Chapter 4: Assassins
Dear Starlight and Velvet,
I fear that my past is catching up to me. I recall that I told you both of the Changeling civil war, but I don't think I said much more than that I had fought on both sides, and that both instances ended with my desertion. The punishment for desertion from the Royal Army is execution, and I've avoided that retribution for seven years, now.
But I received a letter from the leader of the Underground, an Abandoned named Grand Façade. In his letter, he warned me that there's another price on my head and that assassins are already searching for me. I know Chrysalis. These teams will stop at nothing to kill me, even if it means using something important to me as bait. That would be you both. You're the only two that know who I am, and I fear that you may both be in grave danger because of it. I beg you both to stop writing letters until I can confirm that communication is no longer a threat to your lives. Regrettably, that makes this my last letter to you for the foreseeable future. I don't know how else to say it. I don't dare say more than that, but please forgive me, and please be careful, both of you. If something were to happen to you two because of me, I'd never forgive myself.
I want to thank you both one last time. For everything.
Your ever-thankful friend,
Double-Take
It took a half-dozen drafts and much heartache throughout, but Double-Take finally finished her last letter. “How to send it without drawing attention,” she pondered, looking over the letter. With a long, almost exaggerated, yawn, Double-Take struggled to keep her eyes open, forcing herself to stay awake for a few moments longer. With another sigh, she simply set the letter back on the desk. “I'll deal with it in the morning.” And consciousness seemed to fade away as soon as her head touched the pillow.
The sun's golden rays brought Double-Take's few short hours of sleep to an end, the warmth of morning light shattering whatever dreams or nightmares the Changeling's subconscious had devised. It took nearly all of her willpower to simply force herself upright. Her eyes lazily drifted around the room until they fell upon her desk, her mind shifting to the matter of her final letter to Starlight and Velvet. She ran both of her hooves down her head and neck, brushing over the frill where a mane would be. After a few moments, she raised her head once more. “I'll send it from Fort Freedom. I could get one of the couriers to deliver it. Yes, that should be the most secure option... Assuming one of the couriers would be willing to help me out...” With a sigh, she simply climbed off the bed and proceeded to the kitchen, her stomach speaking louder than logical thoughts.
She took on her disguised form and opened the window before she began mixing together some daisy pancake batter, letting the sunlight and fresh air fill the room. It took some amount of energy to maintain the disguise, but she wasn't willing to take any risks. Not today. Any small hint of danger was enough to trigger her acquired instincts, and the Abandoned's warning the previous day was more than a small hint.
As she cooked, her mind wandered, turning to more... unpleasant things. Matters that she knew she needed to address. There was the issue of the shop, but she wasn't the only apothecary in town. Zecora's hut wasn't too deep into the Everfree, though most wouldn't risk the walk even in daylight, but she visited town weekly for supplies and friendly talks. Then there were the assassins. Even if she was adamant about refusing to rejoin the Abandoned, the Hunters Deceit would find her eventually. Did Grand Façade actually request her to rejoin? It was just a request to talk. Why had she assumed the worst? Or was it the best? She-
Another rhythm hit her, her head snapping to the road leading in to town from the main road. It was different than the previous one, but she recognized it as a Changeling's thoughts, nonetheless. Most rhythms were nearly identical, but this one was distinct. Vague.
It was gone. Just a brief several seconds of a rhythm projected across a wide radius. “No distinct thoughts,” Double-Take silently analyzed. “Just a presence... A slip, perhaps? ...Or a beacon?” Whatever it was, she didn't like it. It could have been any of a myriad of things: a careless courier, a haphazard Abandoned on leave to regain his or her strength, a cunning Hunter Deceit, or just some poor fool searching for something just out of reach. Double-Take reassured herself of one fact that she had to learn long ago: to assume the best is suicide, to assume the worst is acquired paranoia, to assume anything is a fool's advice. “Simply acknowledge it, expect the best and the worst, and deal with it as it comes.” And she returned her focus to her breakfast, adding a diced apple to the batter just before cooking it.
A short while later and the pancakes were done. It wasn't the most efficient food to make, and it wasn't the fanciest for those that have the time, but it was a simple meal of some small joy to the Changeling. Much like the candies and cuisine of Hollow Shades or stargazing on a summer's night, it was such a simple luxury. The simple luxuries made the less-than-ideal aspects of normal life more than worth in her eyes. Those luxuries were things she lacked under Chrysalis's authoritarian grasp or during her time as part of the Underground.
With every bite, Double-Take felt just a little bit better. Every bite gave her a small bit of strength and reassured her that she was going to do the right thing. The goal of the Abandoned, after all, was the freedom of the Changelings. A better tomorrow where every could simply live without fear, without deception, free from the want of anything. By the time she finished her breakfast, her fears seemed to nonexistent.
“I'll leave today. I'll only take the train part-way and I'll cover my tracks. They have no reason to risk war by harming the rest of the town. I'll just destroy anything connecting anypony to the Abandoned. The Hunters are anything but reckless.” Her eyes wondered the streets, searching, though she knew she wouldn't find anything. It was just a nervous habit triggered by instinct. Finally, she pulled herself away from the window.
She needed to focus her attention on collecting anything she had about the Abandoned or about Starlight and Velvet. Forming a mental checklist, she started in her room. The letters from Starlight and Velvet were first to go as they directly mentioned the Changelings, not always, but often enough to be a threat to their lives were one of the assassin teams to find it: over two years-worth of letters sent on a semi-weekly basis, with only a few dates missed. She kept every letter for sentimental purposes. In retrospect, that may have been a mistake.
After a half-hour of sorting papers and notes and scraps, she assembled every letter she had received from her Hollow Shades friends. She placed the stack of papers in the hearth on the den and lit a match, placing it carefully on the center of the top page. In seconds, the dry and aged papers were alight like a dragon's breath. Double-Take refused to take her eyes off the papers until she was certain that nothing remained of them. She didn't have to wait long. In no time at all, all that was left of the papers were a few scorched scraps and a pile of smoldering ash. Not a single word was left. The Changeling let out a small, relieved sigh, just a small weight lifted from her shoulders. That was one mistake corrected.
“My weapons. I'll take them with me. I should have gotten rid of them long ago. But they'll have use again.” She closed her eyes and held her head just a little bit lower, her shoulders dropping, feeling just a little bit defeated.
It took a minute, but she refocused herself again. She moved through the cottage, collecting the weapons she kept hidden throughout the building. After a while, she ran through another list; a dozen throwing knives, her dagger, and a sword. She hated violence, but she knew the importance of self-defense. If the Queen's agents ever found her, she was willing and ready to put up a fight. There was only one room left in the basement. The room was well-ventilated and the air was cool and fresh. The room held dozens of bottles and a far collection of ingredients, but there wasn't much else. At least, not to the untrained eye. She walked to the opposite corner of the room, her disguise disappearing in a ring of flames. She couldn't use her magic or her wings while disguised as an Earth pony. It was one of the limitations of her alias, but the inconvenience never bothered her. She pushed aside the cupboard and cast a spell on the blank floor. With a small shimmer of slight, not nearly as complex as the spell used to reveal Abandoned letters, the illusion faded. In place of an empty floor was a trapdoor leading to a square room no wider than two ponies long. It was a secret room she used to hide her old Abandoned armor. The metal would change shapes with her, so she could wear it while traveling in disguise without risking suspicion. She took the armor and placed it with her weapons.
“What else?” she pondered to herself. “I destroyed the letters, I have all of the weapons and armor in the cottage right here, so what's left? The letter from Grand Façade and the letter to Starlight and Velvet, but I'm taking those with me. That should be everything. Then I guess I'll get ready to go.” Those last words came a bit too naturally. They were somehow unnerving. It was only natural, she guessed. After all, she was running away again.
She shook the thought, choosing once again to focus on the task at hand. She donned her armor and emptied her saddlebags of everything she didn't need. She packed her bit purse, her throwing knives and daggers, some food, and a tinderbox, just in case she'd need it. Almost as an afterthought, she collected some medicinal herbs, plants and extracts from the basement, packing them up. All that was left was to grab the letters on her desk and-
There was a knocking on the door. Double-Take resumed her Earth pony alias and rushed to the door sitting room next to the entry way, cautiously peeking out the window. No pony was there. “Odd,” Double-Take thought, her eyes getting heavier. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Had she reached the point of exhaustion where rational thought began to slip away? How much longer could she go without a full night's sleep? She couldn't think about that now.
With a deep breath, she opened the door, something disturbingly obvious catching her eye: a Changeling throwing knife stabbed into her door, holding a note in place. Her heart raced. In Changeling culture, placing a knife like that was tantamount to a death threat. She pulled out the knife and shut the door quickly, eager to be out of plain sight. The note was scrawled in Equestrian.
There's a Changeling among you dedicated to anarchy. Do not protect this criminal.
That was all it said. Double-Take placed her hoof over her heart as it raced, faster and faster, dropping the knife and note on the coffee table in the middle of the entry room. “How rash are they?” She had to leave. Fast.
But a knocking interrupted her once again. The assassins? No, that wouldn't make sense. But they had already made such a bold move. She couldn't think about it. Peering out the window again, she saw a friendlier sight, but an unwelcome one. Rosie and Blossomforth looked... shockingly calm.
Double-Take uttered a frustrated groan. Just one thing going wrong after another. “Calm yourself, Double-Take. Just deal with it as it comes.” She shook her head as she refocused on her friends. This wasn't going to be pleasant. She opened the door with as calm an expression as she could muster. “Oh, hey.”
Rosie was giving a genuine smile. “Hey, Starlight. How've you been.”
Double-Take shook her worries aside. “Tired, as always, but better. What are you two doing here? I don't remember us having plans.”
Blossomforth looked like she had a lot on her mind. “What's with the mark on your door? It looks like someone stabbed a knife into it.”
Something wasn't right. She said “someone” and not “somepony.” Only Changelings used “one” as part of pronouns.
“Rosie” started to look a little worried as she examined the knife mark on the door. “Why would anyone do that?”
These weren't Double-Take's friends and she knew it. “I don't know. A prank, maybe? I'll deal with it later. In the meantime, would you two like to come in for some tea?”
“Sure,” Rosie answered with Blossomforth agreeing quickly.
Double-Take stepped aside and continued toward the kitchen. The door closed as soon as her back was turned, but she didn't react. She knew what to expect.
The curtains around the downstairs shut suddenly and Double-Take jumped to the side, a bolt barely clipping the tail of her disguise, no doubt poisoned. It was just hair, though. She landed on the coffee table and rolled off, taking the knife with her, and flipping the table on its side with a kick once she hit the ground, another bolt hitting piercing the wood less than a second later. It was an awkward maneuver and the impact sent a shuttering jolt through her bones, but it saved her life.
“Perceptive, Abandoned!” one them laughed in mock congratulations, the green glow Changeling transformations lighting up the dim room.
Double-Take would have none of it. She never understood the purpose of gloating and mockery. She listened to the hoofsteps. One pair in each direction, falling in unison. Ambush tactics. Taking the knife in grip, she jumped out of her improvised cover, throwing the knife as she flew through the air, landing into a tuck and roll and proceeding to jump halfway up the stair, running the rest of the way, a bolt nearly striking her neck. Her weapons were in her room, packed away her saddlebags. She realized that leaving all of her weapons in her room was a mistake that very well may cost her her life.
The other assassin snickered, his hoofsteps indicating that he was climbing the stairs fast. “I guess I should have expected no less from the former Inquisitor. But why do you still hide?”
Double-Take's form faded as she hastily tore every object from her saddlebags. She pressed her back against the wall next to her door. It would open in the opposite direction and give her time to strike them. Her magical aura enveloped all of her throwing knives, unsheathed them, and proceeded to lift them into the air, all facing the door. The hoofsteps reached the room and, by the sound of it, there were two sets still. The previous knife hadn't found its mark, but it served its purpose, regardless. The door opened and Double-Take launched all of the knives at once, using her magic to make the spread out once they reached the doorway like a scatter shot.
There was a scream of pain and a body hit the floor, but only one. Good. She needed the other one alive. She levitated her sword to her, refusing to enter the line-of-sight of the remaining assassin. “Come and get me!” she shouted in what she expected to be a futile effort to goad the assassin into rushing her, hoping rage would be the catalyst needed for him to make mistake.
No response. She assumed as much. She scanned her room for anything that she could use to form an indirect line-of-sight. Nothing. She didn't keep any mirrors in her room. She needed something... “With a sheen,” she thought, looking at her sword. It had been a while since she needed to think on her toes, but it was coming back. If he tried to rip it from her grasp with a levitation spell, she still had the dagger on her bed, and the smaller blade would be better in a confined area, anyway. She lifted her sword and twisted the blade, using its edge to scout the hall. One body confirmed, but she couldn't see the other. “He must be around the corner.” Her words were still silent, but her heart seemed to beat like a war drum, nearly drowning out her thoughts. She wouldn't dare peak around the corner. One of them would have to give, or else they would remain stalemated. “Stalemate,” she finally announced.
“Shrewd.” Finally, a reply.
“Unlike you, I have nothing to lose. Leave without my head, and you risk the Tyrant's wrath. Stay, and you risk the same fate as your comrade.”
“Trying to goad me on will get you nowhere.”
“Then tell me this, at least. Where's the third?”
“Like I'd tell you.”
“Very well. What about the ponies you were impersonating?”
“The same as always.”
“Where?”
“Telling you is pointless. You'll die soon enough.”
“Then what's the harm?”
“Then think logically. Where else could they be?”
“The forest, then. I assume it's just deep enough to keep ponies from stumbling on to them.”
“You're just delaying the inevitable.”
“Then what are you doing?”
The assassin gave an annoyed huff, only just audible to Double-Take's keen ears. “Touché.”
“Changeling Code of Honor?”
“What honor do you have left?”
“It's the only way we'll get anywhere without trying to starve each other out.”
“I have time.”
“So do I.”
“I have backup.”
And Double-Take felt it. The third assassin was somewhere in town, but they couldn't communicate through psionics without Double-Take listening in. “I know.” Double-Take sighed. This was getting her nowhere. She had to get to the Everfree and find the chrysalises containing her friends. They'd likely be dazed when she woke them up. They wouldn't fully come to for a few minutes afterward, and everything during the daze and shortly before being imprisoned would just feel like a bad dream. It wasn't the worst way to end imprisonment in a Changeling chrysalis.
Another thought came to Double-Take. She scanned the landing again using her sword, this time making a note of her knives. She knew the cottage well enough to visualize where they actually were, rather than where they appeared to be when reflected. She could use that to grasp her knives without a direct line-of-sight. It was skewed and awkward, but it had a chance of working. After a few moments of thought, she saw the reflections of the magical aura as the knives pulled themselves free. They turned and launched themselves again.
She saw a black mass jump and roll out of the way. That was her chance. She jumped around the corner as quickly as she could and dashed toward the assassin while using her wings to boost her speed and balance significantly. The assassin recovered, but turned just a moment too late as Double-Take slammed into him, the two toppling onto the ground with Double-Take having the upper hoof.
The assassin looked up at his mark, her blade to his throat. “Well played.”
The wrathful expression on Double-Take's face dropped into one of reluctance. She didn't have the stomach for violence, and her foe was nearly helpless. She wasn't ruthless, but the last time she let an adversary live, it cost two of her comrades their lives.
The assassin kept waiting for a strike that never came. "You're hesitant. Why?"
“Because I'm not like you.”
“You assume. Is it a weakness not to kill a subdued foe? Or a strength? I never had the stomach to hunt helpless pray.”
Double-Take raised an “eyebrow.” “Yet you're still one of the Hunters Deceit?”
“You were an Inquisitor. Honor can be found anywhere. But it must be earned and maintained.”
“Settle this with a duel of swords?”
“Agreed.”
Double-Take let the Changeling up and backed away, her sword in her front hooves as she balanced on her back legs, her wings assisting in the awkward stance. The assassin drew a blade of his own and took a similar stance. With a mutual nod, they clashed.
They were nearly equal in skill with swords, one parrying or dodging the blade of the other with such symmetry that one could mistake it for a dance. How long had they dueled? Double-Take lost track of time, but finally the assassin overstepped, his last swing slightly clumsier. Double-Take parried the blade with ease and, as if on instinct, seized the opening, running the assassin through.
He dropped his sword, his breath leaving him nearly instantly. He collapsed, Double-Take gently setting him down as he sputtered his last words with what she could have sworn was a smile. “It was an... honor... former Inquisitor.” And that was that. He was dead.
Double-Take closed the assassin's eyes. “Find fire,” she said, wishing her foe farewell with a somber voice. After a moment, she stood up, once more on all four legs, her mind switching to her next task. She had to find Rosie and Blossomforth. She'd worry about the cottage later.
Double-Take rushed into the Everfree Forest quickly, the adipokinetic hormones from the fight and her worry for her friends were the only things keeping her going. She stopped after a few minutes of walking and listened. Something felt... off. The forest was always unnerving, but it seemed eerily quiet. The only thing she could hear was the muffled sound of the river not too far off. She couldn't worry about it. There were more important things than trying to understand the Everfree.
She vibrated her wings, creating a chirping “buzz” that resounded through the forest. It was a few short bursts with just a bit of time in between every several “chirps.” She listened closely for a slightly different sound than the normal echo. Nothing. Rosie and Blossom weren't within earshot, but Double-Take had expected as much. She glanced around, trying to discern the best direction to start in when a pony caught her eyes off in the distance. It was dark and the pony seemed to be nothing more than a silhouette.
“Hello?” she called, not really thinking. She could have sworn that she saw... glowing eyes? It was almost... mesmeric. “Hello?” she called again, taking a step forward.
The pony took off with astonishing speed, and Double-Take followed suit, but she just couldn't keep up. After a minute or so, she rounded a bend in a particularly thick part of the forest. The pony was nowhere to be seen.
Double-Take sighed and turned around to resume her search, questioning why she had chased after the pony in the first place, when she glanced a luminescent mass off in the distance. It had brilliant shades of blues and greens of similar nature to a Changeling's wings or tail. A chrysalis! She took off and landed on the same crook of branches as the Changeling pod. She placed her hoof on the pod, a glow escaping her horn. The pod began to crack until the front of it shattered, revealing a seemingly catatonic Blossomforth. She would wake up in a few minutes, completely dazed. That gave Double-Take a few minutes to find Rosie. They wouldn't have hidden her too far off. She could try to use her chirping to find the second pod, but the river was much closer now. It could drown out the echo.
She didn't need to worry. She saw the other pod in a tree just across the path. The path? “How'd I end up back on the path?” she pondered. She shook it off. It was the Everfree. That was all the explanation she needed. She flew to the other tree and opened the pod, confirming it to be her Unicorn friend. Double-Take picked Rosie with her magical grasp, the task requiring a greater deal of concentration and will due her lack of sleep, and set her gently on the ground at the base of the tree. With a recovery breath, she did the same with Blossomforth. A moment later, she looked down on her friends from the branch of the tree. “Could I get them back before they wake up?” She shook her head, determination in her eyes. “Even if I can't, I refuse to leave them unconscious in the Everfree.”
After a long, deep breath, the turquoise aura of her magic gently lifting the two ponies from the ground. Double-Take jumped to ground, her wings slowing her fall, and began the trek back to Ponyville.
The walk, while slow and tiring, was shockingly peaceful. She didn't see any timber wolves, or hydras, or even a single cockatrice. Just the occasional phoenix, squirrel, or some other calm woodland creature. It was almost beautiful. But she had to keep focus. As much as she'd love to stay and admire the beauty of the mysterious woods, she had to get her friends out of the forest before they woke up. The last thing she wanted to do was answer their questions. A few minutes later, she saw the trees thinning out. They were almost home.
Home... “No, I can't...” She felt the last of her strength leaving her. “Just get them home.” She stumbled out of the forest, collapsing from her exertion, the two ponies hitting the ground with two distinct thuds. “At least... At least we're out of the forest.”