Dawn shone out on this new land, light poured from the crack in the window’s blinds. Jhin rose from his rest and smiled at the rising sun. The man stretched then dressed in his clothes and armor. He wore all but his white garb, he had carefully and skillfully folded and placed the clothing item away in his pack. In the current moment the blue and red of his outfit still a bit unusual. After his placed the black cloth mask on his face and head he adorned the front with his smiling face. Before he donned the grey cloak a thought struck him, ‘I may have to purchase or steal clothing of suitable camouflage, I need to blend in for now.’

The man moved from his position to the window and stood just before the glass before he knelt down. From there the assassin set to disarm the traps he had placed in case someone decided to pay him a visit, it never hurt to be too careful. After he put the traps away he began to count his supply of equipment, he still had plenty however since he had no idea where he was, he would have to find sources to replenish his stock. It was as he began to finish that he heard a knock at the door, “Sir, are you awake? Breakfast will be ready soon.” The inn keeper’s voice called through the door.

The artist sighed before he adopted a poise of cheer, “Yes, thank you for letting me know, I will come down to take some soon.” His voice was false but it was convincing none the less. The virtuoso could almost hear the smile he had provoked from that women. ‘And they call me mad, she at the least is the one who is mad, if not this whole country if she is honest about her claims.’

After a few moments the emerged from the stairwell in his grey cowl like cloak, he walked and spotted activity behind a pair of doors which seemed to lead to a hall, ‘The other guests no doubt.’ As the artisan walked into the room a few of the dozen or so guests looked at him, their glances wary but most didn’t notice his entrance. After a few moments the marksman noted an oddity, or rather his oddity. All of the people, or “ponies” as they were so called, had clothes that were those of merchant travelers, and laborers. But that was not odd, no. Each had tails, horse tails. He even saw the inn keeper had a short brown tail to match her hair. ‘Vastyans?’ the people with animal features of his homeland were rare but he could think of no other way to describe them. A couple of them had what seemed to be horns, those that did only had one spiral like horn on their forehead and a vibrant colour. And few of the ponies had wings of various colours like the horns. Each pony had a unique tattoo in the same places as Hearth Heart, their upper arms were the host of these tattoos. However, one or two of the ponies were parents. The children that were either eating or playing didn’t possess any tattoos, ‘A coming of age ceremony?’ the puppeteer brushed aside his questions, ‘It matters not.’

Jhin walked over to where the food was being piled fresh on the table, mostly vegetables, grains, and fruit. The only meat he noted was eggs, however the assortment of food was good and he would find all of his nutritional needs met. The cloak didn’t actually touch the performers feet, it did however reach far enough that it was hard to see them if you were standing. Jhin moved almost like it was a dance, his golden boots only ever briefly showing from his smooth steps. Even then not a soul would know that, how often are shoes your focus of attention?

The quiet clacking of his boots were shadows under the sounds of conversations and chairs’ squeaks. After he had collected a healthful serving of food the man grabbed cutlery. He held the plate with his food and utensils in his left hand close to his body. This only revealed his lower arm, the grey figure flowed towards the doors. “Hey!” the voice was not overly loud, but it cut through the chatter and appeared to be aimed at Jhin. Quietly he turned and glanced till he made eye contact with the speaker, his sight was met with a dirty blond male of medium height and larger build. “Where do you think your going with that?”

After a second pause Jhin answered, “To my room, I was informed by the innkeeper I was allowed to eat there, so long as I returned with my dishes.” An incensed huff escaped the blond before he spoke again.

“Oh, I see so your so high and mighty that you won’t even eat down here with they rest of us lowly peasants.” Jhin slowly tilted his head to communicate confusion. This seemed to only goad him, a few others took note of the exchange, “Didn’t think I’d notice, your boots are gold, I saw the shine from them. I can guess what kind of pony has that kind of money, nobles or merchants from Canterlot. You guys are always looking down on us, well I-“

“Iron Forge! Will you leave my guest alone!” just as the newly named Iron Forge was about to continue his rant Hearth Heart walked over hearing the commotion.

“Hearth, what are you doing catering to this rich fla-“ before he could finish his insult Heart covered his mouth.

“Im sorry, last week a noble from the capitol came made the whole town miserable. He threw around his money like a threat, and most likely had a superiority complex.” the innkeeper turned from Jhin who still stood and held onto his plate. “As for you,” she removed her hand from the stallion's lips, “you shouldn't throw around insults without basis.”

"But I-" Iron Forge's excuse was stifled rather quickly in the form of a glare, "He has golden boots." The last sentence was quiet and muttered in a soft tone of guilt.

"Well, I don't know about you Iron, but I have never heard of their being noble in Canterlot that wasn't a unicorn, much less a non-pony. Besides he has been rather polite to me, if only a bit odd." she put one of her hands onto her hip.

“What do you mean he is not a pony?” Iron asked, Hearth brushed his question aside both metaphorically and physically.

“I’ll tell you later, just eat your breakfast.” she waved her hand as if she was dusting off a surface, “As for you sir, I’m sorry for the accusations you may go eat now.” Iron’s protests were stifled as she pushed him away from the doors toward the tables.

“Hmmm,” the small hum of thought escaped his mouth as he pondered his situation, ‘He will be the first to die, I am a true artist, and I will not be belittled by some fool with too many lines.’ The man stepped out of the hall and began to return to his room. His thoughts seemed to slide into a anger pointed toward the inhabitants of the inn. ‘No,’ the sudden clarity struck as if it was thunder, ‘if I kill anyone, they will be suspicious of me. I will be the only suspect. No, I have to get a better baring on my location before I resume my work.’ The artist found himself inside his room, he locked the door and removed his masks, the food was almost tasteless as his mood was soured from his thoughts. As he grappled with his thoughts something occurred to him, ‘Those two ponies, they seemed like friends. But friends can easily become more...all the more reason to wait to kill him I suppose.’ Jhin chewed the last of his food before he continued his thoughts aloud, “Iron Forge, hmmmm,” his mask was returned to his face, ‘Well as pedestrian as that name is. I must wait until the composition is perfect, only once these two love birds join will my art truly bloom in full. Very few single voices can outshine two in unison.’ He grabbed his bag, his dishes, and cutlery.

Lost in his thoughts the man found himself outside the hall again, most of the guests had left the tables and a neat pile of dishes was present near the door. After depositing the white fragile cargo the assassin moved to the front desk where Hearth Heart was once again sat. She saw him approach and moved to be standing. Now on her feet she spoke, “Apologies for earlier sir, my friend is simply protective of our town and didn’t want a repeat of-“

The puppeteer held up his left hand, the bare fingers of fair skin showed. He placed six silver coins on the counter, “If you wish to apologize, then will you accept this as acceptable payment for my prolonged stay? I plan to be in this town for at least tonight.” despite there being no gold coins among the payment she was rather happy to know her guest was still willing to give her a chance.

“Of course, thank you. Do you plan to stay in your room for the duration of the day or are you leaving for a while?” the question was asked with an innocent look on her face but she could hardly be trusted.

“Well, I have a need for a few items.” the vague answer would have been seen as a sign by most. That the one in question wanted to not talk about their dealings. ‘If every single... pony in this town knows what I am buying, they will get suspicious, at least much faster if they are the type to distrust.

However the vagueness of the response was quickly jumped on, “Well I could give you directions for the various businesses around town.” Almost without prompt she began to identify the many ponies and their shops in town. Most were useless to the man, but four could yield some interesting results. After thanking the brown maned mare, the virtuoso left the inn and in grey attire moved down the street in the light of day. His first stop was a clothing store, a grey eyed mare with a horn on her head welcomed him, though rather distrusting of his cloaked appearance, “Can I help, you?” her tone was polite though she was wary of him, she paused before the last word.

Then the man spoke, “I require some new attire, my current clothes are rather... unique. And while that is all well and good, I don’t savour drawing crowds, well unless I’m preforming, but even then I like a smaller audience.”

The mare was middle aged, not old but certainly not a spring chicken. Her eye brow raised at the man’s words, “You’re a performer?”

“I am an artist.” the tone was one of correction, though not condescending, at least to the ear, and not truly in intention.

“Well, I suppose you will want something comfortable and breathable, all while still being stylish. A bit of simplicity ought to accomplish a more... reserved look if you don’t wish to draw a crowd. Here take a look at some of what we have here, tell me if there is anything that catches your eye.” the mare didn’t make it a habit to distrust costumers but she usually could see them in full looked them in the eye. A hum of a odd musical melody was his response as he glanced over the displays. After a moment he settled on three colours of the same design. Red, blue and purple slim outfits of this countries design. Or at the very least this region’s design. With the clothes he was wearing included, a nice even four outfits were available to him.

“Hold these for a moment, would you?” his tone was light and near unreadable. The mare a bit annoyed, she could only take the clothes the stranger had chosen from him.

It seemed he was entitled, ‘Great another one...’ the groan was held back as she kept a neutral expression. The artist fidgeted beneath his cloak and seemed to place something in his bag before he de-cowled. She looked her costumer up and down, at the moment she could only see his back. His clothes were indeed unique, all the colours of the clothes he had chosen she noted before her eyes were drawn away. She hardly noted the mask of black clothe that fully covered his head, no. Gold filled the mare’s sight, gold all over his right arm, shoulders, and boots. A strange metal hump on his shoulder, ‘Yes that would draw a crowd.’

The man turned to face her, “Do you have changing rooms?” the woman saw the black clothe of his mask, she could only see one of his eyes. It was a deep and lovely brown that almost seemed to glow. His movements in some fashion or another could be seen as precise.

“Ahh, yes this way.” she quickly recovered, while he was unique the stranger before her was not as weird as the time years ago, when a minotaur came to her shop. She lead the marksman to the near back of the store before he entered behind a curtain. A minute or two passed, and he emerged in the red set, his form held no gold or oddity, except for his boots.

“Yes these will do nicely, now while I do not have what you would consider currency, I do have other forms of it. If nothing else the material should be the medium of exchange.” Jhin held out several gold and silver coins for her to inspect, the mint was extremely foreign on both. She nodded and selected two from each of the categories much to the man’s silent pleasure.

She Responded then, “I think this will do nicely, even if everyone in town had some coins like this. I wouldn't doubt for a second that they were rare in Equestria.”

The assassin returned the grey cowl to his form and once again seemed anonymous, “I’ll take my leave then.” the mare called out thanks and told him to come again should he need to. Jhin didn’t plan on coming back anytime soon if he could help it. While not entirely comfortable without his face on, the mask should only be seen by his audience, and unfortunately his talent still had to be restrained. But it could not be contained for long, soon.

Author's Note

Too many lines, I hope you see why this was post today.