The Assassin's Quandary

Though I had only known her for a couple weeks, Twilight was already my best friend. I was closer to her than I had been with anyone. Even my mother never truly understood me in the way Twilight did. But more than that, Twilight liked me for who I was; while my mother loved almost out of obligation, Twilight truly enjoyed my company. It was a magical experience.

The others were less important to me, but just the thought of having friends would have overwhelmed me mere days ago. They were less tense around me now; perhaps they were starting to see what Twilight meant about me.The small traces such as fluttering curtains or soft sounds told me that Rainbow was still following me and therefore didn’t trust me, but hopefully the others would persuade her.

We were on our way to the crystalline caverns when I realized something was... off. Slight clues that I had not noticed on our previous sessions. It is following you.

“Twilight?” She turned slightly. “How much trouble would we be in if we were discovered?”

“Well,” she replied, “You would probably be thrown back into the dungeon, possibly executed- it doesn’t happen much, but it has happened- and I would probably be denied contact with you. Celestia gave me specific orders not to do this with you. Why do you ask?”

What could I say? Somepony is following us? It was nothing more than a feeling. Push it away. “No reason. Just curious.” Get ready. Don’t let your guard down. We continued to walk, but this time in silence.

“Here we are. Pretty amazing formation, isn’t it? I would love to be able to study it and discover how it got here.” She kicked a pebble into the massive hole and paused. “I didn’t even hear it hit the bottom. Did you?” I shook my head.

Twilight looked worried. “Are you ok? We don’t have to practice today if you-”

“I’m fine. Let’s start.” Careful. Something lurks here.

Twilight approached me to take off my cuffs when a bright flash appeared in between us, knocking us away from each other. When my eyes readjusted, I saw a grinning unicorn grinning devilishly at a dazed Twilight. “Oh, Twilight, I would prefer it if you didn’t do that. Killing Silen will be so much easier if he’s wearing hoofcuffs.” He withdrew a jagged knife, dripping with green slime. “As for you, I-”

“You stay off of her, scumbag!” A blur of color zipped through the cavern, flying directly towards the mysterious new figure. Just as they were about to collide, the unicorn dove out of the way, leaving Rainbow Dash to smash into a stalagmite. She easily plowed through it, but was left stunned for a few moments. Before she could even react, the unicorn shot a spray of yellow goo from his horn, pinning Rainbow to the ground. He turned back to Twilight. “Now, where were we?”

Kill.

No.

Kill, now, or die. Or she dies. And her. They die. You die. Now kill.

No weapon.

Bad excuse. KILL.

“No, please, just tell me what you want...” Twilight’s whimpering brought me back to consciousness.

“What I want is to kill you! I thought that much was obvious. You know, maybe you aren’t as smart as you think.”

“Silen, h-help me!” She yelled. That was it. Kill.

Just as the assassin raised his blade, I leapt at him, raising my front legs high above his head. As I landed on him, I shifted the chain connecting my hooves around his neck and pulled up hard.

Harder. Choke. Strangle. He was stunned for a few seconds, but I knew he would try to stab you. He tried to pick up the knife, but Twilight noticed and wrestled for it with him magically.

“S-s-stop,” he gargled weakly. Harder. End him.

He started trying to buck me off of him, but he just made me CHOKE HIM HARDER. By now he was struggling HARDER, and I could tell he was about to grab the knife from Twilight. I jerked up as hard as I could, and his body went limp.

Good.

No.

You had to. Good.

“I didn’t want to.” I was surprised to hear the words exit my mouth. “I didn’t want to...”

+~+~+~+~+~+~+

“Silen.”

Twilight.

“Siiilleenn?”

Rainbow Dash.

“Silen, it’s ok.” A slight nudge. Their voices echoed from miles away, blurry and distant.

My eyes were riveted on the corpse of the assassin. Unlike me, he wore no cloak, rather allowing himself to be fully seen. Black metal spikes were strapped to his white fur, and he had a wicked gauntness to him. His jagged knife was sharply curved and barbed, and slick poison shone in the dim light. By all means he was as evil as he looked, but his death still weighed heavily on me.

“Hey...you need to snap out of it...” Rainbow Dash. Her voice was getting closer.

“Silen.” Rainbow hovered in front of me, releasing my eyes from the corpse. “Silen, it’s okay. Let’s just get out of here.”

+~+~+~+~+~+~+

They left me alone for a few hours once we got back. I sat in my room and took in the luxury around me. Lavish sheets. Delicious food. Colorful flowers. An array of Books. None of this should be mine. I should be back in the dungeon, chipping away at the crusty corner. I spent the night counting the threads in my sheets.

Twilight entered my room in the morning, magically holding a tray of food. “Good morning,” I murmured.

“Hey,” she responded. “We just came to see if you wanted to talk about it.” She nodded towards the door and her friends peeked in, joined by Celestia herself. The Princess walked in and put a comforting hoof on my shoulder. “And I never said thank you. For saving them.” She leaned down and removed my hoofcuffs, and I felt a large weight lifted from me.

“You’re welcome,” I said shakily. “It was...nothing...” I struggled to pronounce the last word. Nothing? Murder is never nothing. Luckily, they knew I was being sarcastic.

“Silen, I don’t mean to be insensitive, but haven’t you... well... killed other ponies already?” Twilight almost sounded excited. It caught me off guard.

“Never like this. Always it was with a knife- clean, orderly, fast. A stab to the neck or slit in the throat. Never... like this.” I shifted up and looked into their eyes.

“Could you do it again?” Celestia asked.

“Yes.”

I was shocked by my own quick response. Judging by the stares of my companions, they were too.

“For Twilight. I can.” It was strange; my answers were almost instinctual. I was talking to myself as much as them.

“I would do it all again. Even like that. At this point, I would rather die than lose Twilight.” Strength was gradually returning to me.

“In that case, you will help us end this.” Celestia made her way out of the room. “Follow.”

We found ourselves back inside of Celestia’s library. “Silen, I trust you. But we can not continue unless everypony else does.”

“So do I,” followed Rarity.

“And me!” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“I trust you,” whispered Fluttershy.

“Absoloootly!”

“Ah trust ya too.”

“I trust you, Silen. And I know you can do it.” Twilight gave a small grin.

“Excellent,” said Celestia, ruffling her wings slightly. “Now, please, follow me. I would like to get started before Twilight is dead. We can’t risk another attempt.”

We walked out of the room and continued to the armory. The section of new wall clashed with the worn stone of the rest of the room. Unfortunately, the armory was filled with heavy armor and long spears- ideal for guards, but not assassins. “I don’t think this is quite your style, Silen.” I awkwardly grumbled an affirmation.

Celestia’s horn glowed yellow and an intricate, circular rune appeared on the far wall. She approached and started manipulating the rune with her hoof, sliding rings of the rune around until she had the combination in place. The rune disappeared, and with it, the wall.

“This vault hasn’t been opened for ages. It contains all of the equipment used by my own assassins, back when they were still needed. Oh, Pinkie Pie, I wouldn’t go near that if I were you. It’s called a springrazor, and tripping it will turn you into several pieces.” As Twilight went to shoo the others outside of the vault, Celestia and I looked around for a suitable blade.

“How about this one?” She levitated an ornate golden knife which glowed brightly as she swung it through the air. “It was used by Sunbringer during the war with Nightmare Moon. It’s imbued with the power of the sun, and will disintegrate night creatures. It wasn’t the stealthiest of weapons, but it was particularly devastating.”

“Much too bright. I would be discovered after the first target.”

“What do you mean by ‘first target’?”

I thought for a bit, but couldn’t come up with anything. “Just a feeling. Tell me about this one.” She unlocked the display case I was pointing to and withdrew the blade. It was a smooth piece of radiant purple crystal, sharp only on one edge.

“This blade would be fitting for you, Silen. Long ago, only a select few powerful unicorns were allowed to publish findings and receive patronage from me or Luna. We had intended for the system to root out all but the best magi and encourage prospective unicorns to push themselves to be the best, but it became a breeding ground for corruption. Power-hungry wizards would send assassins to kill anypony more powerful than themselves. For a time we were reluctant to completely abolish the system, instead establishing an order of hidden bodyguards to protect our best unicorns.” She passed the knife into my telekinetic hold.

“Starswirl the Bearded himself crafted and enchanted this knife for his own protector, Mystic Night.”

“Mystic Night,” Twilight murmured from the doorway. “I’ve never heard of him.”

“Correct,” responded Celestia. “Even an avid Starswirl aficionado- such as yourself- would struggle to find anything about him, mostly because of this knife. You see, Starswirl was so paranoid that this knife could fall into the wrong hooves that he made Mystic Night live a life of secrecy so that nopony could learn of the blade that he carried.”

“That seems a bit severe.” I rotated the knife, examining each sparkling facet carefully.

“It was, especially considering that the only enchantments I can detect on this knife are relatively commonplace, at least when it came to assassins. It contains sound inhibitors and magics to keep the edge razor-sharp, but nothing particularly powerful. I always attributed the paranoia to Starswirl’s...” Celestia looked away. “...Eccentric nature. But Luna said that the knife was worth sealing away, so, I put it here. I think you can put it to a better use than it would find in this vault.”

“Thank you, Princess. I’ll make sure to bring it back in one piece.”

“I would be surprised if you could manage to break it; it’s practically indestructible.” We walked out of the vault, which Celestia sealed much in the same way she opened it.

“What’s next?” I asked.

“We track down your contact. It won’t be easy, but it’s a better lead than anything else we’ve come up with,” Celestia responded.

“Oh, Silen, darling, I have one thing to give you before you leave, it that’s alright.” The snow-white unicorn led me down the hall towards her room. “I know you said you didn’t want anything, but I simply couldn’t resist...” she threw open the door, and in the middle of the room stood a gloriously clothed mannequin.

Unlike my current plain black cloak, this new design was much tighter and more intricate. Silver trim and red detail around the edges gave it a subtle beauty that I had never known could exist in clothing. The hood covered most of the mannequins face, but a hole with a silver ring remained for my horn to fit through. Wide bands of inky black cloth trailed down at the midsection and legs, making the cloak shadowy and ethereal. The back part of the cloak flowed past the rear, forming a wide tail.

“Care to try it on?” I nodded wordlessly, my mouth too busy hanging open to talk. She magically put the clothes on for me and stepped back before squealing in delight. “It looks simply marvelous on you! Oh, and darling, there are a few hidden pockets I put in under your back legs. Go ahead, try them out.”

I fumbled around with the pockets, trying to get a feel for how they opened. Once I had gotten to the point where I could quickly and gracefully pull my knife from the hidden compartment, I walked around the room a bit to get a feel for the cloak. Everything moved easily and fluidly- it felt almost as if the cloak had merged with my body.

“It’s perfect Rarity. I can’t thank you enough.”