The Dulling of a Blade

Assassinations in Canterlot were always far more difficult than virtually anywhere else. The whole city and its airspace was heavily guarded, any pony in their right mind always made sure to have their own guards if they could afford it, and with the recent rise in contract killings it was foolish to go anywhere the guards couldn’t go.

Dusk Rider, however, knew Canterlot like the back of her hoof. Her bright blue eyes glistened in the moonlight as she overlooked the barracks of the Royal Equestiran Army. These barracks were meant primarily for trainees and recruits, but senior officers were present there too. One officer in particular, Officer Bulwark, was on Dusk’s list. The pure white dragony ran a blue-tinted hoof through her mane, taking a deep breath. “Right…” She went over her plan in her head again.

Barracks were heavily guarded, but lightly patrolled. Once she was past the perimeter fence it would just be a matter of finding her target, which based on his nightly activities – namely sleeping – would not be hard. She adjusted her black combat suit to ensure it was secure, clipping the blade onto her tail and making sure it peeked just far enough over the edge of its spaded surface to work as efficiently as possible. Finally she made sure her katana was secure at her side, sheathed and meant only as a backup.

With a sigh and a shake of her hips, she spread out her semi-translucent wings and dove off the edge of the cliff she was standing on, her heart already beating a few ticks faster with the adrenaline of starting a mission.

That was an hour ago. Now Dusk’s heart was racing with the feeling of messing up a mission.

She wouldn’t exactly have called it a failure. She had killed her target, and snuck about halfway back before she realized this was the night Luna was visiting the barracks. Her plan meant nothing when there were several dozen more guards all around, protecting the princess from danger – danger like the most wanted pony in Equestria.

Of course, those same guards weren’t exactly prepared to deal with her. Right now they were just chasing her, firing the occasional magic bolt and trying to keep up to stop her. Any projectile was easily avoided, and any attempt to grab her was either met by a stab from her tail or a simple dodge. Dusk’s movement was too quick and her reactions too instinctual to let them catch her.

That is, until a bluish-purple bolt of magic shot out from the side and smashed into the side of her head, sending her reeling back and landing flat on her right flank. She felt her head throbbing, her vision blurred.

“Stand back.” She heard a commanding voice utter. A voice that, while she was not quite familiar with it, was one she could place immediately.

“N…gh…” Dusk jammed her tail into the ground, using it to help lift herself up. As her vision cleared and slowly turned upward, she saw the princess of the night in her own flesh and feathers standing before her. She was dressed in armour, fitting for her royal status, but clearly strong.

“Dusk Rider.” Luna spoke, her voice powerful - though Dusk would call it obnoxious. “The Dracony assassin, if we are not mistaken?”

Dusk’s steely blue eyes stared right back at Luna’s, not intimidated by her glare that would normally make ponies bow in fear.

“Nothing to say?” The princess asked, pulling a gleaming sword out from its sheath at her hip. “We have no qualms with ending your reign of terror right now.”

“Same goes for you.” Dusk replied, her tail whipping back and forth behind her.

“And what, pray tell, does that mean?” Luna’s eyebrow raised, her magic curled around her sword.

The guards around the two had backed off, mainly standing to the side at the princess’s command. “It means I don’t like you. Did you need me to spell it out?”

“Apparently so.” Luna snorted. “We know not what quarrel you have with us, bu-…”

“Drop the ‘we’ please. I’d prefer to be talking to one pony, not you and the one I prefer.”

“…as you wish.” The princess dropped her Royal Canterlot Voice and cleared her throat. “Now, need I even ask why you are here?”

“I already took care of my business, if that’s what you meant.” Dusk wiped her tail along the ground, leaving a small streak of blood.

“…well then.” Luna took a deep breath. “You are under arrest, by the decree of princess-…”

“I’ve heard this before, read me my rights when your head’s rolling on the floor.”

Luna’s posture changed, her wings flapping to limber them up before folding at her sides. “Well I suppose I expected nothing else.” She faced her guards. “Leave us. I will take care of this on my own.”

“B- uh, princess, is that really-…” One guard began.

“Go.” Luna demanded, and the guards slowly dispersed, leaving the two ponies facing each other across a long strip of dirt.

Luna took a deep breath, her sword still gripped in her magic.

“You still wanna do this?” Dusk tilted her head, a bit confused by the princess’s decision as she spread out her wings to make sure the edges were still lined with blades. “I mean, you just got back to Equestria five years ago, I don’t really have that much of a grudge against you, specifically.”

“And who do you have a grudge against?” Luna inquired. “Humour an old alicorn.”

“Your sister. More specifically that sorry excuse for a unicorn that she put in charge, but it was still her.”

“Understandable.” Luna admitted. “But unfortunately this just gives me a greater reason to keep you from leaving.” She raised her sword.

“I’d hate to hurt you…kind of.” Dusk frowned. “I still dunno if you realize what you’re doing. I’ve trained for-“

The Dracony barely even managed to duck as Luna lunged forward, her wings propelling her forward with such speed that Dusk’s eyes hardly followed it. Just in time she brought up one of her wings, using its durable surface to push Luna’s sword away and lashing out with her hind leg to kick her into the air.

“Spry for an old mare…” Dusk remarked under her breath. She dashed forward to avoid any counterattack, looking back up. Luna landed gently on her hooves, immediately galloping forward with her sword poised. Dusk swung her tail through the air, the sharpened blade parrying Luna’s to the side. With no reasonable way to take the opportunity, The Dracony simply struck out with her front hoof, knocking Luna back a few feet.

“So was this some kind of pride thing?” Dusk asked as the princess fired two arcane bolts that were deflected by her tail blade. “Or do you think I’m some kind of training dummy?” She parried another attack by Luna, following up with a powerful shoulder-check that knocked the princess onto her back. She tried to follow that with a quick stab from her tail, but Luna brought her hind legs under Dusk’s stomach and launched her into the air.

“Neither.” Luna growled, her wings flaring out as she propelled herself into the air. Dusk narrowly dodged a sharp swipe from the sword.

Dusk’s tail lashed out, wrapping around the blade of Luna’s weapon. She grimaced as the sharp edge cut into her flesh, but quickly ripped the sword away and tossed it further than Luna’s magic could grasp without concentrating too long to lose focus on the fight. “Elaborate.” Dusk snarled, her body twisting in the air as a hind leg swung towards Luna, slamming directly into her left temple.

A bright flash encompassed Luna’s vision, her mind hazy as she dropped back to the ground, a loud CRACK accompanying the searing pain of a broken wing.

The assassin dropped back down to the ground, a hoof landing on Luna’s chest to keep her pinned down. “You’re not my target.” She growled, her face slowly lowering to Luna’s. Her slitted eyes glared into Luna’s, but the princess showed no fear. “So I’m not going to kill you. But trust me, I wouldn’t feel sorry if I did.” She pushed down for a moment, knocking the breath out of the princess before turning to start walking away.

“Right.”

Luna wheezed, taking a deep breath and slowly straightening herself up. Her wing hung loosely at her side, many of the major bones broken in places that wouldn’t be difficult to heal, but it would be painful.

“Right what?” Dusk kept walking, her black-clad hips gently swaying.

“I don’t believe you could kill me.” She asserted.

“I disagree.”

“Of course you would say that.”

“I kill who I want to kill. It doesn’t matter who it was. If my next contract was against Shining I would do it.”

“…Shining?” Luna tilted her head. “And why would he be such a challenge?”

“….”

“Are you hiding something even more than what you let on, Miss Rider?” Luna asked, a hint of intrigue and several dozen cups of malice in her voice.

“Shining is nothing. Neither are you. You, your sister, his wife, him, all of you – you’re cowards and fools.”

“You call facing the most dangerous mare in Equestria cowardly?”

Dusk stopped, her tail still swishing. “What are you trying to get at, Luna?”

“You don’t hate me. You wouldn’t have the heart to kill me if you weren’t told to. So why did you choose this life, Dusk?”

“Choose?” The Dracony suppressed a laugh, but it came out as an awkward cackle. “I chose this job as much as you chose to eat dirt just now.”

“Then why did you abandon your chance for redemption when Shining Armour offered you a place in the Guard?” Luna responded, her voice flat and serious.

The assassin’s eye twitched, her notched ear wiggling a bit. “I don’t need to talk to you.”

“And yet you still do.”

“I don’t need to answer to you.”

“But you are.”

“I don’t need to answer to anybody.”

“And if I said this was all a dream, and you have no control over what I make you say or do?” Luna’s eyes turned bright white. Her broken wing shimmered and fitted itself back into its proper place, and their surroundings slowly melted away to reveal Dusk’s campground. A small clearing in a forest, with a simple fire pit, tent and a few other amenities.

Dusk looked up at Luna, then around at her camp. “…huh. So what? You know where my camp is. You haven’t done anything about it yet, and you haven’t got the stones to do anything about it now.”

“I asked you a question and you deflected it, Dusk.” Luna slowly walked up to the Dracony, who took a swing at her but the princess’s body simply shimmered and it had no effect. “You don’t want to admit what happened, you don’t want to admit what you’re angry about. The simple fact is that you could be destined for so much more.” She reached out, placing a solid hoof on Dusk’s shoulder. “Your life has been practically wasted up until this point. Your talent is unrivalled by anypony, dare I say anybody in Equestria.”

“My talent,” Dusk said, with venom dripping from her tone. “Isn’t useful for anything else. It’s not good for parties and magic and dancing and flying and weather and whatever the fuck you ponies do.”

A twinge of pity seemed to cross Luna’s face. “It would be a shame if you let your life slip away. Surely living on this camp is not a fun way to live.”

“I’d rather die in that camp than answer to mares like you.”

Luna sighed and breathed deeply, again. “Dusk. May I try something with you?”

“No.”

“It will not hurt. And I will not tell anyone else.”

“No. You think just because you’re in my dream that I’ll suddenly say it’s fine? For all you know I could be dreaming about some random camp I made up. You haven’t got a lick of leverage against me.”

“Perhaps not. But I’m simply…curious.”

“If I were to say yes, what did you want to do?” Dusk cocked an eyebrow.

“I want to look into your memor-“

“No. Fuck yourself.” Dusk snarled, her body crouching low in a combat position despite the fact that Luna held all of the power. “You’re not getting at my memories.”

Luna sighed, her chest heaving and her head gently shaking from side to side. “So be it. But if you ever want to escape the monotony you’ve set upon yourself, you know where to find me.”

“I didn’t want to find you, you delusional bat.” Dusk’s lip curled into a scowl.

“As you say.” Luna nodded, her body slowly shimmering until she vanished completely.

Dusk woke up in a cold sweat. Her eyes shot open and her body leapt up, hunched over like a cat ready to pounce as fresh sweat dripped from her unadorned form. “S…son of a bitch.” Her breathing was heavier than what her hooves felt like, her rump slowly settling back on her bedroll. “Fucking…princess…” She muttered, rubbing a hoof against her head. “Couldn’t even beat me in a dream…” She allowed herself that small victory, a gentle chuckle escaping her.

Slowly the Dracony stretched herself out, her toned muscles tensing and bulging as she let her body limber up. She nudged the tent flap open, her lungs filling with the cool, fresh air of the forest she now called home. A small part of her was egging her to move…her camp wasn’t safe if Luna knew where it was. But she didn’t really care at this point.

She plopped down on a log by her fireplace. The fire was smoldering, albeit only a few scarce embers. She poked it with a stick.

…

Dusk’s eyes scrolled around the clearing, then looked down at the dirt. “I…really fucked things up, didn’t I…?” She asked to nopony in particular, tracing the stick in idle circles in the soil at her hooves. “I had a chance to be normal. Even had a stallion I could call my own…” She continued tracing. “But that…fucking…” Her grip tightened, her arm shaking. “I can’t…serve…under her.” Dusk wasn’t even sure why she was speaking out loud. Maybe it was a way to let off steam, she didn’t know.

“Hrm.” She tapped at the random assortment of lines she had drawn, scuffing over them with a hoof. “Whatever. No going back now.” The assassin stood up from her seat, gripping her suit with her tail and starting to put it on. “Might as well check the boxes…running low on supplies anyway.” She slipped her suit on completely, but paused when she felt something crumpled in one of the pockets on her chest. Fishing it out with a hoof, she unfurled it.

If you ever need help, Canterlot is open to you. Only at night, though. And preferably not in the real world.

--Luna.

At this point, Dusk didn’t even want to question how the note had gotten there. All she cared about was doing her job. Even so…she folded the note neatly into a square and tucked it back into her pocket.

A small smile crossed her lips, before her wings unfurled and she took off into the early dawn sky.