Prologue: The Assassinations of Dr. Caballeron and Ahuizotl
The night was as black as the void around the area, the air deathly still around the small camp of which a small fire burned in the middle of, while Dr. Caballeron sat in front of it. His henchponies were in the middle of scouting the perimeter to clear it, as he awaited the arrival of his newest business partner, Ahuizotl. The latter had contacted Caballeron to meet him here a week ago for a proposal, and it had taken the doctor at least 5 days to arrive, due to inclement weather. He heard the buzzing of insects and calls of nocturnal creatures around him in the night.
As he stared into the fire, he heard one of his stallions approaching him.
"Boss. He's here."
Caballeron cleared his throat. "Good. Escort him to the main tent." He said as he stood up from his laying position.
The stallion trotted off to obey his command as Caballeron moved to the tent himself.
As Ahuizotl was escorted to the tent, one of the stallions patrolling the perimeter heard what sounded like a yelp coming from a nearby tree, slightly alarmed, he went to check it out.
"Who-" Was all he got out of his mouth, before he felt two powerful hooves grab each side of his head from above, and violently twist it sideways. The stallion's neck snapped instantly, and he went limp as he died within seconds of the gruesome feat, before his body was pulled up into the tree above him. The dark figure who had murdered him placed his body next to that of another stallion who suffered a similar fate of death by a crushed windpipe.
Like a black streak of lightning the figure zoomed out of the tree into another 20 or so yards away from the previous one, directly above a unicorn stallion who was using his horn to light up the area to aid in his patrol, as he slowly trotted on his route. Before he could leave the vicinity, he felt the searing pain of something being stabbed directly into the back of his neck, before he felt blood pool up in his mouth and throat. His horn's glow faded as the light left his eyes forever more, and the figure quickly dragged his corpse as quietly and discreetly as possible into a nearby bush. The figure slid the blade they had just used into a sheath on their side under their left wing before zooming off again, the only thing visible being two brilliant green eyes before so.
Within a few moments afterward, a pegasus stallion had a wire wrapped around his neck with lightning speed before he was violently hung from a tree branch, his ragged gasps for air quickly ceasing as his windpipe was crushed. The unicorn who went to investigate the noise was the next to fall, a hoof grabbing his mane from behind before a glint of metal flashed across his neck, and a spray of blood gushed out before his soon lifeless corpse was dropped to the ground.
As this was happening, Ahuizotl sat down at the small table in front of the Earth Pony doctor, taking a cup full of tea into the hand at the end of his tail before addressing him. "Have you considered my proposition?"
Caballeron nodded. "Indeed. What you propose seems to be our only option in getting rid of Daring Do for good. My only question is: How do you intend to pull it off?"
Ahuizotl smiled. "I have a few ideas."
Before the doctor could request an explanation a pegasus stallion, whose name was Winter Gust as Caballeron remembered, opened the tent with his hoof and peeked his head in.
"Sir? We have a problem." He said.
Caballeron turned his head and snapped at his subordinate. "What?!"
"Moonshadow, Marble, Comet, Thunder, and Crimson have all gone dark. They failed to rendezvous with us in camp just now."
Caballeron narrowed his eyes. "Is it her?"
"I don't know sir, Daring Do has never been this... Discreet." The stallion admitted nervously. "I just sent the rest of our stallions on a tight-knit search. If she is here, we'll find her, sir."
"See to it that you do." Caballeron growled.
The stallion nodded firmly before rushing out.
Ahuizotl turned to his associate. "How could it be her? Could you have been followed?" He asked.
"It's possible, knowing how infuriating that mare is, it makes it all the more important that we eliminate her." Caballeron said with a sneer.
Winter Gust immediately took to the air after leaving the tent, determined to get a clear vantage point so he could see what was going on, but even with his eyes being used to the dark it was hard to see outside of the fire's light. The only light he saw was the light of a unicorn on patrol.
...Which winked out of existence as he was watching...
He immediately flapped his powerful wings and rushed towards the area, looking for any sign of his suddenly missing companion, before he landed and spotted something on the ground that made his dinner nearly abandon his stomach: The still alive unicorn with his horn cut off and neck slit as he bled out on the ground.
Winter tried to yell out, he did, but it was very hard to do so when he suddenly felt cold and wet steel press against his own throat, before he heard the whisper:
"Night Night."
With that, he felt the steel slash his throat open, and the pain of his jugular vein being sliced open by the metal. Within moments the entire world faded around him, his eyes going dark as well, as the void greeted him.
The figure then turned to the tent, all of the guards dealt with, it's two targets being inside. It used a cloth from a saddlebag attached to it's cloak to clean off the blade it was holding, before stashing the cloth and weapon away. The figure slowly and silently trotted toward the tent, before pushing the flap aside, revealing itself to the tent's occupants.
Caballeron felt his blood go as cold as ice when he turned to see the pony opening the tent and saw two vibrant green eyes staring back at him from under a hood.
Daring Do did not have green eyes.
He saw them narrow at both him and Ahuizotl, before something flashed in the pony's hoof and Caballeron heard a sickening thunk! before he heard something heavy hitting the ground, he turned and saw it was Ahuizotl with a knife directly between his still-open eyes.
Caballeron nearly lost his stomach itself at the sight, but he had no time for throwing up, his brain had only one order that was important for him to follow:
Run.
And he did. Out of the back flap of the tent. As fast as his hooves could carry him.
He heard the sound of wings flapping behind him, gaining fast, and he realized his pursuer was a pegasus pony. That meant he had to get somewhere too difficult to fly, which would be hard to find, but he was so desperate to stay alive he prayed to Celestia herself he could find something. Anything.
As luck would have had it, he spotted a thick grove of trees to his left in the moonlight, and in his desperation he ran right into it. He kept running even after the flapping faded away, he kept running even after the only sounds he heard was his own panicked breathing and frantic hoofsteps, he did not stop running until his legs could literally run no more.
He turned his head to look behind him shortly after collapsing onto his haunches, breathing big gulps full of air, before he gave a smile of relief and a small chuckle of nervousness.
He had gotten away. He had escaped. Thank the Goddess of the Sun herself.
He turned to look back in the direction he was going, and what he saw mere inches in front of his face, were two eyes.
Two vibrant green eyes.
He never even had the chance to scream.
The figure watched as the Earth Pony convulsed on the ground in agony as his chest spilled blood to the ground, showing no reaction to the sight, merely waiting for the inevitable to happen. Eventually, the pony went still, and the light left his eyes. The job was done.
With that, the figure swept back the hood, and the face of mare looked down at the stallion she had just killed. Using her hoof, she reached down towards his blood-soaked shirt and took the bandanna from around his neck, placing it into her saddle bag with her teeth. She looked out towards where the camp was, taking note how hard it would be to carry the necklace from her other target away to prove to her client the job was done.
In the end, her wings spread out in a shape not dissimilar to that of a bat, before she took off for the camp, she would find out how to transport it when she got there.
Her job was done, that was all that mattered, it was time to collect her payment.
Chapter I: Long Days are Hard
Of the mansions in Canterlot, there was one that rarely saw it's owner in the early hours of the night, in fact: It could go entire weeks without seeing it's occupant in the early night. Ponies sometimes wondered what the mare who possessed it did on these nights to make her come home so late, some said she was partying, others said she was seeing a stallion that the public did not know of.
None of these ponies were correct.
The front door to the mansion cracked open at exactly 3:30 AM in the morning, revealing a hooded mare with green eyes in the threshold, who stepped into the entrance of the building with hooves that seemed to be dragging a little on the ground. With a grip of her hoof, the mare threw off the cloak onto a nearby rack traditionally used for coats, before using her back leg to push the door closed. What the cloak revealed was a Bat-Pony Mare no older than 30, who had a dark blue mane and a grey coat, who possessed a large pair of black-blue wings and green eyes that glowed in the darkness as she looked around to ensure none of her things had been disturbed.
Upon confirming all of her belongings were still in place, as she expected, she moved to check on her two maids and butler to make sure they were all asleep. She cracked the doors open as quietly as possible to each room, seeing the shapes in the covers on each bed that faintly resembled ponies, before closing them all just as silently. She made her way into the living room before lifting up her wing and pulling on a strap, loosening the sheath that held an extremely sharp dagger, before pulling it off with her teeth. She used her wings to launch herself up towards a large painting of herself hanging on the wall, using both of her hooves to gently lift the large frame off of it's holder and lowered to the ground, placing it there as gently as possible. She flew back up to where it hung, where behind was a large safe built into the wall, she used her hoof to enter the combination before opening the door.
Inside was enough weaponry to raid or protect Canterlot Castle. Crossbows, Crossbow Bolts, Swords, Daggers, Darts, Blowguns, the list went on. She inspected them all with her eyes before placing the sheathed dagger into the safe, and closing it once again. A quick spin of the dial reset the lock, and she flew back down to collect the frame. She had it made out of the lightest material possible, under the reason that she wanted to hang it up herself without help or magic, when the real reason was so that it did not take much effort to remove it. Being 10 hooves off the floor helped matters in hiding her mini-armory.
After hanging up the painting back onto the wall, she trotted her way into the kitchen, intending to quench her newfound thirst with a glass of fresh water. As she entered the kitchen she spotted the letter she had left on the counter the day prior, addressed to her from a Doctor she had visited the day before yesterday over her recent bouts of morning nausea.
Dear Moonlight Glow,
I am pleased to inform you that your test results have come in, and it is exciting news, you are having a foal!
Encased inside this envelope is a few documents that may answer any questions or concerns you may have.
Congratulations, and good luck, Miss Glow!
Sincerely,
Doctor Sterile Bandage.
She gave a deep sigh at reading the letter, she was pregnant, it was still hard for her to digest. She thought she had been careful with him that night, she thought that the contraceptives she was on would prevent this, but as though to spite her that stallion's seed beat the odds.
Abortion was not an option. She had already taken many lives in her days. Having the blood of her own child on her hooves was not going to happen.
Within a few short months, she would be unable to continue her work, at least until after the foal was born. After that.... She did not know what would happen.
She sighed again as she poured herself some water from a jug into a glass before setting the jug down and taking a sip from the glass.
Why did life have to be so bucking complicated?...
It was nearly 10 in the morning when she awoke, slowly rising out of her bed with a disheveled mane and eyes that were bagged. She got off of her bed and stretched mere moments before one of her maids, a Pegasus mare named Feather Duster, entered the room.
"Miss Glow! It's so good to see you came back in good health last night! As per usual, Silver Tray and his daughter are preparing your breakfast for you, and I have taken your mail into your study." She grinned.
Moonlight smiled. "What would I do without you ponies? Thank you very much, Feather, anything of major importance today in the mail?"
Feather shook her head. "No, ma'am, nothing that I could see."
Moonlight nodded. "Slow day, then, it looks like. How is your son today? Still recovering from that cold?"
Feather smiled. "Actually, I gave him that herbal tea you suggested last night, and his fever went down in a snap! He's much better now!"
Moonlight smiled. "Good. That's so nice to hear. How is your husband?"
"He's doing fine. The Weather Factory is overworking him a bit, though, he is hardly ever home on time... Plus his boss refuses to give him a raise!"
Midnight sighed. "That's Equestrian business for you. Ponies doing hard work with little appreciation."
Feather nodded.
"Still," Midnight continued. "We should focus on the positive! At least your son is better!"
Feather nodded again with a smile. "Do you need anything else, Miss Glow?"
Midnight shook her head. "No, that will be all, thank you."
Feather Duster nodded and turned to the door. She walked out of the room, leaving Midnight to her thoughts, as the Bat Pony went to do something with her mane. Something in her gut told her this was going to be a long day, so she might as well prepare herself to look presentable, even if she hoped it was wrong.
