//------------------------------//
// Chapter 4: The Telling of an Old Tale (Part 4) 
// Story: Equestria's Assassins: Bringer of the Night 
// by Moonshine9012 
//------------------------------//

Hay everypony! I finally was able to get back to this story! Sorry for taking so long, there was a lot of stuff going on and I couldn't write this story, another one, do school and swimming all at the same time. But now that things have calmed down a little, I can start to get back into the swing of things. Things will still be a little slow because I still have to finish writing another fic that I'm doing. Remember, comment and review please! 

Chapter 4: The Telling of an Old Tale (Part 4)

 March 27, 1065

Couldn't sleep right so I thought I would do a bit of writing. I haven't been sleeping well lately for some reason. My family tells me it's just the stress of work but I've been doing this since I was about sixteen so I know it's not that.

No, I think it has something to do with some stuff that's going on right now but that's not important. I should probably start where I left:

The very next day, I went to go live with Octavia and her father Treble in their home. At first I had thought the house would be just like mine. Why I thought that, I don't know. It turns out I was completely wrong. Their house was a HUGE mansion!

I had only seen these kind of houses from a far, much less have gone in them. I remember the look on Octavia's face as she laughed her head off at my astonishment. After giving me the grand tour of their home, we went back to my old home to gather what possessions I had.

I was shocked and heart broken to find that my house had been ransacked and almost completely destroyed. On one of the walls, a message had been written. It simply said: "Sic semper tyrannis". Not knowing what it said, I tried to get Treble to tell me.

He kept his mouth shut though as he hurriedly got what was left of my stuff and ushered me out as police and guards came in. We took what little I had left back to their mansion and I settled in.

I ended up getting a corner room that would have put the Princess's royal chambers to shame. 
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A month or so after the investigation had started, I began school again. At first I was distraught over having to go back to a place that shuns those who didn't meet their standards. After some talking though, I was able to be transferred to Octavia's school.

The school was named The Multi-Pony Private Academy. It is THE weirdest named school in all of Equestria. It was a good school though and I liked it. The best part was that I got to see Octavia everyday. This, plus the time we spent at home together, drew us rather close.

While I was there, Tavi convinced me to try an instrument in the orchestra. I was apprehensive at first; I had never tried anything like it. With encouragement from Tavi though, I was able to find that I could play the violin. 

That all happened when I was twelve though. By the time I was a sophomore in high school, I had improved greatly and was then the lead violin for the high school orchestra. Tavi was a senor and the lead cellist of course 

I had always thought Octavia as more then a friend but as I went through high school, those feelings started to become more prominent. I tried to figure out if she felt the same way about me but she always treated me as a close friend, nothing more.

So the week of homecoming (I couldn't wait for prom, I was to anxious to wait that long) I decided to ask her straight out. Little did I know that that single decision would change everything.



"Hay Tavi, you almost ready?!" I shouted from the front door.

"Yeah, hold on a sec!" she shouted back.

I chuckled at her. We went through this every morning. Me always getting up earlier then bugging the crap out of her to be ready. I loved her but I still could have a little fun right?

I heard muffled thumps as Octavia came running from her bedroom and down the stairs to where I was standing by the oak doors. She smirked at me as I opened the door and we both started our walk to school.

"So what took you so long?" I asked playfully.

"I was freshening up, thank you very much" she replied with another smirk.

I laughed and said, "Oh really? And who were you freshening up for hmm?" 

She blushed as she said, "O-oh no pony in particular."

I kept smiling as I nudged her and said, "Come on Tavi, you know I know you better then that."

She blushed again and said, "W-well, let's just say somepony for homecoming and leave it at that , ok?"

"Oh all right" I replied with a roll of my eyes.

We walked along for a few more minutes, just content with the silence. Well, she was at least. I on the other hoof was busy arguing with myself. (Yes, I still argue with myself)

You have to ask her Night, this is your chance!
But what if I get rejected?! Our friendship goes down the drain!
Brony, colts wouldn't be called colts if we didn't take chances. Now, ask her.

Giving up with myself, I turned to Octavia and cleared my throat. She looked at me as sweat started to form on my brow. Lord help me

"Hey um, Tavi?" I asked, hesitantly. 

"Yes?" she replied.

I swallowed and said, "U-umm, I was w-wondering if you were going to homecoming with anypony."

She thought for a moment then said, "Not right now no. I mean, I've had a lot of colts ask me but there's just one I'm waiting on. The perfect one. Why do you ask?"

I started to shake a little as I said, "Well because I was wondering if-"

I was cut off by a bell ringing. It startled me as I turned and looked to see that we had arrived at the front of our school. Tavi realized this to as she hurriedly said, "I gotta go, bye Night!" and headed off to class.

I sighed at my failed attempt and walked to my first period. As I sat down in the back of Equestria History, my best friend suddenly appeared in the desk beside me. 

"Hey Night! Did you ask her yet?!" my friend Shadow Wing asked anxiously. Shadow was a buff pegasus with piercing green eyes and a slicked back green mane. His mane had black streaks running through it, as did his short tale.

His Cutie Mark was an arrow pulled back in a bow, seemingly poised to strike at anything that moved. Shadow was a twenty year old senor who had been held beck due to him being out of school for a year or two.

I tried to ask him why but he always mumbled something about searching then told me to drop it. I first met Shad when I came to the school back when I was twelve. I had been picked on by some of the older colts then but Shadow had always been there to watch my back.

Ever since then, he's really been my only close friend outside of Octavia. 

"No not yet" I replied heavyhearted. I continued saying, "I was about to just five minutes ago but the bell stopped me from doing it."

Shadow frowned and said, "Screw that bell. You should have asked her anyway! Getting the mare of your dreams is worth being late for a history test." 

I groaned and said, "Speaking of that test. I was so focused on planning how to ask her last night, I didn't study at all."

"All right class settle down!" said our teacher, Mr. Maul.

We all shut up as everpony shuffled their seats. As Mr. Maul started to explain the test, I zoned out and thought about what I would do.

And that is exactly what I did all day. Through the test, in every class, even lunch, I zoned out and thought about how I could ask her. Even a daffodil and daisy sandwich couldn't break my trance and I LOVE that kind of sandwich.

Finally, the three o'clock bell sounded and I was jolted from my dreamland. I quickly said bye to Shadow, who said something about going to ask a mare named Vinyl to the dance. This is it. I'm going to ask her I thought as I headed out of class and to the front of the school where we always met after school.

I stopped under our favorite tree and waited for her to emerge from the building. The crowd started to thin as everypony went their separate ways and I still hadn't seen Tavi. As I started to worry a little, I sighed as I saw her coming out the school.

But my relief quickly turned to shock. Beside Octavia walked a stallion I had only seen a couple times from band practice. He had a blue coat and black mane with a Cutie Mark of a drum on his flank. I vaguely remembered that his name was Noteworthy and he was also a senor.

I looked wide eyed as they stopped to talk for a moment before Noteworthy quickly kissing her before hurrying off. Tavi stood there for a moment before blushing madly and slowly made her way over to me.

My shock quickly turned to jealous anger as I thought about what I had seen. That was suppose to have been me! I shouted in my head. My anger quickly turned to sorrow though as I thought back to this morning.

"The perfect one" she had said. At the time, I had thought she was talking about me. But my naivety blinded me to the fact as she almost saw me as a brother, not a lover. 

I almost shed a tear as she came up beside me, beaming with a smile. I managed a weak smile of my own as I asked in a small voice, "So who was that?"

She looked back in his direction, a dreamy look in her eye, as she simply said, "Noteworthy, the perfect one."

I quietly said "Oh" then started in the direction of home without saying anything else. Tavi quickly followed me and looked at me in confusion. I just kept my head down and a frown on my face.

Finally, she broke the silence and asked, "So how was your day today?"

"Just fine" I replied curtly.

A worried look on her face, she said, "Oh well that's good. Did you ask any mare to homecoming?" 

I squeezed my eyes shut as I walked and said briskly, "No."

Silence fell over the two of us as we continued walking. Octavia kept looking at me, worry still on her face. Eventually, as we neared the mansion, she stopped me and said, "Alright Night, come clean, now. What's wrong?"

I turned my head to the side and said, "Nothing, I'm fine."

She looked at me angrily and said, "Well, you don't look fine and you don't sound fine. Come on, what is it?" 

I glanced at her, just enough to see a silent tear drop from my red dragon eyes. "I..." I tried to begin. I couldn't find the words though. The feelings I had for her couldn't be merely said in words. 

"It doesn't matter. I have to go meet Shad at his place in a few for some study thing and pizza. I'll catch you later Octavia." I said finally as I spread my wings and took flight towards Shadow's apartment.

I didn't bother to try and hear if she replied, I was to full of messed up emotions. I felt like I was gonna burst like a dam any moment. I found a way to free myself though. I took that sorrow and anger and locked it away, just like I had when my parents were murdered all those years ago.

I arrived at Shadow's a few minutes later and quickly knocked on his door. He opened it a few moments later and said, "Hey Night, glad you came! Come on, the pizza's inside."

"Thanks bro, I could really use that and maybe a stiff drink to" I replied as I walked in and he shut the door behind me. 

I walked into the kitchen, got the pizza and went to sit on the couch as Shad asked, "Why's that?" 

I frowned as I sat and said, "Because I just found out that a stallion name Noteworthy asked her before I could. Apparently he's the 'perfect one'." I add air quotations at the end. 

Shad went over to the fridge and got two bottles of hard apple cider and brought it over. He gave one to me then went over to his recliner. As he sat, he popped open the bottle and said, "That sucks man, I'm sorry to hear that. If it makes you feel any better, I got rejected by Vinyl. Turns out she's going with another DJ." He sighed and took a swing of the cider.

I sighed as well as I popped the cap and took a long drink of it as well. I put the bottle down and ,as I opened the pizza box full of mushroom pizza, said, "Guess we both had bad luck. Oh well, better luck next time huh?"

He looked at me sadly as he nodded. We then both proceeded to dig into the pizza. After it had been devoured, we started study for a geometry test coming up.

At around five, I was startled as a note appeared in front of me with a poof. Puzzled, I picked it up, opened it and started to read. As I did, my face suddenly went white, then red. The letter was from Treble and it said:

Dear Night Bringer,
I am writing to you in haste as there has been a major development in your parents murder. We had a suspect in custody who claimed his name is Paladius but he escaped and is currently headed in the direction of Canterlot. You must alert the guard so they can capture him.
Sincerely,
Detective Treble
P.S. Night, please don't do anything stupid.

"What is it" I heard Shadow say. His voice seemed so far away though. The rage, the anger, the sorrow, it was all coming to the surface again. I started hearing the thought I had heard when I was twelve: I'm going to kill him.

I refocused as Shad started shaking me and shouting my name, "Night! Can you hear me bro?! Snap out it!" 

I pushed him off me as I said, "I'm ok, I'm ok....."

I thought for a moment before I asked bluntly, "Shadow, do you want to help me kill a murderer?"

He looked at me for a minute, his face a blank slate. Finally, he said, "Is it your parent's murderer?"

"Yes" I replied quietly.

"Then I'm in" he said as he went down the hall to his room. He cam back a few minutes later with his bow and arrows and a long dagger. He tossed the dagger and it landed right in front of me. I looked at it before picking it up, along with it's holder. 

I looked at him in confusion and said, "Just like that? No 'You need to think this threw speech', no "This is going to ruin your life' one ether?"

He sighed as he shouldered his bow and quiver of arrows before saying, "Look, let's just say I have some experience with this kind of thing."

I raised an eye brow and replied, "Experience? What kind of experience?"

"Clip that dagger on and I'll tell you on the way. Where are we headed anyway?" he said.

I put the belt with the dagger on it around my waist and said, "The letter said he was heading in the direction of Canterlot so we'll go and hide by the entrance to the city til he gets here."

We started out the door and, after Shadow locked it, we both spread our wings and took flight. As we flew to the entrance to Canterlot, we talked strategy on how we would bring justice.

We eventually just decided to wing it as we landed and hid in some trees by the road. As we settled onto a branch, I looked at Shadow and said, "Oh yeah, didn't you tell me you were gonna explain what you meant earlier?"

Shad was silent for e few moments before he said, "I did didn't I? Well, here it is: when I was younger, I used to live on a farm outside of Manehatten. It was just me, my parents, and our apples. I used to buck the apple trees from dawn til dusk, every single day. I was good at my job but it wasn't my passion.

One day, I found a small bow at a store and begged my parents to buy it. Once home, I found that archery was my true passion and I took part in as many competition's as I could. Many years past and I excelled at my skill. Then, two years ago at a national archery competition, my parents were killed from arrows to their heads from a hooded fellow. 

I was heart broken and rage consumed at their deaths. So I set out to find their killer and bring justice. I searched for a year til I finally tracked him to a bar in Trottingham. There, I ended him with six arrows to his face. But only after I had found out he was a zebra. He shouted something in Zebrican then the word 'assassin' before I ended him........ And that, my friend, is why I am helping you."

I sat on the branch, shocked at what I had just heard. Shadow, my best friend, had gone through the same thing that I had been going through and he hadn't said anything about it til now. 

I opened my mouth but was cut off as he said, "Shh, no time for questions now, our criminal approaches."

Sure enough, as I turned my attention back to the road, I could see a figure running down the road. The late evening sun bounced off of his silver cloak as he sprinted towards the city. That familiar feeling of rage welled up inside me once again. As I prepared to jump down from the tree, I turned to Shadow and said, "I have to do this alone but if it seems like he's gonna get the better of me, jump in will you?"

He nodded as he prepared his bow. I turned back to the road and jumped down right as he passed our tree. I landed right in front of him and immediately unsheathed my dagger. I stood up on my hind legs and held the dagger in my left hoof.

The hooded figure skid to a stop as he saw a pony blocking his way. I glared at him and said, "It's been a long time Paladius. 

The figure seemed startled for a moment as he studied me for a second. Finally, he started to chuckle as he pulled his hood back. I gritted my teeth and continued to glare at him.

Before me stood the zebra who had taken everything from me: my parent's, my house, my things, my life as I had known it. He stood a few feet away from me, a smug smile on his face.

"Well, if it isn't the little pathetic pony from the ally way. I thought you would have died along with your parents that night but it seems that you aren't as worthless as I thought." Paladius said.

"You took everything from me!" I shouted at him. "I will kill you this night!"

He laughed as he stood on his hind legs as well and unsheathed a one edged sword that had been hidden by his cloak. "You will try and you will fail" he snarled at me.

I roared as I lunged at him, knife extended for his neck. He parried the knife, pushed it off his sword then punched me in the nose. I staggered backwards, stunned, as he swung for my torso. I jumped back, the blade just barely grazing my fur.

We continued to exchange blows, sometimes one of us gaining the upper hand and getting a slash on the other. No matter how many times ether of us were cut though, we refused to give up.

After about ten minutes, Paladius finally got me as he cut a huge gash across my chest then kicked me a few feet back. There I lay, writhing in pain as the gash bled faster then Jiet River. Paladius slowly walked over on his hind legs, his face and body bruised and bloody.

He kicked me again in the stomach then rolled me over on to my back. He dropped his sword then grabbed my knife and stabbed me in the chest with it. I cried out in pain and tried to gasp for air as he picked up his sword again and put the tip right on my neck.

He didn't say anything as we both glared at each other. He slowly raised the blade for the killing strike when an arrow came whizzing from the tree to our left and impaled itself in Paladius' lungs.

The zebra was thrown to the base of a tree nearby just by the sheer force of the impact. I slowly got up to my hind legs and yanked the knife out of my chest with both my hooves. I was so consumed in my rage, I barely felt the knife leaving me. I walked towards him, knife in hoof, as he was trying to get up. 

I got to him, grabbed him by the throat and used what little strength I had left to slam him up against the tree. Bringing the knife up under his muzzle, I got closer and softly whispered, "You lose". I then proceeded to stab the knife right between where the head and neck meet, pinning his body against the tree. Justice has been served.

I heard a gurgling sound as his eyes dilated and blood gushed over the knife from the wound. His body seemed to spasm as I stabbed him but after a few seconds it stopped. Blood started oozing from his mouth as I walked back to where Shadow was flying down from his branch. 

"It is finished" I said grimly.

He nodded his head and said, "Come on, we need to get you to a doctor." 

As he came over to support me, we were startled as we heard what sounded like thunder down the road. Eventually, we saw that it was the police and royal guard running that sounded like thunder. As we saw them approach, we just stood there. We didn't try to run or hide, we stood there to face what was coming.

When the police and guard caught up to us, I saw that they were being led by non other then Treble himself. He and the others stared wide eyed as they looked at Paladius' corpse and the arrow in his side, then at my battered self and Shadow and his bow.

Treble walked towards me, shock and horror etched on his face. He came face to face with me and Shad and shakily said, "You two are under arrest for the killing of a murder suspect."

That's when my vision went dark and I felt the ground rush towards me then, silence. 

Hey guys, hope you enjoyed the fourth chapter! This was a fun one to write because we're about to get to the assassin's part! Lol. Anyway, tell me how I did! Please comment and review!

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Shadow Wing- GroanyBrony