“Have you lost your mind?!” Keila shouted, standing up so abruptly that the plastic dish in her lap fell to the ground with a clatter. “You can’t send them out!”
“I know my choice isn’t the best one, but what can we do?” Frigid Night yelled back at equal volume. “I need you and Morning here to guard Sunset Shimmer. It’s like you said, Keila. If the Templars do show up, it’s up to you to defend her.”
“You- you seriously think that sending Velvet and Dewdrop out instead is a better idea? This is foolish, even for you.”
Frigid narrowed his eyes. “You have a better idea? You’d rather I have Velvet protect the girl? What if the Templars show? Velvet and Morning alone won’t be enough. They’re both wounded. This is the only way, Keila. Stand down.”
“The hay I will. You said it yourself; Velvet’s hurt. You can’t possibly expect her to handle herself out in the field like that!”
“Dewdrop knows how to look after her,” Frigid replied. “That’s why I’m sending the two of them, and not you and Velvet. She knows Velvet better than any of us. She’ll look after her, won’t you, Dewdrop?”
Dewdrop sighed and rubbed her forehead. “I’m not letting anyone hurt you, Velvet.”
Keila turned to face Dewdrop, her mouth set in a scowl. “Don’t tell me you’re actually going along with him and his plan? Sending children out to do your dirty work. Again.”
Dewdrop shrugged. “Plan or no, I’d rather have Velvet close by. She’s had to deal with so much at this young age. I’ll be sure to keep her close.”
“Case closed, Keila. Drop it,” Frigid said again, more irritation in his voice. “You’ll be here with Morning Blade to protect Sunset Shimmer. As Mentor, that’s an order.”
“Oh, just because you’re the acting Mentor, your word is law? That’s not how we Saddle Arabians do things, and it’s definitely not how you should do things either. Do none of you,” she looked at each of the others. “Not see anything wrong with his thrice-blasted plan?”
Sunset and her friends decided to stay out of it. There was way too much drama going on for them to want to voice their opinions.
“I think he’s right,” Velvet finally spoke up. “Sunset’s more important than taking down some Templar. She should be better protected. I’ll go with Dewdrop.”
“I also agree with Frigid,” Morning Blade nodded, pushing a bandage back into place. “As Mentor, he should know what’s best, just like Mentor Steel Shine did.”
“You’re mad. All of you!” Keila shook her head with disgust and stalked off further into the bureau. “Mark my words, this plan is going to end with someone dead, and then you’ll see.”
“When Talon is dead, I’ll see,” Frigid muttered under his breath. “Okay, any more objections? Good. That’s the plan. We start tomorrow morning.” Then he picked up the laptop and headed back to the room he was using, closing the door behind him.
“Woowee, that was pretty heated,” Applejack wiped her forehead. “Velvet, are ya sure ya wanna go along with this plan? Sounds mighty dangerous.”
Velvet tugged at one of her sleeves. “Well, if it will help the Assassins, then I don’t really have a problem with going. I trust Dewdrop, and I know she’ll keep me safe. Besides, it’s only one assassination, it’s not like I’ll be gone long.”
“Do be careful, Velvet,” Fluttershy placed a hand on the young Assassin’s shoulder. “You’re our friend too.”
“You girls too,” Velvet looked to each of them. “You’ll all be going back home today. Stay safe and remember, let us know if you see anything weird or suspicious.”
“Will do,” Rainbow Dash stretched her arms out. “Well, I guess we better go grab all our stuff. We should probably get home before dark.”
“I’ll help,” Sunset volunteered and followed as her friends headed back to Velvet’s room.
After entering the room, Sunset got to helping her friends grab all their belongings and stuffing them in their backpacks. Thankfully, they weren’t carrying luggages or any of that so it was pretty easy to get all their things together within half an hour.
“Thanks, Sunset,” Rarity took her scarf from the fiery haired girl. “Are you sure you’ll be okay alone here, dear? We could accompany you if you’d like.”
“You girls have family remember?” Sunset giggled as she followed her friends back out to the living room. “And grounding, remember?”
“Please, don’t remind me, Sunset,” Rarity groaned and placed the back of her hand on her head for dramatic effect. “I didn’t expect to be pulled into a world-ruling scheme like this.”
“We do tend to get roped into more than our fair share of world-domination plans, don’t we?”
“That we do, girls,” Rainbow Dash slung her backpack over her shoulder and laughed. “Looks like it’ll be up to us again, huh?”
“Well…” Applejack looked at Sunset. “It’ll be up to Sunset here.”
“Yeah!” Pinkie swooped between her friends. “It’s like you’re the chosen one, Sunset! You’re here to save the world! Not to destroy it! Uh, no offense.”
Sunset sighed but smiled. She’d lost count of how many times she’d already said this. “None taken, Pinkie.”
“So, any of y’all need a lift back?” The cowgirl twirled her keys on a finger. “Our truck’s still out here after all.”
“Ooh ooh! Me! Me!” Pinkie jumped around excitedly.
“Sure, I don’t see why not,” Fluttershy nodded sheepishly. “Thanks Applejack.”
“Guess we’ll all be sticking together till we get home,” Rainbow cheered. “Beats walking home.”
“Safer too,” Velvet reminded them as she closed her room door after leaving. “We don’t want any Templars nabbing you off the roads when you’re alone.”
“Don’t forget, we’re just one phone call away.” Sunset and Velvet followed their friends out the building, stopping before Big Mac’s truck as her friends tossed their bags in the back. “I’ll miss you girls. Do stay in contact.”
“We’ll do just that, Sunset,” Rarity was the first to give the fiery haired girl a hug. “You do the same. Let us know what you’re up to and whether you need any assistance.”
The rest of the girls exchanged hugs and farewells before climbing in the back of the truck. Rarity sat with Applejack in front.
“Don’t you worry, girls,” Velvet patted snow off her shoulders. “I’ll be sure to keep Sunset safe. We all will.”
“You make sure you stay safe yourself,” Rainbow leaned over the side to say. “You’ve got a dangerous mission tomorrow. Come back alive, huh?”
Velvet chuckled and mock-saluted with a finger. “I’ll do just that, ma’am.”
“Well, see y’all around,” Applejack tipped her hat before starting the engine. “Take care, Sunset. Velvet.”
And then the truck was off, trundling down the street before finally picking up speed just after the next block. Sunset waved to her friends until the truck disappeared around the corner.
Sunset didn’t know what she was going to do without her friends around, but at least she still had Velvet for the time being. Even her newest friend was shipping out the following day, heading over to assassinate someone. Sunset shivered at the thought. She’d had enough violence for a lifetime.
“Come on, Sunset,” Velvet pulled on her arm. “Let’s get back inside before you freeze.”
“Yeah…” Sunset continued to look down the street, but did as Velvet said, following behind her. “Velvet, have you… have you ever killed anyone before? Like, you’re doing that tomorrow.”
Velvet shrugged. “Like I said, Wolfgang was supposed to be my first kill. But since he got away… I guess the answer’s no, I haven’t.”
“Oh.” Sunset was slightly relieved by her answer. “Is it easy? To take a life, I mean. When you’re about to bring that… uh, knife down into someone’s heart. Would you be able to do it?”
“I wouldn’t know, Sunset. You’re really better off asking one of the others about this sort of thing.”
The two girls returned to the bureau, heading back to Velvet’s room to rest before the next day’s work. By what Velvet was saying, it sounded like it was going to be a long day for the two Assassins.
Velvet sat down on a couch, looking pensive as she unfurled her hidden blade and inspected it. To Sunset, it didn’t look like it was really worn out or anything, meaning Velvet had really never used to to take anyone’s life before.
“Velvet,” Sunset started as she sat down against the bed. “You told me once that you joined the Assassins to help out. What did you mean by that?”
“Oh, that,” Velvet said, placing her hidden blade on her lap. “A few years ago, a lot of Assassins had gone to Saddle Arabia for a mission. I don’t know the details all too well, but only a handful made it back. Those that survived that and last night are all here in the bureau. There’re some in the other bureaus, but I haven’t seen any of them before. This group looked like they could really use all the help they could get back then, so here I am today.”
“All gone, huh?” Sunset could only imagine what had happened. After seeing what Sombra and the Templars could do, she figured something like that had happened, but on a much larger scale.
Sunset thought back, trying to remember if the news had covered anything big like that in Saddle Arabia, but she couldn’t come up with anything. She must’ve been too busy scheming to take over Equestria back then to notice much of what was going on in this world. That was another thing she could add to her list of regrets.
“Velvet, another thing I wanted to talk to you about…”
“Sure, go ahead, you can ask me anything,” the young Assassin smiled and stretched her legs out.
“I wanted to ask you, about your sister, Satin,” Sunset said after a pause.
“My sister? Wait. How do you even know about her?” Velvet toyed with her hidden blade and frowned. “I don’t recall mentioning her to you.”
Sunset decided to come clean. “Well, you see… back when you were, umm, still following me, I had a friend from Equestria, Twilight, do some… follow up on you to see who you were. Oh, before I go on, this world is like a mirror of Equestria. An example is that there would be another Sunset Shimmer in this world somewhere, wherever she is. Uh, is this all making sense to you?”
Velvet nodded slowly, remembering Sunset’s crash-course explanation about their two worlds. “Yeah. But what does this have to do with my sister?”
“Well, my friend, Twilight, found your sister in Equestria,” Sunset continued on, trying to word it carefully. “You see, the thing is… you… you’re not alive in Equestria anymore, but your sister is. So that’s been puzzling me for some time now. So that’s the first thing I want to ask, Velvet, and I hope I’m not stepping too far into your comfort zone, but… what happened to your sister, Velvet?”
Velvet seemed to shrink in place, drawing her knees up under her chin.
“Satin… she’s dead. One day she left home and never came back.” Velvet shrugged, looking away and scrubbing her eyes with the back of her hand. “That’s just the way it happens. Assassins… don’t have great life expectancies.”
“I-I’m sorry Velvet,” Sunset looked at her with concern. “I didn’t mean to bring up bad memories. I was just curious. If you’d like, you don’t have to go on. We can change topics.”
“No, it’s fine. I thought I got over it a while ago… but I guess I didn’t. Satin was a great sister, and from what the others told me, a great Assassin too. I’d give anything to know who killed her though.” She ended with a frown, her eyes going hard.
“Yeah… Why’d she join the Assassins, Velvet? I mean, I know your reason, but what about hers?”
“To be honest, I don’t rightly know,” Velvet said quietly. “I mean, things were never great back in Hollow Shades, with my parents fighting all the time. She took me away from all that, and moved us into Trottingham. In fact, I never even knew she was an Assassin until the vampire came.”
“Vampire? Oh yeah, you mentioned meeting one once,” Sunset nodded as she thought back to their earlier conversation at Sweet Apple Acres. “So you did meet a vampire? I’ve never seen one before. I’ve only heard the stories.”
“You don’t sound so surprised,” Velvet raised an eyebrow.
“Well, I became a she-demon, remember?” Sunset tapped the side of her head. “I could even fly and shoot fire out of my hands.”
“Right, you’ve seen your fair share of weird here. Well, this vampire was the one who came to me with Satin’s scarf and hairpin… That’s why I wear them, Sunset. To remember her.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry, Velvet, about your sister…” Sunset looked down at her own hands, remembering the Templars she had killed, accident or not. They probably had families too, and just like Satin Breeze, they never went home that night.
Velvet seemed to sense Sunset’s discomfort and moved over to sit next to her. “I know. All this killing, whether it’s us or the Templars… It’s not something to take lightly. Everyone has family. When we kill Templars, even if our cause is just, others lose their fathers and mothers, or siblings. What you shouldn’t do is brood over it. They made their choice to attack you, Sunset. You made your choice to defend yourself. It’s not your fault.”
“I know,” Sunset sighed. “I guess I’m just having a tough time coming to grips with it.”
“Don’t worry. I don’t think it’s easy for anyone.”
“Well, except your acting Mentor,” Sunset looked to the door and rolled her eyes. “He doesn’t seem to be the caring type.”
“Lieutenant- ahem. Acting Mentor Frigid Night is… somewhat of a black sheep, Sunset.”
“Black sheep?” Sunset repeated, confused.
Velvet shrugged noncommittally. “I don’t know all the details, but he’s had a… a complicated past. Let’s put it at that.”
“Doesn’t tell me much, but okay,” Sunset shook her head. “You don’t have all the details anyway. Whatever happened to him… Well, he shouldn’t make life worse for everyone because of it, you know?”
“Yep, I understand what you mean. We just deal with it, really. Morning and I seem to be the only ones not arguing with him. It’s just the way he is now. Nothing we can do about it.”
“If only we could change people, huh?” Sunset chuckled and breathed out.
“Well, if that’s what you want to do, then you’re on the wrong boat,” Velvet joked. “That’s the Templars’ goal, not ours.”
“Oh, well, maybe I should change sides then...” Sunset held back a laugh as Velvet nudged her in the side, on the verge of laughing herself.
“Well, prepare for global domination then,” Velvet joined in, bursting with laughter now.
“Jokes aside…” Sunset said at last, after wiping tears out of her eyes. “Tomorrow’s going to be something, huh? Assassination and all. Normally I wouldn’t agree with all this, but… Sombra needs to be stopped.”
“Yeah…” Velvet sighed. “I don’t know if I can do it, but I’ll have Dewdrop with me. She’ll know what to do.” Velvet got up and dropped back against her bed. “Well, it’s pretty late now, Sunset Shimmer. We should get some rest before tomorrow.”
“You get some rest,” Sunset said as she got up to leave. “You’ve got a long day. I’ll wait for my friends to call before I go to dreamland.”
“If you insist, Sunset. Goodnight.”
“Goodnight, Velvet.”
Sunset had barely gotten any sleep. Again. She’d stayed up all night, waiting for her friends to call, finally getting them one by one as they all let her know they were safely at home with their families. Rarity, unfortunately, had gotten a few days of grounding, but at least she would be in the safety of her family’s presence.
Sunset would have slept in longer to catch up on her rest, but the sound of many things hitting the ground outside had woken her with a startle. Unable to go back to sleep, Sunset got up and slid herself outside, curious to know what had caused all the commotion.
Velvet was bent down, picking up a knife from a box of many more blades, strewn across the floor. “I-I’ll take this one. This will do. Umm… I’ll clean that up.”
“Don’t worry about it, Velvet,” Dewdrop motioned her out of the way and began placing the dropped knives back in their box. “I’ll get it for you. You shouldn’t have been carrying it in the first place. How’s your arm?”
“It’s getting better,” Velvet rubbed at her shoulder as she placed the knife in a sheath before placing it in her small slingbag. “I’ll be running alongside you in no time as well, Dewdrop. You’ll see.”
“Yeah, but not today, Velvet. I want you to take it easy. You still need more time to recover.”
“You got it,” Velvet nodded.
The young Assassin had on her usual attire, along with the new coat Rarity had made for her. Dewdrop had changed into a blue coat, with a grey jacket and a red shirt with the Assassin emblem underneath it. Sunset thought to herself that Dewdrop might as well paint a huge red target on her head if she was going to wear that. She had also slung a set of three swords across her back.
“Oh, Sunset,” Velvet noticed, giving her a wave. “You’re up. You should go back to sleep. You need it.”
“Mnh. I couldn’t sleep. Got too much on my mind.”
“Are your friends all back home safe and sound?” Velvet seemed worried about them too, but relaxed after Sunset nodded her answer over. “That’s good. Well, can’t sleep or no, we’re leaving soon, Sunset. Once we’re done prepping.”
“And we’re done,” Dewdrop said as she placed a couple of pistol magazines in her pockets. “This’ll have to do. Ready, Velvet?”
“You know it, Dewdrop.”
“Hidden blade?”
“Yup. Got my knife too, and that extra one you wanted me to hold on to.”
“Smoke bombs?”
“Yeah, a couple.”
“Laptop?”
“Got it.”
“Got a water bottle in there? You know, just in case?”
Velvet chuckled. “Yeah, I have one.”
“Hmm… Looks like you’re all set. Don’t want you carrying too much.”
Frigid Night and Morning Blade walked over from another room, holding a large piece of paper. Morning gave a wave to Sunset and a pat on the back as she passed her. Sunset also noticed that the white haired Assassin had placed some kind of eyepatch over her right eye. She must’ve made it quickly.
“Here’s the route, Dewdrop,” Frigid handed her the paper. “Marked it out for you in red.”
“Got it,” the blue haired Assassin folded it and placed it in her pocket after taking a quick glace at it. “We’ll be sure to hit it when they least expect it.”
“Just make sure you avoid broad daylight,” Frigid warned. “The Templars have more influence over the local law enforcements than we do.”
“Actually, we don’t even have any left,” Dewdrop cut in, reminding the lieutenant they were the only ones left. “So alright, we’ll strike at a less populated hour. Probably some time at night.”
Frigid nodded. “Sounds good. Talon probably won’t be expecting you, but I’ve prepared a little dossier on him for you in case it helps you should it come to a fight. I’ll email you more instructions as things go on, so remember to check in on Velvet’s laptop every now and then.”
“And remember,” Morning raised a finger. “Stay in contact. There aren’t many of us left and we don’t want to lose you two as well.”
“Don’t you worry your face off, Morning,” Dewdrop clapped her on the shoulder. “I’ll do everything I can to keep Velvet safe. I’m not going to let some big oaf of a Templar do her in.”
“You’ll be back after taking care of this Talon, right?” Sunset asked.
Frigid averted his gaze and said, “Yeah. Sure. They’ll be back.”
“It’s just one guy we’ve gotta kill, Shimmer,” Dewdrop formed a thin smile on her face. “What’s the worse that could happen?”
“Uh… You both could be killed?”
“Right, yeah,” Dewdrop placed a hand on her sword strap. “That. Well, we’ll try our best not to get killed then. Velvet, ready to go?”
“Ready as I’ll ever be, I guess,” Velvet shrugged as Dewdrop made for the exit.
“I’ll get the bike ready,” Dewdrop said from the hallway. “I’ll radio in after it’s done and if the coast is clear for you to come out.”
“I’m getting back to work, so… good luck, kid.” With that said, Frigid returned to his room, disappearing into the darkness.
Morning Blade walked over and gave Velvet a hug and a pat on the back. “Remember, Velvet, anything wrong, you both come back. Don’t risk it if you can’t get to Talon.”
“Yeah, I’ll try to get Dewdrop to do that,” Velvet smiled.
Sunset guessed that wasn’t something easy to do. And then Morning Blade was gone, heading back to her room to get more rest before the sun rose, leaving Sunset standing in the living room with Velvet.
“So…” Velvet scuffed the toe of her shoe against the carpet. “I guess this is goodbye?”
“I guess so,” Sunset replied. “Look, I-”
“If something happens-” Velvet stopped herself. “You first.”
“No, you go,” Sunset said.
Velvet hesitated. “Are you sure?”
Sunset nodded.
“Listen, Sunset,” Velvet reached over and took Sunsets hand in hers. “In the case that… I don’t make it back, I wanted you to have this.”
Velvet drew her hands away, leaving a familiar silver object in Sunset’s open palm. It was Velvet’s hairclip. Only now did Sunset realize her friend wasn’t wearing it.
“Velvet, this is your sister’s. I can’t take it.”
“I want you to have it, Sunset. You’re my friend, and even if we’re apart, if we think of each other every now and then, we’ll never be alone.”
“Well then…” Sunset fished around in her pocket. “You should have this. Mentor Steel Shine wouldn’t want you to be alone either.” She brought her hand out, revealing the shard from the Mentor’s sword she had taken earlier. “Better to have two people with you, hmm?”
Velvet solemnly accepted the shard and slipped it into her pocket, then abruptly wrapped Sunset in a rib-cracking hug.
“I’ll miss you,” Velvet whispered.
“Y-Yeah, me too… Velvet…” Sunset tried to breathe.
Velvet soon let go, giving Sunset a confident nod before a hand went to her ear. “Yes, Dewdrop? Okay, got it. I’ll be right there.”
“All set?” Sunset asked.
“Yeah, Dewdrop says there’s no one in sight and she’s ready to leave.”
“Then you better go,” Sunset gave the young Assassin a slight push. “Come back safely.”
“Don’t know how many times I’ve heard that now,” Velvet grinned as she began to leave. “But yes, I’ll do my best to stay alive.”
Sunset decided to walk Velvet out, seeing as she wasn’t going to sleep anytime soon. The winter air wrapped around her like ice-cold snakes, but it was nothing compared to the night Sunset had gone out in just her shirt and skirt, so it didn’t bother her too much.
“Morning and Keila’ll take good care of you, Sunset Shimmer,” Dewdrop said when she saw Sunset following Velvet. “And I’ll be looking out for Velvet here, so we’ll be sure to see each other again.”
“Right.”
Velvet took the helmet from the older Assassin and slipped it on before getting up on the back of the motorcycle. Dewdrop started the engines and revved the vehicle for a second before taking off down the quiet Canterlot street, heading back for the highway to Manehattan. Sunset gave them both one last wave before retreating back inside to the warmth and safety of the bureau, making sure to put all the locks back into place.
She reentered the room she was using, flopping herself down on the bed. She couldn’t help but worry about Velvet, but there wasn’t much she could do.
Wait, there’s one thing I could do.
Sunset sat back up and grabbed for the Mentor’s book, which she had placed on the bedside table. She could help out by understanding more of the Assassin’s history. Perhaps she could even figure out what Sombra was up to.