One
Hi, my name is Rainbow Dash, at least that's what people think. My real name is Rainbio Dashitore. I was an assassin, and this is my story.
When I was a filly, my parents told me about my heritage. They told me that I was part of a secret organization; that I was an assassin. They told me about the Templars, our greatest enemy. We've been fighting them for thousands of years. All because of a golden apple known as the apple of Eden. But its not an apple, it's a weapon; a key, for something that will save the world. But the apple has been lost, but a group of assassin's tracked it down in Saddle Arabia. A pony, by the name Dismane Miles, has the memories. He's the one that'll save this world from complete anarchy. While the other assassin's keep the Templars occupied. But this is not his story, it is mine.
Today, I'm tracking down a unicorn by the name of Croce Rossa. He's a Templar captain in PonyVille. I have with me, Octavias Cheloblade, but everyone calls her Octavia. Croce is at sugar cube corner, I'm hiding on a cloud and Octavias is blending in with a crowd of ponies. As I scanned the area, I spot him. I let out an eagle call to signal Octavias. She looks up at me and I gesture my head down towards Croce who is now heading for the park. Octavias starts to slowly follow him. I fly down to a rooftop and follow him. Croce turns around and Octavias quickly blends in on a bench between Lyra and Bon Bon. After looking towards Octavias for a while, Croce turns back around and continues walking. Octavias is a rookie assassin, but she's proven more than a couple of times that she can take care of herself. I see Croce moving around the corner of a building, so I quickly fly over the building onto the other side to cut him off. I'm standing there, waiting. Then he comes around the corner, and he is now walking towards me. I start walking towards him too, looking at the ground. He is three feet away from me, I get my hidden blade ready. And right before I stab him, somepony grabs me by the shoulder and turns me around.
"Hi Rainbow Dash! What's with the fancy get-up?" It was AppleJack. I turn my head to the right to see Croce walking away. I turn my head to the left. Octavias is starring at me. I gesture my head to Croce, and Octavias starts walking. I look back to AppleJack and pull down my hood.
"Oh hey, AppleJack. Uhh....white makes me stand out. Now everypony will see my awesome stunts. What are you doing here?" I asked AppleJack. She looks a little confused, but the confusion disappears right away.
"Oh. I'm here ta visit Pinkie Pie. I saw ya over here an I thought I'd come over an say hi."
"Oh. Well Uhh.... I have to go,,, practice my stunts. Gotta impress those Wonderbolts." I told AppleJack as I flew away. She said something, but I couldn't hear her with all the wind. As I flew, I saw Croce's dead body lying on the ground in a pool of blood with ponies circling him. I saw Octavias sitting on a building, watching Croce's dead body. I flew by and sat by her. We both sat there looking at ponies taking Croces' body away until Octavias spoke.
"Do you ever feel guilty?" She said to me. Then I looked at her.
"What do you mean?" I asked her. Then she looked back at me.
"Do you ever feel guilty about lying to everyone? Lying to your friends?"
"I do. Every time I lie, I hurt inside." I said. I looked down to the ground. Rarity and Fluttershy are walking by, talking to each other. They looked happy.
"But if they found out about what I do, they'll never look at me the same. They'll hate me." I continued.
"If you told them why you were doing it, they might not hate you." Octavias told me.
"Wouldn't matter if I told them why I was doing it, they'd still hate me. What if you told Vinyl? She'd hate you too. The only ones who don't hate assassins, are assassins." I told Octavias. She sighed and looked over to the right of the building. She stood up.
"C'mon. Our work isn't done." Octavias said, as she pulled me up. I smiled and we walk to the edge of the building. We looked down and there was four Templars standing under us, talking. Me and Octavias looked at each other and jumped off the building onto the Templars. Sinking our hidden blades into the back of their necks.
I just got out of my assassin cloak and put it on a mannequin in a hidden room in my house, when I heard a knock on my door. I closed the hidden door/wall and walked down the hallway. I opened the door and Fluttershy was standing there.
"Oh, umm hi. I didn't interrupt you from anything did I?" Fluttershy asked in her quiet voice.
"No, I was just putting away some clothes. What's up?"
"Oh, umm me and the girls are going to visit Twilight in Canterlot, and we were wondering if umm you wanted to join?"
"Of coarse!" I told Fluttershy. I closed the front door and we started flying to the hot air balloon which was getting set up at AppleJack's farm. I was excited to see Twilight, she's been at Canterlot for about four days to learn royal duties on being a princess. She's only staying there for a week, but a weeks too long to be away from friends.
The hot air balloon was already set up and Pinkie Pie, Aj, and Rarity were already inside. Fluttershy flew in and I untied the rope and the balloon lifted. I flew in beside Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie. Everypony was chatty with each other, I could tell we were all excited. I leaned over to Pinkie.
"Does Twilight even know we're coming?"
"No ,silly! It wouldn't be much of a surprise if she knew we were coming!" Pinkie answered excitedly.
"What if she's too busy?" I asked.
"I'm sure she can take a break ta see her friends." AppleJack answered. Then I heard a scratch. I looked behind my shoulder and there was a messenger hawk with a letter tied to it's back on the basket. I quickly looked at the other ponies, they were all too busy chatting with each other. I reached back and pulled the letter off of the hawk's back. I unrolled it and it said:"Macchia di Sangue" with a picture of an earth pony. He was my next target. I threw the letter out of the basket before any other pony saw it.