Assassin: Savior of Canterlot

Niko lead the girls through the night. He was leading them to his discovery to setup a base of operations. He removed the Manhole cover and helped the girls into the hole. Rarity was the first to express her concern.

"Uh, darling... This isn't a sewer, is it?" She asked, trying not to sound worried.

"No, they're old storm drains." Niko said. "Alright, you're the last one." He said, turning toward Rarity.

"Very well then. Would you be a dear and help me down." She said politely. Niko sighed.

"I think I have a way to get us both down there." Niko said. He motioned for her to come to him, and she approached him. "Hang on, this might be a bit... Interesting." he said, wrapping an arm around her waist. She quickly wrapped her arms around his neck and he leapt into the hole. They both landed on their feet, and Niko removed his arm from Rarity's waist. Rarity took a moment to catch her breath, before she realized that her arms were still around his neck. She quickly removed her arms and gave an embarrassed smile, her cheeks turning a light pink.

"Alright everyone, get out your flashlights. Niko, lead the way." Sunset said. Niko nodded, his long coat flapped as he turned toward the direction he had previously gone in. He followed the familiar features of the tunnel, except this time with light. He lead them down the long tunnel, eventually ending up in the same room as before. The torches were all light, just as before. But something was different, the pedestal was gone. Niko approached the spot where it previously sat, and looked at the floor tiles. There was one tile that had the hand print and symbol on it. Niko chuckled.

"There it is." He mumbled to himself. "Well, this is it." He gestured to the room.

"So this is the room you mentioned." Rainbow dash said.

"Yep." Niko said.

"This is a great location, but how are we going to get the equipment in and out without being seen? And what about the size of the entrance?" Sunset asked. Niko stroked his chin.

"I'll Look around the tunnels for other, more remote entrances later." Niko said. "But first I think we all should have a look around." The girls nodded and went about looking around the room. Rainbow dash opted to follow Niko. She walked beside him quietly for a few moments, before finally breaking the silence.

"Sooo, you got Spetsnaz training from your dad huh?" Rainbow asked.

"Yep." Niko said. Rainbow nodded.

"What can Spetsnaz do exactly?" Rainbow asked, earning the attention of the others, who seemed to be curious as well. Niko looked at her with a smile.

"Really? Rainbow dash, the self proclaimed queen of awesome, has not watched videos of some of the most Badass soldiers on the planet in action?" Niko said. Rainbow scratched the back of her head and gave a small blush.

"W-Well, I've never really heard of them before today." Rainbow said.

"In that case I'm going to have to tell you a bit about their brutal training. Then you'll understand why they are so lethal." Niko said. "Spetsnaz trainees are subjected to a lot of rigorous tasks. As a trainee, you are subjected to hard body training. In this training, they place bricks on your body and break them with a sledgehammer. You are also told to fight in hand to hand combat with your fellow trainee, and you are not to stop until you are knocked out or beaten half to death. They teach you martial arts before hand, but it's still brutal."

"Is that it?" Rainbow asked.

"Nope, there is one more training exercise, and it's the most viscous of them all." Niko paused. "Basically, you are forcefully dragged out of bed in the middle of the night. They throw you into a pit that contains a foot of pig's blood and severed pig heads. You have one minute to find a way out, or they will release an attack dog to maul you."

"D-Did your father make you do that?" Rainbow asked. Niko nodded. "Jeez, that must have been scarring for you." She said.

"Yeah, I still have nightmares about it. It makes it worse because I didn't make it out before the attack dog was released, it bit my arm and messed it up pretty bad. I still have the scars on my arm from where it bit me. In my adrenaline shocked state, I collapsed the dog's snout back into its skull. That's what haunts me the most out of all my training, seeing this dogs mangled head floating around in a practical sea of blood and pig heads." Niko said. "I don't hold my father responsible for it, but I do feel like he got what was coming to him in the end."

"Darling..." Rarity said. "that's just... Awful! You very well could've been killed by that dog, let alone everything else!" There was a long silence that fell upon the room. Surprisingly, Applejack was the first to speak up.

"Sugarcube, you said you still have the scars to this day... Can we see them?" She asked. Niko sighed and gave a reluctant nod. He rolled up the sleeve on his left arm. The bite marks were paler there the skin surrounding them, and there was no visible hair growing on the scars. The girls silently covered their mouths and looked. Niko point to two particular spots on the scars.

"This is where the top set of K-9's sank in. The lower set of k-9's sank in on the other side on my arm. The dog didn't just bite and let go either. He bit down and shook, I actually had to pry his jaws open to get him off of me." Niko said. The girls gathered around him for a group hug, and he didn't stop them. He felt like he needed something to cheer him up anyway.

"This is gonna be one hell of an emotional ride." Niko thought.