The Rat Assassin

by Corvo

Ponies v. Assassin

Applejack tumbled out of bed giving a short yelp as she hit the floor.

“What in tarnation? Why’s everything shakin’!?”

She hastily scrambled to her hooves and ran over to her friends who were groggily looking around for the source of the shaking. The farmer tried to drag them one by one under Twilight’s writing desk, but her attempt to save them was cut short when the shaking stopped.

Rarity turned her head and gave Applejack a look. “Earthquake?”

Applejack dropped Pinkie’s tail and turned to return Rarity’s curious stare. “No...It can’t be. It was too fast. It felt more like somethin’ hit a wall.”

The two mares got out from underneath the table, dragging their still snoozing friend with them. Once they were on their hooves, Applejack hefted Pinkie onto the bed. Looking at Rarity she whispered “She’s had a long day, let her sleep.”

Rarity gave a silent nod and turned to begin walking down stairs. “Come on, Applejack. Let’s go make sure Twilight, Rainbow, and Fluttershy are OK.”

Making sure to avoid Spike’s basket as to not awake the sleeping dragon, Applejack briskly walked over towards Rarity. The two mares proceeded down the stairs. As they approached the bottom, they heard Twilight yelling.

“After what you just did to Rainbow and Fluttershy, I have every right to judge you!”

They heard the clop of hooves hitting each other and a loud “Yeah!” from Rainbow Dash.

Then they heard a third voice, one they didn’t recognize. It was deeper than most ponies’ voices and a lot more forceful. “You have no right, not in this matter!”

They heard yet another shout from Twilight. “You have no right to hurt my friends!”

Applejack turned and looked wide eyed at Rarity. Both the ponies formed a silent agreement and proceeded down the stairs to assist their friend.

As soon as they reached the bottom of the stairs, they were dumbstruck by the sight in front of them.

The creature they had taken from the forest was standing on its hind legs, books strewn on the floor around it. The ropes used to bind it were cut. His hand, its back ablaze with energy, pointed at Twilight.

Twilight, however, looked just as scary, pointing her brightly glowing horn up at the creature with as much malice as a manticore with a splinter.

Applejack couldn't believe her eyes.

‘What is that thing on its hand? That strange mark? I thought that wasn’t important!’

Rarity shook her head and began getting her bearings back as AJ’s mind scrambled.
“Applejack, we must stop that beast before it tries to hurt Twilight again!”

Corvo sent more power pulsating down his arm. He felt an immense amount of energy. There was so much mana here! Just in the air, he could maintain this level of pressure for ages.

Corvo rapidly began shaping the energy, refining it in such a way that he could use multiple powers at once.

‘Hopefully I can pull it off with this much mana... I couldn’t even try this back home.’

With that he swung his arm, and felt the two ‘chambers’ of energy release. The first one went into the most basic form of energy, a kinetic wall, a ‘Windblast’.

The second was ‘Possession’, aimed at Rainbow Dash in the background. He felt the shadowy bolt hurl itself at the rainbow mare and find its mark. As it dissipated he felt the liquid coldness as his mind overwhelmed hers.

When his eyes reopened he was looking at the so called battlefield from Rainbow’s point of view. Unfortunately he hadn't accounted for his own wind blast hitting him, so as soon as he was in control he was thrown backward into the wall.

‘Goddamn that hurt! Lucky the winblast wasn’t very powerful. Could have killed myself.’

As he hit the ground, he assaulted the blue pegasus’ mind, slamming his conscience into hers and quickly stealing the information needed to work with her body. Once the intel was acquired, he got back to his (stolen) hooves and looked around.

He spotted two new arrivals, an orange ‘normal’ pony and a white unicorn.

As he saw the horn on Rarity’s head he began thinking

‘How many of them are there? That purple one, Twilight, is quite the nuisance alone. More like her could be... troublesome.’

He watched as the two mares helped Twilight to her hooves. Flapping his wings he shot toward the three ponies, who now were attempting to coax Fluttershy out from underneath the coffee table.

“Come on out sugarcube, the creature‘s gone now.”

As fast as he picked up speed, he lost it, slowing down and stopping next to Twilight. He looked at the pony and then to Fluttershy under the table. Sighing, he shook Rainbow’s head.

“Hey Rainbow, where do you think it went? I mean one second he was here with that crazy glowing arm thing and the next he was gone!”

Corvo looked up and went to answer with some silly made up statement when he heard the voice of Rainbow Dash in the back of his head. ‘I dunno Twi, you’re the egghead around here.’

He quickly sent a spike of annoyance at the other being. ‘What? How are you awake? You're supposed to be dormant!’

He felt confusion and fear ‘What the heck? Are you in my head? Why can’t I move? What are you doing to me?’

Corvo applied mental pressure to Rainbow’s mind. ‘The body is mine. Be silent.’ As soon as he thought that he sent the disturbing image of city watch guards, dead, being eaten by rats.

Rainbow Dash’s conscience recoiled and disgust spiked through her mind. Giving her a feeling of amusement, he used her line.

“I dunno Twi, you’re the egghead around here.”

Twilight rolled her eyes and turned back to Fluttershy and the rest of the girls.

Giving a small smile, Corvo turned around and walked toward the study table in the corner, taking extra care to be quiet. Grabbing his weapons, Corvo began walking to the door.

Before he could reach it however he was stopped by an accented voice.“Hey Dash, where ya takin’ those?”

Corvo, turned around and eyed the orange mare. Then he assaulted Rainbow’s consciousness again, stealing the name of the farm pony in front of him. Acquiring the information he formulated a quick response. “Come on Applejack, you know what’ll happen if we don’t hide these.”

The mare’s eye narrowed in suspicion. “Riiight, Hey I got a question for ya.”

“Yes?”

“You feelin’ okay?”

Caught off guard Corvo shook Rainbow's head. Deciding to make a hasty getaway he replied with “Just dandy, old pal!” then Corvo gave the mare a fake smile, turned around and bolted out the door.

Corvo flew at an amazing speed, mostly due to the fact that Rainbow’s body was so fit. As he continued the flight, he began feeling his mental powers break. The possession was exhausting his mana reserves at a rapid rate. As his mind lost its energy he hastily angled himself up, flying higher and higher. Once he reached a sufficient altitude, he threw his weapons into the air, and dropped the possession.

‘This’ll kill her.’ he thought with a smile.

Rainbow Dash, Corvo, and his weapons plummeted to the earth below. The pegasus, who had just recently been possessed, was extremely dizzy. Corvo, however, was focused and swooping through the air by directing it with his hands, occasionally propelling himself with a windblast.

As Dash fell, she rapidly regained her senses. Once she was oriented, she looked around and saw Corvo, weapons reattached to his belt. Hand glowing, he was prepared to blink to the ground to cushion his impact.

‘You’re not getting away with hurting my friends!’

Opening her wings, she flapped them hard, going into a dive. As she sped toward the free-falling human she shouted “This is for stealing my body!”

She slammed into Corvo, and sent him spinning through the air. As he spun, he wildly waved his arms attempting to grab something.

‘What the hell hit me!?’

Rainbow pulled out of her dive. She could feel the G forces multiplying as she turned, and started to fly straight up at the free falling creature.

‘You may have gotten me on the ground, but the sky is mine!’

Sticking out her hooves, she slammed into the falling assassin, catching his coat with her hooves and pulling him up as she flew. Rainbow’s muscles burned, her breath ragged, Corvo was extremely heavy, and all the weapons he was carrying didn’t help to lighten the load. Reaching a high altitude she leveled off, carrying Corvo with her. “Not so tough up here are ya?”

Corvo looked up at the mare and gave a groan of frustration. ‘She just had to re-orient before hitting the ground. She is so annoying.’

Grimacing Corvo looked up and angrily shouted “If you don’t shut up, you’re going to see just how tough I am.”

The mare looked down at Corvo as she flew. “What’s your problem?”

Corvo growled in response. “Quiet!”

Rainbow gave him a hard glare and stuck her tongue out at him, but was disappointed at his lack of reaction due to the fact that his mask blocked his face.

Giving him a raspberry, she shouted a response over the howling of the wind. “You can’t tell me what to do.”

Rainbow suddenly felt a sharp pain in her side, and all the energy left her.

Corvo gave the mare a death glare through his mask “I always get what I want... and now I want you to let go.”

Rainbow sleepily looked down, and saw Corvo’s arm connecting to her side. Following it up, she saw what looked to be a needle with an unusual greenish glowing liquid stabbing her. She rapidly began to lose consciousness.

As the mare fell asleep, Corvo used the hooves that had been grabbing him for leverage, and placed his feet on Rainbow’s chest. Using her as a launching pad, he pushed hard with his feet, head towards the ground. As he fell, he streamlined his body, going completely rigid as he plummeted towards the earth.

As he saw the ground approach he stuck out his hand, mark glowing, preparing a blink to brake his momentum.

‘A bit closer...’

‘Almost...’

‘Now!’

He released his energy, feeling a tug behind his navel. Soon, he felt the ground beneath his feet, quickly he placing his hand on the dirt and falling into a roll to drop the last of the energy from the drop.

Corvo slowly rose to his feet and looked around. He spotted much of the same scenery he did outside of Twilight’s library when he had flown away.

‘A tree? No, it’s that library! The pony must have turned us around when she grabbed me!’

Looking up he saw the pony in question free falling through the air, eyes closed. He gave a twisted smile.

‘ At least I get something for my trouble... Nighty night!’

Before Rainbow Dash hit the ground, a purple aura encompassed her body, and slowed her descent. Corvo shook his head in confusion. Looking around for the source of the witchcraft, he saw them. The ponies.

Applejack turned around and looked at the other girls. Shaking her head she pointed at the door with a forehoof. “I ain’t the only one that thought that was fishy righ’?”

Twilight shook her head, “No...you’re not. I don’t know what happened, but I don’t like it.”

Rarity looked at Fluttershy who was hiding behind her mane, and whispered “You think she’s OK?”

“Umm.” Everypony’s attention snapped to Fluttershy. She didn’t speak often, but when she did it was almost always relevant. “I-I think we should go after her.”

The girls continued staring at the mare. “Why?”

The mare sat up straight and extended her wings to make herself look bigger. “I’ve known Rainbow Dash since flight school. She would never leave to do something like hide a few objects when something like this,” she gestured to the destroyed library. “just happened. Something was wrong and she needs our help. We should go.”

Looking at her friends shocked faces, Fluttershy slowly shrank back to her normal composition and gave a nervous smile. “If that’s okay with you, girls...”

The girls stared at the scene before them. A dangerous creature had just stabbed their friend and almost killed her by dropping her from over seventy feet in the sky. Now it was on the ground, armed, and by the looks of it, threatening them.

Twilight was the first to react. Screwing her face in concentration, she quickly began lifting a large rock that had been buried in her yard. Using her magic she hurled it at the creature out of anger. What happened next was not so unexpected. He disappeared. Again.

The purple unicorn felt a pressure on her mind. The amount of energy there was overwhelmingly painful. She felt as though she had been bucked in the head multiple times. As her mental walls broke, she felt another pony invade her mind.

‘You tried to kill me with a rock? Seriously? I thought you were better than that!’

No it wasn't a pony... It was the creature! It was invading her mind!

Shocked by the revelation, she frantically began thinking of what to do. ‘The creature! It’s in my head! NO, get out!’

He continued to pry and chip away at her mental defences. As he did, Twilight, in vain, continued attempting to close her mind off to him. As their mental grapple continued, Rarity Fluttershy and Applejack watched as their friend’s face contorted in pain and she collapsed.

The shy pink-maned pegasus looked towards her friends, “What do we do? Something is hurting her!”

Applejack and Rarity shook their heads. What could they do? Twilight had just collapsed without warning! This had never happened before!

As her friends continued to try and make sense of the situation, Twilight woke up in blackness. There was no floor, no sky... the place was just empty dreamscape. As she looked around, she began panicking and did the only thing she could think of. She ran.

Finally tiring out after running for what seemed like forever she sat on her haunches and whispered “Where am I?” to herself.

A voice, booming and echoing in the emptiness, answered her “In your mind, of course. I’ve taken over your body.”

Twilight got to her hooves and frantically searched for the sound of the voice. Finding nothing, she began running in a random direction again.

The voice spoke again. “You ponies are quite resilient. You seem to stay awake when even when I possess you.”

Twilight looked up in horror. “You’re possessing me? Why?”

She heard a crackling laugh and a sarcastic reply. “You only tied me up, knocked me out and kidnapped me. Why would I ever want to run away? Especially when I have no idea what you were going to do with me. You’re just a tool I’m using to escape.”

Frantically Twilight tried to remember a spell, any spell that would expel the creature from her mind. Finding nothing, she stopped running and looked down in defeat.

Slowly, Corvo got to Twilight’s hooves and looked around. Seeing the other ponies’ face she gave a sheepish smile. “Sorry girls, I used too much magic. Got a bit of a headache...”

The yellow pegasus stepped forward. “Are you sure you’re okay Twilight? Do you want to rest for a bit while we go get Rainbow and the creature?”

Corvo gave a small nod, and walked towards the library. As he opened the door, however, he was thrown back by a blast of air and confetti.

Out of the door stepped a hot-pink pony with a fuzzy mane and what looked to be an overgrown purple and green lizard. The pony pointed a hoof at Corvo.
“That’s not the real Twilight! My Pinkie sense say so! Get her!”

Corvo snapped Twilight’s head backwards and saw all three of the mares advancing on him.

‘Time to abandon ship!’ Immediately Corvo dropped the possession and reappeared in a flash of light. He hastily got to his feet and looked around.

From his point of view, things were bad. He was surrounded, and he was spiritually exhausted. To top things off, the pink one had a cannon. A cannon!

He did, however, have his equipment. Slowly he brought a hand to his pack and pulled out a sticky grenade.

‘One shot. If I miss, I’m dead.’

He turned and clicked the button, priming the grenade and then hurled it at the cannon. It flew through the air, whistling as it went. Then, with a clang, it attached to the inside of the barrel.

‘Five...’

The mares pounced on him.

‘Four...’

He was being tied up

‘Three,’

Twilight recovered.

‘Two,’

A hissing was heard from the cannon.

‘One.’

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Spike scrambled to his feet. Looking around he shook his head. He needed help, his consciousness was already leaving him. That explosion had been a doozie. He needed the Princesses.

Grimacing he limped to Twilight’s knocked out form and began dragging her into the tree house, which had miraculously survived, the explosion of fire and confetti. Putting his friend on the sofa, Spike quickly scrawled out a letter to the Princess.

Princess Celestia,

The girls are hurt, something is tied up in the yard. There was an explosion, need help. Come quick. Bring guards.

- Spike

Spike groggily brought the letter up to his mouth and sent it in a burst of flame before going off into the dream world.

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There was a mess up when I went to put the chapter on the site, I hit PUBLISH instead of EDIT when I opened the new chapter...sorry.