Nightcore

Chapter 1

Nightcore flew across the rooftops of Canterlot, headed for his pre-appointed drop off zone. This had to have been the riskiest and most profitable hit he had ever accepted. Nightcore was usually very weary when members of the upper class required his services.   But when Fancy Pants offered him 5,000 bits up front with no questions asked and a possible doubled amount if the hit was done early, how could he resist?  The best part of all was that the hit was on some lowly criminal scum whose disappearance wouldn’t cause unrest from the guard.

It had been roughly more than 60 years since Nightcore desecrated his family home, but he hadn’t seemed to have aged the slightest, with the only noticeable difference being that there no longer seemed to be any joy or compassion in his eyes.  No, the two lumps of gold that were his eyes didn’t live up to their name’s sake. They seemed dull and icy, accompanied by a constant if-looks-could-kill scowl upon his lips. He appeared every part a killer, so he took to great pains to make sure he couldn’t become recognizable. Still, he had been in the business since before Ponyville began, resulting in his cockiness and greed.

Fancy Pants had made it very clear he wanted this to be as discreet as possible. The only reason he wanted the stallion dead was because he feared for his trophy of a wife, since the guy was starting to be labeled a modern day Jack the Ripper, and evidence at his past crime scenes pointed Fleur to be his next target. Fancy Pants seemed bitter that he had to fight fire with fire, but Nightcore was anything but legendary for his deadly accuracy. It was fabled among the lesser crowd that all Nightcore needed was a piece of fur, and his target was dead by sunrise.

Nightcore didn’t like the fame around his name, but he took pride in the quality and efficiency of his work. It helped that his self-proclaimed ‘cursed blood’ gave him stronger senses and a knack for the dark arts, even without a horn. He even found he could breathe fire if he focused enough. With his keen sense of smell, sight, and hearing, coupled with some boosts of black magic, Nightcore could find anypony as long as they were still on the plane of existence.  There had been one instance where a brown earth pony stallion had run into a phone booth and disappeared.  However, as soon as he knew where his target was, it would be anywhere from a matter of minutes to a day or two for Nightcore to find his quarry alone in order to take it out.

This target had been the easiest. The idiot had been found in the sewer not six yards away, the guards writing him off as another bum. He was dispatched while he slept, murmuring of an obvious wet dream about him raping Fleur. Now all that was left was to drop the body and evidence off for Fancy Pants, and Nightcore would walk away 10,000 bits richer. It was almost too good to be true.

A whistling in his right ear agreed, as magically enhanced darts flew in his direction from hidden assailants. The bastard Fancy Pants had set him up! Nightcore beat himself up for being stupid enough to show his face. Quickly dropping the carcass, Nightcore turned to flee until a mass of royal pegasus night guards started assaulting him from all sides, keeping him from running. Out of options, Nightcore was forced to play his bluff card before the game had even begun and he unfurled his dragon like wings, taking off with such force and speed that he sent more than one shocked night guard tumbling to the ground below.

Then the worst possible thing that could happen did. Bright lights lit up the sky as members of Celestia’s Sun Blessed warriors started to pour out from the Palace. Nightcore couldn’t believe his rotten situation. After 85 years he had been able to evade the authorities. Not once did he get close to being captured, even at his start, yet here he was, at the prime of his life, about to be undone by the rich snob of all beings. The thing about the Sun Blessed was that they had an affinity for tracking black magic users, which was considered illegal magic since the time of Nightmare Moon. They were a powered up police force created by Celestia herself, to hunt down anypony corrupted by black magic. Of course, when black magic was involved, no pony but Luna could tell if somepony was fully corrupted, so the Sun Blessed usually just butchered anypony with a black aura, claiming self-defense when brought to trial.

Once again out of options, Nightcore had to expose another of his secret weapons in order to escape certain doom. Tapping into the natural magic in the surrounding area, Nightcore summoned the power of the ancient dragon tongue, and thruum’ed his way out of the city gates. The teleportation had been a huge risk because he could have ended up with half his body stuck in a tree. Luckily, he wound up in the swampiest of areas beyond the city walls. Worn out from his sudden use of energy, Nightcore just collapsed in the puddle he had been hovering over.  He prayed he wouldn’t be discovered as he drifted into unconsciousness.

********

Something was wrong. Nightcore knew that he had passed out in a moist, stinking, rotted wetland, and yet he found himself lying on a fairly comfortable bed of some kind. He could hear hoof steps and was mulling over how best to jump his captor when he noticed he was not being held down. Quickly using some magic, he surveyed the room, while still keeping the appearance of being passed out. He appeared to be in a post office of all places, with a little living area built in back.

There was a gray pegasus mare in the kitchen across from the room he was in.  There was a small unicorn filly that appeared to belong to the mare, she was watching him from another bedroom.  Letters and packages filled most of the house, and since he couldn’t detect anypony else in the building, he figured the pegasus worked alone. The smell of fresh baked muffins floated through the air and Nightcore’s stomach growled something fierce.  “Mamma, I think he’s awake. His tummy is talking,” the little filly said.

The pegasus poked her head into the door frame. She smiled at him and said, “Hi there, are you ok? I was really worried when I saw you floating down the river. I wasn’t sure if you had drowned at first!  I’m glad you’re awake.  Would you care for some breakfast?” Nightcore just stared at the mare, trying to figure her out. She had said she found him in a river, but he had been in a swamp before he passed out?

The pegasus standing before him was gray with blonde hair and gold eyes like his, but she seemed to have a bad case of walleye.  He couldn’t deny that she seemed generally concerned for his well being, which meant she had no idea who he was. “I’m sorry, I can’t quite remember what happened last night.  Would you mind telling me where I am and the name of the one who saved my life?” Nightcore responded. The mare seemed to blush at that.

“Oh, umm, of course. You hit your head real bad it seems and you were bleeding. I brought you here and patched you up,” she said pointing at his head.  Nightcore rolled his eyes upward and was now aware of the bandages.  He looked at her and could still see the distinct presence of concern in her eyes.  “My name is Derpy Hooves, and I’m the mailmare here in Ponyville.” She beamed at Nightcore.

Ponyville, he was in Ponyville?  Karma truly was a bitch. No ifs ands, nor buts. How in Celestia’s name did he wind up floating in a river in Ponyville? He had never set foot near the place ever since that fateful day when he got his cutie mark. This was the absolute last place he wanted to be. He just sat there in awkward silence as he stared at Derpy dumbfounded.

With understandable nervousness, Derpy once again invited him to come eat breakfast, and then told her daughter “Dinky” to go bathe before school. Nightcore just sat there for a while longer. He was in Ponyville. Was this some kind of cruel joke the princesses where playing on him, or had he been given a reprieve?

He was unknown in Ponyville. Everypony from that day had to be dead by now.  Hell it was over 60 years ago! It was too much of a coincidence for there not to be more at hand than met the eye. Nightcore knew he was a wanted stallion, he knew he had been in a swamp when he passed out, and he knew the royal guards were looking for him. And yet he also knew that this mare meant him no harm. He hoped he was wrong, but he guessed the bubbles on her cutie mark were for her intelligence, cause honestly, how many stallions in Equestria had red scales instead of fur?

************** author's note****************

This is my first real fic, so criticism is appreciated, but trolling will not be tolerated. The comment notification gets annoying after a while. Thanks goes out to DawnFade and JadexTheShadowKnight for taking the time to give my story a good ol' fashion butchering. And Thanks goes to SteampunkBrony for letting me use his Sun Blessed guards.