"Descend, heartless angel."
Rainbow Dash knew that voice and what it meant to say. She had heard it and the three words carrying it many times before. She had completely analysed it.
The voice was her highest in command. One that had made it really far up the Broterhoof. He was a Master Assassin. She was a mere novice at that time. Mostly because of her attitude towards rules and schedules.
It was fairly comedical thinking about that not believing in rules slowed down her rise in the Brotherhoof, whose major principles were nothing being true and everything being permitted.
She didn't understand those words, that was what they told her. Not by far did she grasp their deeper meaning. Eventually, when she would, she'd become a Master, too.
She did understand the three words directed towards her, though. She brought up what information she had gathered in a highly boring moment.
First, 'descend'. That was fairly easy, yet the main part of the order she'd been given. It could be interpreted literally. She had been doing flying exercises and the Master wanted her to stop and come down to talk to him.
Secondary, 'heartless'. That obviously could not be meant literally. Dash felt her heart beat harder from the flying she'd been doing.
Rather, it referred to her tendency to show a highly vicious aspect of herself when in combat, knocking out as many as four other assassins of her rank out of an army at once with calm grace, leaving those smart enough not to enter a training fight with her to stunned staring as she silently defeated some ponies with a single blow.
If that filly was to ever be armed and sent on a mission, it would take at least the entire royal guard as well as the actual enemy's forces to even force her into retreat, that was a known fact.
Tertiary, 'angel'. Thinking about what this meant in the given context made Rainbow giggle like the school filly she'd been not too long ago. Her instructor was just too romantic.
Calling her 'angel' also referred to the grace she showed in all she did, as long as it wasn't being modest about her achievements.
Mainly, it was about her being a pegasus. Most of the order were pegasi, but there were also Earths and unicorns. Although it may also be part of an attempt of his to win her for himself. The only problem was that she had no interest in him.
It was still very charming of him.
After what felt like an eternity of being lost in thought, Rainbow's hooves connected to solid ground. She put on her softest voice to speak to him.
"Yes Master? Do you wish something of me?"
"That you finally stop calling me that. That's enough flying for now. You should report to the training ring. Don't get too far ahead of yourself though, you won't be actively fighting today."
Rainbow's mood dropped a bit when she heard that there would be no ponies for her to beat up, but she regained that pleasure by continuing to mock her instructor called Emnas.
"Yes Master, if you wish."
He started walking in the direction in which she would also have to go with an annoyed expression on his face.
"Stop it. I'm the your current Master, but not your master. Who are you, some kind of genie?"
"Oh no Master, but I still am your humble servant."
"Ugh, whatever. Come back to see me when he says you've done enough."
As it turned out, not actively fighting, as Emnas had put it, meant practicing dodge maneuvers while others trained how to best catch dodging targets.
Dash was bored. Her partners always left her at least one second of swinging time to react to their planned attacks. She had to intentionally slow down in order to give them some success.
Fortunately, she was relieved of her duty after only half an hour. The fight instructer told her that another Master, one specialised in stealth and the Hidden Blade, would train her in the Hidden's use.
There were not many of that sort in the area. In fact, there were only two. Rainbow Dash shuddered as she was reminded of who, with a one in two chance, would be instructing her.
Despite constantly looking around while waiting near the training puppets, the pony tapping on her shoulder still surprised her.
How she managed such a level of stealth was beyond Rainbow.
Dash groaned. "Ugh, hi Flutters."
Fluttershy let out a soft chuckle. "Oh, hello Rainbow Dash. Did I scare you?"
"O- of course not. What makes you think you did?"
"Um, nothing. I didn't think you were able to reach such high tones. He he..."
Rainbow spread her wings and circled Fluttershy once to fly away the embarassment. "Well, what's it today?"
"Stealth weaponry, as always. They told you, right? Oh, I hope you didn't think it was something else and are now disappointed... I can arrange some other training, if you wish."
"Nah, it's fine. I meant, like, what exactly are you going to teach me?"
"Well, you know, walking up to ponies before the assassination is fine and dandy, but what if you need a moment of surprise to even catch them?"
Dash scratched the back of her head with a hoof. "I suppose I blend in with the crowd and slowly approach?"
"You're thinking with just what you have been taught up to now. I mean, you have to stick to the rules, but occasionally, some creativity is also required. Use your environment to your advantage. You can freely climb buildings or just fly up them."
"Like, get my target from a rooftop? That sounds kinda dangerous."
"Oh, don't be silly, Rainbow. You're a pegasus, remember. Also, unless you miss your jump, which shouldn't happen, there's somepony to catch you. They won't need themselves intact if you pounce them, anyway."
"Soo... climb the rooftops, then ambush my prey. Sounds easy enough."
"You're limiting yourself to what those above you said again. For instance, if you have enough room and they don't know of your Hidden yet, why not use those wings of yours to jump really high and land on somepony, then scoring a quick kill with the Hidden before they realise what's going on?"
"They actually fall for that?"
"They most certainly do. There should be some set up for this kind of scenario... ah, yes, over there, see? Pick up your Hidden Blade and start practicing."
Just as Rainbow had begun practicing the new moves as instructed, a messenger engaged in a conversation with Fluttershy. Dash could listen in, but she was not interested. Most likely, the Master would recount it to her.
Her hopes were not disappointed as she, after stabbing five puppets in a series of wing-assisted jumps, concentrating on nothing else in some kind of battle trance, was stopped by Fluttershy.
"Okay, if you are comfortable stopping, that'll be enough for now. There's some grave news."
"What's the matter?"
"Another scouting group got ambushed. They just made it out of there, but the Mentor thinks that's one too many that's been discovered. She says there might be a mule in the Brotherhoof."
"Surely there is. Don't ask me who let them join... oh, you mean mole. Hmm. That'd be kinda uncool. Do we have any idea who it could be?"
"Has to be somepony high up so they know every plan. So don't worry, you're not in danger."
"Hey, I could go right up to Master Assassin anytime I wanted. I'm still kinda baffled you made it before me."
"Maybe it's because I listen to the Mentor's orders. Uhm, that reminds me, as I'm told, there's actually a promotion in for you soon. Together with your first mission."
Being told that she'd soon be able to show her talents made Dash's heart race simply thinking about it. She'd been in training for so long, she was eager to show off.
Apparently, some of that leaked outwards, as Fluttershy seemed to have picked up Rainbow's eagerness.
"Unarmed. You'll do some simple scouting - easy, you've done that before - and if everything goes well, somepony's earned themselves a beating from you. Sorry. You're not high up enough to really draw blood."
"Aw. Whatever, coming back to the traitor thing... wouldn't it have to be a Master Assassin or higher even? It's not you, right?"
"Uh, I don't think I'm it. Am I?"
"Nah. You'd never do something like that. I take it the Mentor is investigating on the matter already?"
"Of course. Please don't do something stupid and go looking for the traitor on your own. Unless you want to... I just don't want to see you get hurt. We have no idea what that pony could do when cornered."
"Don't worry, I'm sure there are far more qualified ponies working on it right now than me. I'll just stick to my petty, meaningless training..."
Fluttershy pulled Dash into a friendly hug to comfort her. "I know this doesn't fit you, but it's for your own good. Anything short of perfection will only expose us to our enemies. Third tenet."
"Yeah yeah, I know. Just... the thing about perfection is that it can never be achieved, yet it's always there, right in front of us, all the time. How am I supposed to be satisfied with myself when I can't reach my goal?"
"By being more perfect than your enemies. Failing that, just stab everything." Fluttershy had spoken the last three words with a dark undertone Dash had never heard before. Noticing it herself, she slightly blushed and giggled it off. "Um, or use the element of Surprise to your advantage."
"Laughter? What's that supposed to help? Wouldn't it be more helpful to just sneak up on them?"
"Uh, yeah? Whatever. I think Emnas wants to have you back. You shouldn't keep him waiting."
"You called, Master?"
Emnas had apparently stopped caring about the way Dash was speaking with him. That took a lot of fun out of their conversations for her.
"Yeah... don't ask me whose idea this was, but you've got a mission. One of the local flower vendors is suspected of getting a bit too close with our enemies. Find out what you can without being detected, then report back. If they find you, run away. Not directly back. First lose your pursuers. Got that?"
"Sounds easy enough." Rainbow was confident that this mission would go without a hitch.
"That's why we're sending you. It's an easy job and there's basically nothing to lose if you do screw up. By the way, I repeat, no violence. If I hear that you've beaten up or killed anypony, you're getting demoted."
"Yeah yeah, I'm not stupid. What are the details?"
"The name's Lily. You know where her stand is, right?" Dash nodded. "Good. You go there and hide in the crowd, it's market day. Constantly be on the move. Be somewhere else every time they look. Maybe buy something from her to avoid suspicion and investigate if anything fishy happens. May the father of understanding guide you."
The sort of goodbye Emnas had said was unusual amongst members of the Brotherhoof, but Rainbow Dash figured she was just not of high enough rank to understand it.
"I'll be right back, Master. Uhm, forgive me for being so curious, but do you know anything about a traitor in the Brotherhoof? Fluttershy mentioned somepony might not be working for us in here."
Emnas' face did not move in the slightest. "I have never heard of anything like that, novice. You do not seek to make me confess any guilt, right?"
"No, Master. You know I'd never doubt you. I just want to find out as much as I can about the matter."
"Do not get involved in something you can not get out of. For now, you'd be better off sticking to your mission. I will consult with the Mentor and other Masters about this. Your curiosity is well, but misplaced."
"Of course. I will be off to the market then. Take care."
"You take care of yourself, heartless angel."
Observation was boring. Fortunately for Rainbow Dash, Applejack and her family were also present on the market, even though she had to leave them after a while to avoid looking suspicious.
As far as she could tell, there was nothing going on that would incriminate Lily. A few ponies whom she recognised as enemies were coming by, but they didn't seem to have any more business than the usual customer.
Rainbow was halfway to just aborting the mission when she noticed something.
Three Earth Ponies were moving through the crowd, directly towards her position. Even across the distance still between them Dash could see sheathed daggers on them.
She had a terrible foreboding about what those three had in mind. Dash slowly but steadily moved across the town square to force her possible pursuers to reveal themselves while also drawing them away from anypony she knew.
Eventually, she reached a dark alley. Sure enough, the three were also coming in there. Dash would have loved to take them out in a fight, but she knew her orders. Perhaps she could get some information out of them before escaping. The way upwards was clear for her to use.
Now, it was only a matter of toying with them.
"What do you want of me?" Dash practically shouted at them. It'd have to look authentic.
The biggest stallion of the three, walking slowly towards her, replied. "Oh, nothing. Only that you stop snooping around in matter that don't interest you. And perhaps a bit of fun. If you're nice, we'll wait until after."
"I don't think so. So it is true? She's in with you?"
"Supplying. She knows nothing. But what does it matter? As if you could run back to your master and tell him."
"Oh, he'll learn of this soon enough. How did you know I was here?"
"Ask your maker!" The brute's patience had run out and he was charging Dash, who dodged his blade by simply jumping and hovering in the air.
"Hm, nah, not today. See ya later boys!" With that, she sped away. Even though she was leaving a multicolored trail and had also done a few tricks while flying, Rainbow Dash quickly managed to get rid of any pursuers.
Until a pony blocked her path and forced her to stop within a few meters, at least.
Just a local pegasus guard. Her enemies were still nowhere to be seen.
"Uhm, is there a problem, officer?"
"Maybe. Would you please show me your daredevil license, ma'am? We're running into too many accidents from untrained ponies lately. Ponies who tried things like you just did."
"Oh, here you go. Don't worry, the Filly Flash is perfectly safe. I invented it, after all."
"That picture doesn't really look like you."
"Ah, that's from back when I had my hair differently. And before I got wings. Those were hard times for me."
"Seems to be in order. Be careful."
"Master, I bring mixed news." Rainbow Dash approached Emnas as he was overseeing some recruits training direct combat in the fighting ring outside of the hideout.
"Better be something good if you're back this soon. What happened?"
"Well, first things first. The good news is, Lily's innocent. She's only been doing regular business with clients that happened to be the Templars. One of them told me."
"What? What the hay did you do? You were supposed to remain hidden in the crowd and watch her until sundown, not go out and beat the information out of a Templar!"
"I'm getting to that. Halfway through dying of boredom, I was suddenly approached by some ponies looking seriously serious, whom I led into an alley to interrogate them and then flew away. What did they expect from a pegasus?" Rainbow Dash was unphased by her Master's shouting.
"So you're saying they found you."
"Or they knew I was there. They pretty much walked straight at me from across the square, so I think the latter's more likely."
"The traitor again? Interesting that he's risking getting discovered just to find and eliminate a newb like you."
"If they can catch me unarmed and off guard, then that's one of us less for them to worry about."
"I'll inform the Mentor and ask her to double the effort spent on flushing out that scumbag. You're promoted now, by the way. Congrats and all that stuff. I gotta go."
Emnas quickly left Dash, who decided to try and find her good friend Fluttershy to talk about her recent achievements.
After only a few minutes of searching, Rainbow ran into her still out in the open. Even literally, had it not been for Fluttershy's quick reflexes when dodging anything that scared her.
"Oh, um, hello Rainbow, what's the rush?" She softly asked.
"Uh, nothing, basically, I just wanted to talk to you, if you've got time."
"You know I always have time for my friends. How are you doing?"
"Great. I just got my promotion."
"How wonderful. Only eight more... um..." Dash had no idea how it was physically possible, but Fluttershy shrunk down while walking.
"Yeah yeah. But there's something else I gotta tell you. They found me, too."
"Oh no. That was supposed to be your first mission, something easy."
"Yeah. Although it just got a lot more interesting when those guys showed up and escaping wasn't hard. Like, who sends Earth Ponies to grab a pegasus?"
"Huh. Yeah. That's funny. Speaking about missions, are you interested in your second one?"
"Already?"
"Surely. The Mentor just requested of me a pegasus to do some observation. I think it'd be fitting for you."
"Ugh, more sitting around."
"Um, it's okay, I'll find somepony else..."
"Nah, I'll do it. Assert, 'Shy! What's that all about?"
Fluttershy had pulled two photographs out of her voluminous mane. Dash was amazed at how much storage room Fluttershy had to have in there.
"Those two - they're married, by the way - could very well be our enemies. Your job would be to hide using whatever means you see fit and look what they're doing without being seen yourself. If you want a suggestion, I think hiding in a cloud and making it drift around their path should work nicely."
Dash had done as instructed. She had quickly found her targets, walking around together. Things got more interesting quickly, though, as Rainbow saw them beat up a shop owner for, apparently, not obeying their order's orders, even though their small orange filly was watching, carelessly trying to eat its own purple mane.
She had seen enough very soon afterwards. Now it was time to report back and plan further actions.
Or, to be exact, sit around and let others plan what others would do. Dash returned to the hideout and quickly found Fluttershy inside of it. The two then walked towards the building's heart on Fluttershy's initiative.
"I'm back. Not looking good for them."
"Why don't you just tell the Mentor yourself? I'm sure she wants to hear it."
"Really? Directly to her? Wow... was my mission that important?" The Mentor mostly kept to herself and hardly showed outside on official business, especially not for lower ranks such as Rainbow's. Talking to her wasn't forbidden, but unsual for all but the Masters.
"She's nice if you get to know her." Fluttershy knocked on a door which, as far as Dash knew, separated the Mentor's own council from the rest of the hideout, and called inside with a volume she was almost never heard using.
"Glimmer wants to see you." Even more uncommon than seeing her was calling the Mentor by her name, although the Master Assassins were empowered to do both.
She led Rainbow Dash inside, shut the door and retreated against a wall. Doing a quick glance around the room, she saw some interesting decoration. A few pictures hung on the walls alongside some old, worn scrolls of parchment. Torches put up symmetrically along the sides illuminated the whole thing.
In the middle, four eastern style chairs sat around a small brazier. On one of them sat a steel gray pegasus with a golden mane, idly turning and twisting that with a hoof until she knew she could get Rainbow's attention.
"So. Young Rainbow Dash. It's good to see you again. How is your training going?"
"Very well, I got promoted just today... erm, you probably ordered that yourself, right? Thanks."
The gray mare chuckled. "It was my pleasure. Your talents are admirable. You could quickly become a Master if you'd be more obedient to what few rules I have to bestow upon you."
"Yeah, that's what 'Shy over here always says..."
"You should listen to your friend's advice. After all, she has already reached what I can offer her. In fact, should I meet an untimely death, I want you to be the new Mentor, Fluttershy." The Mentor briefly adressed the timid pegasus, who responded with nothing more than an excited squeak.
"Heh, congratulations... but, you didn't call me in for chatter, we should talk business, right?"
"Of course. Tell me what you have found."
"Well, what can I say... I was just going on about my business, floating a cloud around above their heads - that was 'Shy's idea - when they happened to beat up somepony who had refused to comply. After that, they made that pony give them some money and delivered it to our enemies."
"So they are involved?"
"I do believe so, Mentor."
"I'm afraid they have a feather on their head then. We shall not tolerate innocents who refuse either party their help to get hurt. Is there something else?"
"Um, they had a little filly... not very old... what's going to happen with her?"
Glimmer closed her eyes, slowly shaking her head. "She will be cared for. It's the best we can do."
"So we're robbing her of her parents, did I get this right?"
"Yes, if you want to be brutal. But if we didn't, she'd just grow up to be another Templar. Believe me, it's for her best."
"Hm. I have faith in your decisions."
"In a broken world, faith is all we have left. Before I forget, this mission went without a flaw, right?"
"Nopony saw me and I saw nopony."
"Good. You may resume what you were doing before."
Walking out of the room, leaving Fluttershy behind, Rainbow saw Emnas in a corner, bent over some kind of plans spread out on a table. She went to ask him what she should do next.
As he saw her come closer, Emnas quickly swept the paperwork off the table, bringing it just out of sight.
"Angel, where were you?"
"Got tasked by Fluttershy, did another mission. I just had a talk with the Mentor."
"Without asking me?"
"Darn, you're the Master in charge of my current training, not my dad!"
"You wouldn't obey him either, admit it. Still, how am I supposed to do my work here if nopony tells me nothing?"
"What work?"
"Oh, you know, coordinating atta... a trainee's missions."
"Hmm. Well, speaking of which, what should I do next?"
"Resume training or go home and relax or something. As if I cared."
"You're supposed to."
"Yeah yeah. Do whatever you like." He retrieved the plans from under the table, stuffing them into a pair of saddlebags, showing great effort not to let Rainbow see them, and began to leave.
However, one torn bit of paper remained. The writing on it caused Rainbow Dash to enter a state she'd been in before, but had never quite managed to control, to confirm a suspicion rising inside her.
"Red..." She whispered and turned back towards the Mentor's room, which opened and released Fluttershy just that moment.
The moment had come. The suspicion had been announced to the Mentor and evidence collection was complete and Dash had been chosen. Her heart was racing. The streets were empty save for her target.
Carefully, she slid off the roof, slowing down her fall a bit using wingpower before pouncing her prey.
Her blow had been inaccurate, if not even sloppy. But the damage was still done. Now it was time to listen to the victim's dying words.
"I was only trying to do good. Oh, the irony. The heartless angel has descended upon me."
"By cooperating with our enemies? By endangering innocents?"
"Greater good."
"There is no such thing, not in your meaning. Greater good is achieved when every single member of the community can receive justice."
"Ah, maybe you're right. But... this world has been connected... tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed... there is very much to learn... you understand so little... a meaningless effort... one who knows nothing cannot understand nothing."
"I understand enough to know that speeding up the eclipse is not going to work. If there is some darkness approaching, we unite and fight it off together!"
"The darkness... is the conflict between ponies itself. As long as Assassins and Templars remain, it will continue to devour our land."
"No. This is not true. They seek to control every single thought. We fight for freedom."
"Nothing is true. Take care... of yourself... heartless angel."
"You are blessed, for you must not live to see the darkness break out and truly devour this world. Rest in peace."
She didn't know why, but after they'd come out of the mouth of the dying pony, who had just gone limp, Dash suddenly understood those three words that had been repeated so many times for and by her.
