Are you certain this is what you want? After you do this, there will be no going back.

…I’m certain.

Very well, take up your blades, and don your mask.

The cold steel of the hidden blades sent a shiver up and down her legs as they slid into place, holstered and ready for use. She reached out, clasping the thick metal mask in her hooves, a sliver of trepidation slid into her expression as she held the menacing thing in her grasp; slowly she reached upwards, sliding it over her face, the clasps in the back locking shut with a click. A chill danced up and down her spine as the mechanical eye sputtered to life, focusing in and out, enhancing her vision.

The pony you once were is dead now Fluttershy…you have sacrificed her so you may walk this path, never again will you be the Element of Kindness, never again shall you be known as a caretaker to the wild things of this forest, after tonight, the citizens of Equestria will know you as one thing and one thing only.

…Assassin…

///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Betrayal//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The moon hung high in the sky, casting a pale grey glow down upon the desolate streets of Manehattan. The filthy muck covered roads and shadowy black alleyways provided her with plenty of room to move throughout the city unseen. With the numerous guards and downtrodden civilians none the wiser, she flew, ran, and climbed. Her every movement laden with the caution and skill of a true parkour master, her months of brutal training and rigorous teaching coming to fruition…if only Rainbow could see her now.

Her heartbeat thumped in her head like the pounding of a distant drum as she darted across a low city block rooftop, a surge of adrenaline pumped through her veins as she flung herself off that same roof. Her large yellow wings unfurling as she slowly glided across the shadowy night sky, her thin black jacket unfolding at the end and whipping in the wind.

In the distance her target slowly slid into view, Manehattan Tower...A shiver ran up and down her spine as she gazed upon it, the tall black spire stood high over every other building in the district, dwarfing the structures surrounding it. The building was sharp in design, each end of the structure culminating in a large pointed shape, giving it a distinct and menacing look that made it stand out from the stubby and square design of the buildings and shops surrounding it.

Each side of the menacing construct was adorned with an elaborate purple and black flag, emblazoned upon the middle of said flag was a symbol the assassin knew all too well. A large pink star surrounded by five smaller white stars…the ‘Queen’s’ symbol. The sight was enough to quell any premeditated feelings of fear she may have felt, replacing those feelings of doubt and pain with rage.

“Twilight…” She whispered, a touch of menacing malice to her voice. “I’ll make you pay for what you did…”

A single powerful beat of her wings propelled her downwards, veering off and landing atop a nearby building across the street of the tower. It appeared to be an abandoned sweet shop…cleared out months ago and left to decay like so many relics of a day gone by.

A bright white light pierced the sky, and the assassin crouched low, her cloak helping her blend into the shadows as she slipped into a dark corner of the roof. She forced the air out of her lungs as she threw herself up against cold cobblestone of the rooftop, trying to lay as flat as she possibly could. The spotlight lingered for a moment, dancing over the dusty building in search of an intruder, eventually it veered off, and she sucked in a much needed breath of fresh air. That had been close, somepony must have caught sight of her when she landed…she’d need to be more careful in the future.

Cautiously she got to her hooves, though she kept her knees bent and her steps silent, there would be no more room for mistakes...Her eyes were drawn towards the tower as a flash of bright crimson light flashed in the top room window, before quickly fizzling out. She knew what that flash meant, that must have been the Head Researcher’s workroom, the place where he ran his experiments.

She’d heard talk in the street earlier today of these so called experiments. Apparently The Head Researcher was working on a way to turn magic into a sort of projectile ammunition. She’d caught a glimpse or two of his work back in Canterlot, a select few of the higher ranking officers had been allowed prototypes of these inventions, rumors were that these new weapons were capable of firing small magical bursts of energy at speeds high enough to punch holes clean through a royal guard’s armor. If weapons like that were to become commonplace for Twilight’s soldiers…well, it’d make her job a hell of a lot harder.

She shook herself out of her own thoughts, refocusing her attention back on the building; the room she’d seen the flash in had been on the top floor…

“I could fly up there…” She mumbled to herself, a habit she’d developed during her imprisonment in Canterlot. “But then again, if that spotlight gets ahold of me I’ll have a fight on my hooves…” Her hidden blade sprang to life, her soft emerald eye ran over the shiny black edge, and she had to resist the urge to run a hoof along it. It was sharp enough to kill, this she knew for a fact, but she wasn’t skilled enough to take on a whole troop of guards. No, this situation called for a stealthier approach.

The mechanical eye in her mask sprang to life, emitting a faint blue glow as she scanned the courtyard surrounding the tower. She traced the line of light back to its original source, the light was built in atop a watchtower in the courtyard, held up on stilts in the backyard…she bit back a curse, there’d be no disabling it, not from where she was sitting.

Instead she looked for other options, slowly craning her neck around in the hopes of finding another means of entry.

“There!” She exclaimed, her expression registering something akin to excitement as she took sight of a passing carriage, slowly making its way towards the front gates. Supplies for the tower she assumed, after all, guards needed to eat.

She wasted no time clambering down the building, instead opting to jump off, using her wings to soften her landing, they weren’t the best for flying anymore, but she could still use them to glide. She lurked in the shadows cast from the empty black sky, keeping her body pressed up against the cold stone of the sweet shop, waiting for her chance. When the carriage passed she quickly snuck inside, pushing aside the flap and hiding amongst the packages of foodstuffs and blankets, deftly arranging each one so that they provided her the perfect source of cover, all the while the driver appeared none the wiser, haggard and downtrodden, tired after a long day of work. A train could crash into his cart at this point and he probably wouldn’t so much as bat an eyelid.

The air in the back of the cart was stifling, musty and dank; she repressed the urge to sneeze, having kicked up some dust on the way in. She idly wondered when the cart had been cleaned last, she ran a bright yellow hoof over the floor, the appendage now covered in at least an inch of dust.

Rarity would be throwing a fit right now…she thought, a small somber smile gracing her lips for the first time in what felt like forever. Her thoughts filled with idle memories of the prissy white unicorn.

*Squuueeeaaaak*

The cart jostled a little as it slid to a halt outside the main gate. One of her carefully stacked boxes toppled over with a thump, and she had to force back a cough as a cloud of dust was thrown up into the air, she was too close now…she couldn’t blow her cover.

She could hear several loud thumps as one of the gate guards approached, his heavy plate armor jingling loudly with each step.

“State your business.” The guard commanded his voice gruff and tempered with steel resolve.

“Ah got supplies for ya’ll.” The driver stated, his thick southern accent colored with fatigue. This was followed by the sound of crinkling paper. “Here’s a list of everythin’ ah got.”

“Leave it with the captain after you drop off the goods.” She crouched down low behind the boxes and prepped her hidden blade, outside she could see the guard’s silhouette bleed through the light tan coloring of the tarp and hear the clip clopping of his hooves as he made his way towards the entrance. “I need to take a look inside.”

There was a gentle fwip as he pushed open the back flap, his unicorn horn ablaze as he scanned the inside of the cart. For a few, long, painful moments he searched the interior, only giving up after he made a good three or four passes. She eased up a little after he left, letting her tight muscles relax and retracting her blade.

She could hear the heavy iron bars of the main gate being opened as the cart jolted forward, nearly knocking her off balance, she steadied herself on a nearby box of provisions, cursing herself for being so clumsy. After she made it inside she took it upon herself to peek out through the opening in the back, using her mask’s mechanical eye to scope out the area. She could see several guards sitting about, idly chatting with one another or pretending to work, none of them seemed to pay the cart of provisions any real mind. This sight helped to ease her troubled thoughts; none of them were alert, which turned the odds in her favor.

So long as I’m careful…she thought idly to herself, brushing aside a stray strand of her silky pink mane, tucking it underneath her shadowy black cowl. I should be able to get in and out with no real problems.

Eventually the gentle rocking of the cart came to a halt, and she could hear the earth pony pulling it mumble something irritable underneath his breath as he undid the harness tying him to the cart. Marching off to find the guard captain, she assumed.

She took a moment or two to gather her thoughts, and to quell the rapid beating of her heart. A single mistake could end in her untimely demise, she couldn’t let that happen…she wouldn’t let that happen. Slowly…ever so slowly she peered out of the cart, gently brushing the leather flap aside with a stray hoof.

When the coast appeared clear she slipped out, keeping her body low to the ground as she took in her surroundings. The soft green grass beneath her hooves and the line of apple trees nearby told her that she was in the backyard, like she’d expected. A cursory glance around revealed that, while there were indeed guards patrolling the area, they remained more or less confined to the entrances and exits leading into and out of the garden.

Her gaze wandered up towards the spotlight tower only a few yards away. A large metal platform built on hard steel stilts resided at the top of the structure, where a guard sat in an old metal chair, his unicorn horn ablaze as he toyed with the numerous flips and switches on the hunk of magical machinery. A cursory glance around revealed that approaching the tower from here would be easy enough, and odds were she’d be glad to have neutralized said spotlight if things got hairy.

She wasted no time in scaling the heavy metal construct. Taking as much care as she possibly could to avoid making noise, the rusty steel hinges beneath her limbs had a terrible tendency to creak and groan beneath her weight if she moved too sporadically, it only took one curious glance downwards from the guard above to let her know she needed to be more careful.

When she finally reached the top she repressed the urge to release a sigh of relief, the ascent had been perilous and she was rather proud of herself for being able to brave it. But this wasn’t the time for personal pats on the back.

“Ugh, why is it that I get stuck with guard duty while my cousin goes off to sack villages?” The guard mumbled irritably to himself, completely unaware of the rapidly approaching killer. “Seriously, I signed on to stab shit. Not to operate a fuckin’ oversized lighbu-ACK!”

The guard’s miniature tirade was cut off mid-sentence as the assassin forced her shining black blade into the base of his skull, a crimson river flowing out over her hoof as she slithered a leg around his neck, holding him in place with one leg while releasing her second blade and dragging it across his throat, ending his life with two well-placed attacks.

The guard let out a single pitiful sputter as blood spilled from his now open throat, his eyes glossed over as she released the second knife from the base of his skull. The strength leaving his limbs as he slumped over in his chair, a crimson river squirting out and over his fancifully decorated purple armor.

The assassin took a couple steps back, looking over her work. This wasn’t the first time she’d taken a life. But that didn’t mean it had become any easier to do, there was no satisfaction in this, even if he was a bastard he was still a pony…but it was necessary, that’s what she kept telling herself, all this violence was necessary.

She sighed as her hidden blades slid backwards and locked back into place. He wouldn’t draw any attention like this, slumped over like he was; he still appeared to be doing his job. Nopony would notice so long as they didn’t actively investigate or stare for too long. She reasoned that she’d be long gone by the time anypony realized he was dead.

“Now, it’s your turn Mister Head Researcher.” She whispered, spreading her wings and jumping from the spotlight’s roost, landing on one the tower’s many terraces. She craned her neck upwards, eying the tower from where she stood, tugging her hood a little tighter as the chilly wind picked up.

It’d be safer to climb, she realized. The tower was likely to have guards stationed inside, and she’d already killed more of them than she would have liked. No, it was safer to scale the building, even if it was the more physically taxing of the two decisions.

“But I can’t reach the research room window from this side of the tower.” She reasoned with herself. “I’ll have to climb up as high as I can, then sneak inside.” Not a perfect plan she knew, but it was the only one she had.

Off in the distance thunder roared, and she could taste moisture in the air. She’d need to climb fast, before the storm hit and made the already arduous climb more so.

//////////////////////////////////////////////power/////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Wesson smiled, the pistol in his hoof still smoking from the shot he’d just fired. His research room smelt like a sickening cocktail of death, decay, and smoke. He finished loading the weapon, holding it steady and firing again, there was a thwack sound and a crash as his target fell to the floor. A young mare, no more than fifteen years old, lay dead upon the ground, the cause? A still smoking hole had been punched clean through her head.

The aged brown stallion set the pistol aside, smiling in satisfaction as his horn lit up with a pale yellow glow. The crimson crystal on his desk responded with a shimmer, clicking to life, a Record Crystal that allowed him to keep his thoughts on hoof at all times without the need to write them down. Record Crystals were rather new inventions, magical stones capable of storing information spoken directly to it when activated. Only recently had they become commonplace, discovered along with so many other wonderful things after the return of the Crystal Empire, this one in particular had many of his own thoughts and notes buried inside. It had proved invaluable in speeding along his research, it was so much easier to listen to yesterday’s findings rather than being forced to reread them.

He cleared his throat before speaking. “I’ve done it, after months of rigorous work and experimentation I have perfected my newest creation. The pistol, as I’ve taken to calling it, is capable of firing three rounds of magical bursts at a higher rate than the rifle ever could. By sacrificing range for mobility, this new weapon is ideal for the general foot soldier. I’ve already sent along blueprints for the Queen to see, I have no doubt she’ll approve, she always does. We should be able to mass produce these new weapons in a matter of months. I believe that, with my ingenuity, and with the Queen’s limitless resources, I should be able to craft even more deadly creations. With enough time and with enough investment…her army will become unstoppable.”

He curled up his nose; the fresh corpse across the room had started to stink.

“And…note to self, have one of the hoofmaidens wash out the carpets. This place is really starting to smell.”

His horn flickered to life as the crystal’s magic ebbed away, storing away all of what he’d just said. Outside there was the crash of thunder, and he could hear the pitter patter of rain against his window. He repressed the urge to smile, satisfied that his long months of inventing had finally born fruit.

//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////corruption//////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

The rain ran off of her shoulders and legs, sinking through her cloak and chilling her to the bone. She yanked herself up to the railing, grunting with the effort as her legs screamed for her to take a break. She’d undergone rigorous amounts of endurance training, but never before had she been forced to scale so great a height. But now it was over, she’d reached the uppermost terrace; she stood outside, peering in through the glass door. The lights were on inside, the long hallway leading to her target’s location ablaze with a soft warm glow.

It was a false warmth; no place in Manehattan could possibly be colder…She was always in tune with the more natural side of the world. And right now she was standing outside a place where no innocent soul would willingly tread. Happiness brought true warmth…and there was no happiness to be found here, only a cold, oppressive, empty feeling of dread.

Inside resided three guards, all of whom were standing outside the door leading to where her target resided. She repressed the urge to sigh in frustration. She was so close…there was no way around it; these ponies would die tonight, by her hoof.

Her muscles tightened as she popped her neck, preparing for the battle to come. She wasted no time with entrances; kicking open the thin glass door and rushing inside. One of the guards fell before he could even make a sound, her lightning quick reflexes allowing her to slit his throat with ease.

Without so much as batting an eyelid she turned to the other two, who were stunned by her sudden felling of their comrade. This provided her another perfect opportunity to strike, as she jabbed another in the throat before he could react, splitting his windpipe with her bloodstained black blade.

The third had managed to regain his senses by the time she’d dispatched his second comrade, readying his spear and charging forward. The assassin was unimpressed, lazily sidestepping and jamming both her blades into his legpit, one of the places his thick plate armor did not cover, her second blade slid in-between the leather knots holding the two pieces of his purple armor together, puncturing his lung.

He too fell to the ground with nary a sound, too stunned to move as he bled out upon the fine purple rug below. The assassin released a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding her emerald eye going wide in realization as she looked upon the death she’d wrought.

Assassin…if this didn’t prove she deserved the title…

“What in the name of Twilight is going on out there!?” She heard a bewildered stallion shout from behind the oak door.

The assassin raised her hind legs, the tail end of her cloak sliding upwards around her flanks, revealing a trio of crimson butterflies on her flank. When her hooves collided with the door it flew off its hinges, splintered wood and chunks of frame coming off with it. The door itself had flown off just in time to collide with Wesson, who now lay on the floor of his room, sputtering and spitting as blood filled his mouth.

“Wha-what in Tartarus!?” He exclaimed, his dark hazel eyes now lying squarely upon the menacing pony standing over him, daggers drawn and poised to strike. Fear took over, and his self-preservation instinct kicked in. “Wha-what do you want!? Money!? I-I can get you that!”

The masked figure seemed nonplussed, curling her lip in disgust as a lock of her bright pink mane fell over her face.

Wesson scrambled backwards, trying to get away, a quick stomp on his tail with her free leg ensured that he’d be going nowhere.

“No I don’t want money…” She took a step forward, pressing the knife against his chest, holding it directly over his heart.

Wesson swallowed hard. “Wha-what then!? I’ll help you get it, I swear I will!”

The assassin scowled, sinking her blade into his chest, blood poured out over her hoof in a crimson torrent, and he fell dead to the floor. She leaned in, her limbs trembling with anger as a scream built up in her throat.

“I. Want. REVENGE!”

////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////Vengeance/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

Author's Note

So this is just the little thing I cooked up to try and get my creative groove back. I had fun with it, it's a little grimdarky I guess, and kinda...angsty I suppose. Which I know has a tendency to be frowned upon for some reason. But it's something I want to write, so I'm gonna, if you liked it feel free to let me know, if you didn't let me know.