"Alive... you say?" Twilight dropped her pencil to the floor in shock, her thoughts reeling over the information she just received. "How...?"
Morning Blade shook her head sadly. "I do not know. Never in my life have I ever encountered something like this. I still don't know how Mirror Match had come to acquire such a lethal weapon, but she did. She killed them all with the touch of this blade. Except that one traitor..." She bunched up the fingers of her left hand into a fist.
"What traitor?" Twilight tilted her head to the side.
"That traitor, Pierce Network. Uh, the hacker man." She received a nod from Twilight Sparkle. The ex-Assassin turned and looked out the window just in time to see a squirrel hop past. "He left us when we needed him the most. He's the only one who evaded Mirror Match of all of them."
"Oh. What did he do to survive so long?" the princess asked.
Morning's expression seemed to dim. "I really don't care what he did. He betrayed us all. He betrayed the Creed. He betrayed what we stood for."
"Ah, right, that creed of yours..." Twilight scribbled the word down on her notebook. "What exactly is this... Assassin's Creed you have?"
Morning looked back at her and stroked at her braid. "We believe in this: Nothing is true, everything is permitted. Umm... It's how we live out our lives. As Assassins. Our code of conduct. Doesn't sound easy, huh?"
"Yeeeaaaah..." Twilight just stared at her.
"It's... hard to describe in just this one sitting. Perhaps another time? We've still got a lot to cover." She flipped through her book, noticing they were only about halfway through the pages. "Sh-Shall we?"
"Right. Lead on, Morning Blade."
Star Lance opened the door after the second set of knocks, looking down at Glimpse. She had on a simple black hoodie, zipped up to the middle, along with a new set of black shorts and red sneakers. Her pink hair was messily tied up into her usual ponytail and her face told him she hadn’t been sleeping for days.
“Yes, Glimpse. What can I do for you?”
“Is Mentor awake?” the Raider leader asked. “I need to talk to her…”
Star Lance nodded and moved away to let Glimpse into the office. Steel Shine sat at her desk, looking up and smiling as Glimpse approached her.
“Yes, Glimpse. What may I help you with?”
“Mentor…” she rubbed the back of her head. “I wanted to talk. About… leaving the Brotherhood.”
“What?” Star Lance was taken aback. “Why?”
“It’s not your fault,” Glimpse quickly added. “It’s me. I just… I don’t think I can take it anymore. I can’t sleep. I keep having nightmares about Mirror Match and Broadside. I keep seeing him die before my eyes, with that traitor laughing behind my back. Then after that she keeps touching me, and I can’t move. I can’t handle it anymore!”
“I can help you, Glimpse.” The Mentor stood up next to the pink haired Assassin.
“I can’t continue,” Glimpse muttered as tears began forming in her eyes. “Now Frenzy is dying too. I can’t do this. I can’t keep watching my friends die, and… I don’t want to see Mirror Match again. I’m afraid of her…”
Steel Shine stood silently, options buzzing through her head. “Glimpse. I shall respect your wishes, but is leaving what you truly wish for?”
Glimpse closed her eyes and nodded, on the brink of crying. “Yes, Mentor…” There was just too much for her to think about. She wanted to abandon it all. To start a new life elsewhere.
The Assassin Mentor put her arms around Glimpse and gave her a comforting hug. “Then it shall be. I’ll get Pierce Network to erase any trace you have to us to keep you safe. May your days ahead do you good.”
The Mentor felt Glimpse’s hands wrap around her back. “Thank you, Mentor. Thank you for everything.”
“Thank you, Glimpse. For giving so much of your life for the Brotherhood. You will not be forgotten.”
Star Lance and the Mentor walked the beaten Assassin out to the entrance to bid her farewell. Glimpse wasn’t the brave Assassin she used to be. Mirror Match had broken her; she had taken away her will to fight on and her ability to act as an Assassin.
“Where will you go, Glimpse?” Star Lance asked her as he stopped by the doors.
“I’m thinking of heading to Canterlot,” she told them, wiping at her eyes. “Templar activity is low there and nothing much happens. I think that’ll be a good start for me.”
“Take care, Glimpse,” Mentor put a hand on one shoulder, Star Lance on the other. “If you ever need any help, don’t be afraid to seek us. You will always be one of us.”
Glimpse nodded and gave both the Mentor and the lieutenant hugs before heading down the hill, stopping halfway to give them one final wave before entering the main city, ending her old life, ready to begin a new one.
Frigid Night waited in his little alcove, waking up especially early to make sure no one saw him leaving. The moon was still hovering in the night sky as Frigid placed himself on one of the rocks.
He just had to talk to Mirror Match today. Frenzy only had two days left and he had to find a cure for him, no matter how much they hated each other.
Without warning, two arms appeared in his field of vision from behind and wrapped around his neck. Mirror Match pulled him close and leaned her head against his.
“Hey, Friggy. Nice to see you here.”
“Mirror,” he acknowledged. “How do you always know I’m here?”
“I have my ways,” she added with a kiss to his cheek. “You’ve got this wonderful smell about you.”
“Mirror, we need to talk. About Fire Frenzy.”
“What about him?” Mirror’s voice suddenly turned colder.
“Is there a cure?” Frigid asked. “Please, Mirror. You can still save him.”
“Certainly there is a cure,” Mirror said, her voice brittle. “Every poison and venom in the world has a cure; whether I intend to share it with you is another matter entirely. And I won’t. Not for him, not for you, not for anyone. Well, almost anyone,” she rescinded sourly.
“Please, Mirror. I know, Frenzy isn’t one of my best friends, but I still can’t just let him die.”
“He was dead,” Frigid’s ex-girlfriend sniffed at him. “The moment he chose to get involved in that Eye business. It just took this long for the reaper to catch up with him. You can’t outrun death,” Mirror laughed bitterly.”And that’s exactly what I’ve become. Only a pardon from the queen can save him now, and the queen will never pardon him. Of that you can be sure.”
“But why, Mirror?” Frigid put a hand on her cheek. “Why was the Eye so important to you? What did the Templars do to you?”
“They didn’t do anything. I’ve known the Templars a lot longer than you, and I can tell you they’re very simple people. As for the Eye, you wouldn’t understand.”
“I can understand if you let me, Mirror. Please, let me help you.”
Mirror put a finger to her chin in thought. “All right. I know how you can help me.”
“Tell me, Mirror. I’ll do everything I can.” Frigid gave her a hopeful smile.
“You can help by coming with me back to the Templars and helping them rebuild the Eye. Once it’s operational, I can tell you why it’s so important.”
Frigid was about to reply when something she said caught his attention. “Wait, they’re building a second one? Already? But… if it becomes operational, Mahogany Wood will have what he needs to control the world!”
“He can try,” Mirror said offhandedly. “But that man couldn’t control the media if he didn’t have his lackeys doing it for him. He can’t even control his own bowels after a plate of chili. Only thing keeping him in the game are his speeches and his money.”
“But… if you’re not helping him, then what are you after? Why help him?”
Mirror chuckled darkly.
“It’s a simple enough concept. He has something I want, I have something he wants. We exchange goods and services and both of us walk away happier. Barter, Friggy. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”
Frigid contemplated his options. If Mirror wasn’t helping Mahogany, then it wouldn’t hurt to go with her. Wouldn’t it? After all, he technically wasn’t betraying the Assassins. He would just be doing something to help Mirror Match, the woman he loved. Right?
“And after it’s done, you’ll just walk away from them? That’s what you said, right?”
“If the Eye works, and if, it works how I want it to, and if I’m done with Sparkplug and Pierce by then, sure. I won’t have much of a reason to stay anyway.”
“But… Sparkplug and Pierce,” Frigid looked down at his legs. “They’re our friends. Why must you kill them?”
Mirror Match snarled, a bestial sound that wouldn’t have been out of place in a horror movie. “First off, they’re your friends. And second, they’re already dead, like Fire Frenzy. I just need to break the news to them.”
“Please don’t do this, Mirror,” Frigid pleaded with her. “I’ll go with you. Please, just leave them be.”
“You’re so heroic, Friggy, taking their sins on your own head.” Mirror’s black dagger flipped out into her hand and she spun it around her fingers, drops of green spattering all over her sleeve and eating holes in it. “But I’m afraid their crimes are not the kind where I can just delegate the punishment to someone else, least of all you. I have a duty to do, and I intend to see it through, even if it takes me the rest of time to do it!”
Frigid didn’t know how else he could convince her. She just wouldn’t let them be for destroying the first machine. He wanted to try again. Ask her to lay off the killing, but he just didn’t know how.
“At least give me the antidote,” Frigid said at last. “Frenzy doesn’t deserve to die like this.”
Mirror flipped her hair out of her face and walked to the cave’s mouth.
“You’re wrong. He does deserve it.”