Have you ever thought about how you would tell your life story if someone asked you? Would you leave out certain details that might put you in a bad light, omit things you might be ashamed for others to know? Or would you spill everything? Every. Last. Detail. No matter the consequences, no matter what they might think of you afterward, would you reveal your secrets? I’m not sure what I’m going to do. I suppose I’ll have to decide as I go along...
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I reached out magically, grabbing the fire poker and twirling it dramatically before stoking the fire back to life. I lost myself in the flames for a moment, old memories threatening to overwhelm me. Stubbornly, I pushed down the rising tide of emotions these young ponies had evoked with their questions. Was I doing the right thing? They were so young, surely too young to hear all that I had experienced. I turned back to Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo with a resigned grimace. They were NOT gonna like this.
Squaring my shoulders, I shook my head firmly, "Girls, I've changed my mind. You fillies are much too young to hear about some of the things I’ve gone through". Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle groaned in protest and I heard a loud exclamation of "Awesome!" from Scootaloo before she processed my statement and groaned loudly like the other two. Giving the three fillies my best stern look, I began moving them towards the door. "If you three knew how much crap I'd gone through in the last thousand years," I shook my head slowly "I'm not entirely sure your families would be okay with me telling you."
“But!” Sweetie Belle protested. “No buts.” I said firmly. “You three run along now, I have plenty of chores around here that need doing, and no time for distractions” Closing the door firmly behind me I gave a sigh of relief. That was a close one.
I trotted quickly to the bookshelf on the right side of the fire and pulled out one of the books titled Histories of Equestria. The shelf moved inward on oiled hinges and I stepped confidently through the dark opening. The doorway became a stairway that immediately turned right and spiraled down into the earth. I trotted down the stairs, lighting the candles on the outside of the spiral staircase as I passed them.
After descending deep into the earth the stairway ended and opened into a huge antechamber, the air was stale as if the room hadn't had fresh air in ages. I cast my flame spell on a stone trench, filled with a thick oily substance, about a hoof wide that extended far into the darkness. Upon casting my spell, flames spread from the point of ignition and quickly ran down the trench and all around the large chamber illuminating it with a warm yellow light.
The area right next to the stairway was a library of sorts, it had two stories. The bottom story had shelves all around the outside in a tight crisscross pattern. They held anything from scrolls and bottles of wine to assorted daggers and other weapons. On one side there was a couple of shelves filled with old tomes and a few small chests sitting on the floor in front. The rest of the room was dominated by small tables and comfy armchairs, most of which were covered in dust, and miscellaneous scrolls and books, all surrounding a huge table with a map of Equestria and the surrounding lands carved into it. The top floor was open in the middle and looked down upon the map table, the floor space taken up mainly by bookshelves crammed full of books and old parchment. One side of the library opened into a large training area, big enough that a dozen ponies could practice combat with room to spare. There were doors on either side of the training room leading off to other rooms. The back wall had a row of mannequins behind metal bars, each dressed in robes from a different age of Equestria and even some robes that seemed to come from different lands altogether.
Hearing a soft noise behind me, I whirled and glared as I laid eyes upon the three fillies. "What are you three doing down here?" I snapped as I removed my winter robes and tossed them onto an armchair, kicking up a large cloud of dust. “I thought I told you ponies to run along home! In fact, how did you three even find your way down here in the first place?”
All three had a looks of absolute awe on their faces and obviously hadn’t heard a word I said. Their eyes wandered all over the room for a few moments before resting upon my face and the irritated look on it.
Sweetie Belle, at least, had the good grace to blush and look ashamed. Scootaloo stammered nervously, “We watched you through the window.... We just wanted you to tell us the story!” Apple Bloom, completely unphased, tilted her head to the side "What is this place?" she asked, waving her hoof around at the room.
I stared at her flatly "This is the headquarters of my Order, my Order of Assassins. It’s supposed to be a secret" I walked over to the map table and looked down at a small model of a sailing ship with blue sails. Using a hoof, I pushed it slowly across a section of ocean with a small smile. "I sincerely hope you three can keep a secret." I intoned with as much gravity as I could muster. “This place is not meant for the average pony’s eyes”.
They all nodded and did a silent Pinkie promise getting a smile and an eye-roll out of me as I walked around the map, looking it over. There were markers all over the country with different sigils overlaying the same delta formation that the Assassins had adopted so long ago. I frowned as I removed one from the southern side of the country and paced it gently in a small box on one corner of the table. It was filled with dozens of others. I frowned a little before closing it up and noticed the fillies were all standing and looking at the table. Scootaloo was looking at me as I put the piece away and closed the chest.
Scootlaloo flapped her wings hard out of excitement, practically jumping onto the table. "What are those?!" she said pointing at one of the sigils, the sigil for my order.
I smiled at her "Those symbols show the locations of the other Assassin orders all across the nation," I pointed at the same one she pointed at "This one is mine". I motioned at the room around me "This place, I built it from the ground up..." I trailed off as I thought about how long ago that had been. As I looked around the room, shadows and snatches of memory floated before me making the room come alive again, the way it used to be.. When dozens of ponies called this place home... I turned back to the three fillies.
Apple Bloom is related to me by blood but the exact degree to which we are related escapes me. Am I her six-times-removed great-uncle? Or grandfather? Or does being removed that many times make me just a cousin? In the end, I suppose the only thing that matters is, we're family.
Sweetie Belle is Rarity's sister. I met Rarity the day she set up shop in Ponyville. The very first thing she ever said to me was a snide remark about my attire. It struck me as funny that a strange pony would be so forward and honest about another pony’s clothing. Her attitude impressed me and we became fast friends after that.
Scootaloo is a mystery to me. As far as I know she has no siblings, and I've never met her parents. It has never really bothered me badly enough to investigate her home life, and for all I know she’s an orphan living goddess knows where.
I shook my head to clear my thoughts a little. I didn’t think Big Mac or Apple Jack would have a problem with me telling my story to Apple Bloom. Rarity might get a little cross with me telling Sweetie Belle but she'd get over it, and if Scootaloo's parents were upset and sought me out to chastise me it would answer a lot of questions. I smirked as Apple Bloom spoke up.
"Uncle Fox, please tell us your story. Its not fair to act like you're gonna tell us and then change your mind!" Her raised voice showing the annoyance she was experiencing. She huffed angrily and stared me down, waiting for my response.
I turned and stared at her stonily in return for a few seconds before breaking out in a big toothy smile. "You three have really got me backed into a corner," I said turning and flopping, back first, onto one of our old armchairs and kicking up a cloud of dust. "I'll tell you, but only if you three promise to not tell another living soul what I tell you while we’re down here" I made eye contact with all three fillies, showing them just how serious I was about this.
All three of them stood at attention and swore not to tell anypony, before making a pinkie promise again, making an X over their chest and covering one of their eyes with a hoof.
I sat up and rubbed my chin "Well I suppose the easiest place to start would be..."
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My blue hide rippled in the flickering light provided by the torches hanging up at intervals along the walls of the cave. Purposefully ignoring the rising noise levels, I rolled my shoulders, loosening them up as I took in the scene laid out before me. I was standing in one corner of a makeshift fighting ring. Raw-cut logs formed the perimeter that separated myself and my opponent from the rest of the crowd. Judging by the noise in the cave, there were dozens of ponies in here. I looked up to count, but gave up after only a few moments, stopping at around 40. I turned toward the center of the ring gazing at the pony in the other corner. This pony had definitely seen better days. He was a large, yellow earth-pony with a greasy brown mane cut very short. He was missing an eye, definitely a blind spot, but he was also massive. I'd have to outmaneuver him to win, be fast; if he got too close it'd be all over.
The pony stomped his hooves heavily, making the stone floor of the cave shake "I'm about to turn you into jelly ya sparky horned pussy!" he shouted, slinging insults at me because I was a unicorn. You obviously don't know much about unicorns pal, if you think I’m gonna go down that easy.
The insult fell short and I just rolled my eyes and continued to analyze the yellow pony for weaknesses. My observations were cut short by a black coated unicorn pony with a white mane and a cutie mark of a megaphone who stepped between us. His horn glowed and he spoke; it was nearly deafening in close proximity, but I did my best not to shy away from it.
"IN THIS CORNER, WEIGHING IN AT 300 POUNDS, AND TOWERING AT A WHOPPING 18 HOOVES, IT'S CYYYYYYCLOPS!" He pointed at the yellow earth-pony who was acting as if he’d lost his mind, pointing at the crowd and dancing around like an idiot before pointing a hoof at me and running his hoof over his throat slowly while sticking his mottled tongue out.
I rolled my eyes and glanced into the crowd looking for a familiar face. I found him in moments, the gray robed zebra smiled gently and gave me a nod. His name was Artogus. The old Zebra had been my mentor, and basically my father since the day my mother passed away and my father abandoned me to die. He taught me not only how to survive, but how to thrive in a world ruled by the definition of chaos, The draconequess, Discord. He was the reason this fight was underground, not because he didn't relish in the chaos of a fight, but because he would hate the idea of it being organized and not spur of the moment.
I was taken out of my thoughts by the deafening sound of the megaphone pony turning to me and speaking in the booming voice, "AND IN THIS CORNER, AT A HEIGHT OF 12 HOOVES AND ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY POUNDS, IT'S FOOOOOOOX THE LIGHTNING FLASH!"
I hopped lightly on my hooves, loosening up my shoulders as I stood on my back legs and made a couple swipes at the air with a smug grin. I was so gonna beat this hothead into the dirt. The bell rang and to my surprise the massive pony came at me like a Pegasus, almost slamming me into the ropes. Luckily I was able to sidestep his charge and clip him on the jaw as he rebounded off the ropes. This knocked him back a few inches before he charged again, catching me in the ribs and throwing me across the ring, knocking the air right out of me.
I looked over at Artogus and he tapped one hoof against his forehead as if saying "use your mind, not your body" before he smiled and swept his other hoof forward as if egging me on.
I stood up, turned towards the yellow stallion, and took a deep breath; time slowed to a crawl as I forced myself to focus. I was able to analyze my opponent with careful detail along with my surroundings. This was a glorified street fight so nothing was forbidden except magic. Being raised by a zebra, I was taught how to fight like an earth-pony despite having the more frail body of a unicorn.
One: my opponent's head is turned to the right, his left side is a major blind spot : first point of attack. Two: throat, a pony this massive needs all the air he can get. Three: knees, I may be lacking in muscle but even a little unicorn can handle breaking those. Four: ribs, obviously weakened from years of fighting, possibly broken before and set improperly. Summary prognosis: knockout in 90 seconds, full recovery unlikely.
I let my focus fade and time sped back up. The pony charged at me and I grabbed one of the ring posts and dislodged it from the ropes before stepping to the side and bashing him on the head, followed by a crushing blow (for a unicorn) to his windpipe. He staggered a moment trying to catch his breath before I brought the stick down on his front knees. I then jumped up, bringing a rear hoof down on his ribs. They broke with a loud crunching noise and I sighed with relief dropping the post on his limp form. It rolled off of him as I stood over my defeated opponent, breathing heavily. I turned and looked at the crowd and for Artogus, who seemed to be gone now. He must have snuck away as I finished the yellow pony off.
The crowd gaped at me for a few moments, looking from me to the yellow pony bleeding out onto the stone floor of the cave for a few moments before cheering loudly enough to make me wince. I shook it off and plastered on a winners smile, putting my front legs in the air and waving.
I decided not to stick around to watch any more fights. I was headed for home, walking slowly through a narrow path in the evergreen forest. Occasionally, the wet grass, covered in the dew of the night, would brush my leg, sending goosebumps through me and keeping me alert. I could still hear the cheers from the cave far off in the distance but they were quiet in comparison to the sound of the frogs and crickets, hiding in the darkness of the heavily leaved trees. An occasional drop of water would fall on me, but I was shielded by the makeshift cloak that I made months ago, held tight to me by a leather belt.
I heard a sound behind me and stopped, listening closer for a few seconds before breaking into a run. My hooves made light clipping noises on the well traveled path as I flew past the trees. I was sure that I was being stalked by a group of rogues, or even bandits, out to steal the bits I had earned in the fight with Cyclops. I quickly turned and climbed a tree and started jumping from branch to branch.
After a few minutes I stopped and listened closely, trying to tell if I had lost the tail. I heard nothing but a lone cricket chirping in the grass below. I dropped back to the ground and ran swiftly towards the hut that was mine and Artogus's home. As I approached the clearing I took in the sight with a smile. The hut itself was made from a hollow rock that a tree had grown through and then died, leaving a hollow husk that was used for a second floor. Smoke leaked lazily from a crack on one side of the stone. In the clearing around it there was a large garden filled with dozens of different fruits and vegetables, most of which were familiar, others, strange to the lands of Equestria. There were a couple practice dummies and a wagon in the yard, once used to take the produce made by the garden to market for trade in safer times.
As I entered the yard a caught a blur of orange out of the corner of my eye right before I was knocked over and my horn hit something hard. Then, everything went dark.