//------------------------------// // Chapter 3: Out from the shadows // Story: Days of the Knight // by Sanguine Eyes //------------------------------// "Did ya see that Twi?" A flash of blue and a swing of a rainbow mane as she twirled about kicking firmly into the air, reliving the moments of heroism. "I got that sucker right in his muzzle, twice! Bam! BAM!!" Her hooves repeated the action at each remembered strike.Overjoyed, she fell back laughing as Applejack laughed wholeheartedly, joining in on the celebration. "Darn tootin Rainbow, not every day you get to save Princess Celestia herself." With a flash of pink zipping up, a certain somepony joined in on the laughter as if she owned it. "Oh yeah! it was AMAZING!!!!!" High pitched and ear splitting as ever, Pinkie Pie giggled herself silly and continued. "Fluttershy, you saw it didn't you? Rainbow was like BAM!!! Then she was like SWOOSH! Then BAM! Then AJ, BAM!!! Then princess Celestia and Twilight BAAAMMM! It was awesooooooome!" Fluttershy was still in the corner shivering and shaking, eyes wide. Rarity surprisingly too was happily caught up in the excitement, though her tone was more negative. "That armor was such a stain for him, those wretched wings and cloaks. I'll bet he’s never taken a bath in his life. Bleh! I shudder at the thought. And even worse... who wears black over purple? Had it been purple over black maybe, but not black over purple, goodness. Evil really has no sense of fashion." Off in the corner, only one pony stood apart from the rest. Twilight still could not come to terms that she had just witnessed somepony trying to kill her longtime friend and teacher. A literal assassin had just attempted to kill Celestia. She could not shake the feeling that this was the beginning of something much bigger. In the history of Equestria, rarely did anyone ever get even remotely close to achieving a goal as drastic as this without either a lot of support of overwhelming power, much like Discord or Chrysalis. The assassin not only avoided the guard, but got in and above Celestia without anypony noticing, save for Pinkie, but no one could account for her abilities in any sense of the word. Just getting past the royal guard alone would have required either months of study on the guard’s routes and routines or an insane amount of luck. Or the most undesirable of options. Perhaps the assassin had an insider. But even with all of that flooding her mind, she shivered at what he had said. Her practically OCD stricken mind had burned through it a dozen times. There really was no way to actually prove that Luna really was Luna, as in Celestia’s sister. The only thing she had to go on was that Celestia and Luna both claimed it and nothing as of yet even hinted otherwise. In the end it didn’t really change anything, but it haunted her with questions. Where was Celestia when Nightmare Moon had escaped? She was not captive, she was not dead, she was not banished. She had just mysteriously vanished up until the very second the elements of harmony had been returned. Did Celestia send her to Ponyville only to meet up with predetermined ponies to reactivate her most valued weapon and act as its bearer? She shook her head as the questions poured through her mind. Casting all kinds of doubt on her old teacher. “No! Princess Celestia is not evil! She has never hurt a fly and would never hurt anypony”. Her mind shouted at itself trying to clear away the doubts when suddenly a hoof waved itself in front of her face. “Um…hello? You in there Twilight?“ Applejack’s orange figure stood in front of her as the others continued chatting. “You ok sugar cube? You’ve been just glaring into space since Celestia told us to go.” She blinked and forced a smile which fooled nopony. “Y-yeah, I’m just a little shaken. What that stallion said about Celestia… its just-” “Oh come off it egghead. He’s a bad guy, and bad guys lie all the time. I’ll bet he would have blamed Celestia for the common cold if he could have. HA!” Rainbow Dash zipped up into the air, still proudly swishing her front hooves through the air. “Nopony no matter how bad can get to Celestia with us around!” The words no matter how unthought through, they brought her comfort. She owed so much to Celestia. A stroke of comfort and ease came in as she decided for once that she didn’t need to know. She had faith that Celestia was not evil. She had never lead them astray before and she wouldn’t start now. In this rare instance, ignorance really was bliss. She smiled happily. “Yeah… I guess you are right Rainbow. Let’s just keep an eye out for more assassins for you and AJ to buck up.” All together they laughed and giggled, when something odd sounded. With a quick magical tingle, something popped loudly and Rainbow Dash ducked with lightning like reflexes, as a dart missed her by a mere inch and popped right into Pinkie Pie’s chest. She looked down and gave a goofy smile “Whoa….I….feel…wooozyyy…hee heee heeee…Twilight…whaaaa your mane is made of frosting…he hee!” She quickly fell backwards splat on the ground as Applejack lunged forward from where the dart had come from. Pivoting with her years of apple bucking experience she lunged ‘Bucky McGilly Goody’ and ‘Kicks McGee’ into the dark corner with all her might. The result was a shattered cabinet and a cracked stone wall behind that. From the shelf fell what looked to be an oversized bronze chicken’s egg with a winding key in it, which released the odd twinkling magic sound that came from a unicorn's horn and a small device that looked like a piece of bamboo with a small box spring on the end. “What in tarnation?” As the words escaped her lips, a shadow from the opposite side of the room shot out closing the distance in a mere instant. It was heading straight for Twilight Sparkle. However, a “mere instant” was all Rainbow Dash needed. With a heavy smash she plowed the figure into the same corner they came from. “HA! Thought you could out Dash the next Wonderbolt huh?” The figure was similar to the last. Smaller and more slender though. A hood covered the top of the pony’s face. The shadowed figure was uncomfortably pinned under Rainbow Dash’s hooves, until that is the invader opened wide and bit down on her blue leg. Eyes going wide as dinner plates, Rainbow Dash quickly yanked her hooves away from the biting pony. The mere motion brought her face closer to the mystery pony who then tilted its head up and let out an ear piercing scream directly into Rainbow’s ear. The Shriek was clearly female and had a slightly younger tone to it, showing that she was likely their same age instead of the adult stallion who attacked Celestia. The shriek was quickly followed with a hoof right to Rainbow’s jaw, knocking her clean out. Whipping up onto her hooves, the mystery mare skid a short distance and ducked quickly and rolled away from a pair of orange swinging hooves. “Hold still you yellowbelly little-“ She was cut off as a metallic click sounded with the swish of the mare’s hooves, drawing back and forth before leaping back. Small trails of red trickled down from Applejack’s chest and neck as her pupils dilated. “Heh…Surprised me at first, but this is as easy as stealing candy from a foal!” The voice rang out with similar confidence and “in your face” sort of bravado that Rainbow Dash spoke with. “I…sssseeee… apples. Why…is the room …spinning? Twilight?” Applejack’s mumbling cut short with her plopping on the ground. The Assassin grinned, taking a step towards Twilight with the utmost confidence as Rarity dashed in, a coat rack magically suspended over her head she charged with her eyes clenched shut. “Die! You crime against fashion!” The cloaked pony simply side stepped, and drew the twin blades affixed to either side of her hooves across Rarity’s passing flank. Without even breaking her stride, the pony continued along as Twilight frantically looked back and forth taking a step back. Rarity was fumbling about and mumbling something about feeling numb before flopping on the ground. Fluttershy was seemingly already out. It appeared as though she was actually the first victim to this method of silencing a foe. “Don’t worry, nopony but the traitor and her pawns are on the list. At worst they will just need some stitches but you, oh, you won’t get the chance.” Only a sly grin over a gray muzzle could be seen under the drawn hood of the assassin. Twilight’s eyes leveled at the pony, the fear and shock dulled as news that her friends were not dying reached her. Now she had to fight for her life. This pony was blindingly fast, but all her friends had been defeated by either surprise, stealth, or just not really all that up to par on combat. There was no horn sticking out from the cloak and nothing to show that she was hiding one. This meant that Twilight had one very clear advantage. “You seem really confident that you can match the power of an alicorn princess, not the smartest thing to have confidence in.” She grinned, and her horn lit up brightly as her teeth grit. Gripping the very tiles beneath the assassin’s feet Twilight literally threw the floor to the ceiling. But quickly the tiles blew out in four separate areas. Only one however, did the assassin dart out from. Plummeting downwards, headfirst. From her cloak, bat wings spread in a gray blur and she swooped at a 90 degree angle and shot out forward with her bladed hooves out in front ready to find their target. Quickly, Twilight leveled her horn and sprouted a rapid fire series of magical blasts scattering about and making the Bat Pony dodge for her life. She twirled, ducked, dodged, and rolled, weaving through the magical onslaught with amazing agility. She got as far as a yard from Twilight before she let out a solid shockwave of magical energies, knocking the Bat Pony back and then again knocking her down into the ground where she stayed unmoving. Out of breath and cautious, she moved closer watching carefully for any signs of the Bat Pony playing her for a fool. Taking a careful step forward, she peeked up and flinched as another of the bronze wind up egg objects rolled from under her cloak to Twilight’s hooves. But there was not so much as a single twitch from the assassin. “Well, it looks like somepony fa-“ The bronze egg suddenly let out an ear piercing blasting screech, leaving nothing more than a dull ring in Twilight’s ears as she flinched and instinctively covered her ears with both hooves. That was the point where she felt the prick. Opening her eyes, the Bat Pony stood on three hooves with one extended front leg as a light trickle of blood spilled down Twilight’s neck. Almost instantly, a numbing feeling shot through her body as her vision blurred and noises dulled. It looked as if everything was melting around her. “Candy from a foal. Now that you have plenty of my special poison in you, I can finish up business. But don’t you worry your pretty princess head… I will give you a nice and quick death. I promise you won’t feel a thing.” She raised her hoof higher as Twilight’s legs gave way letting her fall to the ground. The cloak stripped back as Twilight’s eyes fluttered and closed. Abnormally long wings spread out wide and a pair of pristine copper eyes glared down at the downed alicorn as the blades arced down at her neck. However, yet again, something stood in her way. Or rather opposed her. A heavy pink magical blast impacted the Bat Pony square in the chest, sending her tumbling backwards. A figure stepped out, a bandage firmly over his left eye over his white fur. "Step away from my sister!” Shining Armor stood with one eye leveled at the young bat pony. “Dark Moon! Why is it I am halted every step I take? Oh well, one more pony won't be much of a problem.” She grinned and took another step forward, brushing away the cloak to reveal an old-fashioned set of Luna’s personal soldier’s armor. A scorch mark plastered over it but the pony’s fur was untouched. Her long wings flexed as she readied for another round of combat. But to her confusion, Shining Armor’s eyes just grew more confident and a smile spread over his face as behind him two figures stepped into the room. “Dark moon! Why does the night not favor me?” Luna and Celestia both stared at the young mare. Though, Luna’s eyes widened as she took in the details. The bat pony was the spitting image of Abyssal Dart. The eyes and the wings along were a dead give away. “What is this madness? You!...You are of the Abyssal family. Why are you here? What is going on?” The assassin’s face changed when she saw Luna more clearly. It was one of confusion, anger and pain. Her wings flashed forwards then wrapped about her protectively. It took almost a full second for Shining Armor to realize she had thrown something. “HIT THE DECK!!” He dove, and covered himself and Twilight with his magic as the princesses instinctively flinched. Their instincts proved almost fast enough as a loud blast and blinding flash pounded the area. Just as quick as she had reacted, the bat pony unraveled her wings from her body and blasted from her spot out the window at blinding speeds. “Gah!” Celestia squinted rubbing her eyes painfully from the bright flash. “Guards!!! After her!” The Pegasus whom of which just entered the room following the Princesses as fast as their hooves and wings could carry them, quickly darted out the window. But not nearly as fast as one, still dizzy but not fully out for the count, blue Pegasus. The loud blast had reversed what a jaw full of hoof had done. She was the ONLY of the group that was not blinded by the flash and was not poisoned. “Fly all you want you jerk, but you can't out fly me, the first filly ever to pull off,” she paused with a grin at the high altitude that the bat pony had decided to level off at and start a dive down away from Canterlot for a quick escape. “The sonic rainboom!” With a blast of blue and a rainbow trail, Rainbow Dash picked up speed at a frightening rate of acceleration catching up quickly to the bat pony who took one look back and flashed a similar grin blasting forward almost matching Rainbow’s speed. However, something happened. With a sudden burst of energy, the bat pony’s extra long wings reached forward, just as Rainbow Dash had almost come within reach. The bat pony looked back and over the blaring wind and beginning of the formation of the mach cone over the front of her hooves, Rainbow Dash could almost make out her voice saying one thing. “Sonic Borealis.” In an instant, her wings blasted into a backwards motion and the mach cone over her front hooves shattered. An explosion of green, blue and deep purple hues shot out everywhere. The bat pony rocketed away in the resulting explosion, which also as a side effect blasted Rainbow Dash in the opposite direction. End over end, she tumbled through the air. Her vision blurred and her nose now bleeding from the shock wave, she shuttered trying hard to regain control as the last of her sight failed her, slipping into unconsciousness in the skies far above Canterlot.