewhat later than a slightly disgruntled Twilight would have liked.

Shaking her thoughts away and sipping at the water left out, Twilight trotted towards the sound, her hooves sinking into the carpet, and peered out. The view was spectacular, stretching out as far as the eye could see until it disappeared behind the horizon. Surreal, grassy fields with scatterings of trees lay before her, the rising sun at the edge of her vision painting the sky in fiery golds and bronze. Twilight could taste the cool mountain air up here, clear wind whistling gently past her as cold, refreshing air filled her lungs, chilling her in a pleasant way.

The rustic tune stated up again, prompting Twilight to look to her left, finding a stallion sat on a wooden chair, a table next to him with cooling coffee resting on it and a harmonica to his maw. His eyes were closed as he played a smooth, calm tune. Relaxing, peaceful if given a quality of movement and progress with the instrument's 'Railroad Blues' heritage.

Twilight would never say she knew much about music, asides her natural ability to sing and what she had picked up in the books she'd read. But even she knew how much more there was to the art of song. In the history books she'd read, she'd come across notes explaining that during and after the Discord wars, few ponies, outside nobles and scholars, had known how to read. Twilight couldn't imagine such torture. Though because of this, many stories and legends of the modern day were the product of ancient songs, poetry of war at best and glorifying slaughter at worst. Despite this, no few stories were around today thanks to these songs of war. They'd conveyed history in their ballads and lyrics, but here there was something more.

Blood Moon's harmonica wasn't so much history being played for her, it was the stallion himself. She'd often felt that with the pony race's affinity for music, some select equines would be…drawn, almost, to certain instruments that suited them as much their cutie mark did. The harmonica in the assassin's grip was a prime example; a rustic, simple and laidback stallion playing music rustic, simple and laid back music that was as easy to listen to. It just came out in a naturally easy tone. Twilight felt it hard to imagine an 'aggressive' piece of harmonica music. That being said, Twilight had to admit that aspects of the harmonica didn't suit her coltfriend particularly well, its popularity for one thing. Not to mention, there were other clear downsides, most spanning from the harmonica's history; the railroads of Equestria hadn't come from nowhere, most of the miles upon miles of track built by slave labour right under Celestia's nose while she was busy conducting and fighting the wars against the griffons. The Friendship Express may travel them, but the 'Working Pony Ways' were not the results of friendship. One of the most famous pieces of history surrounding these tracks was the music that had arisen from the songs the ponies, griffons, Diamond Dogs and all manner of other creatures that had taken to singing in glum tones to pass the day without thought. The harmonica became of that, through means lost to history, but the struggles that had created it were not.

Twilight cocked her head slightly as she got to know her coltfriend a little better in that moment, even as she was unable to pick up a tune she recognized. No lyrics, or anything she could call upon in her memory, but somehow the tune stuck with her all the same.

'That dose suit him all the more, I suppose.'

Twilight smiled slightly as her mind continued to find similarities between Blood Moon and his chosen instrument; almost without class, easy to hide, covered in history and often brushed aside by the arrogant. But it held a certain presence that went unmatched by other forms of percussion. That feeling of progress, that motion of the pistons on the locomotive, the whistle, the chug of the engine.

'Rustic, strangely charming and of a foul history. Don't tell me, Blood Moon invented the harmonica…'

Shaking her head, Twilight trotted closer to her lover, the dark stallion hearing her approach through the sound of his tune as one eye fluttered open to catch her approach. He smiled around the harmonica, moving it away from his lips.

"Morning" he greeted. Twilight leaned over and kissed his cheek, over the scar, and nuzzled him gently.

"Good morning" she replied as she settled down in his chair next to him. He seemed to enjoy the company. They remained silent for a while, just cosying next to each other as the sun wearily climbed the horizon. Twilight felt her coltfriend lean his head on hers.

"You know, that last time I felt this at peace, Celestia had just killed me" he mumbled. Perhaps he was supposed to have been a little quieter, but Twilight still caught his comment.

"That's a nice sentiment" she replied sarcastically in the same drowsy manner that the sun was rising, her magic taking the warm coffee and raising it to her lips as she took a sip. The caffeine burst through her system, but she still felt no inclination to leave her stallion's company. Blood Moon just grunted at her reply. "So" she began after a while, unsure whether to broach this subject "what was it like? Dying as an Alicorn?" She felt the assassin shift as he looked down on her.

"What kind of question is that" he asked in reply. Twilight just shrugged her tired shoulders; she guessed she should be used to late nights by now, but something had her energy drained for some reason. She didn't much mind; she got to snuggle with her lover, for one.

"You just seemed a little…out of sorts yesterday, after it all happened" she replied. Blood Moon shrugged back as a fore-leg went around Twilight's shoulders.

"Well, I had just awakened from a day long sleep of sorts. And I've only now found out that…well, you get the idea" he trailed off. Twilight looked up at him.

"Blood Moon, I can't say that I'm sorry about you coming back. I love you, Scootaloo loves you, Celestia loves you, Luna loves you…you've touched too many lives to just go away" she told him. Blood Moon sighed gently.

"Be that as it may Twilight, even my generosity has its limits. I'm tired of living for others, I want to die…but now, I know it's not going to happen. Throughout all my life, that idea, that I might be able to die as an Alicorn has been a distant comfort to me, but now I know it was all for nought…where do I go, what do I do? I'll be the last stallion on this planet, hay, I'm probably going to live on until the end of the universe…who knows, maybe beyond that." He looked down at Twilight, the mare finding the small bags hidden in the aged wrinkles beneath his eyes.

"You didn't sleep last night, did you" she murmured. He shook his head, Twilight nuzzling him gently.

"Indeed. I brought all my old stuff up from the basement in total silence, arranged it in total silence, watched you sleep for a while and then just sat out here, staring at the moon. Do you know what this has done to me Twi? This is a…a revelation that all I've ever hoped for is hopeless. I'm not going to die" he finished. The corners of Twilight's eyes went down as she snuggled into him further, wrapping her hooves around him as a cool breeze flowed past them.

"But…yesterday, I swear I felt something when you…died. Like something happened to me, to Equestria. I felt a…a hole" she tried to explain. Blood Moon just looked back at the horizon.

"I don't know much about that Twilight, only that maybe I did die, for a day or so, but the magic I've been cursed with brought me back." He looked down at his marefriend. "You see, it's not killing me that's the problem. It's keeping me dead." Twilight took a breath through her muzzle.

"You really know how to be a downer, don't you" she mumbled. The assassin just held her tighter.

"I'm sorry, Twi. It's just…this is gonna take me a while to adjust to…I'm sorry if I seem distant, in the future" he told her "I've just got…a lot on my mind" he explained. Twilight nodded, kissing his cheek again.

"I understand, because I love you" she told him. The dark stallion grinned.

"And you love me, because you understand" he replied. Twilight smiled back as their lips met softly. They lay together for a while longer before Blood Moon's ear twitched, his head turning back to the Prench windows.

"What's up" Twilight asked as he stood from their shared lounger.

"Thought I heard somepony knocking on the door, but…nopony but Celestia and Luna know I'm here" he replied, his horn sparking as the Messorem materialised in the air besides him, his glow surrounding it as he trotted. Twilight stood at the windows, watching with a mind ready to fire a bolt of magic at the door if need be, as her coltfriend opened the door to reveal a guard of low rank.

Blood Moon blinked once.

The guard blinked too.

The assassin aimed his blade at the guard.

The guard screamed.

"AH, p-please don't kill me, I've-I have a message, from Celestia" he squawked, hopping back and covering his head with his hooves. The dark stallion lowered his sword, keeping his hold on the weapon, and watched the guard cower. It was a sight he'd grown accustomed to.

"What's this message" he asked patiently. Peeking from between his hooves, the guard looked up at the towering, and laidback, form of Blood Moon.

"T-the princesses request the company of B-Blood Moon and Twilight Sparkle" the obvious novice replied. The assassin nodded.

"Thank you guard, dismissed" he told him as he turned away. The guard saluted and trotted back to his duties. "I hate that" Blood Moon mumbled as he returned to Twilight.

"Hate what" she asked, smiling slightly at the guard's behaviour.

"Ponies being so afraid when I'm just stood there, having to dismiss somepony just to get them to piss off and having them salute me like that" he grumbled in reply. "Do you know the Equestrian origins of the 'hoof-to-head' salute, Twilight?" Twilight frowned.

"No, military history isn't my forte" she answered as the assassin's blade slipped back into the ether and held his hoof out for Twilight to lead them out the door, the assassin closing it behind them.

"'My hoof over my head' or brawn over brain. Obedience" he answered shortly "which is why I prefer the hoof over the heart, or 'love and strength.' Loyalty" he told her. Twilight hummed as she trotted with him, their pace quick but easy.

"Blood Moon, I can't help but notice that the topics of our conversations have been somewhat…morbid, this morning" she observed. Blood Moon frowned.

"Agreed" he mumbled back. They were silent for a while. "Hey Twilight."

"Yes?"

"What did the farmer say when he lost his plough?" Twilight looked at him with suspicion in her gaze.

"I don't know" she replied uneasily.

"Where's my plough gone?" Blood Moon trotted on as Twilight stopped in her tracks, watching him go before she exclaimed:

"Well, I can't argue with that!" She cantered after her smirking lover and gave him a disapproving look.

"An English-mane, and Irish-mane and a Scottish-mane all trot into a bar. The barkeep says, 'what'll it be?'" Twilight's face was that of only mystified confusion.

"That…that's just a sentence!"

"Hey Twi, how do you get a clown off a swing?" Twilight just looked at him with a look of utter contempt.

"How" she asked at length.

"Hit him with an axe." Twilight just tripped over her own hooves and fell face-first to the marble floor, her head snapping up once she'd landed.

"That's just nasty" she told him. Blood Moon shrugged and offered her a hoof up, which she took as he pulled her back to her hooves.

"I'm sorry Twilight, would you like to hear another?" Twilight just glared.

"Tell me one more joke like that, and I'm gonna slap you so hard…" Blood Moon just grinned as he resumed trotting, Twilight following after him. "Blood Moon, don't ever become a comedian" she kindly advised.

"Says the mare who can't laugh at a clown" he retorted. Twilight gaped.

"It was a dea-it wasn't a real-you…" she caught his smirking face and eloquently finished with "ohhh, I'm soooo gonna get you back for that" she promised. The assassin's grin just went wider.

"I look forward to it" he told her as they trotted into the throne room.

It was apparent that the time Blood Moon had spent sleeping yesterday hadn't gone to waste in terms of repairs; the marble on the floor had been mostly replaced, a few errant spots of grey concrete here and there where it was missing, the walls had been repaired in most of the damaged spots, only the higher up damage still under repair, most of the marble pillars were in the process of being replaced, unattended scaffolding around the bulk of them, while the shards of glass that were the remains of the windows had been disposed of, fresh panes in the process of being fitted. Even the throne had been taken away and replaced by a new, identical, one.

Although beyond these part-way completed repairs, the room was deserted besides Twilight and Blood Moon. They trotted along in silence, Twilight looking around the room while Blood Moon kept his eyes on the entrance before them.

"You two really did a number on this place" Twilight mumbled as they trotted, their hoof steps echoing around the empty room. Next to her, the assassin gave a shrug.

"What did you expect; two ancient powers clashed the other day, the architects are lucky this place is still standing. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be if Celestia had broken out those beams of hers she loves so much" he replied. Twilight nodded absently as she continued to look around the room in semi-state of repair.

"Where do you think everypony is" she asked. Blood Moon shrugged.

"I don't know, maybe-" He was cut off by a stark white hoof slamming into his jaw, sending him sprawling across the floor.

"SHINING ARMOUR" came Cadence's voice "we agreed to talk to him" she told him as she cantered to his side. Twilight remained silent as Shining stared at her, not quite a glare but by no means a happy look on his face.

"Sorry, lost my temper" he replied, still staring at his sister. Twilight gulped, looking away and rubbing her fore-leg up and down as the situation continued to pile on top of her; Shining was staring at her with enough intensity to push a hole through her skull, Cadence was looking between her and her husband with slightly disapproving looks, Celestia and Luna were stood off to the side, both watching with bemusement, and her friends were trotting towards her in varying moods.

"H-h-hi, Shining" Twilight said eventually, unwilling to meet his hard gaze. He remained silent. Twilight looked at her friends, all of which gave a small greeting of their own that befitted their comfort zones in this awkward situation. She returned their smile, nod, 'hey', tipped hat and shy silence with a small smile of her own before she heard a shuffling behind her. She looked back to find Blood Moon standing up, holding his head, and looking remarkably annoyed. Twilight tried to go over to him, only for Shining's horn to spark and catch her tail, holding her back.

"Shining" Cadence scolded, but he wasn't listening. Instead, he set his sister down and trotted towards the assassin. Blood Moon, meanwhile, had shaken his head clear off the cobwebs, muttering something about a 'sucker punch' and looked up to find the Captain of the guard stood in front of him.

"I'd make a comment about 'wrong hooves' only-" He was cut off again by Shining's swinging hoof, Blood Moon ducking under this one. "Listen, would you-" another swung hoof he swerved to the side of "please just-" a jab he ducked to the side of "let me-" a left swing he hopped back from "ah, buck this!" When Shining swung again, Blood Moon ducked, stepped in, took Shining's head in his hooves and slammed his fore-head into Shining's muzzle, sending him staggering back. Blood pumped from his nose rapidly, but he was otherwise unfazed.

"Captain Armour, stand down" Celestia called from behind them before things got out of hoof. She went ignored, Shining Armour throwing a strike that went avoided by the assassin who heaved him away.

"You don't want to get into a fight with him Shining. You won't win." Everypony looked to the owner of the voice, finding Twilight stood where it had come from. Cadence looked at her sister-in-law in estranged confusion, the prospect of Twilight being so brash with her brother a foreign concept to her, while Celestia wore an impressed raised eyebrow, Luna remaining unfazed, while the purple mare's friends were looking between them. Shining Armour himself was looking at his sister in total shock, his lower jaw hanging slightly below his upper, while a deep frown creased his brow. Blood Moon hadn't taken his eyes off of Armour.

"Pardon me" he asked.

"You haven't landed a single strike in open combat, Captain. I suggest you listen to your sister" Luna inputted. His gaze went to her as well, his look disbelieving now, as he was attacked on all sides. His gaze went to Celestia, who remained somewhat bemused but sent him a look that told him to agree with them. With a final look at Cadence, whom gave him a sorry smile, he growled out a long breath as he calmed down. He turned back to Blood Moon, who tensed for a fight, and looked him dead in the eye.

"You, and me, are going to have words" he told him before he trotted off in a foul mood. Blood Moon relaxed again, looking to everypony else in the room before loosed his own calming breath.

"Well, now that that's out of the way…"

Everypony went their ways; Shining and Cadence retreated a few steps away from the group, at Cadence's request, so the princess of love could see to her husband's broken muzzle and scold him a little more; Celestia and Luna trotted towards Blood Moon and Twilight, but kept their distance for the minuet, allowing Twilight's friends to approach them first.

The Elements of Harmony quickly swarmed Blood Moon, Pinkie in particular lunging at him as she wrapped him in a gleeful hug, the assassin laughing with her as he rolled to his back to land properly. When the other mares had eventually managed to pry Pinkie away from the assassin, everypony else stood around him and Twilight.

"So, uhh, jus' what happened yesterday" Applejack asked first. Blood Moon shrugged.

"I died, put simply" he answered. AJ and no few of the other girls all frowned.

"Did you? That didn't look like what you said happened before, back at Fluttershy's place" Rainbowdash retorted.

"Indeed, that wasn't what I expected" he agreed.

"So what was ya'll expectin'" Applejack asked before he could continue.

"To stay dead" he replied "what you saw yesterday was me dying, as an Alicorn." Applejack cocked her head.

"Alicorn? Oh yeah, ah remember-"

"An Alicorn? Awesome" Rainbow exclaimed as she darted around the assassin, looping in the air, and frowning at him as she took to hovering above him "I don't see any wings" she informed. The assassin could see where this was going.

"Rainbow…"

"Could I-uhh, we see them" she asked as she darted to his face, her features only as close as a pretty mare or dentist was usually allowed to the assassin's face. That said, he wasn't calling her unattractive.

"Rainbowdash, don't make me get them out" he pleaded. Rainbow pouted, crossing her fore-legs.

"Aww, c'mon, pleeeease?" Puppy dog eyes, engage.

Blood Moon shook his head at the display of Rainbowdash trying to make herself look like one of the CMC. And doing a little too good a job of it.

"Rainbow, I hate my wings as much as I hate my immortality, I'm not about to-"

"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?"
Blood Moon took a long sigh, his eyes going half-lidded in a defeated, dead kind of way, as though he'd woken to a hangover, and looked around himself. Twilight gave an apologetic shrug, Pinkie was watching with wide, pleading eyes, Applejack looked like she didn't give a damn, Rarity was muttering something about 'uncouth' while Fluttershy refused to meet Blood Moon's gaze. The assassin's mood took a dip as he eyes fell upon the animal caretaker, how he'd left her last coming back to his head with a wave of guilt. No matter how much he felt what'd done was a good idea, he couldn't drop the sensation of feeling bad for her. He looked back to Rainbowdash, still hovering in front of him, and mentally shrugged.

His horn glowed, a wave of darkness tearing from the shadows around the room and flowing over the dark stallion. When the darkness met his back, it seemed to grip the fur and muscle there, pulling it up in rippling black flames forming the shape of a pair of hawk-like wings, the assassin's back curving with the nerve-tickling sensation of his body growing a pair of extra limbs within a few seconds.

When his spell was complete, Blood Moon had broken a blood-oath he'd made to himself three times in the space of less than a week.

"Is it just me, or are you going Alicorn a little more often than you intended?"

'The latter. I doubt I'll be able to avoid it for a few weeks now that the girls know. Let's just hope the get bored of the novelty quickly.'

"Let's…"

In the realms of reality, the girls had loosed a chorus of 'whoooa's when Blood Moon's wings grew. The Elements of Harmony, minus Twilight, all stepped a little closer towards him to get a better look at him, Rainbow hovering over him to get a good look.

"Hey, not bad for a unicorn" she remarked, gazing at them from above. Around the room, Blood Moon's new trick seemed to have garnered some attention; Cadence was looking over with a raised eyebrow, her gazed locked onto the dark stallion with suspicious interest in her expression; Shining watched him carefully, wondering just how badly his sister had saved him just now; while Celestia and Luna just appeared either impressed or estranged that he'd revealed his wings so easily.

A few questions were thrown around, Blood Moon answering them all, and before long everypony but Rainbowdash had grown bored of his feathered appendages. The assassin drew his wings back into his body, thankful that the droves of assassins that lingered in the rafters normally weren't here to watch, and turned his attention to everypony else. He trotted to Luna and Celestia, Twilight remaining with her friends, and greeted them.

"Morning Luna" he said as he embraced the younger sister before he turned to Celestia "what be the shizzle, Celesizzle?" If looks could kill…

"The buck did you just say to me" Celestia muttered to him. Blood Moon just grinned.

"Good morrow, Tia" he said with a slight incline of his head. The princess of the day shook the thought away as Luna just held her breath to stifle her laughter.

"Glad to see you didn't leave" Celestia said without humour. The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"Really, that's all you've got? Ten thousand years and you still haven't gotten around to having that stick up your ass surgically removed." Luna stifled a snicker badly while Celestia just held back a pout.

"You're a real jerk, you know that" the princess of the sun informed. Blood Moon shrugged.

"So I've been told" he answered. "How are you both today?"

"Better, knowing that you decided to hang around, and that the repairs are making progress" Celestia answered.

"Sleepy" Luna yawned "after supper, I'm going to bed." The assassin frowned, that Luna should be resting by know only just dawning on him.

"What are you doing up anyway?" She gave a tired smile.

"What, and miss breakfast with daddy?" The assassin grunted, a smirk on his face, and at that moment he noticed a pony slip in and mutter something to the guard who had appeared next to the door.

"Breakfast is prepared" the guard announced in a booming voice. Luna gave a small 'goody' and went immediately for breakfast, Celestia shaking her head and following after her sister, the girls insisted Twilight eat properly today while Shining and Cadence cut off the assassin when he went to follow. When they were alone, the princess of love spoke.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Blood Moon. I've heard a lot" she greeted. Blood Moon nodded.

"The pleasure's all mine Cadence. I've heard promising things" he answered. Cadence frowned lightly at his words, but made no further comment.

"That's Princess Cadence to you" Shining Armour informed. Blood Moon turned his attention to the guard Captain.

"Ah, yes. Shining Armour, youngest captain of the royal guard in history, receiver of Celestia's Star, the Lunar Cross and the Royal Distinguish Service award, not to mention one of the youngest guards ever to receive the Royal Veteran's Medal. You've been a worthy foe" he told the captain. Shining Armour frowned.

"What do you mean, 'worthy foe'?" Blood Moon smirked.

"I'm the Chapter Leader of the Shadow Weavers here in Canterlot, I have been for a long time. You made things difficult for me. That's not an easy thing to do" he replied. Shining Armour just narrowed his eyes.

"You kissed my sister yesterday" he said in an all-to-calm voice. The assassin shrugged.

"I did."

"Why" Shining demanded, leaning his head in slightly.

"Because she didn't recognise me. At the time, it felt like a good idea" he said with another nonchalant shrug. Shining Armour glared, leaning his face into the assassin's.

"Let's make sure that never happens again" he growled. Blood Moon remained straight faced as he leaned in, putting his maw next to Shining's ear.

"When you were a guard, did you ever have a young punk, some kid, try to intimidate you? You stood there, clad in armour, sword at your waist, and he was standing around with his pals, trying to look big? Some fourteen years old, trying to make you scared" the assassin said in a low voice. The guard Captain said nothing. "That's how I'm feeling right now" he finished. He then gently put his hoof to Armour's chest and heaved him back with barely a grunt. Glaring the white stallion down, Blood Moon watched as he grunted and turned away, trotting to the dining room. The assassin turned his gaze to the princess of love.

"Anything to say, Cupid" he challenged. Cadence raised an eyebrow at the name, but made no comment.

"No. I saw the way you kissed Twilight yesterday, the way you two trotted so closely, how you look her right in the eye when you speak" she smirked a devilish smirk "the way she widens her hind legs ever-so-slightly when she looks at you." The assassin grunted, his own smirk on his face. "It's all there, clear as day to me. Some of the truest love I've ever seen" she said with a wistful smile on her face as she stared into the ether "I'm so proud of her, to find somepony she can call her own." Blood Moon noticed the tears of joy welling in her eyes before she forced them back with a small, choked cough. "Either way, I'll be sure to be getting to know you Blood Moon. For both myself, and my little sister." The dark stallion inclined his head.

"I look forward to it" he informed. Cadence smiled a pleasant smile before she went to turn away.

"Oh, and before I forget" she said, sounding as though the thought had just occurred to her. She then reached down and grabbed the assassin by his chest fur, hauling him with ease to eye level, her glare almost on par with Celestia's own. "I'm well aware that you already know this, but I'm just going to…reinforce it for you; should you hurt Twilight, should she ever come galloping to me, crying over how her coltfriend upset or betrayed her…" she let a fearsome snarl taint her otherwise beautiful face "I. Will. Destroy you." The assassin just smiled.

"Get that from your mother, do you?" Cadence blinked more than once in confusion, loosening her grip and letting him drop. He spared her a single glance, a wry smirk still on his face, and trotted in the direction everypony else had gone. The princess of love just watched in confusion; her mother? Cadence had never truly had a mother, the mare who'd raised her back at her home village, the resident florist, had told her at a young age that she hadn't been Cadence's birth mother. It was her who's grave she'd been stood over, crying, when Celestia had found her, offering a friend who was like her in the world that seemed forever different.

She shook the tear-jerking memories from her head, putting images of Twilight, Shining and her aunts into her head instead. She looked up to find the assassin waiting for her at the doorway to the throne room.

"Coming, Cadenza?" She glared gently at the name but followed after him all the same. They trotted in silence for a while. Cadence had her head angled to watch the assassin, while he made no move to observe her, although she still had the strange feeling of him watching her.
"If you've something to say to me, say it" he said suddenly. Cadence looked at him properly.

"What do you mean?" The assassin turned his head to her slowly.

"Forgive me, but I got the feeling the intense stare, cautious trotting, that you haven't taken your eyes off me, you have magic building in the base of your horn and that you haven't shown any positive emotion since we met all meant you couldn't wait to have a slumber party with me" he replied dryly. Cadence gave a small huff, Blood Moon stopping in the hallway, the princess of love stopping with him. "Let's hear it Cadence" he prompted. The pink Alicorn narrowed her eyes again, standing to full height as she regarded him.

"I don't know what to make of you, Blood Moon. Aunt Luna told me a lot of things about you, some good some bad. I know both Aunt Celestia and Luna are glad to have you back, but the way I see it, you're still just an assassin. I don't care if you raised my aunts, are dating my little sister or what you're willing and capable of doing. I'll have my eye on you" she told him before she started trotting again. Blood Moon smirked and followed after her.

In silence once again, the assassin watched Cadence in her reflection on the marble floor; she'd grown up to become a beautiful mare, of sound mind and great compassion. He was glad to see that she wasn't blinded by said compassion though, that she was capable of suspicion. With a few hundred years of experience, she'd be a great princess and a better leader.

"I…do hope for the best though" Cadence finished suddenly a few seconds later. Blood Moon cocked his head slightly, another smirk on his face.

"Optimistic, yet cautious. Loving of all, trusting of few. Protective of your family and friends, yet never willing to smother them. I think we'll get along fine, Cadence" he told her. Cadence let a smile of her own grow.

"I'm glad" she commented quietly as they stepped into the dining hall.

The Canterlot Palace dining hall was something that took all aspects of grandeur, the lavish lifestyle of the Alicorn princesses and all the riches and splendour of the castle and multiplied it all by a factor of ten. This was where foreign diplomats, rulers of distant nations, the patrons of great factions of war and trade were all entertained by the princesses, as such it was perhaps the most extravagant room in the whole palace. The high ceilings depicted famous scenes from Equestria's history, the Discord wars, the Sombre Wars and the Griffon Wars were a few amongst the many scenes up there, all given picturesque imagery to take away from the brutality that those wars had seen. At the corners of the room were small outcrops of pillars, golden streaks running up them and spreading into the ceiling. Perfect squares of marble made up the floor, polished to a mirror shine. More artwork was along the walls, Twilight and the Elements of Harmony, Celestia, Luna and Cadence, the sun and moon.
Further decorative colours were worked into the artwork, purples and golds, pinks and reds.
All of it created an image of splendour and grandeur, the golden doors at the middle of each wall only adding to the image, the guards posted around the hall all wearing decorated armour, polished to a flare.

In the centre of the room was the table, the table that the princesses of Equestria dined at and was that easy to imagine; gold and bronze made up the fifty meter table, chairs of the same metals around it at even distances, plush, red cushions resting on the seat and back of each chair. There were pleasant flowers along the length of the table top, golden vases holding flowers of all kinds, exotic and local, common and rare, but they all served to add to the beauty of the room as they stood proud and tall. There was only cutlery on the table at the moment, as well as the appropriate plates and bowls for the upcoming meal.

The assassin watched as the guards observed him from afar; it would be interesting, to see the reactions of the guards when Celestia told them that he was on their side all of a sudden. He could feel their glares now, and their worried glances, on his back as he trotted.

At the head of the empty table Celestia and Luna stood, Twilight and her friends next to them,
while Shining Armour was stood beside his sister. All glanced their way, with varying expressions, as Blood Moon and Cadence trotted towards the main group.

"What took you" Celestia asked as she took her seat at the head of the table. Luna sat to her right, Cadence to her left, while Blood Moon sat between Luna and Twilight, Shining next to his wife and the Elements of Harmony scattered along the rest of the table, Rainbow, AJ and Pinkie on Cadence's side while Rarity and Fluttershy sat on Luna's.

"A few family issues" the assassin replied cryptically. Celestia glanced at Cadence, who offered a small shrug, and simply smiled the subject away.

"Well, in any case, I think it's time Luna had a proper supper and the rest of us a proper breakfast, you in specific Twilight" she added with a motherly smile on her face. Twilight just gave a sheepish smile as she looked at her hooves.

Before anymore comments could be made, the doors at the sides of the dining room suddenly flung open, ponies of all races and colours cantering out with silver trays balanced perfectly upon their backs, the white chef hats perched atop their manes while the white of their jackets remained spotless after their time in the kitchens. While earth ponies carried the food, unicorns lifted it to their proper places on the table, the Pegasi of the small platoon of cooks all placing napkins, goblets, glasses and other assorted cutlery items upon the table before floating to the sides of their cohorts, all of them bowing, much to the assassin's distaste, and trotted away.

"I see you're still only hiring robots, Tia" the dark stallion commented. Celestia gave a small, bemused huff before she looked at everypony on the table.

"Well, we don't want this to go to waste. Dig in" she advised. Everypony quickly complied. Everypony all picked from the available spread, a wide array of food that couldn't honoured by any description in its diversity or sheer vastness, and hid themselves in their food.

Conversation was lax, to say the least. Nopony really had the heart to talk given the situation; Twilight refused to meet the gazes of anypony, still unsure as to how to handle the hard stare of her brother, the raised eyebrow of her mentor and the small glances of her old foalsitter. The Elements of Harmony all remained passive in the volley of silence been thrown between each pony, Fluttershy in particular hiding in her mane once again while Applejack simply hid her face beneath her hat, despite Rarity's protests at wearing it to the table. Not to mention, the humble ponies of Ponyville were all slightly intimidated by the royalty in the room. The princesses all had their eyes on either Blood Moon or Twilight, their glances between the two not going unnoticed by either unicorn, while Shining Armour followed suit, only his gaze was still a glare.

Blood Moon, however, just smirked at the awkwardness, wondering what the ice-pick should be to this ice. After five minutes of the sounds of eating and cutlery on plates and bowls, he spoke up.

"So, Tia" he began, gathering the attention of the solar princess as she took a dainty bite of the egg on her plate "has Molestia broken free recently?"

Despite all royal lessons on remaining calm, Celestia quickly spit out her food with a horrified lurch forward, her eyes going wide as Luna fell to her back, laughing uproariously, her hooves kicking in the air as she struggled for air between her bouts of laughter, holding her pained ribs as best she could. Twilight, meanwhile, had just breathed down a fork-full of lettuce leaves and had promptly begun choking on them, the assassin next to her patting her on the back, her friends all going down similar routes to her and her teacher. Cadence had simple frozen in shock, a fork suspended in a baby blue glow, her mouth half-open for a bite as her eyes went slowly wide, her magic flickering out and dying, her head dropping to the table as her mane pooled around her head. Shining Armour simply sat still in his chair, wishing the universe would swallow him up.

The assassin wore a grin on his face that almost split his head in two, his head leant on his fore-hoof as he watched his adoptive daughter's face continue to hold that purely horrified look as her world crumbled slowly around her.

Hesitantly, and still somewhat horrified, Celestia turned her head to the dark stallion.

"B-b-b-beg your pardon?" The assassin just leaned his chin against his hoof as he continued to smirk.

"Has Molestia broken free recently" he repeated. He had, of course, heard the stories of what had supposedly happened a year or so back; an undetailed incident at Canterlot Palace followed by another undetailed incident in Ponyville in the same night, involving the Elements of Harmony, the Night and Solar guard, some showmare and both princesses. Celestia swallowed gently, staring her bodyguard dead in the eye, silently begging him to stop his tormenting. He chuckled to himself and leant back in his chair, basking in Celestia's embracement and blush.

Celestia herself fell back into her chair with an almost dead grunt, staring blankly at the ceiling. Luna had pulled herself back into her seat, her head laying on the table as she continued to fail at stopping her laughter. Celestia covered her eyes with her hooves, wishing it all away. Meanwhile, Twilight had recovered from her choking.

"Y-you know about Celestia's…other half" she asked with trepidation. Blood Moon snorted.

"Damn right I do. Hay, when Mollie first broke free, a little after the Discord wars, I was the only one who could suppress her." The room was silent.

"Y…you what" Twilight asked, her words echoing throughout the room, almost endlessly. The assassin looked around the table, finding almost everypony wearing a somewhat horrified face at his choice in topic, asides Luna, who was still laughing into her hoof.

"Yeah. She'd gone without…relief, for a few too many months and she snapped. Sixteen guards with pelvises that were almost crushed, twenty who were in comas for three days from extreme exhaustion and one fatality" he recounted.

"Death by Snu-Snu" Luna giggled into her hoof, Celestia glaring at her. Rainbow's voice spluttered to life.

"You mean you and the princess had to, y'know, d-d-do the do?" Blood Moon's face would have looked defensive, if it weren't for that smart-flank grin on his face.

"Yeah! My little girl needed help, and I stepped up" he retorted, glad that the CMC weren't here to hear this. Once again, everypony looked horrified, Celestia's face haven fallen into her half-eaten meal, Cadence remaining frozen in sheer horror, Shining Armour hiding his face in his hooves, Twilight resting her head on her fore-legs, leaning on the table, Rainbow was hiding behind her wings, Fluttershy was hiding under the table, Applejack behind her hat, Rarity was doing a bad job of looking impassive while Pinkie appeared confused. "But of course, something did come of that night" he said, his gaze locking with a slightly confused Cadence's for a brief second.

"My, oh my, what's all the ruckus?"

Everypony suddenly felt a chill in the air. The Elements of Harmony looked around for the source of the voice, Shining Armour and Cadence rolled their eyes in annoyance while princesses Luna and Celestia suddenly forgot about the assassin's prior comment. Both snapped upright, their eyes going to Blood Moon, and both swallowed lightly when they saw him.

The cold chill was coming from him, his eyes narrowed to a slit, his grey horn glowing its dark glow as the ether opened to allow the Messorem to fall into the assassin's awaiting hoof. He stood slowly from his seat, the metal of the chair groaning violently against the marble of the floor, and turned to the voice. It was devilishly smooth, mischief and a sense of laidback boredom coating it.

The assassin hadn't heard that voice in years.

Twilight could tell there was wrong with her coltfriend; Blood Moon's movement was slow and methodical, there was an undeniable shift in his attitude and a gust of wind she couldn't feel seemed to be shifting his mane and tail. She began to feel a dull notion in her head, her forehead, at the base of her horn, and it almost felt like the dark stallion beside her was the cause.

Blood Moon snarled slightly when his eyes fell upon the owner of the voice. With movements nopony could make out, the assassin was suddenly upon the voice's owner.

"Oh dear" said Discord as the assassin flew at him.

The Hunter collided with the draconequus like he'd been fired from a cannon, his blade aimed at the aspect of disharmony's throat as he barreled him over, the two rolling over each other in a clearly one-sided scuffle, Discord landing on his back while the assassin pinned him down. Blood Moon focused on the former ruler of Equestria below him, Discord's eyes rolling around in his head madly until he slapped the side of his head and shook it to clear the cobwebs. "Well, not the best introduction I've ever had but still better than that weird stallion with fur like a blizzard" he muttered to himself before he looked up at Blood Moon "Discord Dissonance Disharmony, formerly Doctor Discord of PHD, GCSE, ACDC and BBC until they realised not everything on my resume was quite as accurate as I'd promised. A pleasure" he greeted, holding a claw up to shake "and to whom do I owe the pleasure of sweeping me off my hooves" he asked as law below the-

"Wait, when did we switch places?"

Blood Moon growled, lifted his hind-hooves and launched the draconequus off of him, springing to all fours again from his fore-hooves.

"Ahh, quite the acrobat" Discord commented, holding up a '10/10' sign as he hovered in the air. The assassin sliced it in half with his thrown sword, Discord looking down at it with an unimpressed look on his face. "Wow, rude" he tutted "Tia, just where do you find these ponies?" Meanwhile, Celestia was sat in her chair, holding her head in one hoof as she muttered quietly to herself; Luna was watching the proceeding with a bitten lip while everypony else just looked either confused, worried or a mixture of the two.

"Oh, colt" Celestia said quietly to herself, dragging herself up slowly "Discord, I'm sure you remember my old foalsitter, Blood Moon?" Discord's eyebrows leapt from his face-quite literally- and he turned his face to the assassin, who was glaring somewhat confusedly at Celestia.

"Okay, one: why is he here, two: why is he here and three: why is he here? Now, you may have noticed I just made the same point three times, but I felt it such an important point it required the attention" Blood Moon barked, no humour in his tone "Celly, care to explain?" Before the princess of the day got a chance to answer, Discord swooped down from his spot in the air, wings flapping on his back, and regarded the stallion in a new light.

"Ahh, Blood Moon" he said in that voice of his, as smooth as silk and about as healthy as wallpaper paste "I do believe we've met, no?" He floated around the assassin on his flapping wings, coiling slightly around Blood Moon, who stood still and straight, his eyes narrowed aggressively, his sword leant on his shoulder as his scowl got slowly more and more aggressive.

"Aye" the assassin replied, everypony hearing the tension and hatred in his tone "once or twice. The Discord wars, perhaps you recall?" Discord stopped circling the assassin and took to reclining in front of him, an eagle claw to his bearded chin, his yellow and red eyes looking
off in a random direction as he thought.

"No, can't say that I d-" he was cut off when Blood Moon grabbed his tail and yanked him to the ground.

"Let me trot your memory: millions dead, centuries of misery and no small amount of annoyance on my part. I'm the one who looked after Celestia and Luna while their parents waged war against you, I'm the one who first trotted into your palace and made the first attempt in your life, I'm the one who was trained for the first thousand years of his life to kill you. I promised myself one that I wouldn't kill you for them, but that doesn't stop me from killing you for me" he hissed. Discord frowned.

"Wait a minute" he said at length, his gaze turning to Blood Moon, his eyes filling with recognition as his lower jaw slowly dropped "I remember now" he said with horror in his voice "you were the foalsitter" he burst out, laughing soon after, holding his snake-like stomach in his hands. He soon stopped when the assassin slammed his head into the marble. "Alright, this is getting a little annoying now" he said as he snapped his paw. Nothing happened. Discord looked around in confusion. "That's…problematic" he murmured. Blood Moon smirked.

"Only being of equal or greater power can counter your magic Discord. Unless…" he trailed off with a small grin on his face. Discord blinked a few times.

"Oh my" he said in a tone of realisation.

"Blood Moon, unhoof him" came a voice that cut through the commotion. Both pony and draconequus looked up to find Celestia stood over them, Fluttershy loitering nervously behind her.

"Celestia" Blood Moon said as he stood.

"That's Princess Cele-" Blood Moon slammed a hoof on Discord's face.

"You know, as well as I, what atrocities he's committed, ordered and overseen. I don't know how he broke free from his prison again, but what I do know is that-"

"Blood Moon" Celestia sighed, holding her head in her hoof tiredly "he's on our side" she said at a tired, aspirated length. Blood Moon blinked once.

"Come again?"

"He stands with me and the Elements" she explained.

"Fluttershy is my favourite" Discord commented from below. Blood Moon stamped on his face again absently.

"Celestia…you know, how I respect you, and your decisions, and I believe that everypony is entitled to their freewill and personal freedom, and that I respect that you have much greater knowledge in ruling than me, but WHAT THE BUCK DID YOU JUST SAY TO ME!"

"Goodness gracious, language" Discord tutted as he dug a talon in his an ear. Blood Moon slammed his face into the floor again.

"Unless you want me to feed you into a garbage truck, I suggest you be quiet" the assassin hissed as he got from atop of Discord. The dark stallion held his face in a hoof, covering one eye while the other remained clenched shut in disbelief. "Celestia, Luna" he said pointedly, his uncovered eye whipping over to her "a word" he demanded. Both princesses swallowed slightly as they followed him to an empty side of the room while Fluttershy helped Discord up, guiding him to the table and sitting him next to her.

Once alone, Blood Moon stayed silent for a while more, his face still held in one hoof as he tried to comprehend everything. He took a long breath through his muzzle.

"Alright" he said at length "so, the entity known as Discord, the being the three of us fought for thousands of years to free Equestria from his tyranny, wrath and overall jackassery is now stood in Canterlot palace with his head still attached to his body" he looked up at Celestia "care to explain?" Celestia looked away, almost sheepishly.

"He's reformed-"

"The only thing more bullshit than that is the grass the bull just ate" Blood Moon commented
with a straight face.

"I'm telling you Blood Moon, he's definitely different. He's been out of his stone prison for six months now and there hasn't been one incident" she told him. Blood Moon shook his head.

"That proves nothing" he retorted simply. Celestia glared at him.

"What do you know! You didn't even know he was out until now" Celestia pointed out. Blood Moon snorted.

"Yeah, because when I heard the rumours 'Discord's out and standing with Celestia' my first thought was 'seems legit', obviously!" Celestia snarled.

"What right do you have to question my decisions as a ruler" Celestia demanded. Blood Moon's glare turned more savage.

"My right as a general, assassin, somepony a thousand and a half years older than you and somepony to have faced him on equal hoofing. You may have Twilight and the girls on your side, but you have no idea what he's truly capable of. Chaos, misery and unrule, yes, but on a more physical level…" he let his glare bore into Celestia "you don't have a clue what he can do" he growled. Celestia just huffed, turning her gaze to Discord, who just waved pleasantly, a halo floating above his head.

"He's harmless" she said decisively.

"Tell that to Commander Hurricane" was all Blood Moon said. They all went a bit quiet. "And Luna" Blood Moon said, turning his head to her, the princess of the night straightening up slightly "just what were you thinking when you let her go through with such a mane-brained idea?" Luna turned her gaze away.

"It…seemed like a good idea at the time" she tried. Blood Moon just sighed.

"Listen" Celestia said, her voice diplomatic "give him a chance. He's behaved himself so far, and Fluttershy seems able to keep a leash on him" she told him. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Fluttershy" he asked, looking over to the yellow Pegasus. Indeed, she was laughing to herself quietly as she spoon-fed a baby Discord cereal. He sighed again, knowing the image would haunt his dreams for a few days now. "Alright" he said after a second "one chance. But the moment he slips up, I'm gonna rip out his spine and use it as a jump rope" he promised.

"Wouldn't have it any other way" Celestia agreed with a smile. They all trotted back to the table and took their seats again, Blood Moon's eye never leaving Discord.

The draconequus hadn't changed at all during his imprisonment; same mishmash of creatures all coming together to form this…abomination. He had what the assassin had heard described as the head of a pony, though Blood Moon still felt it looked more like a goat's head, right down to the bushy eyebrows on his head and the Billy goat beard on his chinny-chin-chin, as Discord would likely describe it. A single fang jutted from his mouth at a crooked angle, a pair of donkey ears flopping around atop his head, an antler and blue goat's horn between them. A black, horse's mane ran down his light grey neck, ending when his neck met the dark brown fur of his body, a batwing and blue Pegasus wing on his back. His left arm was that of an eagle's claw, his right a lion's paw while his legs were a goat's hoof for the left and a lizard's foot for the right. Stemming from his body was a snake tail, a white tuft at the end of the light maroon scales. The assassin's eye drifted up until they found Discord's eyes.

He was watching Blood Moon, who watched back, as they stared at each other's eyes. Blood red met a hectic red and yellow, the pupils of different sizes that spoke the draconequus's madness. Or at least, what passed for madness in the mind of a god. Blood Moon just glared.
Celestia may have forgotten, or forgiven, what he'd done so long ago, but he hadn't. Just under four thousand years of war that ended the lives of at least the current population of Equus, wasn't the kind of thing the assassin could just forgive. Nor the peril he'd put Luna and Celestia through. Nor the hardship. It wasn't difficult to remember it all, just by looking into Discord's eyes spoke a lot about it; mischief and chaos were both almost overwhelming, but hidden deep below was a heart of arrogance, cockiness and far too much pride and ego, all almost to narcissistic levels.

"Blood Moon, are you okay" Twilight asked quietly, pulling him from his thoughts. The dark stallion looked to his marefriend and smiled slightly, Twilight returning the gesture as her hoof found his and squeezed it gently, and tried to pull his mind away from its darker corners.

"Do I detect a hint of…intimacy" came Discord's voice. Blood Moon growled slightly as he took a sip of the water that had been left out, his eyes turning to Discord as he did, but otherwise ignored him.

"Yes, Discord, we've been dating for a while now" Twilight told him, apparently more confident around the subject with Discord than her brother or mentor. Blood Moon couldn't help but grunt at the irony.

"Ohhh, I'm so proud Twilight" he exclaimed, clasping his face in claw and paw at the apparent adorableness of it. Blood Moon rolled his eyes, glancing at a blushing Twilight, who was smiling slightly and sinking deeper into her seat. The assassin couldn't help but chuckle.

"Would it have killed the rest of you to be this supportive" the assassin asked the royalty and guard at the table. Two glared, one huffed and the other frowned.

"I never said I wasn't in support" Luna argued. Blood Moon turned to her.

"Are you?" Luna laughed shortly.

"No. Frankly, it's kinda creepy" she told him. The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"So was you and Tia-"

"So Cadence, how's the Crystal Empire doing" Celestia asked as she crammed a carrot into Blood Moon's gob. Cadence giggled to herself knowingly.

"It's fine auntie" she replied, frowning to herself before long "speaking of which, I need to get back there soon" she murmured to herself.

"It'll be a shame to see you go" Celestia told her honestly.

"And just when all the family got here too" Blood Moon commented absently as he pulled the carrot from his maw and burned it with black fire. Cadence put a hoof to her chin.

"Well…I suppose I can stay a few more days…"

Conversation continued to be small and inconsequential, breakfast hours passing by much quicker with the flow of conversation to carry it. Before long, everypony had eaten their fill and went about their separate ways, Cadence and Twilight wandering off somewhere to catch up, and likely some other 'girl-talk', while the rest of the girls simply meandered around the palace to their heart's content. Shining Armour had apparently elected to retreat to the barracks or his office, whichever was inconsequential to the assassin, while Discord seemed to vanish from the face of Equestria. Blood Moon didn't much care where he went, just as long as he left him alone.

Once left by themselves, Blood Moon escorted a sleepy Luna to her awaiting bed, bidding her a good night (day) with a loving hug and kiss to her forehead. With a tired smile, she told him how great it was to have him back and reminded him how much they'd missed each other.
The assassin had returned the sentiment thoroughly. When he returned, he found Celestia perched quietly on her throne as she looked through a few scrolls and papers that had been delivered to her by whom Blood Moon could only guess to be the stallion stood next to her.

The assassin approached, both ponies looking up as he drew closer, one smiling while the other remained impassive.

"Ah, Blood Moon. I'd like to introduce to you my steward, Scroll. Or, Elder Scroll to his friends."

"Work colleagues call me Elder Scroll your majesty, not my friends" he corrected respectfully in an old but authorities voice, rough and hoarse but still powerful. It spoke of a stallion who knew what he was doing, who liked having a handle on things in life and was more than capable of taking said handle into hoof. Blood Moon decided he liked this stallion.

"A pleasure" the assassin greeted, Elder Scroll inclining his head in return. They took to a brief show of eye contact, the assassin reading a great degree of loyalty and weariness in the stallion before him, before Scroll turned back to his princess.

"If that is all you require of me your highness, I shall return to my other duties" he said, Celestia nodding her head once in agreement as he gave a shallow bow, trotting away without another word. Blood Moon watched as he went, picking up no elderly limp or the fragility of his age.

Once Scroll had left them alone, Blood Moon turned back to Celestia.

"So…princess" he said with a small jut of his eyebrows "what's the plan, oh malevolent leader" he droned dryly. Celestia just smirked.

"Firstly, I've a few announcements to make to Canterlot, and Equestria as a whole. Not to mention the other countries" she said, rubbing her chin in thought as her eyes continued to scan over the document she was reading. Blood Moon shrugged.

"So what's the plan? Call a press conference and say 'hey, y'know that guy we all hate? Well guess what, he's on our side now, yaaay...'" Celestia shook her head, chuckling slightly.

"I'm half tempted, just to see the looks on their faces, but…no, I have to fend off any 'helpful' countries attempting to pitch in first, call a meeting to explain what happened to the other allied rulers and then I'll have to fend off the press with a big stick once I've told them what's happened, happening and about to happen" she listed off, getting more and more depressed as she went. Blood Moon chuckled.

"You see, this is why I'm useful to have around: I'll convince anypony too helpful we're fine,
make sure everypony who allies with you that they understand and scare off the press, no problem" he reassured with a shrug. Celestia shot him a small smile.

"I'm not the one who made you leave" she told him. Blood Moon gave a dry chuckle, his head going back gently as his eyes closed.

"Ahh, back to this are we?"

"No. I'd…I'd rather we just put it behind us for the time being, and deal with anything that comes of it as it occurs." The assassin nodded his head.

"Fair enough" he agreed. Celestia nodded back and stood from her throne, trotting down to Blood Moon and bidding him trot with her.

"But, before any of that, do you have any business that needs to be seen to" she asked. The assassin thought about it; he did have to get word to the Weavers that he was alright, say his goodbyes if he were to live in Canterlot again, get the word out that the Shadow Weavers were about to change alliances drastically and then he'd have to figure out something with Twilight. He hummed to himself in thought.

"Aye, a few things" he nodded. Celestia nodded once.

"Then, might I suggest you see to them before things get too…hairy, around Canterlot, and no doubt Equestria as a whole." Blood Moon tensed one side of his maw.

"I see your reasoning, but I can wait. It's been a long time, and I'm not going to leave you again until I have to Celestia" he replied as he turned to her. Celestia just smiled good naturedly.

"Blood Moon, I appreciate the sentiment, truly I do, but once this is all over, we'll have all the time we want to continue to duck-tape over our past grievances, play all the pranks we desire and just get back to being the loving father and daughter we know we still are." She offered him a small smile. "Trust me dad, I want this as much as you do, but I have a county to rule, you have a band of assassins to coordinate and alongside everything else, we don't have the time to faff." The corners of Blood Moon's eyes went down.

"Not even productively?"

"Not even productively" she replied, the assassin whining like an upset dog. Celestia just laughed into her hoof, patting his mane gently. "There, there" she murmured. Blood Moon just sighed dejectedly before he blinked.

"Wait a sec, I'm the elder in this duo" he barked. Celestia just shook her head at him.

"Of course, Blood Moon." The assassin simply sighed.

"Of course, Tia" he echoed in a bored voice before gave her a kind smile "I'll be back in an hour then" he promised. The solar princess nodded.

"I hope you keep your word." Blood Moon grinned.

"Worry not. I'm not so foolish anymore" he assured before he teleported in a flash of light.

Blood Moon's office was home to four ponies.

The first was Candle, who sat against a wall looking somewhat dejected. His young eyes were sad and his normally youthful spirit was gone. He sat on his flank on the floor, his fore-hooves crossed as he kept his head bowed against his chest, contemplating everything that had happened over the past few days. He did so at Leaf's guidance, his mentor advising him that looking over the past few days and contracts in his mind would allow him to both learn from them and get used to the memories, as they weren't going anywhere fast.

To the side of the room was Falling Leaf, sat silently in an armchair as he quietly ran a whetstone down his katana. He was as still and as stoic as he always was, only the shallow frown on his face betrayed his thoughts and mood. He was troubled, uneasy. He'd quickly retreated inwards to think and ponder the last few days, as he had advised his student, and had come to no conclusions as to this terrible defeat's meaning.

Rubbing his fore-head vacantly was Redwave, an unfinished game of solitaire sat before him on the floor as his mind wandered elsewhere. None of this was right in comparison to what he'd heard about Blood Moon, but he'd seen it with his own two eyes. He didn't like it, nor did he appreciate the way it weighed so heavily on his thoughts.

Finally, sat at the desk, was Ember. She'd wept a lot over the past few days, perhaps more than anypony of the Weavers. She'd never expected to see this day, that out of everypony Blood Moon had known over his life she'd be one of the few to see him die rather than the reverse. She hadn't had as much time for mourning as she'd have liked, however, as she'd been bogged down with a whole lot of paperwork as soon as she'd stepped through the door to the hideout.

It was to be expected after all, as even in an organisation such as the Shadow Weavers, political strife was still something that existed. Many less trustworthy assassins aimed for Blood Moon's position of Chapter Leader in the most wealthy and influential city of Equestria and far beyond. However, as Chapter Leader, he'd already chosen Ember Spark as his successor, as such, he'd painted a great big bull's-eye on her back until she was officially recognised as Chapter Leader. He'd also hung a sign around her neck that read: INSERT BULLSHIT CORRESPONDENCE HERE.

Form after form had been hoofed to the restless mare for her to see to, organise, file away or fill out, all apparently having something to do with the new leadership of the chapter. She was hardly in the mood for it all.

All four ponies remained silent, only Leaf's whetstone breaking the silence as it grinded down the length of his sword in rhythm.

"Ember?" She looked up to find Candle looking over at her, his sad face watching her with concern.

"What" she replied dryly.

"Are you alright" he asked quietly.

"We don't ask stupid questions, Candle" Leaf said before Ember could reply, not raising his gaze from his blade. Ember huffed quietly.

"I'm fine Candle, it's just…it's gonna take me a while to adjust" she answered. They were quiet for a while once more.

"Gee, and I thought Celestia was melodramatic." Everypony looked up from their various activities and frowned, all four assassins looking around the room. Something dropped from the ceiling, prompting Leaf to roll from his chair and bring his sword up, Red to dart to the side and grab his cutlass while Ember and Candle settled into stance.

Blood Moon looked around the room with a nonchalant expression on his face.

"Morning" he greeted in a flat tone. Most everypony frowned, a chorus of 'boss' and 'Blood Moon' going through the room, but otherwise the assassins didn't make a move. The dark stallion turned to Ember, who had trotted from around her side of the desk and approached him. Her hoof raised to his face, landing on his chin as she stroked his jowl, as though making sure he was real. Ember loosed a breath, her gaze going to the floor.

"I don't even know why I'm surprised" she muttered, shaking her head. Blood Moon grunted.

"What, not even gonna slap me?" Ember huffed, her gaze going back up to the stallion.

"Don't tempt me Moon" she grumbled, rubbing her face with a hoof. Blood Moon soon retired to his chair behind the desk, crossing his fore-legs on the tabletop as Ember and Leaf sat on the chairs before him, Candle and Red stood behind him.

"I can only guess that you're awaiting an explanation?" Ember Spark snorted.

"You're damn straight Moon. Two days, two days of no contact and a confirmed Shadow Weaver fatality, and then all of a sudden you show up again, right out of the blue, like nothing happened. What the hay?" Blood Moon grunted and shrugged.

"We're forgetting something" Leaf said before the dark stallion could answer "that Alicorn, that Celestia was crying over. A friend? Or somepony more personal?" Blood Moon smirked.

"As astute as ever Leaf. Well, long story short, I've a few confessions to make…"

The three assassins listened to Blood Moon's tail, Ember watching their reactions to something she'd barely shut up about for three weeks when he'd told her. It was boring, to say the least, Leaf as stoic as ever and Candle unwilling to embarrass himself in front of his mentor while Redwave looked to hardly give a damn. It was disappointing to say the least.
When Blood Moon had finished his story, he looked between the three assassins as they sat in silence, regarding him.

"Well" he asked.

"I want to call bullshit, but I get the feeling you wouldn't lie about…all that" Redwave replied.

"It does seem kind of unlikely, but…well, if I've seen anything of you sir, it's that you are kind of unlikely." Blood Moon could only smirk at Candle's statement.

"It does answer a lot of questions, and fill in a lot of gaps" Leaf muttered to himself, gazing at the floor in thought. After a second of silence, he looked back to Blood Moon. "I get the feeling that's not all you came back to say though" he remarked. The Hunter could only grunt.

"Indeed, that is true. As I said, I used to be Celestia's bodyguard and, as I'm sure you've all figured out by now, I'm going to return to that position" he told them. Ember narrowed her eyes.

"Why are you telling us this" she asked carefully.

"Because, it's likely I'm going to be acting more along the lines of an assassin, a spymaster maybe, than purely a bodyguard. As such, I require I team or, better yet, my order to stand with me to do it properly."

"Nopony is going to agree to this" Leaf told him absolutely. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Not everypony is going to agree to this. And I don't need everypony. I'm well aware that I'm about to create at least fifty Outcasts in this chapter alone, and probably alienate the rest of the order, even with the Weaver's blessings, but to be perfectly fair I don't much care anymore. I need ten, maybe fifteen good ponies to form a good team of spies and assassins.
They will stand with me, not Celestia but that is who they will act on behalf of…and to that end, I extend to you all an offer into this little circle." They all opened their mouths to answer, but Ember cut them off before they could speak.

"Why are you only picking ponies from the Shadow Weavers? I thought you had hundreds of contacts all over Equestria, and beyond" she asked. Blood Moon shook his head.

"No, I cut all contact with them a few days before I got to Ponyville before all this started. I only stayed in contact with the Weavers because I thought it would be good to settle down as Chapter Leader here. That, and I wasn't about to wave goodbye to my protégé" he added, prompting a grin from a slightly bashful Ember. The grey mare nodded her understating amidst her small blush, everypony going to answer again. "Before you all answer though, and I hope this goes without saying… Ember Spark, you are hereby promoted to Master of the Shadow Weaver order. Redwave, you are hereby promoted to Reaper. Candle, your choice of path takes you to a rank 10 assassin, be it Warrior, Murderer or Shadow Tail. Leaf…we'll talk in a sec" he said. Both Candle and Redwave blinked.

"A Reaper? Isn't that…kind of a jump from Cutthroat" Redwave asked. Blood Moon just shrugged.

"You've earned it, and I'm sure your mother will agree when she hears of your exploits" he retorted. Redwave blushed a little at the mention of needing his mother's permission.

"Sir, a rank 10 assassin? I thought I needed much more experience to achieve that rank, hay, I only just came out of training. Last week I was still a Novice" Candle Light argued.

"Don't think I haven't thought this through. You infiltrated the Goldhooves' compound, keeping up with three much more experienced assassins I might add, and survived the attack on Canterlot palace. I'm not splitting you and Leaf up just yet mind you, but you still hold all the honours, perks and other miscellaneous bonuses it brings." Candle looked down in thought for a second before he nodded.

"A-alright, thank you sir." Blood Moon nodded.
"Anyway, back to my question; will any of you accept my invitation to work with me as I work with Celestia?" Ember Spark hesitated slightly before she spoke first.

"I'll...need to think about it..." Blood Moon shrugged a shoulder.

"Of course."

"I’m in" Candle said "I grew up in the Canterlot chapter, and I grew up watching and hearing about you sir" he told Blood Moon "it would be an honour to work with a legend of the Shadow Weavers." The dark stallion smiled.

"Thank you Candle."

"I'm game, just as long as I get to go back to sea every now and then. I don't wanna lose my sea legs" Redwave said. Blood Moon nodded.

"Fine with me, I'm gonna start making arrangements to put you out on the waves. I'm putting you in control of my personal open water operations, alongside any questionable ones Celestia may have. Though I should mention, you're gonna have to tone down any piracy. If you get caught and linked back to Celestia, it's game over." Redwave nodded.

"Understood." Ember turned her head to Falling Leaf.

"Leaf, what about you?" He remained silent, his head bowed in thought. He ran a hoof over his stubble before he answered. There was an underlying message in his tone, a definite reluctance to his agreement.

"Alright" he answered at last. Blood Moon smiled, looking between them all.

"Thank you, all of you, this means a lot to me. I'd suggest you all retreat to a safehouse you own the hay out of dodge, shit's about to hit the fan both within the Shadow Weavers and Equestria as a whole. Lay low for a few days, take a vacation. I'll contact you when you're needed." They all nodded, standing and moving towards the door.

"Alright boss, we'll see you around" Redwave said to the assassin, Blood Moon nodding as they went. Leaf lingered, nopony questioning it as he remained seated in his chair. Blood Moon's eyes met his, the Hunter's horn sparking to life as a half empty bottle of whiskey and a pair of glasses floated towards them, Blood Moon pouring them both a shot.

They sat in silence for a while, both assassins staring each other down as Blood Moon cocked his head slightly, Leaf keeping his head bowed slightly as he regarded the Hunter.

"I trust a pony of your abilities knows what I'm about to say" Blood Moon began. Leaf nodded. Blood Moon sighed to himself as he stood, trotting around the desk until he passed Leaf and stared into the fireplace. "Three years ago, you were sent on a contract. High risk, high pay. You were on of my best, hay, you were the best I had to offer at the time." Leaf simply growled out a sigh.

"Quillrunner" he said under his breath. Blood Moon nodded.

"Aye, Quillrunner. The contract that changed your career for the worst. You failed in a contract" he said as he turned to Leaf. "Before that incident, no assassin of the Shadow Weaver order has ever had to declare a contract a failure." Leaf stood from his chair and faced the dark stallion, both glaring at each other. "You wounded our pride that day" Blood Moon stated. Leaf nodded.

"I know" he said tensely, his own pride being sorely bruised by bringing up these memories. The first in over ten thousand years of activity, that he'd been a Master at the time not helping his situation, had been an almost literal gut-stab for his career as an assassin. It had ruined his reputation, his social standing within the order and put the Loom on his tail for four long months as they decided what to do to him. It was during that period he'd broken up with Scarlet Blade, almost three years ago. Those stitches had never fully healed over.

"But, I never lost faith in you. I know that all assassins make mistakes, that even the manticore can be out-galloped by a rat. You've worked your way back up the ranks Leaf, but nopony on the Loom wants you to return to the rank of Master. I say buck 'em, you're a part of my chapter and you've proven yourself still one of the best. Therefore-" Leaf's eyes narrowed.

"There's no point in advancing me" he interrupted. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Oh? And why not?" Leaf's glare never quite met Blood Moon's gaze, but instead burrowed into the stallion's chest.

"Ember. She's taken my mantle. The best the Shadow Weavers of Canterlot have ever witnessed, and likely will ever witness, rise through the ranks. That was my podium, one I worked for, and because of one mare who was too much of a cheating, manipulative bitch I get thrown off and replaced by-"

"Say one word against my protégé, and I will make you regret it" Blood Moon said. His tone was ice cold, the air around him chilly. The stoic Leaf swallowed gently.

"Apologies…I…I got caught up in myself" he replied. "All the same, you can understand my…" he fished for a word "mannerisms." Blood Moon couldn't argue. Pride. She was a troublesome mistress.

"Indeed" Blood Moon agreed "but know how to see the pride in that what you have done, and not the lack of pride you take in what you haven't. You are still the resident veteran here Leaf, something Ember will never have until you're gone, and I know you Leaf. All's you care about is the opinion of one pony" he raised Falling Leaf's sword, the Enforcer only now noticing it was gone "his" Blood Moon finished as Leaf gazed at his reflection in the blade. "As a Master, whether or not you join my little posse, you're going to hit the trail again. Maybe with Scarlet, maybe not, I don't care, but I know you're not going to hang around here. What does it matter to you?" Leaf grunted.

"Word travels" he answered simply. Blood Moon smirked.

"That defeats the point of this argument. You're after self-satisfaction. You're pride, not ego. What others think has no place in your mind, but you want something you can't have. Ember has worked just as hard as you have for what she's got, I suggest you just live with it." Leaf wanted to argue, but he had nothing to fight back with. Blood Moon was right; he'd just have to tense up his pride and let it take the blow. Blood Moon put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Listen, don't get me wrong, I know just how you're feeling right now. Your pride is only barely matched by my own, and to take a hit like this isn't something you can shrug off. But come on, you've a protégé of your own who's risen through the ranks at an exceptional rate, you've bounced back from demotion with a harder hit than anypony I've ever seen and as far as I care, this chapter is lucky to have an assassin like you." Leaf crossed his fore-legs and growled slightly, his eyes narrowing.

"I'm not some kid Blood Moon. Don't think you can sway me like that." Blood Moon just sighed as he fell into his chair behind the desk.

"Fair enough Leaf" he said at length, mulling his thoughts over. "I have an assignment for you" he said after a while "it's outta town, recognisance work, easy stuff. Take a break, think, let this all blow over. When you've had some time to consider what's what, come back and we'll talk again about your promotion, alright?" Leaf nodded silently, likely reluctantly.

"What's the job?" He heard silence, looking up to find Blood Moon watching him with an intense, business-like stare.

"Leaf, what I'm about to tell you does not leave this room. This is an inter-order contract, from me to you, understand?" Leaf nodded once. "Good. You remember when we met on the train a while back, Ember said I was after one of the Elements of Harmony." Leaf nodded again.

"Yes, I remember."

"Well, I should tell you; the contract was for Twilight." Leaf raised an eyebrow.
"Sparkle? Interesting" he murmured. Blood Moon could guess what he was thinking, very probably what had gone through his own when he'd first decided to reject the job.

"Yes. Normally, I'd have done this myself, but things have been hectic. Beyond that, I'd have asked Ember to take care of it, but she's gonna be busy so now I'm asking you Leaf." Their gazes met again. "I want you to look into this; find out who want's Twilight dead, why and where I can find them" he finished with a glare. Leaf nodded.

"I'll do it" he said easily. Despite their short conversation together, he'd decided he'd liked Blood Moon's lover. The dark stallion nodded in appreciation.

"Thank you, this means a lot." Leaf shrugged.

"Do I have any leads?" Blood Moon nodded, pulled out a pencil, colours and piece of paper. Within fifteen minutes, he'd sketched the mare who'd deliver the dossier in remarkable detail.

"Look out for her. She was the middle-mare. Find her, find the client, or at the least another link in the chain." Leaf nodded once, taking up the sketch in his hoof. "Again, thank you Leaf. Twilight is a good mare who doesn't deserve to be killed. We're gonna find out who wants her dead and return the favour." Leaf nodded again, stood, and disappeared in a spiral of leaves.
Blood Moon leaned back in his chair and gazed into oblivion for a second.

"You can come out now Ember" he said absently.

"Son of a bitch" a mare's voice muttered as she emerged from the shadows besides his door. She trotted towards him steadily, standing before his desk. Blood Moon smirked and cocked his head. "What gave me away" she asked as she slumped into one of the chairs.

"Nothing. It was just too obvious. If somepony knows you'll be there, there's no hiding from them" he replied with a shrug. He poured them both a drink, Ember's gaze never quiet leaving him.

They were quiet for a while, neither his nor hers gaze leaving the other. He wore a slight grin while she wore a concerned glare that never quite went deep enough to be aggressive.

"So" he began, awaiting answer. Ember narrowed her eyes.

"So" Ember echoed "you're back. You're well. You're planning on retiring from Chapter Leader and putting me in command." Her face twitched, holding down a snarl. "You lied to us all." Blood Moon raised an eyebrow. "You told us Celestia was going to die, but it was all a ploy for you to get back to her." His grin turned to a smirk. "You know, I'd never call you selfish for this, but you really are one manipulative son of a bitch" she told him. Blood Moon shrugged.

"I'm an assassin. It comes with the territory. I don't have to worry about being the good guy because I'm not the good guy. It's one of the perks of being a grey-coat" he replied. Ember just grunted.

"I don't appreciate being lied to" she told him. He sighed.

“Listen Ember-” He hoof colliding with the desk cut him off.

“No Moon, you listen” she told him, her narrowed gaze now a glare as she made no attempt to hide her anger. “For almost as long as I can remember, I’ve...I’ve loved you. I’d have done anything for you, I would have done anything to make you happy because I thought you deserved it but…” she swallowed, taking a breath that did nothing to calm her “over the past few days, I’ve been chewed on and spat out by you, bucked and chuked and then when I tried to get you to admit to you and Twilight that you loved me the whole time, that because you’ve known me for so long, that we’ve been through so much together, that we’ve always been so close” she finished, a tear fighting to escape her eye as she spoke through a sob. “But then you tell me it’s not me. It’s her. The mare you met hardly a fortnight ago is the one you love.” She wiped away a tear creeping down her face angrily, her teeth bared as she clenched her jaw. “I tried to tell myself, I could do this. I could live knowing that...I don’t know, that you’ve never loved me? It doesn't matter now” she growled.

She glared him down, staring him in the eye.

“These past few days...they’ve been a wake up call. That, for all my life, I’ve been in love with a stallion who’d so readily have hundreds die for his own goals, that would lie to those closest to him, who could so easily push me away.” Her lip wobbled slightly. “Who would leave me thinking him dead for two days, let all this grief pile up on me, let everything fall onto me before just showing up again, out of the blue, not a care in the world. Like he’d just expect his loyal companion to come back to him again and again, no matter what he did.” She sniffed. “Look at you. Not a flinch, no move to defend yourself, nothing. You don’t care, do you?” She sniffed again before he face broke into a snarl as her horn burst to life, heaving the desk between them to the side and lunging at him.

Blood Moon didn’t react as she planted her hooves on his shoulders and forced him to the ground, weeping over him.

“WELL NO MORE, DO YOU HEAR ME! NO BUCKING MORE! THAT’S IT, I’M DONE! FIND SOME OTHER DUMB MARE TO BE YOUR PROTEGE! I’M NOT YOUR PARTNER, I’M DONE COMING BACK TO YOU, I’M SICK OF FORGIVING YOU” she screamed before she broke into sobbing. With a sob-stained growl, her hoof slammed into his face before she leapt from atop him and cantered the door, pausing before it.

She sniffed and huffed a few times, wiping away tears with her hoof as she sobbed and cried with every grunted breath, her mane casting a shadow over her leaking eyes. Blood Moon sat up, rubbing his cheek as he watched her. He stood and trotted towards her, stopping when she turned back to him.

“You don’t even care, do you?” He held his ground as they stared each other down. She huffed and went to turn away when he didn’t answer.

“What, that my pupil and one of my closest friends is turning her back on me? Yeah. Yeah, I care, but there’s nothing I can do Ember. You’re right, I betrayed everything I built for everything I left, I lied to you, I don’t love you, I always thought you’d be there” he listed, each thing he said making her scowl and sob harder. “But you know what Ember?” She tensed for a fight, wiping away her tears. “You’re right. I lie, I cheat, I ask far too much of you and… And...and despite how much I care for you, however much I love you, I just don’t like...that, I can’t, you’re my protege, you’ve always been my student. I just...I don’t know why I can’t but...” He sighed. “I can’t ask your forgiveness, for everything I’ve done to you, for how much you’ve worried, how much I’ve hurt you. Because I know I have, and…and I wish it had been different. That this all could have happened without you having to get hurt, and without me having to hurt you, but it has. I don’t regret what I’ve done just...how it happened” he said quietly. He took a long breath. “Ember, I know that coming from me, this won’t mean much to you but...know that I have been...taught to...swallow my pride at times like this, to understand that pride needs to be tempered with humility in order to avoid arrogance. I of all know I’m not perfect, and that mistakes are not something I’m unfamiliar with, but...that doesn't mean that admitting to somepony I care for when I’ve hurt them is below me…” He sighed. “My pride has always been that I can act. I don’t need to cower, that I always take the stand, that I can always stand up for myself and those I love…” He growled out a breath. “But that shouldn’t stop me from standing down for those I love too” he added quietly. “I just...needed to be shown that.”

Ember Spark opened her mouth to speak, raising her hoof, but he beat her to it.

“I’m sorry, Ember Spark. I won’t go back on what I’ve done, but for every second of hardship I’ve ever put you through… I’m sorry.” His view was suddenly blocked by a shadow of body, lips pressed against his own, the feeling of hot skin and tears pressed against his face.

Ember leaned back, a small smile on her face as she refused to meet his gaze.

“Maybe there’s hope for you after all” she said quietly. She sighed again. “You won’t see me for a long time Moon, I’m done. With you, with the Weavers, everything. I’m gonna travel. Don’t try to find me.” She lifted her gaze to his. “But...I’m glad we could part on...at least better terms that we would have.” He nodded once. Ember grunted. “Always full of surprises, eh Blood Moon?” He grunted.

“Keeps things interesting” he answered. She smiled weakly, a hoof going around his neck,

“I’m glad you’re back Blood Moon...somewhat” she told him before she pulled back. He simply gave her a lopsided smile.

“Goodbye Ember Spark. It’s been…” She smiled gently.

“It sure has, hasn’t it?” They matched each other’s smiles. “Goodbye, Moon” was the last thing she said before disappearing in a flash.

With a sullen sigh and a proud smile, Blood Moon did the same.

Blood Moon appeared in his chambers in a flash, his flanking landing on a chair while his fore-leg landed on the table before it, his head resting on a hoof. He took a deep sigh as his thoughts ran through his head, revolving mainly around Ember Spark and the rest of the Shadow Weavers.

'I’m gonna miss that girl. Hay, I’m gonna miss the order. I built that order up from the dirt. It's all gonna fall apart now. Without the combined efforts of the entire Loom and resources, contracts and information from every corner of Equestria, and Equus as a whole, things aren't gonna last too long. Somepony will plan something to take advantage of this rift. It's all a question of where, which chapter they chose to strike…'

"Something got you down?" Blood Moon's closed eyes glared.

"Joy of joys" he mumbled, lifting his head and turning his gaze to Discord. There he was, longing on a floating bed of parasprites. "What do you want" he demanded. Discord snapped his claws and landed on the ground, his paw and claws clasping behind him as he meandered over to the assassin.

"Oh, nothing. Just thought I'd take the time to appreciate this dusty corner of the palace" he said as he dusted Blood Moon's head off with a feather duster he'd pulled from the ether. The assassin batted him away, sliding off the chair and glaring at the draconequus like he was trying to push a hole through him.

"Let's get one thing straight between us: Celestia may have forgiven, or forgotten or whatever, but that does not mean anything between us. I will tolerate you, if that is what Celestia thinks is best, but you'd best remember" the dark stallion's magic made a loop around Discord's neck, yanking him down to his height "I will be watching you. The moment you slip up, I'll be on you like death on a corpse and I will rip you limb from limb." Blood Moon grabbed Discord's muzzle and jerked his gaze towards his own. "Clear?"

"Crystal" he replied. Blood Moon let him go and watched as Discord straightened up.

"You haven't changed a bit, have you Blood Moon?" The assassin smirked.

"I have. Just not towards you" he retorted. Discord smirked back, before he turned his head towards the door a little.

"It's open Fluttershy" he called. The door opened by itself with the draconequus's words, revealing a timid yellow pony with her hoof raised to knock on the door. She looked at Discord and smiled, but the moment her gaze fell upon Blood Moon she hid behind her mane.

"Oh, h-hello" she murmured.

"Ahh, Fluttershy, do come in. We were just talking about you" Discord greeted. The assassin glared at him.

"I will cram a boulder rigged to blow down your throat if you don't-"

"Blood Moon, be nice! Whatever did Discord do to you, didn't your mother ever teach you any manners! What would she think of you" Fluttershy snapped as she darted towards him, a somewhat fearsome glare on her face. The assassin raised an eyebrow, his eyes glancing at Discord, whom was clamping his claw over his maw to hold down his laughter.

"He tried to kill my little girls, and succeed in killing countless others and some of my closest friends. I have absolutely no grounds to be 'nice' to him on, and my mother? Well, she was a common street-whorse who didn't use the proper protection when a sailor came to town; she didn't teach me anything and she wouldn't care either." His eyes narrowed. "Before you try and defend this piece of dirt, try and figure out just what you're defending" he growled.
Fluttershy had retreated behind her mane before he'd gotten the first word out, and just continued to sink deeper inside herself as he spoke. When he was done, she just mumbled out:

"O-okay. S-sorry."

"Fluttershy, I think it best if we remove ourselves from this stallion's company" Discord said, his muzzle raised as he marched past the assassin. Fluttershy nodded and went to turn away, Blood Moon watching her go.

He sighed as she trotted away with melancholy in her step, the dark stallion gripping the bridge of his muzzle.

"Fluttershy, could you wait a sec" he asked simply. The yellow mare looked back with curiosity before her gaze went to Discord. She nodded at him, the draconequus taking it as his cue to continue out. He snapped his claws and the door slammed shut, prompting a 'yeep' from the yellow Pegasus.

Discord's reaction was an eyebrow-raiser for the assassin. Discord, protective of somepony?
He shook the thoughts away before they took root.

He looked up to find a nervous looking Fluttershy stood before him, rubbing her right fore-leg up and down with her left, avoiding looking at him, her mane hiding most of her face. Blood Moon took a long breath, glancing around his room in Canterlot palace.

"Fluttershy" he began, unsure where to take this. He looked left and right, blindly looking for answers, but nothing came to mind. He sighed and looked back to Fluttershy. "I…I'm sorry I wasted your time" he mumbled before he went to turn away.

"You want to tell me you're sorry, but you don't think you have anything to apologise for" Fluttershy told him in her quiet voice. Blood Moon turned back.

"I have something to be sorry for?" He could tell if it had been anypony else, they would have glared. Fluttershy, however, was not the glaring type and simply frowned at the spot of floor she felt more interesting than the stallion. The assassin trotted towards her. "Fluttershy, I know I'm no good for breaking up with you, and I know for a fact I'll be kicking myself sooner or later, but I know it's for the best. I want to give Twilight all the love and attention she deserves, and you deserve somepony to call your own. The last thing I want is to upset you of all ponies Fluttershy, but…" He sighed as he struggled to find the words. "Would…would it at least help to know that I offer my condolences? And that were I a less honest stallion when it came the matters of the heart, under no circumstances would I ever give you up." He shook his head and loosed a breath, turning his gaze to the side. "Son of a buck" he whispered to himself. The quiet and sensitive-eared Fluttershy looked up.

"W-what's the matter" she asked quietly. Blood Moon just grunted.

"First time in my life the goodness in me has thrown dirt on my grave" he muttered in response. He shook the thought away with a slightly self-disapproving look on his face, trotting closer to her. She shied away from him, prompting him to pause. He took a quiet breath through his muzzle. "Fluttershy, have you ever loved somepony" he asked suddenly.
She glanced up at him wearily.

"I…well, you-"

"No, besides me" he cut off. Fluttershy curled up a little further.

"N-no…" she squeaked. She felt a hoof on her chin and looked up to find that Blood Moon had approached her without her realising it. She went to shy away again only to catch his gaze, finding it impossible to tear her own away.

"Then, you don't know my angle here. I love Twilight with all my heart and I want my heart to belong to her. I can't do that sharing it with somepony. If you and Twilight want to stay together, I don't have a problem with that. You've been friends for a while and I can tell you two are close, but…just do me a favour." She looked up at him with a questioning look on her face. "Just…cast me to the shadowy corners of your mind. It's where I'm most comfortable anyway" he said with a shrug as he backed away. Fluttershy turned her head away, a small smile on her face.

"I don't want to forget about you Blood Moon" she told him quietly "just…this part of our friendship." Blood Moon returned her small smile, his hoof traveling around her neck as he pulled her into a hug. She obliged, nuzzling her head into his chest as she took the opportunity to remember him the best she could. From the scent of leather, badly washed away blood, the lingering odour of sweat and a distinctive musk about him she couldn't quite place, like a mix of steel and something more…intimate.

"Never thought I'd meet somepony who knew how to put the past behind them when it comes to love and friendship. Guess I can count on the Element of Kindness to prove me wrong when it comes to the decency of the ponies of Equestria." Fluttershy giggled slightly in his grip, straightening up when he released her. "You're a good mare Fluttershy, you'll find yourself somepony someday" he promised her. The corner of Fluttershy’s eyes went down.

“B-but what if I-”

“And if you don’t just call me mortal” he told her. Fluttershy just smiled gently. The door creaked open, a bored looking Discord sliding smoothly in with it.

"Are you done yet" he droned. Blood Moon shook his head at him while Fluttershy giggled into her hoof. The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"Or perhaps you already have" he said absently. Fluttershy looked at him in confusion as he smirked at her. "Either way, yeah, I think I'm done" he told Discord.

"Good" he replied, his paw snapping as a light enveloped Fluttershy before appearing next to him, her eyes rolling around in her head slightly. "Arrivederci" the draconequus said in a dry voice. Fluttershy just waved him goodbye, a sweet smile on her face, as the door closed in front of them.

The assassin shook his head at the god of chaos's antics, turning away and trotting over to his desk and sitting at it. His horn flared and a few pieces of parchment floated out from his desk, alongside a raven-feather quill and a pot of ink. Dipping the quill into the ink, he wrote out his messages to the rest of the Shadow Weaver community. As the quill scratched away at the parchment, leaving sharp and almost fierce words behind, his thoughts drifted.

He could practically hear the sounds of his fellow assassins sharpening their blades amidst the sound of his quill scratching. Pride had built his band of assassins, and losing their greatest assassin wasn't something a pride as big as a not-so-small planet could handle without retribution. He could sense it. It was a trait you picked up in this vocation; the best way to kill an assassin was with another assassin, Cadaver was a prime example, ergo, Blood Moon had had more than a little experience with dealing with other assassins. It was easy enough to predict when they were going to attack.

He rested his head on his hoof, stroking the stubble that had grown there in the last week. He grunted at that thought. The last week. Just how influential had these last few weeks been in his multiple-millennia long life? A lover, friends, a new filly to call daughter, his old fillies who called him father, a phoenix to stand with. He frowned.

"Just where in the hay is Hunter anyway" he mumbled to himself, looking around. He'd
already re-erected Philomena's old perch for him to use, yet it was still vacant. He shook the thoughts away, confident that his bird could handle himself. That, and Philomena had literally fought alongside him during the Discord wars. He looked back down at the parchment, finding most of the letters to send were done. There were at least one hundred and fifty chapters of the Shadow Weavers worldwide, one in every major city in Equestria and each capital city across Equus. That meant he had to get word out to the Equestrian Shadow Weaver individually, but he could at least leave the foreign chapters to their own commanding chapters.

Blood Moon took a deep breath before his head slammed to the table.

"Paperwork is booooring" he groaned to himself. Glad that nopony was around to witness that, the assassin lifted his head again and returned to his work.

He wasn't sure how long he spent writing out his letters to the other Weavers, but he did know that he stopped when Celestia kicked the door open.

"Blood Moon" she shouted in, looking around frantically. The dark stallion blinked as he looked over his shoulder back at her, raising a hoof with a small 'hey'. Celestia visibly calmed when she saw him, cantering over to his seat. "Oh, there you are. I was worried…" she trailed off. He frowned and looked over at the grandfather clock between the windows. It read that he'd been gone for an hour. And one minute.

"Getting paranoid there, Tia" he asked with a smirk, hopping from his seat. She just shrugged sheepishly.

"W-well, no, I just-" he cut her off with a small laugh.

"Don't worry about it Celestia. I'm not going to leave you again" he promised. She loosed a small breath to calm herself, looking away from him.

"Yeah, I know, it's just…well, you can't blame a mare for being cautious, right?" He smirked.

"Never said I did" he replied, sitting on his bed. "So, what's on your mind" he asked. Celestia sat next to him and shrugged.

"Nothing really. I just got done sending word to the other ruling bodies and I've had Scroll set up a small meeting between us." She left the sentence there, but the assassin could hear more forming before she cut off.

"What's up" he asked. Celestia tensed once side of her mouth.

"Glendrin is going to be a problem" she muttered, mostly to herself. The assassin grunted.

"Not if I have a-" Blood Moon was cut off when a bundle of red and gold feathers slammed into his face with a small 'paff'. He fell from his flank as though a statue, keeping his posture despite having a face full of bird. Celestia giggled into her hoof slightly as Philomena fluttered to her old perch. "We are not amused" came the assassin's muffled voice. Celestia just did a worse job at holding down her laughter. Blood Moon reached up and took Hunter by his tail, lifting him and frowning at him. "This is the second time your flying skills have come into question, Deadeye" he muttered, letting Hunter flutter to his claws and stand on the assassin's bed besides him. The phoenix quickly took to nuzzling the dark stallion, prompting a smile from him as he fussed the bird in response.

"Where in Equestria have you been Philomena" Celestia asked her pet, her hoof delicately running up and down the phoenix's feathered neck. In reply, Philomena looked over at Hunter with a raised eyebrow, the scarred phoenix simply giving his version of a lopsided smile in return. The assassin sniggered as he wing/hoof bumped his phoenix. Blood Moon looked up to find both Philomena and Celestia watching him with disapproval while he and Hunter shrugged. "So" Celestia had muttered as she trotted over to them "you're the troublesome phoenix who intervened in my and Blood Moon's fight." Hunter's gaze narrowed as he straightened up, his chest puffing out and his wings spreading slightly. Celestia recognised the offensive posture and cocked her head to the side gently, her hoof raising and fussing the phoenix's head. Hunter's aggressive demure quickly faded as he enjoyed the solar princess's attention, something that Philomena, privately, grew quickly jealous of.

The assassin looked over at his old bird, raising his fore-leg and gave a small whistle to attract her attention. She perked up and looked over, only to realise who it was and let her expression fade again. She fluttered over to him, feigning reluctance, and came to a rest on his outstretched fore-leg.

"It's been a while, 'mena" the assassin greeted. Philomena simply cocked her head at him before her eyes narrowed. The assassin grunted slightly when she pecked him in the eye with her beck. "Nice, buckin' beautiful" he muttered as he rubbed his closed eye. He shot her an annoyed look as she flew away, perching on Celestia's shoulder as said mare giggled at him.

"It's nice to meet you Hunter" she told the phoenix, who padded over to the assassin and fluttered to his shoulder. Blood Moon shook his head and stood from the bed.

"So, hate to sound like a broken record but, now what?" Celestia shrugged.

"Well, until the other officials turn up tomorrow, things will be at a standstill. It would be seen as 'inappropriate' to address my citizens before I addressed the other rulers and nobles, so I guess we have a little free time" she posed. Blood Moon simply grinned, going to talk before Celestia cut him off. "I suggest we go find Twilight and Cadence, I haven't the chance to catch up with my student properly, and I'm sure that Cadence would like to properly get to know you" she told the assassin. Blood Moons shrugged.

"Sounds like fun" he replied, trotting after Celestia.

The moved through the palace in relative silence, heading toward the library, where they assumed Twilight would gravitate towards. They passed few ponies, the guards taking it as granted that they were to avoid the assassin rather than approach him. Blood Moon couldn't help but notice the glances Philomena and Hunter seemed to be casting each other, though he got the feeling that reluctantly attracted and simply hopeful were major themes of their looks. He couldn't help but smirk at the prospect, Celestia catching his expression and leaning down to him.

"If she ends up with chicks…" She trailed off in an attempt to leave his own mind to the threat.

"She'll have some-phoenix to call her own, children to love and an excuse to let herself go" he replied.

"Are you trying to make a housewife of Philomena?" He laughed, imagining the majestic bird of fire clad in an apron, running a duster over her nest.

"Neigh, only trying to make a life fulfilled by the joy of a family" he replied. Celestia snorted.

"Always the dramatic." He smirked.

"Always the oblivious, you do know that phoenixes have exceptional senses, right? They've been listening to every word we've been saying" he answered. Celestia blinked and tensed slightly, looking to the bird perched on her shoulder, finding Philomena watching her with narrowed eyes. She shrugged an apology.

After a while of quiet trotting, the found themselves in Canterlot's, and possibly all of Equestria's, most complete library. They pushed through the door and heard the sounds of Twilight and Cadence laughing somewhere nearby, both ponies turning a corner to find them both sat on cushions in one of the more social reading areas.

"She's grown into a fine mare" Blood Moon said absently. Celestia's eyes went to Cadence, watching her put a hoof to her maw as she giggled.

"She has" she agreed at length, turning her head to Blood Moon. "You kept an eye on her?"
He nodded.

"Aye. I set up a small shack to the east, close to her village. I couldn't leave her without a guardian, even if…well, you understand" he trailed off. Celestia nodded before she frowned.

"Wait, did you leave…well, was that…" He nodded.

"Yeah" he replied shortly. He turned his head to Celestia. "How long?"

"I didn't want to take her away from her 'mother.' They'd grown attached. I was glad, but I had to wait for the whole family to pass on. I couldn't risk them arguing, she'd figure it out. A generation or two before I visited her again." Celestia sighed. "I hadn't meant to…bring her back that day, but…she was so lonely." The assassin nodded.

"I understand" he told her. "Does she know" he asked after a brief pause. Celestia shook her head, Blood Moon nodding his understanding. "Good move" he murmured. He glanced up at Celestia's distant expression, nudging her slightly. "You've been a good auntie, Tia" he assured her. Celestia just smiled.

"Hey Blood Moon" came Twilight's voice, the purple mare looking over at them, her old foalsitter watching them with her. The assassin smiled and trotted over, sitting down next to Twilight as she kissed his cheek, Hunter fluttering from his shoulder. "Hey you" she smiled, rubbing his head gently, much to his joy.

"Hey Twilight" the assassin greeted in return, nuzzling her gently. Celestia lay next to them, her legs beneath her body, Philomena fluttering to her back where she perched, the solar princess smiling gently at Cadence. The assassin leaned back on the plump cushions. "So, what are we talking about?" Cadence smirked a devious smirk.

"My sister in law's and your relationship" the pink alicorn replied. The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"I heard laughing just now, that wouldn't be aimed at me now would it" he replied, a small grin on his face. Twilight giggled to herself.

"No, just reminiscing our time together when we were younger" the purple mare answered.

"We were talking about when I first met Shining" Cadence said, more to her aunt than anypony else. Celestia smiled.

"I remember back then. You'd just started as my student" she said to Twilight "your parents needed somepony to look after you while you studied by yourself when they were working or busy." Cadence smiled in turn as she remembered days long past.

"I met Shining Armour for the first time when he came to take you home for the night." She giggled into her hoof. "He could hardly get a word out" she tittered. The three mares laughed at their memories of each other and those they cared of, Blood Moon content with sinking into the background and simply watching and listening to their tales. That was, until, Cadence turned to him. "So, Blood Moon, you've been alive a long time, correct?" The assassin nodded.

"Indeed" he replied curtly. Cadence cocked her head slightly.

"So, before you met Twily, was there…anypony else special to you?" He felt his mood sink as the memories rose, Twilight apparently catching on as her hoof found his, giving it a reassuring squeeze. Cadence caught the gesture, a small, proud smile finding her face.

"I…yes, there was. One mare, to be honest" he answered. He had intended to leave it there, only Cadence looked at him as though she wished him to continue. He gave a mental shrug before he continued. "I've met and know many mares over my life, almost all of them under a ruse or alias, a false personality. Very few mares I've known have actually fallen for me, myself. Twilight is one of…five, six maybe? But, there was one…" He trailed off, and Twilight could tell his memories were running through his head. She wondered just what was going on in there. As she was about to ask, he shook the thoughts away.

"I'm so sorry" Cadence said after a few seconds of silence. Blood Moon blinked himself back to reality, looking up at her.

"Hmm?" Cadence gave him a sad smile.

"You're immortal. She wasn't." She left it there, Blood Moon's head hanging again. Twilight shuffled closer to him, still slightly uncomfortable being intimate with her coltfriend around her tutor and big sister in law, and nuzzled him gently. "I'm sorry" Cadence said again, the
assassin shaking his head as Hunter cooed at him in concern.

"Don't be, I've lived this long with these memories in my head. What's another day?" Cadence offered him a small smile, standing quietly.

"We'll give you two a moment alone" she said, glancing at her aunt. Celestia took the hint and stood with her, Philomena fluttering to her shoulder, letting her hoof brush along Blood Moon's shoulder, trying to calm, reassure or at least cheer him up.

Outside the small alcove, Celestia and Cadence meandered to a window, looking out at the midday sun, shining down on Canterlot. Cadence crossed her hooves and lent on the sill, letting her breath cast mist on the glass before she drew a small smiley face in the mist with her magic.

"What do you think" Celestia asked. Cadence glanced back from her impromptu art before looking back out the window.

"As much as I hate to admit it…I like him. He's a good stallion, just…maybe a little proud, arrogant even, but given what he's capable of…" she trailed off again, thinking. "I'm glad Twilight met him" she said quietly "he's got a good heart." She huffed as a smile found her face. "I just need to look at the way he looks at Twilight to see that. He loves her, with all his heart" she looked back at Celestia again, a small smile on her face "she loves him too" she added. "You needn't worry" she assured. Celestia smiled.

Back inside their shared alcove, Twilight held a slightly happier coltfriend in her hooves as he leaned back into her, glad for the opportunity to cosy up together.

"Are you alright" Twilight asked quietly. She felt him nod.

"Yeah. She was testing me, see how I'd react probably" he answered. They settled into silence again until they heard a clock chime. Two in the afternoon. The dark stallion sighed.
"I'm getting tired of these long days" he muttered. Twilight giggled to herself, brushing a hoof through his dirty mane.

"You need a job" she commented. He grunted.

"I've got one. Assassin, or bodyguard, whichever you prefer." She smiled down at him.

"I'll take the one when you get to stay with me most often" she replied.

"That'll be unemployed slob" he informed, prompting a small laugh from Twilight.

"Yeah, I'll pass on that one" she answered, the two laughing together.

The assassin stood, Twilight standing with him, and the two trotted out of their alcove as Hunter returned to his perch on the assassin. They found the alicorns of love and the sun stood at a window, talking in quiet voices.

"So, I take it you'll be preparing for the arrival of the dignitaries tomorrow" Blood Moon asked from behind them. Celestia looked back at them, nodding her head.

"That's a good point, I should begin making preparations..." she scoffed to herself quietly "no doubt Glendrin will be expecting some kind of fanfare" she muttered to herself. She raised her head again. "Well, always count on royal duties to pull a princess away from her loved ones" she turned to Cadence, hugging her gently, before she turned to Twilight and wrapped her hooves around her neck. "Look after him. Please" she whispered into her student's ear. Twilight smiled as her own fore-leg went around her mentor's neck.

"Don't worry. I will" she promised. Celestia gave her student a final squeeze before she let her go, straightening up again. She smiled at the assassin, whom winked back, and disappeared in a flash of golden light. The assassin glanced at Cadence and Twilight, finding them both watching him.

"Well, it seems I find myself at a loose end once more" he muttered to himself. Twilight offered a kind smile as she nudged up to him.

"Me and Cadence were going to take a stroll around the palace, see if we could find anypony from when I used to study here. You could come with, if you want." He smiled, but shook his head.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to…reflect on everything, think, consider everything" he answered "besides, I've enough nostalgia of my own around this place" he added, glancing around the palace walls. Twilight nodded in understanding, her lips meeting his for a brief but passionate moment before she pulled back.

"I'll see you tonight then" she said, turning away with her grinning sister in law. He just nodded and winked. Once the purple and pink mares had left him, the assassin disappeared in a flash of light, landing on the balcony of his chambers.

He leant on the railing, gazing out over Equestria, smirking to himself. Hunter hopped from his shoulder, standing next to him as they gazed at the sunlit horizon and fields of grass before them, a gentle breeze ruffling the stallion's mane and the phoenix's feathers.

"You know Hunter…" the phoenix looked over at him "sometimes I wonder…just how did I survive without my little girls."

"You followed one bad decision up with one after another, until all the bullshit piled up and came full circle."

Blood Moon just chuckled as he felt his cutie mark tingle slightly.

Full circle

Chapter thirty two: Full circle

Blood Moon awoke in a foul mood. Although, much to his distaste, he didn't much know why. That said, that was a paradoxical lie.

He knew exactly why he was in a bad mood; he was an immortal who was tired of living whom had recently learned that he had no chance of perishing, had a terrible habit of alienating those he loved and cared for, had made the mistake of falling in love with another mortal mare, could feel the impending stab wounds aimed at him by the Shadow Weavers and was on the threshold of a migraine. He just didn't know why these thoughts had chosen now to surface.

Perhaps it had something to do with everything that had happened these past few weeks. He'd be lying if he said they'd been boring in the slightest, not to mention more than a little pivotal in his life. With a sigh, feeling Twilight relax beside him, a smile on her face as she lay at his side, her hoof draped over his chest, he relaxed, trying to push the thoughts away. He felt her snuggle into him, as though asking him to stop his worrying in her sleep. He smiled down at her, catching her mane's scent in his muzzle.

The lavender had dissipated over the days since they'd first slept together, yet somehow a faint residue remained. He nuzzled her gently, the mare smiling gently in her slumber. Relaxing again, he stared at the ceiling.

Starswirl's beard, but did he feel confined.

Four walls were one of the many banes of Blood Moon's existence, and as much as he loved being wrapped up with the mare he loved, feeling her snoozing gently against him, her hoof draped over his chest, a faint smile on her pretty features, he felt the need to stand, to walk, to move and travel.

To fly.

He stared at the ceiling vacantly, curling his marefriend's mane around his hoof vacantly, and thought about his intentions. When was the last time he'd flown? On his own wings, the stallion had only ever flown once, when he'd first gotten his wings. The sensation was…incredible, to say the least. For a stallion who craved nought but freedom, soaring through the clouds, the sky's air rushing through his mane as he gazed down at the earth below… It was something that couldn't be matched easily.

He often watched with distaste as the Pegasi flew through the air with nary a thought as to how much a privilege they'd been granted by Father Time. To never have to set hoof on the ground and trot with the clouds as Blood Moon trotted with the shadows. To be truly liberated.

The assassin gazed down at Twilight, nuzzling her mane and kissing her head gently. She smiled a little wider in her sleep. He gazed down at her and smiled back, nuzzling her once more, more passionately this time, and rose from the bed. He made certain to not disturb her as he moved, watching her settle again on the bed proper. He smiled at her sleeping form, stroking her mane with a hoof.

She just batted him away this time.

Chuckling as he went, Blood Moon turned to Hunter's perch, finding the phoenix soundly asleep, snoring lightly as his chest rose and fell with his breath. Blood Moon ran a hoof down his wings, causing him to stir and rouse from his sleep to investigate the disturbance. He found Blood Moon stood before him, wearing a smile on his face, and promptly nuzzled him in greeting. The assassin had to admit, all those other female phoenixes didn't know what they were missing out on when they hadn't chosen his nest to make a home of. He had no doubt Hunter had fought beak and claw for a prime spot, more than likely having won it too, but it seems the fates conspired against the poor fighter and left him without a mate.

Hunter seemed to read his master's mind and just looked annoyed and flustered, his golden eyes showing hate and frustration with his past, gazing at the ground as he ruffled his wings out. Blood Moon simply smirked, running his hoof down his feathered friend's side gently.

"Don't worry about it pal, I'm pretty sure Philomena's interested." He actually perked at the mention of her name, looking around the room before he realised what Blood Moon was saying and deflated again slightly. Blood Moon simply laughed quietly as Hunter fluttered to his shoulder. "You'll treat her well, of course" he told more than asked. Hunter looked slightly insulted as he puffed his chest out nobly. The dark stallion smiled again.

He trotted to the window to the balcony and pushed it open, letting the cool mountain air into the room, cooling the assassin and blowing his mane around gently. He trotted towards the railing and stood before it, closing the door behind him.

The assassin and phoenix stood before the railing and gazed out at Equestria. Blood Moon had to admit, despite the amount of times he'd seen it, he'd never get tired of that view.

He looked out at the sun rising from the east, the orb of fire slowly crawling past the horizon after Celestia's magic gave it the kick it needed, before he looked to the west to find the moon setting over Vanhoover, Luna's vigil coming to an end with the end of the darkness of the night. The assassin stood between them, in the grey between light and dark. Call it poetic or melodramatic, or whatever you like, but it was the truth.

Before he could move again, he heard a familiar call and looked to the sky to find Philomena fluttering towards them, flapping her wings to slow her descent and perching on the stone railing beside Blood Moon.

"Speak of thy devil and thy devil shalt appear" Blood Moon mused as he delicately stroked her feathered head. She glared at him. He only smirked, shaking loose a few strands of mane that tempted to move in on his view cone's turf. "And by thine lord, Tartarus hath no fury like thy mare scorned" he said with his smirk on his face. Philomena head-butted him, right at the base of the horn (like he'd taught her) and sent him staggering as he held his horn gently. She then dived at him, nuzzling him aggressively as she cooed and cawed gently against him, her sounds without true definition but speaking volumes. Blood Moon simply wrapped a hoof around her and held her as tight as he could. "And by thy word of honour, let thy mare be forgiving and loving, else thy live forever in shame and hatred of thine self for hurting the mare thy love" he muttered as he held and nuzzled the bird he'd loved as a member of his family from so long ago, the one creature in his life he knew he could never hope to defend leaving. He and Philomena had had a deeper understanding of each other than Blood Moon felt he could achieve with even somepony like Twilight, and a deeper respect and adoration of each other that he couldn't truly match with any other on Equus. Simply because she was the one who'd never leave him.

'That didn't stop you from leaving her.'

At first he thought it a voice in his head, only to realise that the voice had been his own, not a disembodied voice of another stallion he wasn't sure if he recognised or not. He hummed gently to himself in thought before he straightened up, feeling Hunter hop from his shoulder.

Glad for the distraction, he stepped back to watch the two phoenixes.

Phoenixes were protective birds, known for old tradition and intelligence that rivalled that of ponies, more than definitely what a pony would call 'sentient' creatures, it amazed Blood Moon to no end that none had actually gone out of their way to study these majestic creatures. He was glad for the opportunity.

Hunter stepped forwards, not moving any muscle but his legs, his movement graceful and smooth. Philomena was apparently impressed, or he'd at least been acceptable, as she returned his advance. Her movement was naturally graceful, almost an art form in itself, and she made a pleased coo, prompting him to continue. Hunter bowed deeply, once again not allowing himself to move any other muscle to move or twitch, as he spread his wings slightly as he lowered his body. Not, however, his gaze. Blood Moon's pride had apparently brushed off on his phoenix version of a bow. Philomena looked more than pleased as she bowed with him, her wings staying still, holding his gaze, before they both straightened again. They padded towards each other again, matching each other's steps and pace, before they came within what could only be an intimate inch of each other. They leaned their heads forwards until their beaks came into contact, caressing each other gently as they moved back and forth to continue their gently moving embrace.

Blood Moon had to wonder if he'd just witnessed the phoenix version of asking a mare out on a date. Given from the way they stood so close to each other, he got the feeling he had.

Happy for the two birds of fire, he fussed both their heads with a smile on his face before he looked out at the horizon again. His gaze hardened as his horn sparked to life. The shadow cast by the balcony's railing darkened and pulled itself towards him before creeping up his legs and body, gripping his back in two spots and continuing up in a gentle ripple of flame that formed two eagle wings of pure darkness. The shadows settled and seeped into his wings, bolstering his power more than slightly as Alicorn formed the hollow Pegasus bones of his wings, and left two impeccably preened wings upon his back.

He took the chance to examine them himself, curling one to his face and gazing at it as he gently ran a hoof up and down it. Much like masturbation, it wasn't half as good when it was your own hoof. Smirking at himself, he let his wing fold to his body and took another breath.

He hopped upon the rail, a perilous drop below and an endless sky above. He stood on his hind-legs, shifting his centre of gravity as he did, and stood upright with his fore-legs outstretched. With Hunter and Philomena stood either side of him in similar poses, he leaned his weight forwards gently, the phoenixes doing the same, and suddenly he was falling.

One meter, two, ten, twenty five, forty, sixty, one hundred, two hundred, three hundred, five hundred.

Then, in unison, three pairs of wings opened majestically with a great 'thump' of air pressure and feathers as they swooped upwards as one, Blood Moon with his fore-legs by his body as streamline as he could while the phoenixes' naturally aerodynamic bodies flew through the air like arrows from a bow. They flew up a few hundred meters and turned in a graceful arc, flying slowly over the city of Canterlot.

It was peaceful this morning, despite everything that had happened nary a few days ago. The blood had been mopped up, the bodies taken by the guard, or mysteriously disappearing in the cases the Shadow Weavers, and repairs were being made while life, almost impossibly, returned to normal.

'We ponies always have been tenacious creatures.'

His silent musings were brought to an end as both Philomena and Hunter swooped around him, flying together with a natural grace. He found himself smiling again as they twirled and tumbled around each other, more having fun than attempting to impress one another as they played together. He admired their flight and watched them fly closer and further away from each other.

Hunter flew belly-up, precariously close to the belly-down Philomena and gazed up at each other. Even from his distance, Blood Moon could see the intimacy in their gazes. Hunter suddenly looked at Blood Moon, who grinned and inclined his head away from the town, prompting them to take some time for each other. Having a third-wheel was hard enough, never mind when that third-wheel wasn't even a member of your species. He had experience.

With the two phoenixes gliding away, occasionally looping over one another, Blood Moon was left alone in the skies of Canterlot. He had to admit, though he'd only flown once, that one time had stuck with him. The clouds, the cool air, the endless sky.

He looped and rolled through the air, cutting through low hanging, stray clouds leisurely. He couldn't perform tricks of any kind, but he at least remembered the fundamentals after so long: flap wings, don't fall. Easy enough.

As he flew lazily around, he gazed around at his airspace; it didn't surprise him that air patrols were sparse, royal army numbers devoted to reclaiming order in the streets and returning Canterlot to its usual, peaceful self. Repairs were also underway it seemed, the Shadow Weaver Diamond Dog's holes in the process of being filled while the gate house of Canterlot Palace, or the rubble that remained, was being examined by ponies who looked like they knew what they were doing. From this distance anyway.

Returning his thoughts to the skies, rolling a few times as he amused his airborne self, Blood Moon gazed at the clouds around him in a strange sense of surrealism.

Flight. It was one of the few things he could do that didn't bring back memories, for he hadn't any to remember. It was a bittersweet feeling, to know that he'd been neglecting this for so long. But, at the same time, he was more than aware why. His hatred of this form wasn't undeserved in his eyes. Exactly what he hated most, dropped on him without chance for choice or objection.

He sighed, shaking the thoughts away as he returned to his wing beats as he crossed his fore-legs casually, letting his thoughts wander. He did have to admit it to himself; neglecting his ability to fly for so long had definitely been a mistake on his part. One of many, he was beginning to realise.

"HIBLOODMOON" was all the warning he had before something slammed into his side, sending him and his mystery collision partner tumbling through the air in a mad scramble of limbs, wings and curses. Feeling himself falling, the assassin quickly returned to flapping his wings, lest he return from the void once more. Once he was sure that falling to his death wasn't on his list of concerns, Blood Moon found what had hit him. The perpetrator, it seemed, was the pair of kicking cyan legs stuck inside a nearby cloud.

"Heya Rainbow" he said casually as he hovered, his hind-legs hanging below him as he crossed his fore-legs once more. With a slight 'pop' the rainbow-tailed Pegasus pulled herself from the cloud, flapping her wings again, and turned to him, looking sheepish.

"H-hey BM, I didn't expect to see anypony else up here" she greeted. The assassin only raised an eyebrow.

"We at 'BM' again" he drawled. Rainbowdash simply giggled at his distaste for her nickname, scratching the back of her neck.

"Stretchin' the old feathers I guess" she observed, ignoring him, checking out his flapping wings. He grunted and glanced back at them.

"Yeah, I guess I got…nostalgic" he said in an attempt at answering her. She frowned.

"Nost-wha?"

"It means-never mind, what are you doing up here anyway" he asked, shaking his head "I thought everypony was hanging around the palace." Rainbowdash just pouted and slumped back onto the cloud she'd landed in before, her fore-legs crossed.

"Ahh, that place is boring. The guard won't let me fly around, something about 'proper prota-call' and the girls are all too busy looking around. I don't get it, I know it's the palace and all, but, come on. It's all the same white, what's so cool about that?" Blood Moon chuckled and fluttered over to her, landing on the same cloud, folding his wings as he sat beside her.

"You know 'Dash, I was just as bored with the place as you when I noticed how boring it was way back when." She looked over at him.
"Really?"

"No" he answered, his face falling flat "that palace is about as beautiful as it is old and mysterious. So long as you know where to go" he added with a mischievous grin, toothy on his face. Rainbow just raised an unimpressed eyebrow as she looked over Canterlot.

"So, uhh…" Blood Moon smirked as he guessed where she was going with this. "You wanna…I don't know…"

"I'd love to stretch my wings with you" he answered. Rainbow looped in the air, hoof pumping.

"Alright" she cheered, trotting to the other end of the cloud, calling back to him. "Keep up if you can Moony!" She didn't even pause before she leapt gracefully off the edge of the cloud. With eyes narrowed at the challenge, Blood Moon cantered after her and leapt after her.
He quickly caught up with her freefall and matched her descent, grinning at her as the fell, face to face and daredevilishly close. With a challenging smirk, Rainbow spread her wings, flying close over Blood Moon's hind-legs as he continued to fall. He spun and threw his own wings open, darting after the rainbow trail RD was leaving behind.

He flapped his wings hard, working to catch up to her, but it was clear he was hopelessly outmatched; he'd neglecting practicing or even using his own wings for about as long as he'd had them, while Rainbowdash had been using hers almost all her life. Her experience and skill in the air clearly outshone Blood Moon's.

But a proud stallion Blood Moon was, and a proud stallion wasn't one to go down without a fight.

Pushing himself hard, he found himself neck-and-neck with Rainbowdash, the Pegasus looking over at him and grinning again.

"'Bout time you caught up slow poke" she yelled over. The assassin would have grumbled something if he weren't so confused why Rainbow had just swerved away. He then looked up and found himself hurtling towards an apartment block. He swallowed slightly as he watched in slow motion, a mare throwing her window open for the morning, only to find a blob of black flying towards her.

She screamed and threw herself to the side, the assassin pulling his wings in and diving through the window coming up in a roll. Unable to break his momentum without involving a wall, Blood Moon galloped through the poor mare's home, bursting through a door, into the living room, past a confuse colt eating his morning breakfast, vaulting over a couch and out another, thankfully, open window.

"Stay in school" he called back to the kid as he leapt through the window.

His wings snapping open, the assassin settled into a calm glide as he caught his breath and properly set his faculties straight, blinking a few times. He hadn't felt so much like a novice in a very, very long time. He heard the sound of a strained voice laughing from behind him, looking back to find Rainbowdash catching up to him, holding her stomach as she laughed.

"Nice reflexes" she laughed, wiping away a few tears. Blood Moon only smirked at her.

"Yeah, yeah" he called over the rushing winds "I suck at flying, it's been a while" he reminded her. She just brushed him off with a hoof.

"Excuses, excuses" she replied. His smirk went a little wider.

"Get bent 'Dash" he shot back. She laughed. They flew in silence for a while longer before Blood Moon felt eyes on him. "What's up Rainbow" he asked without taking his eyes off their path.

"Could we talk?" That got his attention, the concerning tint to her voice doing the most to grab his attention, glancing over at her. He nodded his head, glancing around before he spotted a suitable landing spot –a solid looking cloud- before flying over, hovering above before dropping himself on it. Rainbowdash followed soon after him, landing more gracefully.

"What's up" he asked, an eyebrow raised. Looking over her troubled look, he added "and if this is a request for me to never fly again, just try and stop me" with a smirk. Rainbow giggled a little, lightening up slightly.

"Yeah, you could really use some lessons." He grinned again, though he faltered when she looked down at their cloud again, her eyes sad. "Hey, about lessons" she said, trailing off. He raised an eyebrow.

"Aye?"

"Well…look, now that you've got wings and everything, I was wondering…were…were you gonna start teaching Scootaloo to fly?" He blinked again.

"What?"

"I-I'm just saying is all! I mean, you are her dad now, so I just thought-" She looked up and found his expression, a smirk and raised eyebrow. "What're laughin' at? I'm pouring my heart out here and all you can do is smirk" she snapped, feeling something tear at her inside. He put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Rainbow, you should know me by now. I value family. I ain't doing anything to put myself between you and Scoots. Beyond which, you saw me just now; I couldn't teach a cloud to fly." She chuckled again, rubbing her right leg with her left. He cocked his head. "Rainbow, lemme ask you something." She looked up.

"Sup?"

"You and Scootaloo…" She frowned as he trailed off.

"What about me and the squirt?" He opened his fore-legs in an 'open book' gesture.

"Tell me." Rainbowdash almost asked him to elaborate again, only she already knew what he meant.

"It's like what I told you back at the library... We fill in for each other's family, or lack thereof… Did I use that right" she asked, looking up. With a smirk, he nodded. "I never liked, you know, showing it before. It just wasn't… I don't know, me I guess. It didn't feel right, like I shouldn't in case I…well…" The assassin cocked his head.

"Well, what?" She sighed, looking away with a pout.

"When…when I…" she grumbled something. "WhenIwasakideveryponyusedtomakefunofmefornothavingparents!" The assassin balked.

"They what" he demanded. Rainbow looked, impossibly, ashamed.

"Well…it was only ever three guys, and they never really let up on it. They'd tease me into tears" she told him. There was, worryingly for the assassin, no sad tint in her voice, just…shame, a lack of pride. "Almost as soon as I started, word got out that I lived in Cloudsdale orphanage. I was an easy target for them" she said quietly. Then her gaze hardened. "Then, one day, it got too much. I broke one of their muzzles and another's wing in three places. I was almost expelled from the Young Filers School, but thanks to my…'position', they went easy on me." She smirked a smirk that the assassin recognised as one that belonged on his face. "After that, they never said anything about my folks again…just my flying" she muttered. She shook her head clear of her thoughts. "Anyway, after that…I guess I learned that only one things gets to jerks; being a bigger jerk, showing you're not gonna be pushed around."

"Standing up for yourself" Blood Moon finished. She nodded.

"Yeah… When I first met Fluttershy, she was picked on for being scared of heights and such a weak flier. When I first met her, I tried being, y'know, soft and stuff with her, but when one of those guys caught me hugging her after they'd teased her again, it reminded me… Well, jerks aren't normally nice to ponies. So, I just focused on being awesome, practicing my flying, making sure they didn't have anything to pick on me for." The assassin's eyebrows arched out in concern.

"Let me guess: it worked. They never said a thing about your skills or softness, but you forgot how to be gentle around other ponies. Trained yourself out of it." She grunted in unamused mirth.

"Yeah, and after that it just…I don't know, got worse I guess?" Blood Moon frowned.

"How so?"

"Well, just avoiding being mushy or anything became getting embarrassed whenever something like that did happen. Then it just became…" she searched for a word.

"Pure reluctance" the assassin supplied. Rainbow nodded.

"Yeah, I guess… But, then I met you and Uncle Sand, and I guess you…showed me that, if ponies like you guys are cool being all huggy and stuff…" The dark stallion simply smirked.

"You saw us being 'all huggy and stuff' in aims of taking care of ponies" he guessed. She nodded again.

"I guess you reminded me why I was being so tough in the first place" she mumbled. She sighed. "Listen, I know this probably sounds reallllllly cliché for somepony like you, what with you been around for so long an' all, I mean, you probably heard this story a hundred times. Tough pony turns out she had a tough foalhood, she toughened up too much, learns to be soft again…"

'Four thousand and twelve, actually…'

"But…" she trailed off. The assassin nudged her shoulder.

"Hey, 'Dash, no matter how many times I hear this story, be it one time or one million, it'll
never stop me from listening to the tail, or caring about the pony telling it. Hay, the simple fact that I have to keep hearing it just reminds me just how cruel children can be." RD just grunted again.

"You can say that again" she mumbled. He put a hoof on her shoulder again.

"Rainbow, I'll never say anything good comes of bullying, but what I do know is that we all develop calluses. We get tough, and in the long run, it's the asses who think they're big who suffer for it." A donkey in a hot air balloon floated past them, frowning at Blood Moon. "Yeah, you heard me" he snapped. The donkey 'hurmped' before it turned away and floated off in its balloon.

Turning back to 'Dash, the mare giggling a little, he just offered her a smile.

"It's you who learned how to take the abuse life constantly throws at us, not them. You're the one who broke their wings and noses, not the other way around." She smiled again, turning her head away from him. "You're the one who learned to stand up for herself and her friends, not those jerks. You learned to be truly awesome" he told her. She smiled wider before she hung her head.

"Yeah…but, I kinda forgot how to-"

"And you learned how to again, with the help of your friends and family, your little sister and uncle." He smiled kindly. "And I'm sure your parents would be proud." She sighed.

"Y'know, I keep asking myself if they would…and I don't know. Would they?" Blood Moon only grunted, cutting her off before she could carry on.

"If they weren't, I'm sure somepony like Sand Stalker would never befriend them." She smiled gently.

"I gotta get back to Ponyville" she mumbled. The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"Why?" She huffed.

"So I can hug my little sis and uncle." Blood Moon only laughed.

"For one to be tough, they must also be soft, else what's to distinguish?" Rainbow just shook her head at him, smiling slightly.

"You're a good listener, you know that?" He just shrugged a single shoulder.

"Comes with the territory" he answered, standing up. "Come on, let's get back to the palace" he said. Rainbow nodded, standing with him.

"Race?"

"I can teleport" he answered. She grumbled.

"Cheat." He smirked.

"Assassin."

"More like ass." He laughed again, putting a hoof to his face.

"Fastest mare in Equestria" he chuckled "and she decides to make fun of the worst flier in the world. Way to be a bitch." She frowned and snapped her gaze over to him.

"Watchu say t' me" she demanded. He was already leaping off the cloud. She snarled and leapt after him, his laughter carrying after him as he fell. His wings snapped open and he darted forward, back towards the palace, letting the wind carry his glide as he swooped under a low bridge and between two buildings, Rainbow bearing down behind him. Blood Moon flapped his wings and shot forwards again, feeling Rainbow catch up behind him.

He dropped altitude until he was flying stupidly close to the ground, darting around and below ponies and obstacles, loose papers flung into the air by his displaced air, ponies yelping as he darted past and around them, Rainbow flying at a safer altitude above as she watched. His flying skills may have sucked, but his reflexes and agility was still practically on par to his trotting this close to the ground. When he came to an empty part of road, she darted down to his level, intent on tackling him to the ground, only for him to dart out of the way at the last second. Ahead of her, he rolled over and called back.

"Hey Rainbow, what's the difference between you and me?" She frowned at his question without answering. "I'm horny" he finished before he teleported, leaving Rainbowdash to slam into the cart of hay he'd been flying towards.

Meanwhile.

A soft knocking at the door woke Twilight up, finding herself alone in Blood Moon's bed. It sparked panic in her for a brief second only to squash it down again soon after it reared its ugly head. She stood from the bed and stretched relaxingly, feeling cracks and pops all over her body. Scratching her mane as she trotted towards the door, her horn flared as she opened it.

"Yes" she asked drowsily. She blinked a few times, finding princess Luna stood behind the door, looking much the same as Twilight, only she was tired rather than groggy.

"Good morning Twilight, I trust the day finds you well?" Shaking her stupor away, Twilight put on an easy smile.

"Yes, good morning to you too princess" Twilight greeted. Luna gave a sleepy smile.

"Twilight, I think we know each other well enough that we needn't bother with formalities any longer. My name is Luna, please, call me by it." Twilight smiled and went to answer, only to be cut off when the windows were burst open. Both mares looked over in shock, one charging her horn, to find Blood Moon having hurtled through, now sliding along the marble and carpet on his side, his head held up by his fore-leg in a 'paint me like one of your Prench mares' pose.

"Ladies" he said smoothly with a suave grin as he slid along the floor and crashing into the wall. Both following him with their gazes, neither Luna nor Twilight could react to his sudden entrance.

"What…the…" Twilight began.

"Buck" Luna offered.

"Indeed" Twilight murmured as they trotted over to the dark stallion. They found the master assassin entangled in his own limbs as he leant against the cracked wall, rubbing his head and cursing and muttering under his breath as he got up. He looked up to find his lover and daughter watching his less than subtle entrance.

"Hey" he greeted, smirking. Twilight shook her head while Luna just held her muzzle in a hoof. Twilight looked at Luna.

"Was he like this before he left?" Luna just sighed.

"You know, believe it or not, he was worse." Blood Moon just smirked.

"Pickaxe." Luna's eyes bulged as a hoof clamped over her mouth, her cheeks filling with a
badly contained laugh, a tear welling in her eye. Twilight just sighed and trotted up to her coltfriend.

"Good morning Blood Moon" she greeted, a hoof going around his neck as she kissed him gently. Blood Moon returned the gesture, a smirk accompanying his marefriend on his lips.

"Morning Twi" he replied once they'd parted. They leant their heads together for an intimate second before Luna yawned, cutting them short. Blood Moon straightened up and looked over at her. "Lu-Lu" he said with a slight nod. She immediately glared at him, nodding her head at Twilight in annoyance. He simply smirked at her, the ruler of night huffing before she approached.

"Good morning Blood Moon" she said in a hardly amused tone, prompting the assassin's smirk to grow. She just rolled her eyes at him before she suddenly found herself in a hug.

"Morning Luna" he said. The princess of the night blinked a few times before she relaxed into his hold. He released her, and they trotted back towards the middle of the room, settling at one of the many seats around the room.

"I take it you went for a fly this morning" Luna observed. He nodded.

"Indeed, I did. Needed…" He'd have said space only Twilight was right next to him and he didn't want her getting the wrong idea. "I don't know, perspective. Anyway, what are you doing up so late?" His wording prompted Twilight to glance at the early morning sun before she remembered who he was talking to. Luna shrugged.

"Just wanted to say good morning" she answered sleepily. Blood Moon gave a lopsided smile.

"You should be more concerned with getting to bed at a proper hour young lady." Luna gave a bemused huff as she rubbed her temples, the last twelve hours catching up to her.

"I'm way too tired to even bother answering that, so I'm just gonna get to bed" she told him. Blood Moon grunted a laugh and stood with her, turning his head to watch Twilight stand with them and trot at his side.

Pushing through the door to Blood Moon's chambers revealed Celestia stepping out of hers at the same moment, her face brightening when she noticed her student and family trotting out of Blood Moon's room.

"Ah, good morning Luna, Twilight" she caught sight of the wings on the dark stallion's back, raising an eyebrow "Blood Moon" she said at slight length.

"Good morning Celestia" Luna greeted with a yawn. Celestia smiled gently, embracing her tired sister for a second before she looked back at Blood Moon. He nodded his head slightly, his eyes never leaving hers, and grinned back at her.

"Morning, Blood Moon" she greeted quietly, her tone distant. She paused for a second before she smirked. "Should I prepare a coronation" Celestia asked with slight amusement in her tone. Blood Moon just grunted.

"Yeah, schedule it for when Tartarus freezes over" he answered, prompting a short smirk from Celestia. "Good morning Tia" he added after a short pause. Luna interrupted whatever else was about to be said with a deep, long yawn.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I didn't get any sleep last night" she said in a dry voice, Blood Moon grunting slightly while Celestia and Twilight rolled their eyes. "I'm going to bed. Tia, Twily, Mooney-" Blood Moon made a mental note to clout whoever had told Luna Pinkie's pet name for him "catch you later" she said before she turned and sauntered casually into her bedroom. Twilight giggled into her hoof at princess Luna's laidback antics. She had to admit, she'd often wondered what the princesses were like behind closed doors, but…she hadn't imagined anything like that. Meanwhile, Blood Moon and Celestia were still shaking their heads at Luna's antics.

"I swear, I don't know where she gets that attitude from" Blood Moon said over Twilight giggles. Twilight only snorted.

"I can probably take a good guess, Mooney" she replied. The assassin smirked, his eyebrow going up.

"You're never gonna let me live that down, are you?" Celestia chuckled.

"You should be worried about me and Luna letting you live that down Mooney" she answered with a small laugh of her own, only getting more defeated head-shaking from the assassin.

"I'm doomed. Doomed to an eternity of ridiculous nicknames" he muttered. Celestia simply shook her head as she stored away thoughts of tormenting her bodyguard for another time.

"Be that as it may, we have a lot to do before the arrival of the dignitaries today, yourself included" she reminded him. Blood Moon looked up at her and raised an eyebrow.

"I need to prepare? Last I checked I'm a feared and deadly assassin, do I really need to dress that up?" Celestia raised her own, unamused, eyebrow.

"No, but you should really clean it from time to time." The assassin frowned, prompting a snort from Celestia. "Oh, don't look at me like that; over the past few days you've waged war, fought the battle of gods, died, been taken to the morgue, come back to life, nearly had the snot beaten out of you by myself and Luna and a whole lot of other stuff I doubt is appropriate to repeat in front of Twilight." The purple unicorn frowned.

"Hey, I've seen stuff princess! Stuff I never thought I would ever have to see, ever." Celestia just chuckled and put a hoof to Twilight's chin, lifting her gaze to her own tenderly.

"Oh Twilight, you waved goodbye to any and all normalcy in your life the moment you met Blood Moon" she said with a soft smile and slight laugh in her voice. Twilight just grumbled and looked away.

"Well, I can't argue with that" she muttered, glancing at Blood Moon. Her coltfriend just shot her a wink.

"Anyway, Blood Moon, no matter your own position on cleanliness and your looks, myself and Luna do have certain reputations and etiquettes to uphold and abide by. I'd appreciate you not turning up to this meeting clad in rags and smelling like a manticore." Blood Moon just sighed, hanging his head as he shook his head.

"Alright, fine. What do you desire, oh malevolent overlord?" Celestia tittered to herself quietly. She could get used to that one.

"Firstly, a bath is in order. Then…" She smiled, an eyebrow Blood Moon didn't like the look of raising with it. "Hmm, I have something in mind" she told him mischievously. Blood Moon tensed one side of his maw.

"If I show up to this meeting wearing a ballet dress, it's on you" he told her. Celestia just shrugged.

"I'm sure you could pull it off" she told him with a wave of her hoof. Twilight crammed a hoof into her mouth to refrain from improper laughter around the princess. The dark stallion just chuckled.

"Ain't that the truth. Very well, I shall…properly prepare myself for our upcoming show of strength and political strife off-fending, princess." Celestia just nodded her head.

"Good, in the meanwhile, myself and Twilight shall head for breakfast" the solar princess decided "a proper chance to talk has been far too long in coming, don't you think?" Twilight couldn't help but agree as she turned towards Blood Moon and kissed him lightly on the cheek, blushing in her teacher's presence, and trotted after Celestia. Blood Moon just smiled lopsidedly.

Turning back into his chambers, the assassin made for the bathroom connected to his room, pushing through the door to find an ancient bathtub awaiting him. It seemed Celestia had forgone updating his washing facilities in his absence, not that it surprised him, leaving him with nothing but a waterfall cascading down the wall to one side of the marble tiled room and a stainless, flawless, featureless iron tub towards the middle. His soaps, any towels, other furniture around the room or any other cleaning implements had all long since been removed or grown legs and left on their own accord. Memories of him, Luna and Celestia lounging together or simply playing in the water at bath time came flooding back him in a wave of nostalgia. He couldn't help but smile at the absence of the stabbing sensation in his chest when the memories washed through his mind.

With a short sigh, his horn sparked to life, the water gaining a mind of its own as it flowed through a stream in mid-air and flowed into the iron tub. The water grew hot during its journey, letting off steam as it flowed through the air on the sparkling grey path the assassin formed with his magic. Splashing into the tub gently, it sloshed gently as it flowed around in the white metal. Once satisfied with the water level, the assassin stepped towards it, only for the door behind him to open, casting light into the otherwise dim bathroom. He turned his head back to find six mares in traditional Prench Maid outfits, pretty and demure in their looks, postures and mannerisms. One carried a towel, another cleaning products and the last a sponge and cleaning cloth. They bowed gently before the assassin as one spoke.

"Sir, we are here at the request of princess Celestia to assist in your bathing." The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"One, don't ever bow to me" he began. They actually faltered as they straightened up again, looking a little awkward. "Two, I'm a big colt now, and I can clean myself. Three, I wasn't made aware that any 'assistants' were to be present." They looked between each other in slight confusion.

"Sir-"

"My name is Blood Moon, call me by it" he cut off. She stopped her retort, apparently uncaring to his lack of appreciation for 'official protocol'. It made him want to smirk.

"Blood Moon" she said at length "we were only instructed to assist you in your bath, because of the lack of…modern facilities at your disposal" she told him. The assassin went to retort before he saw her –their? They were kind of creepy in their autonomy- point. Cleaning by oneself in such conditions wasn't exactly…easy, put simply. With a slight sigh, he answered.

"Very well. But I expect utmost professionalism" he told them. They nodded in agreement, the two unicorns amongst them floating their toiletries over to a better suited spot than their backs, and promptly began to undress.

'Wait, wha-?"

Watching with a raised eyebrow, Blood Moon watched as six relatively attractive mares undressed themselves right in front of him before the unicorns floated their gear over and onto hooks hanging from the wall. Their spokespony simply cocked an eyebrow at his unimpressed look.

"It is only our intention to avoid getting our uniforms wet, si- Blood Moon." She cocked her head, turning her head away from the assassin. "Don't flatter yourself" she said under her breath, the other mares huffing in agreement. The assassin's well-tuned hearing heard her easily. He only grunted.

The six mares approached him as he turned away and hopped gracefully into the tub, nary a splash leaping from the tub as he landed in the water. Soap was soon added to the warm water, steam rising from his bath and body as it boiled away the trials of his past few days, relaxing his muscles and mind as the steam washed through his body.

Water was poured over him as the maids got to work, wetting his body and adding soaps to the water as others lit incense around the room, making the atmosphere heavy and the air smell of soft rose and spices. Hooves covered in expensive soaps met his body, rubbing over him slowly and methodically. They massaged him more than cleaned him, letting the suds to their work as they did theirs. Despite himself, Blood Moon soon felt himself relax.

A tensed muscle was soothed by one, dirt and dust from his battle washed from his chest by another, his back cleansed by another. Once the maid behind him was done with his spine and back muscles, the assassin leant back in the tub, feeling his muscles release their tension and mould to the touch of the maids around him. They all worked well together, four seeing to each of his legs, one to his torso while the last cleaned his mane, massaged his shoulders and saw to his outstretched wings. He loosed a light sigh as he enjoyed their attention all over his form, letting them grow increasingly more daring. Apparently, in the better light of the tub, they were reconsidering their leader's prior comments about self-flattery.

One actually climbed into the tub with him, running her hooves up and down his abdominal muscles, perilously close to his crotch, while others lounged over his body, pressing their own bodies against his. The one on his back leaned down and wrapped her fore-legs around him intimately, her breath warm on his ear. A smile grew on his face and, without opening his eyes, the assassin loosed another light sigh of bliss.

"Before we do this, is there anypony who wants to leave?" He felt every mare tense at his words. Soap dripped onto his closed eyes as he heard the mares look between each other. He made no comment as two left. Judging by the lack of magical pressure on his horn, he guessed the two unicorns had left. That left him and four earth ponies. He grinned gently. "Ladies, you'll forgive me if I'm rough?"

His right hoof shot to his neck and caught the fibre wire looping over his neck, yanking forwards on it and slamming his skull back into her muzzle. His other hooves sliding beneath him, he threw the assaulting mare over his shoulder and onto her cohort without opening his soapy eyes. A clatter of hooves to his left made him lean back, feeling the hoof and blade fly in front of his face with the wind. His wolf-like teeth flashed as he clamped down on the hoof before him and hauled the mare to the side on nothing but his neck muscles. Listening to her crash into her sister in crime, he turned his senses to the mares below him. One had managed to clamber out of the bath, the other still dazed.

The blind assassin rammed his hoof to the back of her head and forced her head below water. The sudden thrashing and the sounds of muffled screaming in his ear told him all he needed to know as another clopping of hooves lunged for him. He ducked low, catching the tail that whipped his face and hauling it back. There was a dull 'clunk' and gasp as a diaphragm hit the rim of the tub as another set of moving hooves to his left moved. His right hoof moved from the drowning mare's neck before the left replaced it; he caught the strike on his fore-leg, instinct telling him to duck low and block high and rewarding him with a rush of air and a hoof ramming into his fore-leg. He wrapped his own fore-leg around the leg and tugged, twisting his leg and cramming his fore-knee into her jaw and sending her staggering back.

Something told him to duck, so he did, feeling air pass over him as a mare crashed into the mare before him, sending them both sliding along the floor. The mare below him suddenly burst up in an explosion of movement, forcing him back. The sounds of sliding hooves in front of him warned him of a standing mare, the sounds of air being gulped down greedily telling him of her efforts to reclaim her faculties. On slick hooves, he spun on his left hind-leg and rammed the right into her gut. Breath rushed from her lungs as she doubled over, the assassin planting his fore-legs on the back of her neck.

With a grunt of exertion, he held her thrashing form down until another pony lunged for him; he let his drowning victim go, listening to her gasp for air for a second, before he planted his hind-leg on the back of her head and held her down again. He caught the first strike on his fore-leg, dodged the roundhouse swing and countered the jab by parrying the strike and sending his own strike into her jowl. Splashing from the side told him to turn; obeying his instincts, he turned and raised his left fore-leg, catching the strike. He clutched her fore-leg in his right, jabbed the left into her snout and pulled her back by her right leg. Her muzzle met his forehead and with a wet 'crack' and she went staggering back again. He caught her leg again and tugged her back, impaling her through the heart with his horn. She gave a strangled cry as the Alicorn bone stabbed into her heart, the assassin lifting her from the tub and throwing her away with his neck.

With a horrified gasp and an enraged growl, the other mares attacked once more. The assassin spun on the struggling mare's head, feeling her thrash weaker now as the bubbles of air around his legs grew smaller, and raised both fore-legs. A dull 'thud' and slight pain on both legs informed him of the blocked blow, the assassin stepping with the attack and throwing his attacker off balance. He swung his right hoof overhead and brought it down on the back of her skull, slamming her throat into the rim of the tub. Coughing and spluttering and quickly dying, she rolled away as the mare below his hoof followed her path to the Void.

The last mare screamed in rage as she moved her hoof, Blood Moon feeling the blade in her hoof as he disarmed her and held her in a choke hold. She struggled and writhed, pulling at the fore-leg suffocating her as her hind-legs kicked and struggled. Blood Moon spoke into her ear.

"I don't flatter myself. I know exactly what I'm capable of." He twisted her neck and felt the vertebra sever her spinal cord, her dead body twitching in his hooves slightly before she fell still. "And now, so do you" he finished coldly.

Dropping the limp body in the water and stepping out, he searched around with his magic until he came across the face towel and floated it over to himself, wiping away the remaining soap.

Regaining the gift of sight, Blood Moon approached his would-be assassins and checked the bodies; there was nothing on them, as one would expect, but he did find the residue of well applied make-up lingering on all of their faces. He frowned slightly as lifted them all to one side of the tub and lay them down in a row. Bone poked out of one's neck, one had a hole in her chest, one had a pale face and wide, dead eyes while the last had ugly bruising around her neck. He used the small towel to wipe away the remaining make-up on their faces.
Doing so revealed four, identical tattoos. Each one a generic dagger, the symbol of a loom filling the middle of the blade, the stylised weapon snapped in the middle. Shadow Weaver Outcasts. With a slight growl, he put the pieces together.

Word had apparently gotten around about his decision to desert the Shadow Weaver order in favour of Celestia. Few of the ponies under his banner would like this decision, and even fewer would take it sitting down. This was just the first wave of assassins out for blood. With a small grunt, he noticed the smoothness and well-applied nature of the tattoos on their faces.

'They didn't even struggle…'

Proud to wear his mark of betrayal, they would hunt down the one who really betrayed the Shadow Weavers. The assassin narrowed his eyes as he used his magic to float the corpses into the air.

'Let them come…'

He glared at the motionless assassins as his horn sparked to life and black flame engulfed the corpses, leaving not even ash. Four mares, all dead. Once they'd been assassins, maybe Cutthroats, maybe Murderers, perhaps even Deaf-Steps or Shadow Tails. Four ponies who'd once had lives, maybe children and husbands. Now widows and colts and fillies without mothers, maybe even orphans. He grunted.

"If they think any kind of moral alignment on my part will save them, they are sorely mistaken" he said to himself. And the assassin who thought he was hidden in the darkened corner.

Done with killing and disposing of the evidence, he returned to washing himself without missing a beat. Before long had passed, his face, mane, tail, his body once more and his wings were all about as clean as he could get them.

Drying himself with a towel left behind by the 'maids' (he'd already cleaned off the skin-contact poison), he turned to a mirror and made a comb out of his grey magical aura. Running the solid light through his slightly slick mane, the assassin's wind-swept hairstyle replaced with well-kept and straight hairs of an unnatural darkness.

He paused in front of the mirror for a second, taking a second to stare himself down. In the dim light, he could make out his silhouette and few features. The dirt and grime and weariness had been replaced by a stallion who looked and smelt as though he felt comfortable surrounded by nobles and rulers. Who was used to this palace life. The scars and wrinkles on his face said differently. He took a long breath through his muzzle and turned away from his reflection, shaking his head slightly.

He trotted from the bathroom and back into his chambers, weary for traps, and soon found what Celestia had been smirking about earlier. Sat comfortably on a chair beside the door to his bathroom was his old regalia. With a small, breathy chuckle, he floated it up to eye level, posing it as though it was on a mannequin.

He shook his head, a wry, toothy smirk on his lips as he turned it this way and that, looking over his old armour and badge of status.

A long trench coat that wrapped around his muscled physique with a well-tailored fit that only an ancestor of Rarity could create with such skill and precision. Invisible seams, weightless material, reinforced stitching and lovingly hoof stitched from collar to hem. In actuality, it had been a gift from Illumination, alongside the matching sword from Nocturnal, the latter of which parting with his gift somewhat begrudgingly.

The coat was a deep, midnight blue. He'd always liked the colour, suitable for both espionage and social gatherings, the trim a fine and clean white that accentuated the black leather covering his torso in two identical pieces that covered his pectorals and back. There were slight gaps on his shoulders between the front and back armour pieces, and over his spine.

The leather, highlighted with stark white and decorated with very faint swirls of dark red, was fastened down with black iron bolts, barely visible to the untrained eye. The coat reached down his fore-legs, the cuffs perfect for his hooves, and ended in the same white trim, though here there were a familiar ouroboros pattern rather than the plain lines about the rest of the outfit.

He grunted lightly when he noticed two additions to the coat. Two holes on the back, where a pair of wings might peek through, just below the curve of the leather covering his back. He raised an eyebrow at Celestia's silent proposal before he shook the thought away.

The lapels and collar of the outfit were about as wide as any raincoat's, wide and thick enough to stand by themselves when popped and capable of withstanding some battering from the weather while two silver buckles attached to the underside of the right lapels, at the middle of the chest and lower down the torso, were matched by black leather straps on the left, both keeping his body safe from the elements. Tucked between his neck and the collar, attached around the base of his neck, was a thick hood of the same dark blue, unaccented by white, which fed into the fabric between the collar and lapels and into the shoulders of the coat that held the decorations adorning him.

The assassin floated the familiar garb closer to him as he raised a hoof to inspect the medals and awards closer. He'd almost forgotten the fact that, once upon a time, he'd been a well-known and respected member of Equestria's military. These aged golds, silvers, jewels and irons all attested to that.

They hadn't changed over the years, the same medals Shining Armour more than likely hung with pride around his house or on his own chest at social gatherings hanging from the assassin's old garb.

The first, Celestia's Star; awarded for supreme bravery and valour in honour of the Solar Guard and Celestia's name, a gold and jewelled recreation of Celestia's sun, her eight pointed sun a clear crystal, gold encasing it, a ruby in the centre of the circle of fire.

The second, the Lunar Cross; awarded for great cunning and subterfuge in honour of the Night Guard and Luna's name, a silver, stylised cross that represented the hidden dagger of the army, crushed sapphire surrounded by the silver of the cross, an amethyst at each end of the cross's limbs.

The third, the Royal Distinguished Service award; awarded for outstanding feats of battle or strategy, a golden circle encasing two ruby and sapphire halves, split in a traditional 'yin-yang' symbol, lacking a ruby or sapphire circle in their opposing colours.

The fourth, the Royal Veterans Medal; awarded after serving in either Solar, Night or Royal Guard for being distinguished as loyal, experienced and knowledgeable of his line of work enough that he be considered a veteran amongst his peers. A special kind of honour to be granted, as it was awarded by one's fellow soldiers rather than the princesses. A simple ring of iron, indents made periodically around the loop, a stylised 'V' in the middle of the loop.

The fifth and final number of his more interesting awards was the Illuminating Night Crest; given to him and no more than five other troops after the pivotal clash of Five Legions, a battle lost almost entirely to the mists of time, it was an elaborate merging of both Illumination and Nocturnal's cutie marks. A tightly spiralling insignia of light itself, five sparks of silvery starlight flaring of the light to represent darkness, blue, copper and white of Illumination's light recreated by sapphire, a dark ruby and finally diamond, while Nocturnal's stars were that of a cloudy crystal and silver casings.

Blood Moon gazed down at his medals and remembered the ceremonies he'd gone through to receive them. To many they were a source of great honour and pride, but they just reminded Blood Moon of that terrible and bloody conflict. He sighed and shook his head at the memories plaguing him.

He stepped back and cocked his head at the garb before him. His horn flared stronger and the garb floated over to him, turning in the air before it slipped effortlessly over his body, the assassin lifting his hooves and stepping into the sleeves and shrugging into the coat proper, feeling his wings slip easily through their holes. He trotted to a mirror to one side of his chamber, gazing at himself, turning this way and that.

He had to admit, he never thought he'd have to wear this again. Despite being tailored to his body perfectly, the coat had moulded itself to his stature comfortably. It barely felt like he was wearing anything at all. He cocked his head at his reflection, watching his clean mane –he was still getting used to the sensation- dance across his neck leisurely. He glanced down at his bare chest and unprotected fore-legs, deciding he was missing something. He grinned lightly when he figured out what he needed.

With a flash, he was gone, leaving his room empty for half a minute before he returned in another flash of light in the centre of his chambers, a few items in his grey glow. He trotted back to the mirror and let his magic do the work. His coat pulled itself off of him for a while as a black vest, clean and well repaired, slid over his chest before the coat returned to its place on him. A bracer slid over his left fore-hoof, black buckles tightening around the muscle, the dark stallion flexing his leg muscles and watching the small, silver blade slide from its sheath.

A belt of leather wrapped around his stomach, a few supplies hanging from pouches and sheaths, and buckled beneath him. A thick cloth bandana, black with faint red patterns of artistic flame, folded before his eyes and wrapped itself around his neck. Finally, a length of blood red ribbon floated to his mane and wrapped around it. The overly long piece of fabric draped down his back in two lengths while they wrapped his mane in a ponytail.

He took a step back and gazed over himself. He had to admit, the 'official' look wasn't…that bad. The medals weighed proudly on his chest, the Shadow Weaver insignia on his bracer reminded him of his guild, the bandana around his neck calling back to an old habit while the look in his eye, that lack of…weight, of severity, told him of his life before him. Then he turned to the side, staring at his wings. Another question and decision he wasn't sure how to answer. Keep his wings? Barely a week ago, unthinkable.

He hadn't changed beyond the additional limbs. His proportions were identical and his skeleton was the same, normal bone, beyond that of his horn and wing bones. He turned to face the mirror once more, starring himself down. For almost all his life, he had been Blood Moon, the unicorn. Unnoticeable, beyond his red eyes and scars. By no means a 'mere' or simple unicorn, but a unicorn all the same. It was who he was. What he was, at his basest level.

"Are you, Blood Moon? Or is your Alicorn blood and bone just something else you abandoned?"

'What's difference? I've always know myself as a unicorn. I'm proud of my heritage. Thus was my choice of word.'

"You blocked your Alicorn duties and form away with nothing but your pride? Geez, and here's me beginning to question it."

'All the same… Learning to swallow my pride to do what I must. I've neglected my responsibilities for too long, letting my Representative do my work for me.'

"So what will you do?"

'I shall…

The assassin smirked at the voice in his head, another pony peering through his eyes.

…I shall swallow my pride, to do what must be done.'

"And the old meets the new, and thus comes full circle."

'Seems fitting, no?'

"I won't argue…"

'Call me 'Mooney' and I will break you.'

All's the assassin heard was a distant cackling as the voice left him be.

Shaking his head at his own insanity, he turned from the mirror and trotted for the door, confidence in his step as a void opened by his head and the Messorem floated in its sheath next to the assassin. He attached it to his belt as the doors grew a grey glow and opened of their own accord. Stepping through them, Blood Moon didn't look back as they closed gently behind him.

"So what's takin' him? I kinda wanna see him in this getup you've got planned for him princess, before we go" Rainbowdash said as she poked at a bowl of oats she didn't feel like eating with her spoon. Celestia only smiled gently as she imagined the assassin's reaction to her, perhaps somewhat cold-hearted, prank.

"He should be down soon Rainbowdash" she answered. Around the rest of the breakfast table, the rest of the Elements of Harmony, Cadence and Shining Armour had all eventually shown up to eat while Twilight and Celestia spoke of past times. Initially reserved about sitting in Luna's usual spot, Twilight had long since begun chatting heartily to the princess about everything from her most recent adventures with Blood Moon and her friends to almost anything magical related. Everypony else talked animatedly around the table, Rarity with Cadence about offering to tailor her some new dresses ("I'm sure I could-" "It. Would. Be. An. Honour, princess" Rarity insisted for the Nth time.) while Rainbow recalled old times with Fluttershy ("Well, me and Blood Moon got to talking about when we were younger, and I remembered how I…well, wasn't exactly loyal with you when those guys-" she was cut off with buttery yellow hug "It's alright Dashie" Fluttershy told her with a smile.), while AJ and Pinkie spoke with Shining Armour about his confusion with one of their stories ("So, ya'll ah sayin' you'd have come an' helped us fight off them Buffalo?" "Well, yeah, they were threatening Pony land with violence. It's not like we couldn't. But…" "Whut?" "Well, it's probably better that you didn't ask us for help." "Why?" "Well, let's just say things wouldn't have been too…peaceful? I guess." "OHMYGOSHOHMYGOSHOHMYGOSH! You…you mean…I-I… I wouldn't have been able to sing my song!" "Y-yes, Pinkie Pie, that's exactly whut he meant.")

All conversation stopped when the doors to the dining room flung open.

Everypony looked over to find a stallion trotting in with his head held high, his grin that of confidence while the look in his eye was that of laidback mirth.

Twilight blinked rapidly, staring at him with her jaw unhinging slightly.

"B-Blood Moon… Is that you?" He simply trotted easily up to the table and nodded his head gently.

"Twilight" he greeted, that grin still on his face as Twilight hopped off her seat and faced him properly. She raised a hoof and ran it over his medals gently, before she brushed it through his mane.

"Blood Moon" she said again "you look so…so…" The rest of the Elements had gathered behind Twilight.

"Prim and proper" Applejack suggested.

"Positively dapper" Rarity inputted from beside her.

"Handsome" Fluttershy whispered with a blush.

"Sparkly" Pinkie exclaimed as she stood on an annoyed looking Twilight's head, peering at his medals. Blood Moon smirked as he levitated her off his marefriend.

"Not smelling so bad?" Everypony frowned at Rainbowdash. "What? I'm just saying!" The assassin just chuckled as he shook his head.

"Different" Twilight said after a moment of quiet, admiring how her coltfriend could clean up. She had to admit, his 'rugged' look just worked naturally on him, but she wasn't against this; his ponytail caught most of his fringe, bringing it back and leaving his face nicely framed in pitch-black hair, his stance was noticeably more relaxed, his attire much less intimidating and, as a whole, he was…just much, much more appealing to the simple mare of Ponyville, who enjoyed the simple, peaceful life that was without assassins and corrupted guards and nobles.

A single look into his red eyes quickly reminded her, however, but she didn't shy from it; as Blood Moon had showed her now, there was no shying from one's past. Only embracing it.

"However I look, it's been a long time since I wore this stuff. I was hoping I could pull it off again" he admitted, bringing Twilight from her stupor.

"Pull what off, darling? Why, everything you're wearing looks practically made for you. Dare I ask who did make it?"

"That would be my mother" Celestia answered for him. Everypony suddenly looked, very quietly, at Celestia. She simply shrugged a slender shoulder. "For his birthday, back when he still foalsat me and Luna." Rainbow giggled, everypony raising their eyebrows at her.
"Something you find amusing, miss 'Dash?" She only giggled again.

"Sorry princess, it's just, I can't imagine the picture of ol' BM foalsitting you and princess Luna" she admitted, scratching the back of her neck. Celestia smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"Did he ever tell you about the first time he changed Luna's nappy?"

"Celestia, a word" Blood Moon said quickly, already trotting to one side of the room. Celestia simply chuckled as she shot Rainbowdash a wink that promised to tell her later. The cyan Pegasus could only feel a little awkward under the princess's playfulness.

Once she met him at the side of the room, Celestia couldn't help but smile again as she looked over his garb.

"I honestly thought you'd hate me for it, never mind actually wear it" she told him as she stopped before him. He just grunted.

"Our past makes us what we are, and I'm done trying to escape mine" he replied.

"How noble" Celestia answered dryly, her eyebrow raised. He loosed an amused breath through his muzzle at her comment, shaking his head.

"Anyway, that's not what I wanted to talk to you about." Celestia raised both eyebrows in slight surprise.

"Oh? Pray tell." His eyes shot back and forth as he scanned the room.

"I was attacked, just now in fact, as I was bathing." Celestia gasped. "Six mares trotted in, claiming to be there to help me bathe, four tried to kill me." He looked up at her. "I've already disposed of them" he told her not-so-cryptically. Celestia only nodded her head absently as she thought.

"Six… I only assigned two to aid you" she caught his raised eyebrow and shot him a 'so sue me' look "to test your…dedication to my student, of course. But…" She frowned. "How did four other ponies manage to infiltrate their ranks, not to mention, why didn't the real maids question it?" Blood Moon looked down in thought.

"I have no knowledge of Shadow Weavers infiltrating the ranks of Canterlot Palace staff, I always tried to keep ponies out in the field whenever possible. It is, however, more than likely that more than a few maids would have…less than pure backgrounds." Celestia grunted.

"That would explain why most of my chambermaids can make my bed without me realising it. While I'm still in the damned bed" she added. The assassin only smirked.

"Such is the skill of the Shadow Weavers" he said with no small hint of pride. Then he dropped the smirk. "And such is the skill of our foes now" he mumbled, stroking his chin gently. Celestia tensed one side of her maw.

"I take it your assassins didn't take your…defection well?" He nodded his head.

"More than likely. I hoped their loyalty to me would trump any feelings of betrayal but, well, you can tell me about the rewards of that kind of thinking, can't you?" Celestia only smirked.

"Well, bodyguard, do you have any kind of measure of the foes we are to face?" He shrugged.

"With me watching your back, they're of a negligible threat" he answered surely "but, beyond that, it's not you they're after, it's me. Which, in honesty, doesn't really bother me all that much so the point is moot. And they're smart enough to know that by going after or hurting anypony I care for, they're tying their own noose" he added with a glare. He sighed deeply, looking away from Celestia. "Still, my own guild, my band of assassins. It'll be more than hard to see them die by my hoof" he narrowed his eyes. "But that won't stop me from killing them should I have to."

"You always did have that…quality, should I call it? The ability to look at almost any friend and see them as foe whenever you desire." The assassin only smirked.

"What you get from being betrayed repeatedly" he answered with a shrug. Celestia only snorted.

"I'll say" she muttered "in any event, if that is all, shall we return to breakfast" she proposed. Blood Moon answered by looking past her.

"I think you're wanted" he told her. Celestia turned to find a guard cantering towards her.

"Your majesty, I was told to deliver this to you" he explained, holding out a scroll with his maw. Celestia raised an eyebrow but nodded either way, taking the scroll in her magic as she trotted slowly back to the table. Blood Moon sunk into step behind her, watching her expression as she read the scroll, matching her pace easily as she slowed down as she approached the table, her face twisting into annoyance.

"Well, that's annoying" she muttered. Twilight whom, alongside the rest of the Elements, had hopped back onto her seat, looked back at her mentor.

"What's the matter princess" she asked. Celestia looked up from the scroll for a second, giving her student a reassuring smile, before she looked down at it again.

"Oh, nothing. Just that most of the dignitaries have arrived and settled, and the rest will be arriving soon" she said off-hoofedly. Twilight blinked in shock.

"Oh, you mean-"

"About what happened the other day Twilight? Yes" Celestia finished and answered for her before she glanced at her niece "and Cadence, I know you would normally represent the Crystal Empire in such circumstances, but I feel, under the circumstances, you really needn't bother attending this particular session of court. Besides which" she added, glancing at Twilight "I need you to make sure Twilight here doesn't stray too far from a proper meal." Twilight frowned.

"But I-"

"You've hardly eaten over the past few day my faithful student, I'm sure your mother would be more than willing to storm the palace by herself if I didn't keep you healthy and fed, hmm?"

Twilight blinked a few times as her all her arguments, well thought-out, logical arguments that could easily win in court, all evaporated at the mention of her mother. Instead, she just looked sheepish and embarrassed. Celestia just chuckled lightly into her hoof.

"Of course auntie" Cadence said with a smile, giving Twilight a one fore-hooved hug to reassure her she wasn't being picked on.

"Where are they gathered" Blood Moon asked, getting the conversation back on track, as she passed him the scroll to read, for few reasons other than formalities.

"The old war room, or, the Council Hall, as is its new, proper title" she answered simply before looking to her guests. "I'm afraid, once more, princess duties pull me away from my loved ones" she declared.

"Pull both of us away" Blood Moon added as he slipped the scroll into one of his empty pouches. Twilight blinked rapidly.

"Wait, you're going too?" Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Of course. In case you've forgotten, I'm in the process of reclaiming my old position of bodyguard" he reminded. Celestia grunted.

"Yeah, it's just…well, aren't you kind of, I don't know, the reason princess Celestia has had to call a meeting in the first place" Twilight demanded tersely. Blood Moon laughed.

"Perhaps so, but I've never been on to back down from any kind of fight, be it guards, thugs or whining diplomats" he replied. "Either way, Celestia, shall we?" Celestia smiled slightly.

"Indeed. Cadence, Captain Armour, Elements. We bid thee farewell" she said with a slight bow, turning away and trotting gracefully and primly to one of the exits of the dining room. Blood Moon just winked at Twilight before trotting behind her.

Once they'd both pushed through the door to the dining room, they trotted in silence for a while before Celestia spoke up.

"I noticed the bandana" she noted. Blood Moon looked down at the thick cloth hanging from his neck.

"Heh, yeah. I figured that I'm back here, back by your side, back in my old…very old gear, why not pick up another old habit." Celestia let the ghost of a smile grace her face for a second.

"What was it you used to say?" The assassin grinned.

"Mah all new, multi-purpose bandana" he exclaimed in a near offensively-bad Texan accent, Celestia chuckling lightly as she remember the first time she'd asked him why he wore it. "It’s an emergency gasmask, it cleans wounds, it's an impromptu bandage and sling, an improvised tourniquet and all round boo-boo mender. Fifteen uses in one and only a piece of convenient cloth away" he said in a 'shouty-salespony' voice with a smirk, Celestia chuckling at him.

"Ahh, good times" she mused. They trotted in silence for a second before Blood Moon spoke up.

"Yes…yes, there were" he said quietly. Celestia smiled gently as they came a stop before the door, looking down at Blood Moon.

"And, now, we have a future together before us." Blood Moon smiled lopsidedly.

"And what a future it shall be" he murmured. They put on official expressions and stances as they stood before the door, Blood Moon raising his hoof to knock before he paused. "It's still the same, right?" Celestia nodded once. He nodded back and struck the door with his hoof in a tune he'd memorised since the first time Celestia had appeared in court. Twice, pause. Twice more, pause. Once and wait.

From inside, they both heard the sound of a guard's voice announcing them to the already gathered dignitaries and nobles. Both golden doors gained a silver and golden glow as Blood Moon straightened Celestia's tiara while she flattened out a slight crease on the Robus-weave of his vest. Adopting hard looks, Celestia's less menacing than Blood Moon's, they trotted forwards as the doors opened grandly.

With her bodyguard just beyond the corner of her vision, Celestia glided gracefully into the common room before the Council Hall, her head held high, her back straight, her pace easy and measured as her eyes remained on the point directly before her. The dark stallion besides her was similarly posed, his eyes narrowed slightly as he stepped with more pride than regal grace as he remained at her side as though her shadow. Fitting, she felt, really.

Once they had entered the Council Hall, the doors swung shut behind them gently. Around the wide room, white stone making up the walls covered in expensive artworks (Blood Moon actually recognized one of them as one of Rising Sunset's works) and sculptures, while to their left floor to ceiling windows let a pleasant glow into the room. More than a few nobles, foreign rulers, diplomats and ambassadors mingled and spoke in polite but clearly somewhat tense conversation. There could never be true peace amongst these beings. At the other end of the room, above the door leading to the main conference hall, was a plaque that read;

Everyone. We all stand together here.

Blood Moon grunted at Celestia's not-so-subtle defence against any kind of racism that may be used against her before he swept his eyes along the crowd.

Around the room were all kinds of creatures and ponies he was well familiar with. To one side, talking quietly with one of the local zebras, was Zebrack, the Zebra Emperor. Clad in what amounted to zebra finery, he wore a thick red cloak of red-dyed manticore fur, white and black patterns woven along its length. Wise and soft dark green eyes constantly swept along the hall, gazing at everyone around them. A royal red sash, adorned with a golden effigy of the zebra flag –a black, spiked circle that mimicked a crown when seen from above against a white background, the tribal mark of the zebra royal tribe- was wrapped across his chest. He had a greying goatee around his maw that accented his sharp chin, while his mane was kept free beyond the single dreadlock keeping the hairs from his eyes.

Standing and chuckling quietly with Fancy Pants was the Minotaur prime minister, Stone Spine. Unlike most of his brethren, he was a much smaller conjoining of bull and whatever the hay else he was. Standing not much taller than maybe Shining Armour, he wore a business jacket, shirt and modest red tie, a pair of spectacles perched neatly on his brow. He was, in comparison, rather pathetic for a Minotaur, but he was also a shrewd diplomat and a good person, his Minotaur heritage opting away from under-hoofed tactics and diplomacy.

Stood alone, in a dark corner, was the dragon king's ambassador. While the king himself was unfitted to such meetings, mainly due to his sheer size, his diplomat, Krazin, was a smaller winged lizard, with piercing purple eyes, watery blue scales and a plain cloak of black on his back, covering his wings. A badge of a dragon, curled up, clasped his cloak together at the shoulder, his badge of office and station, while the sword that hung from his hip showed his ability, and willingness, to fight.

Discussing the cement and stone flows with an aristocrat who'd built himself up through architecture was the Diamond Dog Pack Lord, Rel. Short for Mongrel, perhaps ironically enough. He was taller than most other Dogs of his ilk, but no less uncaring to his cleanliness or looks; very freshly washed fur and a cloak of dirt brown that hung from strong shoulders built up the official representative of the Diamond Dogs foreign territories. A simple dog, but an effective ruler of his people, he was somewhat respected by his fellow dignitaries, if seen as…uncouth, Rarity would likely put it.

Saddle Arabian nobles, a pink mare and a blue stallion, trotted up to Celestia, Blood Moon ignoring them while they returned the favour. Draped in simple jewellery, the tall horses of the sanded lands were…pretty, in every sense of the word. Even the stallion seemed dainty and fragile, despite hailing from the same lands as Sand Stalker.

Nobles Blood Moon recognised as past clientele and rejected targets, with the good grace to not stare too long at him, nor Celestia, of all colours and creeds all mingled around, speaking with rulers and fellow nobles alike.

Blood Moon shook his head as he trotted around beside Celestia, the solar princess taking him through a small tour of Tartarus; this, was exactly why he'd left before. Hot, stuffy rooms full of people doing nothing but blowing hot air out. Not a single real creature, all with some kind of agenda, no matter how nice, likeable or, put simple, honest they were. A den of thieves might hold more truth and honour than this room.

Then, something caught his eye. Sat in another dark corner, keeping to themselves and avoiding any sort of company or conversation. If he didn't know better, Blood Moon would have thought they'd sneaked inside.

"Princess, if you'll excuse me for a second" he said, remembering proper etiquette around what amounted to little more than glorified pickpockets. Celestia nodded once, smiling shortly, before she got back to her conversation with Stone Spine about a minotaur war criminal on the loose masquerading as a 'toughen up', assertiveness coach. He trotted towards the dark corner, thanking whoever was listening for every step away from the en mass cocktail of ass-kissers and bit-pinchers, until he stopped before them.

"Chrysalis" he said evenly. She gasped and bolted straight, as though caught in the act, and blinked as she looked around. She looked down slightly until she found the dark stallion before her, her eyes widening slightly.

She was sat almost awkwardly by herself, her natural ability at remaining undetected serving her well here. She was more than likely trying to stave off any kind of humiliation, her 'attack' on Canterlot last year or so having not gone unnoticed. It had been an amusing game for the assassin, listening to rumour and story as he gleaned what had happened to her after the battle. Accordingly, defeated and humiliated, she'd tried to go on without any kind of outside help, but, before even soon had come about, she'd slumped back to Celestia with her head hung, mumbling requests for aid as she rubbed her left leg up and down with her right. In her good grace and limitless compassion, Celestia had agreed in exchange for an official apology to Equestria. Said apology had gone widely unremarked through the land, and the Changelings were once again forgotten about. Chrysalis had then limped back to her home to lick her wounds, nurse her fallen pride and fight off any other Changelings who wanted to try their hoof at ruling. She'd needed Equestrian assistance for that as well.

The Queen of the Changelings, ponies.

She was very similar to the rest of her race in appearance; black skin, blue chitin armour on her back and stomach, a pair of holed, bug-like wings, a gnarled horn atop her head, a tattered mane and tail, sharp fangs hanging from her maw and, of course, the race's infamous holes upon her legs.

However, to liken Chrysalis to a normal Changeling was like likening Celestia to a normal pony. Or Blood Moon to a normal assassin. It was pure injustice to them. There was a certain…appeal, a warped beauty about her. She had, for a race that were know for a conjoining of pony and bug, pretty, demure and even somewhat delicate features, holding a pair of emerald green eyes that could be as cute as they could be beautiful or downright fearsome, a green fire always burning behind them. Full lips wrapped around her fangs, a metallic green shadow resting on her eyelids working to her favour. Her mane was, arguably, rather well made, flowing dramatically down her shoulders while her tail was transparent up her legs until it reached dangerously close to her secret spot and turned opaque.

Even by pony standards, one might call her attractive. Legs that were hard and soft in all the right places (one of her favourite diplomatic weapons) stretched from a nicely muscled body and a flank that so infuriatingly teased away view of her black and emerald treasure. Upon her head perched a circle of black points, turquoise jewels decorating it.

There was not a mark or blemish upon her face, not a scar nor a wrinkle. She wore her age exceptionally well, and more than likely hid it even better. That said, being able to change your appearance at will probably had a hoof at that. It was hard to believe that the mare before the assassin had once been one of Celestia's playmates as a child.

Blood Moon sighed gently as memories came back to him in a rush.

They had, indeed, been close together when they'd been younger. Always happy to been in each other's company, they had been good friends as youths. The Changelings had even offered their aid during the war with Discord, the old Changeling king, Imago, fighting alongside Illumination and Nocturnal in a more subtle capacity after his kingdom had been abused by the god of chaos one too many times.

Luna had never really known Chrysalis, the young Changeling having only really liked Celestia and their nanny, Faust. But then, the assassin wondered, who hadn't? Still, the solar princess had always had a friend in the shapeshifter princess, no matter who'd she'd been at odds with. Many of the old staff had even rumoured that, in their Alicorn (and royal Changeling blood) teenage years, their relationship had gotten a little more…intimate. Blood Moon had heard, and investigated out of sheer curiosity if he were being honest, these rumours and put simply, his investigations had revealed he didn't much care what either did with their loins, as long as they were safe and happy.

It made it all the more tragic then, for Blood Moon to see how their relationship had turned out.

During the latter years of the Discord wars, both Celestia and Chrysalis having already taken up their parent's mantels of rulers of their respective nations, they'd been driven apart.

Chrysalis, you see, desired to hunt down all of Discord's supporters with great prejudice after watching her nation of hives getting kicked around by Discord's forces for far too long to not take revenge. Celestia, however, thought that showing mercy would be the better course of action, winning over more supporters and ending the war without having to strike a decisive blow and bring the war to a slow stop rather than a sudden halt. Little good that thinking had done.

More than predictably, this had driven a wedge between them that nopony, or one, could have foreseen the extent of. A disagreement became a rift, a rift became a crack and that crack became desertion. During the final months of the war, Chrysalis left the Illuminating Night uprising and returned to her home hive, taking all her forces with her. Hardly a game changer in the war, but it did something to Celestia. Colder, more calculating. Less open to friendship. Blood Moon often put it down to Chrysalis's leaving her that had made her such a socially lacking ruler, when compared to Luna.

'And just when she needed everypony she loves around her, you go and leave her.'

'Shut up…wait…'

Arguing with his own thoughts again, Blood Moon felt another branch of his schizophrenia blooming.

It went to show, he supposed, getting his thoughts back to the point, just how deep their relationship went when compared to recent events. A full frontal attack on Canterlot by the Changelings, and all Celestia had done was cast them out. Even when she'd had the support, and urging, of almost all of Equestria, she had stayed her country's blade in longstanding affection for an old, if bitter, friend. She'd then gone on to reopen trade routes, diplomatic relations and invite her to council meetings. Still, that didn't stop them from going to war every century or two.

Brought from his thoughts by Chrysalis blinking rapidly, more than likely chasing away her own thoughts, he turned his gaze back to her eyes properly, rather than staring through her.

"Blood Moon" her two voices said in shock, her words hanging in the air between them as her jaw loosened slightly "it's been a while." Blood Moon simply shrugged, a lopsided smile on his face.

"It has" he replied. They stared at each other for a quiet second before Chrysalis glared.

"You left me at the altar" she hissed.

Ah yes, one of the many things Celestia would kill him for if she ever found out about.

Having been practically strangers when she'd been a child and never one to turn away from a pretty mare who'd claimed to love him for him –a point he still debated-he hadn't seen a problem with wedlock nor intimacy. That said…

"You were about to attack Canterlot, with me as your trump card. Not only did you not even tell me, but going back to Canterlot, and Celestia, wasn't high on my list of priorities back then" he replied. Chrysalis just pouted.

"Well…given your history, I can appreciate that, but…not even a note?"

"I had to make a quick exit" he reasoned "beyond which, when I heard of your…plans, and I use the word loosely, with Shining Armour, I was less than behind the whole idea." She glared at him, more pouted really, before she huffed and turned her head away.

"You never were an easy one to manipulate" she mumbled. The assassin only laughed soundlessly. They remained silent for a second before Blood Moon scratched the back of his neck.

"So…how is she?" Chrysalis huffed again.

"Fine…keeps asking about her father." He smiled tensely, looking away.

"You…told her?"

"Everything." He flinched, Chrysalis giggling. "Oh, how delicious. Blood Moon on the ropes." He glared.

"Be that as it may…" he trailed off, Chrysalis raising a hoof.

"I already know. You'd never raise somepony without being able to father them full time. That, and the political scandal would be…" She chuckled at the thought, licking those succulent lips of hers "so treasonous" she said breathlessly. The assassin grunted at her thinking.

"You haven't changed a bit, have you" he noted. Her smile was that of a succubus.

"Never have, never will, despite all evidence to the contrary" the Changeling queen told him with a wink. She held his gaze for a second before she looked left and right sheepishly, rubbing her left fore-leg with her right. "So…you free for dinner?" The assassin laughed.

"No, sorry… Seeing somepony" he revealed. She deflated slightly before frowning, cocking an eyebrow.

"Whom, pray tell?" He shot her a grin and raised an eyebrow. She frowned for a second before her jaw came loose. "No…" she said at silently enraged length, snarling at something "that…that…that…"

"I'll give you the choice of slut, whorse or bitch, nothing more." Chrysalis trembled in hatred.

"Purple…sblorse." The assassin lost it, his horn flaring as his bandana glowed grey and crammed into his muzzle.

"Practically Manezart" he spluttered after a second. Chrysalis just chuckled evilly into her hoof.

"Aren't I always, Cloak and Dagger?" The assassin chuckled through his muzzle again.

"And what are you two talking about" came Celestia's voice. Chrysalis shot Blood Moon a mischievous look, the assassin glaring back, and answered with an innocent;

"Oh, old times." He looked back to find Celestia regarding Chrysalis in a strange light; that of welcoming and at the same time, suspicion. How he imagined she regarded him sometimes. Chrysalis just stared right back, standing to her full height. They were of equal height, and equally imposing, if Celestia was more a heavenly light than dark aura.

"Celestia" Chrysalis greeted, a small nod of her head. She put on airs of confidence, but the assassin could see through it.

"Chrysalis" Celestia returned evenly, returning Chrysalis's nod. Around the room, conversations had died down and no one dared talk above a hushed whisper. "It's a pleasure to see you again" Celestia lied blatantly. Chrysalis just smirked, her eyes going half-lidded.

"I'm sure it is, princess. When, oh when, was the last time we got together like this?" One might call the exchange tense, but that would be like calling the Everfree eerie.

"Back when you came grovelling for aid" Celestia replied without pause. Chrysalis flinched as though struck. They stared at each other for a long second before Celestia made a show of looking around. "Has anyone seen Glendrin?" Casting his gaze around, Blood Moon noticed that the Griffon Kind was, indeed, absent. As were the Goldhooves, now that he thought
about it.

"Is his absents really a heavy loss" Chrysalis asked tersely. The assassin grunted. No one truly liked the Griffon king. Celestia just raised an eyebrow, smiling a tense, lopsided smile.

"As much as you may dislike him, he is king and royal representative of the second most powerful nation on Equus. His input, and presence, to this meeting is something he has both earned and of great importance." Blood Moon grunted.

"Taking all bets on his reaction to your news" he mumbled. Chrysalis's ear twitched.

"Oh? Something juicy to tell us all Tia?" While the other conversations had gotten back on track, the trio no longer the centre of attention, Celestia refrained from smacking the Changeling Queen's smirking face, and instead just glared.

"Oh please Chryssy, you of all should know what I'm about to-"

"Shoot yourself in the hoof with? I'll admit, this is one poisoned arrow I didn't see coming. When I heard the rumours I dismissed them as conjecture, but here, seeing the two of you in the flesh without blades at each other's throats…" Her eyes flashed between the two as a smile grew on her lips. "Such a selfishly diabolical decision you've made here" she mused. Both assassin and princess glared.

"Call it what you please, but selfish is a might judgmental, don't you think" Celestia shot back. Chrysalis shrugged a slender shoulder.

"I of all know this is, in the long run at least, in the best interests of Equestria and the Hives, perhaps the rest of Equus if you're feeling generous" she tagged on. "But do you really think" she made a show of looking around them at the rest of the gathered royals, nobles and court members "they will see the same sense? We've known dear Blood Moon here for much longer than your beloved little ponies and the others. They see him as only an assassin Celly." Celestia glared at Chrysalis's pet name, the queen just smirking at her, before she looked out at the rest of the room again; she had already anticipated Chrysalis's thinking, but that didn't make it any easier to consider what may or may not happen. Perhaps Blood Moon's stature would win them over, or maybe they'd be too concerned with having such a rogue element in court. She knew certain members of court and other nobles would be greatly opposed to having somepony so immune to corruption so close to Celestia in a protective manner. Who knows, maybe his position would be challenged with their own 'champions'?

"Be that as it may" came Blood Moon's voice, breaking Celestia's stupor as both mares looked down at him "this is the path Equestria is set upon. They can either argue or see the benefits of having me on your side. It won't change things." Chrysalis chuckled while Celestia's expression just grew grim.

"A little arrogant in your power there, hmm" smirked Chrysalis. He shrugged.

"Celestia has done enough for her country, and the world, to earn herself this without the interference of snobby nobles and fellow rulers with their heads crammed up their asses." Chrysalis snorted while Celestia just smiled slightly. Before Chrysalis could retort against his not-so-subtle jab, the doors to the common room flung open, the guards either side catching them with ease.

In strode four griffons of varying size and colours, all clad in chainmail, leather and steel plate, bladed gauntlets on their claws, a helmet over their heads that reaching a little down their beaks. On their backs was a griffon Blade Staff, a two meter long weapon, half of which was a maple-wood, leather bound grip while their latter half was a fearsome singled edged, curved blade, similar to that of a katana save the weight and proportions. On their off-claw shoulder was a thick, oak-wood crossbow, the limbs folded down on the stock, a quiver of bolts laying between the weapons.

The griffon to march in behind them, however, was the star of the show. As the four elite guards turned and formed a short passage between them, the biggest, most impressively pompous budgie Blood Moon had ever seen marched into the room. The griffon king, Glendrin.

Standing at least as tall as the assassin's full Alicorn stature, as wide a minotaur and as proud as any Shadow Weaver, Glendrin sure knew how to make an impression.

A head and neck of bronze feathers, lofty and tall, lead to a barrel chest of deep gold feathers, silver streaks running through his finely kept feathers. The rest of his avian half was a metallic bronze, wrapped in griffon finery. Claws that were more manicured than sharpened rested at the end of muscled fore-legs, black leather wrappings covering them. A deep brown fur covered his lion half, the fur at the tip of his tail matching the gold of his feathery chest. The feathers atop his head were slicked back, his crown perched atop his skull, the face and beak of the king wise and experienced. No matter what anyone said about Glendrin, he'd earned his title. A pair of golden eyes scanned the room, the king deliberately straightening to full height and gazing down at the other royals and nobles.

The assassin at Celestia's side paid note to the sword hung from his red jacket, sheathed in a decorative scabbard. A double bladed fencing sabre, an elaborate golden grip tastefully encrusted with jewels. Medals, a royal blue sash, gold, frilly shoulder pauldrons and a medallion around his neck decorated the griffon beyond his blade and crown.

Striding into the room, he held Celestia's gaze as he strode over to her and her present company.

"Celestia" he greeted, his voice even and smooth, his tone controlled and authoritative. His claw found Celestia's hoof, bringing it up to kiss it gently. The assassin was glad of his shadows that they might hide the eye roll.

"Glendrin" Celestia replied easily, showing a practiced hoof at dealing with the griffon, as she bowed her head gently. The king turned his gaze to Chrysalis.

"Ahh, queen Chrysalis. I'm glad you could make it today" he commented. She didn't move nor blink.

"I'm sure" she answered, making no real effort to hide her distaste. Glendrin simply grinned as he turned his attention to the third member of their party, gazing down at Blood Moon. He made no attempt to hide his towering posture over the dark stallion.

"Ahh, a new face to her highness's court? Blood Moon, is it not? Yes, I've heard a lot about you sir." The assassin merely raised an eyebrow at his past client. "I'm sure we're going to get along fine, finally, another sir to add to this cocktail of ma'am, eh" he laughed. Celestia grinned without mirth, Chrysalis making no move, while everyone else either grunted off his bad joke or chuckled with him. Blood Moon simply stared evenly.

"As an opposing nation to Equestria with much to gain from 'her highness's' death, I beg to differ." The room went collectively silent at his words, every single creature in the room staring at Blood Moon in shock. Such…audacity, was not standard protocol for meetings between rulers and court, hay, staff members such as bodyguards were to remain respectful and silent in the presence of other rulers and dignitaries at all times as standard. Never to speak unless spoken to, asides that is from security matters. In the eyes of court, a bodyguard was seen as little more than the standard guards unless the term 'Royal Protector' was within their title. Blood Moon, as it happens, did not possess that title. It wasn't lost on either dark stallion nor solar mare that Glendrin was well within his rights to have Blood Moon arrested for making such a disrespectful remark without cause.

The silence was broken suddenly when Glendrin barked a laugh.

"I like this one princess" he laughed, a bellowing laugh that more than aggravated any sensitive ears in the room. He cut off his laughter and leaned down to the assassin's height. "He's got a fire in him" he said at quiet length.

"I can assure you king Glendrin, he has much more than simple fire to him" Celestia said curtly before raising her head to the rest of court. "Now, I see that everyp-one is present" she said, casting her gaze over anyone who had sneaked in during her short conversation with Glendrin. Loaded Goldhooves, to her lack of surprise, was amongst their numbers, standing in a corner as he attempted to look aloft and important. "I am glad to announce that court may begin" she declared.

Another pair of guards opposite the pair to open the doors to the common room let their horns glow as another pair of doors opened to reveal a large, circular room of multiple oak desks circling the centerpiece, the Equestria crest, in four tiers. Blood Moon and Celestia waited until everyone else was seated until they stepped in last, both trotting around the uppermost circle of seats and desks until they came upon the pair of seats furthest from the door.

Celestia sat upon her oak throne, a replica of her cutie mark carved into the back of the chair in which she sat.

Blood Moon stood to her left, unhooking his sheathed blade from his belt and standing it before him. He rested both fore-hooves on the pommel of the weapon, standing on his hind-legs while he balanced on the sheathed sword, his eyes calmly gazing along the gathered ponies, zebras, griffons, dogs, minotaurs and other assorted creatures.
Celestia stood again before she spoke.

"Our first order of business" she declared "an official statement of the events that transpired three days ago" she began. Everyone muttered in hushed agreement as she waited an appropriately suspenseful moment before continuing. "The rumors that have likely spread are just as likely to be true. The elite guild of assassins known as the Shadow Weavers attacked Canterlot under the orders of their resident chapter's leader. The Shadow Weaver's goal was to assassinate myself" she revealed, muttered words washing through court as she confirmed their prior suspicions. "However, the information that has not, as yet, been revealed to the public is as following: the one who ordered and orchestrated this attack had goals of his own in mind. As some of my more weathered colleges may have already guessed, the stallion who stands by my side this day is, indeed, the renown assassin, Blood Moon."

As Celestia had predicted, pandemonium ensued. Calls for immediate execution was cried out, questions as to why he was roaming free were demanded answering, one of the nobles actually fainted and had to be removed before court could continue.

After a full five minutes, calm was once again restored. Glendrin, much to no one's surprise, stood to speak his part.

"Princess Celestia, we may all value your wisdom and judgment in all matters, but surely you cannot expect us to go along with this" he exclaimed, conveniently forgetting his prior reaction to the assassin. 'Here, here' was called out amongst most of court.

"What's more" came the voice of a noble judge who Celestia couldn't remember the name of "if this is indeed, the Blood Moon, should he not pay for his countless crimes?" More agreements were thrown out.

"Indeed" replied Glendrin "we cannot allow such a…such a heinous being to be allowed to trot free, never mind be at your side as a bodyguard. The risk is far too great" he boomed.

"I see no problem with having him as a bodyguard to Celestia" came Chrysalis's voices "I dare say he's shown both loyalty and self-control by not killing you already Glendrin." Shocked gasps and a few laughs washed through the room.

"How DARE you" spluttered the king "last I checked, queen, the Changelings were begging for a seat at this courtroom, and now you dare insult the griffons! What's more, you would insult Celestia, and her safety, by commending keeping such a pony so close?" Chrysalis snorted.

"And you would dare disagree with her hiney-nesses, Celestia's, wishes?" Glendrin bristled and looked fit to pounce on Chrysalis and rip her limb from limb.

"ENOUGH" thundered Celestia, slamming a hoof to the ground as she cut off any retort. "I summoned you here to discuss this, not squabble like foals or chicks."

"But princess Celestia" implored Glendrin "you are employing a known and viscous assassin, thief, spy, mercenary and mass murderer into Equestrian court. What's more, you endanger both your own life by doing so, as well as the rest of Equestria, perhaps even the whole of Equus. Surely you can see the risk." Celestia raised a hoof to calm him.

"I have already taken everything into consideration. That fact of the matter is, I have much greater knowledge of this stallion than any of you realize and I trust him with both my life, and the lives of all who are important to Equestria and the world."

"Pray tell princess" came Zebrack's wise voice "the sense to be seen in this mess." Mutterings of agreement rung out. Celestia sighed.

"Very well. Since there seems to be no other way, I shall explain to you why I…" she paused, glancing down at the assassin at her side briefly, the assassin glancing up, and continued "trust, this stallion."

There was a moment of quiet mumblings before Celestia continued.

"As you all know, before the Griffon Kingdom, the Zebra Lands, the Changeling Hives and even Equestria in reality, were all established and made peaceful, there was chaos. This you all know, with my parents, Illumination and Nocturnal leading the war against him. During this time, myself, and later princess Luna, were born. Without proper ability to look after and protect our young selves, they hired Blood Moon to act as our bodyguard. As time went by, he, myself and my sister all grew closer until we developed a family-like bond, a bond that, in essence, still exists today. He left us, yes, and he came back" she glanced at Blood Moon a little smugly "begging for forgiveness." The assassin grunted.

"You think that story alone will sway us, princess" came Glendrin's voice. Celestia looked right at him.

"No, I do not. Nor would I expect it to. That is because you do not know him like I do. That is also why this is my decision." A hushed gasped rippled through the crowd. Glendrin narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Princess…this decision is giving me a…dictating vibe" he noted. Celestia stood tall.

"Be that as it may, I have served Equestria well as her ruler. Every decision I have made has always been in the greatest interest of my country. I beg of my little ponies that they might understand and respect my reasoning, this one piece of selfishness I have granted myself. Because, no, they, like you, will not understand and that is something I do understand." She spoke in an official tone. "Know this royal court of Equus. This is my decision, and I will accept the responsibilities and consequences it brings. I am well in the knowledge that I am letting a potentially dangerous criminal into my life, and country, but as yet I will do so gladly if it means bringing a strong ally into court and Equestria. You have, all, heard of his exploits, have you not?" Small mumbles went through the crowd again, more than a few leaning to one another as they spoke of rumor and legend alike.

"The point still stands" came a new voice. Everyone looked to the speaker, Blood Moon finding something about this stallion, with navy and midnight blue colors and a crescent moon wrapping around a star cutie mark…familiar, somehow. "That this is a pony who has committed several unjustifiable crimes, only one of which on the record of the average pony would immediately condemn them to execution. Princess, this stallion, no matter how trustworthy you may find him, must still answer for what he has done" he declared. Rumbles of agreement rippled through the crowd aggressively, almost all of the gathered races calling out their preferred methods of retribution. Amongst the voices, one shouted out, 'let him speak for himself!' It was probably on Blood Moon and Celestia who picked it up as Fancy Pants.
The crowd quieted of their own accord before long, Celestia looking back at her bodyguard as he looked back, an unamused expression on his face. Tia simply raised an eyebrow at him.

"Well, Blood Moon" Celestia asked, loud enough for everyone to hear "care to take center stage?"

"Aye" came Glendrin's voice "what have you to say for your crimes?" Blood Moon only grunted gently as he turned his gaze to Celestia properly. With a shrug, he left his blade balanced on its tip and took a few steps forward, stepping into the light.
Everyone gazed up at him as he stood in the light that shone down on and around Celestia, his stance proud and tall as he let his eyes scan over everypony and one. With a short breath through his muzzle, he spoke.

"Know this" he rumbled. Celestia was almost impressed; back way back when, he loathed and actively avoided standing before crowds like this, part of that strategy consisting of doing a deliberately bad job of speaking in front of others when he was told to do so. Here, however, he let a natural confidence and authoritative edge into his grizzly tone. "I have, indeed, done much against Equestria's laws and customs. Some, I know to be abominable. Others, outright evil." He paused, casting his gaze over everyone once more as he gauged the general reaction; apprehension, put simply. "However, I am going to tell you all, one thing, and one thing only." Suddenly, his veneer of calm melted away as he stepped forwards again, a glare creasing his face as he, rather literally, stared down the whole of Equus. "None of you, not your guards, not your courtrooms, not your laws…not one of you, can touch me" he told them. Insulted and disgusted mutters ran through the crowd.

"Why, pray tell, is that" came Glendrin's voice. The assassin turned his gaze to him, speaking almost directly to the Griffon king. They stared each other down for a long second before Blood Moon smirked.

"If you could do anything to stop, catch or kill me, you'd have done it already" he answered.
His words left a strange hollow in the air as what he was saying clicked in the minds of everyone listening.

"What do you mean by that" came the quiet tones of the Saddle Arabian nobles. The assassin let his smirk grow.

"What I mean, is what I say" he said at cryptic length. With a grunt, decent wording came to him. "Let me put it to you like this. Tomorrow afternoon, I will be holding a small…group therapy session" he grinned, only Chrysalis and Celestia understanding what he was getting at. "Those invited will be any and all who have a problem, a grudge, an age old vow to carry out, revenge to take, to avenge someone else, to test their mettle or otherwise work out any and all grievances against me" he told them. Almost at once, everyone's faces slackened in slight horror or disbelief. "This will be Equestria's collective opportunity to face me in vengeance or retribution without the risk of death nor debilitating injury. I extend to you the same invitation" he revealed. The words hung in the tense, heavy air like mist.
Jaws hung loose while words were attempted to be spoken in the hushed air of the silent Council Hall. Blood Moon just grinned in satisfaction at their shocked faces.

"That, is what I have to say about my crimes" he finished before he stepped back again and returned to leaning on his blade. Celestia sighed deeply as she gripped her muzzle gently.

"Need there be anything more said on this subject" she asked the room.

"Indeed there is" exclaimed Glendrin "unless I am mistaken, your…bodyguard just challenged all of Equus's ruling body to a fight. I must protest this decision to bring him into court" he insisted. Celestia sighed once, refraining from magically cramming his tail up his ass.

"I propose a vote" came Chrysalis's voice. Celestia blinked rapidly before she frowned at her old playmate, quickly glaring daggers at her smug grin. "All those in favor of this decision, say 'aye'. All those not, say 'neigh'" she presented. Everyone looked between each other for a second, unsure of how to proceed, until Fancy Pant stood.

"I find that a tremendous idea" he commented "and, I dare say, if no one else shall speak, I'll kick this off" he mused before looking up to Celestia from his vantage point. "I say 'aye'!" Before anyone else could speak, the voice of Loaded Goldhooves cut through the air.

"Fancy Pants, am I not mistaken when I say it was that very 'bodyguard' who attacked both you and your home barely a week ago?" Fancy turned his gaze to Loaded and Prosperous, his gaze half-lidded as he grinned.

"I have my reasons for my decision" he answered, a confident air about him. Loaded glared right at Fancy Pants, the rest of court silent as they observed the exchange between two of the most powerful nobles of Equestria.

"I dare say, you should not be throwing your lot in with him" seethed Loaded, a not-so-subtle hint to his tone. Fancy Pants just threw him a suave grin.

"I dare say, old lad, that where I throw my lot is my business and my business alone" he retorted. Seething and enraged, Loaded watched as many more of the other Canterlot nobles followed Fancy Pants's example. Celestia smiled slightly at each and every other noble to go along with Fancy Pants; his opinion in such votes was regularly a pivotal decision, as the rest of the nobles were more than likely to follow his trend. If putting truth to the loath-ability of the Canterlot nobles, it was at least useful to have such a fair and loyal stallion on her side in such matters. By the time the nobles were done casting their votes, it went either way by Celestia's count, slight disagreement by Blood Moon's and more than interesting by Chrysalis's. The rulers then took their turns to speak.

"The minotaurs cannot think of any good reason to let this pony into court, nor to let him stand by Celestia's side" came Stone Spine's stern observation before his expression softened "but neither can they find a reason for him not to. Aye."

"The dragons have no opinion on this matter, but the dark pony has an intimidating eye that the dragon king would respect. Aye" Krazin said from his dark corner.

"The Griffons see only foolishness in this decision. Neigh" came Glendrin's harsh tone as he glared down Fancy Pants.

"The Saddle Arabians find no place for such a brash and rough element in this court" one of the tall horses said primly "in the interest of the princess's safety, neigh."

"The Diamond Dogs don't like this pony, but his stories have kept our pups well behaved for years. Not to mention, The Assassin's Song is my own little one's favorite lullaby. Aye" came Rel's strained voice.

"To say the zebras like this stallion would be a load of hay, I will not lie. But to turn him away would not be smart. Aye." Blood Moon mentally calculated the votes twice over before he leaned towards Celestia and told her that, thus far, it was a dead heat. Humming in thought at his whispered information, Celestia turned her gaze to Chrysalis.

"Well Chrysalis, it comes down the Changelings" she outlined. Her tone was confident, but inwardly she knew this could go either way; it was either her liking Blood Moon or disliking Celestia that would sway her. The Changeling queen's smirk and cocked eyebrow did nothing to give away her answer.

"The Changelings…" she 'umm'ed and 'er'ed overdramatically for a second, getting groans of annoyance from everyone for a second as she made exaggerated thinking faces as she turned her head this way and that, as though mulling it over. After almost a minute, Glendrin slammed a fist to his table.

"GET ON WITH IT" he roared. The room exclaimed their agreement as Chrysalis cackled to herself, holding her barrel as she laughed. Blood Moon smirked while Celestia shook her head.

"Very well Glendrin" giggled Chrysalis as she smirked a smug little smirk "the Changelings say aye" she revealed. Glendrin snarled at her, Chrysalis narrowing her eyes and letting green flame spark behind her emerald orbs as she snarled back.

"It seems this matter his put to a rest then" Celestia said, cutting off any arguments before they could start. "Blood Moon will return to my side as bodyguard, without interference from outside influence" she added tersely "and, at his own…request, you will all, I hope, be staying tonight to take him up on his offer."

"Or at least watch the proceedings" the assassin muttered, prompting a smirk from Celestia. There was a short pause, everyone mumbling their own comments about what had just transpired, for better or worse, until Celestia spoke again.

"Now that that's out of the way, is there any other business to be discussed, now that we have the opportunity" Celestia asked, gazing around at everyone.

For the next hour or so, Celestia would continuously regret asking that. What might pass for an 'average' session of court began with a short dispute between the Changeling Hives and the Griffon Kingdom, Glendrin claiming that Chrysalis was attempting to swindle him out of goods for unfair prices. Celestia shook her head and more than readily had Chrysalis stop trying to cause trade wars. With a shrug, the shapeshifter reluctantly agreed.

After the brief fiasco of settling down Glendrin and Chrysalis, the dragons gave their annual accord of the treaty that had been created between them and their rocky relationship with…well, everyone really. Krazin also reported that the dragon who'd entered Equestrian lands for his 'nap' had been properly punished.

A happier note came on the words of Zebrack as he stood and announced that he had officially began courting a Zebra ambassador he had controversially fallen in love with. Celestia smiled at the particularly beautiful rhyme he'd used to describe his situation with his new-found lover. Wishing them both a happy courtship together, Celestia moved on to other business as it reared its head.

Trade negotiations were brought up here and there, trade routes being pirated were named and advised against being travelled until cleared out, other more private meetings were arranged between nations and Blood Moon took one look at the assassin skulking in the shadows of the room and silently shook his head.

By the time everyone had decided they'd said their piece, no less than four hours had passed and Blood Moon was more than reminded why he'd never liked appearing as Celestia's bodyguard during court before he'd left.

"...I think I am right in saying that nothing more need be said today" Celestia was saying, bringing the assassin back to the Counsel Hall and away from the game of mental chess he'd been playing with his voices. The general murmur of agreement rippled through the crowd as everyone looked around and decided they didn't want to be cooped up any longer. Or maybe that was just Blood Moon. "In which case, I decree this counsel to be at an end" she said with a light smile on her face. Everyone soon moved to the exit, the upper levels leaving first, with Celestia and Blood Moon lingering to the end, while the lower tiers left progressively one after one another.

Once everyone had left, Celestia released a long breath.

"Well…" she said at length. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Could have been worse" he commented, tying his scabbard back onto his belt and resting on all four hooves again. Celestia grunted.

"Could have been worse" she repeated quietly, looking at him with dubiously raised eyebrow. "You, literally, just picked a fight with all of Equus" she reminded him. He only shrugged, rolling a shoulder as though readying for a fight.

"Eh, it'll be a good workout" he brushed off, a smirk growing on both their faces. Celestia just shook her head.

"You're going to let my guards fight you if they've got a grudge? I'd prefer if you'd have at least run this by me before you cast the die" she said with a glare shot at him. He kept his smirk.

"Seemed like a good idea at the-"

"Damnit Blood Moon" Celestia snapped, whipping her gaze to him "you can't pull this kind of bull if you want us to work together! I asked you to take to stage to, I don't know, make some kind of diplomatic position! Apologize, stall, something smart? But no, you challenge them to a dust up!" Celestia ground her teeth as she glared daggers at him. Blood Moon only glared back, turning towards her properly.

"Political movements are your scene. Blood and bruises are mine. You want me to stand in front of three armies, Equestria as a whole, the griffons, the zebras, the Diamond Dogs, the dragons-buck it, Equus as a whole, as you like to put it? And then tell them 'sorry'? What'll that do?" Celestia snorted.

"Bruise your pride" she asked in snarky tone. The assassin snarled; her conversation with Twilight had obviously included the troubles they'd discussed/argued back at his old home.

"Damn right" he snapped "I'll take a shot to the pride for you, Luna, Twilight or anypony close to me, but those guys" he asked, pointing a hoof at the door the nobles and rulers had left from "I don't regret a single thing I've done." He narrowed his eyes, glaring straight into Celestia's eyes. "And I don't regret a thing, over the last ten thousand years, I've ever done against you, or your country, or your armies." Celestia just glared, her eyes practically trying to fling daggers at him, but a disbelieving and insulted edge tainted her glare. "Everything I've done, I'll never apologize. I'll let them take the fight to me, I'll understand their grudges, but apologize? No. I've nothing to be sorry for." Celestia just took short, snorting breaths as she
pushed down her rage.

"You…you…you rat bastard, mother-bucking, sonofabitch, lying, cheating, murdering, arrogant assassin" she hissed. He just snarled his lip.

"Damn right" he growled. "Everything I've done, whether you believe it or not, has all been cutting away the cancer." A confused frown joined Celestia's glare.

"What are you-"

"You remember a stallion called Slick Talker?" She frowned completely, looking away from him in thought.

"One of my griffon ambassadors… He was killed a few months ago." She narrowed her eyes. "You…" The assassin snorted.

"I killed a corrupt, greedy asshole. He went along with a scheme to let war ensue, ignoring his duties to iron out relations and bring back prisoners being kept illegally. All for money" he finished in a growl. Celestia stared him down for a second before she swallowed once and turned her head away.

"I don't believe you" she hissed in contempt. Blood Moons snorted.

"Dose the shit that comes out of your ass ever get jealous of the shit that comes out of your mouth?" There was a white and golden flash as Celestia's hoof swung at Blood Moon; he caught it, yanked her down while leaping up, let her go as he pushed off the back of her throne with a hind-leg and landed behind her, unsheathing his blade gracefully.

"Just try it Tia. You want to take a swing at me, go ahead. But I am not Luna, and I will swing back. Because, for as much as I love that girl, you know she never could bring herself to strike you, you bitch" he growled. Celestia snorted, an arrogant sneer on her lips.

"Ha, call her a whorse and-" She was cut off when Blood Moon lunged; taken by surprise, there was nothing she could do when she was pinned down, a blade to her neck, teasing her arteries. Gasping in shallow breaths, Celestia looked up at Blood Moon; a deep, silent rage had wrenched itself loose from the chains within his soul, and it was all Celestia could do to hold down the swallow lest she open her own throat.

"Don't. Even. Think. About going there, Daywalker" he growled as tears tempted at the corners of his eyes. Daywalker. He only ever called her by her heritage title when he was disgusted. Not angry, disappointed or ashamed but always, always when he was disgusted in her. "If I ever hear of you calling her that again, I will break you. No pity, no remorse, no nothing" the assassin leaned his gaze down to her. "You'll deserve every punishment I can dream up if you even dare go there Celestia" he told her. She just nodded, once, shakily.

"I-I…yes" she said after a second of silence. The dark stallion got up off of her and sheathed his blade as he trotted back. He didn't offer to help her up. Standing and brushing herself of gently, Celestia looked up at her bodyguard hesitantly. Gazing into his eyes, his expression, made shame bubble up within the solar princess. Looking away, she tried to speak again. "I…I…I'm sorry, I shouldn't-"

"Save it" he cut off, raising a hoof "I don't want to hear it" he told her venomously. Celestia only took a long breath as her throat tingled where his blade had teased her throat.

"Very well" she said at length. They were silent for an almost awkward second, Blood Moon not letting his narrowed eyes off of Celestia for a second. Celestia tensed one side of her maw under his scrutiny as her eyes went back to him. "You know, you've still challenged Equus to a fight" she reminded. Blood Moon only took the bait so he could give himself a chance to force down his memories and emotions.

"And? I'm going through with this, and whether you like it or not, this is happening" he told her harshly. Celestia regarded him for a second.

"Alright then Blood Moon" she said quietly "we'll do this your way, for argument's sake, for fun" she said with a short glare. "But if this all falls apart because of your idiocy, I'm going to rip you a new one." Blood Moon held her stare for a second before he smirked.

"You were my first real student Tia, you're one of three real fights in the world that I know of that are either interesting or challenging. The moment you wanna go, I'm more than willing" he said with a threatening smirk. Celestia returned his smirk before she turned away and trotted in the direction that everyone else had gone towards.

"We'll see, Blood Moon" she said as she trotted away. Blood Moon only smirked at her back as he trotted after. Trotting back into common room revealed to both princess and assassin that they were no longer accompanied by the droves of nobles and rulers of Equus. Only Chrysalis remained behind, a goblet of wine in her toxic green magical grip. She stared at it for a long second before she turned her head back and gazed back at Blood Moon and Celestia. She let a small smile stretch across her lips before she turned her attention back to the goblet and sipped from it delicately.

"Tia, Blood Moon" she said curtly. Celestia stood silently for a second before she sighed gently.

"Chrysalis…thank you. Without your input, without your support… Well, I doubt we'd be done talking about Blood Moon yet" she said quietly. Chrysalis chuckled deviously.

"Oh, in my debt are you now?" Blood Moon sensed the ploy and quickly grunted dismissively.

"That meeting would have ended the way it did no matter what. You just saved us some time" he retorted. Chrysalis just chuckled that chuckle again.

"The lies we tell each other are nothing compared to the lies we tell ourselves. Just keep telling yourself that Blood Moon" she mused. Struck by her proverb, the assassin could only go quiet. Celestia looked down at him from her vantage and couldn't help but note the distant look in his eyes.

"Whatever we argue your input to be worth…you have my thanks all the same" Celestia told the queen. Chrysalis hadn't dropped her smile.

"I'd ask for something in return" she said. Celestia simply rolled her eyes.

"What" she asked hotly. Chrysalis's smile turned to a grin as she put down her goblet and trotted up to Celestia; leaning forwards and speaking so low that, if the assassin next to them had been paying attention, even Blood Moon would have difficulty listening in. Celestia frowned at her quiet words before she snapped bolt straight, a blush igniting as she took a step back. "I-I you want to…what?" Chrysalis only giggled into her hoof.

"It's been so long since we've gotten together for tea, and it'll be such an interesting…" she glanced down at Blood Moon, a devilish smirk on her face "topic of conversation" she mused. Celestia only glared.

"You…love sucking bitch" she said under her breath. Chrysalis put on a remarkably cute pink blush and smile, closing her eyes innocently, and booped a blushing princess with her own nose.

"And you'll always love me for it" she sang happily as she almost skipped out of the room "bye-bye Celly" she called over her shoulder, the hall illuminating in a brief flash of green fire as she teleported away. Celestia only shook her head before she looked down at Blood Moon, concern finding her gaze despite herself.

"Hey, you okay" she asked quietly. She got no answer until she nudged his shoulder with a hoof. He blinked himself back to Equestria and looked up at her.

"Hmm, what? Yeah, yeah I'm just…what she said just now" he murmured. Celestia looked in the direction the Changeling queen had left in, the open door ever guarded by her vigilant guards.

"The lies we tell each other are nothing compared to the lies we tell ourselves" she repeated at quiet length. "Wasn't it Aristable who said that?" The assassin nodded dumbly.

"Hiding our inner demons and Alicorns from ourselves" he muttered before shaking the thoughts away. "Whatever" he murmured to himself before looking up to Celestia. "Anything else on the roster today?" Celestia thought about it for a second.

"Given recent events, day court will be postponed a few days more to give me the chance to see to other aspects of the repairs and politics. I still need to scare off any 'helpful' nations and deal with the press. For now, however, I think it's time for lunch" she decided as she trotted out of the door. Blood Moon followed behind at his usual pace, following her path as any good bodyguard would.

They trotted in silence, largely alone throughout their journey back to the dining hall. Celestia couldn't help but glance back at Blood Moon every now and then in worry; his silence had her worried, his thoughts more than likely lingering on Chrysalis's prior comment. She could only wonder what was on his mind. Some kind of guilt for hiding away his Alicorn bone and blood? Lying to himself for so long? She stopped in her tracks and turned to him, watching him match her pace automatically. Even after ten thousand years, he still hadn't dropped his old habits.

"Blood Moon" she said quietly. He looked up at her, his expression asking why they'd stopped. Celestia sighed once before she lowered her head to his level. "If it's any consolation… I understand why you'd, why anypony would, hide away being an Alicorn." The assassin smiled dimly.

"Of everypony in Equestria, you would" he replied quietly before looking up at her, that small smile still on his lips. Celestia returned the favor with her own small smile. Before she knew it, he'd wrapped her in a gentle hug between his head and fore-hoof. "Tia…I…I…" She smiled dimly as she returned the hug.

"I'm all grown up now daddy. I understand" she assured. He nodded gently into her before he released her, stepping back slightly.

"This is very unbecoming for a princess and her bodyguard" he murmured off-hoofedly. Celestia smiled gently as she turned away and trotted to the dining hall.

"How about father and daughter" she posed. The assassin smiled dimly again. Celestia lead them to the dining room in silence, Blood Moon following behind automatically, and pushed through the door to find that everypony had apparently left already. "Seems we are to be dining alone" Celestia mused as she looked around the otherwise empty room. Blood Moon only shrugged as he trotted past her and sat at in an empty seat. Rather than her usual spot at the head of the table, she elected to sit next to him along the length of the table.
Leaning his head on his pressed together hooves, the dark stallion spoke.

"I feel it prudent to look at your and Luna's schedules so I know what I'm getting myself into" he commented as today's lunch was brought out, some fancy yet practical food the assassin was sure he'd never eat under normal circumstances. Celestia, for her part, just shrugged and let her horn glow at his suggestion; a few papers materialized out of the air and gently floated to the assassin's field of view, wherein he took them in his own magical grip and cast his gaze over them.

"I wasn't aware this was to be a working lunch" she said as delicately chewed on some fine, home-grown alfalfa and daisy. He simply shrugged as he blindly ate his food, his eyes locked on the papers before him.

"Makes no difference to me" he responded in a mumble before he frowned "up from five, working 'till eight" he summed up, glancing at Celestia. She shrugged again, her mouth full of daisy.

"That's on a good day" she answered easily. The assassin grunted.

"How am I supposed to guard both you and Luna? I can go for a while without proper sleep, but even I need proper rest once in a while. I'd be exhausted within a week" he said quietly to himself, thinking it over. Celestia overheard.

"You actually plan on doing that" she asked. With a slight frown, Blood Moon looked over.

"What?"

"Guarding me and Luna full time. I thought you'd have realized that that isn't practical." Blood Moon blinked rapidly.

"Wait wait wait, you assumed I'd just be your bodyguard? I'm both you protection, not just you" he reminded her tersely. Celestia looked taken aback.

"I never assumed anything! I just thought that you'd end up killing yourself if you tried working twenty-four seven looking after us" she shot back, a might miffed. Blood Moon just grunted as he turned his gaze back to the papers.

"Still…you've got a point, I'll admit" he said at quiet length. Celestia thought about it for a second.

"Anypony you trust enough to keep an eye on Luna? Any protégés?" The assassin grunted again.

"Don't talk to me about protégés" he grumbled. Celestia raised an eyebrow.

"Students gone rogue? Or are they…against your defection." He shook his head.

"No…I hurt her" he mumbled "I was…I asked too much of her, pushed her away, used her…everything the bad guy does" he rounded off, holding his face in his hooves, sighing. Concern welling in her, Celestia went to put a hoof on his shoulder.

"Are you-" He cut her off by raising a hoof, pointing it at her.

"Celestia…don't ever do anything to hurt Twilight. I've lost a student once, and…it's hard, harder than you might think. To watch somepony you adore grow up and become strong, all thanks to you, watch them grow up to look up to you, because you taught them…there's no better source of pride… Just…from one teacher to another, don't ever, ever, give her a reason to leave you" he told her. Celestia just blinked a few times before she nodded.

"I…I won't" she promised. He nodded his head, still held in his hooves.

"Good" he said at quiet length.

Their shared lunch passed by swiftly thereafter, eating in relative silence beyond the odd comment from Blood Moon as he continued to go over Celestia's weekly schedule. Most of his thoughts were dedicated to figuring out the problem between him and Luna's nightly schedule. He went over many options, none of which spoke to him as acceptable in any real way. He refused to leave Luna unguarded during the night. He knew she could handle herself well, but…it was a simple case of parent's worry. He put a mental sticky note on his mental refrigerator to look into the problem further when he had the chance to devote all his time and resources to the problem properly.

"Where are Philomena and Hunter" Celestia asked suddenly as they strolled along the halls of the palace. The assassin perked up as he smiled at the memory.

"I think they're on a date at the moment" he answered. Celestia did a double-take.

"Say what" she demanded. He grunted a laugh.

"I'm serious! This morning Philomena paid Hunter a visit. I'm pretty sure Hunter asked her out anyway. If not, the poor bastard's so deep in the friend zone he's going on dates with her without actually dating her" he told her. Celestia only smiled in estranged laughter as she tried to make sense of that.

"What would a phoenix do on a date anyway" she wondered aloud. Blood Moon shrugged.

"I dunno. Intercourse?" She batted his head, the assassin chuckling.

"I'm serious, if she has chicks…" she muttered. He only continued to chuckle as they found themselves outside Celestia's room. They trotted in, finding the room empty and breezy, the window open and letting in cool air. Celestia sighed, content with the world for a brief moment before she trotted for the papers that were stacked on her work desk. She shifted through them, growing increasingly more grim as she did so. "Dear, oh dear" she mumbled.

"Something the matter" Blood Moon asked from behind, his head cocked.

"Oh, just looking through the repair expenses…did you really have to destroy the gatehouse" she threw back at him. She smelt the shrug.

"Seemed like a good idea at the time" he replied. Celestia only smirked slightly at his thinking.

"Blood Moon…if you don't mind, I may need some time to consider my moves in the coming days. The press, outside assistance and local expenses and issues notwithstanding, I've got…an awful lot on my mind" she looked back at him "would you mind giving me a little while alone to consider everything" she asked. Blood Moon smiled gently.

"Of course not" he replied. He put a hoof to his chest, over his heart. "If you need me, I'm always nearby…"

"I'll just look to the darkest corner" she finished with her own gentle smile. He bowed his head gently and trotted for the door, opening it to find a pony swinging his hoof to knock on the door. Stepping back to dodge the hoof, Blood Moon looked the pony up and down.

"Name and business" he asked evenly, his tone official, his horn sparkling as he gripped his blade. The other pony raised his eyebrow.

"I'm here to see princess Celestia, my name is Skullduggery." Hearing this, Celestia perked up as she looked back.

"Let him in Blood Moon, he's a friend." Gazing back, the assassin let his eyes slowly go back to Skullduggery before he stepped aside for him.

"Very well" the assassin murmured as he watched Skullduggery trot into the room. His eyes going back to Celestia, she nodded in assurance, to which he simply tensed one side of his maw, and trotted out without another word.

Meanwhile, Celestia had turned from her papers and cantered to Skullduggery, meeting his muzzle in a short nuzzle.

"Skullduggery" she said quietly "it's good to see you again" she told him. A phantom of a smile stretched across his face.

"You too Celestia" he replied, equally quiet, as their nuzzles turned to a small kiss before Celestia straightened up again.

"I didn't expect you so early" she admitted, trotting side-by-side with the detective towards her bed, sitting down on it, Skullduggery following suit. The noir stallion shrugged a shoulder.

"I find myself with few cases after the small issue of the battle. Seems needs of private detectives diminishes somewhat during times of local war" he observed, Celestia laughing lightly. He looked away bashfully. "That and…I…well" he awkwardly made circles in the sheet with his hoof without thinking. Celestia giggled.

"You're so adorable when you get all bashful" she said through her giggles, Skullduggery grunting in laughter.

"Well…does a colt really need a reason to see his marefriend?" Celestia cozied up to him as she nuzzled him again, feeling him return the intimate gesture.

"As far as I'm concerned, no" she replied, kissing him gently. She felt him kiss back again, feeling his confidence grow as their intimacy extended. They mutually pulled back and let their horns touch as they bowed their head against each other, basking in their closeness.

"So…" Skullduggery said after a while "that was him. Blood Moon" Skullduggery said at length. Celestia tittered quietly.

"Indeed, in the flesh" she confirmed. She leaned back, cocking her head as she raised a playful eyebrow. "What did you think" she asked. Skullduggery stroked his chin.

"He was…interesting, to say the least." He glanced at Celestia in a way they both recognized. "He's got a vibe about him, not sure what to make of it" he muttered. Celestia chuckled.

"Always the detective" she said. The stallion just tipped his hat, prompting more laughter from her. They moved to lay next to each other, Celestia laying her head next to his as they enjoyed their shared company.

"How was court" he asked quietly. Celestia smiled as she closed her eyes in relaxed, content bliss. Asking each other how their day had gone; was that what normal couples did?

"It was…eventful. Blood Moon challenged all of Equus to a fight." She felt Skulduggery's grunt.

"What" he asked. She shrugged her shoulders lazily.

"He said he didn't care what he'd done, but if anyone had a problem he'd be more than happy to let them take it out on him. Or, try at least" she explained.

"Aren't you worried?" Celestia rubbed her head against his as she snuggled closer to the detective.

"Honestly, I'm not. I just…wish he'd been a little more diplomatic about this situation. But…it'll at least be a good show of power." Skullduggery nodded, but she could sense his mind at work.

"What's the point to it all? I mean, why challenge them like this?" Celestia huffed.

"To show them what I already know. He can't be touched by the law. No matter how much I hate it, I have to admit it to myself; there isn't a guard that can subdue him, a cage that can hold him…a blow that can kill him." She felt her coltfriend deflate slightly.

"So…" he said at length "he's going to get away with everything he's done…" he murmured. Celestia sighed, turning her body to face his. She draped a hoof over him and pulled him in a little closer. She liked the intimacy with him. It was a new, alien experience for the lonely ruler…but not at all a bad one.

"Trust me Skull, when I say that that stallion's punishment is his own existence" she brushed a hoof down along his cheek. "Maybe nopony will be satisfied with that, but that's the way it is; he is Blood Moon, that being his crime and also his punishment." He hummed in thought.

"Alright…I believe you" he told her. She smiled and nuzzled his nose with her own.

"I'm glad…" He smiled back and returned the gesture. The sweet gesture coming from Skullduggery made Celestia smile all the more as she relaxed her head on the mattress. She watched as Skullduggery rested his head on the mattress with her, losing a light breath as his body relaxed against her. She frowned gently as she caught the faint bags under his eyes.

"Skull…when did you sleep last?" He grunted as though caught.

"I...may have under exaggerated just now" he admitted. "Most of the detectives around Canterlot, official badge or no, have been drafted in to the task of…well routing through the remains of the guard and tracking their families down" he explained before a yawn took him by surprise "I think the last time I slept was when I was resting my injuries" he mumbled. After a long pause, he sighed. "Somepony like him, Blood Moon I mean…he doesn't regret the attack, does he?" Celestia smiled tensely.

"No…he regrets little. Well, little beyond anything he might do to hurt those close to him, in recent days that is." She sighed through her muzzle. "Skull, you need to understand…he's not the stallion I once knew… He's changed. I can feel it when he looks at me, when he talks to me, talks to anypony else. Around Luna, Twilight, he seems calm, good, gentle. But…no, he's not the bodyguard I once knew." She opened her eyes and gazed into his. "Skullduggery, I love that he's back but…I don't trust him. I can't. Don't you trust him either. Keep your eyes open. Don't try to go all sleuth on him, but keep your eyes open around him. I'll need somepony with a sharp eye with me if I'm going to have him around" she brushed a hoof down his chest gently "I'd appreciate it if that somepony was you…" He smiled gently.

"Of course Celestia" he told her. She smiled and kissed his crooked nose gently in thanks before she sat up, stretching her back and flaring her wings.

"I really shouldn't be lying around with so much work to do" she muttered, glancing at the stack of papers on her desk. She looked down at her coltfriend, who had sat up too, and smiled gently. "I'm really getting tired of kicking ponies out of my room" she said casually, before she grinned playfully "but I don't think I could concentrate if you stuck around" she said, brushing a hoof down his face. He choked and blushed heavily, the sight making Celestia laugh into a hoof as the stoic detective pulled his hat over his face to hide his embarrassment. He was obviously still uncomfortable with that kind of intimacy. She understood his trepidation, she had to admit. For all he'd done for her, whether he realized it or not, she was willing to take it slow in that regard. She giggled gently at his reaction either way.

"If you have work to do Celestia, I won't bother you" he assured. She smiled gently.

"You're no bother Skull, I just need to get this all out of the way…princessing, and all that" she said with a shrug. He let a small smile stretch across his muzzle.

"Princessing, indeed" he agreed before he looked to the huge pile. He had experience with paperwork, and he'd never enjoyed the prospect. "I only wish I could help" he commented. He suddenly found himself with hooves draped over his shoulders, Celestia smiling gently.

"You've helped enough just by being here Skull…just by asking me about my day" she kissed the base of his horn. "Now get going, those dastardly criminals aren't going to catch themselves, hmm?" Skullduggery chuckled.

"Ahh, if only… I'll being seeing you Celestia" he said, attempting to move. Celestia held him still for a second, prompting him to raise an eyebrow. She moved forward and kissed his lips gently.

"I'll see you too Skull" she replied as she pulled back. For an intimate second, they lent their heads together, small smiled on their faces. Celestia wasn't sure where the notion to linger with him so came from. Maybe one of those romance novels she'd read? Either way, Skullduggery hopped from the bed, trotted for the door, tipped his hat slightly and left with a small:

"Goodbye Celestia." The princess felt her own smile grow a little.

"Goodbye Skull" she murmured to her empty room. She turned her head to her work desk and sighed, her happy smile dropping as she looked at everything. "I really hate paperwork" she pouted as she sulked over to the desk and got to work.

Not the end...

Chapter thirty three: Not the end…

Twilight Sparkle awoke in the hooves of her coltfriend once more, the grey furred stallion’s hooves wrapped around her barrel, his muzzle resting in the crook of her neck. She felt him breathe gently as he slept soundly, more than likely taking in her scent as he did.

To stave off the ideas of not having showered in a long while, Twilight took to staring at the ceiling vacantly to be alone with her thoughts and her stallion’s company. She frowned gently as she gazed at the patterns above the bed, elegantly swirling stars and moon dust which were strangely soothing to her as they danced across the ceiling-wait, what?

Frowning again as she concentrated on the patterns harder, she noticed that they were actually swirling and moving and dancing across the ceiling as she stared at them, getting more playful and energetic as she stared longer. Twilight cocked her head and smiled sleepily, mewling contently in her grogginess. She giggled as one bumped into another, one of the small stars giving the other a look that seemed annoyed to her somehow, before they floated dreamily apart again.

She raised her hoof blindly as she tried to poke one in her sleepily dim state, only for them to scatter from where she’d have poked if she could reach the roof from her spot wrapped up in her lover’s hooves. She cocked an eyebrow and tried again, poking at another cluster, only for them to scatter again and gather into smaller groups again, stars and wispy trails of moon dust gathering together like small galaxies and nebulas.

Drowsily giggling again, she moved her hoof through the clusters of stars again, watching them dodge her sleepy swipe before grouping together, almost like they’d finally figured out the game as she moved her hoof around in an attempt to catch one.

She could almost hear them laugh and squeal as she played with the animate artwork vacantly. Her stargazing mind found herself enjoying the game she played, distracting her mind and allowing her a moment to relax her mind properly as she distracted her frontal lobes with the moving images while her subconscious mind put its hooves up and took to some light reading. Astro physics, this time.

She felt a yawn rising through her system, the long breath pushing through her maw as both fore-hooves reached for the skies, feeling her back pop in relieving spots as her legs stretched out, feeling that strange point between pleasure and pain grip her joints as she woke herself up properly. The purple mare felt somepony stirring next to her, looking over to find the assassin lying next to her squeeze his eyes together as he groaned and grumbled in his sleep, mumbling something about hating Mondays, rolling to his front and stretching himself out as though he was on a stretching rack ponies had used for torture way back when. She grinned easily as she watched him go limp on the bed, the stallion smacking his lips vacantly as he finished the daily struggle of rising in the morning.

He looked to the side lazily and put a goofy grin on his face when he saw her, Twilight giggling into a hoof.

“Morning” he greeted, rolling to her side and draping a hoof across her chest, kissing her cheek gently. The mare gave a small smile and turned her head to the assassin’s pressing their lips together gently. She melted easily into the kiss, relishing the early morning contact with him. Their kiss lasted for a minute, the pair mutually pulling away from each other and leaning their foreheads together.

“Morning” Twilight replied softly, snuggling up to him. The couple curled up together, Twilight’s gaze remaining on the patterns on the ceiling. She felt the dark stallion grunt behind her.

“I see you found my party piece” he mumbled quietly. Twilight nodded, her neck loose in her drowsy state.

“Yeah, it’s…vaguely amusing, I think is the way you’d put it” she murmured, lifting a hoof slightly as she rolled to her back and swirled it around, watching the stars dance around to avoid her hoof again.

“You know me so well, Twi” he replied in a dry tone. She noticed another swirl developing on in the patterns and looked over to Blood Moon, noticing that the hoof that wasn’t curled under her was making similar movements as her own as he amused himself in his sleepy state. Twilight snuggled into him happily, kissing his cheek back as she rested her head in the crook of his neck. They quietly amused their sleepy selves for a while longer until Twilight turned her head to the stallion, prompting him to return the gesture, and smile at him wordlessly. He returned the gesture without comment, his lopsided grin stretching slowly across his maw. She leaned in and pecked his nose softly, earning a wide smile in return as he nuzzled her. The relaxed together again, both of their gazes going back to the ceiling as they moved their hooves around and played with the stars and dust.

“So…” Twilight started, resting her head in the crook of his neck as she held his spare hoof with her own “why the fancy ceiling” she asked in a slightly amused tone. She felt the assassin shrug.

“It was Luna’s idea, actually, when she was still young, well, comparatively. Said she wanted to be able to practice ruling the night, and since she was convinced that making a pretty sky was gonna be the most important aspect of ruling the night she felt she needed practice. This was her solution.” Twilight frowned gently.

“The practice thing I get, and her solution” she motioned to their current plaything “is pretty ingenious, but…” she trailed off.

“Why is it here rather than in her room?” She nodded once, flicking her hoof to the side and scattering some of her stars over to the assassin’s cluster of stars. They both moved their hooves in together, watching the stars scatter above and below them. “Well, by the time she’d been born, the war was at full steam; she rarely saw her parents, making me her ‘go-to daddy’-”

“Go-to daddy” Twilight repeated with a chuckle “whatever happened to ‘father-figure’, huh” she wondered aloud. Blood Moon only smirked.

“By her own words, she never liked the term. Always said it sounded too much like she didn’t have an actual father, where she actually felt…well, put bluntly-”

“How out of character for you” Twilight interrupted dryly. The assassin only grunted.

“Put bluntly” he restarted, a grin still on his face “I was just…better at it. More attentive, closer, less strict, warmer to be around and just…well, around to actually be her father” he explained. Twilight frowned again, cocking her head as she lowered her hoof and rolling to face her coltfriend, laying a hoof over his chest.

“That…doesn’t seem fair” Twilight murmured “I mean, weren’t they fighting a war? Even my historical knowledge doesn’t go back that far… And I live in a library” she finished in a mutter. There was a quiet moment when Twilight gazed into the void for a second, waiting for the assassin’s answer, but there was only silence. She looked up to find him wearing a faraway expression, staring at the far wall as though it held the answers to the mysteries of the universe. She brushed her hoof down his chest fur, looking up at his red eyes. She couldn’t help but feel frustrated, knowing that he was more than capable of –quite literally- reading into anypony with ease, but with equal ease could hold an expression that might have of well have been a flat piece of grey slate. She leaned up and kissed his blank face, over the scar, bringing him from his thoughts. “Blood Moon, you okay” she asked quietly. He smiled weakly, nodding once.

“Yeah, I’m just…” he trailed off again, leaning his head against the pillows and looking back at the ceiling blindly. He sighed gently. “I agree with you” he said quietly. “He…he experienced, lived during the height of Discord’s rule, lived as a lord amongst other ponies perhaps, lived relatively well actually, but…not well enough to be blind.” Feeling a history lesson on the horizon (cue mental squee), Twilight sat up and rested on her haunches, looking down at Blood Moon as he continued to stare into nothingness before something occurred to her.

“Wait, what do you mean he lived well? Discord’s rule was…well, it was hardly the nicest of times to live” she managed, scratching the back of her head as she tried to piece together an image of the whole of Equestria with soapy roads, candyfloss clouds, drinking glasses rather than the chocolate milkshake inside caught from the rain produced from said candyfloss clouds from her memories of Ponyville’s short stint as the ‘Chaos Capital of the world.’ As it happens, she found herself unwilling to put the image into her imagination. The assassin shrugged as he sat up himself, resting his head on his fore-hooves.

“Well, back then there was only one commodity: order. During his rule, as you might guess, your average farmland wasn’t exactly easy to farm. But then, when was the last time you’d tried to harvest a crop of staplers or plant a row of tutu-trees? I think my favourite image was when somepony started up a herd of cows to try for milk, went to sleep one night and woke up with a bunch of tricycles rolling around instead cattle.” He chuckled to himself. “Ahh, that idiot still tried to milk them” he murmured. Lacking a reaction from his purple marefriend, the assassin glanced down at her to find her giving him a disapproving look. He simply gave a sheepish ‘heh’ and shrugged. Twilight shook her head at him.

“Sometimes I forget that you’re fifteen thousand years old, but then you explain to me how somepony’s attempt to make the world a little better was crushed and how cows were turned into little more than redundant pieces of metal with rubber wheels for legs. And you’re just so…” she sighed sadly, brushing a hoof down his chest again as she fixed him a concerned looked “numb to it all” she whispered. Blood Moon wrapped his hooves around her and hugged her tight.

“Yeah, well…” he trailed off, shrugging and scratching his mane slightly “the worst part is that I’ve laughed off far worse” he muttered. Twilight sighed and cosying into him again.

“I worry about you…” she murmured.

“The only thing I can say to that is…” the dark stallion looked down at Twilight, their gazes meeting for a second before he pushed his lips to hers and said more in act that he ever could in words. They enjoyed their intimacy, Twilight pressing her body to his intimately as he pulled her into the kiss they shared. His hoof strayed south on her, feeling her flank as he gently groped her. A nice mix of hard muscle, no doubt built from all of the galloping around brought on by her adventures with her friends, with a layer of soft fat coating it, more than likely thanks to her…well, ‘adorkable’ was the most polite world that came to mind, tendencies.

Twilight’s purple hood snapped down and pulled it back up to less questionable places. She put a hoof to his chest, rolling on top of him and straightening up, arching her back in ways that made the assassin less than capable of thinking straight. He swallowed lightly as he gazed up at his marefriend, smiling up at her as she grinned down, a pink blush gracing her cheek as she gazed down at him.

“You know” she cooed, stroking his chest “you…seem to be taking a great interest in my plot” she murmured. The assassin rested his hooves on her backside defiantly, smirking up at her.

“Well, I’ve always been a sucker for a good story” he replied, massaging her gently. Twilight giggled into her hoof, rolling her eyes, and lay down on her coltfriend’s hard chest, crossing her fore-legs and resting her head on them.

“So” she said in a low, sultry tone, giving him half-lidded, bedroom eyes. Or at least, how that one book Cadence had ‘misplaced’ described it. “You never did finish that lesson just now.” He grinned and cocked his head, resting his legs on her back, wrapping them around her.

“Well, as I was saying, back way back when, the only things anypony could trade at all were the spaces that Discord allowed us to use to farm for food so we could survive. The ponies who owned those spaces tended to be what are considered mayors or nobles today. Only, they more often than not enjoyed their little slices of sanity and were unwilling to lose them, so, to keep in Discord’s good books, they…followed his example.” Twilight could only swallow gently as their topic of morning conversation once more began to prove somewhat morbid. Blood Moon grunted. “If you were to ask Discord, he’d more than likely say that he’d never done anything worse than ‘pull a few pranks’.” By the look on his face, Twilight guessed her coltfriend looked fit to spit in disgust. “That he never killed anypony, because there’s nothing more boring in the world than a dead body.” He huffed, his eyes showing his anger.

Twilight rolled off of him, finding his mood unsuited to any kind of physical intimacy and instead held his hoof in her own once again, reminding him that she was there. And hoping it would help him to not get lost in his memories.

“No, he did worse. Set ponies on other ponies. Ponies, hay, everything not in Discord’s ‘let them cause some misery for a hoot’ books were treated less like workers, employees, and more like slaves. Before long, entire villages, towns, were little more than slave-built mini-kingdoms, the ponies at the top often glad of their little kingdom to lord over.” He relaxed, deflating against the bed, as his voice took on a nostalgic tone. “One of my first tastes of my career now, killing to cut away the cancer, was when I murdered a noble bullying one of his workers in the middle of town.” He took a long breath, looking over at Twilight, finding her concern filled eyes gazing back at him. He shot her a small smile, closing his eyes as he continued. “Nocturnal…he lived in the Everfree, a certain palace you may be familiar with, and lived off of the lands he kept orderly with his own magic. That was how it was for most Alicorns back then. Any pony of both horn and wing was hunted down vigorously by Discord’s lackeys, knowing that they were the only beings of Equestria that were powerful enough to stand up to him and, well, one of the few who cared to as well.” Twilight frowned.

“How do you mean?”

“Gargoyles were too aloof, Dragons too lazy, preferring to align with Discord, the creatures of Tartarus Discord didn’t trust enough to release and the beats of the Everfree preferred to kill and destroy rather than wreak the kind of chaos Discord liked. Anyway, Nocturnal made a home, a life for himself one the backs of ponies looking for nothing more than a second of sanity. He watched them flock to him, cramming the limited space he could provide full of refugees, ponies looking for aid and everypony else” he recalled with a faraway look on his face, remembering days long past. He sighed gently, deflating a little. “After a while, he decided that he’d had enough of watching ponies suffer under Discord. He and Illumination formed a plan together; take down Discord’s pony supporters first, or convince them to join their faction, use said ponies and whoever else had had enough of Discord’s rule to amass an army and eventually pull him off of his throne” he explained. Twilight frowned.

“That seems…very simple” Twilight commented. Blood Moon just grunted a laugh, holding his face in a hoof.

“Yeah, well, the semantics are detailed, longwinded and boring, I just thought you wouldn’t want to hear it all” he defended with a smart-flank smirk on his face, watching Twilight chuckle into her hoof. He grunted a laugh and sat up on the bed, sitting next to his lover. “Anyway, a part of that plan was Celestia, somepony to rule when the war was over. As you might guess, that part of the plan created a problem” he posed. Twilight only nodded.

“Raising her during war” she murmured before looking up at him “that was where you came in” she guessed. He nodded.

“Aye, alive for a thousand and a few years, out of that training facility for just under forty and already I was being horn-hunted for my…specialities.” He grunted, looking down at his hooves. “They offered, I accepted, they introduced me to Tia and…well, things went like that. I shadowed her every hour of every day, whether she liked it or not, and just…kept an eye on her, really. I remember thinking it was a pretty good gig at first; Illumination and Nocturnal would be gone for a few days at a time, conferring with Platinum, Puddinghead and Hurricane or other allies and then they’d return to Canterlot. Illumination would spend time with her daughter, Nocturnal and I would butt heads and they’d just be a happy little family.” Twilight felt something warm in her chest when Blood Moon grinned at days long past, the smile on his face showing a pony recalling a truly happy family he’d admired, perhaps envied even and, unless she was wrong, had come to love himself. But then his smile dropped, ever so slowly, as the rest of the story played along in his mind.

“What happened” she tried, wondering if she’d like the answer. Her coltfriend only huffed a gentle breath, his body shifting with it in a way that said ‘exactly what you’re thinking happened and really wish you were wrong about happening.’

“Then…then the war kicked into high gear, the fighting went from small cold war-esc skirmishes to full-blow battles.” He looked up as he remembered it all. “The clash of the Five Legions” he said in a heavy tone “the first major battle of the Discord Wars. It was Discord’s idea of strategizing: let’s get everypony we know and their mothers together, pick them up, and throw ‘em at the other guys” he exclaimed in a dry tone. “The Illuminating Night uprising came from the east, pushing back against the en-mass assault of forces after unsuccessful attempts at negotiating. Discord’s followers and those loyal, charging west like a freight train. The Dragons were already there, and they apparently didn’t like us fighting on their mountain so they decided it would be fun to muck things up. Griffons from the north, trying their claw at taking out all other forces to get a good grip in Equestria so they could properly throw their own hats in against Discord, though I might add they had no intentions of fighting alongside anypony” he said bitterly “and finally, the Zebras from the south, who I still hold to, to this day, were just wondering what the heck was going on and they were just fortunate to have their best troops and warriors on hoof to help fight when they got swept up in it all” he finished. Twilight could only nod a few times.

“Wow…” she said at length, the assassin only shrugging.

“Couldn’t have said it better myself. As you might imagine, it was quite the cluster buck, with everypony fighting on four fronts at once, with only us and Discord posing as enemies at that point while everyone else was just throwing rocks at everything that moved but their own guys. This was before the Dragons joined Discord, mind you, and before the Griffons and Zebras joined the Ponies” he clarified. Twilight just frowned.

“Wait, you said the Griffons joined with us, I-I mean them, I mean you” she frowned deeper, looking up with a sheepish smile for support. Blood Moon only laughed.

“It’s us…I think” he responded with a small frown of his own. Twilight only shook her head.

“Well, I can see why the Zebras joined us, and why the Dragons joined Discord, but why would the Griffons join us? I mean, it kinda sounds like it was racial borders more than anything else, with the equines standing together against all the other races, I mean, we were, and are, the race with the highest population across Equus, with everyone else against us until Discord got bored of being friendly with other factions and started ‘chaosing’ them too” she said, impressing the assassin with her historical knowledge. She shook her head clear of her tangent. “Anyway, why did the griffons ally with us?” Blood Moon shrugged.

“I understand your confusion, after all, mishmashes of races are sort of Discord’s wheelhouse, but yeah, they sided with us. The only explanation their leader gave us was that it was because we ‘won’ the battle, despite it being largely victory-less. I suppose being the last guys to retreat has gotta count for something” he murmured with a shrug. He shook the thought away. “Anyway, that was when things really hit the fan. Illumination and Nocturnal were gone for longer and longer periods of time, fighting, conducting battles, making deals with potential allies, undercutting Discord’s own, securing ground and patching the wounds left behind.” Twilight frowned gently; she knew that any war had wounds of all sort to patch, but the way he said it… “When Discord realised he was losing ground, he…well, it’s hard to describe. He didn’t exactly worry, but he acted differently… more… drastically. One of the things, and one of his first major mistakes, to change the course of the war was…was…” he swallowed gently, Twilight watching in concern as the memories made his eyes water.

She took her hoof in his and held it tight. When he didn’t react, she used her magic and muscle to pull him into her, hugging him tightly, reassuringly, reminding him that she was there. He swallowed again, sighing into her hold.

“One, battle…it was a disaster; our forces arrived early to out maneuverer Discord’s, ambush them, but…he was a step ahead. He ambushed us right back. An ingenious trap, a beautiful trap…but a trap nonetheless. We lost…everypony, all dead, except one: Commander Hurricane” he sighed again, leaning back against her, into her grip. “She’d…she’d been getting on in years, just a quick witted, but…just not as quick. She was captured, tortured, humil…” he swallowed, shuddering slightly “humiliated” he breathed. “We thought she was dead for the longest of times, until her body turned up at one of their camps. I…I won’t describe to you what…what condition she was in. It was one of the few times I’d been out in the field, after the Clash. A routine hold point we’d taken to get a look at a nearby settlement. I was there because it was largely un-scouted land, and I knew the territory. When I heard that…that dead ‘thump’ just outside camp I knew something was wrong, but when I went out, pushed my way to the front, saw her…” he inhaled sharply through his muzzle, pushing his face into her chest like a child would and shaking his head. Twilight just stroked his mane gently.

“You don’t have to go on” she told him gently. He paused for a second before he shook his head, fighting back tears he was determined to not let fall.

“I…I… She’d been my friend Twilight, the only one of the three leaders I got on with… Platinum was too much of a snob, Puddinghead too…Puddinghead, but Hurricane…she reminded me of myself. Hard-headed, brash, proud.” He chuckled gently. “She often said I had to have some Pegasus blood in my veins, to be so hard-headed, brash and proud” he recounted fondly before he grunted. “We’d had a short fling, when we fell for the military commanders in each other” he murmured, prompting a short, ever-so-slightly disgruntled smirk from Twilight while he frowned to himself “I think that means that I loved her as a whole, minus her damn snoring” he droned, awful, awful memories of trying to sleep next to her coming to mind “but I get the feeling it wouldn’t have gone anywhere. She’d never been much for the whole ‘assassin’ thing” he muttered before he sighed. “Anyway, the next thing I knew, I heard Illumination gasp from behind and her eyes flickered open for a second. She was alive, bloody, bruised…wingless” he managed “violated” he breathed, those tears coming back as he covered his face with his hooves “but she still hung on…for about as long as it took for her to apologise to Illumination and Nocturnal for failing in her duty.” His voice went hollow, more so than before somehow. “They’d managed to break her, gotten troop movements and strategies from her…the existence of Celestia” he shook his head “and she died, thinking that we were in anyway disappointed in her” he muttered, deflating in her grasp.

He straightened up again, standing from Twilight’s grip, a hard, angry pride walling off his tears aggressively. He stood and trotted around atop-

‘Wait, who made the bed’ Twilight mentally demanded, looking down at their suddenly pristine sheets. Blood Moon, unfazed by their suddenly tidied sleeping arrangements, hopped off the bed and paced back and forth.

“Right after, we buried her, a few words were said and we all got right back to work” he said in an almost annoyed tone “but, it was clear that moral was down, why wouldn’t it be… Nocturnal and Illumination, they were clearly both dismayed at the loss of one of the best military commanders as well as a good friend” he gave a long sigh, looking to the floor as he paused in his pacing “I…I heard them agree to visit her grave, to honour her, once a year…”he grunted, a bitter smirk on his face “that lasted maybe…three years? After that, they were too busy, the war, as I said, kicked into overdrive and things finally got moving. But, that also meant they were both away for longer and longer periods of time…” another sigh “they barely even had time for their daughter” he almost growled.

The assassin trotted towards the window, Twilight following him and standing a short distance behind him.

“It was…five hundred years later, they finally found time to visit her grave” he snorted “I’d already been there…sneaked out to visit her, as I’d been doing for the last five hundred years, every year, on the day she said her last words…” he trailed off, glaring at the outside world, the story his words told playing out in his mind. “A twig snapped behind me, and I was already in the shadows…the stepped into the grove, of course, I couldn’t let them see me, I was supposed to be standing outside Celestia’s door at the time, stood to attention” he chuckled emptily. Twilight took a step, placing her hoof on his shoulder.

“What happened” she asked carefully. He grunted, shrugging a shoulder.

“Well…they…” he shook his head “they did exactly what I would have done” he admitted “that gravestone, hidden in a little opening in the woods around the Everfree Palace, the name, the cutie mark, Tartarus, the date…” he looked back at his marefriend, looking into her eyes for a second before he continued “it brought it all into perspective for them” he finished at length. “Both of them, they broke down, only each other for comfort in that moment of dire weakness…” he glared at his memories “and they didn’t last five minutes” he growled “it was too much for them, they left, staggering back into the woods to sit with each other, just let it all sink in…everything that war cost them, cost everypony…” he shook his head “and…well, you remember what I said about them being each other’s only comfort?” Twilight frowned before her eyes snapped open, unable to believe what he was implying.

“N-no…” she breathed. He nodded his head.

“Yep.” Her mouth hung agape.

“No way…” she murmured, her eyes widening as she continued to make sense of what she was hearing. “Y-you mean…” He nodded his head once. “No way” she repeated, falling to her flank.

“Not to say I stuck around to watch but… Well, that was the night the beautiful miracle of an accident, Luna was conceived” he revealed. Twilight was speechless. Princess Luna, ruler of the night, mistress of dreams, the Mare in the Moon, was the result of…cheer-up sex?

“But…but…I don’t…” Blood Moon only shrugged.

“Make of it what you will. Celestia was planned from the start, as was somepony of my skills to take care of her, her nanny to see to her more elderly ‘feminine’ needs, her tutors to teach her and the guards to protect her castle. But a sister? Somepony to grow up with her, to, well, become what she is today? They’d never even considered it until the day Illumination started showing.” Twilight’s face snapped to a frown.

“Wait, what?” Her blunt demand said it all to the smirking assassin.

“They’d been somewhat miserable and without forethought, and the day after it must have never occurred to them due to their shared misery, alongside the fact that they had an army to conduct and a burgeoning country to rule… Anyway, it was a while before Illumination became sluggish, became tired, and gradually a little more rotund, but she did all the same. Then, everypony figured out what had happened. Nocturnal, Faust and myself all demanded she finally stop exerting herself and after a while, she relented.” He grinned at the memory. “Well, it was more because she couldn’t trot around properly, and that she’d grown fond of Faust’s baking, but all the same…” he chuckled, Twilight finding herself unable to stop herself from giggling when she imagined somepony as graceful and regal Celestia or Luna struggling to waddle around.

“And, after a few major battle’s worth of loving time with her daughter, Princess Luna was born. Of course, this princess did make her word heard around the world” he said with a vaguely devious smile, remembering just how damn well loud that filly had screamed when she’d first entered this world. “And, after that, neither mother nor father saw their daughters much after Luna’s first hundredth birthday.” He glanced up to a gawking Twilight, astonished that they’d spend so long off of the battlefield, filly or no, and shrugged again. “Not too long a time for immortals” he tacked on offhoofledly. “Now, Nocturnal had never been for the whole second daughter idea to begin with, he loved her to be sure, don’t get me wrong, but he saw it as a tactical disadvantage…not to mention, his pride of ruling the night was only just matched by my pride as a whole” he muttered. “Anyway, despite a great amount of internal love for his offspring, he’d never been good at conveying it. He’d always been a little cold and distant around them. If they’d grown up around him, they’d have seen it to be sure, but…” again, he shrugged “well, Celestia had just turned what amounted to eleven years old and she’d warmed up to him much more than when she’d been younger, even with their sporadic visits, but Luna…well, she was too young to understand, and by the time she was old enough to understand, she didn’t care; the war had been going on for much longer than anypony had anticipated already, and to Luna, that war was just another part of her life, something natural. She’d had to grow up without her father around very often, so she came to…” he searched for the proper phrasing.

“Resent” Twilight offered. The assassin shook his head.

“Nah, there was still affection in their gazes, but…” he trailed off again “it just…wasn’t right. Love, but no friendship. They were close, but also incredibly distant” he tried to explain, scratching the back of his head, as fresh frown on his face. Twilight only nodded her head.

“I...I think I get it” she murmured, looking at her hooves. The assassin only shrugged.

“Well, in any case, that, far outside any nutshell, is why Luna had her training stars in here” he finished when he remembered what they’d been talking about. Twilight frowned with him.

“Yeah…we really got off topic there” she noted, a small smile on her face as she hopped off the bed. Blood Moon grunted.

“Just a sign of a successful conversation” he replied easily as they sat at one of the tables around his chambers. Twilight glanced absently out of one of the windows, her gaze meeting the training grounds towards the rear of the palace; she saw faint blobs that might have been ponies setting something up down there, what looked like an arena’s seating area being put up.

“What do you suppose they’re up to” she asked quietly as the assassin cracked his back in a few reliving spots. He looked over at what she was looking at and shrugged.

“Probably preparing for the fight later” he muttered. The purple mare frowned as she looked over at him.

“Huh? What fight” she asked as she watched him relax into their seat, his fore hooves behind his head as he closed his eyes.

“The one between me and the rest of Equestria” he replied in a laid back tone. Twilight blinked. Once. Twice. Thrice.

“What?” He opened an eye, frowning, and looked over.

“Yeah, when me and Celestia were in court yesterday, I decided to give them a release for all their pent up aggression against me.” Twilight stared, agape, and blinked again. “Didn’t I mention that?” She laughed shortly.

“Heh, no, no you didn’t” she informed, her eye twitching, a smile the assassin wasn’t comfortable with stretching across her face “hon, Blood Moon, when you say ‘the rest of Equestria’ do you mean…” They’d both stood by now, the assassin slowly backing away from his marefriend.

“Well, technically, it’s me and the rest of Equus, Equestria included” he answered uneasily. Twilight blinked once and seemed to calm down.

“Oh” she said pleasantly “ok” she said before she lunged for him. They rolled over each other, Twilight beating her hooves into the assassin’s head valiantly as he fended off her attacks. “YOU DUMMY” she screamed as she continuously hit him “YOU COMPLETE, UTTER, DUMMY” she screamed over and over. Her hoof met his jaw sharply and his head snapped to the side with the force, the dark stallion’s temper flaring for a brief second as he rolled with her next strike, taking her fore-leg in his hooves, standing, and twisting her to the floor in a lock.

“Twilight, calm down” he tried as she flailed in his grip; her horn flared and a bolt of purple magic flew at the Hunter, singing his mane slightly. Her horn sparked again and he released his lock, rolling away from her spell and coming up on his hooves, horn sparkling. “TWILIGHT” he roared as she sprang up, watching her snort heavily, a vein on her head pulsing.

“You…you…you…DUMMY” she roared back, a pulse of purple magic exploding from her as she raised her voice to impossibly loud volumes, the stallion covering his face from the blast of dust that went with it. “Why” she demanded “why would you do something like that” she growled.

“I-”

“SHUT UP” she cut off “I mean, you-you-you” she sat on her flank, gripping her mane and growling again. “First, you practically destroy Canterlot, then you almost kill my teacher, then you get yourself killed and now you’re going to fight each and every race on the face of Equus!?” He just nodded once. “You DUMMY” she shouted again “say it, you’re a dummy aren’t you! Say it!” He frowned.

“No.”

“Say it!”

“No!”

“Say. It!”

He blew a raspberry.

Twilight growled again and had to stop herself from lunging again.

“Just…why? Why would you do that” she asked, slowly deflating again. The assassin tried to approach her, only for Twilight to whip her head up to him and grow a little, gritting her teeth at him. Blood Moon felt incredibly motivated to back away a touch from his fuming marefriend.

“Well… It seemed like a good idea at the time?” Twilight took one look at his sheepish, almost apologetic face, feeling her mane tempt catching alight in her rage as he scratched the back of his mane. “Sorry” he tried as he grinned gently, offering her a hoof up. Twilight only felt the anger and frustration drain from her as fast as it had sparked up, her body deflating and relaxing against the assassin.

“Hehhh” she sighed, her head resting in the crook of his neck “you’re a dummy” she mumbled, defeated by the sheer disbelief that came crashing down on her with the weight of the assassin’s news.

Blood Moon only shrugged.

Author's Note

Sooo...

Yeah...

Where the hay have you been mister?

Well, my planet needed...you know what, nah, imma give it to you straight; put bluntly, my sister moved back in after a while and a few kids away, commandeered my usual writing space to, well, live in and I just haven't had the time to sit down and write this thing, despite really wanting to whenever I can get the chance. I'm aware that this is a paltry chapter for how long I've been gone, and I'm also gonna say that It might be another long while (hopefully not as long as last time) before another chapter comes out, and with the first, er, bit of The Assassin's Song having been reviewed (check it out, somewhere in the comments) I'll be going back to revamp my earlier chapters, like actually rewrite them. So maybe look forward to that. Anyway, Pinkie's pouting at me now so I better get gone

Productive -and Pinkie Pie!- Faffer out

A fight for the ages

Chapter thirty four: A fight for the ages

“I still can't believe what you did” Twilight muttered sourly. The stallion rubbing soap suds up and down her back tenderly only chuckled.

“That only goes to show that we should be spending a lot more time developing our knowledge of each other” Blood Moon replied, his smirk on his wet face. A light hissing accompanied the two unicorns as they sat inside Luna's pilfered shower room. Designed for a Princess, the two regular sized ponies had no trouble sitting together within it, one washing the other while said other pouted at the tiled wall, trying desperately hard not to succumb to the stallion's masterful hooves; he massaged her stiff back up and down, working the kinks and knots raveled within her muscles, none of which had definitely not been brought on by the stress of this morning, no sirree.

Their manes and fur matted their bodies, clinging to them closely, the assassin's mane hanging over his forehead while the purple mare's bangs hung down her face, the hot water pooling around their flanks and hooves, steam filling the room, the thick air being blasted around by Twilight's sigh.

“Y'know, I know that you're joking, but you have a point” Twilight muttered. She felt Blood Moon's hooves pause on her back.

“What do you mean” he replied, a frown creasing his face as he leaned to the side slightly. Twilight looked back at him for a second watching his face contort in confusion.

“I mean...well, we've known each other for” another pause as she took count of the days in her head, her eyes widening slightly when she got her number “for a little over three weeks now” she said quietly, taking a small, shocked breath, a gentle laugh escaping her. “Not even a month” she mused under her breath. The assassin was still watching her, humming in thought.

“Agreed” he muttered “although, that said, we've been through an awful lot together” he noted as a laugh built in his chest “some of it more than a little character building” he recounted with a grin on his face. Twilight turned to him, no laughter in her tone or on her face.

“Maybe but...well, what do we really know about each other? I'm willing to bet we've only really scratched the surface on each other” she exclaimed, her face close to his. They were almost mirror opposites of each other; she was panicking and worried about them, her eyes wide in sorrow and regret of the wasted time they could have spent together, while he as was relaxed and laid back as ever, his eyes half-lidded and that grin still on his face. Blood Moon wrapped his fore-legs around Twilight's shoulders loosely, bringing his grinning face to her's as he spoke softly.

“Twilight, as far as I'm concerned, we'll have all the time we need when all of this is done...all the time we want, and need, to get to know each other properly, if that is what you desire. We'll have all the time in the world to go on dates and talk about our favorite colors, our friends, our families, our least favorite cheeses and maybe even what we do when we're not changing the course of Equestria's history.” Twilight giggled gently, resting her head on his heard chest, listening to his heart beat rhythmically.

“Yeah...after all this is done” she repeated, straightening up and looking him in the eye again “after, you fight the whole world” she reminded him, her expression taking on a raised eyebrow and unamused grin. Blood Moon couldn't decide if she was emulating his visage to mock him or if she were doing it unintentionally.

“Well, if you gotta bring it up again” he muttered, looking away and huffing, his smirk still on his face. Twilight barked a laugh in amazement.

“Yes I am bringing it up again, and no amount of sweet talk, back massages or laid back charm is gonna stop me from reminding you that I'm not done lecturing you about this” she told him, her tone taking on that of a scolding teaching, her hoof poking his chest slightly. Blood Moon flashed his teeth as he smiled, wolfishly at that, and advanced on is marefriend steadily.

“Well, if none of that'll work” he said in a low tone, Twilight backing away from him gently, her own smile finding her lips as her purple orbs were half hidden by her dark magenta lids, her flank squishing against the shower room wall as she stopped, allowing her stallion to come within a hair's breadth of her “maybe this will.” His kiss was soft, loving, slow and intimate, something Twilight found herself enjoying more and more about him, how he was never willing to shy away from touching her, from loving her, or from making her feel so special.

He pulled back, his daring tongue leaving her mouth and returning to that stupid smirk of his. She wasn't sure how she felt about the way that look on his face always seemed to remind her why she loved him, the daring, the bravado, the confidence, the way he managed to work his way into her mind and, despite his far too rugged looks, still managed to linger in her mind's eye so unabashedly.

Twilight drew herself from her thoughts when she felt herself purring gently, caressing her neck up and down his.

“Hmm, maybe a little” she relented. She felt her stallion wrap his fore-legs around her neck, pulling her close and tight; a slight warm breath was followed by a slight tensing on her ear as the assassin bit down on her, the steam in the air far from the hottest aspect of their shared showed. A hoof stroking down the back of her neck, through her slick mane and down along her back, still twisting oh-so delicately into her muscles and sending sweet, numbing sensations through her system.

The mare felt herself groan into his ear, the touch of their slick coats and skin only adding to the feelings he was sending coursing through her; she knew it was a dirty trick, what he was doing, she was no foolish filly, whisked away on his charm and perfect touch, but she also knew that he was really good at what he was doing. It was electrifying, the way he held her, made her squirm while he satisfying her, keeping her begging and fulfilled all at once.

“Blood Moon” she murmured, brushing up against him. She felt the pressure on her ear release, but he didn't break away from her, his hoof still dancing around her back muscles.

“Hmm” he answered quietly; clearly, he wasn't going to be distracted, or dissuaded, easily.

“I know you love me an' all” she murmured just as quietly, really growing to appreciate his touch “but are you just doing this to get me to...forgive you” she asked, her tone barely above that of the hissing shower head “or...what, approve of what you're doing?” There was a pause, a quiet, before he took a slight step back, looking her in the eye.

“Maybe” he answered, his head cocked slightly. Twilight just took a long breath through her muzzle, looking down at the water at their hooves. “Why” he asked suddenly, prompting Twilight to look up; he was wearing his grin again, his confident grin. Not arrogant, never arrogant, never giving her justification for wanting to pull it from his lips and jump up-and-down on it, but...she still really wanted to do that to it. “Are you about to tell me it won't work” he grinned, defiantly.

Twilight knew what she was dealing with here; she knew, she'd learned about her coltfriend during their time together. He was good at getting his way, she'd watched him, heard of him, had him do it to her. She knew very well just how good a talker he was. And she knew that knowing this was very little defense against it, that he had been trained very well, and that he had millennia of experience at plying his trade, at exercising his skills. He would poke and prod until he discovered some weakness to prompt her to let him get his way. And she knew he was very likely to succeed.

Still, she couldn't just let him do as he please without some resistance.

“Yes” she answered eventually “because I don't like what you're doing, and I never will” she told him sternly, standing up straight. The assassin only shrugged.

“I understand that, but this is my path now.” He said it so nonchalantly, so calmly. As though he didn't care, scratch that, he probably didn't care. Twilight could only shake her head, hating the fact that she agreeing with him, that she was letting him win, but she just couldn't think of an argument that would dissuade him.

“I am not dropping this” she grumbled, turning away from him.

Her purple glow turned off the tap to the shower, and the hissing of water was reduced to a small dribble. The stallion followed her out, admiring her plot as they left Luna's bathroom and exited her empty bedroom; upon hearing of the assassin's choice of actions within court, she'd reacted just how Blood Moon had predicted.

“Oh, who'd have seen that coming?”

That girl knew the assassin better than he knew himself sometimes.

Having washed the assassin's appallingly moronic decision off of her, while same said assassin obligingly washed himself once more to keep both Celestia and Twilight happy (he insisted that one shower a month was more than enough), the two insistent that the foreign rulers and dignitaries would find it 'uncouth' for the princess's body guard to be accompanied by a hoard of flies, the two stepped into the assassin's chambers, towels wiping the moisture of off themselves as they went.

Twilight sipped at the tea which had been left out for them, sitting on a small seat, while the assassin meandered over to what he'd apparently decided was his dressing corner. The mare still wasn't sure how to react to the fact that the stallion had a much larger selection of clothing than her. His vest and coat slipped onto him without hassle, both sliding free from the mannequin they shared, while the bracer floated from its small case and the red ribbon pulled itself from a small rainbow coalition of ribbons available on top of a nearby stack of draws. A belt unwrapped itself from its coiled state and looped around him, buckling as a hole appeared in the universe and a sheathed sword slipped out and attached itself to his belt before a bandanna knotted itself around his neck.

He stood still for a long moment, Twilight watching with her cup to her lips, before he frowned and glanced around. Opening the wardrobe and peering in, she heard his muffled voice call:

“Hey Twilight, you seen my hood?” A slight laugh broke her quiet observation.

“No, why? Is your ensemble incomplete without it” she asked with a voice that mocked him with a class Rarity would be proud of. She hopped off her seat and trotted up to him. “I thought that coat had one fitted on already” she commented, coming to his side. He was scratching his head now, looking at the chest nearby before shaking his head and looking around with confusion on his face.

“Well, yeah” he murmured, brow furrowed “ but...I'm kinda feelin' the black today” he mumbled, scratching the back of his neck in confusion. Twilight could only laugh at him.

“I don't think I'll ever get you and your fashion choices” she giggled. The assassin's no doubt biting retort was cut off when Pinkie Pie exploded out of the chest next to them in a shower of confetti and party blowers.

“HI GUYS” was her heart-attack inducing greeting. Blood Moon had already leapt in front of his marefriend, sword drawn and aimed at the pink party pony with lethal promise. Meanwhile, Twilight was preparing a spell to summon a piano to drop on top of her friend, who was still smiling widely. There was a short stand off, Blood Moon and Twilight standing stock-still before they realized what was happening, both taking long breaths which seemed to deflate their tensed muscles.

“Geez Pinkie, don't you ever knock” Blood Moon exclaimed, sliding his sword into its sheath. Pinkie shook her head rapidly.

“Nope. Oo, oo, oo, you guys wouldn't believe all the cool stuff I found in here” she ducked back into the chest and came out wearing the assassin's hood. “Hi, I'm Mooney! Killy, killy, killy” she growled out in a weak parody of the assassin's signature dark tones. She got naught from her audience but a pair of unamused stares and Blood Moon's dry tones.

“Aha, ahaaa-gimme that” he snapped, swiping his hood from Pinkie's smiling, pink head. He placed it on its rightful mane with a sigh, looking up at the obliviously smiling mare and shook his head. “How'd you get in there anyway” he asked, lifting Pinkie out with his magic. She put a hoof to her chin, a look of truly intense concentration crossing her face.

“I dunno, just sorta woke up in there I guess.” Both Blood Moon and Twilight face-hoofed, but figured it better for their mental health to not question the party thrower.

“Alright, that's as good an explanation as any I suppose” Twilight relented, trotting off to try and spare her frazzled mind. Blood Moon remained with Pinkie, chuckling in his chest at his marefriend's reaction, watching her go, before he look back at Pinkie.

“Well, it's good I...stumbled across you anyway” he said in a quiet voice, as to not draw Twilight's attention. Pinkie's head flopped to the side, her eyebrow raised.

“Why?” The assassin scratched the back of his neck awkwardly.

“I...” he sighed, looking away from Pinkie in search for proper wording “well, I've had little heart to hearts with Twi, Fluttershy and Rainbow by now, and I'm pretty sure I'm on the level with them all, but-” He was cut off by a pink hoof softly touching his chest. He looked up to find Pinkie giving him a small, sad smile.

“It's alright Mooney, you don't have to apologize to me” she told him.The stallion frowned.

“But I-” A small, oddly sad giggle interrupted him.

“It's not nice when friends don't wanna be friends” she explained “and Scootaloo had just said that she didn't want to be your daughter anymore” she reminded him. The assassin deflated slightly when the memories hit him, looking off to the side slightly. “Don't worry” she repeated “I get it, you went sad, like when Pinkamena came out...and...I get it” she promised him. Looking at her small, understanding smile and the eyes that simply didn't belong in such an upset position simultaneously warmed, and broke something in the assassin's chest. Feeling something scratching the corners of his eyes, he sighed gently and pulled her into a hug.

“I really don't know what I did to deserve you, but...thanks” he whispered in a, low, relieved tone “thank you so much” he breathed, squeezing her gently. Pinkie squished him back, just as gentle.

“It's okay... You understood” she told him “you understood when I needed somepony to understand most.” Blood Moon just felt his smile stretch further along his face. She had a knack for that, it seemed. “And besides, that's what friends do” she finished, electing another small squeezed from the stallion embracing her. He sighed, breathing in the scent of candyfloss in her mane.

“You're a pony far too good for this world” he murmured. Pinkie only giggled.

They released each other and trotted towards Twilight, the mare having watched their quiet exchange; it warmed her heart, to see Pinkie's caring and true affection for her coltfriend, how they understood each other.

“Anything I'd be interested in” the sorceress asked, nodding back at where they'd spoke, already having a good idea of what they'd said. The stallion smiled slightly.

“Nothin' really, just a little...” he glanced at Pinkie, who was smiling contently, her eyes closed cutely “heart to heart” he finished.

A rough knocking against the assassin's door cut off any progress to their conversation, the three pony's heads turning for the entrance before they trotted over to it; the door gained a gray glow as the stallion opened it to reveal a low-ranking guard. A slight frown and closer examination revealed this to be the same, low-ranking guard from the other day, whom had quickly took to cowering before the assassin.

He looked Blood Moon up and down hesitantly before he spoke.

“Uh, C-Clestia requests your presence down in the training grounds” he told Blood Moon, who nodded quietly to himself.

“Seems they're ready to throw down” the assassin commented with a smirk, rolling his right fore-leg eagerly.

“I-I've been asked to escort you down there” the guard said, his tone still quaking. Raising his eyebrow at the guard, Blood Moon shrugged and tensed one side of his maw.

“Very well” he replied, before looking at Twilight and Pinkie. “Ladies, shall we?” Twilight nodded, stepping past the assassin as Pinkie hopped after her, still smiling broadly.

They were quite the quartet, the gold-plated guard, purple librarian, silver-gray assassin and hopping, pink party thrower. The guard took point, Pinkie hopping next to him, Twilight and Blood Moon bringing up the rear.

“So, what's your name” Pinkie asked happily, her mane and tail bouncing up and down. The guard looked over at her, his head bobbing up and down in time to the mare's bouncing.

“I...my name is Bastion...Last Bastion” 'Last Bastion' replied, his neck tilting up and down to follow Pinkie Pie's movements. Pinkie's smile went even wider, a feat which shouldn't have impressed the assassin anymore, but still never ceased to amaze him.

“Hi Bastion, my name's Pinkie Pie! Are you a guard! Well duuh, of course you're a guard” she snorted in laughter “I throw parties for ponies! Maybe I could throw a party for you! Oo, oo, when's your birthday?MaybeIcanthrowyouasuperawesomebirthdayparty,It'llbesuperawesome,andhavecakeandallyou'reguardfriendsOHyouhaveguardfriendsright-”

Blood Moon felt a hoof on his shoulder, breaking his concentration and severing his cord to Pinkie's odd definition of sanity. He looked to his right to behold his savior and found an purple hoof, attached to which was a leg, and attached to that a pretty, purple pony. Twilight shook her head silently, the stallion repeating the motion dumbly, to which Twilight nodded in approval.

Casting his gaze to the ground and attempting to not take every detail of his environment in for the first time in a few centuries, Blood Moon cast his thoughts inward.

He wondered how Rarity and Applejack were doing; beyond his interactions with the Elements of Harmony in the throne room the other day, and his brief appearance for them to show off his bodyguard regalia, he hadn't seen much of them lately. No doubt Rarity was taking the opportunity to take in every inch of Celestia's famous palace, more than likely taking inspiration for new outfits and fashion lines from the most odd of places around the palace. Applejack was harder to predict, maybe she was following one of the others around, keeping the ever nervous Fluttershy content in the new environment, or acting as a sounding board for Rarity. Or perhaps she'd gone down to the kitchens to exchange baking tips.

He didn't know and didn't exactly care, just as long as they weren't in danger from any lingering assassins or spies prowling the palace, taking advantage of the skeleton crew running the place. The assassin had noticed more than a couple during his time in the palace, not counting the assassins after him and the one he'd spotted during court. He had to wonder; Shadow Weavers, or freelancers?

He hadn't noticed any out of place griffons or Changelings, Diamond Dogs or anything else of the sort; just ponies, ponies and more ponies. Just the first wave? The race with the head start? Both, neither? The questions plagued him, and the dark stallion didn't like it. He was only just beginning to realize how comparatively relaxed he'd been when it was just his own security, in his own small vicinity that he'd been concerned about for these past ten thousand or so years. He foresaw headaches in the future.

“Oo, maybe we could get Iron Mareden to come along! I love that band” Bastion exclaimed happily; the assassin hadn't noticed when he'd started happily conversing with Pinkie Pie, but he'd apparently forgotten all about his training in keeping stoic and un-moving in the face of civilians, and wore a big smile on his face, professionalism and unease around the pink party thrower all but nonexistent. Blood Moon could only grin. The day he met a pony who didn't at least eventually warm up to Pinkie was the day he'd finally make use of the headstone he'd carved out for himself.

The assassin's eyes were drawn to Last Bastion as he analyzed him and took in every detail about him. His fur was naturally yellow, dyed the standard white of the Solar Guard, and his beige mane and tail had been dyed blond. Blood Moon couldn't help but smirk at the ironic inverse of colors.

The guard seemed new, likely taken out of training early to bolster the palace guard's numbers, and had found himself in the position of Celestia's semi-official personal aid. The Hunter had to wonder if she'd end up using this one for badly-restrained amounts of sex too.

Shaking his head free of his adopted daughter's carnal habits, Blood Moon took stock of their position in the palace: close to the rear of the palace, near the guard barracks and training rounds, their eventual destination. Light streamed in from a doorway ahead of them, signifying the exit to the outside world.

Pinkie and Bastion stepped out first, into the blazing sun. The assassin went to follow them before he felt a hoof on his shoulder.

“You...you don't have to do this, you know” Twilight tried. Neither of them took their eyes off of the portal to the training grounds turned arena. Neither of them had to.

“Twilight, you know as well as I that I do” Blood Moon replied with an eager grin on his face. The purple mare sighed, her head hanging, as they turned to face each other.

“You know, I think it's that I can tell that you want to do this that worries me the most” she admitted. The assassin's grin held as he took her face in his hoof, holding her gently.

“Well, if doing this means I can get those regal asshats off my back sooner rather than later, I'm more than willing to go through with this. That I get to punch ponies is just a bonus” he told her, ego and more than a little pride edging into his tones. The purple unicorn smiled without mirth, her eyes closing as she huffed.

“What exactly do you want to get out of this Blood Moon? I mean, I know you want to tell them all not to get in your way but...” she looked up, up into his eyes, and her tone went serious, melancholy tinting her words “I don't get it; there's a hundred different way you could do this without all this trouble, all this spectacle. I of all know you could talk them down, or just let Celestia handle it diplomatically, or just go quiet or something other than this. So why fight? Why put yourself into such danger? Why put so many others in danger” she asked weakly. They held each other’s gazes for a long moment, the light of the outside world casting half their faces in shade, and the other half in bright light, before Blood Moon took a step back from his marefriend.

“Because, what I'm about to say, has to be said loudly” he told her, his face and voice going serious, his posture straight and controlled, his brow furrowed slightly “because all of Equestria, all of Equss, has to hear...I won't be controlled, that I am going to stand by Celestia. To tell the Shadow Weavers that I'm no longer one of them. That they can't stop me” he finished.

A cold wind blew through the passage they stood in, their manes and tails flowing with it. Twilight looked up at him with eyes of sadness, of frustration and hatred, of understanding and a deep wish for him to reconsider his actions. He was stoic. Still as a rock, quiet as the moon. In that moment, Twilight saw that calm, cold, driven, unstoppable assassin up close, looking her right in the eye. She knew there was nothing she could say, nothing she could do, that would persuade him to not go out there now.

She sighed, leaning her head against his chest; she wasn't scared of him, not in her heart. She knew that her adventures with her friends had taught her much, and that bravery was not least among those lessons, but she knew that there was something to fear in this assassin, beyond the obvious. It was his tenacity, his stubbornness, his Tartarus-bent nature. She felt his fore-leg wrap around the back of her neck, hugging her tight. He loved her, she knew, he'd do anything for her.

But he loved his freedom more.

Sighing gently through her muzzle, Twilight could only look up at her stallion from her vantage point against his chest with a deep-rooted sadness in her gaze.

“Just...be careful out there, okay?” In a moment, the Blood Moon she knew was back, his cocky smirk stretching across his lips, reaching into his eyes in its sincerity.

“Naturally” he said with a wink, turning back to the bright glow coming from the exit to their shared passage and trotting down it.

Outside, the sun blazed down in glorious golden rays. Raised away from the view of Canterlot, the massive expanse of flat cobble stone, each rock the size of a small foal, were the Royal Training Grounds; beholding a marvelous view over the rest of the capital of Equestria, stone battlements at chest-height protecting anypony from stumbling off the edge and tumbling an incredible distance down. Each and every guard to train and practice here considered it no less than a privilege and a burden, to see exactly what they were responsible for.

Around the perimeter of the training area, the archery targets and fighting dummies had all been removed to make room for the massive set of bleachers, the likes of which normally found at highschools or hoofball fields, while the small sparring pits had been dismantled in favor of turning most of the rest of the grounds into one massive arena.

More than a few ponies, zebras, Diamond Dogs, Griffons and even dragons were loitering around. Twilight could spot other races as well, but none held her attention long before she noticed Celestia stood with Luna in what looked like a more 'high class' seating area, a cloth tent roof attached to the wooden supports, in the traditional Canterlot purple, white and gold swirls protecting them from the sun blazing overhead, at the very top of the wooden seating.

The two unicorns trotted over without drawing too much attention, finding the raisers of the sun and moon, Twilight's friends, brother and sister in law, as well as some other foreign dignitaries scattered around. Celestia turned from her sister when she noticed her looking past her, a warm smile finding the solar mare's face.

“Good morning” was her simple greeting. Twilight was a little uncomfortable hugging the princess in public, but the solar mare wrapped a fore-leg around her either way, pulling her in.

“Good morning, princess” the purple mare replied, slowly returning her tutor's hug in turn before she was released, taking a few steps back. All of the Elements were stood amongst the rulers of Equesrtia now, most having taken their seats as Pinkie bought a tub of popcorn from a brave vendor (much to Rarity and Applejack's disapproval) before she hopped into her seat. Cadence and Shining smiled, the former nodding her head slightly while the latter turned to glare in either suspicion or disapproval at her coltfriend.

Celestia turned her eyes to Blood Moon, who was watching the crowds carefully, no doubt sizing up his opponents. His attention went to her suddenly when he felt her eyes on him, grinning slightly and inclining his head.

“Morning Tia, Luna” he greeted. The rulers of night and day returned his greetings quietly, the former much more amused by the day's proceeding's than the latter. “So...is this everyone” Blood Moon asked as he looked over the area he'd be fighting in. The large, flat stones that made up the training grounds had a wooden decagon constructed around it, maybe a meter or two away from the edge of the seating area, likely to provide standing room and separate civilians away from the inevitable violence. Celestia nodded slightly, following the dark stallion's gaze.

“Hopefully, we're already rather crowded. But yes, ponies from all over Equestria, Glendrin's personal honour guard, Zebrack's Hidden Tails, Diamond Dog Hounds of War, Dragon raiders, Minotaur warriors, even some Changeling assassins have shown up...” Celestia trailed off, one side of her maw tensing slightly “put simply, everyone you've ever managed to annoy has turned up for a swing a you” the ruler of the day explained. The assassin only grunted.

“I'm insulted there's so few” he commented, eyes scanning the crowds; it was quite remarkable, he had to admit, the mass of beings who had shown up. Not just fighters, but spectators. Pretty much the entire town of Canterlot had shown up to find out what the fuss was about, while others had turned up from out of town, word apparently traveling with impossible speed across the length of Equestria. No doubt if the assassin had waited longer, beings from all over Equss would show up too. The crowds far exceeded the seating area available, and already a rainbow of bodies were crowded around the wooden walls of the impromptu arena. “How long until we begin” the Hunter asked, his gaze returning to Celestia. She only shrugged.

“No more than fifteen minuets, I'd wager” she answered as she sat her royal flank on her wooden throne, between Cadence and Luna, Twilight sitting with her friends in front of them. Leaning to the side slightly, he noticed the other rulers sat along the same platform his daughters were, Glendrin, Krazin, Rel, Stone Spine...he frowned, noticing an empty seat, insultingly far away from Celestia. Such a statement could only be being made against one mare.

“Excuse me” he said quietly, slipping away before anypony had realized what he'd said. He trotted away quickly, hooves silent along the stony ground, red eyes flowing over each and every hide and hair she could be hiding amongst before he noticed her black chitin observing the proceedings from afar.

The wall surrounding the training area flattened back to form a walk way, shaded by a wooden gazebo above it, accessed via stone steps. She was at the corner, looking over either Canterlot as a whole or the rabble below, but otherwise unocuppied.

The assassin trotted up behind her silently, standing behind her until she noticed him. Her mane and tail flapped gracefully in the wind, adding to her warped beauty.

“It was almost all mine, you know” she said quietly, not looking back at the Hunter. Blood Moon remained silent, spotting a closed, wooden door to their left. Likely a storage shed. “But...but your marefriend got in my way...I haven't forgiven her, you know...she's a respectable foe...but she's still my foe, have no doubt.” Still she got no answer. A grin split the assassin's face as he listened to her words, her implied threat. A particularly strong gust of wind shifted her tail gently, gathering his attention. Turning her head back slightly, Chrysalis only huffed slightly. “What's the matter, Cloak and Dagger? Cat got your ton-” The Queen of the Changelings was cut off when a muzzles shoved its way between her smooth, black lips and into her emerald green treasure, a particularly dexterous tongue raging around in there for a second before he pulled back, a devilish smirk in his tone.

“You could say that” he chuckled before he swept right back into her pussy, tongue leading his ministrations as he teased her marehood with wild abandon. Chrysalis moaned quietly, pushing her hind-quarters back into his face as she let him eat her out, wrapping her fore-legs around the wooden beam in front of her like a stripper pole, arching her back elegantly, letting her glorious ass smother him. Buck she'd forgotten how good he was at this, his skilled tongue slipping through her pussy lips and into her depths, his hooves, resting on her flank cheeks, spreading them, spanking them, pinching them like he owned her. She smirked as she remembered their little, never ending game; who owned who in the sheets?

It was sudden, it came from out of nowhere, it was perfect. He lapped and lashed at her opening with altering motions, sometimes delicate and gentle, letting her rest her flank on his face, other times he was aggressive and forceful, pushing the air from her lungs as he worked away at her pussy with an unmatched skill, lips wrapped around her cunny as his hooves stroked up and down her smooth, curvy legs, an eternal weakness of his.

Her eyes went over to the crowd below them, their view of them obscured by the bleachers. Oh, how she wished somepony would look over at them, at the princess's personal guard eating her pussy like a five course meal; a random peasant, pawing at himself as she licked her lips at him, as her lips were licked in turn, hoof dancing along his cock as she silently begged for more, maw hanging open seductively for her anonymous onlooker as she let the stallion take her, saliva stretching between her perfect, succulent lips.

Luna, shocked, appalled, maybe interested in the expression of their carnal desires, glad that sex, that pure, sinful fucking had left the shroud of nighttime and had found life outside of the confines of the bedroom, out from under the darkness. She had the same inhibitions as Blood Moon when left unchecked, if she could be caught quickly, not given time to get nervous. Chrysalis was good at reading ponies, and she knew there was jealousy in the younger sister. Would this satisfy it, sate her envy? Would she want a turn, riding her adoptive father's dick, feeling his tongue's skill against her pussy?

A gasping breath escaped her lips, her tongue licking them sensually.

'So scandalous...'

Would she trot up, take his stallionhood into her throat? She'd eat her out eagerly. Oh, what a threesome that would make.

Twilight, oh the heart break, the heart break she'd eagerly take over any amount of love, any day; she'd catch her purple eyes, she'd smirk that beautiful, evil smirk of hers, make her watch. He'd make her cum as she watched, and she'd moan oh-so wantonly, noiselessly, to make sure her misery was private. She'd push him to the ground, jump onto his cock and ride him with a wild abandon of her restraint. She'd throw her mane, make sure she could see the blush on her face, see every detail of her pleasure. He'd cum inside her, the perfect creampie, and she'd get off of him, turn around just for her. She'd spread her pretty little pussy lips wide open, look back at her as she watched the thick, white cum drip from her pussy.

Celestia. Oh, the horror, the betrayal...the curiosity. She'd lick her lips, beckon her over...would she agree? She'd excuse herself, approach, join Blood Moon inside her pussy, their tongues bumping and kissing. Maybe one would take her ass, kissing her and loving her in a way only they could. They'd rub their pussies together, sharing his member between them, giving in to their base desires, sucking him, kissing him. She wondered who'd get which end. Maybe she'd make him watch, summon a drone for him to fuck, to suck him off, as they ground their pussies together, kissed and felt each other's bodies...

'Just like old times...'

A gasp escaped her throat as he pushed in deeper, a hoof reaching under her a twisting the nipples on her teats, though the other hoof was missing, and she could guess where it was. A steamy smile found her lips, rubbing her chest up and down the smooth wood she supported herself upon, grinding her cunt into him with an evil, almost spiteful glee. He still lusted after her. It was all she needed.

He was still hers.

He worked away at her pussy with a skill and passion she relished, but she wanted, needed, more; her horn glowed its toxic green and gripped his hind-hooves as she leaned back. She pulled him off his hooves and sat on his face, his stallionhood bobbing obediently before her, one of his hooves working up and down it; with a smirk, she batted it away and let her own hoof replace it, rubbing him up and down, his hoof going back to her royal ass, spreading her apart to get at her pussy better. She bit her spare hoof as the other one serviced him relentlessly; she clenched on his tongue as she came all over his face, his cock throbbing and spewing cum all over her belly, his gooey, dirty, beautiful white mess painting her the best shade of white, leaving her reeking of that glorious odor. She hummed contently as she felt him lift her plushy flank of his face.

“Shall we find somewhere more...private” he asked, shaking his hips to make his length wave around for her. She could hear his grin, and she couldn't suppress her own.

“My thoughts, exactly” she groaned, lifting herself from him, leaving sticky evidence of her pussy's last resting place on his muzzle, and looked around. Perfectly, there was a little shed just behind them, the perfect den of debauchery. She leaned down to his soaking face, whispering into his ear. “Let's give her a sibling, eh lover” she teased, moaning out her words, nibbling on his ear. His grin only grew.

“My thoughts, exactly” he replied. Chrysalis felt her pussy drip.

She cantered for the door and slipped inside, the stallion following after her. She lit her horn, a sickly green light illuminating the room as she threw herself upon a sack of padded training gear kept in here, her hind-legs spread right open for him. He grinned, crawling on top of her; she closed her eyes in bliss, in victory, in lust as she felt his tip poke against her opening, his gooey mess, slavering against her slit. She hummed, feeling him kiss her neck sensually, thrusting his hips against her.

'I win, Sparkle.'

Her thoughts came to an end when she felt something poking her again. Poking her neck this time. The Changeling Queen opened her eyes-

“What in Tartarus” she breathed, eyes wide open as she stared up at the blade he aimed at the throat.

“Finally, a moment alone” the assassin mused, his faint grin still on his face, but holding entirely different implications. Chrysalis tried laughing, chuckling nervously as she tried to lean away from the tip of his weapon.

“That's a p-pretty intense fetish you got there, slut” she told him uneasily, a faltering smile on her face, eyes snapping between his face and the sword; she could still feel the heat coursing through her body, their sexipades just now not lost to her. Blood Moon, however, simply wiped himself off with his bandanna, seemingly oblivious to their fore-play just now.

“Yeah” he breathed, snapping his bandanna to the side to get rid of any lingering moisture clinging to it “let's make the safe word 'harder', eh?” The grin on his face was cruel now, his stance relaxed and his tone casual. Chrysalis could feel herself panicking, and forced herself to calm down, which was unsurprisingly difficult, given the blade aimed at her jugular.

“W-what are you doing Blood Moon, why're you doing this” she demanded, a glare finding her face “did Celestia ask you to kill me? Is this your first assassination for her? Should I be honoured” she demanded spitefully. The Hunter merely shook his head.

“Holding you hostage, I'm looking for information, no, no and probably” he replied, the blade of his sword now resting against her neck. Chrysalis blinked a few times.

“In-infomation? What do you mean?” He leapt upon her, putting his weight on her gut and lungs; he put his face into hers, the threat clear on his all-too-calm face.

“Week or so ago, a large platoon of Changelings attacked Ponyville. Large enough for a small hive” blood trickled from a shallow wound against her neck “and I want to know why” he informed politely. Chrysalis looked down at her blood, swallowing slightly upon sight of it, feeling herself quaking.

“I-I-I-” she swallowed again “I don't know” she told him. In response, he took the Messorem and pointed it between her legs.

“Don't make me lose my temper today Chrysalis” he growled, the mare, turning her head away from him as she felt cool metal tap against her private area “trust me when I say, this is not a good day to annoy me.” Tears leaked from the Queen's eyes.

“I-I didn't order any Changeling attacks on anything, I swear” she begged, voice shaky. The Hunter growled.

“Then tell me something interesting, or I'll really fuck you” he snarled. She was crying now, hooves over her eyes.

“I-I-I” she seemed to remember something “I-I lost control over a bunch of hives when I lost Canterlot” she whispered desperately “some of them are hiring themselves out as mercenary bands” she explained, hoping to whoever was listening that he would deem her information as worth more than killing her. He was still, silent for a second as he considered her answer.

'That means a mysterious benefactor behind the scenes...again. First Hardhoof and now this? I hope Leaf can come up with something to help me tie this together.'

The assassin stepped off of Chrysalis and sheathed his blade, the queen looking between his weapon and face rapidly in confusion.

“Right, sorry” he murmured, backing off. Chrysalis blinked loudly.

“You're sorry”she demanded “you're bucking sorry” she very nearly screamed in rage “you hold a sword to my marehood and you say you're-”

“I'd thought it was you who'd ordered the attack” he argued, raising a hoof to placate her “I had to be sure” he reaffirmed. She narrowed her eyes at him, glaring at Blood Moon for one long minuet before she turned her head away.

“It's because of stuff like this you and me needed relationship counseling” Chrysalis murmured, rubbing her left fore-leg up and down with her right. She met the assassin's gaze for a second, watching his calm expression.

There was silence for a long minute as she considered his words and actions, how rapidly he'd flipped back and forth. She glared at him gently.

“Was it all a trick” she asked suddenly. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

“Was what a trick?” She grunted and pointed down at herself, her cum-splattered stomach, motioning outside of the door.

“The sex” she answered, staring him down. She was taken off guard when he moved in too quickly for her to react, locking his lips against her's, pushing his tongue in and wrestling with her own. The Changeling Queen closed her eyes, losing a moan into his maw.

“I'll admit” he breathed as he pulled back, saliva connecting their lips seductively “I missed the way you taste” he told her. She smiled, purring seductively.

“Ahh...so you can't resist me” she mused, licking her lips as ideas formed in her head.

“Not so” the dark stallion said suddenly, causing Chrysalis to whip her head back and forth, looking for him, only to see him at the door to their shed. “My heart belongs to Twilight” he told her. As his words proceeded to break Chrysalis's ego and heart, light streamed into their little den as he swung the door open. Turning his head back slightly, he watched as she blinked a few times, her horn going out. “I'll be sure to send Celestia your regards” he said plainly, stepping out. Chrysalis glared and stood, cantering after him.

“Does that mean you'll eat her out too” she snapped bitterly as she barged past the assassin. He smirked as he watched her go.

“Depends what mood I'm in” he muttered to himself.

“Bullshit.”

'What?'

“What you said to Chrysalis just now, about missing her...ugh, ‘taste’? Bullshit.”

'Well, she doesn't know that, does she?'

…

“You're a real bastard, you know that?”

'Notice how I'm not arguing against that claim.'

“Well then, why'd you do it?”

'Because I've grown quite fond of her, and I'd rather we stay on each other's good...ish, sides.'

...

“You know what, she was right, you're a real slut too.”

'Notice how I'm not arguing against that either.'

With a small smirk, the assassin trotted off, making his way back to the bleachers and then to Celestia and Twilight; they'd been talking about something while he'd been gone, turning his way as he approached and smiling gently.

“What I miss” he asked as he meandered up to them, nuzzling Twilight.

“Nothing spectacular. What were you doing” the solar princess asked in return, slightly pointedly. Blood Moon shrugged.

“Saw a cat. Wanted to say hi” he replied. Nearby, Fluttershy lit up and flew off to find said imaginary feline. Twilight merely shook her head in amusement, while Celestia clearly didn't buy his story but dropped the point anyway. “Anyway...we ready to start the party?” They all looked over to the group of potential combatants, finding them all stretching, jabbing at the air, sparring with each other and otherwise preparing for the upcoming fight.

“Shouldn't...you be doing something like that” Twilight asked before anypony could answer his question, nodding at them sharpening and polishing their weapons, and limbering up their muscles. Blood Moon snorted.

“If I needed to do that, I'd be insulting the sadistic buggers who trained me” he replied “after all, I'm always ready to fight.” Twilight rolled her eyes at his bravado, but couldn't hold down her slight smirk.

“Well, I'm sure they're glad for that fact” Luna commented, nodding at the assassin's awaiting battle “and I'm pretty sure they're awaiting your appearance” she informed. Tensing one side of his maw, the dark stallion took a long breath.

“Guess I'd better get down there then” he murmured, turning to his extended family. “Well...enjoy the show” he said with a grin as he hopped down the stairs to the ground level. Biting her lip as she watched him go, Twilight turned to her old mentor.

“Will...will he be okay” she asked quietly, the corners of her eyes angled down. Without taking her eyes from her bodyguard, the princess of the sun took a long breath.

“I'm...not sure, my faithful student” she returned gravely “when he declared he was willing to fight the combined forces of Equss...I wasn't sure what he was thinking” she explained as she watched him approach the wooden boundaries of the arena, the crowds of ponies standing aside for him to pass. “He says he wants to let them work their grievances out against him, but...” She trailed off, unsure, frowning gently as she watched him step into the arena, looking around himself; he had a cocky look on his face, his grin wide and unconcerned.

“But that would suggest he intended to let them use him as a punching bag” a new voice finished. They all blinked and looked around, snapped out of the gravity of the situation to find the owner of the voice. Celestia looked down the steps which lead up to their shared seating area.

“Skulduggery” the peerless mare said with a smile, almost rising from her seat to greet her coltfriend. The detective tipped his hat, smiling ever-so-slightly. Everypony, minus Cadence and Luna, all frowned at his sudden appearance. “Good to see you” she finished. Shining Armour was glaring at him less-than-subtlety, not forgetting his past efforts to distract him, allowing Twilight to escape him the other day.

Twilight smiled tightly at him, and he nodded back, before he turned back to the Celestia.

“I take it things are proceeding as predicted” he mused, the princess nodding her head.

“Unfortunately so” she replied, turning to him for a second “won't you sit with us” she posed, to most of her company's confusion.

Meanwhile, the assassin was making himself comfortable within his home for the next few hours of his life; his eyes swept over the crowd, watching them and taking them in as they all stared at him. He couldn't hold down his smirk as he took in their fear, letting it embolden him. The were stock still in fear or quaking, their never-closing eyes stared at him or they didn't dare look, but each and every one of them was sat in sheer, absolute, deafening silence.

“Blood Moon? Blood Moon?! Black Hood!”

Except one.

The assassin frowned, his eyes snapping around the arena, until they fell upon the one who'd called his name, and a nickname only one pony knew him by. He saw the electric blue mane, and his smirk turned to a genuine smile as he rushed over to her.

“Vinyl” exclaimed, as he went over, catching the DJ in a hug as she leaned over the fencing to embrace him quickly before they leaned back, the stallion resting his hooves atop the wooden beam separating them. “What're you doing here” he asked in amazement.

“I could ask you the exact same this” the alabaster mare replied, her tone a little breathless and confused “what in the hay is going on?” The assassin laughed awkwardly, scratching the back of his head; the assassin had know Vinyl for a while, the pair fast friends as they had been, but he'd never really gone into the details of his past with her, as such, his mind quickly went over the events of the past few days.

“I was Princess Celestia's foalsitter, then I abandoned her, then I came back to kill her, killed her, revived her, died, came back and now I'm gonna beat up the world.”

He chuckled as the insanity of the situation hit him all at once.

“That's....quite a long story” he admitted, looking around himself; unsurprisingly, everypony was watching him in disbelief, his casual tone (no doubt his ability to get a verbal response out of the famously mute DJ PON-3 as well) and interactions with one of the upcoming battle's spectators more than enough to amaze them. Eyes were wide, jaws were dropped and no few muttered comments were being exchanged between spectators. Vinyl caught his glances around the silent arena and followed them, tensing one side of her maw.

“I don't doubt it” she admitted. As they spoke, a gray pony came up beside Vinyl as they spoke, bumping the DJ slightly to get her attention.

“Don't you think we should...let him get on his way Vinyl” Octavia said slightly hesitantly. As the assassin's eyes met the musician's, he saw the fear, the confusion, the more than slight distaste. It seemed that she had done some digging around town, and had figured out what Blood Moon was, and had been, doing. As their eyes maintained their contact, the pretty mare swallowed gently and turned her head away, looking at her marefriend. “D-don't you agree” she insisted after a moment. The assassin sighed inwardly, as he watched their friendship dissolve with her fear.

Inevitably, Vinyl Scratch was a little confused, but nodded either way.

“Y-yeah...you go do your thing Black Hood” she said, unsure, looking between her friend and lover. Still watching the cellist, the dark stallion grinned gently as he turned away.

“Of course, better not keep everyone waiting.”

Trotting out into the center of the arena, Blood Moon turned on the spot, breathing deeply. They all watched him tensely, none of the combatants making a move. Dust and sand swirled in the wind, manes and tails flapping with it. He dug his hooves into the sandy arena floor, setting his stance and relaxing his muscles.

“Well then” he called out into the crowds, pausing dramatically for a second “shall we?”

Again, there was a tense silence, an eerie stillness, only the howls of the wind singing through the air. Blood Moon's grin only grew into a smirk; he could smell their fear, and it only grew his power over them. Two ways, this all could have gone down; the fight, or this. He'd strike fear into their-

“WHAAAA!” A howling voice shrieked into the air, putting a banshee's scream to blushing shame as it cut through the tense, still air . Confused, on guard and tensing up in paranoia, the stallion swept his eyes around himself, searching for his foe, and was more than a little stunned to find a mare galloping at him, a scarf wrapped around her head and a big kitchen knife in her hoof.

No few ponies were utterly bewildered, the assassin amongst them, and the dark stallion could only squint as she galloped at him at full speed. Still screaming, she swung her knife at him clumsily, the assassin stepping back to avoid her swipe, his face creased in confusion. Another swing at him sent the blade across his neck, Blood Moon swaying his neck back slightly, his frown still on his face. When she went to stab him, he dodged to the side and grabbed her attacking leg in a lock, twisting it down, making the knife clatter to the ground as she struggled and screamed to get free, swinging at him and trying to claw at him, highly unsuccessfully.

Holding there in hopes of her calming down went nowhere after half a minute, the assassin looking off to the side at no one in particular in aspiration before he looked back down at her, taking a deep breath through his muzzle.

“So” he began casually “what atrocity did I commit against you” he asked. She redoubled her efforts to scream and spit at him viciously before the assassin let her wrench herself free from him as she stood wobbly, her scarf having shifted around her head.

“You...you killed my baby” she screamed again, grunting and growling out her breaths, a vein on her head pulsing beneath her scarf. A hushed gasp swept through the crowd, yet more mutters going between them all. For a long while, the assassin stared at her blankly before he blinked.

“You're...gonna have to be more specific than that” he admitted. She screamed and lunged at him again, the assassin stepping past and tripping her hoof as she stumbled past him.

“How dare you! How dare you forget that you killed my son! How DARE YOU! You slaughtered him in cold blood, you monster!” The dark stallion’s eye went a little hollow as he realised what he’d gotten himself into, suddenly wishing he had a shot of whiskey to hoof, gaze lingering on the sand before he looked up at her again.

“Can I get a name” he asked at last, an eyebrow raised. More growling and spluttering before she replied.

“His name...was Touchdown” she hissed. More silence and blank expressions. Another oblivious blink. “He was a beautiful Pegasus colt, a lovely brown coat and snow white mane, that you KILLED” she roared, more shocked gasps ran through the crowd. Off to the side, Vinyl's hooves went to her maw, Celestia rose an eyebrow, Luna looked away in sorrow and pain at the gray mare's dreams she still recalled while Twilight's face twisted into slight pain, memories of her first interactions with her coltfriend rushing back to her unpleasantly.

“Ahh...the rapist” the assassin clarified for himself, voice still easy and laid back, as though remembering the name of the milk mare. Touchdown's mother screamed and hollered again, lunging for him; he stepped past her, grabbing her tail and pulling her off her hooves. Blood Moon put a hoof on the small of her back to keep her from standing as she writhed and wrestled to a standing position, failing miserably.

“THAT'S NOT TRUE” she roared at him, laying on her belly, kicking and flailing. Calmly, the stallion raised his other fore-leg and placed it on her hind-leg, over the knee.

“Yes it is” he told her simply before he pushed down, breaking the joint with a horrible 'SNAP' .

The noise echoed across the silent arena infinitely, the mare’s screams and sobs of agony soon following it, the crowds standing up in anger, shouting abuse at the assassin, as the grieving mother continued to roll around on the ground, holding her injury gently in her fore-hooves as she continued to scream.

Another Pegasus, a stallion, big, wearing a flat cap and bushy mustache came galloping up to him, pushing a hoof into the Hunter's chest.

“Who in the hay d'you think you are” he roared, the crowds crying their agreements for afar “comin' here an-” He didn't get any further before the dark stallion's fore-knee slammed into his jaw and sent him sprawling.

That may as well have been the starting whistle, as not warriors, but the civilians all clambered over the wooden arena boundaries and charged at him, stallion and mare alike. The assassin glanced around himself before he sighed.

The were slow. Clumsy. Uncoordinated. The first fell to a hoof in the face, the second a kick to the neck, the third a snapped leg, the forth her face being slammed into the dirt, the fifth his jaw ripped from its ligaments, the sixth her hind-legs dislocated, the seventh his stallionhood a striking that left him without hope for children in the next few years, the eighth was choked out, the ninth was suplexed into the tenth and the eleventh used as a bludgeon against the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth.

Fifteen was jumped over to deliver a kick to sixteen in the head before he was used as a battering-ram against seventeen through twenty. Twenty-one had her knife pulled from her jaw and plunged through both cheeks while twenty-two was lifted over-head and used as a hammer again twenty-three, four and five Whack-a-ponies. Twenty-six through twenty-nine came at once, the assassin meeting their advance. The first threw a strike Blood Moon dodged and threaded his own hoof under, taking his foe by the back of the head and flipping him to the ground, curb-stomping him, as the next threw her own strike at his head. It was grabbed from the air as the next came from the other side, the assassin hitting him in the face with his fore-knee and her in the face with his hoof, ricocheting back and forth a few times until he pushed past them to address the last, grabbing his chin and horn in either hoof and slamming him to the ground before stepping away.

Thirty was felled by a flying kick to the head and thirty-one blinded by sand cast into her eyes before her incisors were punched from her maw, thirty-two being bucked in the face while thirty-three was blocked and her neck chopped left and right before being thrown away in a spin.

Thirty-four's strike was batted to the side and his neck taken by the standing assassin, who leaned back and slammed his head to the ground, before the assassin rolled backwards, onto his hooves, and immediately bucked thirty-five behind him and rolling to his left, slapping their hooves from beneath them and firing an upper-cut into their chin to propel them back into the next as Blood Moon flipped over the next's back, his fore-hoof following the motion through to slam into his lungs, forcing the air out before addressing the next three, one suffering a hind-leg to the chin, the next two having their skull slammed together with a sickening 'crack'.

Blood Moon threw two hoof-fulls of sand and dust to one side, blinding who-know-how-many before turning to face number...

'Damn, I lost count' the assassin thought, swiftly sweeping the first and sending the same spinning leg around to strike the two either-side the first.

“Somewhere around forty I think” the voice replied as Blood Moon back-flipped away from one, landing on another and throwing their weights to the side, the combined pressure coming down on her skull as the assassin rolled away.

'Really? I woulda said fifty' the Hunter replied as he blocked, parried, dodged and then counted a pony with a little more combat experience, maybe some training, dislocating his foe's fore-leg before throwing him into another crowd.

“Probably because you're egotistical” came the voice's retort as Blood Moon deflected a strike into somepony-else's face and punching the attempted attacker.

'Hey, it's pride, not ego' the assassin mentally snapped as he physically snapped a screaming mare's hind-leg.

“Whatever you say...” was the voice's reply, the assassin catching two strikes from either-side and throwing the attackers into each other.

It went like this for a while, this horrible grace and ease of battle. The assassin moved and fought like something between a dancer and a juggler, never leaving one pony unattended for too long before he went onto another, dispatching each and every one of them with a sickening grace and ease. Not one civilian managed to land a strike in their entire time on the battlefield, with anypony not fighting watching with fear, apprehension or cool detachment.

“He’s just...” Twilight began, her eyes wide as she watched her coltfriend work his way through the rapidly thinning crowd.

“Tearing them apart” Rainbow finished for her, looking much the same as the Element of Magic as she watched the assassin. Every now and then, one of the Elements would tense, look away or ‘ooo’ as they felt the pain of one of the blows delivered by the assassin. Fluttershy in particular had her eyes hidden behind her hooves, having retreated behind her mane when Touchdown’s mother had had her leg snapped.

“They’re all fools” Luna murmured cooly, a little louder than she’d intended. Everypony soon looked at her in shock, Celestia in particular surprised with her sister’s bluntness. She held out hope it was a momentary lapse in decorum and not their father rubbing off on her.

Looking between the surrounding ponies’ expressions, Luna felt herself blush a little.

“Well it’s true” she defended, sitting a little straighter “I doubt more than maybe three ponies in that mob have any kind of formal training” she explained, looking back to the fight to catch Blood Moon launch into an impressive flying kick that landed in an unfortunate somepony’s face “they’re not coordinated, they can barely take a hit and they certainly can’t hit him” the princess of the night said, growing a touch more forceful towards the end. The most caught off guard by her prior comment, the Elements found themselves heading her words as they looked back out to the pandemonium, Luna sighing slightly as she thought. “I mean, if anything, they’re…” she trailed off, searching for the proper wording.

“Warming him up” came a voice far too smug to be that smooth.

“Hello Discord” Celestia said planely, not taking her eyes off the fight. Lounging on a floating deckchair with the golden rays of the sun reflecting off a tri-planed mirror onto his sunglasses-clad face, the aspect of disharmony twiddled his fingers in greeting.

“Morning Tia” he practically sung, stepping from his chair and into a seat far more regal than the princesses’, lounging like a bored king. “Goodness it's been too long. Doesn't a few days feel like few years sometimes” he asked, sounding like they were all in a bookclub that had missed their last meeting.

He frowned in annoyance when he noticed nopony paying attention to him, resting his chin on his claw.

“Ol’ Mooney up to his old tricks again” he observed as somepony’s hind-legs were dislocated simultaneously.

“Indeed” came Twilight’s quiet reply. She looked back at Tia solemnly. “Shouldn’t...shouldn’t we stop them” she asked of her teacher. Celestia could only shrug.

“He extended the invite to all of Equss, and that includes my little ponies who are...well, without means of defeating him. Besides, they all have reasons to hate him I’m guessing” she mused, watching a few ponies looking at him with more cautious expressions, waiting for an opening. “Maybe they need it either way” she posed. Twilight’s head snapped back to her mentor in shock.

“Need what” she demanded, before cowing a little under Celestia’s lowered gaze. “I mean, they’re getting destroyed down there. How can that be in any way good” she asked after remembering herself.

Meanwhile, Celestia felt her hard gaze upon Twilight, and immediately felt the guilt of being stern with her beloved student; she could feel her nerves fraying with everything going on around her, wondering if Luna or Cadence was picking up on it. She knew she hid it well, but- She caught him looking at her from the corner of his eye. Skulduggery, unnoticed by everypony else, watched her with a concern he couldn’t quite keep off his face. The slight warmth growing in the pit of her chest helped Celestia focus and calm, closing her eyes and breathing deeply, softening her expression. She hated and deeply needed the way her read her so easily, and felt it was high on the list of reasons she felt such affection for the detective.

Newly composed, Celestia, looked back to her student, her matronly calm having returned to her.

“Granted, it is unorthodox, not to mention unfortunate, but engaging in” she was about to say ‘combat’, but looking at the mosh pit below stemmed her words “to meet him on the battlefield” she rebegan, Twilight looking confused at her pause “is the best way to explain what exactly he can do” she explained, hoping Twilight would soon forget the ‘strict headmistress’ expression she’d held just now.

“And what will happen if they get in your way, no?” This time, Celestia did look at him. Discord was watching her intently (she wondered how long he’d been doing so) with a wide smirk on his face, as smug as any noble and just as punchable. The peerless mare glared at him, feeling herself snarl subconsciously. In the back of her mind, the solar mare heard the crunches and thuds of the battle, but it was all so much hubbub to her now; she took small solace in imagining Discord’s screams mixed in there. “I mean, is it just me, or have you been making a few more...rash, decisions lately.” The way he poked and prodded at her was masterful, Celestia had to admit; it was a talent she deeply wished he did not possess, but his ability to get under her skin was undeniable.

“I don’t think my political movements are of any concern of yours, Discord” she replied curtly. Almost immediately, the draconequus’s claw was on his chest in hurt, seemingly utterly appalled by the, once more, glaring Celestia’s insinuation.

“Tia, how could you” he bemoaned, sounding every bit as entitled and privileged as any noble, “I’m not talking about me, I’m talking about my friends” he explained, gesturing wildly at the now confused and attentive Elements of Harmony “I mean, what if they were to be somehow swept up in all this, the poor dears” he all but wailed, like a poor actor in a worse soap opera, swooning backwards with his paw draped over his forehead. Below, the Elements were chuckling in confusion at the aspect of disharmony’s shenanigans. Tia, however, was far from amused and instead let her horn ignite and pull Discord towards her with a ring of golden light around his neck.

“Cease in your jests Discord, or I’ll throw you down there with him and let him finish what he started so long ago” the Princess of the day hissed. Laughter was cut short, and stunned silence returned to the royal viewing stands, with the girls looking at their ruler in jaw-slackened shock, Luna clearly taken off guard by the sudden change in mood while Skulduggery finally turned his head back to look at his marefriend; concern filled his mind, but he kept his mouth shut, in fear of bringing Discord’s attention towards him. Cadence and Shining were just as wide eyed as the Elements, but the Princess of Love found herself leaning back to her husband.

Of course, it was rare to see Celestia so angry, but seeing her aunty so easy to snap had Cadence worried for her, if not somewhat scared of her. The raiser of the sun, angry, was not a pretty sight, in her experience. Luna glanced back at her niece and their gazes locked for a moment; motions and body language passed between them, asking what was wrong with her and the hay do I know going back and forth. That only worried Cadence further; Luna didn’t know what was up?

The pink Alicorn glanced back at Shining, finding his repressed fear looking at his ruler as he held Cadence. Obviously, he was just as in the dark as she was, passing her gaze over the Elements yielded the same results, but Skulduggery watched her with a slightly narrowed eye, in a frown indusing contrast to the wide eyes amongst the rest of them.

‘He has an idea…’

Cadence couldn’t help but smile slightly at the wannabe secret lovers.

Down in the ring, the assassin was in the midst of choking a mare out, laying on his back with her neck locked in his fore-legs, restrained by his hinds around her barrel. As one of the last civilian fighters to face him spluttered and slobbered in his grip, the assassin watched his adopted daughter take Discord by the throat for some unheard fopar. Curious, he cocked his head, watching; Celestia had a lip snarled and her quarry was held close, uncomfortably close, intimidatingly close. She was trying to scare him, but given Discord’s smirk, she wasn’t succeeding. He wondered what he’d said.

The lull in movement must have caught Celestia’s attention however, as her head whipped towards him suddenly, then around herself at her family. Their eyes met again. She held his gaze, he held hers, and the assassin wondered what was going through her head. All of a sudden, she threw Discord away from herself and got back to watching the assassin fight.

With the mare going limp in his hooves, unconscious, the assassin let her topple from atop him and rolled to his neck, bouncing back to all-fours and turning to his last few opponents. They quaked, suddenly regretting their decision to attack him, exchanging glances as they each contemplated fighting or fleeing.

In the end, they chose the latter, trotting hesitantly back and hopping the fence, their only barrier away from him. The assassin felt his mind tug back in the direction of Celestia’s current mood; he’d seen her angry before, and he never-

A sharp pain in his temple threw the assassin across the sand, skidding to a halt in the small bunker of sand that built up as his side tasted the ground. Blinking and swaying back to his hooves, the dark stallion shook his head free of the cobwebs and looked up to find a stallion clad in golden plate. And another at his side. And another besides him. In fact, looking all around revealed what seemed to be a whole platoon of Solar Guard surrounding him. The assassin spun on the spot as they tempted and teased their advance, stepping in and out of the ring they’d formed around him.

Lips were snarled, muscles were tensed, wings splayed and horns alight, every one of them aimed at the silver-grey assassin stood between them.

‘Oh yeah, the fight.’

Training and experience told the assassin not to wait for their attack, but to throw their expectations by doing it for them, stuck in a dilemma however, he realised that they’d already seen that version of him, on the attack. He held his ground, no longer turning, but attuning all of his senses to their movements, listening to them snort and scrape the ground, crack their necks, smelling their sweat in the hot sun, seeing the glint of their armour.

He could feel the dull pressure on his horn forcing his magic down; looking around, he made note of the unicorns gathered around him. It was an old trick used by the Solar guard unicorns when they went against other unicorns, using their own collective power to remove the advantage from their foes. Their couldn't use much themselves, but that was why they fought as a unit, a team.

The crowds were regaining their confidence, booing and heckling him, throwing insults and taunts at him from the safety of their bleachers and benches, from behind the fenced off arena.

“Not so tough now!”

“Now it’s your turn!”

“Mess ‘im up guys!”

“Buck him up!”

The guards all looked between each other, some of them smirking as the crowds bolstered them, riled them up, mouthed plans and grinned knowingly. One of them, an older one, more experienced, scarred and hardened, stepped from the ring. He was directly in front of the assassin, his horn sparking as he slipped his helmet from his head.

“You’re not fighting noncombatants anymore” he declared. The air was quiet and still as the crowds watched him stand up to the assassin, their eyes never breaking contact “you’ve got one chance to surrender.” The small stadium watched with bated breath, most undecided what they’d prefer the assassin’s answer to be. Blood Moon simply chuckled.

“Really, ‘noncombatants’? You actually used that in a sentence? May as well say ‘hey, please don’t notice the guy I’m trying to distract you from.”

He felt more than heard the big guard, no doubt an earth pony, come up from behind and grab him. Or, he would have grabbed him if the assassin hadn’t suddenly quick-stepped backwards, between his legs, and leapt, planting his hind-legs on the guard’s flank and kicking him forwards, backflipping to his all-fours and watching the guard stumble into the unicorn who had addressed him.

And just like that, the game started all over again.

Strikes and grapples, spells and weapons all hurled past the assassin, as he ducked and weaved between them, all the time with a slight grin on his face.

Every hoof thrown his way, he did not bat aside or grab, he didn’t block the bucks from the larger guards, he didn’t deflect the spells nor break the wings of the Pegasi. Every attack thrown at the assassin wiffed as he stepped and spun, ducked and weaved amidst the guards like he was sewing a pattern between them.

The guards were a step above the civilians, of course, coordinated and smart, but their strategies were predictable, and Blood Moon used this to his advantage as he slipped past them and watched as they all continuously failed to strike him. He never missed his timing or his step, as he danced between them, spinning and pirouetting, ducking and diving in a rhythm the guards couldn’t figure out the pattern to.

There was no mistaking it this time, whereas before his movements had held an odd mix of grace and barbarity, here he never struck the guards himself, as he dodged and snaked between them without pause or mistake. His grin turned to a full smile, full of bemused laughter, as the guards around him grew more frustrated.

He didn’t fight, he danced; in the most literal of senses. The spectators could only watch as attack after attack, strike after strike, whistled past the assassin, brushing along his fur and flesh as he smiled that smile.

He raised to a single hoof, on the very tip, spinning as two guards rushed past him either way. He leapt forward over a guard, twisting in the air, and landed behind him as he stumbled into the buffer of his comrades, whilst another guard made his move, the assassin raising to his hind-legs and twirling deftly past him, fore-legs crossed against his chest like a ballerina. He slid beneath a heavy roundhouse kick delivered by a unicorn on his hind-legs, like a guitarist working the crowd, threw his weight forward and bounced off his fore-legs and over a burst of magic fired at him.

The guards dispersed suddenly, revealing a firing-line of Unicorns, all with spells charged in their horns; in perfect synchronization, they launched their bolts of magical energy at the assassin, who once more leapt, flying horizontally through the air and spinning like a top as he went. He touched down, and another volley of spells rocketed his way; with a single fore-hoof stable on the ground, Blood Moon once more kicked off, just barely clearing the the heat of the bolts fired at him by his Unicorn foes, singing the fur on his back as they went. Yet another volley was fired, and the assassin didn’t bother dodging, instead he rolled along the ground, passing harmlessly under the spells as he went.

He came up before the centre guard, the speaker from before, and settled to his hooves again with practiced ease, barely an inch between the two. The guard tensed when he realised how close to the dark stallion was, and could barely move before the assassin struck him down.

“Boop” was all the assassin said as he poked the flinching guard’s snout.

Laughing at the stunned, then growling guard as he back-flipped away again, the assassin settled back into his motions of dodging and avoiding the seemingly never-ending array of attacks sent his way, growing more and more bemused at the guard’s constant attempts. Their frustration exploded as his giggles and chuckles rang throughout the arena, growls and roars of effort following, and even preceding their efforts to attack the assassin.

It didn’t happen at once, of course, disciplined as the guards were, but that same discipline came at a cost; military life and training lead, almost inevitably, to something of an ego in most guards, but their inability to land even a second strike on the fluid-like assassin slowly chipped away at their patience, slowly lead to them becoming sloppy and uncoordinated.

The older warriors had more patience, could wait for the right time to strike, but as their efforts went wasted with their younger comrades, they too succumbed to the same downfall, all of them missing their marks and whiffing their blows and growling in a slowly bubbling rage they all shared. All were still unmarked by their battle, however the assassin was just as unscathed, something that stabbed at their honour, an insult none of them were willing to tolerate as long as that smirking, prancing stallion was still standing.

The first landed blow was delivered by a young guard, orange fur and green mane dyed the standard white and blond; his hoof flew dead for the assassin’s jaw as he slipped past another attack, straight into the path of this one. The novice guard felt himself grin as he watched the dark stallion he aimed for turn his eyes towards him, watching in slow motion as the blow careered towards him.

The young stallion was rewarded with a satisfying ‘thwack’ as hoof met jaw, the blow’s momentum carrying him forward and stumbling into his quarry, who stumbled under his weight as they both fell to the ground.

“I got him” he roared triumphantly from atop the assassin.

“Yeah, got him good, idiot” said his opponent. Looking down the guard found- “GET OFFA ME” the veteran guard snapped, hurling the youngster off of him.

Already, the assassin was moving away from the scene, as confusion washed over the novice’s face while realisation washed through his brain. He looked up to find the assassin spinning away from another strike with the grace of a ballet dancer, only for the attack to hit the guard behind him. The bewildered Solar Guard could only look on as his fellows continually attacked the assassin with a relentless onslaught of kicks, knees, spells and even a few headbutts, all of which failed to connect even once against a stallion who seemed there and not there all at once, and once the blows were dodged proceeded to land in the faces of other guards.

In the bleachers, Celestia could only hang her head, gripping her muzzle as she could only watch as her personal guards were made a mockery of before her very annoyed eyes. Time and time again, guards failed to land blows against their opponent, but as he spun and bent away from their blows, their momentum carried them into the faces, bodies and unmentionables of their fellow guardsponies, as the assassin effortlessly slipped away.

A blow was struck from the side, and the assassin turned past it, letting his foe stumble past him and into his friend. A kick from behind, and the assassin leapt and flipped as the guard charging him galloped head-first into the buck. A spell flew past Blood Moon’s neck and into the face of another guard, now singed and blown back into his fellows as the dark stallion parried a blow away from him and into another golden garbed pony. A flying kick was carried away with the assassin merely putting his hoof against it and carrying it’s momentum into another fighter.

The Elements and royalty watching had varied mix of expressions, Celestia’s hung head and Luna’s laugh-stifling bit lip the most prevalent. The girls, meanwhile, were a mix of confusion and slight relief that Blood Moon had stopped actively attacking the guards (not to mention that he was no longer hitting Canterlot’s citizenry).

“What...what in Equestria is he doing” came Rairity’s confused voice, frowning in bemusement as she watched the dark stallion step almost casually around the Solar Guards.

“I dunno, looks like fun though” replied a smiling Pinkie, hoof tossing popcorn vacantly into her maw. Unbeknownst to the pink party planner, Celestia glared at her from behind, looking over at the pummeling her loyal protectors were giving themselves.

“He’s making my army look like floundering idiots” the princess of the day grumbled. She caught the sound of quiet snickering and looked over to her sister, finding her biting her lip in a fierce, failing, attempt to not laugh at the battle. A disgruntled elder sister nudger the younger with her fore-knee, gathering Luna’s attention. She looked at Celestia’s glaring face for maybe three seconds before she burst into sputtering laughter, unable to control herself.

The ruler of the day, raiser of the sun, Princess Celestia herself, resorted to simply slouching into her seat, fore-legs crossed and pouted like a spoiled filly not getting her way.

Sat below Equesrtia’s royalty, watching from afar despite being so close, Skullduggery found himself observing Celestia’s reactions to the battle; of course, ever the humourless and cold stallion, the detective found himself forced to turn his head away to hide his twitching maw, dare he burst into laughter at his marefriend’s expression.

Celestia’s regal pouting was interrupted by a quiet ‘oh dear’ from Fluttershy, who, unlike her friends and rulers, wasn’t watching the fight. Tia assumed it understandable, given her disposition, but soon followed her gaze to find a group of medics surrounded by Canterlot citizens and felt her maw open of its own accord, the corners of her eyes going down.

Some were unconscious, most could barely stand but all of them were injured in some capacity, groaning in pain and holding wounds while the medics worked tirelessly to heal them, but there were just too many. Blood Moon had fought them all off effortlessly, and dispatched them with an effective ease, but it had been far from merciful; none of them had sustained wounds that would disable them later in life, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t going to regret their actions for the next few months or so.

“If I may, Princess Celestia” came Skullduggery’s voice suddenly, snapping aforementioned Alicorn from her stupor. She turned her gaze to the detective, along with most everypony else, and found him looking up at her from his vantage. “It may be...prudent, for you to visit the wounded” he mused, looking back at the medical cluster-buck going on down there, only growing worse as the guards began to file in as well.

“Indeed, I think you’re right” Celestia replied, standing up immediately, perhaps a touch too immediately, as everypony looked at her, Luna in specific with a raised eyebrow, while Cadence simply smirked. The alabaster Alicorn cleared her throat gently, already turning to trot down the bleachers. “I shall assist the paramedics in their efforts as well” she added, if only to alleviate any suspicion. “You’ll be accompanying me as well, detective” she suddenly chimed, pausing in her strides, glancing back “after all, it was your idea.” Skullduggery’s maw hung open, about to say something, before he closed it, swallowing down whatever he was about to say, and shrugged a shoulder in resignation to his order before standing and doing as bid.

Everypony else looked a little taken off-guard, minus the remaining Alicorns, and frowned gently at the developments.

“Mingling with the common folk are we Tia? Tut, tut” Discord mused as he watched the investigator move, somewhat cautiously, past him. In response, Celestia simply shot back a death glare from the corner of her eye.

“What ch’all thinks going on there” Applejack asked, looking the way the two ponies had gone. Her friends mimicked her curiosity, with Twilight the most confused with her teachers actions; as brash as Discord’s comment had been, Celestia really wasn’t known for working alongside the ponies she ruled, outside of extenuating circumstances of course, nevermind having them accompany her like that.

“Perhaps the princess doesn't like being told what to do, even if only a suggestion” came Rarity’s reply, piercing Twilight’s thoughts. The purple unicorn shook her head free of the idea, deciding to agree with her fashionista friend for the time being, and assumed it something between Celestia and the grizzled detective, returning her attention to watching her coltfriend in worry.

At the base of the steps, the noir stallion caught up with Princess Celestia as she took the scenic route around the arena, technically away from the medical tent. The pair could still hear the sounds of the fight going on from beyond the wooden stands, grunts and thwacks drifting over to them like waves at the beach.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t really intend to follow me down here” Celestia suddenly chimed after a short trot, a small grin on her face as she looked down at her coltfirend. The detective breathed a small laugh, a small, slightly sheepish grin on his face.

“Yeah, well, the plan was to talk my way down, but to be honest...I didn’t really have anything in mind just yet” he admitted, looking up at Celestia “so thanks for that.” The two had paused behind the bleachers, stood in the shade, away from prying eyes. Celestia gazed down at him fondly, her grin stretching into a genuine smile as she watched him try desperately not to appear sheepish.

“I’m going to assume there was a reason you...prompted me down here” she mused, cocking her head at Skullduggery. He grunted, looking away for a second before he spoke.

“Yeah, well...it’s clear you’re uncomfortable with all this” he told her, motioning towards the bleachers they stood next to, and the battle beyond. Celestia held his gaze for a second before she sighed.

“I guess I should be used to this by now” she murmured, gaining a raised eyebrow from Skullduggery “you, reading me like a book” she clarified, a good natured, if somewhat tired, smile on her face before she sighed and sat with her back against the wood of the seats. Frowning, concerned, the detective spoke hurriedly.

“I don’t mean to trouble you Celestia” he assured, Celestia raising a hoof to stop his worrying.

“It’s not that, it’s just...I’m used to being alone in my thoughts, my emotions, and I’m not used to having anypony else...involved, I suppose, in them. I mean, hay, I only just got my sister back, and my foalsitter.” The Princess of Equestria suddenly looked very distant. “Buck me...” she said quietly, realisation washing over her face. Cocking his head and joining Celestia on the ground, Skull did his best to reassure her...or something. All’s he could really think to do was put a hoof on her hind-leg, looking up at her.

The ruler of the day looked down at him with a slight smile, grateful for his efforts to calm her, and felt something well in her eyes.

“Are you alright” the sharp-eyed detective asked. Celestia huffed a laugh, wiping her eyes dry.

“I’m fine, it’s just...for the past thousand years, I’ve…” she paused again, looking off into infinity “I’ve had nopony...not really… I’ve been alone Skullduggery” she told him, looking down again. She found him watching her with this...awe, a respect and a reverence Celestia had grown accustomed to. But, it went a touch further, with a layer of...understanding, almost, his awe and admiration tempered with the knowledge that there was a pony under there, and a desire to somehow help this pony. She swallowed down her thoughts, feeling a smile grow on her face again, a full, true smile. “And now” she continued, looking into the sky “now, I’ve got so many ponies” she mused, resting her head against their wooden shelter “I have my student, my sister is back, my foalsitter...but, I think having you is…” She searched for words, looking down at him again.

“You don’t need to go on Celestia” he assured, a phantom of a smile on his own face.

“I think I do” Celestia replied quickly, her hoof finding its way to his, squeezing it gently “because, having you...it’s a sensation I’ve never really felt before. Having somepony I know is on my side, having somepony to just...let my guard down around” she told him, their muzzles growing steadily closer, forgetting where they were. “It’s made me realized how lonely I was before” she told him “and how grateful I am that you’re all here now” she whispered as their lips-

A wooden, splintering crash cut them off, the supporting, criss-crossing planks bending outwards and colliding with the two ponies’ heads and throwing them off-course, Celestia’s horn sparking to life and pulling Skullduggery close as she swept away from the bleachers, coltfriend stood beneath her frame, something he was only now beginning to realise towered over him greatly. Mare ready to kill and stallion ready to fight (as best he could from beneath Celestia, that is), the two realised what had happened.

The bleachers they’d been sat behind had exploded out, from a spot, to Celestia’s horror, they realised was facing the arena.

“We’ll have to finish this later it seems” Skulduggery mused, stepping from his spot beneath his princess. As he trotted to survey the goings on, he felt a hoof tap his flank non-too-gently.

“Only if you promise” Tia told him playfully, shooting him a wink. She flapped her wings and flew off, but not before she heard the detective splutter, watching a deep red cover his smokey grey fur.

Taking to the sky, the solar mare found the commotion to be centered around a gold-plated guard that had been launched into one of the several set of bleachers. Furious and demanding an explanation, she turned her gaze to Blood Moon, more than likely to imply that there would be loud words about this later, but she paused when she saw the annoyed stallion pulling a sword from his side nonchalantly.

He wore a glare and a slightly pained grimace as he yanked the broadsword from between his ribs, the assassin having twisted in a way that meant it had missed anything too vital. Nevertheless, he looked as though he could tear somepony’s heart out for an incorrect coffee order.

“See, I was under the impression we had some kind of unspoken agreement that, well, I’m not drawing my sword, so maybe you could be all sporting and return the favour” he growled out, the sword clattering to the ground as his horn ignited. “But if you’re gonna start using your weapons” he called out, turning to the remaining guards as his wound wrenched itself back together, smoking and hissing as it did “I may as well return the favour!”

The guards all looked between each other, some aprehenive, a couple grinning and very few wishing their comrade hadn’t stabbed the Hunter. Blood Moon took a long, hard breath through his muzzle as he unsheathed the Messorem, slowly, intenly.

“Blood Moon” a voice suddenly called out. The crowds all looked around, finding Princess Celestia hovering above the guard whom had destroyed the bleachers. The assassin didn’t even glance back at her.

“What” he barked, clearly annoyed. When she landed in front of him, the dark stallion couldn’t hold back his glare. Celestia looked down at him, tall and regal, powerful and almighty, and felt her legs tremble a touch. He took yet another deep breath, this one calming. “What” he asked, quieter this time.

“You will remember your promise not to kill or seriously harm my citizens” she told him, a tone of absolution in her commanding voice, something that did not leave room for argument. The assassin very nearly laughed in her face as he stepped around her.

“I don’t need to kill to use a sword” he replied, watching Celestia from the corner of his eye. Unmoving, she watched him in turn. “But I’ll certainly make them wish they were dead” he growled. Without pause, Blood Moon stopped defending himself. He no longer blocked or countered or allowed his foes to go on the offencive. As the solar mare spread her wings and flew back to her family, the assassin went on the offencive.

Blade singing, he lunged for the mass of guardsponies with an unmatched aggression; they had their weapons lowered, having taken advantage of the dark stallion’s short talk with their ruler, but it was no help. He flew between their weapons and landed in the midst of them, or more accurately, amidst most of them, and on top of another.

In a flurry of movement, the assassin pressed his assault, clubbing his landing pad across their head with a hoof and using the momentum to carry himself in a pirouette his fore-hoof, hind-legs smacking the ponies around him as he spun, sword, slicing in a circle and prompting the other guards to scatter.

Once again, there was no repreve; the assassin was a dark blur, moving from one prey to another with roofless efficiency, shallow cuts leading his movements and sending blood spraying across the arena. He lunged for one small cluster of guards, slamming the first to the ground, deflecting one blow and twisting under the strike, his weapon leading the way for him. The other guards were held off with a flash from his horn, dust cast forward like a barrier thrown forward and knocking them back as the one he was concerned with had his for-leg grabbed and twisted out of socket.

Again, he flew, landing in on the chest of one of the other guards and dragging him to the ground, toppling them as he threw his balance to the side and the guard down with him. The assassin rolled to his hooves and slapped aside the sword stroke with the flat of his own, barging his foe with his shoulder and upper-cutting him from his hooves.

He turned on his hooves, his undiluted rage betrayed by his eyes. The sinister cruelty of what he was about to do, however, was given away by the smirk.

With his flesh pierced by the errant blade of the lowly private, Blood Moon felt his pride’s wounds more than his body’s. He felt cheated, as he horrified the crowds with his wanton use of his blade, that he’d been struck by the golden-clad novice. Frustrated, that he’d been taken off guard by somepony who’d gotten the better of him. As though he’d been out-maneuvered. Out-thought. He snarled as he fought, twisting away from the tip of a pole-axe, landing on three hooves and pouncing forth, stepping up the shaft of the weapon and leaving a deep scar on the face of its wielder as he launched himself away from the crowd of glinting metal that tried to swarm him.

He landed once more on a guard, leading with his hind-leg in the mare’s face and twisting it with malice. He stepped from her and parried away another strike; they gathered in a semicircle before him, growling and grunting, weapons held aloft. Swords, shields, axes, spears, maces, batons and daggers, he even saw a morning-star in there.

Stood with his sword in his magical grip, left fore-hoof lifted from the ground, the assassin’s smirk turned to a grin.

“Let’s dance” he said.

Before they could react, the assassin disappeared in a blast of dust, only to reappear right in front of them. The melee resumed.

The grip of the Messorem battered across the face of the first guard, Blood Moon using his sword like a club, highly tempted to transition into using the tip of the blade. A hoof flew at him, the assassin batting it aside and launching his own attack, his hoof leaving a black eye where it had landed before the Hunter lifted his quarry above his head and threw him into the crowd, turning to another and slashing his sword across her face, leaving a gash across her muzzle.

They returned his attack, Blood Moon advancing on their charge. One lifted his battleaxe up high, the assassin sweeping his blade across his exposed stomach, cutting through the leather with ease as he rolled past; a stab he deflected past his face with the flat of his blade, spinning past and letting his fore-knee meet his foe's jaw. His sword came around and slashed up, cutting through the shaft of a spear and into the guard's chin, the assassin letting it slash into his chin before wrenching it out of the bone.

A wide swing fended a group off as the assassin's hidden blade punctured the shoulder of another, the duel-blades swinging through the air in a graceful twirl as Blood Moon stepped between the crowds of white and gold-plated, both weapons shedding blood and flesh. One lunged for Blood Moon, his weapon clashing with the Messorem the assassin sticking him in the ribs with the hidden blade and throwing him off, the jab of a spear sent off-course and into a guard to the assassin's right as he moved in and launched a flying hoof into the pole-mare's jowl, taking the spear in hoof and setting his weight on his left hind-hoof, stepping his right in a circle, the spear swinging wide, wild, the guardsponies all leaping back to avoid the blade.

The assassin set his stance again, the tip of the spear behind him, his front facing a large earth pony; with a mad glint in his eye, Blood Moon swung the weapon and let his foe's helmet and skull take the full weight of the blow. Transferring the momentum as the flat of the blade slid down the guard's head, he set the tip on the upper-back of the guard's armor and leaping up, pole-vaulting over him.

Landing, once more, on an unsuspecting guard's back, his hooves next to one another in a point. His right fore-leg disappeared into his coat and, once more stepping in a pirouette, he flung an arc of throwing knives all around him, thunking and clacking into flesh and armor. In the next instance, a cloud of black smoke exploded around him, obscuring both the assassin and a good chunk of the guardsponies.

The crowds were all watching with hurt-stricken faces, knowing just how badly their valiant protectors were being beaten by this single pony. More than a few were confused with what was going on, simply having heard that there was a fight going on today, and that it had something to do with the attack the other day.

When they'd seen the assassin, all dark colors and menace, many had though this was some kind of elaborate punishment, trial by combat or some such, but then the mare had attacked him out of the blue and everything else had happened so quickly. Some of the more eagle-eyed ponies had noticed that he'd been talking with their ruler before the fight, which had added to the confusion, more so given Celestia's short intervention when he'd drawn his weapon.

Vinyl watched the proceedings with slight tear in her eyes; she'd known that Blood Moon had been into some pretty serious stuff before, that he'd normally carried a sword not lost on her, but she'd never thought he'd killed anypony. He was just too...upbeat for something so horrible and dark. She swallowed back something, hurt or confusion, she wasn't sure, as she watched him work his way though the guards.

Octavia had refused to watch. She'd done some asking around when they'd first heard, but she'd never told her alabaster marefriend what she'd learned. The DJ could only guess she'd been too hurt, or something, to bring it up.

“Who is that guy” a stallion to Vinyl's right asked. She hadn't noticed him before, but he was looking at her, definitely asking her. “He talked to you right? Who is he” he asked again. The DJ looked all around her, finding a lot of eyes on her. All her practice in standing in front of massive crowds did nothing to prepare her for being in the midst of a potential mob if she said the wrong thing.

“I-I-I” was all she could stammer, looking around for a way out, but finding none. “I...” she couldn't think of anything to say. And then, like her blood-covered guardian-Alicorn, the assassin was slammed against the fencing she had been leaning against, sending the crowd back in a shock wave-like flinch, the golden-clad guards piling against him, putting their full weight against him and their weapons braced against his own sword.

“Nopony” he growled as he held his adversaries back, the wood bending behind him as he took their weight. “You should” he managed to continue, his growls turning to a roar as he hauled the collective weight of too many guardsponies to count off of him. Before he got back into the fray, the assassin took a moment to look back at the spectators. “Worry about” he finished pleasantly, that snarl tearing across his face as he looked back at the assembled warriors and charged.

He roared as he galloped the short distance between them, leaping and diving into the ground, disappearing into the cobble stone. The guards stood, stock-still, waiting with baited breath for him to emerge. After a tense, silent second passed, one guard's eyes snapped wide open.

“Spread out, qui-” she was cut off when the ground exploded beneath them, sending rubble into and guards flying into the air, a crater exploding around the subterranean assassin. Debris came raining down, dust, stone and large pieces of rubble smashing to the ground and the screaming crowds surged. Trying to escape the danger zone, they all stampeded towards away from the arena, only for a golden barrier to appear above them.

Princess Celestia, looking annoyed with an unmoved, unshaken, calm-before-the-storm glare on her face had her horn alight, the rock and debris all crashing into her shield and sliding to the ground down its curve, slamming into the ground.

Meanwhile, the pegasus and earth pony guards had managed to recover, the mid-air recovery and sturdy frame getting them out of the pandemonium fairly unscathed, relative to the unicorn cohorts, all of which were wounded in some form of another, most holding their heads and horns, the sensitive alicorn having been damaged by impacts from the stone the assassin had thrown around.

The assassin huffed and grunted, his lungs empty, his spirit weary. He looked around himself, finding the guards looking at their injured companions and back to the assassin. They were all less than happy with their fellow guards being injured, apparently, and stalked closer. There was a short pause, however, when they noticed his panting.

Lifting a meter or three of so much stone tended to take its tole on one's muscles after all. The assassin had hoped to cow them all with the show of strength but, having over exerted himself, it had backfired.

“You done, tough guy” one of the guards asked him. The exhausted assassin looked over at him, glaring slightly. The dark stallion's horn sparked to life, and a grey mist flowed over him, the weakness leaving his muscles and spirit.

Standing straight once more, he turned to the guard to approach him.

“Not by a long shot” he replied.

A length of dark magic erupted from the assassin's horn, catching the guard by one of his hind legs, lifting him to solely his other hind. Rocketing forward like a bolt a crossbow, the assassin's hoof found the guard's crotch. The white stallion's loins bulged beneath the Hunter's hoof, and not in a good way. Lifted from his remaining hoof, he was thrown into the flinching guards, the crowds having all, including the mares, simultaneously found their fore-legs snapping to their own crotches to protect themselves from the pain they felt radiating form the poor guard.

The assassin smirked as the guard crashed into his gold-plated fellows before the assassin raised himself to his hind legs.

In the crater, the assassin felt the rocks all around him shift and tremble, the rubble shifting on the surface and the dust swirled all around him. With a smirk, he crossed his fore-legs across his chest before splaying them to the sides. All-too-quickly, the guards found themselves battered and pulverized by flying rocks and boulders, all careering towards them from the assassin, dust thrown away from him with the air displaced by the suddenly lethal Terra-firma.

Once more, Celestia's barrier came in useful, rocks smashing against her golden glow, to the ducking and flinches of Canterlot’s citizenry.

More earth erupted from the ground, casting shadows along the ground, the assassin's shadow reaching over to the deep darkness. The surviving guards all advanced, disorganized and enraged, and were set upon by a quartet of serpents, roaring from the ground and sending screams and primal terror up the spine of near everypony in attendence.

The serpents of shadow roared as one, their grizzly maws crashing into the ground in search of prey, the guards taken off-guard and unable to respond to the threat. Some tried to fight back, only to be easily swept aside by the serpents, and earth struggling to hold open one's jaws that were trying to clamp down on him, a few having being coiled around and in the process of being crushed.

A single lone guard, a young mare, saw her life flash before her eyes as she caught the last's eyes, the beady, snake-like eye never leaving her before it swooped down, teeth bared and a roar ripping from its maw as she screamed like a filly.

“ENOUGH!”

A white goddess crashed down before the mare with a mighty 'BOOM', the serpent faltering before her. A glorious, golden sunlight erupted from her, four blade of dazzling, holy light cutting through the snakes of the purest, most evil blackness, screeching as they were reduced to dust, their heads severed.

The madness came to an end with Celestia's stand, her golden aura radiating around her, wings flared and horn aglow. The assassin stood lower in the crater, the base, and was forced to look up at her, his eyes glaring and his stance ready to fight. Celestia knew he was willing to face her again, but she also knew it wasn't her fight. She looked behind her, finding the mare who had almost been killed by the Hunter's magic, the mare looking ashamed and unable to meet Celestia's gaze.

The solar mare's gaze went around her, her noble guards all beaten and bruised. She didn't recognize many, very few in fact. They were all new, fresh-faced. Pulled from training early to bolster the Palace's ranks. She sighed, looking back to the assassin.

“Have you proved your point yet” she demanded, standing between him and more destruction, despite how much she was making her forces look like cowards right now. The assassin looked around himself. His eyes settled on a cluster of guards, those who had been almost crushed by his serpent, and made to advance. They all nearly jumped from their hides. With a smirk, he looked back at Tia.

“Yeah, I'd say so” he replied, far too happy wit himself for Celestia's ears. She took a long breath to push down her temper, and biting comment.

'Is your pride safe and snug then, you foal.'

She felt herself trembling in rage; that's what this was. He'd been stabbed. Better make sure they know it was luck. Make sure they know he's the best there is. No room for doubt. No room for second guessing who the superior fighter was.

No room for mercy now that it hadn't gone completely his way, that he'd been defied.

Celestia felt herself suddenly very grateful the Blood Moon had no interest in being a ruler of any kind; they moment anypony defied him, disobeyed him, he'd become a tyrant.

“Good” she said at last, after a long stand-off “in that case, Canterlot guardsponies” she said looking around at them “I order you to pull back” she announced. She expected some kind of resistance, maybe a raised voice, but she got nothing. They pulled back, no questions asked. It almost disappointed her. They were truly terrified of him.

One-by-one, they clambered out of the crater, helping their fallen comrades to their hooves and carrying them out. The assassin watched with a smugness only Celestia could see. His face was neutral, but his eyes betrayed him. At that moment, more than anything else, Celestia wanted nothing more than to rip her father limb from limb.

Her guards safely retired to the medical tent, Celestia's horn glowed once again, her wings spreading as she took off, the rock and stone Blood Moon had blown away to create his dent in the world all returned to the crater, the assassin hopping up piece by piece until his hooves settled upon flat ground again. The Princess of the day settled to her hooves, her wings tucked by her sides as she trotted up to her bodyguard.

Her eyes betrayed all to the assassin.

'I could kill you so easily right now.'

His own expression was all the reply she needed.

'Try me Tia.'

“Are you done” she asked him again. The assassin's smirk was not growing on the raiser of the sun.

“I'd say so” he replied. Celestia opened her maw to speak, her lungs inflating to speak to the crowds, before she was cut off.

“I must object” came the voice of Glendrin, prompting a glare from Celestia that only the assassin saw. “Princess Celestia, I must object to your attempts to halt this...” he searched for words, and nothing applicable came to mind. Frankly, noone could blame him. “I reserve the right, granted by...this assassin I remind you, to face him in battle. I simply cannot allow him into court without opposition after that display” he boomed, more of the crowd than Celestia was comfortable with agreeing with him. Before she could disarm the situation, Blood Moon spoke up.

“Very well then, come down here and face me, peacock” he shouted up, daring bravado in his voice. The Griffon king bristled, and Celestia was half sure he would meet the Hunter's challenge. Before he could be seen to back down by ordering his guards forward, or make things inconceivably worse for himself by actually getting into the ring with the dark stallion, his honor guard stepped into the arena without order, readying their weapons.

The assassin smirked, settling into stance again.

“If you'll excuse me Tia, I've work to do” Blood Moon muttered.

“Behind you” was all Celestia said before she took off. The assassin frowned at her words before he glanced into the reflection of his sword. The Minotaurs. He stepped in a circle, finding the Diamond Dog there as well, Hounds of War. Behind him again were Changeling assassins.

Sat in her wooden thrown again, Celestia watched the assassin broached with the same problem her guards had faced a few days ago; under attack by several different races, and with nowhere to flee.

“This is getting out of hoof” Twilight said, her worrisome tone far from having diminished during the course of the fight. Looking down at her student, who looked back at her, Celestia could only agree with her.

“Indeed it is my faithful student. And it's only just beginning.”

Author's Note

When is this story ever gonna be continued? It's been 1 year 11 months since the release of [Not the end...] chapter. Next month on the 1st is when will be the mark of 2 years since that chapter have been released.

So...time flies. I honestly got nothing for you this time. The above comment really made me realize how lone it's been, and realize that it was time to bring this chapter out of mothballs and finish it. I couldn't let two years go by without any kind of update.

What's more, this chapter was supposed to be somewhat longer than it is, concluding after the multi-race fight, but, again, I had to get something out. All in all, I truly hope you enjoyed this chapter (unless you skipped down here which is...weird, but ok, go back up top and have fun, watch out for that bit with the words) and, here's hoping I come back a little faster this time. But, for now

Productive faffer-I didn't even get to-out, I'm out, we're out, lemme upload this thin-