POV: Twilight
The day after the ceremony, I slept in just a little, for once. It was less the exhaustion, really, but rather the nice feeling of having Markus tightly pressed against my chest that had me unwanting to leave my bed.
At least I thought it was Markus. Sadly, when I fully came to my senses, I found that I was, in fact, hugging my bedsheets. I let out a soft growl as the sunlight slowly forced what was left of my dream out of me. I rolled to my back and got up into a sitting position. I looked over to Markus’s bed and – of course – found that he was already out and about.
I got out of bed and took a warm shower first, taking my time to enjoy the cozy feeling of the warm water washing through my coat and mane. The pure relaxation from it nearly brought me back to my dream...
*Knock Knock*
“Twilight? Can you please hurry up? I need to go for little Dragons…” Spike suddenly said from outside the bathroom, forcing me back out of my dream.
“Ugh, sure Spike, just a second!” I said, while quickly wrapping up and drying myself off.
I got out of the bathroom and Spike instantly zipped past me and closed the door. I went downstairs into the Library, where already the air was filled with a wonderful Aroma. I looked at the clock and saw with shock that >>sleeping in<< wasn’t even a term anymore, as it was half past 11 already! A much bigger shock was waiting when I entered the kitchen however. Luckily this time, it was the pleasant kind of shock, as I saw Markus, standing in the kitchen and cooking lunch.
“Good morning, Twilight!” He said, as he glanced over his shoulder and saw me standing in the doorframe.
“Good morning, Markus! What’s that smell? I’ve never smelled something like that before.”
I looked over at the stove, where currently three pots were sitting, each having boiling contents. The first one contained a rosy red liquid, the second a brown one and the third had water with chopped potatoes inside.
“Oh, it’s just a little something that I ate a lot back at home. It’s chopped potatoes with red cabbage and a sauce to top it off.” Markus said, as he began to stir in the brown liquid.
I seated myself at the table and Markus filled three plates with the prepared dish, still leaving enough for seconds. Spike came down in the meantime and, as he took in the smell, also took a seat.
“Boy, that smells good! Are there gems in there?” He said, as he began drooling over himself.
I couldn’t help but giggle slightly at the sight, before I took a kerchief and hoofed it to him. Markus went to take a seat himself, when we heard somepony knock at the door. Markus let out an annoyed moan, before he went to open it.
On the other side, he found a gray Pegasus mare with a blonde mane and crossed eyes.
“Good Morning, Markus.” Derpy said, as she reached into her Saddlebags.
“Morning, Derpy. You have a package for me?” Markus inquired, as he leaned into the doorframe.
Derpy rummaged about her Saddlebags a bit, before she pulled out a small bag and a scroll with the seal of the royal treasury on it.
“Here, this is for you, Markus.” She stopped for a moment and sniffed inside. “What is that smell? It smells delicious.”
Markus looked over his shoulder to me and made a step to the side. “Do you want to join us? We still have something left.” He said, as he gestured her to come inside.
Derpy quickly shook her thoughts from her head. “No thank you, I’ve got some more mail to deliver. Bye, Markus!”
Derpy flew off and Markus closed the door. He placed the scroll and the bag on the table, the latter of which making a peculiar metallic clanking sound as it was set down. He turned around and grabbed a pot of tea from the stove, of which he poured himself a cup.
“So, what’s in that bag?” I asked, as Markus started to unroll the message.
“I don’t know, but I have a pretty good guess.” He said.
He read through the letter and, as he finished, handed it over to me. Apparently, as he was now officially an officer, he was being paid for his services upfront. He would get a monthly payment of around four thousand bits. While that may sound like a lot, it’s actually a lot less than what my brother used to earn, even though they currently held the same rank.
“Only four thousand bits?! That’s ridiculous! I’ve got to speak to Celestia about this!” I wanted to get up and to my desk to write a letter, but Markus waved a hand at me, signaling me to stop.
“Don’t bother. It’s probably those nobles again, trying to sabotage me. It’s not like I currently have any bills to pay anyways… which actually reminds me:” He pushed the bag of bits over to my side of the table and smiled at me. “I still need to repay you for the hospitality you’ve shown me so far.”
I looked at the bag of bits in astonishment. I mean, it certainly isn’t much compared to the monthly allowance I get from the royal treasury for being a princess, but considering this was actually everything he had right now, besides his new sword and what he came here with, I didn’t actually know if I could accept this.
Markus meanwhile looked over at the small reading desk in the reading area, specifically the newspaper that was on it.
“Now that I think about it: Now that I have a steady income, I should really get out of your mane now, shouldn’t I? I think, I’ve exploited your hospitality long enough.” He said, as he used his magic to levitate the newspaper over to us.
I felt a stinging pain in my heart as he said this. I didn’t want him to leave, I wanted him to stay with me!
“You don’t need to leave, you know? I-I mean, I still have some things to research about you, so, I wouldn’t mind if you stayed here for a while longer…” My face slowly lit up with each word I uttered, to the point where I had to look away in order to hide my blush.
Markus looked over to me with a slightly stunned look, which slowly morphed into yet another smile. “That’s very nice of you, but are you sure of this? I certainly don’t want to become a nuisance.”
“Y-Yes, I’m sure, and don’t worry: I’m certain, you won’t become a nuisance.” I answered.
Markus closed his eyes and dropped his head slightly forward, while still smiling. He reopened his eyes and looked at me.
“Ok then, if you are certain, I will of course gladly take you up on that offer. Thank you Twilight.”
My blush deepened further and I hid my face behind my hooves. Spike gave me a curious look and Markus just smiled, now reading through the news pages while eating away at his dish. He raised his cup to his lips, but stopped suddenly and looked at Spike.
“I just remembered something:” He said, “Spike, could you please get some parchment ready and send a letter to Celestia for me?”
“Sure!” Spike answered, as he produced a scroll and a quill from behind his back.
“Splendid. Please tell her that, since I’m assuming command the day after tomorrow, I would like to have my company assembled at the guard’s barracks and ready for inspection by 6am on the day of the takeover. Also please ask her to reserve the grand auditorium in the royal academy for the afternoon of that day, as well as every morning, except on weekends, for one month to come. As a reason tell her that I will need to re-educate the soldiers for my purposes. Also, please ask her if I could stay at the palace for said month, as it wouldn’t be practical for me to commute between Ponyville and Canterlot.”
Spike scribbled away at the parchment and, as he was done, sent it away with his flames. I, meanwhile, gave Markus an accusing look, which he answered with a questioning look of his own.
“Barely an officer for a day and already exploiting your connections to royalty, I see? Also: wouldn’t the organization of your company be the duty of your second-in-command?”
Markus chuckled slightly and shook his head. “Well, it’s hard to not exploit my connections to royalty, when anyone I could talk to is part of royalty, don’t you think? Not to mention that a normal letter to the head of staff would probably take too long to reach its destination. As for the second question: normally it would be, yes. The problem is that I currently don’t HAVE a second-in-command.”
He finished his plate and took up his cup again. “Oh, by the way: I’ve also asked Shining Armor to come to Canterlot the day after tomorrow, so I can start his education as well.”
My eyes lit up and I couldn’t help but smile wide. “Oh, Oh, Shining will be there? Can I come as well?”
Markus chuckled yet again and smiled approvingly. “Of course you can.”
Just as he wanted to take a sip from his tea, somepony knocked at the door again. Markus’s eyes went to the door, then to his cup, before his lips tightened into an ‘o’ and his eyelids slid halfway closed, giving his obvious annoyance a humoristic connotation.
I couldn’t help but giggle at the sight. I got up from my chair and made my way to the door. “It’s okay Markus.” I said, “This time I’ll go, so you can enjoy your tea.”
Markus gave me a short, thankful smile, before he took a long sip from his cup, letting out a satisfied moan. I, meanwhile got to the door and, as I opened it, saw three certain fillies sitting on the doorstep.
The Cutie Mark Crusaders looked up at me with some wide grins and I could already tell that they were up to something.
“Hey Crusaders, what’s the matter?” I asked.
“Hey Twilight, is Markus here?” Scootaloo asked, as she looked past me into the kitchen. Markus was looking towards the door now. He took another sip of tea and waved to the crusaders, who returned the gesture.
“Yes, he is, come on in!” I said and let the fillies go past me into the library. They went over into the kitchen and sat down next to Markus.
“Yo crusaders, what’s up?” He said, as he took another sip of his tea.
“Well, ya know…” Apple Bloom started, “We were wondering if ya could tell us what it’s like tah… kill?”
I couldn’t believe what I just heard and was too shocked to say something. Markus however just raised his eyebrow, before he gestured them to sit down on some of the chairs. Spike luckily was already back in his room and reading comics, so he didn’t hear this.
The Crusaders sat down and Markus began to talk. “I hope you do realize that this isn’t a question any normal Pony would answer?”
“Y-Yes, that’s why we came to ask you.” Sweety Belle said.
Markus took another sip of his tea, before he sighed and continued. “Well, I suppose you are lucky that I’m not a pony.”
The Crusaders’s ears perked and they leaned in to listen closely.
“Killing… how to describe it?” Markus mumbled as he rubbed his chin in thought. “I guess, we could start off by saying that the effect of the act of killing depends on the distance to your target. The more you distance yourself from your target, both mentally and physically, the smaller the effect. If you are, what we would call >>sane<< right now, you generally feel absolutely awful from it, if you don’t prepare yourself properly. However, as your experience grows and you continue to kill, either in the line of duty or even because you are just broken like that, you will come to feel… Joy, almost. Like a job well done or you just got a gift. It becomes part of your daily routine, which you enjoy being done with, I guess. I can’t really explain it either, seriously. Why did you want to know anyways?”
The fillies suddenly jerked back and looked at each other nervously, before they came to answer.
“Well, ya know, we’ve been searching for a new thing to crusade and we wanted to try something… special, so…” Apple Bloom said as all three of them got down from their seats.
“Cutie Mark Crusaders Assassins, Yay!” They shouted in unison.
Markus nearly choked on his last sip of tea and I nearly got a heart attack.
“You WHAT?!” I screamed, but Markus stopped me before I could say any more.
“How about you try to focus on something less extravagant? Have you, for example, ever considered that the CMC might BE your calling? That you may be destined to help Ponies find their Cutie Marks?” Markus told them.
The fillies looked at each other for a while, until all three of them smiled wide and nodded at Markus in agreement. They sped out of the library, laughing happily and I could hear them debate whom to help first, as they jumped past me.
I trotted over to Markus, who by now was pouring himself another cup of tea, and asked him: “You said once that you actually knew a lot about us… did you just tell them how to get their Cutie Marks?”
Markus shrugged and took another sip of his tea.
“Who knows?”