My Friends

“You cannot just go in and attempt to fight them!” Achilles shouted at the bleeding mare.

“I didn’t mean to...” Fluttershy whispered, cringing from the forceful bandaging.

Achilles muttered a few words to himself, then spoke, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go out there yet...” He said, “You aren’t ready to fight.”

“Yes I am!” Fluttershy shouted. “I was surprised! That’s all...”

“You can’t be surprised, you have to think about every possible thing that could happen, and be ready for it!” Achilles fired back.

“I’m only one mare!” Fluttershy said.

“An Assassin can take on countless enemies at once!”

Fluttershy felt tears seep from her eyes. “Pinkie Pie ran!” She cried, “They’re going to kill her!”

Achilles stopped, ripping the bandage and placing the last bit of it on the mare’s head.

“I’ll find out where she is, you get some rest, they didn’t do enough damage to keep you in bed tomorrow.” He said, “We need to go on a trip.”

Achilles and Fluttershy walked through the streets calmly, the mare had notice more soldiers than ever out today, patrolling the streets in two’s, four’s or even six’s. Fluttershy had her hood up ducking through crowds of other ponies with Achilles at her side, watching her.

“Don’t look like you want to cause harm, they’ll just get more suspicious.” He said.

Fluttershy nodded, bumping into a soldier and walking away, despite his hurtful words.

“They’re looking for her.” Fluttershy said, looking around at the soldiers.

A small group of soldiers shoved past the two, running in the direction of a crowd of ponies.

“It looks like they found something.” Achilles said.

“I’ll figure out what.” Fluttershy said, pushing through the crowd to see the commotion.

Pinkie Pie stood with her back against the wall to three large stallions, it was clear to Fluttershy that she had been trying to hide, she was adorned with a large black coat which was in the process of being stripped off of her. As she resisted, the mare was hit across the face with the butt of one of the guards gun and thrown to the side.

Fluttershy moved closer, helping the pony up. “You have no right to treat her that way.” She said in a stallion-like voice.

“Oh, you think you can just butt in on these things?” The guard asked with a laugh, turning towards the other two, “I’m not the one under the hood, pussy.”

The gun came in her direction, just as it was about to collide with her head, she ducked under it, grabbing the pony by the back of the head and slamming her own into his, she kicked a leg out from under the dazed guard and drove a hoof into his muzzle as he tried to move to his feet, knocking him out.

The two other stallions charged as Fluttershy stood on her hind legs, one swung a musket from one side and the other from the opposite, one swinging high and the other low, the mare dove through both of the attacks, rolling off and seeing both of the stallions get hit by the others attack, one stallion had been knocked out when the back of the gun hit him in the face the other had been tripped when it hit his ankles, Fluttershy swiftly grabbed one of the weapons that they had dropped and used the stallions head like a golf ball and the gun like the club, also knocking him unconscious.

Pinkie Pie had her hoof over her face, frightened of the hooded pony that stood before her, just as she thought her life would end, the pony raised a hoof to help her up.

The disguised Fluttershy helped her friend up. Returning to Achilles with her.

“We must go before more arrive.” Achilles said, moving quickly back towards the town exit with the mare and disguised mare.

As they arrived at the house, the two mares entered the house while Achilles kept watch outside.

Fluttershy ran up to her room upstairs, making the other mare follow her. Pinkie had taken a blow to the head and it was bleeding, it was nothing fatal, but it was something the hooded mare had directed her attention to.

As Pinkie sat on the bed, Fluttershy rummaged through the bathroom, finding gauze and bandages, as well as some disinfectant and painkillers.

“Take these.” Fluttershy said using her stallion voice. She held two small pills out for the pink mare.

The pink pony swallowed them without question.

The hooded mare began to wipe the cut Pinkie had gotten on the side of her head with disinfectant, causing the mare to cringe a little and whimper. When she finished with that, she applied the bandages, then the gauze over them.

“I don’t know the stallion I owe my thanks too, but thank you anyways.” Pinkie said, watching her savior work.

Fluttershy felt no point in hiding it, she pulled her hood down and showed her face and eyes to the now shocked mare. Pinkie wasn’t like the rest of them. She ran for a reason.

“F-Fluttershy?” Pinkie whispered, looking up at the usually timid mare.

“Pi-”

Pinkie Pie latched onto the mare in a tight embrace.

“I thought you were gone...” Pinkie said, squeezing the yellow pegasus, causing a blush to form on her face. “I came looking for you.”

“Why did you leave, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked, hugging the mare back. “You knew it would put you in danger.”

“I couldn’t stand it there for any longer, Shy, they were always yelling, and demanding this and ordering that.” She said. “They executed somepony... a filly, for stealing from a bakery.”

Fluttershy gasped.

“She was starving... she hadn’t eaten in days.” Pinkie explained. “I didn’t even say anything... I just stood there... watching...”

Fluttershy let go of the mare and held her by the shoulders. “There was nothing you could do, they wouldn’t have let you stop them.”

Achilles entered the room.

“Nopony followed us, we should be safe.” He said.

“Granted they don’t come looking for you.” Fluttershy said, sitting next to Pinkie Pie.

“They shouldn’t suspect someone as old as me, it’s been too long.” Achilles said with a smile, “Probably have forgotten about me.”

Pinkie looked over at Achilles, then turned away quickly.

“Don’t worry, If she trusts you, I am nopony to think differently.” He said, nodding to the pink mare.

Fluttershy looked to Achilles, then back to Pinkie. “You two have a history?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.

“D-”

“It’s a... long story.” Achilles interrupted the earth pony.

A pony climbed up the side of the mountain Canterlot rested on. His natural Navy blue coat made him almost invisible against the mountain. He was a pegasus, so why he climbed was beyond everypony. He reached the top of the mountain with ease. The top was covered in forest, a perfect shroud for anypony who didn’t want to be found. He opened one of the pockets of his saddlebags and pulled out a curved piece of wood. Out of the other pocket of his other saddlebag, he pulled out a strange contraption. It had a taut string and a hoff crank. He attached the curved wood to the contraption so that the string threaded through the two ends of the wood. Lastly, he took out a small telescope and attached it to the top of the contraption.

He had made a Crossbow with a scope.

He lie down and looked over the castle through the scope.  Princess Twilight was talking to one of her higher-ups in the army. The stallion put a bolt into his Crossbow and took aim. Twilight’s head was in his crosshairs. he pulled the trigger and the bolt flew. Twilight’s Head shot forward and the bolt missed by a mere inches.

“Luna Fucking Dammit!” The stallion said, punching a tree.

The force of him punching the tree jangled his necklace. To him it was more like a dog tag. The form of an A, missing the middle line, but having a crescent at the bottom that didn’t connect in the middle. The stallion looked back through his scope to see what made Twilight jerk her head. Another one of Twilight was looking down at a hooded figure. The whole suit was white. Just like an... The Stallion’s eyebrows rose. The two cohorts started to beat the hooded pony as the Princess watched. The two ponies ripped the hood off to reveal the brightly colored mare who limped off without as much as one word.

“This could be interesting.” The stallion said to himself, “Another assassin. Maybe that one fellow knows about them.”

The stallion opened his wings and flew down to the streets of Canterlot, where he entered an antique music shop and went behind the counter right as a customer walked in.

“Hello, my name is Lance, and this is The Music Shop.” The stallion said to the customer, “How may I help you?”

Rainbow Dash stomped down the hallways of Canterlot Castle, the marble flooring beneath her clicked under her hooves. She was heading out for the day. Twilight had told her to ‘cool off’ and have some fun in the city, then come back the next day.

The mare sighed. Fluttershy had visited them three nights before, and all of them had landed some kind of punishment on her, but Twilight had let her go, which had made the rainbow maned mare frustrated and angry, she knew that Fluttershy was her friend.

“So why would she join them?” The mare said aloud, putting a disgusted emphasis on them.

The mare shook her head, ruffling her mane up like how it used to be. She had never drastically changed it, but it had taken different looks over the years.

The pegasus found herself in the streets of Canterlot, watching the guards salute her, then trot on by.

She watched a Zebra calmly walk the streets among all of the other ponies, years before, everypony would run in fear from even a resemblance to their kind.

The mare smiled, walking along the sides of the buildings, giving a glance inside the shops every so often. A lot had changed in the last six years.

As the mare looked into a lone alleyway, she saw something move in the back corner, making her stop. She watched for a few more seconds as ponies passed her by. A guard stopped near her, looking where she was looking.

“Something wrong, Miss Dash?”

The mare studied the dark alleyway for a few more seconds, seeing something move again.

“Come with me...” She said, trotting into the dark.

The mare and the guard slowly crept into the alley, looking around them every few seconds. Both of them could hear the faint sound of dripping water, causing them to check their surroundings more cautiously. They finally reached the end, where nothing seemed out of the ordinary, or moving.

“Do you think it-”

Dash heard a loud crunching sound behind her, she whipped around quickly and saw the guard laying on the ground, with a hooded mare above him.

“Shy?” Rainbow asked, backing herself into the back wall.

The mare took her hood down, revealing the once timid mare.

“I’ve come to talk to you, Dash.” Fluttershy said.

Dash reached down to her back leg, feeling for a knife. It wasn’t there, she had taken all of her armor and weapons off for the walk.

“You came to kill me, Shy.” Rainbow said. “I’m not that stupid.”

“I didn’t come to kill anypony.” Fluttershy said with a sigh, “I came to show you something.”

The yellow pegasus pulled something from out of her robes, and threw it on the ground in front of Dash, making it skid to a stop at her hooves. It was a necklace, made from pure gold, in the center of it, a red lightning bolt.

“You’re the element of loyalty, Dash.” Fluttershy said. “You aren’t supposed to leave friends behind, no matter what happens.”

“I didn’t leave anypony behind!” Dash shouted, hoping that a guard heard her.

“You left yourself behind, your true self.” The mare said.

“Things change, Fluttershy, ponies change!”

“No they don’t, they just say things like that to cover up who, or what they really were, and always will be,”

Dash noticed that the mare she once called a friend stood right in front of her, with a hoof on her shoulder.

“A friend.” Shy finished.

Fluttershy smiled as Dash’s eyes went wide, and tears welled up in them. Dash’s hoof was now on her shoulder as well.

Suddenly, the mare was struck across the face, Dash stood over her, laughing.

The strong mare got on top of the assassin and pressed her hooves to her neck, choking her.

Fluttershy thrashed at the mare, swinging her hooves to try to get out of the deadly grip.

“You can’t change me, Fluttershy.” Dash said with a maniacal smile.

“I-” Fluttershy tried. “Dashie-”

The assassin could hear and feel her own heartbeat, it wouldn’t be much longer now.

“Dashie, stop, Dashie, stop.” Dash mocked with a laugh. “I’m not stopping ‘til you stop breathing.”

“Plea-” The mare choked, “No-”

The rainbow maned pegasus pressed harder against Fluttershy’s windpipe, with enough force to crush it.

The yellow pegasus put her hoof up on Dash’s side, the blade from her wrist careening out and slicing through the mare’s belly, causing blood to trickle out slowly, then quickly.

Dash let go, pushing her hoof against the new wound as Fluttershy coughed and sputtered on the ground.

The assassin heard hoofsteps from the entrance of the alleyway, she drew her blade and stood up quickly, blindly jabbing at the oncoming pony. She felt the blade enter, so she looked to the side, there stood Applejack, with blood sloshing from her neck.

“Flutter...shy...” The mare said, falling to the ground, letting her own blood pool around her.

Fluttershy heard everything in a muffled tone, Dash shouting for help, Applejack spitting and coughing.

She had just killed one of her very best friends, faster than anypony could have blinked.

The mare disappeared into the dark, climbing up to the rooftops as fast as she could, then running to the edges of town, where a carriage waited for her.

Lance was sleeping on a chair near the back of the Music Shop, a newspaper draped over his head. He snored, just a little. The store’s walls were all lined with records, except for a small space, which held a Grandfather clock, pendulum always swinging.  His store specialized in old types of recordings. His motto was ‘the older, the better’. Sometimes, a pony would walk in for a specific song, which he usually had, but he mostly sold to rich collectors who paid through the roof for something he bought for three bits. He found it ironic that people didn’t appraise the old things they had, because, if it was in good condition, they were worth something.

Lance’s talent is music. He listens to all of it and loves all of it. Some ponies had found it immoral to rip ponies off, but it’s their fault for not appraising their things. He’d also been the only appraiser in town for quite some time.

Lance was awoken from his sleep by some commotion outside. He looked at his clock.

2:15 am

“You have got to be kidding...” Lance said, throwing the newspaper down and walking outside.

He looked around in the darkness. Nothing could be seen, but things could be heard. He jogged towards the noise to find two mares. One he remembered from inside Twilight’s chambers, and the other one he hadn’t seen before. She was slowly thrashing on the ground in a pool of crimson, while the other was holding her side.

“What in Celestia’s name happend?!” Lance exclaimed.

“She-” The rainbow maned pegasus choked, “Call the guard!”

“GUARD, DO SOMETHING!!!” Lance yelled.

Large quantities of guards and soldiers ran towards the alleyway, just before the two mares were concealed by them, the rainbow maned one yelled something out, throwing a paper ball in his direction.

“Find her!” She shouted.

He opened the ball, revealing the pony’s face. It was a buttery yellow pegasus, a bubblegum pink mane was draped over her face, her cerulean eyes shimmered in the brightness of what Lance assumed to be a camera flash. She was naturally beautiful. The only thing off was the hood, which only meant one thing...

Lance opened his wings and flew straight up, looking for anything that was abnormal. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a racing carriage, leaving the city at a surprising and suspicious pace. His powerful wings propelled his directly over the carriage. He landed silently on top and looked into the back window upside down.

What he saw was a sobbing mare, with crimson stains on her hooves, another pink mare held her in a tight embrace, running her hoof through the others mane, offering soothing words. He did the only thing that wouldn’t alarm them, well, not too bad.

He knocked on the glass.

Brown hooves knocked him off of the back of the carriage, the two stallions rolled for a few seconds and both heard the carriage come to a stop. When the dust settled, Lance found a large, brown earth pony standing over him, pinning him to the ground.

“Since when does Celestia send polite killers?” The stallion asked in a slow, steady pace. Lance noticed that he was far older than him, but just as powerful.

Lance pushed his lips into the stallion, immediately making him jump off. Lance laughed on the ground for a few seconds.

“I’m not from *gasp* Celestia!” Lance choked out between laughs.

Just as  Lance stood up, a voice came from his side.

“Achilles!”

Lance felt himself get rammed from his right side, throwing him to the ground and putting a throbbing pain in his side. He looked back to see the mare in the picture above him, her hood was down and tears were still streaming from her eyes, down her cheeks.

“You don’t seem happy for what you did. Why not?” He said, holding his side.

“I-” Fluttershy stumbled. “What?”

“I’m assuming you're the one who cut that mare.” Lance said, “I’m correct, aren’t I?”

“...Yes...” The mare whispered.

“Well, the rainbow mare sent me to find you,” Lance continued, “but you’re an assassin, based on your robes.”

“I didn’t have any choice!” Fluttershy sobbed, “She was going to kill me... I didn’t know what to do.”

Achilles pulled the necklace from Lance’s neck, looking at the insignia.

“Where did you get this, boy?”

“Doesn’t matter, fossil.” Lance said, “What does, is that she isn’t fully trained. An assassin never lets their emotion take over.

“Everypony has emotions, nopony can kill and not feel something.” Achilles said, turning to Fluttershy then back to Lance. “Come.” He said, waving his hoof towards the carriage.

Lance raspberried, “Why should I? I’ve got a store to manage. You’ve actually bought some records from me anyway, both come from assassin heritage.”

“You dragged yourself into this by following the carriage, so I cannot let you leave until I show you the things I need to show you.” Achilles explained. “Besides, I miss the company of somepony without a squeaky voice.”

Lance smiled, “I think he’s talking about you, greenhorn. Fine, I’ll come with you.”

Lance got into the carriage and closed the door.