Being the only member of their party with any ability for fighting, Twilight stepped forward. In her head, she was doing countless calculations, trying to find some way to knock all of their opponents aside long enough for everyone to escape to the cart. She was sure there was some way to end this fight without causing too much harm, but that meant they would have to hide out until Kai could find them again.
Her thoughts were interrupted as the first two assailants charged forward, swords swinging. She had little choice but to dodge left. As she rolled aside, she found herself in a good position. A frigid blast shot out of her horn, freezing the first one against the wall. The second was still active, and swinging at Twilight, the greatest current threat.
He soon found his blade blocked. Nik had rushed forward after Twilight had frozen the first assassin and stolen his sword. Now armed, he had a means of assisting. He was able to block the blade long enough for Twilight to blast the second assassin aside. As a team, they were winning.
"Drop your weapon!" shouted a voice from behind them. Nik turned to face the speaker, and was mortified to see that, while they had been fighting off the first two, the third had been sneaking around behind them. his blade was now pressed firmly against Fluttershy's throat, having pulled her from under the bed. "Now!"
"Do what he says, human!" shouted another voice. When Twilight had turned to face Fluttershy, the fourth and final intruder had come up behind her. Now, she too had a blade pressing into her neck. "Or your friends will die first!"
Nik was backed against a wall, figuratively. He had a clear line to the exit. He could turn and run, and he'd save his own life. Unfortunately, doing so would mean the deaths of these two ponies he had come to know over the past week. Twilight had just saved his life moments ago, and Fluttershy was the first pony to ever treat him with any amount of respect. He couldn't bring himself to the justification of their deaths. They were good ponies, and they deserved to live. Tossing the blade to the ground, he fell to his knees and lowered his head. "You win. Take my life, but let them go. They don't deserve to die in my place."
"A wise decision," said the second, finally standing back up from Twilight's blast. "Anything in particular you want on your tombstone?" Nik shook his head. "Suit yourself." Raising his blade, the assassin took a stance over Nikolas.
Just at that moment, three powerful magic blasts shot into the room through the door, striking and stunning the cloaked figures. Looking to the doorframe, The three friends saw a shadowy stallion with a large, bouffant mane. "Come on! We have to leave, now!"
"Who are you?" asked Nik, standing up.
"What does it matter!? Come on!"
Twilight grabbed Fluttershy's wrist, and the four of them ran out of the room. "Where is Kai? He was supposed to be here!"
"He couldn't make it, so he sent me to pick you up. I think, anyway. Purple unicorn, yellow pegasus and something bipedal called a human. I assume you're Twilight, Fluttershy and Nikolas?"
"That's us."
The strange stallion strapped Fluttershy into one of the harnesses for the cart and himself into the second. "Nikolas, Twilight, pile into the back. If they start following us, I'm going to need you to subdue them. Fire magic at them, throw rocks, crossbow, I don't care how. Just keep them away."
He reared up, and began escorting them out of town at a very high speed. Fluttershy was already sore from pulling all day, but the fear she felt was pumping adrenaline through her veins. There was nothing that could slow her hooves right now.
They galloped for almost an hour before the stallion slowed them down. "I think we're far enough that we can stop for the night."
They didn't bother with tents, as they were taking refuge in a small cave. The minute Fluttershy was atop the bedroll, she was out like a light. Twilight, who had also been pulling the cart all day, was soon to follow. But Nik wanted answers. Sitting down next to the unicorn at the cave's entrance, he asked his first question.
"So, you're not Kai?"
"I am not, no. My name is Terra. I work with Kai."
"I heard he was scary."
Terra chuckled. "If I were classified as the least scary pony in that library, Kai would be the silver medal for sure."
"Library?"
"Yes, the Library of Gim. That's where I'm taking you."
"Do you really think the library is safe from all of these killers? This was their third attempt on my life in the past week."
"Yeah, I don't know what happened back at the inn. I was waiting for you in room nine, but you never showed."
"We were told by the innkeeper that we'd been moved to room six."
"I never transferred you to room six."
"How did you know where we were, then?"
Terra's eyebrow shot up. "Really? They're in there, yelling for the human to stand down loud enough for the whole town to hear. How could I not know where you were?"
Nik leaned back. "I guess that makes sense." Looking up at the stars from the mouth of the cave, Nik searched for recognizable constellations. He found a few, which suggested to him that this world took up the exact same space in relation to the rest of the universe as his own world. That information didn't help him at all, but it was nice to know.
"You should rest, Nikolas. We still have some ground to cover tomorrow. Don't worry about your safety, I'll stand guard for the night."
"You sure? Don't you need to sleep, too?"
Terra chuckled. "Of course. But more important is that I don't allow you to come to harm. Kai's orders."
"I thought you said he was the second least scary pony in the Library of Gim?"
"There's only three of us. That makes him the second scariest, too. And that's a much thinner margin."
"Should I be afraid of the scariest one?"
Terra shook his head. "Just keep this in mind, and you'll be fine. If you hear upbeat popular music when you're alone, run for your life."