An Advanced Warfare

The Assassin stayed on the viewpoint, admiring the ponies down below, just working in their hopefully normal lives. Ray had an opportunity to become an Assassin and he took it. But the choice still occurred to him now and then. He would usually wonder what would his life be like if he wasn't an Assassin. 'Probably be just down in the crowd, working for small money, or bits, each day.' he thought as he continued watching the ponies below. He smiled and jumped.

Ray loved the feel of rushing wind as it was a terrifying but also exhilarating experience. When he hit the haystack targeted below, he immediately leaped out, pulling down his hood. There was no way that he regretted being an Assassin, but he wondered if he should have. He trotted down a road, leading to a certain somepony he was looking for.

He looked around for Lorani Stars, a mare that he met not very long ago, but had many questions. She was recently attacked, but the attack was interrupted by yours truly. Ray spotted Lorani by using his Eagle Vision when he was on top of the viewpoint, or at least her home. She worked fast with her bits, he was going to check up on her, see if she was okay, then maybe get some answers on why those punks attacked her.

Ray frowned at the thought of that night, it certainly was great to teach those foals a lesson, but it didn't exactly help him on why they attacked her. Currently, he still had some free time, so he just wandered around the city, looking for some interesting places and some crimes.

Thieves were not very common in this world, nor were shootouts. He was still concerned about the pictures of classified files being stolen and the more he thought about it, the more it concerned him.

Finding Lorani wasn't really top priority for him right now so he casually walked down a street, still keeping his guard up but relaxing a bit. There wasn't any need to attract any attention so walking on ground level wasn't the worse thing to do at the time.

He reached his destination in about 24 minutes, he made good time from the viewpoint to his destination. 'Not here' he thought as he walked within the perimeter of the building that Lorani resided in.

Soon after, he was jumped and he fell to the ground, another weight on top of him. He shoved his attacker off him and drew his weapon. The button which served as the trigger was nearly pressed if he did not identify his attacker. "Lorani! Why WOULD YOU DO THAT?" he yelled, half scolding. "I almost shot you!"

Lorani burst into a fit of laughter while he said this. "Ah... you should have seen your face, you were so shocked. But you didn't shoot me, I was very sure of that."

Ray just rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I was looking for you, did you just happen to follow me or did you just stumble upon my location and play a frightening trick on me?"

"I was just following you, you really don't seem to be very vigilant with stalkers or even the fact that somepony was following you. I learned to parkour from rooftop to rooftop when I was a foal. You sometimes have to run from ponies you know? Either way, you have to be vigilant around these areas, you never know who will attack you from above. Never let your guard down, EVER. Not many ponies know how to parkour though, I wouldn't be surprised that you could not parkour like some of the really good ponies."

As he listened to this, the word parkour made his ears perk up. This was a skill that had to be learned when you became an Assassin, if you couldn't parkour, you were no Assassin.

Ray just rolled his eyes in a playful manner and managed a small smirk. "So you think I cannot parkour? Please, I can parkour just fine. You have to learn this when you become a-an Assassin." he said in a hushed voice.

"Sorry, what was that last word?" Lorani asked, for Ray did not say the word Assassin around new ponies. Nor people for that matter. He repeated himself, "Assassin." Lorani widened her eyes at this, and she rapidly pulled out a notebook, looking through what seemed to be random notes.

"An Assassin... Assassin... Assassin... Ah, here it is!" she said, all of a sudden her demeanor changing from happy to shocked to curious. "I've done some research on Assassins, I hope you don't think I'm crazy for saying this, but do you possess something in history called, hidden blades?"

Ray smiled at this, but inside was a bit curious. 'How much does Lorani know about Assassins? Do I show her my hidden blades? Why the heck not?' "So by hidden blades, do you mean... this?" he asked as he twisted the fetlock on his hoof, causing the hidden blade to emerge within his outfit. Lorani was completely aghast.

"I... cannot believe this... Assassins were real! Assassins were real!" she said, jumping around him like he was some sort of savior. She was definitely excited and most likely filled with questions.

Ray quickly brought his hoof to her muzzle, silencing her. "I'd rather not have this information out around Equestria, you know?" he said a bit worried. "The statement Assassins were real is not really true. Assassins ARE real. I mean, I am an Assassin. But this isn't information I can just tell anypony you know."

This was true but Ray did feel some sort of strange connection towards Lorani. It was unthinkable, a former beggar and an Assassin? Along with Sentinel soldier? It was a strange fuzzy sensation in his chest, almost like his heart may explode. It was strange, he never felt like this with any mare, ever.

"Your secret is safe with me Ray." she said softly. Now came the question Ray was waiting to ask. "Why did those stallions pick you as a target? I know that you may have not been close to their rank, but why would they target a pony like you? Especially at your state currently."

Lorani recoiled a bit, she was not expecting this. "Well... when I was young, I made stupid mistakes. Ah God, where to begin? Well, when I was younger, I was part of the Atlas Corporation, I was currently in a war with some terrorists that killed my mother. They still exist nowadays, what are they called? Uh... Sentenals? No wait, Sentinel, yeah that's the group name, Sentinel!"

Ray quickly noticed that the ponies around here did not say 'Sweet Celestia' or anything of the sort. But for now, it wasn't the topic on his mind, but right now was the fact that the Sentinel Task Force, killed her mother. It was his turn to recoil.

"Um... did I say something wrong?" she asked timidly. Ray recovered and shook his head. "Continue on please." was all he could say. It would be a big problem to show her his identification right now.

"Anyways, so what happened was that during that gunfight, one of the members that was about to die, threw a device at me which hit me in the head. At first well, I thought I was shot, but when I saw that, I quickly grabbed the device and stored it into one of my pockets. We were forced to retreat but I managed to keep the device with me till we reached Headquarters. After examining it..." she explained, trailing off, obviously experiencing a flashback. Ray had some of these moments and let this flashback occur uninterrupted.

Lorani shook her head a bit and continued, "After examining it, it revealed that Atlas was planning something big. Since the fall of Irons, which had ended about two months ago, if you didn't know, Atlas was planning a big weapon against Sentinel. At first I was happy to exact my revenge, but I realized that this was going to happen to innocent ponies who had probably nothing to do with my mother's death. Not too long after, I was caught, and the device was destroyed. I was set to be in prison, probably so that the information would never leak out if not for an Atlas rebel who helped me escape. He was killed after that." she said while biting her lip. "He died freeing me from the prison which withheld me."

The memories of Ray's family all of a sudden came to his mind. The times that they spent together, the conversations that they had, the laughter of their voices, the gurgling in their throat as they died. He cherished most of these moments and for the first time in a long time, he wanted to cry. Last words that his family ever gave him was "We love you..." as their eyes went lifeless, staring into the sky endlessly. The last words of wisdom from his father was to never abuse life, to cherish it for as long as possible, never give up hope no matter how hopeless the situation became. To respect the life of others, to never kill without reason, all these became one saying. "Life is the most important thing in the world, respect it, do not abuse it and never give up hope."

He closed his eyes and withheld his tears. There were many times that he wanted just to end his life right there and then. But, his parents would never have wanted that. They would want him to become the person/pony he was today, to stand up to things that others did not dare to even associate with.

That was what made him the Assassin he was today.