Ezio cursed his luck as he sprinted through the crowds. He would fire just as the pony bent down to the ground, wouldn’t he? The shattered glass of the window the dart hit had caused Trixie and the mare with her to look up and see him. The purple mare’s eyes were full of fear. Normally this wouldn’t bother the master assassin, but something panged in his heart. She was an innocent; she didn’t deserve the trauma… What was he thinking? If they saw him, they died. Simple. Or was it? His mind had been all over after his first failure.
Twilight had been silently shaking for a minute before finally speaking. “That was… That was an assassin…”
“An assassin? What’s one of those?” Trixie was confused. Had she not heard the name before?
“Trixie, an assassin is somepony who is paid to kill a specific pony. For this, the pony seems to be you.”
Trixie almost fainted there and then. “Wha… Who would want to…? I…”
“Trixie,” began Twilight, trotting over as the mare began to sway. “Calm down. Have you upset someone recently, someone who would send a professional killer after you?”
Trixie slowly shook her head. “I don’t think so…”
“Trix. Tell me.”
“I… There might’ve been one colt… A rich, pretty influential guy. A prince apparently.”
“Blueblood?” risked Twilight, dreading the answer.
“That was him,” Trixie confirmed. “He asked Trixie to give him a private performance. She accepted, until she realised that it was a different performance he wanted. He wasn’t pleased, she remembers,” she grimaced. “If he is trying to kill her now…”
Twilight’s eyes widened. “We have to get you to Canterlot and tell him to call the assassin off!”
“Uh,” Trixie stammered. “‘We?’”
“Yes Trixie, we. I’m going with you, as are the rest of my friends. Hopefully.” All the same, she couldn’t be sure that Rainbow Dash would help. Hell, she’d probably side with the assassin. “Come on, let’s find them.” She galloped off, leaving a bemused showpony in her wake.
‘Time to call in a favour,’ thought Ezio as the trees of the Everfree Forest pressed against him. An assassin he may be, but he could do much more than be told who to kill. He located a tree shaped not unlike the symbol on his rump, turned left and walked right through a magically concealed entrance into the old assassin headquarters for this area. He waited for perhaps half a minute before the familiar buzzing of insectile wings greeted his peeled ears.
“Who dares disturb us?” The voice was grating against his sensitive eardrums, but the assassin ignored the pain and spoke.
“I am Ezio Auditore, the assassin who allowed you stay here. I require speaking to your queen, Changeling,” the professional called. “And I will not take no for an answer,” He added quietly, moving so that his sword caught the minimal light, refracting the polished steel colour into the multifaceted eyes of the creature before him. The thing bowed respectfully and turned away, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like ‘plothole,’ to Ezio’s trained ears. He grinned and called to the retreating Changeling, “I can see yours, clear as day.” The thing didn’t react openly, but its tail twitched ever so slightly, covering the target.
Twenty minutes later, Fluttershy had finally been coerced to leave her cottage; Rarity had finally found a scarf that matched her mane and Rainbow Dash had FINALLY decided that she may as well be doing something interesting instead of sleeping in (not that she was pleased of it), and now seven ponies set off to the train station. Rainbow Dash walked next to Trixie, keeping a suspicious eye on the mare beside her.
“You don’t trust Trixie, do you?” The cyan mare looked at the cyan mare. A single spark shot through the unicorns mind at the realisation of that similarity.
“Nope.” Rainbow’s tone was sharp.
“She thought so.” Rainbow mentally facehoofed. How can one pony continuously refer to herself in the third person? It irritated the crap out of her, it really did.
“Hm.” There was a silence.
“No… Hard feelings between us, right?” Trixie’s voice was quiet, timid to nigh-Fluttershy levels. Rainbow ignored her, what was the point of answering her? She didn’t have the time or the inclination.
The transaction complete, Ezio left with his brotherhood in tow. He had spoken with the few remaining assassins as well as Chrysalis, and they had all agreed without the slightest trace of humour at their masters failings. He had to admit, he was glad. In his ancestor’s times, no matter the rank, if you failed to kill somepony you were stripped to the bottom rank and had all your weapons taken away until the job was done properly.
The youngest recruit swung from tree to tree, bow across his back. Ezio liked the kid, young but not without experience. Good for ranged accuracy with that bow, but not overly skilled in hoof-to-hoof combat. Pretty much the opposite of Ezio himself, who favoured a closer combat focus.
It was Applejack who spoke first. “Hey,” she murmured to Rainbow, “fly on up there, Ah reckon we’re bein’ followed by some ponies.”
“I’m on it,” the Pegasus replied, flexing her wings once before springing into the air, sweeping her rose-tinted eyes around the area. She saw two things wrong with the scene. Firstly, there were several ponies dressed in white robes leaping from rooftop to rooftop towards the group at the station. Secondly, there was an arrow whipping through the air towards her face. At the last moment, she dropped, but not fast enough. The arrow thudded into her flank, right in the centre of her cutie mark. This hurts like a bitch, came her first thought. Then came her second. Holy buck, I’m going to die. And then her third. No, but I won’t be walking well for a while. And there was going to be a fourth one too, but she slammed into the ground, her entire brain going blank as it attempted to cope with the pain, but failed.