The underground temple was quiet, almost too quiet. The pillars were cracked and covered with the plant-life that had overtaken it when it was abandoned long ago. The swishing of the river separating the once collapsed entrance and the main room and the rushing of the waterfall on the side of the room. Fire crackled off the torches still lit and the wind whistled as it breezed through. The floorboards, although made of stone, creaked under the weight of the six dark ponies that walked in.
One was a unicorn and three others were pegasi and the other two earth ponies. They were each cloaked in a white and red suit with their trademark cross-like red symbol on their chests. The unicorn was a dark brown, a stronger piece of armour covering him and an eyepatch over his right eye. He was visibly strong, his muscles sticking out through his armour and the way he held his head forward and up high in difference of the others who lowered their heads and looked around in both nervousness and fear, afraid of the shadows and what could be hiding within them. The unicorn appeared to be their leader as well seeing as how he gave them the silent commands on what to do.
The shadows covered a small pedestal at the end of the room but not enough that the ponies didn't see it. No, that was the whole reason they were here. When they reached it, the unicorn turned to the others who straightened themselves in an alert way, showing they were ready for whatever orders he was going to tell them. The leader smirked at the situation, knowing for sure he was going to get the prize he had worked his entire life to getting.
"The five of you, will stand guard. Look for any of those pesky assassins and if you find any of them" he paused, chuckling eviling as he narrowed his one red eye. "Kill them"
One of the pegasi, a light blue mare with a yellow mane and green eyes raised her hoof, wincing as he brought his eye to her, narrowing more in annoyance. But he was in a good mood anyways so he decided against scolding her.
"Yes, Sea Breeze?" he asked, his voice hoarse and filled with malice. Such a voice could strike fear into the hearts of anypony who would hear it.
Sea Breeze gulped as she asked her question, "What about the girl? Their second in command?" keeping her voice steady.
The unicorn chuckled eviling, his one eye glancing back to the shadows around them, as if searching for said pony. "Oh yes. Her. Bring her to me so I may" he looked back to the others, who shrank back slightly at the evil glint in his red eye. "Have fun with her"
They all knew what that meant and the two mares present shuddered slightly, pitying the assassin slightly. They had witnessed first hoof what it was like to be toyed with by their master. He was rough with them and an assassin would surely get the worst of it that he could ever make up.
Flicking his tail, the guards moved to different sides of the temple though Sea Breeze remained in front of the pedestal while the unicorn started with trying to code the combination to his prize. Hovering a piece of paper from his saddlebag, he placed it in front of him, biting his lip as he thought about it and then looked at the strange buttons with stranger symbols on them. There had to be some sort of connection.
Then something caught his eye. A pattern. Smirking devilishly, he began to work with the buttons, licking his lips in anticipation at what was surely just a few button pushes away.
Did they really think they could just waltz in here and take what didn't belong to them? They did apparently and that just made her hate them even more, more so than usual. The eight of them, a mixture of unicorns, pegasi, and earth ponies stood on a balcony overlooking the other ponies and the pedestal. The shadows did their job and hid them well.
One pegasus stood out among them. She had she head higher than the others and her teal eyes were narrowed in hatred at the others down below. She also had a good set of armour on and a few advanced weapons on her as well. Switching on her eagle vision, she studied the patterns of the ponies' movements and then switched to look at the unicorn at the pedestal. He was so close to opening it and she was not going to let it happen.
Turning to the others behind her, she flicked her tail for them to back up so she could relay her plan. "Okay, they seem to be spread out all at a good time, then meet up at the center. I know this might sound crazy but I think the seven of you should just openly attack, from up here or down there. It will distract him and give me the chance to sneak up on him" she explained, getting their nods of agreement, agreeing that it sounded crazy but it was a good idea. She always had good ideas.
One unicorn, a small filly, raised her hoof silently. The leader nodded to her, allowing her to speak. "But wouldn't that cause a problem or two, like can we really risk just make our presence known to them?" her voice squeaking slightly but not loudly in any way.
The leader bit her lip and thought before answering, "I know but we really can't just sneak down and attempt to take them out one by one. We have to be quick and plus, I know you can do it. You've all trained long and hard for this kind of thing" she paused, moving her kind teal eyes to the white filly who had fixed her hood over her head to hide her unicorn horn once more. "Especially you"
The filly smiled as did the others, having taken a liking to the young member of such an advanced section of the assassins.
"Alright, let's go" the pegasus ordered as she slunk back into the shadows. Four of them slipped down the stairs silently and took spots among the shadows, their targets in their sights. The other three, one being the filly remained up on the balcony, getting ready for the others' signals to jump down.
Silence dragged out throughout the temple before the four stood up and slunk out of the shadows and attacked the ponies, swords in mouths as they did so. Surprise clouded their eyes as they dodged and took hits as they grabbed their own swords and threw metal into metal. One yelled a simple warning, "It's the assas-" but was cut off by a blade to the head. The assassins' endured the pain they felt and used their environment to their advantage by slipping behind a pillar and then sneaking up behind them. The three on the balcony jumped down and engaged immediately into the fighting. All except for the filly. She, with sword in mouth, flew towards Sea Breeze and knocked her down and away from the pedestal. Before she could recover, the filly looked for the leader and yelled a loud, "Go!" giving her the opening she had planned for.
Hidden blade slipping in and out, the cloaked pegasus flung herself forward, propelling herself faster by using her wings to make herself go faster. A dark red stallion tried to step in front of her and then tried to swipe at her front hooves to trip her. But she expected that and jumped over him, slicing her hidden blade into his back as she went. Her teal eyes were narrowed as she locked on her target, the unicorn leader. She was just about to leap up and attempt to slice into him when... she stopped. She was confused, how could she just stop. But then she couldn't move. And then he was looking at her evilly and pleasurably. Then she noticed that he was using magic to hold her still.
Fuck!
Although the fighting didn't cease around them, she did notice something. The pedestal was open and in his magic as well was the artifact, the map. Shock turned to anger as she struggled to move, struggled to get at him and snatch the map away. But she couldn't. She just couldn't. "You have no idea what you're getting into!" she yelled at him, her voice still soft despite her anger.
The leader smirked as he hovered the map and secured it tightly into his saddlebag. "Oh I think I do. I've been searching for this reliac for my entire life and now, I have the map that will tell me where it is located and then" he stepped towards her, chuckling. "The Templars will win and the Assassins will lose"
The frozen pegasus narrowed her eyes with hatred as she growled, "Death Wish, you won't get away with this!"
"Oh, I think I will, AssassinShy. This reliac is located in a location nopony could ever suspect anyways" Death Wish cackled as he approached her further, advancing on her, beginning to use his magic to pull down her shirt and release her jiggling breasts into the world, ready to rut her to nothingness. But it never happened.
The fighting stopped behind them but was replaced by the crumbling of of the pillars as they had been hit hard during the fight. Panicking himself, Death Wish released AssassinShy as he backed away, the vibration in the earth shaking his every word as he spoke to her once last time "It was fun but I've got what I've came for and I shall be off now" before turning tail and fleeing back across the river and through the collapsing entrance, his Templars following closely behind him. However, one stallion was not so lucky. The green pegasus was crushed by a falling rock and died instantly.
"This way!" one of the unicorns, an orange stallion, shouted over the collapsing temple, standing in front of the way they came in, a small hole in the wall.
AssassinShy was just about the follow the others when she looked back, upon noticing one of them, a pure white stallion earth pony sit down in front of the pedestal and raise his head and shut his eyes, as if taking guard in front of it. But the place was collapsing and she couldn't understand why this was happening now.
"Snow Cone! We have to go now!" she yelled, more than ordered was desperation.
The stallion opened one eye and looked to his leader and, he smiled. "My ancestors protected and died for this place and if anything, I feel as though I need to play my part in this endless cycle. Leave me here, go on. Go stop the Templars and bring all of the assassins' work to justice. I know you can do it" Shutting his eye again, he looked away, staring death in the face and not fearing it. Acting like a true assassin.
Tears brimming at her eyes, AssassinShy followed behind the others, not before taking one more look to the friend she had trained with growing up. Shaking her head, she fled through the tunnel as she felt the last connection to the temple and her long lost friend be cut off forever.
They had made it back to their base, but the entire time, AssassinShy had appeared to be dazed off and in denial over her friend's death and the fact that she had failed on probably the most important mission she had been assigned to ever in her entire life. She had just let Death Wish, the Templar leader, take the map that had been guarded by thousands and thousands of years worth of assassins. She had not be able to do anything to stop it. She was such a failure!
After their report, she had barely noticed the concerned looks she was getting from their mentor and leader, Chained Lock. And right after, she had gone to her room to sulk, staring into her reflection, seeing both a kind mare with a beautiful and great life with lots of friends but also seeing a mare who had the later but also a truer thing, her assassinhood that meant the world to her. And she was the second in command. And she had just failed an extremely important mission which caused her friend to die, by his own request though. The fact still didn't help her too much. She had cried for too long before and was now just staring into her reflection, still with her armour and and hood over her head.
Sighing, she pricked her ears upon hearing somepony walk into her room. Seeing her mentor, she offered him a forced smile as she looked away from the mirror.
Despite being an old, dark blue stallion, he still looked younger than he really was. With a sea foam mane, he could trick anyone. Those green eyes those though were filled with so much wisdom and emotion as well. Chained Lock did deserve the name though, what with his long and complicated past.
"How are you feeling Shy?" he asked, concern laced in his voice.
AssassinShy knew she couldn't lie to him and say that she was fine. It was obvious that she wasn't and saying so wouldn't make any sense anyways. She shook her head. "Terrible. I failed that mission, and now the Templars have the map. I failed Snow Cone, I failed you, I failed all of the assassins! I don't deserve to be your second in command" she sulked, her shoulders sagging.
"Dear, I would've done the same thing you did. You were right, you couldn't waste the little time you had. But Death Wish is a powerful unicorn and he used that against you. I don't blame you and neither do our other brothers and sisters. As for Snow Cone..." he trailed off remembering the many things the stallion had done. "Well, he had his reasons and he went down with a true assassin's heart. You were not responsible for his death and you shouldn't let this get to you so much. Don't worry, we'll locate the map and fix this" He placed a reassuring hood on her shoulder.
"But I can't help but feel like a part of this is my fault. I failed the one mission I shouldn't have" she stated, slumping her head downwards.
Chained Lock tilted his head as he leaned his head down next to hers. "Look at me Shy" she said, his voice calm and filled with understanding.
Hesitantly, AssassinShy looked up and blinked small tears from her teal eyes. Chained Lock sighed and looked around the room. It was a relatively small room with a small desk for Shy and a corner with cushions stuffed for sleeping. But the walls were covered with pictures of past assassins, all of which Shy had requested personally to be there. Some of them, she had no idea who they were but she liked the feeling of having the many generations of former assassins watching her and motivating her to keep going everyday.
Looking back, he realized that she too had drifted off into looking at the pictures, bordered with picture frames made from material only available at the times they had lived. Without much warning, Shy suddenly stood up, her eyes locked on one picture, her mind perplexed as she saw something she had never noticed before. One picture had an off-gray pony with a familiar off-white outfit with the trademark red and hood but the picture showed something. This was one of the most well known assassins and yet, as she looked at the picture, she realized something.
He had made a big mistake. And then he had worked hard to make up for it and thus became an important pony in their history. Lifting her hoof, she gently placed her hoof on the faint engraved name on the picture. It's writing was faint and written in an old language but she could read it nonetheless. Her eagle vision didn't need to be used to see the name of her idol.
'Altaïr Ibn-La'Ahad'.
"He's just like you, you know" her mentor said softly as he trotted over next to her, having noticed which picture she was drawn to. He too looked at the picture and saw what she saw. It was of the pony making his huge mistake that could've changed the assassins forever and then striving to change that image and become who he was known to be.
AssassinShy widened her eyes in surprise at his words. "H-How? I'm nothing like Altaïr" she argued, not seeing any resemblance between herself and the old assassin.
Chained Lock couldn't help but chuckle at her confusion. "Shy, you and him may be very different but you're both very alike. Yes, you might be shy and quiet and prefer to take every little thing that happens wrong out on yourself but you also show the leadership and determination of Altaïr" he sighed as he turned away from a moment and then looked back to her. "You both have made a mistake but I know that you will do whatever you can to fix it. Everypony makes mistakes, but mistakes are what makes us stronger as ponies and as assassins"
Looking between her mentor and the picture of Altaïr, Shy allowed herself to finally smile. Without warning, she reached up and hugged Chained Lock around the neck in gratitude, murmuring as he returned her soft hug, "I suppose you're right. Thank you mentor"
But then her teal eyes glanced upwards and caught sight of the clock hanging above the doorway. Pulling away from him, she stared at the clock for a few moments before exclaiming, "What? I didn't know it was this late! I-I have to get back home before anypony gets worried" In a flash, she had galloped over to the golden chest on the other side of the room. Slipping off her assassin outfit, she hesitated slightly as she pulled her hidden blade off her hoof and placed it gently on top of her outfit. She didn't know why but not having it on made her feel unsafe majority of the time.
Sighing, she locked the lock with her small key with the shape of her butterfly cutie mark and slipped the key back into a secure, tight, safespot in her mane, much like Pinkie Pie did with her stuff. Maybe it was something she had picked up from the bubbly mare. She did hang out with her a lot anyways.
Trotting to the doorway, she stopped to glance back at her mentor, wondering if it was alright to leave yet.
"Good luck and see you later Shy" he said with a caring smile.
"You too" AssassinShy said with a small smile as she trotted out, her mind at ease with the day's events. At least she had found some peace in this failure. Plus, she had been told by her mentor that she was just like her idol, Altaïr. And now that she thought about it, she kind of agreed. Now all she wanted to get back home and to her animals. They must be wondering where she was and what about her friends? Oh, she really needed to stop losing track of time. That seemed to happen a lot to her nowadays.
"So how're you Miss Altaïr?" came a high pitched voice as the unicorn filly she had done the mission with popped out in front of her. Stopping dead in her trot, Shy stared at her for a few good moments before she softened, a small smile slipping onto her face and her eyes relaxing.
"You really need to stop doing that. I don't like being frightened by the ponies I know" she giggled slightly as she knew it was just the filly using her assassin skills to her advantage, maybe even unintentionally. She then paused, looking at the filly with confused teal eyes. "Huh? How did you know that?" She hadn't seen the filly around when she and Chained Lock had been talking.
The filly giggled her cute little giggle. "I was practicing my eavesdropping skills if you know what I mean. Plus I'm sure everypony knows about you idolizing him" she stated.
"You know you shouldn't do that but I suppose it didn't cause any harm. Hey, if you know I idolize Altaïr, then who do you idolize?" Shy asked with a sly smile, catching the filly off guard. Then, she burst into a set of giggles.
"Oh, that should be easy to guess. Connor Kenway or, how I like to call him by his real name, Ratonhnhaké:ton" she grinned and large, wide grin. It actually wasn't too hard. He was a well known assassin too. Shy had a few pictures of him on her walls too, since his connection to nature felt much like her own connection to nature. She would've expected to be more like Connor than Altaïr though but she supposed things never were quite as they seemed anyways. Like who would expect he, a shy pegasus, and the unicorn filly to be assassins? Nopony and maybe that was a good thing in the long run. Nopony would suspect them.
"Oh, I like him too" she commented, trotting back down the hallway with the filly by her side, keeping perfect pace with her. "So, mind if I walk you home? I could use an excuse that you were helping me with my animals and that's why you're late" she kindly spoke.
The filly perked up, if that is even more possible. "Sure! Thanks, I wasn't sure what to say to my sister so I decided to wait for you. 'Cause you always have a good ideas. That's why our mentor made you second in command"
That was true, now that she thought about it. And knowing it made her feel better than before. Smiling, she hurried her pace, the filly keeping pace with her as she did so.
