//------------------------------//
// Chapter 6: The Telling of an Old Tale (Part 6) 
// Story: Equestria's Assassins: Bringer of the Night 
// by Moonshine9012 
//------------------------------//

Hey bonies! Sorry for taking like EVER on this chapter but I couldn't focus right but it's all good now! Thumbs up and review please! Also, I didn't put 'Dat Voice in Night's Head' in this chapter but if you like him, tell me and I'll put him back in. Thanks!

Chapter 6: The Telling of an Old Tale (Part 6)

 March 28, 1065

I was finally able to get some sleep last night, despite having those nightmares. I slept in a little this morning because of the whole non sleep thing last night so I finally got to know what it was like to wake up at noon. I'm sitting at the kitchen table right now, with a mug of coffee with me.

Not the kind of crap that's comes from the coffee vendors or boring shops, no, the homemade kind. The kind that's black and rich and'll wake you right up in the morning. The only other coffee that's as good as homemade coffee is the stuff at Pinkie's restaurant and at SugarCube Corner.

My wife just came in and asked what I was doing. I just told her I was writing my thoughts and memories in this here book of mine. She just laughed me off and went upstairs to take a shower before going to practice. How I love her... Anyway, now would probably be a good time for some more of my 'thoughts and memories'.......



All I can say about prison life, is that IT SUCKS BIG TIME. It's only been six months but it might as well have been the whole ten years. The line that prison is dull is the biggest bull crap statement I've ever had the displeasure of hearing. Let me explain.

A normal day goes like this: I get up at four o'clock every single morning for prison calisthenics. This consists of push ups, wing ups, a whole bunch of chin ups and two ten mile runs with thirty second breaks in between. The workout is pretty easy but it's the ten mile runs that get to me.

It's not the running, no, I got into to shape and kept myself there after my parents were killed so I could get Paladius. It turns out I would need to be in shape for prison life as well. Anyway, the run itself is not that hard but they must have been mocking myself and Shadow when they figured out the route.

The run started off inside the prison, which lay on the north-eastern outskirts of the city, where we run around the prison yard until two miles. Then after we've gone two miles inside the yard, we exit through the gates and proceed to circumscribe the city itself once or twice.

Then we enter the capital metropolis itself and run through most of the streets.  After a thirty second rest for the first ten miles, we begin the next ten mile run back to the prison.This is the part that I hate the most and the part that I know they did just to irritate Shadow and I.

The first thing that we pass on our second run back to the prison is mine and Shadow's old high school. We always pass right before school starts and it's the prime opportunity for our old classmates to stare at us like wild beasts in a zoo. I mean, I don't mind that they stare, it's the way they do it though.

Sure, if I saw a bunch of ponies in orange jumpsuits surrounded by even more royal guards, I'd probably stare too. Not as if they were animals to be gawked at as if in cages though. If it couldn't get any worse, every single day I have to pass the spot where Octavia and her new apparent colt friend are snuggling on a bench. So much for her loving me back I thought bitterly the first time I saw them.

Eventually, I just turned my head away for two reasons. One, so I wouldn't have to watch her and Noteworthy(Yes, I was jealous) and two because, normally, she wouldn't even give me the common courtesy of looking me at all. I thought she at least cared for me...

After the morning work out, which ends at about nine thirty a.m., we go in for chow. 

Breakfast, lunch and dinner all consist of an unusual concoction of mush that looks like it came out of molded trash cans that hadn't been checked in twenty years. The ponies I eat along side are pretty okay, as long as I stay out of there way and they stay out of my way.

Let me give an example of this. The first few days me and Shadow came to be in the Canterlot Royal Prison, a few of the other prisoners tried to gang up the two of us. (I had never known Canterlot, or even Equestria, held this many criminals) Let's just say that three out of the seven ended up in the ICU and the other four were in for concussions and a few broken bones.

That little incident would have tacked us about two more years but since it was self defense, the guards let it slide and didn't report it to Princess Celestia. After that, most stayed out of our way, though we had a few times where we had defend ourselves again.

Eventually, we began to "rise in the ranks' so to speak. We've only been there six months but we're pretty high on the totem pole but still not high enough. We're at the point where we have respect but not too much. It can get complicated sometimes, really complicated.

The pony at the top of this totem pole isn't actually a pony, he's a dragon. Grid Steel, for that's his name, is a black and gray colored dragon (What a shocker) that stands about six foot, seven inches and has the muscle to back up the height. Though he's a teenager by dragon standards, at about four hundred fifty years, he is almost as wise as the alicorn Princess herself.

It's ironic really, the Princess had to capture him herself about three hundred years earlier, after he tried to sneak into the royal treasure and carry off all it's gold. Well, it was an ill conceived plan from the start and he was immediately cornered, with Celestia leading the group of guards.

That didn't stop him from killing five of the group of ten and then trying to attack Celestia though. The Princess ended up having to get into his head and nearly obliterating the very young dragon's mind. She tried to put his mind back together as best she could but not everything was righted.

From what he told Shadow and myself, some memories of his past are fuzzy and others just aren't there at all. He ended up being sentenced to five hundred years in prison for his crimes, with parole possible after three hundred seventy five years. The dragon ended up having to submit, for both fear of his mind literally being blown again and because they had already put enough enchantments on him that he could do almost nothing.

When he was first put in here, he kept out of everyponie's way, not wanting to find trouble because of his recent mind melt. Eventually though, he started organizing things and building a pyramid of underlings, with him at the very top. It took him a few decades because, since he lived longer, his underlings died off rather quickly. He eventually got a decent system going, which, in some cases, spread far beyond the prison.

When we had first gotten here, after the first fighting incident, Grid had approached us in the prison yard out of curiosity. After talking for an hour or two, he simply left us without a word. This routine went on for about two weeks, stopping to talk and then just leaving. During the times we did talk, the young dragon questioned us about every aspect of our lives. We only gave up vague details though and for some reason, this seemed to amuse him.

Finally, he approached us once again with a proposition for Shadow and I: teach him skills that he had forgotten from his mind wipe and, in return, he would take them both as personal students. We thought it over and, seeing as it couldn't hurt to give and gain a little knowledge, we accepted. On one condition though: the dragon could not use the skills he would learn for escape purposes, otherwise we would kill him. He laughed at us at first but after he inquired about how were put into the prison, he reluctantly accepted.

Shortly after the deal was made, Grid Steel showed us the tunnel system he had built underneath the prison over the last century and half. Shadow and I both took note of the tunnels and tucked the information back in our brains for later. Over the next months, we would journey into the tunnels after roll call through secret entrances that were in almost every cell. When we were in the tunnels, we would either train or be trained. When we trained Grid Steel, we taught him martial arts and, after being smuggled in, Shadow would sometimes teach him how to use a bow.

On the nights when we were the ones being trained, the dragon would instruct us in the ways of stealth and cunning. I think it would be safe to say that both the dragon and Shadow and I had much to learn from each other.

One night while we were training, Grid had us tell him the whole story of why we were put in here in the first place. We were hesitant at first but finally recounted almost everything thing to him, plus or minus a few things. When we were finished, the dragon simply nodded his head, then proceeded to tell us his story.  After that night, neither of us spoke about our pasts again.

A few more months past until the point where, one day, we simply told Grid Steel that there was nothing else that we could teach him that he didn't already know. He too informed us that he had nothing left to teach us as well. At that point we literally parted ways and never spoke again.

As the sixth month of our imprisonment rolled around, which was about at Christmas time, us inmates were given a little surprise. It was they called 'The Warden's Early Christmas Gift'. Since there had been no attempts for escape that year, the warden was allowing each of us to have a max three ponies come and visit us. It was a welcome gift to most because visitors almost NEVER allowed to visit.To others though, like Shadow and I, it didn't really help anything, seeing as we didn't expect anypony to come and visit. 

The news was spread all across Canterlot and Equestria, (This was a rare thing, so they wanted to get it out to everypony) and ponies slowly trickled in to see family members, relatives and the like. Most inmates were pressed up against the bars of their cells, waiting to see if a guard would come and collect them for visiting. Me and Shadow just lay on our bunks though, staring at the ceiling, reliving old memories. 

It came as a surprise when a guard came and called through the bars, "Which one of you is Night Bringer?"

Shadow and I both sat up and looked at each other before looking back at the guard.

"That'd be me" I said, raising a hoof.

The guard, a unicorn, nodded his head and opened the cell, making sure to keep a stun spell charged just in case. 

"It's your lucky day, you've got visitors."

I raised and eyebrow and said, "You sure it's me they want?"

He also raised an eyebrow and asked, "You claimed to be Night Bringer and the three who came asked specifically for you. Now come on, we haven't got all day." 

I slowly rose and, gesturing towards Shadow, asked, "Do you mind if he came to?"

The guard scowled and said, "Clock's ticking kid."

"Go, you don't need me" Shadow said as he lay back onto his cot and closed his eyes.

I shook my head and walked out of the cell, the guard shutting it behind me. Taking a giant cuff, he latched it around my mid section, to keep me from flying away. Then he cuffed both my front and hind legs together, so I had to take short quick steps as we started to walk. He walked behind me, the stun spell still charged on his horn, giving me directions on where to go.

As we got a door at the end of a hallway, the guard came around and unlocked it. It swung open to reveal non-other than Treble, Octavia and out of all ponies, Noteworthy.

This is not going to end well I thought as the door slammed shut.



I was led into the small room by the guard, and by their looks, this was going to be an interesting visit. Octavia's was one of shock, Treble just looked at me sadly, and Noteworthy stared at me with a glare. I looked them all in the eyes once, stern expression on my face before looking away once more. Glancing around the room, I saw that it was just bare concrete. Festive

The guard took me over to the wall in front of where they stood and unbuckled both sets of legs restraints. This seemed to unnerve Noteworthy as he noticeably tensed and got closer to Octavia, as if to try to protect her. I smirked as the guard re-chained my back legs to the wall before setting me up right on my back hooves and chained my forelegs to the wall as well. He left the wing restraint on, just in case though I didn't see the need. 

"You have ten minutes" the guard said as he walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. The room was silent for a few moments, all of them staring at me and I at them. After seconds past, I just disengaged my look and simply fixed my vision at a point on the wall.

Finally, Treble broke the silence as he said, "How are you holding up Night Bringer? Are they treating you well?"

Glancing at him, I said, "I'm holding up fine sir. As far as the treatment, it's the same as every other inmate."

Noteworthy scoffed quietly and muttered something about 'beating you every day' but I just ignored it.

"How have yall been doing these last six months?" I asked out of politeness.

"We've been well, considering the circumstances" he replied, glancing towards Octavia and Noteworthy.

I simply nodded and let silence take over once again. Tension started to build and it felt so thick, I could have tried to cut it with a chain saw and it wouldn't have gone through. Octavia eventually stepped towards me, Noteworthy at her heels. How predictable I thought as I saw that he was still glaring at me. Shifting my gaze again, I saw that Tavi had stopped about two feet away from me and was just staring.

I stared in return before she said, "It's good to see you again Night.."

I just grunted and looked away.

"You look well, fit and healthy. Do they work you here?" she asked.

I scoffed and mumbled, "Do they work me here..." Looking back at her, I felt the old feelings of hurt and longing resurfice.

"Yes, they do work us here but you wouldn't know that, now would you Tavi?" I said in an indignant tone.

A look of hurt and confusion crossed her face as she took in my tone of words. "What do you mean Night? If this is about us not visiting you, it's because they haven't let us til now. I would have dropped everything to come and see-"

I shot her a glare that made her back up a step. "Drop everything to see me would you?" I asked in a deceptively calm voice.

"Yes" she replied, nodding her head and slowly coming towards me again.

"Really?"

"Yes, that's why I came today, to see you."

I scoffed and let silence reign for a moment before speaking again. "Tell me this then: Why have you only been able to see me now, when I see you almost every day of the week?"

"What are you talking about? How could you see me?" she asked, confusion written on her face.

"Everyday before school, why do you think everypony at the front of the school stares at the street?"

"I- I don't know. I had always thought it was just the patrolling Royal Guards."

I frowned and said, "Wrong. It's a prison line, specifically from Cell Block 232-B, one hundred and eight ponies single filed with Royal Guards at the front, rear and sides. Can you guess how I know this or the name of the pony who runs at the very front of the line?"

Her eyes widened as she took in what I said. "Night, I'm so sorry. I didn't kn-"

"Don't tell me you didn't know!" I shouted. "You could have looked at any time, especially when I had called your name the first time or the times after but no, you didn't even give me the common courtesy to even glance at me! So now you're all 'I missed you so much'. I'm actually genuinely surprised you are still freaking here!"

The look of pure hurt on Octavia's face made me immediately regret all that I had just said. Any connection I had had to Tavi had just been utterly and completely obliterated and there was no way I could piece it back together. I hated myself at that moment more than I had Paladius when he had murdered my parents.

Tears formed in her eyes as she stifled a choked gasp and fell into Noteworthy's waiting hooves. He glared at me with hatred as he tried to console Octavia. I hung my head in shame, not daring to look at anyone. Treble just continued to stare at me with a sad expression, though I could see anger burn in his eyes.

After a few minutes, Noteworthy broke away from Octavia and slowly walked towards me. He just glared at me for a moment before turning around and promptly bucking me in the face, breaking my muzzle. Turning back around, he spit in my face and walked to the door. Banging on it, he announced that the visit was over. The guard opened the door and held it as Octavia and Noteworthy walked out. 

As Treble walked past me, he looked at me and simply asked, "Do you regret it?"

"More then words can describe" I replied, not even bothering to look up.

Nodding his head, he stated, "I'll be in touch", then walked out.

After Treble left, the guard came back into the room and looked at for a moment before sighing and bringing out a roll of bandage. Wrapping my muzzle, he stopped the bleeding and reset the bone until I went to the infirmary. I grunted in pain as the bandage tightened but nothing else. 

Unhooking me from the wall, he re-chained my legs together and led me back to the cell. Opening the cell door, he unchained me again then shut the door as I walked over to my cot and closed my eyes. 

Shadow just stared at me and said, "Didn't go so well?"

I shook my head and rolled over, not wanting to speak. 

What have I done?