3 damn years.
That’s how long I’ve been in this shit-hole of a city. Manehatten was deteriorating without their Tempest leadership, and we all knew it. It might have been better off if we tried to negotiate with the leaders of the City, but Bianco said otherwise.
They deserve no mercy!
We had made several other raids in the years, but our first one was the most infamous. We had a body count of 73 Tempests, not including the several officers and nobles we executed. It was a blood bath, literally. By the time the REAL authorities got there, the blood had formed a 3 inch pool of blood had formed on the central ball room floor.
In the 3 years, we had nearly crumbled the Tempest hierarchy to dust, leaving only the Mayor of Manehatten left, who we knew was not only a Tempest, but one of the several leaders. Most of the leaders were in different regions of the world, but I guess the mayor was the leader in Equestria.
But that wasn’t our only problem. Bianco was becoming what I saw from the beginning.
A power sick Tempest.
She told me her dreams of taking of Equestria, of overthrowing the queen. She was becoming a tempest. She said the she’ll rule Manehatten with an iron hoof, and then move onto other towns.
Not on my watch.
It was a rainy spring day (Go figure, huh?) and All the Assassins were gathered on the top of the clock tower, still as the gargoyles next to us.
“Verità, where is your team?” asked Bianco, and I pointed to Coco, Dawn, Fire fly, and Artiglio, who were slowly scanning the horizon.
“Okay, you are going to lead the frontal assault on the parade.” Said Bianco.
It was the hayday parade, and the mayor was on the largest float. He wasn’t hard to miss; he was just hard to get to. After he realized he was our final target, he now goes everywhere in an armored carriage. Since he couldn’t be in an armored anything today, he’s just surrounded my Tempest elitists.
“How are we going to pull this off?” I asked Bianco.
“Here, take this. It’ll help getting in quick attacks. Quick and speedy, that’s our only chance against the Elitists” Said Bianco, handing me another Hidden blade. It looked exactly like mine, except it had a glove attached to it.
“There! Here is his float!” said Artiglio, staring down at the parade.
Sure enough, there he was, slowly waving nervously to the crowd. I looked at Fire fly, and she nodded. She pulled out a small gun from her robes, and pointed it towards the heavens. She pulled the trigger with her tounge, and a massive flair fired from the barrel, signaling the Assassins on the ground to attack.
“Let’s go! This is the final surge!” Shouted Bianco, and we all jumped off the top of the tower. The unicorns softened their landing with magic, and the Pegasi spread our wings.
I would have survived the fall anyways.
I landed in front of a grand group of young, unexperienced tempests, and smiled devilishly at them. It’s safe to say that they ran away, never to return. I ran quickly up to the parade float, which the surrounding area was littered with the bodies of Assassins and novice Tempests.
Assassins? This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.
I saw Artiglio triple wielding weapons. Both hidden blades out, his Axe in his teeth, destroying the lines of Tempest’s. Even the Elitists knew enough that they would be overpowered by the quick unicorn.
Elitists.
I pulled out my sword, and charged the heavily armed foes. They never saw me coming, as I got an immediate kill. He dropped dead at my hooves, his throat spewing blood.
“She killed the captain! Get her!” Shouted another one, and immediately an Axe was brought down upon me.
I quickly raise my hoof, using the armored gauntlet as a block for the attack. I then used my other hoof, stabbing the assailant in the throat. He gargled in pain, and I immediately went on my hind hooves, triple wielding just as Artiglio was doing. I slashed, stabbed, and gutted the Elitists, dodging and parrying quickly. In a matter of minutes, the six Elitists were dead or dying, bleeding out at my feet.
I was covered in their blood, spattered across my armor, robes, weapons, and face as well. The battle was over. All that remained was the mayor, who was cowering under the blade of Bianco.
“Today, a new leader ship will take over! This is our land now, our ways. You will all bow before the Assassins, the true leaders of this world!” Shouted Bianco.
None of the Citizens bowed.
“Do you need initiative? Well, here’s some!” She shouted harshly. And with that, she shoved her hidden blade through the throat of the mayor, killing him. She then went overkill, firing her hidden gun into his head, blowing it clean off.
The crowd screamed, and the Assassins looked at each other in confusion.
“What are you doing, Bianco?” I asked, and she just chuckled.
“This land is ours now, Verità. We own it, and nopony will stop us!” She shouted.
“Now, everypony bow! Even the Assassins!” She shouted.
As she asked, most of us bowed. But in the end, only 5 ponies were left standing.
Dawn, Fire Fly, Coco, Artiglio, and myself.
“You dare question my authority? Bow!” she shouted at us. Dawn just chuckled.
“Bianco, you do realize you are just setting back all our hard work in these past three years? You are just replacing one corrupt leader with another.” Said Dawn, and Bianco growled angrily.
“How dare you say that!” She shouted. And with that, she raised her other hoof, and shot Dawn in the chest.
“No!” Shouted Fire fly, rushing over to Dawn. He was still alive, barely.
“Now, do any of you have any questions about my power? No? Good!” Shouted Bianco, and I started to run at her.
I’m not sure if it was blind luck, but as I was starting to run at her, so was Artiglio. She turned her attention to me, pulling another gun from her robes, aiming it at me, giving Artiglio an open shot. He jumped off of another Assassin, his Axe levitating above him. As Bianco fired the shot, which hit me in the chest plate, he plunged his axe into her skull.
Then it was silent.
Bianco was dead. I had a hole in my chest, and so did Dawn. The crowd slowly stood up, looking around. The Assassins ran out to their wounded, picking them up and bringing them back to the sanctuary.
“Master! Are you okay?” Shouter Artiglio, who was standing on the parade float. I nodded and tried to stand up.
To no avail. My shoulder had been broken from the shot. Nothing some TLC couldn’t solve, but it would put me back a few months. I spread my wings, and used my other three legs to get me over to Dawn, who was lying in a puddle of his own blood.
“Dawn!” I shouted, running over to his side. He looked over to me, and just chuckled.
“It isnt as bad as it looks. It penetrated me a little bit, hitting a vein, but that’s the extent of the damage.” He said, and I sighed with relief.
“Okay. We need to get you back to the sanctuary now, to patch that up.” I said, slightly off balance.
“Looks like you could use some recovery yourself.” He said, still grinning.
“Let’s just go. I hear the royal guards coming.” I said, and I looked back over to Artiglio. He was walking over, smiling.
“What’s so funny?” I asked, and he just smiled again.
“I’ll tell you later. Let’s get you home.” He said.
I had a pretty good idea of what he was jazzed about. He was 18 now, still without a cutie mark. Sure, he was made fun of on the street, but when he flashed his axe, ponies would go out of their way to avoid him. There was a good chance that he got his cutie mark, now that he did a kill of great significance.
I helped Dawn up, and we made a slow pace all the way back to the sanctuary, which was miles away.
-----
“You got your cutie mark?” I asked, and Artiglio nodded.
It was the day after the attack, and I was well rested. While I was most definitely not 100%, my bones had already started healing. Another perk of being a Pegasus.
“Yeah. You want to see?” He asked, and the whole group of Assassins nodded eagerly.
Artiglio pulled his robes up, and sure enough, he had an Assassin mark there. But, unlike most Assassins, it had a massive, blue star inside the blood red marking. I had read about this marking while I was at the guild, and it was known as the “Liberty Mark.” It showed the owner of the marking’s destiny was to stop corruption. Just like mine was to uncover the truth, his was for Liberty.
“Wow. Both Master and Apprentice have modified cutie marks.” Said Dawn, who had his chest bandaged. “Sounds like we have repetition going on here.”
“Can it, Dawn.” Said Artiglio, and Dawn chuckled.
“Yes Sir.” Dawn sneered.
“Can it, both of you. Artiglio, we’re going to have to leave the city as soon as I’m fully healed. We’re heading to Cloudsdale.” I said, and his jaw dropped.
“What about them? We’ve forged not only a powerful mold here, but the actual thing of a new guild! I’m not leaving without them.” Said Artiglio.
“That’s up to them to decide.” I said, and the group of assassins looked at eachother.
“I will stand by your side until the end, signora.” Said Dawn, giving me his little illusive smile.
“As will I.” Said Fire Fly.
“I gave my entire childhood to this cause. I don’t see why I shouldn’t continue to do so.” Said Coco, and I smiled.
“There we have it. We leave at Dusk, tomorrow.” I said, and they all nodded.
Un nuovo inizio è all'orizzonte.