Rainbow Samurai

Progression…!

Aegis worked long and hard to train the growing Pegasus mare known as Rainbow Dash to become the adventurer she needed to be. Once Rainbow’s leg was healed, however, he gradually upped her already-grueling, intense training by more than a couple of notches over the course of the next few years. He didn’t have much to teach Rainbow on the subject of aerial maneuvers, as she seemed to have perfected her own graceful style of flight that she incorporated into her combat training seamlessly; not to mention that she’d proved to be much faster and more agile than her master.

Instead, their training focused mainly on muscle and stamina build-up and endurance, mixed in with extreme combat lessons and the occasional test of fighting ability in the form of heated sparring sessions. Aegis had proved himself to be quite a strict teacher, never letting up on the difficulty of his lessons. Despite this, Rainbow persevered and made it through each and every lesson the Pegasus guard had to throw at her. In addition, as the two had spent more and more time together, they’d grown very close. When they weren’t practicing or exercising, they’d either spend time hanging around and gaining insight on one another while they roamed the castle while Aegis was off-duty, or Rainbow would stop by his post for a quick hello before she was off to continue her daily schedule. One afternoon, however, Rainbow had let Aegis in on a secret she’d been keeping since the day she’d arrived in Canterlot…

“Hey, Aegis?” Rainbow addressed as she and her closest friend and mentor strolled through an extensive hallway.

“Yeah?”

“You think… maybe during our next session we could… use weapons?”

“Weapons?” Aegis asked, intrigued by the sky blue mare’s request.

“Yeah. I kinda wanted to start learning how to use them for a while now. But, I wasn’t sure how to ask...”

“Hmm, I guess so. But there really isn’t much to teach you about the weaponry we guards use. All we get are spears and shields, with a select few who have actual swords in place of a spear. They’re hardly worth fighting with…”

“Why?”

“It’s mostly from my point of view, so don’t take it in as fact. But… Spears aren’t really adequate for close-quarters combat. They’re made to basically deliver a killing blow or to keep an aggressive attacker at bay. But given your speed and reflexes, you wouldn’t have any use for it. As for shields… you MAY need to keep one in handy, but our armor does the majority of the shield’s job. It’s meant purely for defense, but I figure that if you get pinned down or are forced to constantly turtle yourself, you really won’t have a good chance at fighting back.”

“Turtle?” Rainbow inquired.

“When I say ‘turtle,’ I mean perpetually hiding behind the shield and waiting for a safe enough time to strike back.”

“Ohh, I see… Heh, that’s pretty creative of you,” the Pegasus mare chuckled.

“Thanks,” Aegis smiled. “Where was I…? Oh yeah: The swords we use aren’t very long. They can’t really be used without the shield. They’re used mainly for swift counterattacks, but once you’re on the offensive, you’ll need to keep it that way at all costs, while at the same time making sure not to leave yourself vulnerable. Like I said before though, your speed and reflexes in hoof-to-hoof combat are phenomenal. Plus, you’ve gotten MUCH bigger and stronger since you were a filly. You’d have little to no practical use for our weapons, especially since you’re supposed to go on an adventure around the world. Buuut, I suppose I could at LEAST teach you how to disarm an enemy.”

“That sounds good… but I didn’t mean those weapons. I meant a different kind...”

“Really? What kind?”

“Follow me. I’ll show you,” Rainbow instructed before rocketing off.

“Hey, wait up! You know you’re faster than me!” Aegis laughingly called as he took off to follow the young mare. A short time later, Rainbow arrived in her room, Aegis following close behind. She trotted towards the closet and dug out the item she was looking for. She pulled it out and showed it to an alarmed Aegis. However, as he registered the shape of the weapon, he remembered a specific request Rainbow had made the day she earned her Cutie Mark:

“What… what about—?”

“The sword you were in possession of when you were found?”

“Yeah… It belonged to my mom… and I want to know if I can use it in my training… as a way to remember her…”

“Ohh, I remember now… You said you wanted to use that sword in memoriam to your mom, right?”

“Y-yeah…”

“Hmm…” Aegis was perplexed. He would happily allow Rainbow to use the weapon… if he had any useful knowledge of its properties. He’d only heard a small amount of information on katana swords, but they were only used in the farthest reaches of Hoofania: And even they had largely stopped using them after they had terminated their honor system that dictated proper use of the sword due to the system’s unfathomable brutality. “I… don’t really know how to use one of those. I mean, if you’re strong enough, maybe you could spend some time swinging it around…?”

“I guess so, but I REALLY need to learn how to use this thing.”

“Okay sure. But other than you using it in honor of Daring Do, why’s your ability to use it so important? I don’t really see you needing it very often. It’s not like you’re the one going to intentionally kill somepony… right?”

“Yeah, but… I need to because… because I… I made a promise the day my mother died…” At this, the Pegasus guard was very intrigued.

“A promise…? What did you promise her?”

“No, not to my mom... well, sort of… but it was more so to the pony who killed her…” Aegis read the message loud and clear.

“You promised revenge???”

“Y-yeah…”

“Rainbow… You have to realize how serious that is.”

“I do… and I mean it,” the mare’s tone became malicious and angered. “That bastard’s gonna pay for what he did…! Him and whoever he was working with. They’re ALL going to pay…!” the room went silent as Aegis registered her words in his mind.

“…No,” the guardspony finally mumbled.

“No? No what?”

“I can’t allow you to use that sword,” he answered as he gently took hold of its sheath, yet finding expectant resistance from his student. He looked at her to see an expression of extreme hurt in her eyes caused by his words. “Not if you’re going to deliberately murder someone.” Rainbow’s face quickly changed from dejection to anger.

“…I knew you wouldn’t understand…” she spat.

“Oh, I understand just fine. And what I understand is that you’re willing to end the life of another pony for a VERY selfish reason. Revenge, Rainbow? You should know better than that! You ARE better than that!”

“I DO know better… I’m not just doing it to get the revenge I promised both him and my mom; I’m also doing it because he asked me to.”

“What? What do you mean ‘asked you to’?”

“The day I came home to find my mom dead, he stood over me. He ripped off his mask to show me his face, and even told me to remember it and his voice. He told me to never forget that miserable day… because he wanted me to challenge him to a grudge match. Plus, he told me that he and his buddies in this… Dark Hoof something-or-other clan were going to come for me because of this necklace.” Aegis was beyond words at Rainbow’s explanation for her use of her mother’s sword.

“I… I see. But… I cannot condone you killing anypony… unless— and that’s a HUGE UNLESS! It’s absolutely necessary for self-defense. The most I EVER want you doing is knocking somepony out if they pose a threat. As for this one stallion who told you to challenge him… I expect no different treatment when you do fight him; even if he IS responsible for Daring Do’s demise. Defeat him if you must, but DO NOT kill him.”

“Why shouldn’t I!? He deserves it! Besides, if I do, he won’t be able to hurt anypony else!”

“But what would that give you? Satisfaction in knowing that you killed somepony? Gratification knowing that you saw an eye for an eye? Do you have ANY idea what kind of torment would follow??”

“What’s the big deal!? I’m not killing anypony BUT him!”

“Rainbow… You don’t know… You just don’t know…” Aegis’s voice began to waver as finding words became difficult. He took a deep breath. “It’s such an awful experience… killing somepony. It’s one of the few things worse than actually dying: living with the fact that YOU ended someone’s life prematurely… waking up every single day and at some point or another being reminded that you robbed someone of the most precious gift in existence… It’s a vile, horrid feeling that festers in your gut like an infected ulcer and eats away at your sanity… You wanna know what it’s like to kill somepony?”

“…” Rainbow was silent, studying the stallion as he lectured her. “…well, I killed a few Timberwolves before I came here, using this sword…” At that, Aegis scoffed.

“Let me tell you, it’s absolutely NOTHING like killing a Timberwolf… One day a few years back before I met you, I was in a platoon that was guarding a high-class party on the southwest end of Canterlot. Everything seemed to be going so smooth… until somepony who had snuck into the building with a switchblade tried to assassinate one of the guests. I was the one who moved to take him down while the others calmed the guests down and evacuated them. The assailant and I were in a heated fight, neither of us able to best the other. Eventually, he tried using the knife on me… He almost got me too, as he aimed a strong jab at my neck while we were locked in combat. But I thought quickly and on impulse, I dodged out of the way, grabbed his fore leg, and hurled him across the room. He got back up to try and charge at me. I warned him… I warned that idiot not to do it… but he did. He came barreling towards me, switchblade clamped firmly in between his teeth, intent on killing me. So I turned around and planted both my back hooves square into his jaw. He flew back, the knife flying out of my sight. I watched as he landed on his back a few feet away. I watched as he opened his mouth wide to stretch his jaw after the kick I gave him… I watched as that switchblade came hurtling back down, the blade planting itself firmly into the back of his throat… I heard the gurgling, the gasping for air, the lurid choking sounds he made… I saw the helpless, desperate look on his face as he writhed on the ground, clasping his neck as the blood was flooding out of his mouth… Then he just fell over. He stopped moving completely, a look of wide-eyed torment frozen on his lifeless corpse. A part of me died along with that stallion that day… and I just sat there and fucking watched…”

“…whoa,” was all Rainbow could muster. She’d seen the death of a pony happen right in front of her before. She’d had experience in killing before. But Aegis’s story revealed a new tier of malice in the act of life-taking; killing a pony. Rainbow had indeed never killed anything that was capable of showing compassion. She’d killed Timberwoves, but they were just wild animals looking for a meal. She had to defend herself. However, she was totally unable to imagine what it was like to place a pony in a situation where she had to kill him or her using that blade. “But… that wasn’t your fault…” she reasoned, although having a bit of difficulty believing her own words. “He came at you. You defended yourself. He basically killed himself.”

“With my help. I tried for quite a long time to convince myself of that… that it wasn’t my fault… that he technically committed suicide… but then it comes right back at me, for the simple fact that I was the one who kicked that knife into the air rather than find a way to properly disarm him…”

“Oh…”

“I didn’t teach you everything I know so you could go chasing some pony over a brash, selfish promise… In fact, the only reason you needed the training was so you’d be safe in the case someone tried to attack you. That’s the same reason Princess Celestia wants Twilight Sparkle to go along with you. You shouldn’t HAVE to kill anypony. Your objective is to locate those Elements and locate the ponies destined to wear them. Nothing else. Do you understand me?” Aegis’s eyes were stern, yet sincere as he locked his gaze on the Pegasus mare. He wanted to make ABSOLUTELY sure that Rainbow wouldn’t corrupt herself with the knowledge of being a murderer.

“Y-yes sir…” Rainbow agreed, although not entirely. She still wasn’t fully convinced that killing a pony could be much worse than killing a Timberwolf. However, she respected Aegis enough that she would abide by his wishes and not kill unless ultimately necessary. She was at least satisfied that he didn’t say she wasn’t allowed to defeat that stallion in combat.

“Good,” he affirmed as the tension in the room settled down. “Now let’s go find a place for you to wield this thing…”

“Really? You’d still let me train with this sword?”

“Sure. I trust you enough that I don’t think you’ll kill with it. I CAN trust you… right, Speedy?” he asked as he playfully mussed her mane with his fore hoof.

“Yeah.” Rainbow smiled a little.

“Plus, it DID belong to your foster mom. I’d be heartless not to let you carry it around without knowing if you were strong enough to use it properly.” With that, the two Pegasi left the room to find a suitable area for sword training.

The grown Unicorn mare by the name of Twilight Sparkle was in the midst of an intense physical training session with her older brother, in which she was running laps around the courtyard. She’d shown considerable progress in her ability to fight without magic, as well as building up her physique. However, her progress was largely hindered by the incredibly small increments of time she’d get with Shining Armor. Her opportunities to train with him were few and far in between. His duties as a royal guard had kept him very busy most of the time; especially since he’d recently received a promotion to the rank of Captain. When Armor wasn’t around, Twilight would either practice with Rainbow Dash whenever they’d gotten a chance to meet up, or spend time studying up the wide range of possibilities surrounding magic in the Canterlot Archives in order to keep her mystic abilities strong and fresh. Once in a blue moon, she'd even catch Princess Luna and have her show her a thing or two that Celestia never got around to teaching her. Her training time was also cut short by her own duty as the guardian of the young dragon she kept, whom she’d named “Spike.”

“Aaaaand that’s fifty! Even with Spike on your back! Good job, Twiley!” congratulated Shining Armor as his younger sibling tiredly made her way back to him, only to unceremoniously collapse onto the ground at his hooves with a heavy groan.

“Jeez, Twilight. I haven’t seen you this tired since you pulled that all-nighter reading that entire encyclopedia on quantum physics,” joked Spike, the Unicorn’s pet dragon as he climbed off of her back, eliciting a laugh out of the white stallion. He’d grown considerably, but was still much smaller than a typical full-sized dragon. He was only a small amount taller than a foal.

“Yeah… why don’t… hah… you try running… a few… laps around here…” she breathlessly retorted as she slowly picked herself up. “Ohh, my legs… they’ll likely be sore for weeks…”

“Why don’t we take a little break?” suggested Shining Armor

*thwack*

*thwack*

*thwack*

“What’s that noise?” asked Spike, looking around.

“I’m not sure, but it sounds like it’s coming from over there,” answered Twilight, turning around and pointing towards the right.

“Let’s go see.”

“Okay.” The two Unicorns and the young dragon strolled their way towards the noise to find Rainbow Dash alone, cutting away at a tree with a long, slender sword, the hilt of which was clenched between her teeth. As the trio arrived to be greeted with the sight of her, Rainbow took the sword out of her mouth with a fore hoof, wiped her brow, and sat down to take a breather before noticing Twilight and the others.

“Hey guys… hah… what’s up?” asked the blue Pegasus mare, showing signs of fatigue from her workout.

“Hi, Rainbow Dash!” “Hey.” “Hey Rainbow,” the three greeted simultaneously.

“Hard at work as always?” asked Twilight.

“You know it! At this rate… I feel like I’d be able to… take on fifty royal guards and STILL come out on top! Even you, big guy!” she taunted, pointing a hoof at Shining Armor.

“Be careful what you say,” Shining Armor joked. “I might just be tempted to put you up to that.”

“Hey, speaking of guards… Where’s Aegis?” the purple Unicorn mare inquired. “Doesn’t he usually help you with your training?”

“Yeah, but not today,” Rainbow answered. “He needed to go back to his post a while back. So I’ve just been out here practicing with this sword. What brings you all here?”

“I just got done running fifty consecutive laps around this entire garden… My poor knees are still trembling with ache…”

“Yikes! That’s killer on your legs.”

“Tell me about it…”

“Heh, sure! How about over lunch though? I’m getting kinda hungry.”

“We’d love to!” With that, Rainbow moved to sheath her sword and join Twilight, Shining Armor, and Spike as they trotted into the castle.

Elsewhere…

“Yes, there she is…” said a mysterious pony who’d been keeping an eye on Rainbow and her friends from atop a cloud. The pony then placed a hoof to its ear and began to speak: “Mesmerize to Tactic. Do you come in?”

“Yes, what do you have to report, Agent Mesmerize?”

“We have positive identity on the pony we’ve been suspecting has been hiding in Canterlot. Rainbow Dash is in Canterlot. I repeat. Rainbow Dash is in Canterlot. Celestia’s palace, to be exact.”

“I see. We may face a bit more opposition than initially anticipated. Still, this is excellent news. Tell me, how is she faring? What exactly did you see her doing?”

“She just finished up practicing fighting with the use of a sword. Why do you ask?”

“Good, good. So she still seems to remember…”

“Remember what?”

“…Nothing. It’s something of a… personal matter.”

“Rrrright…” replied Mesmerize, seeming none too interested in Agent Tactic’s hazy response to her question. “In any case, when do you want me and my partner to strike?”

“Don’t you worry about that. I’ll be there with another Agent tonight to give our target a… ‘Surprise visit’ of sorts. You and Agent Secrecy are relieved for now…”

“Roger.” With that, Mesmerize ended her conversation with Tactic. After turning off her communication device, she rolled over on her back, still lying on the cloud with her partner. “Hey Secrecy.”

“…Er, Y-yes, Mesmerize?” the other mysterious pony answered in a tone that made him seem as if he’d been shaken out of a vivid catatonic daydream.

“I thought I told you to call me ‘Mistress.’”

“Yes right… Mistress.”

“Whatcha thinkin’ about over there?”

“Nothing… Just… I can’t believe she’s still alive…”

“Isn’t that what I told you all those years ago, sweetie?”

“Yeah but… why’d we have to wait for so long? Why didn’t we come here earlier?”

“Hell if I know,” Mesmerize sighed. “Ol’ Tactic suggested to the higher-ups that we be patient and confirm that it was her and that she had what we’re looking for. So far, we know she’s alive. He mentioned something about noticing little kaleidoscope-mane falling into a forest the day he wound up getting his teammates murdered, and then an explosion happening a few minutes later. He saw her body, but then saw a group of Celestia’s guards on their way to search the area before he was able to recover her.”

“So… he knew she was here all along?”

“I suppose, but his assumption was falling on deaf ears until recently. I only had a clue of her being alive when I found you. That Sonic Rainboom she pulled a while ago wasn’t very solid evidence to follow, and I was the only one to follow it while Tactic was being reprimanded for his failure. He suggested that Rainbow might be alive, but nopony listened to him after he tarnished his rep by getting his flanks handed to him by Daring Do. Big lummox returned to base with the bodies of his two teammates and a broken back leg... shameful, really. Up until then, he was regarded as one of our best. To screw up so badly on an operation that was ranked a D+ in difficulty… Anyway, it was only about a week ago that I finally gave in to his crazy ramblings about Rainbow Dash being alive in Canterlot and made this little trip here with you. He trusted me with the information I’m relaying to you.”

“We’re… we’re not going to kill her… are we?” Thunderlane Secrecy’s voice showed his concern for his target.

“Not if she complies with us, we won’t. We follow a strict rule not to kill unless somepony is so much as suspected to know something that may have us discovered. We SHOULD be on our way to snuffing the little bitch now, as a matter of fact…” That statement greatly worried Agent Secrecy. “…but she’s also rumored to have her hooves on an Element of Harmony. Plus, we can’t do so without an order or some kind of provocation. But… that’s enough about this silly little mission… come over here and gimme some sugar… I’m in the mood for some more of your hot, delicious cream filling…”

“Again? We did it four times before we left base…”

“That’s not a BAD thing, is it?”

“Uh no o-of course not…” Secrecy semi-lied. Over the years, when he hadn’t been honing the skills he needed to become and maintain his position as a Dark Hoof agent or being assigned to various reconnaissance missions alongside Agent Mesmerize, he’d been frequently subjected to her sexual advances. Although he didn’t mind spending quality time with his partner/lover, he had his limits. She, however, proved repeatedly that “limits” was a word nonexistent in her mind. Days where Mesmerize didn’t want him inside of her were few and far in between. Whenever he’d refuse or try to reason with her that he didn’t feel up to the task, she would resort to teasing, begging, or in extreme incidents, forcing herself upon him, telling him that she needed him badly. Not one to like disappointing her, he almost always obliged, however reluctant he was feeling.

“Good…” Mesmerize moaned, grabbing hold of her partner and pulling him down next to her. “…because so long as we don’t have any objectives to complete, we have all the time we want to spend together…” she gently laid a hoof on his chest and slowly dragged it down his body.

“Your wish is my command, Mistress…”

Later that night…

Aegis had seen Rainbow Dash off to bed and assumed his nightly post outside of her room door alongside a dark gray Unicorn guard wearing armor identical to that of Aegis’s.

“Hey, Aegis?” beckoned the Unicorn guard.

“Yeah?”

“We’ve been doing this for quite a while now.”

“Your point?”

“I mean… it’s been literally years since we were assigned to watch out for dangers involving Rainbow. Wouldn’t you think by now, she could protect herself?”

“Probably, but so long as she’s bearing an Element of Harmony, it’s imperative that we give her as much protection as she may need. By order of Princess Celestia herself, no less.”

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that…”

“I honestly don’t mind watching over her.”

“Because you’ve made a habit of spending your free time with her, I’d guess?”

“How’d you know?”

“I’ve caught glimpses of you training her, I’ve seen you two hanging around and talking on occasion, and… you smile whenever you come out of her room after kissing her good night…” At that, Aegis’s cheeks turned a light pink.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about. Shut up and do your job…”

“Heh heh, whatever you say, softie…” the Unicorn guard teased as they turned away from one another.

*CRACK* “AGH!” a sudden shout was heard coming from the gray unicorn. Aegis was quick to turn around and see a shadowy figure attempting to wrap its hooves around his neck. He ducked and rammed a fore hoof into the stomach of his assailant, sending them stumbling back a couple feet. Once he recovered, he took notice of his comrade lying on the ground with his eyes closed, either unconscious or dead. Standing before the body was two shadows, one larger than the other. He couldn’t get a definitive image of due to the corridor being dark.

“Who are you!?” Aegis asked. “How did you get in here undetected? What have you done to Gleam?”

“It’s not important to you who we are, Officer,” replied one of the voices, sounding deep and sinister.

“But we’ll let you in on a little secret…: Your friend here AIN’T asleep,” added the other voice, sounding not quite as deep, but definitely carrying a gravelly, malevolent tone.

“You…!” Aegis was already infuriated and standing his guard.

“Where is Rainbow Dash?” asked the larger shadow. The question sent a ripple of shock and anger through the Pegasus guard.

“What…? What could you possibly want with h—?” Then it hit him… She’d mentioned something earlier about a mysterious group of shady individuals warning about coming after her at some point. That point must have come today. “You… You’re part of that organization that’s after her for the Element, aren’t you?”

“Where is she? If you tell us, we MAY allow you to continue drawing breath…”

“Oi, why don’t we check this room,” suggested the smaller figure, placing a hoof on the knob of the door Aegis was assigned to guard. Aegis was quick to act, taking flight and with a swift spin, kicking the intruder away. “You’ll pay for that… with yer life, you bloody imbecile!” cried the figure as it launched its attack on Aegis, the larger figure preparing to follow behind.

“Aegis, what’s going on out he—!” asked another figure as it stepped out of the room to find the Pegasus guard locked in combat. She also took notice of a Unicorn guard’s lifeless body sprawled on the ground.

“Rainbow, go back into the room!” shouted Aegis as he broke free of the smaller Dark Hoof agent’s grasp and landed a solid right hook to his face. Just then, she noticed the larger agent making a move to attack her. She was quick to dodge out of the way by taking flight to avoid him and attempting to deliver a kick to his head, which the intruder ducked under.

“My, how you’ve grown since our last encounter…” the larger agent commented. Rainbow Dash almost immediately recognized his voice. In that same instant, she was outright livid.

“You! You finally decided to come back for me, huh!? I guarantee you’ll regret what you did to my mom!!” In blind, unadulterated fury, Rainbow charged at her enemy full force, unleashing a barrage of jabs and kicks, most of which he was able to block or maneuver around.

*THUMP* Rainbow managed to land a definitive strike to the invader’s abdomen with a side kick, causing him to stumble back a few steps.

“Not bad. You show much growth. But is it enough… to defeat me?”

“The less you open that filthy mouth of yours, the sooner we’ll find out, murderer!” With that, Rainbow reengaged her foe, the two trading blows in their heated debacle.

Meanwhile, Aegis had gained the upper hand in his battle with the other Agent. He’d been able to force him to defend himself without fighting back. Using the agent’s turtling to his advantage, Aegis delivered a coordinated series of cuffs and kicks to various weak spots in the Dark Hoof agent’s defense.

“You’ll pay for what you did to Gleam, you son of a bitch! You’re gonna wish you’d never even THOUGHT about breaking into this castle!” the Pegasus guard shouted as he delivered blow after blow to the trespasser. Little did he know, the trespasser had a trick up his sleeve. The agent’s forehead took on a bright red glow and a blinding flash of white enshrouded it a second later, effectively disabling Aegis from seeing.

*KRSH* “AAGH!” The agent revealed his hidden hoof blade and in an instant, shoved the blade upwards, where it met with the guardspony’s eye. Aegis was forced to back away as he screamed in agony, clutching his injured eye.

“How’s that feel? Yer eyeball’s lookin’ pretty nasty there, mate…” the attacker taunted with a snicker.

“Aegis!!” Rainbow shouted as she turned around to see her mentor incapacitated, blood drenching his face as his assailant was about to advance on him with the killing blow. Thinking quickly, Rainbow darted away from her primary enemy in an effort to save Aegis.

*CRASH* Just as the attacker’s blade was about to meet with Aegis’s windpipe, Rainbow tackled the assailant and threw him against the wall. Immediately, she descended upon him with a rapid barrage of punches, making sure this would-be murderer suffered dearly for his attempt to kill Aegis.

*THUMP* THUMP* *THUMP* She was fueled by her mentor’s agonized wailing and groaning as she landed punch after punch after punch.

*THUMP* *CRACK* *THUMP* for a moment during her unrelenting assault, she thought about Daring Do. The thought of the adventure mare laying in a puddle of her own blood… the killer standing there in triumph as he watched her die before his eyes… Daring’s last words to her before the last semblances of life ebbed away from her corpse… It was almost too much to bear thinking that Aegis might wind up the same way if she wasn’t there to help him.

*CRRACKK!!* With one more powerful haymaker to the agent’s jaw, Rainbow immediately charged at her primary target, who was recovering from her pervious attack.

“Rainbow… Rainbow, get out of here… They came for you…” Aegis painstakingly mumbled as he clutched his damaged eye. She didn’t hear him, however. She was busy attacking the larger Dark Hoof agent in a fit of pure, vengeful rage. Though his vision was blurred and impaired by the gouging of his eye, he cast his hazy gaze over at Rainbow. He saw her in an intense struggle with the other intruder, seeming to be having trouble as he was showing an impressive defense as the two took to the air. None of her moves seemed to be getting through his rock solid defense. In fact, he was landing more blows on her than she was him, consequently causing her to lose focus. In turn, the intruder was gaining an edge over the Pegasus mare. “Didn’t you hear me!? I said stop fighting and le—!” He was unable to finish his request as he felt something wrap around his neck.

*KRRSH!!* “AAAGH!!” the Pegasus guard shouted in despair as he felt a shockwave of pain course through him starting at the base of his neck. The agent Rainbow had previously beaten to a pulp managed to recover from the attack in order to finish his assassination of the Pegasus guard by plunging his hidden blade deep into Aegis’s upper chest.

“That’s right, scream fo’ me…” The bitterly sadistic attacker twisted and tugged at the knife so as to cause more damage, thus making Aegis wail in anguish. Rainbow quickly took note of the agonized screams coming from below. What she saw devastated her.

“NOOO!!! AEGIS!!!” she shouted in sorrow, rushing away from her losing fight to attack her mentor’s assassin. Unfortunately for Rainbow, he backed away as soon as he saw her coming. Instead of chasing after him, she landed by Aegis’s side, hurriedly kneeling down to take hold of his head and cuddle into it, not caring in the least about the blood from what was left of his eye coupled with a copious amount of it now pouring from his mouth staining her. She was beyond tears at the sight of his suffering.

“Rainbow Dash… don’t… *cough* don’t be sad…” Aegis painfully choked out. “I should be the one to… nrgh… to be sad…”

“What do you mean?”

“I… let you down… I’m sorry…”

"Wh… what?”

“I told you I would… protect you until the bitter end… or die trying… *cough cough* Looks like the latter is true here… agh…!”

“That’s too bad…” spat the pony responsible for Aegis’s murder as he strolled towards his partner. “Looks like you’ll be pushin’ up daisies pretty soo—!”

“Agent Malice. That’s enough. We’re done here,” ordered the larger intruder.

“What d’you mean ‘done?’ We still need t’ take the little blue one over there dead or alive, do we not, Tactic?” he asked as he approached his comrade.

“Trust me; that time will come soon enough. For now, we retreat knowing that our message has been delivered,” he whispered.

“What message?” Malice asked quietly.

“The message that it’s time for our little friend here to get herself ready… for next time, if she is not ready, we WILL end her and take her Element for ourselves.”

“Bloody ‘ell…! She’s got the Element…?”

“Take a look…” Tactic gestured a hoof towards the mourning young Pegasus and her fallen friend. Around her neck, the Element of Loyalty surely showed itself, glowing as it had whenever something greatly emotionally stirred her.

“Dash… don’t let my death upset you… I… I figured it would end this way, anyhow…” Aegis said, tears beginning to pour from his eye. Despite this, he let out a small chuckle. “I just… never thought it’d be so soon… mmph! And… and in the embrace of someone I cared for…”

“Aegis…” Rainbow murmured as she cried, lovingly nuzzling her friend as she held him.

“I… I thought I’d get to say this much later, but… I… I love ya, kid…” he choked out, managing to gather enough strength to gently wrap a fore hoof around her neck. “Stay strong… and save this world… for me…” With that last message, Aegis let out one final sigh, breathing out the last remnants of his life as his body went limp.

“Aegis… Aegis, no…! Please…!” Rainbow pleaded, nuzzling the deceased Pegasus guard tighter, holding onto the slightest hope that he was still alive.

“Aww… Sucks, don’t it? Losin’ somepony special right before your eyes,” Agent Malice commented, much to Rainbow’s frustration as she glared at him. “Don’t you gimme that bug-eyed look. You knew this was comin’. The only surprisin’ factor shoulda been a matter of when.”

“Both of you… Both of you are dead…! You hear me!? You’re FUCKING DEAD!!” she shouted through her anguished tears as she held Aegis in her fore legs.

“Ooh, this little bitch is feisty…” Malice retorted, purposefully egging her on. “Just how I like ‘em…”

“That’s enough, Malice. Get us out of here. Now,” ordered Agent Tactic.

“Why? She’s obviously rarin’ t’ go a few rounds with the both of us.”

“Rainbow Dash? Are you okay?” called another voice from seemingly nowhere.

“Aw, bugger…” Malice disappointedly muttered as he placed a fore hoof on Tactic’s back before casting a spell to teleport the two out of the area. A moment later, Twilight Sparkle came around a corner to be greeted with the sight of Rainbow holding Aegis’s lifeless body and sobbing while the body of another guard was laying on the ground.

“RAINBOW! What happened here?? Who did this??” The Unicorn mare frantically asked as she approached her friend, already in hysterics over the gruesome sight.

“They… they’re trying to kill me. They killed Aegis…”

“Somepony broke in?? We have to alert the Princesses! Immediately!”

“Fine… but we… *sniffle* we need to take him with us…”

“No. We can’t. We need to alert Princess Luna and Princess Celestia now. Taking the body with us would do no good.”

“Then… then you go tell them. I can’t leave him here…” Rainbow suggested as she wept. Twilight was ready to argue that she wouldn’t be doing any good in just sitting around, but she quickly realized the relationship between Rainbow and the fallen Aegis. Rainbow was mourning her loss and ripping her away from her current position would be detrimental to the Pegasus’s wellbeing.

“O-okay. I’ll be back as swiftly as I can. Just… just sit tight, okay?” the Unicorn shakily suggested as she turned around to begin her trek. Rainbow only nodded as she saw Twilight off. As soon as Twilight was out of sight, the blue Pegasus nuzzled into Aegis’s body once more.

“I… I love you too, Aegis…”