Dewdrop pulled over at the side of the street, two blocks away from their safehouse. She was tired and bruised, and she would’ve fallen right off her bike if Velvet hadn’t been holding on to her.
Velvet Breeze herself wasn’t faring any better. After taking down Talon, the poor girl looked like she had the energy simply sapped out of her body, plus, she still had to recover from her injuries from before.
“Come on, Velvet…” Dewdrop limped as she dragged Velvet along, her adrenaline completely faded away by now. “We’re almost… back.”
“I’m sorry I’m like this, Dewdrop,” Velvet said, trying to walk on her own strength.
“It’s not your fault,” Dewdrop replied as they crossed the street, thankful that there weren’t any people around at the moment. They’d definitely be easy pickings for muggers and thieves, even with all the gear and weapons they had on them. “Let’s just focus on getting back first, hmm...?”
“Al-alright…”
The two Assassins finally arrived at the safehouse after what felt like hours, pushing open the front door and slinking into the darkness, which fully enveloped them as soon as they closed the door and locked it.
“We’re safe now, Velvet,” Dewdrop panted, flipping a switch, lighting the main room.
Enduring the last few steps to the couch, Dewdrop placed Velvet down before flopping on the piece of furniture herself, burned out from the beating she’d received from Talon. She rubbed at her head with her good arm, noticing the blood from her cut had dried up, though her head still felt like it had been run over with a truck.
“Are you okay, Dewdrop?” Velvet weakly asked. “I could get some medicine from the supply cabinet…”
“I’ll live, Velvet,” Dewdrop leaned up and rested her elbows on her knees. “I just… need a drink.”
Attempting to get up, Dewdrop fell down to the wooden floor, landing with such a thud that Velvet Breeze jumped in her seat. The blue haired Assassin sputtered and cursed, pushing herself to a sitting position, rubbing at her shoulder. She grabbed hold of a nearby table and pulled herself back up, then sourly stomped her way to the pantry, returning with a bottle of scotch.
“How’s your head, Dewdrop?” Velvet pulled down her hood and leaned back. “I saw you hit the ground… Looked bad.”
Dewdrop waved her hand dismissively. “I’ll live. Sure it hurts a bit, but this’ll help.” She uncorked the bottle and raised it in a mock toast. “Here’s to a job well done, eh?”
Velvet feebly lifted her hand and gave Dewdrop a thumbs up, then immediately dropped it back down on the couch. “Funny… I feel like I just ran a whole marathon, only… I didn’t.”
“Yeah, what was that?” Dewdrop asked around the bottleneck. “How did you do the whole glowy-sword thing?”
“I don’t know…” Velvet sighed. “One moment I was swinging my knife… Next… It just happened.”
Dewdrop returned to the couch and sat down slowly. “Kinda looked like the Mentor’s power, you know?”
Velvet put a hand in her coat pocket and returned with a golden shard. “I think-I think it might have something to do with this, Dewdrop.”
“What is it?” Dewdrop eyed the piece.
“It’s part of Mentor Steel Shine’s sword,” Velvet explained, holding it out for Dewdrop to see clearly. “It… exploded during her fight with Sombra. Scattered pieces of it all over the place. This one was the one stuck in Morning Blade’s eye.”
Dewdrop placed a hand to her chin and hummed. “So, you think this… shard might still contain the Mentor’s sword’s power?”
“That’s the only reason I can think of… Also, I think it was warm when my knife killed Talon.”
“Warm?”
Velvet went on to explain. “Like it was a piece of coal or something.”
“Maybe we should let Frigid know,” Dewdrop took another swig from her bottle. “I’ll get the computer.”
“I’ll do it, Dewdrop,” Velvet leaned up and slowly, but steadily pushed to her feet. “You’re hurt. I’m just tired and I’m getting better. You need more rest than I do.”
Since she was already up, the young Assassin shuffled her feet over to her bag, before returning with the slim silver laptop, placing it on the coffee table in front of the couch before taking a seat on the floor.
Popping the lid, Velvet found the video chat button and double-clicked it. It took a few rings before someone picked up on the other end. Frigid’s face slowly appeared in pixels before forming into a proper clear image.
“Velvet,” Frigid greeted with a nod from the other end. “Is Dewdrop there? Have you both completed the mission?”
Velvet nodded. “Yeah. Talon is dead.”
“And I’m here, Frigid,” Dewdrop called from her spot. “Pretty beat up, but I’m still alive.”
“Good to hear,” Frigid replied with another nod. “Now, details. Were there any complications? Any witnesses?”
Velvet rubbed the back of her head nervously. “Uh, well, there were a couple of witnesses. Nothing we could do about it. Talon made the decision to reveal himself and us to the public.”
“But you weren’t seen up close, were you? You got away before anyone could ID you?”
“I think we did. Dewdrop made sure we got away safely.”
“Sure did, lieutenant,” Dewdrop said, rubbing the side of her head as she shook the bottle of alcohol with her other hand. “No one saw our faces. Plus, they’ve got more to look at. Velvet cut Talon clean in half, through his body armor and everything.”
“You-what? Cut in half?” Frigid looked aghast. “Velvet, more details.”
“I’m still not sure what happened. One moment I was swinging my knife, the next moment, this energy sword kind of just projected out of my blade and cut Talon in two. I’m still pretty puzzled about it.”
“Velvet suggested it might have something to do with that shard she’s got,” Dewdrop leaned back and rested her head against the cushion. “Show him, Velvet.”
Velvet held up the golden metal shard in front of the laptop camera. It glinted in the artificial light, flickering like it was alive.
“You have one of the sword’s shards? That’s the one from Morning, isn’t it?” He waited for Velvet to nod her answer to the him. “So the shard still has power… Hmm, we’ll look over it in detail when you return, but before that… I’ve got one more job for you.”
Dewdrop managed to keep a cool face, but she watched as Velvet’s face contorted into various forms of surprise.
Taking another sip of her scotch, Dewdrop groaned and leaned forward. “Will do, Frigid.”
“B-But… You said we could go back,” Velvet interrupted, looking back and forth between the two senior Assassins. “You said after we deal with Talon, we can return to the bureau.”
“Yes, well, I lied,” Frigid said flatly. “Besides, this is an easy one. Before you know it, you’ll both be back here.”
“But-” Velvet was about to say something else, but Dewdrop clicked her fingers, getting the girl’s attention. The blue haired Assassin made a motion to just accept it. With a sigh, Velvet looked back at the screen and said, “Yeah, we’ll do it, lieutenant.”
“Good. I shall email the target’s dossier over and you can start tomorrow. Good job today, kid. Talon isn’t an easy man to take down.” With everything said, the camera shut off, leaving Velvet and Dewdrop staring at the laptop’s desktop.
Velvet blinked once at the screen before turning to face Dewdrop. “I thought we’d get to go home after Talon,” she said pointedly.
Dewdrop shrugged. “Lieutenant- ahem, acting Mentor Frigid thinks we should go on this next mission, so that’s just what we’ll do. Besides, it’ll be easy. He said so.”
“Yeah, he said so,” Velvet folded her arms and pouted, leaning back against the couch’s bottom. “We’re not him, Dewdrop. You’re hurt and I’m not anywhere near your level of skill yet. How do we know for sure it’ll be easy?”
Dewdrop sighed and tapped the glass bottle, making it ting. “We’ll just have to take his word for it.”
Frigid Night stretched back and sighed as he watched his laptop shut down. His arms had only reached their maximum length when he felt a pair of hands grab them, just above the hidden blades’ tips. A pair of bandaged hands.
“What do you want, Keila?” Frigid said without looking back. “And let go.”
Keila made no attempt to release the Master Assassin. “I heard it all, Frigid. Why did you send them on another mission? You said they’ll be back after this one. That’s one reason why I let you send them.”
Frigid was unable to pull his arms out of her grip, tipped back in the chair he was sitting on. “This one came up. That’s why.”
“Oh, it ‘came up’, did it? That’s your excuse?” Keila shoved Frigid’s hands away, toppling him forward. “Get back on that computer and call them back. You promised that they could come back after Talon.”
Frigid scowled at the Saddle Arabian Assassin and sat still. “They have to do this, Keila. With Talon’s death, the Templars’ media spokesperson will have to come out. This is our chance to get rid of their ties to the news. I’m not calling them back. Not yet.”
“You really think that their media spokesperson is going to be easy to get to?” Keila walked around the table, one hand on the handle of one of her knives. “I doubt that.”
“She never goes around with more than two guards, Keila. She’s a Board member, not the president.”
“If it’s that simple, then why not send Morning Blade or me to do it?” Keila countered. “Surely you can tell that if you send us, then there’s a much higher chance of success? Or are you just that thick?”
“They’re already there,” Frigid returned to his computer screen and scrolled through a list of files. “Besides, they already agreed to do it and it would be a waste of time to call them back just to send you or Morning Blade out there. Oh, and you’ve got a package to protect, in case you’ve forgotten.”
Keila’s scowl deepened, but she took her hand off the knife and sniffed. “Then for your sake I hope you’re right, because if anything happens to them out there, there will be a reckoning between you and I.”
“Nothing’s going to happen to them, Keila,” Frigid narrowed his eyes at the Saddle Arabian Assassin. “Dewdrop is good. She’ll get the job done.”
“Look at you!” she shouted angrily. “What’s become of you, Frigid Night? Why don’t you do the dirty work yourself! Stop throwing everyone’s lives around like they mean nothing! What would High Noon say if he were still here?”
“He’d tell me to go for it.”
“He’d tell you to listen to me!” Keila breathed heavily. “Have you once again forgotten what friends are? Friends aren’t just tools you toss around. You fight to protect them. Look where he is now, because of you.”
Frigid had enough. He pushed off his chair and pushed Keila against the wall, pinning her there. “You have no right to say that! He was my friend! High Noon chose that! I didn’t want him to sacrifice himself, but he did. You think I’d just leave him there? I didn’t want this, Keila. I didn’t.”
“Then how about you man up and actually take some responsibility instead of foisting work on other people, especially children? You want this media spokesperson dead so badly, do it yourself,” Keila shoved Frigid away and glared daggers at him.
The acting Mentor snorted, but didn’t bother to say anything. He returned to his chair and clicked on the file, then attached it to the email to Velvet and Dewdrop before closing the screen, just as footsteps sounded just down the hall, approaching the two Assassins.
“What happened?” Morning Blade asked. Sunset Shimmer was standing by her side, a look of question also on her face. “We heard the shou- oh,” the white haired Assassin said after she saw Keila standing behind Frigid.
“It was nothing, Morning,” Frigid waved a hand. “You can take Sunset Shimmer back to the room.”
“Actually,” Morning piped up. “We were going to go out for a while. You know, stretch our legs. Rarity’s expecting us, well, Sunset and a friend for dinner.”
“Is that a good idea?” Frigid raised an eyebrow. “Your friend’s house might be monitored by the Templars.”
Keila made a noise from the couches where she was now seated. “Didn’t you say that you believed Mirror Match about Sombra’s interest in Sunset fading? Or were you lying about that as well?”
Frigid rubbed a hand through his grey hair and nodded. “I guess you’re right, Keila. You are free to go out for a while, Sunset Shimmer. Don’t stay out too long. Be back before eleven.”
“What are you, her father?” Keila muttered.
“I’m just trying to look out for her,” Frigid said flatly.
“We won’t stay out all night,” Morning said. “We’re just going to have dinner, a while to talk, then we’ll come right back, isn’t that right, Sunset?”
Sunset nodded, one hand holding onto the strap of her backpack.
“Fine,” Frigid gave them his approval before picking up his laptop and heading for the rooms.
Twenty seconds after they heard the front door close, Keila got up and went for the door as well. “I’m going after them,” she announced. “I’m not ruling out the possibility that this Rarity’s house isn’t being watched.”
“Didn’t you just tell me that Mirror said they don’t have any interest in Sunset anymore?”
“Screw that. You might believe her, but I don’t. I’m going.”
Moments later, Keila had whisked out the front door, taking to the rooftops to follow Sunset and Morning, and leaving Frigid Night very much alone.
The yellow-skinned Assassin took a deep breath and exhaled with everything his lungs had. He retreated to his room and placed the laptop on the bedside table before falling onto the springy mattress. He considered leaving the bureau to find Mirror Match, but as much as he wanted to, there were too many possibilities of how the meeting could go wrong. Right now, if they wanted to get through this in one piece, he would have to remain in solitude.
There was a slight chance that Keila was right and Mirror had lied to draw them out, but Frigid just didn’t want to believe that. He wanted to believe that, despite everything, she would come around and tell them the truth. So here he stayed, standing vigil over the last bastion of the Assassins, until time proved otherwise.
“Notes?” Spike asked as Twilight Sparkle levitated a stack of papers into her embroidered saddlebags, at the same time, looking around for something else in the shelves.
“Yup, I’ve got them, Spike,” she replied before she pulled an old faded blue book from the shelf.
“Which book is that?” the baby dragon hopped forward to get a better look.
“It contains some history about the Crystal Empire,” the lavender alicorn explained. “I thought I’d bring this along. It might come in handy.”
“Don’t forget these,” the dragon returned with a bottle of ink and a quill, stuffing them into the saddlebags.
“Right. Thanks, Spike,” Twilight shoved the book in and closed the bags. “I think that’s everything we need for the trip.”
“You sure you don’t want the others to come along?” Spike asked as he trod alongside the alicorn. “I don’t mind the company. I mean, especially if you bring somepony like Rarity along.”
“It’s fine, Spike. We don’t need to bother anypony else. It’s just a quick trip there and back.”
“What so important about going there anyway?” the little dragon threw his hands up as the two made their way to the train station. “Didn’t Sunset Shimmer already tell you everything you need to know in that book?”
“Sunset told me all about these Assassins and how they originated from the Crystal Empire,” Twilight explained on the way. “I want to learn more about what happened there. Directly. And if what Sunset said about Sombra is true, then we need to figure this out, fast.”
“A-assassins?” Spike tremored. “You mean ponies whose job it is to k-kill other ponies? And S-Sombra?”
“Capital ‘A’,” Twilight corrected. “But yes, these ponies- I mean people do kill other people. But don’t worry, Spike. I’m not about to join them, I just want to find out how they started out. And I have a feeling that the answer is in the Crystal Empire somewhere. Maybe we’ll find a way to stop Sombra too.”
“W-what if we find some-some dangerous stuff there?” The dragon looked around, eyes watchful of his surroundings, sweat rolling down his scales. “What if we-we’re hunted for knowing t-too much?”
Twilight gave Spike an amused smile. “Have you been reading that book of conspiracy theories that Rainbow Dash donated to the library again?”
“Umm… No, of course not!” the purple dragon said adamantly. “I-I’m just being cautious. We are dealing with Assassins with a capital ‘A’. For all we know, they might be watching us now, making sure we don’t say anything we shouldn’t…”
“I’m actually pretty sure the Assassins only exist on the other side of the mirror, but that’s part of what I’m going to the Crystal Empire to look into,” she shrugged. “If anything, it’ll be a learning experience.”
The two arrived at the train station, picking a spot under the shelter to wait. It wasn’t too long before a train rolled in, coming to a stop before them as some ponies got out, likely heading home. Twilight and Spike gave a wave to Octavia as she exited a carriage with her cello before entering themselves, finding seats near the back.
“Are Princess Cadance and your brother expecting us or are we dropping by to surprise them?” Spike’s worry seemed to have dissipated after entering the train. “Ooh, maybe we can jump out and surprise them! You know, for fun.”
“I didn’t notify them we were coming, because I didn’t plan on staying very long. I still have Hearth’s Warming duties to take care of back in Ponyville, so I want to keep this visit low-key.”
“Right, low-key…” the dragon agreed. “What do you suppose we’ll find?”
Twilight looked out a window as the train began leaving the station. “Answers.”