Equestria, a peaceful place where harmony reigns supreme. Also a place of sinister secrets and even greater darkness. Even before the two regal Alicorn sisters rose to power, there have been ponies harboring terrible burdens, intended to be kept from pony ears for millennia upon millennia. However, this was not meant to be. Civil wars broke out among the ponies, some much more gruesome than others. The two Princesses had to stop this, and they only had one means of doing it. Call upon their warriors.
The Assassins. An organization named by Celestia and Luna themselves.
Eclipse.
For as long as anypony could remember, there have been legends and exciting tales about these mysterious ponies, and all those tales had something in common.
They were all false.
Only Celestia and Luna knew the cold truth about the Assassin’s, and they were so determined to keep it hidden.
Eclipse was a society of ponies that had a hunger for justice, and for loyalty. Ponies that entered the cult were rarely heard from again, but whoever did come out alive, were always both feared and respected by regular pony folk. They were noble ponies, always willing and ready to defend their titles and their homes and families. Celestia and Luna called upon them when they needed a job to be done, and the Assassins always answered that call with success and dignity.
As time went on, however, things started to regain the peaceful order they had once had, and the Assassins were no longer needed. Even with this welcome change, the Princesses still kept their warriors at hand, should the need ever arise. Problems, however few and minor they were, were tended to quickly and efficiently.
Assassins were never charged with any crimes against Equestria, by royal decree of the Alicorn Celestia. Whenever a pony was killed, or went missing, no pony pressed charges, nor did they care to an extent.
As the sun and moon rose and fell many times, Assassins began to fall deaf on ponies’ minds, however deaf they had been before. Soon enough, as centuries passed, the word ‘Assassin’ never meant anything to anypony anymore. The warriors had at last begun to fall silent, slinking from the minds of foals, stallions, and mares alike. Perhaps it was fate, or perhaps it was by chance, but which ever it was, extinguished the mighty flame the Assassin’s had once called themselves.
Today, only Celestia and Luna know of the organization’s whereabouts, what they’re doing, who’s in there, and they aren’t planning on revealing it anytime soon. Now, Assassins are no longer needed. Different ways of maintaining the peace Equestria has to offer are introduced. Eclipse had truly faded.
This is only true to an extent.
The very group themselves, are still thriving, barely changing the ways they had, still ready to fight is ever the need may arise, however slim that might be. They still had their missions they needed to accomplish, kill a few ponies here and there, but nothing like what they used to do. Only a few select ponies are allowed in, but that’s rare, very rare.
But not impossible.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Shh…time for bed, my little one,” a soothing voice sounded in the darkness. What could be seen in the light was a mare cradling a soft bundle in her forelegs. The bundle squirmed and cooed, laughing and squeaking as it heard its mother speaking to it.
The mare smiled gently and rocked her daughter.
As the gentle motion calmed the baby, the foal looked up at her mother, her rosy eyes sparkling with laughter in the darkness, a few strands of rainbow falling into her face.
"My beautiful rainbow…” the soft voice whispered, leaning down to give her foal a kiss on the forehead.
Almost as soon as it had come, the moment was over in the soft thump of a heartbeat. Several things seem to happen at once for the unsuspecting mare. Her door toppled over with a loud CRASH and several ponies rushed in, all wearing dark hoods, covering their faces. She could see that two of them were pegasi while one was a unicorn. The two others she had to assume were earth ponies. A graduating brightness overtook her vision and blinded her for a few seconds. She felt herself landing on the ground harshly, but even with the sudden surprise, maternal instinct kicked in and she clung onto her foal for dear life, making sure she kept her baby safe. Now on the ground, she looked up at the merciless eyes above her. Everything was suddenly quiet.
She was determined not to show just how terrified she was.
The silence was broken by a flopping sound followed by a splat. Apprehensively, the mare looked down to the source, and her eyes shrunk into pinpricks at the sight that filled her vision.
On the ground, with his throat torn with a clean slice was her beloved husband, lying in an ever growing pool of his own blood. Horrified, she loosened her grip on her child and threw one hoof over her mouth to prevent her hysteric screams from leaking out of her mouth one by one.
The unicorn, who seemed to be the leader, stepped closer to her. She could see his white, toothy grin flashing at her, and detested it with every fiber of her own being. Backing away quickly, she tried to get as far back as she could from her husband’s murderer. It didn’t work however, as the pony used his magic, and some freezing spell, she supposed, to keep her in place. Even though the whole situation was hopeless, she still desperately struggled to get herself and her daughter away from the mad stallion.
In a quick movement, the male flung his hoof out and punted the baby out of her arms. She gasped, horrified, as she was separated from her child, as the little bundle skidded a few feet away from her.
“No! PLEASE!” she screamed in earnest as the stallion stepped closer to her. She could see a silver line coming out of his hoof, a sickly gleam shining off of it.
“RAINB-!” She never finished her sentence as her throat was slashed open with a squirt. Blood rushing from her body, she fell limp on the floor, and took one last gasping breath. At last, her eyes glazed over, and her head lolled to one side.
The mysterious stallion moved away from her cold body, smiling at his work. He was about to turn back to his little group, but was stopped by a sudden whimpering. Confused, he turned to where the sound was coming from, but all he saw was a small purple bundle. Walking toward the swaddle of cloth he peered inside.
What he saw as he looked inside was large magenta eyes staring back at him in fear. His icy blue eyes met hers for a few long moments, before her lower lip started quivering, and a shriek emitted from her mouth.
Startled, he pulled out his blade to end the baby’s life, but was stopped by one of his companions.
"Boss! Eclipse!” one of his companions’ deep voices rang out. Growling and cursing under his breath, he put his blade away and galloped from the house with his group. As he was fleeing, those rosy eyes still lingered fresh in his mind. He saw those eyes as someone he had failed to kill, and he couldn’t stand failing. The stallion made a silent vow, a vow he intended to keep. A vow to kill that little filly.
As the small group rushed out of view a hoof pawed at the ground angrily.
“Damn, missed ‘em,” a rough voice growled, blowing his black bangs out of his eyes with a puff of air.
“Eh, we’ll get them next time. Let’s see what they did,” a more feminine voice sighed, joining her companion.
The two ponies were earth ponies, but one could not see the individual colors of each pony. Their coats were covered by long white robes with intricate designs in carefully marked places and an insignia of a triangle with a curved bottom in the place of their cutie marks. A large hood tinted with dark blue covered their eyes and most of their face. Their back hooves were covered with large black boots, as well as two brown saddlebags adorning each side of their back. Black tails bushed out from the back of their cloths, as well as black bangs.
Two pairs of eyes swept over the moonlit house, eyeing anything that could be seen with vigilance. As the calculating eyes looked over the barren setting, they came to rest on the two dead bodies. One of which they had been too late to save. Giving a small sigh, the stallion walked slowly over to the lifeless pair.
“We were too late for this one,” he said, using a hoof to close the mare’s lifeless eyes.
“A shame indeed,” his partner nodded.
Just as the stallion was opening his mouth a small shriek invaded their ears. They both flung hidden blades from their hooves, standing carefully on their back legs. Standing tense, they both looked around, expecting to see another enemy walk out from the shadows, but that never came. Instead, the mare’s guard lowered when she saw where it was coming from. She dropped onto all fours and slowly trotted to the little cloth bundle.
“Wait! It could be-!”
“Oh, shut it,” she silenced him. As she turned her attention to the bundle, she saw that it was a foal, quite a young one at that. The foal had a bright cyan coat and a rainbow mane with magenta eyes to match. She assumed it was a filly by the long eyelashes. Smiling, she leaned over and picked the trembling bundle up with a foreleg, much to her partner’s dismay.
“What are you doing!? This could just be a trap!” he warned, looking around wildly.
“Does this look like a trap to you?” the mare cooed innocently, holding up the bundle.
The shrieking stopped as the filly looked at the stallion’s warm brown eyes. She whimpered a little as he came closer to her, but didn’t resist. Slowly but surely, the cloaked pony came closer before picking her up from the mare’s grasp and placing her into his own grasp.
“Aww…” he smiled as the filly looked up at him with her large eyes. He tickled her small stomach with his nose and his grin grew even broader as she started to giggle and hiccup.
“We can’t just leave her here,” his partner’s voice nodded.
“Well where do you suggest we leave her then?” he remarked snidely.
“We could take her with us.” The stallion turned on her, the sudden movement rocking the filly in his hooves and making her yelp.
“Are you CRAZY!? We could be killed for bringing outsiders in!”
“She’s just a foal, like she could go out spreading any of our secrets. If we play our cards right, we might have a new Assassin on our hooves,” the mare scoffed.
“This is a horrible, horrible idea…” he pleaded.
“Let’s just try. If you’re right, which I SERIOUSLY doubt, then we can bring her back here, or up to Cloudsdale; someone’ll find her sooner or later,” she stated, looking at him coldly through her hood.
“…” He took a look at the filly in his arms, looking at him with her own wide eyes. “Fine…”
She smiled triumphantly and walked to the broken-down door smugly. “You’re carrying her,” she laughed as she galloped off into the night.
The stallion gave a sigh, and turned his head slowly towards the young foal in his arms. “Well,” he muttered, placing the filly carefully in his saddlebag. Closing the top flap gently, and buckling the clip that sealed the contents of the bag from the outside world, he looked ahead with a curse. “Looks like you’re gonna stay with us for a while.”
A small snore was all he got in return as he slipped into the shadows.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
What seemed like only a heartbeat later, the two came brushing through the underbrush of the Everfree forest in a white and blue blaze. They were running on their hind legs, a skill taught to them from their earliest days of joining the organization of Eclipse. It was much faster, and much more efficient than galloping on all fours, or so they had been taught.
The stallion was stepping quickly and lightly, taking care of his usually reckless steps in favor of the precious bundle in his saddlebags. Even though his mind was still swarming with the idea that this was going to end horribly, he still kept his agreement with his partner. Although, with the distraction of the subtle squirming his cargo gave him, he was starting to wonder if he should just break that agreement now.
Everything seemed to be frozen in time as the two Assassins charged through the dark clutches of the forest. All that could be heard was the shallow, quick breathing of the two, almost in sync.
That was all destroyed as another sound came crashing down on them. They stopped quickly, their rippling muscles tense and balled up underneath their hides, ready to take quick action unto whatever had disturbed the silence that had been there only a moment ago.
A small red blur crashed down on the forest floor. They let go of the tension in their bodies as they saw what it was, but still kept their guards high, incase this could be an enemy. The blur was a small red colt that didn’t even have his cutie mark yet. His straw colored hair feel into his eyes and his legs were spread-eagled out.
“You okay, kid?” the stallion asked bluntly, barely sparing the colt a glance.
“Um…Ah…” the colt stuttered. From what the Assassins could tell, his voice was marred by a thick southern accent. “Ah’m okay.”
“What are ya doing out this late?” the mare asked, taking a few steps toward the little colt and holding out a hoof for him.
“Ah couldn’t sleep, and thought Ah saw sumthin’ out ‘ere, so Ah went here ta check it out,” he answered, taking her hoof gratefully and pulling himself up.
“That was probably us,” the mare muttered, backing up until she was once again parallel to her partner. “Anyway, what’s your name, kid?”
“Ah’m Big Macintosh,” he answered.
“Big Macintosh, eh? Well, why dontcha come with us, can’t have ya runnin’ around here this late,” the stallion said, starting to turn his back on the two.
“Uh…Ah don’t know. Mah Granny told me not ta trust strangers, and Ah have ta take care of mah little sister too,” Macintosh answered warily.
The mare looked at him through her hood, giving a little smile. “Responsible, I like this one. Don’t worry, Big Macintosh, as soon as we’re done, we’ll bring you back to…wherever you came from, that sound good?”
Big Mac sighed and started walking in the mare’s direction, each of his hooves crashing against the underbrush, making crunching noises as he carefully made his way to the two.
The pair nodded and started a slow canter, making sure to keep their pace relatively slow so the little colt that they had with them could keep up.
“Where are you from, anyway?” she asked from beside Mac, looking down at him.
"Ponyville,” the colt answered, looking back up at her.
“Hm, small town,” she commented quietly.
“Eeyup.”
A muffled cry shushed the conversation that was forming. Big Macintosh raised his eyebrow curiously and turned back to the mare he was running beside.
“What’s in th’ bag?” he asked.
“Heh, you’ll see,” was the answer that he received. He snorted in annoyance, but dismissed it quickly, deciding that it would be best not to pester these mysterious ponies any further than he figured he already had.
Through the crooked trees of the gloomy forest they went, over trees and bushes, dodging the natural perils that the forest presented to them. Fortunately for the small group, no trouble came to them as they rushed through the shadows, slinking into the ominous scenery. For Big Macintosh, it was a whole new experience. Many times, from many different ponies he had been told to stay away from the Everfree forest. He had heeded the warnings and stayed away from it as much as he could, but this time had just been too tempting. Now that he was with these two mysterious strangers, he felt somewhat safe. He felt like he had nothing to fear about these two. Even with this, he still kept his guard up and remained stoic.
For what seemed like only a few minutes, the two suddenly stopped in front of a large rock. Mac copied them, fearing what would happen if he didn’t. “What is it?” he asked quietly.
“Shh,” the mare shushed him.
He did so quickly. Closing his mouth, he tensed up, eyes wide and looked around quickly. He looked up at the female, his eyes swimming for answers.
She just grinned at him slyly. “Welcome to Eclipse.”
Macintosh just stood there blankly. Just as he was about to take another step, a large rumble shook the ground, and seemed to shake him to the very core of his own soul. In a sudden, magical movement, the rock before them starting to change. Detailed designs wormed their way through the stone, moving this way and that, slicing through the stone as if it were a knife through warm butter. A large magical glow fixated itself in the middle on the ever changing rock, forming into a half-sun, half-moon design. Then, all at once, the glowing stopped, and was replaced by the sound of rock moving. Slowly, the rock cracked in half, uncovering what looked like a narrow hallway.
“What in the…” he started, but was silenced as the pair moved swiftly in.
Apprehensively, he followed, unsure of what the passageway contained, and unsure if he even wanted to know.
Inside was a hallway with magnitude of which he’d never encountered. The hallways were decorated by brilliant designs of both suns and moons, accentuated by the dancing glow of the torches lining the walls, giving off the illusion that it was on fire. Under his hooves was a grand red carpet, stretching from where he went in to the end of the hallway, and lead to a large door, still with the sun and moon design on it. Big Mac could see the door was guarded by two unicorns, dressed in the same robes as the ponies he was following. He grimaced at his plain red coat; he felt underdressed seeing the fancy cloths of the ponies that were in here. Slowly, he sidestepped and tried to make himself as small as possible, which was hard to do, seeing as he was a bit big for his age.
He could feel the two ponies’ stares slicing through him. Instantly he could feel their gazes judging him. The question of what they were judging lingered in his mind, but he shook it off, and tried to remain as stoic as he could possibly manage.
As the group got to the doors, the ponies already there stopped them.
“Ad credo?” one of the ponies asked in a language Mac couldn’t understand.
“Honorem solis et lunae simul. Nihil est verum,” the stallion replied in what seemed like the same language.
“Omnia licet,” the pony replied. He smiled then looked down at Mac. “He with you?” he asked in equestrian.
“Yes, we brought some visitors,” the mare told him, looking to the saddlebag, then at Mac.
“I see…honorem solis et lunae simul,” the pony at the door said, and then returned to attention.
The pair with him repeated the phrase quietly. Suddenly the door was engulfed in a yellow glow and slowly, majestically even, opened, leaving another path for them to follow.
Carefully, they weaved their way through the tunnels that were presented to them. Other than those two ponies from earlier, nopony else crossed their path. That was strange, Macintosh thought, but he figured that all the ponies must be somewhere else, he just hadn’t seen them yet.
“’Scuse me, miss? Where is everypony? Ah thought there’d be more ponies around,” Mac said, voicing his thoughts to the mysterious pony.
“Don’t worry, they’re here. Maybe your eyes are just getting in the way,” she laughed back to him.
Mac frowned, but genuinely thought about what that sentence could mean. How could his eyes get in the way? They helped him see, didn’t they? At least, that’s what he had been told.
“Ah, we’re here,” the stallion said suddenly. They stopped at a large, arched opening, whatever was inside hidden by golden silk, forming a curtain of sorts. The mare stepped up first, pulling the silk curtain aside and letting her partner and the little colt into the archway. As Macintosh stepped in, he found his answer. The whole place was a large lounge. A fireplace that burned with an orange glow lit the room, and was surrounded by several chairs and couches, each occupied by ponies of all kinds. He could see torches that lined the room and lit various paintings and insignias on the walls. The ponies that occupied the room, and he counted more than he cared to name, were a rainbow of colors. Unlike the two ponies’ that accompanied him black manes, these ponies had all different colors to them. Ranging from blues, to vivid reds, all the colors of the rainbow could be seen in this room. Unlike their coloring scheme, they all wore the same robes.
“Why do you have black manes, but everypony else has different manes?” he asked the stallion.
“Magic,” the stallion winked, taking off his hood and giving a flick of his tail. Suddenly, his mane became a light brown color, and Mac could see the color of his coat was white with a hue of green overlapping it.
The mare followed suit, and soon enough her mane became a navy blue and her coat turned into a lighter blue. She turned to him and spoke. “You see, this is what our group does to conceal ourselves. We use basic magic that everypony has access to, and use it to turn our manes, tails, and coats into a black color.”
“But why would ya do that?” Big Mac asked, confused.
“We don’t want anypony to recognize us,” the stallion answered.
“Why?” Big Mac pestered.
The stallion turned to him with a serious expression in his brown eyes. “Do you know what an Assassin is?”
Mac stopped. “Uh…Ah’ve heard about them.”
“Assassins are ponies who do jobs for both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. However, we don’t want anypony to recognize us, or know we’re there, that’s why we turn ourselves black, to blend in with the night when we do our jobs,” he explained.
The colt nodded. “Ah see,” he said slowly. He then realized something. “Hey, what are yer names? Ah never learned them,” he said.
The two looked at each other.
“My name’s Swift Hoof, but you can call me Swift,” the stallion said with a smile.
“I’m Blaze,” Blaze answered, flashing a smile of her own as well.
A muffled, impatient cry forced its way into their ears, followed by a struggled squirm from Swift Hoof’s saddlebag.
“Oop! Forgot you,” Swift said unbuckling the clip carefully.
Macintosh watched as Swift dipped his head into the bag and pulled out a bundle of purple cloth. It was not the bundle itself, but what was in the bundle that caught him by surprise. Squirming in the soft blanket was a foal. Big Macintosh had seen his sister as a foal, but this was different. This foal looked so tiny and delicate, her long eyelashes fluttering and tiny groans and squeaks coming out of her small mouth. It almost looked as if one touch could break her in half.
“Wow…” he breathed, stepping closer to the small filly and meeting her rosy eyes with his green ones. The little one was not in the least intimidated. She looked at him, and then swiped at his nose with a hoof, curious. Mac recoiled, and then laughed. She was kind of cute.
“Hey!” a voice interrupted. “Blaze, Swift, you’re back!”
They all looked in the direction it came from to see a male purple pegasus with a dark red mane floating over to them.
“Hey, Sky,” Blaze greeted cheerfully, turning to the pegasus.
Sky nodded and then turned to the two newcomers with interest and curiosity. “So, what’s the deal with these two?” he asked.
“We…picked up a few things on our way back,” Swift explained sheepishly, putting the little filly into one of his forelegs.
“I hope one of those things is Eden’s head,” Sky muttered grumpily, rolling his eyes.
Macintosh’s eyes widened in horror, but slowly regained control of himself. He smiled warily when Blaze punted sky over the head with one of her forelegs.
“Oi, we got children here!” Blaze warned good-naturedly.
“Yeah, yeah. You…better take them to Zinin, ya know. All that good stuff,” Sky told them quietly, leaning down and lowering his voice so only they could hear the pegasus as he spoke.
“We were getting there,” Swift retorted. He pulled his head away from his fellow Assassin and started walking away, moving the filly from his hoof to his mouth, earning a squeak of surprise from the said foal.
“Right,” Blaze sighed as she turned back to Sky and Macintosh. “Thanks, Sky. Come on, kid.”
Macintosh nodded to Sky, giving him his thanks, and followed Blaze quickly, trying hard to keep up with her. They walked quickly through the sea of faces, all looking at them with curiosity, and were once again at another passageway. This one seemed to be even more extravagant than all the rest that had come before, and that was saying something. The beautiful door creaked open, giving the illusion that the very door had not been opened for years, but that was very untrue. Once the door was open, the contents inside were revealed. The interior was quite simple. A large table at the center of the room as well as a huge fireplace and a high chair placed delicately behind it were the room’s only occupants.
At first, Mac thought they had the wrong room, but it seemed that he had made assumptions too early. An earth pony wearing a long black cloak that almost completely covered his body was walking toward them. He was possibly the largest pony Big Mac had ever seen, and had a scar that ran from the left side of his forehead down to his left cheek. He had dark gray eyes and an even grayer mane and tail. Like the cloak he was adorned in, his coat was as black as coal. The cloak was tinted with red stripes running down toward the back of the suit and a hood covered the top of his forehead. Overall, he looked very threatening,
“Swift Hoof, Blaze, what is this?” he growled in a low voice. He had a voice so low Macintosh thought that he was just a dragon in a pony costume.
The two both gave low bows and then stood at their full height.
“We were doing our rounds on Manehattan, as ordered, when the Reds caught us off guard. Eden was with them. We pursued, but lost them. It seemed as we were looking for them they killed a male pegasus, and seemingly found the wife and a small foal. They killed the mare, but failed to kill the filly. We found her and decided to bring her here. As we were coming back, we stumbled upon the colt, who we also decided to bring with us,” Blaze said, her expression stoic and unreadable.
“I see…what are their names?” the large stallion asked with a glint of curiosity in his scarred eye.
“The colt is named Big Macintosh, but we are unsure of the foal,” Blaze answered.
“Hm…well, Big Macintosh, what were you doing out on your own?” the pony asked, walking over to him.
“Ah couldn’t sleep and Ah heard something in the Everfree Forest, so Ah decided to check it out,” Mac replied, gulping noisily.
“…you’re scared,” he said suddenly.
“N…”
“Please, I’ve been around long enough to know when ponies are scared. Why are you afraid, young one?” he asked knowingly.
“Well, yer such a big pony, and Ah wanna go home…” Macintosh answered quietly, feeling himself shrink down.
“Heh…I see…well, Big Macintosh, I would like to make you an offer,” he said, lowering himself down to Macintosh’s eye level.
“Wh…what would that be?” Macintosh answered slowly.
"Would you like to join my group?” the cloaked pony asked him, earning a gasp from both Blaze and Swift.
“Really?” Mac asked, astonished.
“Yes. You see, I need a pony like you. You are young, as well as strong. I can only imagine how much of a powerhouse you’ll be when you’re older, and that could be used to advantages, if trained correctly,” he answered. “What do you think?”
Macintosh lowered his head in thought. All of that did sound promising, very promising. Of all the stories he had heard about these mysterious ponies, he always picked up one thing from all of them. The Assassins were honorable, loyal, and always acted in justice. In truth, he had always admired them, and now he was getting an offer, by what looked to be the leader of them, to join the noble group. It felt too good to be true. He just needed one more piece of information before he made his decision.
"Will Ah get ta see mah family again?” he asked.
"Of course,” the stallion answered sincerely.
It might have been something that ran in the Apple Family, but he could genuinely tell that the stallion was telling the honest truth. Sighing, he made his decision.
“All right, ya got yerself a deal,” he nodded.
The stallion smile triumphantly. “Wonderful. You may call me Master Zinin, or Zinin if you must,” Zinin said.
“Alrighty then,” Macintosh nodded.
Zinin then turned his attention to the little filly that was piled up in Swift’s mouth. “As for this one.” He examined her closely, and was surprised when he felt two hooves grip his muzzle tightly. Looking up, he saw the closely concentrating face of the foal staring into his eyes. “I believe that we can make room for one more.”
Both Swift and Blaze sighed in relief and then turned back to their master.
“I shall train both of them in the ways of the Assassin, but you two are to act as the caregivers of the little one. Macintosh is fully welcome to return home whenever he pleases. However, he MUST be back by midnight. Until he knows the way by heart, you two are to pick him up and drop him off every night. The filly will stay in my quarters for sleeping, but at all other times will be taken care of by medics or by Blaze herself. The two will also be taught to speak Latin. Have I made myself clear?” Zinin asked sternly.
"Yes,” the two Assassins nodded. Big Macintosh also looked at his new teacher and nodded.
“Zinin, what shall we name the filly?” Blaze asked.
Zinin frowned and took the filly into his strong fore hoof. She had the most beautiful mane, and looked like she was going to be an incredible athlete. “Rainbow Dash, that will be her name.”
Both seasoned Assassins nodded deeply, and looked at their master for any further instructions that might be required of them.
“That will be all. Take the colt home,” Zinin ordered, turning to the fireplace quickly, the little filly still in his forelegs.
“Yes,” both ponies replied. They briskly turned around and trotted in the other direction. Blaze turned her head toward Mac without stopping.
“Come,” she said.
Big Macintosh nodded before looking at the massive stallion with wonder and curiosity. The young colt couldn’t shake the feeling that he was making the right decision by agreeing to this strange offer. He only hoped it would stay like that. Letting out a small sigh, he took off at a canter to catch up to Swift Hoof and Blaze.
As soon as Zinin heard the clopping of hoofsteps disappear, he turned his undivided attention to the squirming filly in his arms. Her small cyan hoofs looked fragile, but he could see tiny muscles rippling underneath them, the perfect makings of a well-seasoned Assassin, he thought to himself. As anyone knew, an Assassin needed to be lithe and agile, as well as being able to defend themselves, and this filly seemed to fit the bill. However, he couldn’t shake the feeling that this little foal was more familiar, and much more powerful than she seemed, but he would find that out as the years went by, and her training began.
Without another word the blazing fire in the fireplace died and the room was shrouded in utter darkness. Nothing could be heard except the soft sound of hoofsteps exiting the room and a door slamming shut.
