The great assassin Shroud and her team that was designated Azure team were in position and waited for team Cobalt's signal.
It was extremely easy getting past Celestia's perimeter guards, in-fact there were barley any. Though Shroud couldn't really blame the Princess there has been no threat to her directly for over one-hundred thousand years and after all these years of preparation and planning this be a simple task just as the Great leader himself assured them.
For all she knew Celestia could have completely forgotten about The Enlightenment rebellion that has been rebuilding ever since she foolishly assumed that she had brought peace to Equestria and Shroud knew damn well that what her and her assassins did tonight will effect Equestria's history forever.
Shroud and her two pony team waited on the roof of Celestia's castle just over the window that lead to her personal quarters.
They stood perfectly perched on the edge of the roof waiting for the signal, engulfing themselves in the darkness of the night.
"What the hell is taking them so long!?" Azure 2 lashed out in a loud whisper.
"Easy there two you'll get your chance." Azure three said.
"I'm just saying, I didn't train for half my life to sit on my ass and do nothing." Two replied agitated.
"Three's right two, just be patient." Shroud agreed. All Shroud got was an irritated sigh from two.
Personally Shroud didn't want two on her team for this one. He was very impatient if you couldn't already tell. Not only that he had an extremely short temper which could jeperdize the mission.
A crackle came from Shroud's COM earpiece.
"This is Cobalt actual. The target has moved from her personal quarters to the throne room. We're gonna have to re-position how copy?"
Shroud sighed and shook her head. Even she was a little agitated.
"This is Azure actual we copy. We'll notify you when we're in position. Azure out."
"Are kidding me we have to relocate again?!" Came another outburst from two, "I mean come on are we gonna kill her or not?!"
Shroud had had it with two's inpatients.
"Are you gonna stop bitching or am I gonna have kill you myself?!"
"No ma'am!"
"Good, now lets move out."
Shroud opened up her wings and silently glided away with her team following.
They came to another roof top system where Celestia's throne room should be. As they flew low above it, the silhouette of another bulky Pegasus swung up onto the spot on the roof in which Shroud and her team were going to land.
She didn't have to properly identify who it was, for she instantly knew it was one the Princess's royal guards. If Shroud continued on her flight course she would be spotted.
"Contact! Cover! Now!" Shroud alerted her team on the COMS.
As quickly as she said it she banked and dove behind one of the various roof ornaments that littered the roof top, hoping her team had done the same in time. She didn't even know what she was hiding behind, she just knew it kept her hidden.
Shroud risked a peek around the corner. The guard was looking up in the sky where Shroud had just been, then began searching the roof top carefully. Shroud cursed under her breath. He was suspicious and knew he saw something. It wasn't a matter of sneaking by anymore this guard would have to die.
"Two take him out." She whispered in her COM.
She risked another peek around the corner, but that risk came back to bite her in the ass. As she peeked her head out she came face to face with the guard.
As soon as they both realized what was in front of them a black blur of a figure lashed out from behind and severed the guard's spine. Dead before he hit the ground.
Shroud looked at two, although she couldn't see his expression behind the mask and tactical goggles he was wearing she knew he was smiling.
"And you said you wanted to kill me earlier." He said tucking his augmented bladed wings back at his side.
"Thanks." She said with no expression.
Two maybe impatient but he's a hell of an assassin.
A crackle came in on her COM,
" This is Cobalt Actual we are in position. Waiting on you Azure."
"Copy we're moving into position now Azure out."
They regrouped and positioned themselves on the left side of the roof on the perch over a large brightly colored window.
Shroud got on the COM with Cobalt team.
" This is Azure actual we are in position."
There was a slight pause of silence, but then a reply chimed through.
"Copy Azure waiting for your signal."
She turned to her team who were perched over there own windows. They exchanged nods of acknowledgement.
"I'm ready to make history." Three said.
Shroud's heart pounded nervously as she got back on the COM and shouted the signal.
"GO! GO! GO!"
No turning back now cause in the next ten seconds The great and powerful Princess Celestia would be dead.
She gracefully swung herself over the perch and crashed through the multicolored glass.
As she cleared the window she spread her bladed wings and her, her team, and Cobalt team rushed at the surprised Princess Celestia.
As Shroud prepared for the opening blow, there was a flash of light and a shimmer and then the Princess was gone. She had teleported.
Shroud stopped herself so she wouldn't slam into the rest of Cobalt team who were just as caught off guard as she was. Shroud knew it wouldn't be as simple as killing her instantly. The Princess would not go down without a fight; however, Shroud loved a good fight, especially when she was up against a supposed "immortal goddess". This could be an even match.
Another flash and shimmer. The Princess reappeared on the opposite side of the throne room giving herself a good 20 meters of space from the assassins.
"WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THIS?!" She shouted. "WHO ARE Y-"
Celestia ducked from an incoming crossbow bolt that Cobalt 3 had shot, hoping to end this quickly without much noise and yelling.
"Dammit!" He cursed reaching his head back to one of the many pockets on his saddle-rig to grab another crossbow bolt with his teeth.
There was no time for him to reload. It was now or never.
"Rush her now! GO!" Shroud barked.
The six of them flew at the confused Alicorn in an intentionally messy and unorganized formation. They serpentined, rolled, and weaved around each other constantly shuffling who was in front and who was in the back. This was a simple blitz tactic they used to confuse their enemy and to keep them guessing as to who would strike first. They broke at the last second leaving the pony in the back, which happened to be Azure 2, to strike first.
"COME HERE YOU TYRANIC BITCH!" He shouted as he began with a series mid-air combos with his dual tomahawks.
He gracefully spun, flipped, weaved, and swung fiercely at the Princess who wore an astonished look. Celestia seemed to effortlessly block all of his attacks with a simple small, magical, golden barrier. Each strike making a loud "metal on metal" grinding and clanging noise that echoed all throughout the room.
This wasn't good, they were making way too much noise. Sooner or later guards would come to investigate and would make the situation more difficult. They had to end this as quickly as possible.
Cobalt 3 rushed from the right flank zig-zagging left and right with her bladed wings open and ready to strike. Cobalt 1 approached the left flank in the same fashion. Shroud and Azure 3 dove at her from above surrounding the befuddled Alicorn.
Celestia realized what was about to happen and with an amazing amount of power her horn shined brighter than the sun. Her eyes aglow.
"ENOUGH! CEASE THIS FOOLISHNESS AT ONCE!" Her voice boomed all throughout the castle and was sure to have disturbed the guards.
There flash of intense light. When everything retuned to it's normal brightness, Shroud noticed she was floating, no she wasn't floating she was still flying at the Princess; however, her speed had been sapped. She glanced around her. Everything was in slow motion and had a blue hue to it. Princess Celestia was not effected by her spell and could freely move around at normal speed.
She noticed Cobalt 2 had loaded another crossbow bolt. This time the tip had a reddish glow. He had loaded an TAM bolt or Tactical Anti-Magic bolt. It was a prototype enchanted arrow that the Enlightenment had been experimenting with and was to only be used as a last resort. They had only one of these enchanted arrows and right now it was there best bet.
Shroud could see Cobalt 2 struggling to aim the crossbow very slowly while grunting with effort. Celestia had moved out of the way of Azure Two's vicious attacks that had been slowed by the time spell. She noticed Cobalt 2 once he had finally leveled the crossbow in her direction. With a smirk she zapped him with a non-lethal stunning spell.
The crossbow floated away from his grasp as he slowly tumbled to the floor. The crossbow's trajectory was straight upward heading straight toward Shroud. It was her only hope, she had to reach it.
The Princess spun around and faced the large double doors that lead from her Throne room.
"Guards!" She shouted. "Guards come quick!"
The crossbow began to float towards her faster. The spell was wearing off. She had alerted the guards and it was only a matter of time before they came in to finish them off. The crossbow was their only hope and Shroud was closest. She stretched her forelegs out as far as she could as the crossbow glided closer. The spell was wearing off more and she began to speed up to a point where she felt like there was zero gravity.
"GUARDS!" She cried out again. "Apprehend these saboteurs!"
Time began to speed up even more, the crossbow was mere inches from her hooves. She stretched her limbs as far as she could to the point where the muscles burned. Sweat soaked her balaclava. It was all up to her now, she would decide if this mission would be a failure or a success. Shroud had never failed in her life and the last thing she wanted to do was disappoint her step father. The Great Leader of the Enlightenment. She had made a promise to him that she would come back with Celestia's head and she was determined to do so.
The Crossbow had finally reached her. She slid her hoof through the enlarged trigger guard and gripped her hoof around the trigger. The time spell began to wear off even more and she was able to raise the weapon far more quickly than Cobalt 2 did. The Princess heard Shroud's struggling and spun to face her. By the time she did Shroud had squeezed the trigger. The enchanted cross bolt defied Celestia's spell and darted towards her at normal speed with a red tracer in its wake. Celestia had put up a magical barrier at the last second, but that did not stop the Anti-Magical cross bolt from piercing straight through it. The barrier shatter into beautiful golden flakes. The cross bolt implanted itself right into The Princess' shoulder blade.
She cried out in agonizing pain as her glowing horn flickered and died. The light had left her eyes and her beautiful flowing mane drooped colorlessly. Time returned to normal as she crumpled to the ground on her side. Her screams were silenced as her voice ceased. She was too weak to scream. A giant red welt formed around the area of the crossbolt. It glowed scarlet red as it sucked the life from her. Her mouth was open as if she were trying to scream, but nothing would come out except for blood. Her eyes went blood shot and they were fixated wide open as blood seeped from them. It was killing her slowly and painfully.
As much amusement as Shroud found in watching her die she knew she had to end this quickly. The guards were sure to come; however they haven't so far and she was curious as to why they didn't hear all the noise they produced.
Azure and Cobalt lunged at the downed Alicorn with their bladed wings and began hacking away at her until she finally fell limp.
*******************************************
It has been done.......The Princess is dead.
She lay in a pool of her own blood near her throne.
Her body littered with lacerations and deep gashes. Her eyes were still shot open with the same shocked expression on her face.
Shroud, her team, and Cobalt gathered around her body.
"Well that took longer than expected. Good thing my team killed off all the guards first. Sorry we took so long with that." Said Cobalt's team leader retrieving the cross bolt from the Princess' body.
He struggled to yank the bolt free from the welt. When he yanked it free, blood spewed from the wound and Cobalt 1 fell on his back covered in blood.
"EEEEWWW! FUCK! This thing makes a mess!"
Normally they wouldn't make such an unnecessary mess like this, but under the Great Leader's orders he wanted this assassination to be a message. He wanted it to be known by all of Equestria, though he wasn't ready to reveal neither himself nor his rebellion.
The long wait was over and what Shroud and her team accomplished tonight was merely step one of The Great Leader seizing power of Equestria and spreading his Enlightenment. Unfortunately, there was still more waiting involved. While Equestria plummets into political turmoil, this will give The Enlightenment enough time to initiate phase 2 of what the Great Leader dubbed Operation Reconcile.
All the Great Leader needed now was the missing piece to his Operation that he'd been anxiously planning for fifty years. He needed the very thing he created long ago, but lost due to a betrayal he should have for seen.
He needed The Juggernaut.