Morning Blade had packed a scarf the next morning, shivering from the cold even in her own home. She first had a nice hot shower before getting changed and heading out, ready to continue the next segment of her storytelling with Princess Twilight Sparkle.
Princess of Friendship... It was still almost unbelievable that she had been talking to a pony princess from another world. Morning Blade wondered what her parents and brother would think if she told them she was meeting such a person. They'd probably laugh their heads off.
Morning herself hadn't been a believer in the mystical, but after witnessing things like Mentor Steel Shine's sword, Sombra's shadows, and even people emerging through Canterlot High's statue base, she figured anything was possible.
In less than an hour, Morning found herself looking up at Canterlot High School, waiting close to the statue for the pony princess to show up.
"Sorry, I'm a little late!" Twilight suddenly popped up, panting. "I had to wrap up some friendship business first."
"No harm, Twilight." Morning Blade smiled and followed the lavender girl as they headed for the school building. "You are a princess. You have duties. I understand that."
"Glad to hear it," the princess said. "So, how has it been? The normal life? I mean, after you leave school everyday."
"I've just been spending time with my family. Nothing much else." Morning held the door open for Twilight and followed in after her, glad to be out of the cold. She hadn't been as used to it since her Assassin days ended. Perhaps it was a perk that came with being an Assassin. She shook her head. That made it sound like a video game. "It's been nice to catch up with them."
"Yeah, family sure is great, huh? So what do we have today?"
"We'll be skipping ahead again, Twilight," Morning explained, tapping her bag where her journal was. "I wish I could have their whole lives detailed out here, but... I don't. I could only gather pieces."
"Your pieces are more than enough." Twilight patted her on the arm. "It's really informative. I do wonder what you have in store for me now, though with Mirror Match out there... I can only imagine..."
Three months later
It was a new era for the Assassins. They had destroyed the Templars’ potential game-changer, making sure that the artifact couldn’t be used effectively for another few years; it was one of their greatest victories in the last few years, but for Frigid Night, things didn’t seem to matter anymore.
He had gotten back to work, taking down Templars whenever Red Card got a contract out, but he didn’t see the purpose anymore. For him, it was just mindless killing now. The only thing that mattered now was Mirror Match. He yearned to see her, even after everything that happened. Frigid wanted life to be back to the way it was, with Mirror by his side every day and night.
“Everything alright, Frigid?” Trueshot asked as he joined Frigid by the table.
Frigid Night shook himself out of his trance, remembering he had gone to the canteen for dinner. “Uh, yeah. Everything’s fine, Trueshot.”
“You don’t sound too sure about yourself,” Trueshot picked up his fork and stabbed it into a piece of beef.
“No, no. It’s fine.” Frigid finished up what little dinner he had and got up. “Sorry, I’ve got a mission to get to. I’ll see you around.”
Trueshot sighed, but managed a smile for the younger Assassin. Frigid had already been promoted to the rank of Veteran, but things had been a bit strange for the kid lately.
“No luck, Trueshot?” Rose Petal asked as she set her tray down beside the Stalliongrad Assassin.
“No. He’s just… so distant now. I feel as if I don’t know him anymore.”
“Yeah…” Rose shook her head solemnly. “Poor guy. I wish there was something I could do to help him.”
Trueshot put a reassuring hand on Rose’s and gave her a firm smile. “We’ll give him time. Maybe that’s all he needs right now. Time to think.”
Frigid Night stood on the roof of a small condominium in Fillydephia, scouting out the area before him using a pair of binoculars. There were a bunch of kids playing baseball in the nearby field, while a group of business people had a chat about some important deal they had to make. Soon, however, a coming storm chased them all back indoors, leaving Frigid alone in the streets of Fillydelphia.
Frigid had waited for his target to show up, but with a storm coming, even a Templar wouldn’t want to be outdoors. He stowed his binoculars in his coat pocket before pulling his hood over his head. He thought about his next course of action, deciding it would be wise to start searching indoors, or the nearby office building where his target was supposed to work at.
The Assassin stood up to leave when he sensed something nearby. He turned around to see a familiar face sitting on a condenser, looking down at him as she kicked her legs back and forth.
“Hey, Friggy,” Mirror Match greeted with a smile. “How’s it going?”
“Mirror...” Frigid said and walked forward. He had been thinking about her day and night and now, here she was, just sitting so close by. She wore her new red and purple robes, along with a Templar cross on her belt. She seemed none the worse for wear after their last encounter, without even a single scar on her face to show for it.
“Did you finally figure it out?”
Frigid raised a confused eyebrow. “Figure what out?”
Mirror let out a small chuckle, but kept her eyes on him. “Why, your feelings towards me, of course. That’s why you didn’t kill me that day, yes?”
Frigid widened his eyes at her last sentence. She knew. She had known all this time. He stopped before her and looked up at her, noticing she was still as pretty as she was the first day they met.
“Mirror. Why? Why did you betray us?” Frigid pleaded with her. He had to know why she had done everything she did.
She looked away from him, but continued to sit there. “I’m sorry, Friggy. I had to. It’s not you. It’s personal. Very personal.” She finished with an annoyed expression.
“I can help you, Mirror. Just… please, come back.”
She hopped off the condenser and stopped just in front of the Assassin. “You can’t help me, Friggy. No one can. You won’t understand even if I tell you.”
Frigid raised his hands and hesitantly put them on Mirror’s arms. “Let me try, Mirror. Let me do what I can.”
Mirror did something Frigid hadn’t felt in a long time. She gently put a hand to his cheek and held it; the Assassin had almost forgotten what his old partner felt like. “There is nothing you can do.”
"Mirror." Frigid held on tighter as he stared into her beautiful blue eyes. "Let me try. Please. I just want you by my side again."
“You truly want to be by my side all the way?” Mirror put her other hand on Frigid’s opposite cheek.
“Yes,” Frigid hastily nodded, pulling his old partner closer to himself. “Just come back, Mirror. We can talk this out. We can tell the others it was all a misunderstanding. It wasn’t your fault. Then whatever it is you need help with… Let’s do it together.”
“Oh, alright,” she giggled and pulled his face to hers, pressing her lips against his. Frigid folded his arms over her, just like old times. She finally pulled away, leaving Frigid with a wondrous smile on his face. “I’ll come back with you. Perhaps you can help me after all.”
“That’s why I think we should introduce this new system into all the schools,” an ice-blue haired man finished before sitting down.
“Thank you, Principal Frost,” Mahogany Wood leaned his back against his chair before giving the Fillydelphia principal a nod. The chairman of the Board of Education was at his quarterly meeting with all the principals from Manehattan to Seaddle to fill them in on the most recent updates to the system and to hear what they had learned. And, if in the process a few of his more… trusted informants happened to tell him something interesting, then that was just the icing on top of the banana milkshake.
As Principal Celestia stood up to give her report about the school she was in charge of, the chairman suppressed a frown. The spectral haired woman played too much by the book to be a candidate for recruitment.
“Principal Celestia,” Mahogany kept his face and voice pleasant, but there was an icy undercurrent. “As fascinating as your report on Canterlot High School may be, I believe that we are almost of out of time.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, Chairman Wood,” she cleared her throat before looking around. “I’ll keep it short. We should hold more events to allow the students to get acquainted with each other. Thank you for listening.” She stacked her papers together and sat back down.
“Chairman Wood,” another man with light skin and a shaved head raised his hand. An eye patch covered his left eye, which Mahogany found strange. The man didn’t have it the last time they had a meeting. “I’d like to ask about the state of the new artificial intelligence computer programs that your IT man plans to install in the school board mainframe. Are they going to affect the way we file data and grades?”
“I already sent everyone here an email about the software patches, Principal Sears,” Mahogany tried not to groan. “It’s still in the experimental stages at the moment, but our man Garnet Willow assures us that it will not only be able to regulate the way we post grades, but also stop any kind of external malware that may alter grades.”
The middle school principal nodded and remained silent. Mahogany panned his eyes across the room, waiting for more questions to be asked. When no one said anything else, he smiled to himself before standing up to straighten his jacket.
“If that is all, this meeting is concluded. However, those of you on the advanced division need to stay a while longer; I want a word about this quarter’s results.”
“Well, la-li-lu-le-lo,” Principal Sears muttered as he rose from his chair, sounding all too happy to get out of the stuffy meeting room. “See you later, all. Chairman.”
Most of the faculty began leaving, with only a few staying behind. Each one had a glinting Templar cross on their jackets, just like the one on Mahogany’s. The chairman waited until everyone else had left before speaking.
“I wanted to update you all on our funds.” Mahogany leaned forward and put his fingers together, staring at the others through the holes in between his appendages. “As you know, we had lost quite an amount of capital a few months back. We’re looking to get it all back. Now, I’ll need you to donate twelve percent of each of your schools’ reserve funds to our cause, at least until we get back on our feet.”
“But what if we’re found out?” A stern faced blue woman with purple hair in a bun protested. “My- Our reputation will be tarnished!”
“And I’m already under investigation by the police!” A man whose name Mahogany recalled to be Cobalt, the principal of Trottingham High School, chewed his lip. “If anything more goes missing from my funds, I could be arrested!”
“You’ll just have to play it carefully, Principal Cobalt,” the woman sneered at him. “Don’t you ever stop to think about your image?”
“That’s all you care about, Abacus. You and your precious legacy. The Templars are more than just about you, you know!”
“Enough,” Mahogany said sternly enough for both principals to quickly return to their neutral positions in their seats. "This is more than just reputation and image. The Assassins dealt a great blow to us, and we're looking to pay them back. We've already got an agent headed to them right now. I just need your word that you'll send some funds our way."
“An agent?” Principal Cinch arched an eyebrow. “There’s no way this agent can be traced back to us, is there? I don’t like sacrificing my reputation because of one person’s incompetence.”
Cobalt nodded “For once I agree. Can’t let the cops know I’m in on all this cloak and dagger stuff. This agent better be good, chairman.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” Mahogany Wood smirked and rose to leave. “She’s the best we have.”
"Stay behind me, Mirror," Frigid motioned to her. "I'll talk to them."
Mirror nodded and did as the Assassin said, a low grin on her face.
"Frigid, what is the meaning of this?" Spectral Rim walked towards him, her small blades drawn. "Why is she here? She lost! She's a Templar now. She shouldn't be back after what she did, unless it’s in a pine box."
"No, Spectral," Frigid raised his hands. "I brought her here to sort things out."
Fire Frenzy took one look at the Templar and spat at her feet. "I should kill you right now."
Frigid backed away as both of his fellow Assassins advanced on Mirror Match menacingly. Mirror raised an eyebrow at Frigid, the faint smile never leaving her face. He was impressed with her fortitude; were it him in her position, he was certain that he wouldn’t be nearly as calm about it all.
“If you’re going to kill me, I hope you enjoy explaining to the Mentor just why you killed a potential goldmine of information,” Mirror said tartly. “Though looking at both of you,” her smile grew into a grin. “I could take you both blindfolded, and that’s no exaggeration.”
"Want to put that to the test?" Frenzy shouted and spun his sword once before gripping on to the handle with both hands. "Come on."
"No, guys!" Frigid barked and stepped between them. "It's all just a misunderstanding. We'll clear it all out. Then everything'll be back to normal."
"Frigid. What are you talking about?" Spectral glared at him. "She betrayed us! Dust Fencer is dead because of her! Have you forgotten your old teacher already?"
“She’s right, you know,” Mirror pointed at Spectral.
“Mirror! Whose side are you on?” Frigid complained.
“The Templars’!” Spectral and Frenzy said at once.
Frigid looked at Mirror Match, then at his friends, then back to Mirror who shrugged.
“Great friends you have here, Friggy.”
"You were my friend once, Mirror," Spectral answered. "But your actions have said otherwise."
“Yeah well, I used to like your face once,” Mirror shot back childishly. “But then I got contact lenses.”
"Look, I'll just take her to the interrogation rooms first." Frigid put a hand in front of Mirror as Spectral took a step closer to them. "We just need answers."
“You can’t do that! Who are you to decide what to do with that, that traitor!” Frenzy growled as he eyed the Templar agent.
"Maybe I can’t decide, but the Mentor sure can. I'm sure she'll understand once Mirror explains herself."
“Oh yes, she and I go way back,” chirped Mirror cheerily. “Why, I knew her even before she was born! She was a wonderful person, even when she was somebody else.”
"Okay, she's officially gone crazy," Frenzy continued to point his sword tip at Mirror Match. "Just let me kill her now and be done with it."
A hand appeared on Frenzy's shoulder before Trueshot walked out, Star Lance just behind him.
"Frigid, I thought you would pull something, but to bring her back here?" Trueshot eyed the ex-Assassin warily. "You didn't even cuff her."
"Restrain her." Star Lance threw Frigid a pair of cable ties. "Then come with me. We need to talk."
Frigid brought them up to his face and turned to Mirror Match. The purple-skinned woman just shrugged and put out her hands for Frigid. The grey haired Assassin reluctantly tied them around her hands before tightening it, making sure she had no room to squirm her way out of them.
Mirror seemed to sense his thoughts and put her hands on his shoulder. "You've got to do what you've got to do, Friggy."
"Take her down to the interrogation room," he spoke to Trueshot before walking toward the stairs. "Frigid, let's go."
"I'll see you later, Friggy," Mirror smiled and blew him a kiss, almost as if she knew what was going to happen.
Frigid followed Star Lance up to the Mentor's office, all the while thinking what they would do with his old partner and what kind of shouting he would get from the lieutenant. It was a dangerous move bringing Mirror back, but if there was a chance to be with her, he would gladly take it.
As soon as the wooden door closed behind him, Star Lance stepped right up to Frigid and glared down at him. "Do you realize what you could've done? Bringing her back?"
"Y-yes, I do," he said as he backed away from the master Assassin. "She needs help. I can help her. Just give her a chance."
"Fine." Frigid was stunned for a second. He was expecting more of a lecture from the lieutenant.
"That's it...?" The words came out of Frigid's mouth before he could stop himself.
"Yes. If you believe you can change her, I'm willing to give you and her a chance. I understand how you feel, so I'm taking it easy. Just promise me you'll make it work."
"Yes, of course!" Frigid nodded. "But... Isn't the Mentor going to say something about this?"
"She's busy. I don't want you to disturb her, so that is all. You may go. Just be sure to keep an eye on her. I'm not placing my trust in someone who betrayed us just like that."
"Of course, Star Lance." Frigid headed for the door, but stopped and turned back one more time. "Thank you."
The master Assassin nodded and moved to situate himself at a short desk. "Just make sure I don't regret it, kid. Make sure you don't regret it."