//------------------------------//
// Chapter 18 
// Story: Brotherhood of the Moon 
// by ZakTH 
//------------------------------//


Brotherhood of the Moon
Chapter 18


It was an all too familiar sight. Firefly gazed down at the inner wall of the extravagant residence she'd mentally named Puddinghead Proper (the names subtle arrogance seemed to fit the fat nobles ego). Earth-bound SunGuards patrolled the area periodically in their glistening gold armor, while their winged pegasai counterparts circled the air above, scanning the ground for trouble. It was just like Canterlot, except since there currently wasn’t an outbreak of riots all over the city, there were more guards patrolling the area. On that same note, Firefly also didn’t have a group of thieves ready to swoop in for her rescue if she happened to mess up and revealed herself. She didn’t have the cloak of night’s darkness to obscure her either, and it had been much easier to identify a pompous white unicorn from across a room than it would now be to locate an indiscriminate parchment scroll inside a huge manor.

On second thought, this scenario wasn’t so much like the mission at the Gold’s Fortress; it was much more difficult and risky.

The trumpet that had alerted her to the grounds once again sounded aloud, breaking Firefly’s concentration. She shook her head to readjust her thoughts. Firefly’s mind was working furiously, trying to come up with a tactical plan of progression that wouldn't get her spotted, jailed, or at worst case, killed. She needed to find a way to slip inside indirectly, some crack in the security that she could exploit to its full potential. She needed to think like the ponies that’d help her last time she attempted an infiltration; she needed to think like a thief. 

The blare of the trumpet called out once again, agitating the pegasus a bit and once again interrupting her thought processes. She turned to at least glare malevolently at the source of the sound, even if she couldn’t reprimand it. It seemed the player of the trumpet was an extravagantly dressed pony talking to a guard at a small entrance towards the back of the estate. Firefly hadn’t noticed it before, and it looked like the perfect opportunity to enter the grounds. She leapt of her perch and made her way towards the back gate.

“*BWAAAAAAH*” The trumpet sounded with a cracked noise. It seemed like the trumpet player was trying to expel fluid from his horn, but the valve made for such a purpose was stuck.

“Just one more second here…” The bard told the guard as he struggled to push open the small opening. With one more furious blow, the valve gave open and the trumpet’s noise adjusted itself into a melodious quarter note. “Ah! That’s better,” said the bard as he experimentally played a few notes in succession.

“Nice! Sounds great,” the guard said with a smile. “Can’t wait to hear it play with the others tonight.” He moved the lance he carried out of the musician’s way and let him inside the estate. With a thank you and a tip of his hat, the artist walked into the grounds with his trumpet in tow. 

The guard didn’t even have time to regain his stone-hard composure before he was faced with another group of ponies requesting entry. 

“Evening sir,” said the white hooded pony in the front of the group. He was followed by four other ponies in similar white hoods, each with a saddlebag packed full or books and scrolls and embroidered with the symbol of Celestia- or was it five ponies? Strange, the guard swore he’d seen only four walking toward the gate earlier, but now he could count five of them. No matter though, he instantly recognized the overly covered group as common Sun scholars, likely arriving to try and get a bit of time in Chancellor Puddinghead’s libraries before the Night scholars came to begin their session.

“A bit late for you all to be arriving, eh?” The guard said casually.

“Alas, it couldn’t be helped. We caught word of a merchant coming into town with books from Cervidas, and we couldn’t miss a chance to browse his ware. It’s not every day you find scripture from lands across the sea.” The hooded pony explained. The guard laughed a bit. Typical scholar ponies, always so consumed in their studies of Celestia knows what, too lost in their books to notice the earth spinning below them.

“Well, be quick, I’m sure you know Luna’s bookworms are going to want those books to themselves in a few hours, right?”

“Oh of course, which is why we need to get to our studies as fast as we can.” The quintet of scholars scurried through the gates as soon as the guard lifted his lance to allow them. Closing the gate once again, the guard couldn’t help but chuckle to himself lightly at the absurdity of the eccentric students. Although, his mind did linger on his miscounting of their numbers. He was almost certain there had been four of them before, but now there had appeared that one pony at the back to increase the count by one. The more he dwelled on it, the more he began to realize that the fifth scholar was a bit different than the others; he wore a lot of red amongst his robes, and couldn’t hold a saddlebag on account of carrying too much of some other type of equipment, though the guard hadn’t noticed particularly what kind. The other scholars had been very average and run-of-the-mill, but the strange fifth pony was very, very different.

“He must be an Elite or something,” the guard resolved to himself, and returned to happily guarding his post.



Both Firefly and Dash mentally heaved a collective sigh of relief as they cleared the guard’s line of sight. Dash had recognized the ponies, or rather the uniforms they were wearing, as those of the ponies who had first attacked her on that fateful night when her friends had been kidnapped. The uniform was of The Flames Of The Sun, or in this time period most likely just the Solar half of the equestrian government. However it was obvious that the ponies who’d attacked Dash that night were not scholars. There was no way a group of studious researchers had come to her and her friends’ houses to attack and kidnap them. Okay, maybe Twilight’s house, but not the rest of her friends’ or her own. It was clear now that Luna had been right about the Flames rising up again; they’d even revived the attire of the Olden Equestria time period. And if that was true, all the Templars and such were trying to get back into positions they had then.

It was a stark reminder of the stakes for the rainbow manned pegasus.

Still, the white hoods of the scholars and their uncanny similarity to Firefly’s own assassin outfit provided for a very convenient camouflage. All she had to do was keep her head down and pretend like she was thinking hard about something, and no pony, not even the scholars themselves, would notice her presence. She could just squeal with delight at how perfect the disguise was, but luckily she kept her composure as the group of ponies were allowed passively into the hallways of Puddinghead Proper.

As the group walked on toward their destination, Firefly had the chance to overhear the talk of various ponies scattered inside the estate. It seemed the Chancellor’s offering of a dinner for the Canterlot noble had evolved into a dinner party, which Firefly predicted was much to said noble’s contempt. As such, a variety of high class nobles and politicians were left unattended inside the building, idly chatting and tending to their own interests with no particular reason to be there. However, the eavesdropped conversations were almost painful to listen to, as almost none of them were very moral in her opinion.

“And can you believe where he went?” she heard a mare say with an over refined enunciation. 

“Oh, don’t tell me, just don’t!”  her equally over processed acquaintance griped.

“To the kitchen! Can you imagine, his filthy hooves washing themselves in the place where the servants prepare my food? Oh, I dread just to think of it!” The mare looked as if she might faint from the gross obscenity of the words she had spoken. The idea of a pony cleaning himself in something she deemed as her's was apparently enough to send her into a stroke of nausea. He friend nodded in agreement with her disgust.

“It’s a dreadful thing; I don’t know why they don’t just go ahead and put all the earth ponies and pegasai in one place, and leave us unicorns to our business alone. They already shut the peasants into their own district, why not finish the job and put all the other loose rubbish in their place?"

Two off-duty guard hung around elsewhere, one yawning from a clear lack of energy.

"Yeesh, Ya look like ya got sacks a’ seed tied to yer face. Did'ja even get a wink a’ sleep last night?" One of the guards asked his effete companion.

The other guard yawned again quietly before responding. “Couldn’t. Damned night-guards were busy watching over some skirmish the League of Pegasai was  having last night, had to be called to patrol duty the whole night. And of course, bloody Captain hard-flank couldn’t think to give me leave today so I could catch some rest, the stupid sonuva-mule.”

“Well, if the buckin’ League weren’t busy tossin’ bombs at the northern plain ya wouldn’ta had a problem either. I tells ya, I don’ get why we don’t just up and arrest the bastards already, all they do is cause trouble fer the city.”

Firefly couldn't stand the gross classism and arrogance any longer, and forced her attention elsewhere.

“…and this Globe business has really.…” She caught a fraction of a conversation between two officials, and suddenly her interest was regained. She focused all her might to listen closer as she passed them by.

“…can’t find them anywhere!” she heard the official continue. “It’s so frustrating, but by the way he acts it must be important.” 

“I’ve heard as much, but really I feel a bit uninformed on the subject.” The other official replied. 

“I do as well, but I know enough to know it’s urgent. I’m sure whatever we don’t know isn’t too bad, but the main point is that it’s vital to Celestia’s continued ruling.”

The other pony looked shocked. “Really? Who told you that?”

“Why, Gilded Sword himself. He’s trustworthy of course, so we have to look harder.”

Firefly reluctantly walked out of earshot from the pair as her group continued forward. The short exert of conversation was an example of just how much control the Gold family had. However, the mention of Celestia’s reign being in jeopardy was strange. What could Gilded Sword have meant by that?

Only Dash knew the grim reality of what Gilded Sword must have had in store for the Globe.

Soon enough, the group left the expansive halls through two large double doors, into a room that seemed to be built almost entirely of bookshelves. Every inch of wall, every space of table, every possibly vacant area in the room was occupied by piles upon piles of paper bound in leather or precariously stacked pyramids of ribboned scrolls. The room was almost unreal; with so much written knowledge and documentation in one place, it must have been enough to send a bookworm like Twilight Sparkle into an ecstasy driven coma. Even a barely casual reader like Dash had to gawk at the expansive stock the noble held.

The other scholars, likely already accustomed to the immense magnitude of the library, quickly dispersed into their separate nooks and crannies among the bookshelves and went about their studies. 

Firefly found herself at an impasse: Leaving the room now would bring attention to her and ruin her scholarly guise, but every moment she spent in this library, she lost precious time she could be using to answer the questions that clouded her mind.

Reluctantly, Firefly made her way over to a bookshelf and looked for something to the pass time while she thought of a way out. She glanced over the collections of books on subjects ranging from cooking, to magic, to wildlife and more. Finally she found herself under the "Equestrian History" section. Nothing in particular caught her attention, until she came across a tanned old book titled "The Fire of Friendship".


She made her way over to a table and laid the tome down in front of her. Gently lifting the front cover, she began to glance over the first few chapters of the story inside. The tale was one both Firefly and Dash recognized as one they had been told by their mothers as young fillies; it was a historical retelling of the founding of Equestria and subsequent holiday of Hearths Warming. Besides providing some brief nostalgic joy, the story was nothing terribly interesting.

That is, until Firefly came across one particular section of the story. This book had the usual prologue; a bitter tension between the three pony races and an even more bitter winter to drive them into turmoil. But the next pages' activities had her dumbfounded. 

"And so," it read, "the three races consoled to find a new land to roam and prosper in. The leaders of the clans held audience with her majesty The Graceful Princess Celestia, and received ordinance to begin their long journey to the south."

First off, the original moral of the story stemmed entirely off of the fact that the three pony race's leaders did not, agree on anything, especially the founding of a new country.

But second, and more importantly, in this story the various leaders went to Celestia for aid. The way Firefly had remembered it, the story took place before the reign of the royal sisters. Yet in this story Celestia was already in power (while, interestingly enough Dash noted, Luna was not.)

Firefly closed the book immediately and returned it to its place on the shelf. She began scouring the history section for other versions of the Hearth's Warming Eve story to find a more accurate recounting of what happened. One story seemed to be quite familiar to her, up until the scene where Clover the Clever used a burst of magic to defeat the Windegoes, or rather as the book said, "The royal sisters rained down a torrent of fire to smite the cold winds of bickering." Another story she found detailed how the three pony tribes warred over the new land before the unicorns proved themselves victorious. Yet another book spoke of a strange fourth tribe of ponies called the Nightmares, which Firefly later discovered to be the bat winged pegasai that made up Luna's Night Guard.

Passage after passage, tome after tome, every story the assassin came upon had some kind of inconsistency. Every account was different, and yet all were classified as true history. It didn't make any sense.

Eventually, the pegasus came across a heavy, dusty old tome stored in the very far end of the history section. She couldn't recognize the language on the cover; it appeared to be Equestrian but in some older dialect long forgotten by the masses. From what she could make out, the title read "Rεϐέlliσ Μάgημs". She didn't even have time to imagine what it could mean before a voice surprised her from behind.

"Ah! Picking up the old origin story for another read through friend?" the voice of a scholar piped behind the pink pony. She turned and nodded as calmly as possible. "Oh I love this story, one of my favorite fiction works in this entire library." A fiction title, under the history section. Firefly made a mental note of the strange detail, but said nothing. "Tell me," the scholar asked, "Do you have a favorite part? I'm particularly a fan of the falling action after the climax, the third passage down." Without pause he took the book, opened its browned pages delicately to a certain page, and began to recite from the book's strange text.

"And lo, The Wicked One was defeated. The Noble Two wielded The Aspects against the schemer's wrath, and by their divine grace immured him to be forever stagnant in the form of stone. For this triumph the divines were most gracious, and as emolument for their deeds, The Noble Two were granted their ascension, to be forever the keepers of their ponies' prosperity."

Firefly stood silent as the scholar replaced the book and wandered off in a haze of nostalgia. This book...was fiction? What did it mean? Why was it here? The familiar feeling of lacking knowledge reminded Firefly why she was there in the first place, and she returned her focus to the task at hand. Yet, the passage lurked in the back of her mind like a predator ready to strike down from behind.

“No means no!” A voice cried out near the wall and instantly captured Firefly’s attention. She looked over to see a Sun Guard blocking the doorway to a study hallway, along with a frantic looking scholar begging the guard to let him pass.

“Oh please, you gotta let me through! I’ve probably read every page in this dusty old library, and of course the really good books are only found in the chancellor’s private studies! Just let me have a quick peek, please? I promise I’ll be super careful!” the scholar said woefully. The guard brought his hoof to his face and took a deep sigh.

“Fine, fine!” he said with a grunt. “I’ll tell you what. I’m going to go take a 5 minute break and then wait for my relief in the barracks. If during that time you decide to sneak into the hallway and somepony’s study, then I guess I wouldn’t be here to see you do so, but just keep this in mind: no pony besides patrol and the stallion himself is supposed to be back there, and if you get caught, don’t expect me to take the blame. Are we clear?”

“Yes sir, clear as crystal.” the scholar said as he brought his hoof up in mock salute. The guard heaved one more sigh of annoyance before turning away and walking to his rest. Just as the eccentric scholar pony rushed into the hallway with greedy enthusiasm, Firefly made her way to the hall with just as big a smile on her face.



The chandeliers creaked as Firefly put her weight on them. She could feel the weakness in the ceiling’s anchor, ready to let go and send the pony crashing down in a resonant cascade of glass shards and burning candles. This particular hiding perch was far from her first choice, but the lack of hiding spots in the high-ceilinged hallway forced her into less than ideal situations such as this. All she needed to do was find Puddinghead’s study, take the scroll, and try to flee unnoticed before she exceeded the carrying capacity of one too many ceiling lamps.

After the guards passed below her, the pink pegasus dropped from her perch and rolled onto the floor with minimal audial collateral. She walked as lightly as she could to the door in front of her, gripped it’s handle, and swung it open in front of her. She braced for movement, ready to jump out of sight. Part of her brain expected this door to lead to some room full of guards or officials, or watchdogs, or….

Jack pot. The only thing inside the room was a cluttered desk, some arbitrary furniture, and a colossal wrap-around bookshelf. This was without a doubt the room she was looking for: Chancellor Puddinghead’s private study. She hastily yet silently shut the door behind her. Her eyes began immediately scanning the room for any sign of the scroll she wanted, meanwhile Dash eased her way into “Eagle Vision” to assist her kin with locating it. The scroll now blazed a blinding white among the room’s dark tones of blue and grey, practically lying in plain sight atop a stack of parchment on the chancellor’s desk. Adjusting her vision back to a normal color scheme, Dash watched as her ancestor unrolled the thin letter and began scrutinizing the information within.

“Under the auspice and tutelage of Her Majesty, the ever regal Princess Celestia of Equestria, I, Sir Gilded Sword of the family Golden, do give this letter.

To Sir Jolly Puddinghead III, noble chancellor of the town of Trottingham, I do address.

News of the search in Trottingham has had continued arrival here in Canterlot. It is my understanding that although thorough, your searches have been futile in the location and acquisition of the artifact known as “The Globe of Elation.” I, of course, send my best wishes of good fortune as you continue your righteous hunt, however I also bear tidings of warning against a maleficent scoundrel that may very well be inbound for your noblest of cities. 

Not more than 3 nights ago, as of the writing of this message, did a hooded assailant violate the boundaries of my personal home and viciously assault my brother, the late Golden Shield, in a cowardly display of cold, unfeeling murder. I have reason to believe that before my dearest brother could pass, the fiend browbeat him to reveal the location and identity of the artifact which you seek so diligently. Many a guard’s life has been stolen by this nefarious criminal, and a fortune in bits has she cost me in damages to property. It is therefore that I urge you to take no hesitation in bringing this villain to justice, as she is much more dangerous than her feeble visage many lead you to believe.

Whatever first-hand accounts I could gather of the outlaw are of a young, pegasus mare of bright pink coat and deep blue mane, clad in a white robe and hood bearing a crimson symbol on her flank not native to the equestrian alphabet. If any pony seeking admittance into your fine city should fit this description, I urge you to devote a significant portion of your law enforcement to apprehend and detain this devious individual.”

Firefly and Dash unanimously gulped. It seemed that their status in Trottingham as a nonspecific citizen was far past gone. Not only were they now a matter of security importance, they were most likely one of the most sought after renegades within the city’s walls. However, as bad as it may have appeared, this news held no candle to the shocking twist contained in the rest of the letter.

“On a related note of importance, I find it well within your right to know that soon we may very well be on the verge of securing another of our so long sought after treasures. We’ve had reports from the port town of Baltimare about the possible location of another artifact: The Gem of Charity. We’ve yet to pinpoint an exact location, but the Captain of the Guard in the city has mentioned that his men have noticed a sudden influx of wealth among the local brothels and show houses. While this kind of action may be the result of another artifact, it is the sudden generosity and compassion for the lower classes that leads me to believe this is the effect of The Gem on the town’s residents. We await further information from our brothers in the city.

The best of luck in your continued search. May your ventures in ensuring a bright future for Equestria be ever fruitful,

Your trusted ally and brother in arms,

Gilded Sword.”

These artifacts, whatever the Globe of Elation was, there were more of them. It appeared as though Firefly had much more to search for, but if these artifacts were as vital to the Templars as the Globe is, they must all be just as powerful. She couldn’t let that kind of power go unchecked, she had to go find them, hide them, steal them, whatever was necessary to make sure-

Her ear twitched. In the dead silence of the study she could hear the tumblers in the door behind her slowly opening. She stashed the scroll in her saddlebag, and looked around for a place to hide. The room was empty, no place to crawl under, no hole to jump through, nothing. Nothing except…

With a loud yawn, Chancellor Puddinghead shut the door behind him and entered his most private study. He had many responsibilities, being a chancellor, but sometimes he just needed some quiet time with a good book, a hot drink, and no pony else in the room but him. He lazily trotted across the carpeted floor to his bookshelf and picked off the novel he’d been working his way into. It was long one, but luckily he had the time. As he walked over to his desk to begin reading, his subconscious became aware of something unusual. He couldn’t quite place it, but something in the room seemed out of place. Then, as he pulled out the chair to his desk to sit down, it hit him.

“Where is the letter?” He said quietly to himself. “I was sure I left it right here…” He pondered the anomaly for a while. Should he alert the guards? Perhaps it was stolen by a servant? Could he have a spy in his midst? Who could have known that he was expecting a visit from the great….

“Oh horseapples!” He suddenly exclaimed, forgetting his dilemma. “I forgot to see them off after supper! Oh, they must be so insulted, maybe I can still catch them!” The chancellor hastily threw his book on the desk and made a bee-line for the exit, leaping through the door and slamming it shut behind him.

Firefly let out a gasp of air from under the chancellor’s desk. She’d been inches away from being discovered, inches away from failure once again, but worst of all…she’d been inches away from Chancellor Puddinghead, who ironically smelled less of pudding and more of garlic. She held her stomach and took in large amounts of air to try and keep from heaving up her last meal.

However, all of the night’s events had been worth it. She had the letter, and she had her distraction. Now was the time to make a hasty escape.



As Firefly made her way into the library once again, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. She’d infiltrated a Templar’s household, stolen a vital document, and was about to escape completely unnoticed. She could just imagine the surprise that was sure to be felt in the morning, the look on the guards faces when they realized one of the scholar ponies had been an infiltrator, the bemusement in Puddinghead’s mind when he learned that another pony had been gone in and out of his private study without his notice. The assassin almost wanted to stick around the manor just to watch their reactions later on. She’d performed flawlessly, and now all she could smell was the fresh air of freedom.

“How do we know you’re not some kind of spy! Eh?”

Firefly stopped dead in her tracks. The group of scholars was still in the library like she’d expected, but the entire group was staring fearfully at a pair of guards who were interrogating another scholar pony. The colt looked like he was about to faint out of fear, but Firefly also noticed something else about him: he was the pony who’d nagged his way into the private hallway and given her a passage into Puddinghead’s study. It seemed that unlike her, the pony had been caught sneaking around, and was now facing serious charges. Firefly silently worked her way into the crowd of her white hooded peers and tried to act as innocent as possible as she watched the event unfold.

“Well?” the guard shouted in the scholar’s ear. “Are you gonna answer me, or are you to guilty to muster up the words?”

“No! I was just curious I swear it!” The pony pleaded. 

“Yeah, I’m sure a trickster like you would be real curious about what the Chancellor’s got in his private scrolls and writings. It looks like you’ve satisfied your curiosity, but are you ready to pay the price?” The guard lifted his spear menacingly. Tears began to well up in the accused eyes.

“No please! I swear by Celestia’s name I’m just a scholar!” He glanced hopefully at the group. “Ask any of them, they know I’m innocent!” Nopony in the crowd volunteered, but the guard looked around regardless. 

“Alright, fine then. We’ll see just how well they know you!” The guard scanned the crowd, looking for a particular pony to point out. “How about…” His eyes fell on Firefly, and for a brief moment, it was as if the pink pony’s soul was shattered.

“…you” He finished, pointing his hoof at Firefly. Everypony in the room turned to stare at her. She put all her energy into not bursting out into a nervous sweat. She didn’t want this pony to suffer; he was really innocent after all. She wasn't about to blame somepony else for the crimes she’d been committing, but she wasn't about to give herself up either.

“Uh, well…um…” she stammered. “You see, I just joined a few weeks ago, so I haven’t gotten the chance to get to know everypony….” The look on their faces instantly told her she’d made a grave mistake. The scholars now had a new fear in their eyes, but now it was a fear of her. One particularly courageous colt looked at her with more contempt than fear. He stared her in the face and said plainly,

“We haven’t accepted anypony new into our guild in months. And the last pony we ever allowed to join our group,” He pointed at the accused pony from before. “is standing right there.” 

Firefly’s heart sank. She could almost cry at the conspiracy of fate happening before her. She was so close, so very, very close. However, before she started feeling too sorry for herself, instinct kicked in, and she slowly reached for a book on the shelf behind her.

“Wait a darned minute…” The guard said suddenly, staring at the Assassin’s insignia embroidered on Firefly’s flank. “I’ve seen that symbol somewhere before…” The guard behind him notched a bolt into his crossbow and began to pull the string back. Suddenly, the guard’s eyes went wide with realization.

“Hold on! You’re an-” Before the guard could finish the sentence, Firefly hurled the heavy tome in his direction, striking him square in the forehead. As he fell to the ground, the guard behind him quickly took aim with his crossbow and fired. Firefly grabbed another heavy book and held it in front of her in defense. With a dull noise she felt the bolt embed itself into the book's thick leather cover. She wasted no time in tossing that book at the other guard as well, who expectantly ducked under it and removed another crossbow bolt from his quiver. 

“Guards!” He shouted. “We have an intruder! Attend!” The assassin leapt across the room, onto a table top, then a bookshelf. She heard the sound of three more bolts pierce the wall around her as two other guards entered the room and took aim. She made a dash for the other wall of the room, jumping across bookcases and knocking them down in some cases, all while ducking and weaving under the constant stream of projectiles volleyed at her.

With a crash of wood hinges snapping, she burst through a window and onto the top of the mansion. Instantly, numerous sentries positioned atop the roof locked onto her position and began their assault. A heavy downpour of rain prevented any pegasus guards from flying however, and greatly handicapped the other guards’ accuracy from long distances. Still, Firefly had to sprint her way across the roof, occasionally stopping to kick a guard down or dodge a thrown weapon. If she could just make it to the eastern edge of the property, she could make her escape into the backstreets and hide out the night in the shadows.

As she continued on forward, the sound of guards' shouting grew fainter and fainter. She outran even the fastest of their patrol. Finally, she was mere feet away from the battlements that marked the edge of the manor. Just a few more steps and…

Wham! Firefly fell to the floor faster than she could say “blunt force trauma.” She held a hoof over her face to try and see through the heavy rain, but all she could make out of her attacker was a faint purple glow. A unicorn levitating their weapon, which appeared to be a large...book?

“Hmph, typical.” The pony said as she approached the fallen assassin. Firefly recognized the voice. Why did it have to be her?

“A discovered assassin, and you took the most obvious route of escape.” She lectured. “If any of the guards would have thought to predict your path instead of giving chase, you would have been caught before you even left the building. No matter how great and skilled you may think you are, you're just another criminal, predictabe like the rest of them.” 

Twilight Twinkle was now standing over her, her levitated book ready to strike. Despite the calm in her voice, Firefly could tell she was afraid of being so close to a killer. Out of the two however, Firefly was probably more afraid than her, afraid of showing Twilight her real self. An assassin. Firefly tried to get up, but an aura of violet telekenisis quickly pinned her against the ground. All four hooves, useless and helpless. 

“No way you're getting away now,” the unicorn said. “Do you realize what you're doing with your life? How many ponies' lives you've ruined? You think you're fit to judge who lives and who dies?” It was clear by her voice that Twilight had been hurt by the assassins in the past, and now she was taking out her pain on her captive audience. “A pony's life is a sacred thing, and nopony, especialy not you, has the right to take it away. What did Golden Shield ever do to you?”

“I didn't kill-” Twilight brought the book down on Firefly's head in anger.

“No. Shut up. I don't want to hear anything you have to say. You've caused me, my friends, and my mentors a lot of pain, and I'm going to end it. You're not going anywhere for a long time.” Twilight leaned in closer.

“No! Twilight, don't-” Firefly sputtered.

“It's too late for apologies now!” The unicorn said, magicaly pulling back the assassin's hood. “You can't run from the law forev...” 

For a long while the two just stared at each other. The only thing Firefly could do was try and express her imense regret in her facial expression. Meanwhile, Twilight's face showed different emotions; disbeleif, confusion, resentment, but most importantly, betrayal. Nothing could have prepared her for this.

“...Fi-Firefly?”

“Twilight, I'm so sorry.” Firefly said apologeticaly. “Really, I am.”

“But...Firefly....” Twilight's speech was broken. “You were...and I...” Firefly wanted to disapear, she never wanted this to happen, at least not in this way.

“...frirends....” Twilight sputtered. This time, the unicorn was the one who began to retreat.

“Twilight, please wait.” Firefly pleaded, but to no avail. Twilight cotinued her escape, staring as if Firefly wasn't a pony she'd known and housed, just some kind of monster. 

“Twilight, please! Let me explain!” The unicorn quickened her pace.

“Stop!” Firefly shouted. Twilight turned and broke into a sprint. She was running for her life, as if it was in jeaprody. Firefly was left alone in the rain, staring at the place where the unicorn had run to.

Twilight's magic had faded away long ago, Firefly was only being held in place by shame and sorrow. She couldn't believe things had gone so wrong. She never wanted to make Twilight think she'd been betrayed, even if she did have Templar affiliations, Firefly never wanted to hurt her. It seemed that after all, Twilight had been right about one thing:

Firefly couldn't run from her problems forever. Eventually, life was going trip her, and the longer she ran, the harder the fall would be.