Assassinverse: Under The Red Hood

by Hopelight

Rating: mature
Tags: Adventure, Crossover, Human, Anthro, Main 6, Gore, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Dark, Alternate Universe, Other, Starlight Glimmer, Sex, Spike, Gilda
Length: 7169

When Traditionalists start dropping like flies not long after Twilight Sparkle’s death, all of Equestria finds itself asking one question: Who is the "stallion" under the Red Hood?

Twilight Sparkle, newly minted alicorn Princess of Equestria, has been slain in her sleep by four of her own bodyguards who were on the payroll of Traditionalists who were against the reforms Twilight was attempting to bring about. Reforms that would've seen the power and influence of several Nobles houses had had for centuries stripped away as the common folk were allowed to have a say in the Equestrian Parliament and were allowed to marry non-ponies. As a result, tensions between the Progressives who supported Twilight and the Traditionalists have become increasingly strained and are dangerously close to the breaking point.

But now, it’s the Traditionalists who are dying.  Strange projectiles that seem to have been custom-made and launched at high speeds have been found in many a victim, along with their necks snapped and bones broken. Some have stab wounds from a knife of unknown origin, and even shuriken embedded in their chest. The only description any survivors, who had been tortured in such unbearable cruel ways and branded with some kind of bat, can give is that the killer was "a man in a red mask with a hood." Before long, all of Equestria is asking one question: who is the stallion under the Red Hood?

Now, follow the journey of Jason Todd, alias The Red Hood, stranded in this world forevermore following a botched contract as he hunts down the Traditionalists and assembles a new team of Outlaws from the beings in this world All in all, one thing is for sure.

This is going to be a terrible waste of bullets.

Contains Red Hood x Gilda, implied Flashlight, one-sided Twijack, and eventual Spike X Starlight Glimmer. Rated M because blood and violence.

Published 2017-06-22 22:50:06 UTC
Last updated 2017-06-27 18:19:20 UTC

This Is Going To Be A Terrible Waste Of Bullets...

Author's Note

Greetings Gotham, Joker here! Welcome to my brand-new Red Hood in the Assassinverse story! This is something I've toyed with before, but never actually went through with. Not much else to say beyond that. Enjoy the show!

This Is Going To Be A Terrible Waste Of Bullets...

Manehattan-Car-neigh-ge Hall

A anthro unicorn stallion with a sleek blonde mane and tail wearing a black tuxedo with a red rose in the buttonhole threw open the door leading to the roof of the theatre, a terrified look on his face and he took to the stairs two at a time, constantly looking over his shoulder, as though he was being chased by something that was hot on his heels.

Hey, there. Nice to know some ponies or people or griffons or whatever you are have an interest in my origin story. Who am I? I’ve been called many things while I’ve been here. I’ve been called a murderer, a monster, a demon from Tartarus, nigh unkillable. Progress incarnate, that’s a new one, I gotta say. I’ve even been called “a true hero who damns the guilty with true justice.” Admittedly, that one tickled me pink. But, even so, none of those are who I truly am. Truth is, I’m a hunter.

The stallion doubled over, out of breath as sweat dripped off of him. He’d never run this hard or this fast in his life, having used magic and his servants to attend to him, and wearing a tuxedo certainly wasn’t helping matters any. Taking as long a break as he dared to take with whatever was chasing him right behind him, the stallion started running again.

Heh, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. What the fuck is a hunter doing in the peaceful land of Equestria, the land of ponies where friendship is magic, blah, blah, blah. Truth is, that’s all a bunch of PR bullshit or minotaur shit, or whatever kind of shit you want it to be, but it’s still shit either way. It hasn’t been that way since they made that Twilight Sparkle chick a Princess and she started pushing for her reforms, only to be spat upon and ultimately killed in her sleep for fighting for what she believed in on the orders of a bunch of spineless cowards too afraid to let go of the power they’d had for centuries, or even kill Twilight while she was awake. The same cowards I’m hunting now. And they way things are going, there will be no going back to the way things were.

Throwing the door directly in front of him open, the stallion emerged onto the rooftop of Car-neigh-gie Hall, the one facing away from the front entrance. He ran towards the edge of the building, and made read ready to use his magic to teleport to the rooftop of the building directly across from him.

Then he heard a cra-chink noise come from directly behind him, causing him to freeze in place and slowly turn on the spot, and when he saw what was standing right behind him, a look of the utmost horror crept into his face as a silent scream left him.

So, who am I? I’m the cure for the sick, sad world that Equestria has become, thanks to these Traditionalists and Equestrians First scumbags.

Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere as the unicorn stallion was shot directly in the head. As his body fell to the ground, the being holding the gun was revealed. He wore a black leather jacket that held many items, ranging from shuriken to flashbang grenades to a branding device, and the hood of which was pulled over his head. Underneath the jacket, the being wore dark gray body armor with the insignia of a red bat of some kind on the chest, black pants with a belt that held several different holsters and sheaths, three of which held a gun identical to the one he held in his hand and two different knives. He also wore black leather combat boots and black leather gloves. Underneath the hood, the being wore a red helmet of some kind that concealed his identity, had a voice filter, and made his eyes seem as though they were glowing pure white.

My name is Jason Todd, but you can call me the Red Hood. And this is my story.

…

Canterlot Castle-Three Years Earlier

A purple anthro Alicorn with a dark blue mane and tail, both of which had a magenta stripe in them, entered one of the vast guest bedrooms within Canterlot Castle, a thoroughly depressed look on her face. She wore an elegant lavender dress, a pink diamond necklace, and brown sandals with heels. Upon her head was a golden tiara. This was Twilight Sparkle, recently-crowned Princess of Equestria… although, at the moment, she was wishing she was still an ordinary Unicorn, getting ready for bed in her old treehouse/library home, back before Tirek had smashed it to splinters… back before she had to put up with all of this hatred and anger towards her and her politics.

I just don’t understand it… why do they hate me so much? thought Twilight as she striped down to her black bra and panties. It’s not like I’ve done anything horrible to them… I’m just trying to make sure that Equestria isn’t left behind in this ever-evolving world we live in now. I mean, right now Equestria is laughably out gunned, lovers of two different species can’t get married, no matter how much they want to, and the Council is made up of royals and nobles who only have interest in themselves rather than the common good.

As Twilight snuggled into the blankets and bedsheets, she felt a wave of hopelessness wash over her. Maybe I’m not meant to be a Princess of Equestria is this is how ponies are going to treat me… maybe I should just step down…

No, Twilight. You can’t step down now. Do you really think all of this hatred will just go away because you’re not a Princess anymore? a stronger voice told Twilight deep in her subconscious

Immediately, Twilight reached into a bedside dresser drawer and pulled out three pictures. One of them was of her and her friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. The second was of her and the other three Princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, all of them looking very formal and elegant in their dresses. The third was a picture of a pegasus stallion with orange fur and a blue mane and tail wearing a Royal Guard dress uniform. This was Flash Sentry, Twilight’s secret coltfriend… although, she was starting to suspect that he was getting ready to propose to her.

Twilight thought for a moment about what this might mean for them, given all the hate she’d received. Flash must truly and deeply love her if he was willing to risk going through all of the same minotaur shit she’d been through… and if he wanted to start a family with her.

Twilight smiled. As long as she had this group of ponies by her side, she could take anything those nay-sayers and Traditionalists threw at her.

And with that, Twilight returned the pictures to the drawer, and closed her eyes… completely unaware of what was going on right under her muzzle.

…

“Well? Are we going to do this thing or what?” grumbled a voice in the shadows to one of its four fellows.

“Are you really sure about this? I mean, we’re about to MURDER A PRINCESS-”

“Shut up! Do you want to get us arrested? Besides, we’ve got the one thing that can make our troubles that much easier.”

As the voice said this, a faint gleam of light from a shining blade appeared. A gasp was heard.

“Is that… is that really-”

“Orichalum. The boss stallion had this thing forged just for this sole purpose… something about getting some mare drunk enough not to stand on her own two hooves or something like that. Anyways, this is our room.”

As the five shadowy figures reached the bedroom, they silently opened the door. There, sleeping soundly on the bed, was Princess Twilight Sparkle.

“Well? Who wants the honors?” asked one of the voices.

“I’ll do it.”

“She’s all yours, Gallant.”

As the single figure crept silently into the room, the orichalum blade in his hand, they felt as though a huge weight was resting upon their shoulders. Finally, the figure clamped his hand down over Twilight’s nose and mouth, causing her to awaken.

“Get on her! Keep her down!”

As the other four figures held Twilight down, the princess tried to muster up some magic. However, before the princess could muster the magic to fend off her assassin, the orichalam blade slashed across her throat, cutting deep into her flesh. As blood gushed out of the wound in her throat, Twilight stared in horror at her attacker, unable to scream or even breathe as they continued to stab her. Finally, after a moment of fruitless struggling, Twilight went limp and cold, and her eyes turned glassy. She was dead.

“Good job, now let’s get the buck out of here!”

And with that, the five killers ran for it, leaving their handy work behind.
…
Princess Celestia, an anthro alicorn mare with alabaster fur and a mane that resembled the lush green fields, the open blue sky, and the pink of love and compassion, yawned and stretched as she woke up and climbed out of her vast four-poster bed and made her way over to the balcony on the other side. Stepping onto the cold white marble, Celestia channeled her energies and focused them at the blazing golden sunset. With seemingly no effort at all, Celestia raised the sun to such a position that gravity would be able to take care of the rest until sundown, where Luna would take over and raise her moon.

Celestia smiled. Looks like it’s gonna be a beautiful day… considering, she thought to herself, thinking back to all of her prized pupil’s troubles as of late. I don’t understand it. If these Traditionalists can’t bring themselves to trust Twilight, then why can’t they trust me? It’s not like I’m in any danger. If Twilight really wanted to seize control of Equestria, she would’ve done it by now, and considering how strong she already was as a unicorn, I don’t think Luna and I could handle her now as an alico-

Celestia’s inner dialogue was interrupted by a member of her guard bursting into her room, a mingled look of panic and embarrassment at seeing his leader in her nightclothes. “P-Princess C-C-C-Celestia… f-f-f-forgive m-m-m-me,” stammered the guard as he started to turn beet red.

Celestia frowned. What could’ve possibly happened to get this guard all worked up like this. “It’s all right, just tell me what’s wrong,” she said.

“I-I-I-I-It’s P-P-P-P-Princess T-Twilight… sh-she’s b-b-been… m-m-m-m-m-murdered!”

Celestia could almost hear the glass in her mind breaking into a million pieces. Part of her wanted to dismiss and demote the guard because of his lies… and yet, the look on his face and the way he was acting was very, very hard to fake.

“T-Take me to her,” said Celestia, doing her best to sound dignified.

The guard was taken aback. “Your Majesty, are you-” he began to say, only to be drowned out by Celestia’s anguished voice.

“TAKE ME TO HER, I NEED TO SEE HER!” wailed Celestia.

Nodding to show he understood, the guard led Princess Celestia out of her room and through the halls to Twilight’s room, where a small crowd had gathered, mostly consisting of royal guardsponies.

“Let me through! Let me through!” yelled Celestia.

The crowd made way for her. And then Celestia saw her. Her worst fears had been confirmed.

Princess Twilight Sparkle lay on her bed as a couple of guardsponies moved around her, examining the crime scene, while a third, who had orange fur and a dark blue mane and tail, sobbed uncontrollably and stroked Celestia’s pupil’s mane. Blood was splattered all over the bedsheets, and there was a dark slash across Twilight’s throat.

Princess Celestia couldn’t believe it. She closed her eyes and called upon a healing spell. Twilight’s injuries were repaired but the alicorn did not awaken. Celestia tried a shock spell. Twilight’s body shook and vibrated as though it’d received and electrical shock, but still she did not awaken.

No matter what the tear-soaked Princess Celestia tried, she could not get any response from her beloved student. Finally, she was forced to face the truth.

Twilight Sparkle had been slain in her sleep.

“Twilight… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” wailed Celestia as she fell to her knees and wept.

…

One Week Later..

At the request of Princess Celestia, the Pegasi Weather Patrol had made the sky almost completely hidden under a shroud of dark gray clouds that poured rain upon those adorned in black who’d arrived for the state funeral for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia watched on as more and more ponies filed past the glass coffin that contained the purple princess, who looked so at peace, wearing her coronation gown, her hands forever holding a bouquet of enchanted flowers that wouldn’t wilt for a hundred years… and she couldn’t stop herself from weeping. She blamed herself for bringing this fate upon her most faithful student. If she hadn’t made her a Princess, none of this would have happened.

Finally, once everyone was seated before the large podium that had been set up, it was time for the eulogies.

"Fillies and gentlecolts... today, we are here to celebrate the life of one very special unicorn, who ascended to become an alicorn princess... only to be taken from us in such a cruel fashion," said Celestia, a glistening tear on her cheek as she began her speech, pausing a moment before she could find her voice. "Twilight Sparkle was... like a daughter to me. I remember the day I met her, the day of her entrance examination... she seemed so happy, so full of life, so eager to learn new things… I could use so many words but they would never be able to truly convey how wonderful she is…. except maybe stubborn. Once she was sure of something she set to it…. and perhaps loyal as well….. I-I’m sorry… forgive me.” Celestia said as she ran off the stage, tears falling behind her, along with Pinkie Pie and Luna.

Fluttershy, a butter yellow Anthro pegasus with a pink mand tail clad in a black dress with matching heels, swallowed her pride and, with as much courage as she could muster, took the stage.

"H-Hi... I'm Fluttershy," murmured Fluttershy, her knees shaking from both fear and sadness. "T-Twilight... was... one of my... best... friends... and... I MISS HER SO MUCH!" she wailed at the top of her lungs, causing several ponies attending the funeral to jump. Mere moments later, Fluttershy passed out from both her stage fright and sadness. The rest of the funeral, compared to the beginning, however, was really quite uneventful.

Finally, it was time for Shining Armor to do his part… something that, no matter how many times he had to it, never got any easier: honor guard. Today, however, he wasn’t just saying good-bye to one of his comrades… he was saying goodbye to the baby sister he’d watched grow up from the day she was born.

“H-honor guard!” he barked, his voice choked up. As one, the guard ponies who stood in their black dress uniforms snapped to attention, their horns glowing. “Ready… aim… FIRE!” barked Shining Armor.

As one, the soldiers fired off colorful blasts of magic, which exploded into fireworks with a loud Boom!

“Ready… aim… FIRE!”

Boom!

“Ready… aim… FIRE!”

Boom!

“Ready… aim… FIRE!”

With the last Boom! Everypony began to depart the funeral and return home. Not among them was Spike Sparkle, who was a well-built purple and green dragon as tall as a full-grown stallion, despite still being a teenager. He was clad in a black suit and tie as he approached his mother’s glass coffin and sank to his knees beside it, weeping.

“I promise you, Mom. I will get stronger and I will avenge you. I’ll make these Traditionalist bastards pay for what they’ve done to you with their lives,” Spike whispered once his tears had been reduced to dry sobs.

”And I’m sure you will, one day.”

Spike slowly looked up, and saw a being not dissimilar to the beings living in the world that magical mirror he and Twilight had once journeyed through so long ago walking towards him. Spike wasn’t familiar with the material his dark clothes and helmet were made from, but something about him made Spike think of a soldier, or some other kind of warrior.

Red Hood knelt down beside Spike and looked at him. He knew the pain the young dragon was feeling all too well. It was the pain of losing the only family you’d ever known, or had hoped to know one day.

”You, uh, you take after your father?” Red Hood asked Spike, his mask filtering his voice.

“What? N-no,” said Spike, sniffling as he spoke. “Twilight’s not my birth mother. She adopted me after she hatched me as part of her entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”

”Ah, I see. Why don’t you tell me more about her? It might make you feel better.”

Spike heaved a sigh and began to tell Red Hood all about his mother, about the adventures they’d been on, the friends they made, the foes they’d vanquished, and Twilight’s ascendency to Princesshood.

And that, according to Spike, was went things went downhill in a hurry. Once she had been made a Princess, she started pushing for reforms that would allow the common folk to have a say in what goes on in the Equestrian Parliament, replace Equestria’s strictly magical lifestyle with a more technological one, and allow lovers of two different species to get married, among other things. Needless to say, this did not go over well with a large amount of the population, namely most of the Nobles whose families had been in power for centuries, although several of the more Noble houses actually supported Twilight’s reforms. The hatred of the fraction of what had become known as “The Traditionalists,” had nearly all but broken Twilight. And then, only a week prior, Twilight had been slain in her sleep by rogue guards on the payroll of some Traditionalist.

As Red Hood listened to Spike’s story, he felt a growing hatred for the Traditionalists build up within him. Once Spike had finished his story, Red Hood turned the young drake to look at him.

”Listen to me. I swear on my life that I hunt down the ones who killed your mother, the ones who hired them, and pretty much everyone you hate in this world, and send them off to Hell. I will search this entire Goddamn planet if I have to. And one day, when you’re older and you’re ready, you can help me to do it. Understand?” Red Hood said with the utmost seriousness in his voice.

Spike gazed into this strange being’s eyes, feeling slightly unnerved by what he had just said, and nodded to show he understood.

Before Red Hood could say anything further, a female voice called out, causing Spike to look behind him.

“Spike! Come in! You’ll catch cold out there!”

“That’s my aunt, I-” said Spike as he looked back to Red Hood.

Only to find that he was talking to air.

…

As the rain continued to pour down from the skies and lightning flashed across it, Red Hood made his way through Canterlot via the rooftops with help from his grapple gun, searching for anything that could give him a clue as to where his targets, who he’d identified by the various wanted posters he’d seen around the city, could be hiding.

Come out, come out, wherever you are, thought Red Hood as he scoured the city, searching for his targets. It wasn’t long, however, before he noticed that there were a couple of men who seemed to be making an awful lot of effort to keep their faces hidden.

Bingo, thought Red Hood, calling upon his helmet’s Tactical Mode to zoom in and get a better look. Sure enough, Red Hood immediately recognized the two stallions as ones who were involved with Princess Twilight’s murder. As he began to follow them from the shadows, Red Hood was able to listen in on their conversation thanks to the devices in his helmet.

”Killing that 'Princess’ was easier than I thought it would be. Guess it goes to show you that she should have never tried to change anything.”

“Yeah… but, all the same, I sure hope it was worth it to Blueblood. He’d do anything to get his father’s love, and this proves it,” the second stallion said.

“Can’t help but agree with you there, man. Hard not to show your son at least some form of respect after saving everything they’ve ever known,” the first stallion said as he and his cohort arrived at a run-down building and entered.

Red Hood grappled his way to the top of said building and looked down upon them through a skylight in the roof. Inside the room below were two other stallions, who were soon joined by the two that Red Hood had been following.

...

“Did anyone see you?” asked Gallant Heart asked one of the guards who’d just entered.

“No, Gallant, no one saw us,” said one of the guards who’d just arrived.

“Good,” said Gallant, letting out a sigh of relief.

“How long do we have to stay here, Heart?”

“We wait until the shift changes, then we make a run for it out of the city and hole up some place safe until we can find the means to get away from Equestria,” said Gallant. I never should’ve agreed to this… but, he threatened my baby brother, what else was I supposed to do? thought Gallant before something crashed behind him, pulling him out of his thoughts.

Underneath the now smashed skylight in a superhero landing pose was a mysterious figure dressed in black with what seemed to be a red bat of some kind on his chest. Underneath the hood of his jacket, the figure wore a red helmet of some kind. The guards surrounded Red Hood, drawing their swords and taking up their starting stances.

“Flashy entrance. Tell me, have you by any chance heard of a door, or do you just like pulling glass out of your shorts?” one of the guards asked the masked figure.

”At least I’m not one of the idiots who brought a really big knife…” the figure said, before, almost like lightning he pulled out what seemed to be two identical projectile weapons of some kind and pressed something on them that presumably made them ready to fire. ”...to a gunfight.”

The sight of the strange weapons made the guards falter a second, before one of them lunged forward with his sword. Red Hood sidestepped out of the, grabbed the guard by the sword arm, and busted a cap in his skull. Two more guards were to meet very similar fates within minutes, until only a terrified Gallant Heat was left alive as he darted for the door.

”Ah-ah-ah! You’re not getting away that easy!” said Red Hood, firing his grapple gun, which was set to “ZK Mode,” and used it to pull himself toward Gallant, kicking him in the back and knocking him to the ground, where Red Hood held a gun to his head.

”Now, you’re gonna tell me who wanted you and your friends to kill Twilight Sparkle, and you’re gonna do it before I lose my patience and go looking for answers elsewhere,” Red Hood told Gallant as he cocked the gun.

“All right! All right! But, you gotta understand, they threatened to kill my brother if I didn’t go through with it-” said Gallant before Red Hood pushed the gun harder against his head.

”Your brother’s life is not your concern right now. I am, so I’d cut to the chase if I were you.”

“All right, all right! It was Prince Blueblood! Prince Blueblood is the guy you want! Please!”

”Anyone else? Job like this, he must’ve had some friends help him out,” snarled Red Hood.

“Yeah, yeah, he did! Lord Ivory Shell, Lord Cosmo and his father, Lady Sundancer, and Lord Rooternburg were all in on the plot! That’s all I know! That’s all I know, I swear!” screamed Gallant Heart as he started to cry like a little girl.

Red Hood got up off of Gallant and shot the stallion right between the eyes, killing him almost instantly.

”Thanks for the tip. I’d have done it behind a barn, but I didn’t have time,” Red Hood said to apparently no one before he turned to leave the way he came in.

On his way out, however, something shiny caught his eye. Upon investigating, Red Hood discovered that it was a knife, very well made like his own, although he couldn’t identify the metal the blade was made of. He could, however, hazard a guess as to who the blood belonged to.

”Nice knife. Gonna have to clean it off when I get back to the Hideout, though,” muttered Red Hood as he placed the knife in an empty sheath and made his escape.

Who Are The Traditionalists?

Later That Evening…

“What happened here?” asked Shining Armor as he entered the room where the bodies of Twilight’s killers lay, being examined by forensics as his replacement as Captain of the Guard, a thestral mare by the name of Evening Glory approached him.

“We’re… not entirely sure, sir. Do I still call you ‘sir,’ or do I call you ‘Your Majesty?’” Evening asked Shining Armor, shaking his hand.

Shining chuckled. “Sir will do,” he replied.

“Okay, sir, as I was saying, we’re not entirely sure what happened here. I mean, clearly, there has to be a reason these guys were murdered,” said Evening as a third guard approached them.

“Uh, Captain,” the guard said, whispering something in Evening Glory’s ear, causing her eyes to widen.

“You sure it’s them?” Evening asked. The guard nodded. Evening turned to face Shining. “It’s them.”

“‘Them?’ What do you mean, ‘them?’” asked Shining Armor.

“These are the rogue guards who murdered Princess Twilight. Shining, these are your sister’s killers,” she told her former superior.

Shining Armor said nothing for a long time as this news sunk in. He probably wouldn’t have said anything for even longer, before a forensics analyst called out to them.

“Captain, you might want to have a look at this,” the analyst said.

Shining and Evening made their way over to the analyst who’d spoken and squatted down. In the analyst’s hand was a small glass container.

“What do you make of this?” the analyst asked.

Shining and Evening squinted their eyes. Inside the container was what looked like some kind of small metal pellet. Except, it didn’t look like any pellet either of them had ever seen before.

“What is that thing?” asked Shining Armor.

“No idea. Pulled it, along with a few dozen more out of this one’s chest. The others show similar injuries, all of them fatal,” explained the analyst.

“Sounds like there’s a ‘but’ coming,” said Evening.

“Yes, Captain. In order to do this type of damage, these things would’ve had to have been launched faster than a Wonderbolt. And judging by the fact that all of wounds that these things were in were fatal, whoever or whatever launched them knew what they were doing.”

Evening looked over at Shining Armor. “What in Tartarus could’ve done this?” she asked her former superior.

Shining Armor stood up and turned to face the troops he once commanded. “As much as I don’t want to, considering that they’ve just done the Princesses, my family, and Progressives as a whole a public service by killing these oathbreakers, that doesn’t give this guy the right to murder. We need to find them take them down before they hurt anypony else.”

“Agreed,” said Evening Glory, nodding her head. “And to do that, we need to find out who these killers were working for and get to them before this nutcase does. All right, men, let’s pack it up and move it out!”

…

Red Hood pulled opened the door of his abandoned steel mill hideout. There wasn’t really much that could be said about it just by looking around, aside from the lumpy hide-a-bed that someone had left on the side of the street. Not far from the sofa were several stacks of crates that made the trip with him, and by an insane coincidence, just so happened to be filled to the brim with the supplies he needed to make his custom-made bullets and other projectile weapons.

Titanium composite hollow point bullets with a C4 kicker. Fastest, most explosive ammo in the world. Well, my world anyway. Judging from the fact that the soldiers at that Princess’s funeral were all carrying crossbows, and that I just killed a bunch of horse-people who were using swords, I’m guessing it’s probably the ONLY ammo in this world. thought Red Hood, a smirk hidden by his mask. Also coming from his world were a couple AK-47s, a shotgun or two, a bazooka with some spare ammo, and a variety of grenades.

Red Hood reached up, lowered his jacket’s hood, and pressed a button on his mask, allowing the pressure hatches to open so that he could remove it, followed swiftly by the eye mask underneath. Jason Todd looked to be in his early 20s with short black hair and bright blue eyes. He tossed both his masks into a corner and flopped down on the couch, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath. Opening his eyes once more, grabbed a few sheets of old paper that had been lying around and got to work, making the start of his list. Although the little dragon he’d met had told him about Twilight’s reforms, and although he’d gotten the names of those behind Twilight Sparkle’s death from one of her killers, not to mention he’d taken ownership of the knife that killed her, they were only a part of the problem. It was the Traditionalists as a whole that were the cause for Twilight’s tragic demise. They were the reason that poor kid was now an orphan, the reason six… mares, he supposed, who should’ve been lifelong friends, had been whittled down to five. Even those who had no part in Twilight’s murder were, in effect, guilty by association. Any reservations or doubts they had were thrown aside purely for the sake of maintaining their power and influence.

Well, I’m not going to take their power away, thought Jason as he jotted down the names that assassin had given him, and began making a conspiracy web. But, I’ll take everything else, their pathetic lives included. They traded their honor for power and influence. They will not be missed. He started putting up some pictures that were made for each of the traditionalists. He began connecting them with string and needles, making sure they stayed where they were. Once he was finished he looked at the finished web… near best he could tell these bastards weren’t that much different from Bludhaven politicians. You can get the small fry bastards but if you leave the bigger monsters on top you’re only nipping the problem at the bud.

I’ll start with the ones behind Twilight’s death first. Then, I’ll deal with the others before going after the ringleader behind all this, thought Jason, gazing at the center of the web he’d spun, where, instead of a picture, there was nothing.

Something crawled its way up from the depths of Jason’s worst memories… the first time he and Batman met the Joker. Bruce, his predecessor as Robin Dick Grayson, and himself had hammered the Mob to the point of desperation, and in that desperation they turned to a man they didn’t fully understand. A man who wanted nothing more than to watch the world burn while he snacked on some popcorn. What were the odds that these Traditionalists wouldn’t do the same?

I can’t afford to worry about that now. That’s future Red Hood’s problem. If and when it happens, I’ll deal with it then. Right now, my concern is with these bastards, thought Jason as his gazed wandered over to a picture of a mare, Lady Sundancer.

And I know just where to start…

…

Lady Sundancer, who was unicorn mare with a sleek orange and yellow mane and tail, with narrow-rimmed glasses, a crisp suit and skirt, and black heels made her way out of the Parliament Building with an almost enraged look on her face. The usurper had been dealt with, Celestia was safe from being overthrown, and all was well again.

Until that meeting she was just in. Celestia had informed the whole of Parliament that she was taking Executive Action, in that every last one of Twilight’s reforms would be made the law of the land, stating that her death would not be in vain.

“How… how dare she… after seeing how pointless her plans were she still… UGH!” Sundancer growled as she stomped back to her home. “That ungrateful cow. She doesn’t see the damage that whorse will cause… But she will. She has to… this will not have been pointless.”

As she arrived at her manor house, grunting and groaning all the way there, and opened the door, she went to turn on her lights.

Only to discover that they wouldn’t turn on.

Suspicious, Sundancer made her way over to a nearby stand, opened it with one hand, and pulled out a small crossbow. She put a bolt in and got it ready to fire as she cautiously made her way through her house looking for the intruder she suspected was inside.

“Whoever’s there? I promise that you will regret breaking in today.” Sundancer growled. “I’ve had a really bad day and am not in the mood.”

“We all had a bad day at that meeting.” A voice said, startling Sundancer who jumped and fired her bolt, the arrow nearly piercing the speaker’s head.

“Are you crazy?! I could’ve killed you!” said Sundancer.

“My apologies. I didn’t mean to take you by surprise, my dear. But, none the less, we have another problem that needs to be dealt with outside of that merry band of fools who think themselves national heroes,” the speaker said.

“Problems? What kind of problems?”

“It seems the guards we hired to put an end to Twilight Sparkle’s reforms have been met with a rather violent end of their own by someone in a red mask and hood, using weapons technology far in advance to our own,” the speaker said, placing a small container holding a small metal pellet of some kind on the table.

Sundancer raised an eyebrow as she examined the pellet. “How is that possible? Not even those filthy-half breed griffons have anything like this.”

“There’s more. Whoever or whatever this being is, he got a certain mole to talk, naming names. Including yours. We need to step up our plans if we are to put an end to these so-called heroes before this… Red Hood comes to visit you and the rest of our associates. Make no mistake, Sundancer. There is little to no chance that you’ll be walking away from an encounter with this creature alive. He even went as far as to kill Gallant Heart, even after he told him why he went through with the hit.”

Sundancer smirked. “Sounds to me this guy’s a few apples short of a bushel. What are we going to do to deal with him?”

“I’ll take care of that. In the meantime, focus on the task at hand. If you’ll excuse me, I have business to attend to elsewhere. Good night, Lady Sundancer.”

A small glow came from the direction of the speaker’s voice, before there was a bright flash of light. Once Sundancer’s eyes had cleared up, the light were on and the speaker was nowhere to be found. And there was a crossbow arrow in the wall.

…

“ANOTHER!” Rainbow yelled in a slurred tone as she slammed her wooden mug to the ground, causing it to break into splinters. “I ain’t drunk yet.”

“Ma’am you had TEN drinks over the last few minutes. If I let you keep going you’re going to get alcohol poisoning.” The bartender said as he denied Dash her drink.

“I-I’ll tells ya… I’m an Element of Harmony and a future Wonderbolt. Ya ain’t gonna deny me this.” Rainbow snarled as she tried reaching for a drink but the bouncer grabbed her.

“I think it’s time you left ma’am.” He told her before taking her to the door and throwing her out the pub.

“Y-yeah?! WELL BUCK YOU TOO!” She shouted as she tripped over herself and fell onto some mud. With a little bit of effort, she took to the air and made her way back over to her cloud home, weaving like the drunken sailor she was. Or flier, as the case may be. No sooner had she reached her home than she collapsed on all fours and began to vomit profusely. Once she’d finally let out all her demons, she crawled her way to her front door and opened it.

The interior was a great big mess. From the looks of things, it looked like the week or so since she’d found out that Twilight had been murdered had really done a number on her. But, that was only half the story. About the day she died, Rainbow Dash had gone to Twilight to ask her to use her newfound role and authority to get her onto the Wonderbolts. Twilight, of course, had refused, and the two of them had had a big fight over the issue.

The last words Rainbow had ever said to Twilight had been “I hate you!”

Now, she was never going to get the chance to make that better between them, thanks to the bucking Traditionalists who couldn’t see that Twilight was just trying to help make things better.

As Rainbow Dash tried to make her way up to her bedroom to sleep off tonight’s booze, she heard something behind her. But, being as drunk as she was, the noise didn’t register with her. But, what happened next most certainly did.

Someone threw a rope around Rainbow’s neck and pulled the ends together, tightening the cord around her throat. Rainbow choked and gagged, desperate for air. As she did so, she heard a female voice speak from behind her, causing Rainbow to look behind her and see two glowing yellow eyes behind her.

“You have no idea how good this feels, Dash. How long I’ve been waiting to do this for what you did to me. Hell, I’d have done this for free, but you know what they say, ‘if you’re good at something, never do it for free. Thanks to you, I’ve reinvented myself into the perfect weapon. And now, I’ve killed you with it. Good-bye, Rainbow Dash. It hasn’t been a pleasure.”

As Rainbow’s face started to turn an unhealthy shade of blue and her vision started to turn black, she had only one thought on her mind.

Twilight, I’m sorry… forgive me…

With a final shuddering gasp, Rainbow’s body fell to the ground, her eyes glassy and staring with tears leaking down her face.

The figure behind her chuckled. This was just too easy. Now, the real work began…

…

Okay…. you can do this. You can do this. It’s just a dumb apology. Gilda Gruff thought to herself as she got off her train. She had heard of the recent assassination of Twilight and knew things were tense but… she needed to do this. She made a mess from last time and wanted to fix things and step one was to ask forgiveness.

As she made her way in the direction towards Rainbow’s house, she drew more than a few funny looks, either because she was a griffon or because they recognized her. She wore a black leather jacket with a white t-shirt underneath, tight black jeans, and black leather boots.

“So you’re back huh?” A voice said. Gilda paused and turned to see Pinkie who was looking at her with a… sorta mad face of her.

“Listen I’m not here to cause any trouble I promise. I’m…. I’m sorry okay?” Gilda said as she put her claws up in defense. “I’m actually here to… apologize… especially towards you and Dash… what I did was… it was really uncool.”

“.... you really mean it?” Pinkie asked as her face softened a little bit.

“Yeah…. so uh…. yeah I suck at apologies a little but I am sorry.” Gilda said as she opened her wings and flew off. Pinkie smiled a little as she flew away… happy to see that Gilda was opening herself up a little more. She then chuckled a little when Gilda had to readjust her flight towards Rainbow’s home.

When she got to the empty field where Rainbow’s cloud home was, she caught a whiff of a disgusting smell, and looked to see a large puddle of vomit of varying age down beneath the cloud home.

Whoa. Rainbow is really taking that Twilight chick’s murder hard, thought Gilda, who was slightly repulsed by the vomit puddle, but somehow knew that this meant Rainbow needed a friend now more than ever. Swallowing her pride, and pinching her nose, she landed at Rainbow’s front door and knocked with her free hand. “Rainbow! Rainbow! It’s me! It’s Gilda! Look, I need to talk to you!”

She kept at it for the better part of five minutes until both her claws were sore. Finally, she decided to screw being proper and opened the door herself.

What she saw inside chilled her to the bone. Rainbow was there, but she wasn’t drunk off her plot or incredibly hung over.

She was…

“RAINBOW!”

Author's Note

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is all she wrote for this chapter! So, I'd like to thank my good friend VampDash for coming onboard for this project. He, like Hopelight, is honestly a better friend than I deserve. Also, thank you to those of you who saw fit to support this project, and I hope I can count on your supposrt again in chapter 3 when Red Hood investigates Rainbow's death and faces off against his first enemy! And remember: dying is easy, comedy is hard!