//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 The Silver Star Assassin // Story: The Lost Prince of the Stars // by OscornBrony //------------------------------// The Lost Prince of the Stars Chapter 4 The Silver Star Assassin Captain's Log: Friday, November 18th It has been two months since Princess Luna was placed in a coma by the unexpected turn of events that was the attempt on her life. The ex-Sergeant Star Spell is now being held in the castle's detention center. He will stay there until we are able to put him to trial. The actions of the prisoner have been very strange. For the last two months he has been screaming constantly. He has also been keeping himself hidden under a blanket, and we just don’t know what to do with him. We still need to discover the fate of Luna before we pass judgment. There has also been a mysterious figure roaming the landscape. He dresses himself in a heavy, silver colored cloak and hood, as well as a large scarf wrapped around the hood so all you could see of his face was his eyes. We can't seem to find anything about him. The reason for this is there is only one group of people that seem to be able to get close to him… his targets. So far, he has been targeting high officials, or wealthy merchants, or anypony who has some sort of power or is close to the princesses. He somehow learns who these ponies are, takes their life and leaves behind a silver coin engraved with a star. It is from this, and all the silver colored fabric he wears, he has been given the title, The Silver Star Assassin. ==================== Astro's POV The night was at its peak. The moon was high and bright, but with all the lights in the streets, you could only see a hand full of stars. The city of Canterlot seemed to be busy all night, every night. Ponies were walking around, going for a midnight stroll, a late bite to eat... and drug dealing. None of these activities interested me. I was hunting down a pony called Time Peace. He was a wealthy citizen of Canterlot that ran the clock tower. I rose into a crouch on the rooftop that I was lying on and made a graceful leap to the next roof, then the next, and another. I kept this up, working my way across the city. It was an exhilarating experience. Not flying, but jumping from building to building, letting my silver cloak trail behind me as I let myself be led by gravity. There were guards patrolling the streets. No. Not just patrolling the streets, they were running around the streets. The activity of the guard had grown greatly. At least I think it has grown. I try my hardest to avoid walking in, around, near, or at anyplace that might contain a guard, soldier, police officer, or anypony with a lawful good attitude and any form of a sharp stick. I just don’t get out and about to know about the activity of the law enforcement. I finished making my way to the rooftop of the building just east of the clock tower. From there I scanned the outside for possible entrances and exits, the most profitable of which was a second story window level with my position. The horn under my hood began to glow a soft silver as I stretched forth with my magic to let the window swing open. 'What is with me and silver?' I pondered. 'My magical energy, my outfit, my braided hair, all is the same color. Now I’m even known as the Silver Star Assassin.' I let myself smile for a moment. 'The life of a celebrity is a hard one.' With that trail of thought, I jumped through the opened window. The halls were dark in the clock tower. That was a good sign as it meant that there would be very few ponies wondering about. The only trouble I came across was a janitor. I just needed to duck behind a wall for a moment and wait for him to leave before I continued my path upwards. It only took me some five minutes to reach my goal. I opened a door to a study and there, sitting in an armchair with his back turned towards me, was Time Peace. I let the door slam behind me with a great bang. Time Peace's reaction was the same I’ve grown to suspect from my opponents. Jump up, knock down whatever they were working on, and turn to me with a face that said “I’m in trouble.” I spoke with a smile in my voice, but my eyes didn't share the smile, “Hello there, Time Peace. Nice to meet you for the first and final time.” “Y… you’re the assassin”, he stuttered. The only reply I bothered with was to pull out my black dagger I carried on my belt, gripping it with my magic. “Please, listen to what I have to say!” he begged. “I can help you! I’m a member of an organization that is working on freeing the kingdom from the reign of the rulers. If you help us, we can succeed with much more ease and speed! It will also let you take out the royal family yourself!” He spoke fast, but that was because of how nervous he seemed to be. 'I wonder what is making him so jittery? Could it have something to do with what I’m doing?' I wondered with a sarcastic bite. “You would let me join, just like that? You don’t even know my reasons for going after high officials, or in your case, somepony with a bird's-eye view of the whole city.” “It’s not hard to peace that together. Your first target was Wind Sail, the pony in charge of shipping cargo into Equestria. With him gone you’ve thrown the system of transporting goods off balance. Although you didn’t actually need to kill him as Wind Sail was a member in my organization. Now that I think about it, the same goes for Gold Key. He was the one in charge of the castle treasury. In fact almost, no, all the ponies you’ve taken out were members of…” Time Peace suddenly stopped as understanding gripped his mind. 'Don’t you just love it when that spark of knowledge goes off in their head and their eyes double in size to the point where you can use them as small mirrors...' ========================================== Once my deed was done, I headed out the same way I came in. As I continued my way over the city, a pair of guards caught my eye as they were chatting at the entrance of an alley. One was a light brown stallion with gold plated armor. The other was a stallion, white as snow, and wore purple armor of the same type. Time Peace was more resistant than the others I dealt with. He did not reveal any information about any of the other, living, ponies in the organization. I don’t torture ponies. Torture is an evil deed and one I will not take a part in. These guards might be saying something that might send me on the trail for more members of the organization. Or even better, they could be sharing information about the Elements. No matter what they're up to, they don’t have and will never have the power to harm the Elements of Harmony. I worked my way across the roofs again, but this time I moved about a hundred hooves farther down the alley. Then it was a simple matter of stretching out my wings and silently gliding down to the cobblestone street. I took a step forward only to stop at the small clop of my hoof hitting the stone pavement. I looked up to the guards and luckily for me, they were still speaking amongst themselves. I let out my breath in a small exhale. 'The older the wiser, my hoof! That is just some peace of gibberish made by somepony trying to get their foals to agree with them. I’m older than all of the civilians in this city put together and even I am prone to mistakes', I reprimanded myself. I walked forward again, this time keeping my attention on where, and how, I put my hooves down. This took some effort, especially with my hind hooves, but I worked my way to where the guards stood. “Captain”, asked the brown stallion, turning his head towards his superior, “who is guarding the prisoner on the 9th shift tomorrow?” The white stallion kept his gaze straight forward as he answered. “That information is classified and only for officers to view and know. Why are you interested in it, Private?” The Private in turn looked away and gave a small cough. “Well… I was going to request permission to switch guard duty with them.” The Captain turned his head and looked at the back of the Private’s head. “There had better be a good reason for a switch, that one prisoner could have brought the downfall of all of Equestria. Care to let me know why a switch would be necessary?” The Private fidgeted a lot at this point, shifting his weight from one hoof to another. “Well… You see…” He took a deep inhale before almost bursting the words out of his mouth. “My fillyfriend wants to go to the Wonder Bolts' air show, and I had to basically bust my flank to get a pair of tickets, only to end up with guard duty on that same hour. So I was hoping I could switch out to the later shift so I could attend to the air show with my fillyfriend and then come back for guard duty.” “When you enlist to the guard, you are supposed to put aside all personal activities for your duties to Equestria”, the Captain reminded. The Private’s ears folded and he couldn't bring his gaze to match the Captain’s. His time of shame was cut short when his commanding officer spoke again. “I’ll see what I can do.” The Private looked up and met the Captain's eyes with puzzlement. Only for the Captain to sigh. “If my wife caught word that I kept a couple from going out on a date, Wonder Bolts' air show or no, it would be my flank that gets busted.” The conversation was getting rather dull. I have lived for thousands of years and just don’t see the excitement of listening into others’ lives. So I slowly and quietly retraced my steps back down the alley, this time without repeating my earlier mistake. It was about then I saw something on the wall of the alley. It was a poster of a hooded pony with a great big word above it, ‘CAUTION’. Under the picture of the hooded face it gave details on how you should avoid this pony at all cost and give any clues on his whereabouts to the Guard. Finally, at the bottom of the poster, was a price paid for such information. “That is a lot of bits.” I wonder if they’d pay me for turning myself in? … Wait. Did I say that first part out loud? I turned to my right to see the guards looking back at me down the alley. “Horseapples!” ======================================= Red Page's POV “I’m going to be sick.” Right after I said these words, I gave yet another dry heave over the bow of the ship. “Come on Red Page, you’ve been sayin' that for the last two days”, Tide Sailor, the captain of the ship said from behind me. “Say, do you get this motion sick on wagons or just ships?” Another dry heave later, I turned to reply, but before I could, another wave hit the ship and I almost fell overboard in my attempt to remove everything, and anything, from my already empty stomach. Tide Sailor, on the other hoof, busted out in laughter. “I was wondering how you’d take the waves, ever since you said that you've never sailed before.” I let out a small groan as I said, “And I’ll never do it again either.” “LAND HO!” The cry came from the pony in the crow’s nest. Over the crashing waves and the tilting ship I was barely able to turn around to see the outline of Fillydelphia, before I once again was heaving over the side. Tide Sailor walked over to me and put a hoof on my shoulder. “I guess I should apologize. I was being rude. It’s not that often we get somepony that has such a hard time on the water as you.” I gave a small shrug with my shoulders to show it was alright with me. “I’m glad you feel that way. By the way, there is a bottle of medication for sea sickness in the pantry...” ================================= “PONY OVERBOARD!” I could barely hear the call from on deck and frankly, I didn’t even care. I may not know how to swim, but if I drowned, I was going to take this no-good, wicked excuse of a sea captain down with me. Was it wrong that I felt disappointed when I felt a magical aura surround me and Tide Sailor before I could drown him? ==================================== It took me some fifteen minutes to purchase my train ticket to Ponyville. The line at the ticked booth was long, but what really bothered me was the hour and twenty minutes it took me to recover from the rocky sea voyage. Once I got my ticket, I walked over and got a seat on the train. My mind went back to Tide Sailor's question about if I only got sea sick or had motion sickness. The answer had to be sea sickness. I was once a great flyer and flying never got me motion sick. The only reason I got sea sick was the motion of the deck under my hooves. You don’t get that when flying. I may have never been on a train before, but I’ve seen how straight they go without any bumping or jolting. I just had the time to reassure myself before the train started to move. There was a small clunk under the train as it was moving. I looked to the mare beside me watching the scenery roll past the window. She seemed unworried by the sound so I didn’t let it bother me. That is until it happened again and again a few seconds later. I turned to the mare and asked, “What is that sound?” She gave a small giggle before answering, “It’s just the train going from one piece of railing to the other. Nothing to be concerned about.” I smiled and let my head fall against the cushion of the seat. I let myself completely relax... that is until… *CLUNK* I felt my stomach tighten at the sound. *CLUNK* Once more my stomach tightened, even more than last time. With the next clunk, I not so nicely gave a small shove to the mare as I opened the window and plopped my head out for the dry heaves that began. 'I hate traveling.'