A Newly Hooded Road to Walk

The train seemed more crowded than before. The same amount of ponies, all sitting where they usually would, but this time stress and uncertainty squeezed Fluttershy's chest. She was making the long treak back to her home town and after seven years, it had begun to fade further back into her mind, but always lingering. In the creed, there was nothing but the present for her, for anything else would drag her down from the task at hand. Thus, leaving out of the blue, her master's passing, and a romantic interest growing, leaving was a sudden weight. As always though, she chose to focus on what was in front of her, in order to keep herself in check, and in reality.

Flutter shy walked aboard wearing a long and light pink sundress and woven sun hat, in an attempt to look as innocent as possible (which was her typical persona out of the creed). She moved to her booth to find three stallions seated at the table, one on his own, occupying the aisle seat.

"Excuse me sir?" she asked politely

"Huh? what is it missy?" slurred the male, apparently intoxicated in an attempt to shorten the train ride.

"Might you scooch over for me? the window seat gives me terrible motion sickness."

"Ha! not today! I *burp* need the leg room! but if you sit on my *hick* lap for this first bumpy part I might change my mind. HAHaAhahA!" Him and the other two stallions laughed in drunken unison.

Flutter shy was beginning to grow impatient. "Preferably not" said Fluttershy with a fake chuckle, " but if you could let me sit here at first so I can get used to the train, we could switch off if it means so much."

"Are you gunna make me repeat myself! What? Just because you're a pretty-" The drunk was swiftly interrupted by a knee to the face. He flew back into the seat unconscious. The other stallions were utterly shocked by Fluttershy's sudden burst of violence. She simply smiled at them as if nothing happened, "He was spitting on my dress," she stated calmly. Fluttershy sat down and tried her best to sit the unconscious male upright, but left him slumped over the table.

As the ride dragged on, the stallions ignoring her and her deceptive vibe, Fluttershy began to wonder what the town would be like. A place can change a lot in seven years, especially after everything that had happened before and after her departure. She wondered what her friends were up to, since the the letters had stopped coming, and she had stopped sending them. Over the years she had only heard general news, Twilight getting her own palace and guards, Rainbow Dash coming in first in many pony racing tournaments, etc. After hearing some news she would write to congratulate them, but never getting an answer. Presently, she simply hoped an in-person reunion might bring out any old friendships between them.

The train began to slow as it pulled into the station. Fluttershy could hear far more noise at the station than she remembered, making her suspicious. She walked out onto the platform and into Ponyville in shock, finding the small modest town she had left had become a city. Tall buildings stretching out over the prairies that used to be, and new farms standing in place of some removed forest, with Twilights crystal tree palace standing tall as the city's pinnacle in the distance.

Fluttershy walked her bags over to a carriage, telling the driver to take her bags to her address, so that she could investigate the heavily changed Ponyville--something more alien that she'd hoped. It grew even more so as she walked around, noticing many posters of warning and propaganda jargon, focusing on the "Shadowed Menace." The phrase meant little to Fluttershy, but it was the associated symbol that chilled her to the bone: The Brotherhood symbol. Fluttershy decided to ask someone for an explanation of the posters.

"E-excuse me? Ma'am?" implied Fluttershy, catching a vendor's attention.

"Yeah?"

"What is this 'Shadowed Menace' from the posters?"

"Ugh, some gang of murderin' bastards after any honest government official, that's why the princess is so heavily guarded. We're all peaceful ponies around here, so why they feel the need to stir up such trouble is beyond me. So are you from out of town?"

Fluttershy felt as if she was going to explode from so much exposure to ignorance, but she couldn't blame the mare, or any resident of Ponyville. The truth of the Brotherhood was entirely confidential to them and themselves only, and for good reason too. If the Brotherhood were a public existence, than their actions in retaliation to Templars would be highly frowned upon and rued, thus would them act in close relation to the Templar's tactics (something not even remotely acceptable).

"Oh! yes sorry," Fluttershy realized she hadn't answered the vendor, "thanks for clearing that up for me." She then bought an apple from the mare and moved on into the city, a slight nervous shake plaguing her hands as she realized how intense of enemy territory she was walking through.

I need to know more on this city wide issue... Thought Fluttershy. She was confused as to how the Brotherhood was still such a prominent thought in Ponyville, since the last official Assassin contract in the city was seven years ago involving Silvershade. The only way she could uncover anything more and concrete was from the smartest pony she knew, and the current princess of Ponyville: Twilight...