My Friends

The next day she left for Manehattan, although she felt bad for not telling her friends where she was going, she felt like they didn’t need to know. Manehattan was a bit different than Canterlot, it was smaller, but still had the big city feel to it. Fluttershy was overwhelmed, she had no idea where to start, she didn’t want to show the symbol to the wrong person, if Juno was right, she could put herself in danger.

What kind of house was Juno even talking about? An apartment? A ranch? A farm?

The timid pegasus gritted her teeth, she didn’t even know what to look for.

Somewhere behind the mare, a coin fell to the ground. On impulse, she turned around to locate the noise, a pony in a black hood with a coin purse in his wing ran away from a confused mare, looking in her saddlebag.

“Stop! Thief!” The mare shouted, pointing off towards the running pony.

Fluttershy felt something come over her, she didn’t think what it was, she only acted towards it, the next thing she knew, she was on top of the hooded pony, the coin purse still clenched in his wing, the yellow pegasus looked around. Her saddlebag had dropped, leaving the contents of the bag on the ground, the mare noticed the drawing of the symbol had unraveled and was shown to anypony who cared to look.

The mare she had seen what felt like seconds ago pushed through a crowd that surrounded the mare who tackled the thief.

“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” the mare said, kissing Fluttershy on the forehead, it was an older mare, maybe in her late fifties or early sixties.

Fluttershy felt a tug on her mane, it pulled her towards her saddlebag, where a brown earth pony helped her scoop up the contents of her bag and put it back in quickly.

The pegasus was pulled out of the crowd by the brown pony, who held her saddlebag in his mouth.

Fluttershy noticed the slight goatee on the stallion, and his greying hair. Again, an older pony. Atop his head was a black hat, almost like Applejack’s stetson, but with a flat bill going around it. He wobbled slightly on his back leg, showing his age.

The pony turned around and faced Fluttershy. The mare hadn’t noticed she’d been following him to the edge of town, where the city ended and a large brick mansion stood in the distance.

The stallion spit the saddlebag out, going through it and finding the drawing of the symbol and showing it to the mare.

“How did you get this?” He asked in an old, raspy voice.

“I-I um...” Fluttershy stuttered, not knowing what would happen when she answered.

“Answer me, girl.” He ordered, pointing a hoof at him.

The mare looked into the pony’s eyes, he didn’t seem like he wanted to cause any harm, Fluttershy knew a bad pony from a good one, and he was no bad pony.

“I was told to find it,” Fluttershy decided to leave out Juno. “In this city.”

The stallion narrowed his eyes, “Was it Celestia?” He asked.

“Um... no.” The mare whispered.

“Why is it that she keeps sending you Templars to do her dirty work?” He asked.

“I... I’m not a Templar.” She said, rubbing her hoof against the ground.

The stallion sighed. “So when I take this one in, she’s not going to try to kill me?”

“Oh, no!” Fluttershy gasped. “I would never do such a thing!”

“I saw what you did in the marketplace, I would expect no less.” He said.

“But... I didn’t mean to!” She squeaked.

“Okay, okay, come on.” The stallion sighed, picking the saddlebag back up and walking towards the house.

Fluttershy stood there for a second. She didn’t know what the pony’s intentions were, but he had something against the Templars, and he seemed to know what the symbol meant, so maybe Juno had meant for her to go to this house.

“Hey! You coming or not?” The stallion shouted from the door of the brick house.

“I’m coming!” Fluttershy called, hurrying to his home.

The stallion had gotten Fluttershy and himself a cup of coffee, the interior of his house was much different than most would expect, it looked to be rundown and about to collapse upon itself. The stallion had sat across from Fluttershy on a large velvet chair, the yellow mare sat on a large couch, slowly sipping her coffee.

“So.” He said. “What is your name?”

“Um... Fluttershy.” The mare whispered.

“It shows.” He said with a smile. “My name is Achilles.”

The mare smiled warmly, liking the friendly company.

“The Element of Kindness, if I’m not mistaken.” Achilles said.

“Yes.” She said.

The stallion put on a serious face, leaning forward and putting the drawing down on the coffee table in between them.

“Tell me what the Element of Kindness wants with this symbol.” He said.

“Juno... I mean-”

The pony nearly choked on his coffee.

“You spoke to Juno?” He asked.

“You know her?”

“Of course I know her, most Assassin’s do.” Achilles said. “Altair, Ezio...” He mumbled.

“Who?”

“Nopony, nopony you need to worry about.”

Fluttershy leaned back in her seat, feeling a bit more uncomfortable than before, she didn’t know what she was getting herself into, her mind told her to run away, to go back home and never come again. But her heart told her to stay, to stay and listen.

“Tell me about them.” She said, putting her hoof on the drawing.

He told her.

Most of it terrified her, ponies taking other ponies lives, assassinations of ponies who were thought to be just normal, everyday ponies. Some of it she understood though, in an odd way of understanding. The ponies were money hungry, or powerful to a dangerous level, Achilles told a story of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a Florentine nobleman, how he eliminated Templar threats for the good of everypony, and his death.

“So, what does Juno want with a pegasus?” Achilles asked, “She knows we don’t allow them in the order.”

“She wants me?” Fluttershy asked, her heart skipping a beat.

“Apparently.” Achilles said, “She doesn’t just tell anyone to find the symbol... I guess we could make an exception.”

Fluttershy thought about the order, could she do something like that? Could she allow herself to kill? Even if it would be for the greater good?

“I need to think about this, I don’t know if I could...”

“It’s different for everypony, Fluttershy, ponies take things differently.” Achilles said with a smile. “But I need you, I haven’t seen an Assassin in years, the world needs to stop the Templars, or everything will fall.”

“What about my wings?”

Fluttershy thought about what she had said, was she really considering it?

Achilles tapped his chin. “We cut them off.” He said in dead seriousness.

Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide, her heart stopped, just as she opened her mouth to protest, Achilles laughed.

“We bandage them up, flying won’t be necessary.” He chuckled.

Fluttershy felt herself let out a breath and chuckle. “Okay.”

“Okay? You’ll do it?” Achilles asked, brightening up.

Fluttershy thought about this, by speaking to this pony, she was endangering herself, and what she cared for, she would have to kill other ponies, for the good of Equestria. If Juno thought this was destiny, then Fluttershy was ready to accept it.

“I’ll do it.” She said with a deep breath.

Achilles smiled, getting up and wobbling over to the timid mare, patting her shoulder. “Then we best go over some things.”

“...10...11...12...13...” Achilles counted.

Fluttershy’s arms ached already, she hadn’t done push ups since Flight School. She didn’t know what else Achilles had planned for her, it was only the second workout, the first being a mile run. She knew that she wasn’t doing good, in fact, she knew she was doing terrible.

The mare fell on her chest, breathing heavily, trying to muster up breath for her drying mouth.

“17” Achilles said. “You’re going to need some work.”

“H-how d-did you do this?” Fluttershy asked, rolling over and watching her chest rise and fall with speed.

“Training, practice, more training.” Achilles said, scratching his beard.

Next up Fluttershy had to work her legs, doing pull-ups with the joint on a limb of a tree and pulling herself up, which she barely did before falling and catching herself with her wings.

“You cannot rely on those.” Achilles said, “They should only be used for disguise.”

“But, I’ve used them since I was a filly.” Fluttershy whined. “It’s a reflex.”

Achilles went back inside and returned with boxing tape, tying it around her wings so the feathers couldn’t spread.

“Now try.”

The mare struggled to climb the tree, falling a few times before finally getting up to the branch and resuming her workout. After a few seconds, her legs felt tired again, but she kept going, doing more than the times before so she didn’t fall. But after a minute, she fell, catching herself on her front hooves and falling onto her stomach.

Achilles chuckled.

“Fear, the worst enemy for an Assassin, it’s what stops them from acting, and what pushes them to keep going.” he explained.

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, getting back to her hooves.

“You were scared of falling, therefore you pushed yourself to keep going and not stop.”

“And acting?”

Achilles took a step back and threw a wild hoof in Fluttershy’s direction, the mare immediately covered her face as a reflex, waiting for the hit, but it never came. When she took her arms down, the stallion laughed.

“Fear is what stops you from acting.” He laughed, waving her towards the entrance to the mansion. “Come.”

Fluttershy smiled, Achilles was right, he had known exactly what she would have done in those moments. It was odd, feeling like the pony knew her like that, but it also gave her a sense of safety.

After hours and hours of training the mare’s body, the sun was going down and every part of her body ached when she moved, sweat drenched her mane, coat and tail, tears had been shed during training, the mare had thought she could do no more, and wanted to give up, but Achilles kept pushing her until the very end.

“Night is approaching, you need your rest now.” He said. “I suppose my old body does too.”

Fluttershy found herself inside, gathering her saddlebag and heading for the door, just before she reached for the handle, Achilles spoke from a rocking chair.

“Where are you going?” He asked.

The mare turned around, “I’m going to rent a room in the city, I’ll come back tomorrow.”

Achilles got up and hobbled over to her. “Oh, nonsense.” He said, taking her saddlebag off. “You can stay in the guest room upstairs, there is a bath and a bed far better than any hotel.”

Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you, Achilles.” She said, traveling up the stairs to the left and taking her saddle bag with her.

“Thank you, Fluttershy.” He said with a smile. “You gave me more help than I could have hoped for.”

Fluttershy got to the top of the steps, thinking of what the pony had said, she smiled to herself and made her way to what she guessed was her room, it was across from a larger room, with a giant bed that looked like it was used regularly. Her new bed looked like it was never used, but kept like somepony slept in it every night.

The mare quickly found her way to the bathroom, starting the bathwater, being far too tired to take a shower, the bathtub looked like it was used for a princess, being bigger and taller than what Fluttershy had seen before, even in the castle.

The mare poured lavender into the bathtub to help her relax, she stripped the bandages from her wings, turned the water off, then lowered herself into the bathwater slowly, cherishing the feeling of the hot bathwater on her skin, and the smell of lavender in her nostrils, the mare knew from experience that it was a perfect herbal muscle relaxant. The mare leaned back so her back pressed against the wall of the bathtub, she took in a deep breath, gathering all the relaxation she could from the water.

Just as the mare closed her eyes, she heard something from downstairs, a record player had started, and had begun to play a soft music loud enough so the mare could hear it.

She smiled at the music, slowly stretching out her legs. Achilles must have turned it on for himself, not knowing she could hear it.

The mare heard a creak in her room and opened her eyes, looking for the source.

Another large, bipedal creature stood in the room, only this one seemed different, he didn’t even seem to recognize that she was there, he was in a large, armored grey suit with a hood to cover his face, on his face a black and grey goatee showed his age. He just stood, looking into a mirror at himself.

Fluttershy blinked, and he was gone.

The mare shook her head and closed her eyes again, sinking down into the water so she was fully submerged, then came up, listening to the water run out of her mane and face. She shampooed herself with a strawberry scented foam-like substance, mixing the lavender and strawberry in the water smelled even better to the mare, causing her to smile.

She stepped out of the bathtub just as the music finished.

She wrapped herself in a light blue towel, drying her mane, tail and coat until she got into bed, pulling the covers around her and curling up. She thought about the music Achilles had played, she hadn’t been sure what it was, it wasn’t from anypony she’d heard of.

The mare hummed the first few seconds of the song in a quicker pace to herself, liking the beat and overall liking the song.

The mare finally found peace, and fell into a deep slumber.