//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Where To Go? // Story: Reminisce : Swift Slash's Shadow // by Neon //------------------------------// "He's gone sir," a minion Guardian said. "Find him or I'll have your asses mounted on my wall!" The leader of the Guardians said. Let's call him Francis, since, that is his real name. "Sir, he is gone! We looked everywhere," minion reassured Francis. "Get me a map!" Francis demanded. The minion pulled out a map and handed it to his leader. "Hmmm...He'll probably want to flee as far away as possible from this town....so that means....he's definitely not heading to Ponyville...." Francis said as he crossed off Ponyville from the map. He gave the map back to the minion. "Search in the remaining towns, and find his expendable little body, and BRING ME HIS HEAD!!!" Francis said. "Yes sir, Mr. Fran-" "What did you just say?" "I sai-" that's all the minion could say before his head was cut off. Francis gave the map to somepony else. "Remember...not Ponyville!" Francis said. *** 'Ponyville, huh?' Swift said to himself as he examined a map 'It's the closest, and I'm too damn lazy to walk any further' Swift thought to himself as he walked away from the place he called home all his life. Swift looked in his knapsack. 'Hmph, I guess this will have to suffice.' He slung the knapsack over his shoulder, and walked on. He knew he had to do a lot of walking, thankfully he had never taken an arrow to the knee, or this would be a hard trip. Swift began to stroke the necklace his mother had "supposedly" given to him before she died. Swift had been lied to his whole life, he had no idea what's true, and what's a lie anymore. Although his father had used Swift for his own personal gain to get back for the Guardians actions, he can't really say he blames him. At least now he knows that every time he rammed a blade through a Guardian, it was for his mom. Since Swift is so used to it, his white robes were covered in dirt and blood. He hadn't really noticed until he took out some water to drink-then he saw passing shadows above him. Guardians. They saw Swift and landed in front of him. 'Oh, give me a friggin' break!' Swift thought to himself. 'Three, huh? Should be easy.' The Guardians all drew their swords and walked slowly to Swift. 'Are they really THAT stupid!?' One lunged at Swift and to which Swift pulled out a dagger and stabbed him in the gut. The Guardian slowly slid off the blade, dead. Swift sheathed his dagger as another Guardian jumped at Swift pointing the sword toward his head. Swift laughed a little inside at how easy this fight was going to go. Swift drew his right hidden blade, deflected the attempt, grabbed the Red by his fore-leg, dropped the sad-sorry little stallion, and sent a razor-sharp blade through his heart. The last remaining soldier was scared. Swift could see it in his eyes. Swift, being an understanding pony and all, sheathes all his weapons and takes the proper Muay Thai fighting stance, ready to hoof-fight the last Red. The Red being completely untrained in hoof-to-hoof fighting, seized this opportunity to strike with his sword. Somehow, Swift saw this coming. As the Red attempted to strike Swift, Swift side stepped out of the way. He was being a little cocky, so, the sword struck him above the left of his abs, just missing any vital organs. Swift grunted at this shock, though, it isn't the first time he had been wounded. He worried more about his robes having a large gash in them. 'So, this little shit's not going to play fair, eh?' Swift said to himself. He charged in anger at the Red with both his hidden blades drawn. He impaled the Red in the chest and in the pelvis, lifted the Red above his head, and then pulled outward. The Red was in two pieces. He dropped the dead stallion and continued forward. 'Mphh...this really hurts...' Swift took the map, ripped a piece off, placed it on his wound and used his sash to keep it in place. Swift then ate the last of his food he had. He knew he was going to regret it later. He spread his wings, and took off. He was going to try to fly it out. *** 6 hours of flying later Swift was beginning to lose altitude, and his vision was getting blurry. He had lost a lot of blood and had no food or any water. He could see a little bit of lights ahead, so Swift pushed himself a little. He began to lose consciousness, and before he knew it, he hit the ground with a thud. The last thing he saw was a pink blur bouncing up and down towards him... The next thing Swift knew, he woke up laying down on a couch. He looked around and it seemed he was in a shop. A sign read 'Carousel Boutique. ' He looked down and saw that his wound had been patched up....WAIT....WHAT!? He can see his wound!? 'Where's my robes!? Who took them?' "Wakey wakey, sleepy head!" A high pitched voice said. Swift sat up to see who it was. His vision got blurry all of a sudden from standing straight too fast after laying down. "Come on! At least PRETEND you're alive!" "Who are you? Where are my robes? And....where am I?" Swift couldn't think straight, so he just spammed questions out of his mouth. "One question at a time, silly! I'm not magic! Anyway, I'm Pinkie Pie, your robes are over there, and....WELCOME TO PONYVILLE!" Pinkie Pie said with a huge grin on her face. 'Ponyville, huh? I guess I made it.' Swift looked over to where she was pointing her hoof to. An elegant, white unicorn was finishing up stitching his robes. "I just absolutely LOVE your robes darling! But why was there blood all over it!?" The white unicorn said in a posh, fancy accent. "My name's Rarity by the way." Rarity said while using her magic to give Swift his robes. Not only had she fixed the rip, but cleaned it completely too. "Thanks..." Swift began, "Name's Swift Slash...How much do I owe you? Miss... uhh Rarity?" "Oh it was nothing dear, you don't have to pay me a single bit!" Rarity chimed, forgetting the blood question. 'Dazzling AND generous.' "Thanks, I owe you." Swift said while putting his robes back on and flipping his hood back on his head. He felt something was missing. "Oh darling, don't put that hood on, we can't see your eyes! And they're quite ravishing!" Rarity said. 'My eyes are ravishing?'Swift's eyes were finally revealed. He had pure golden eyes, something very rare for ponies to have. "Um...thanks, but sorry, I'm used to having a hood on. Anyway, who patched me up?" "Oh, we called a nurse while you were unconscious. She stitched you right up. So Swift, may we ask you questions now?" Rarity asked. "Go for it." "Ooooh oooh, are you going to stay here? Do you need a house? I can help! Oh I LOVE making new friends! Why do you have a robe? Are you a ninja!? That would be so cool! Can you jump off walls and do karate kicks!? Do you have like a cool name like, 'Ghost' or, or 'Spirit'? Why did you have a wound? What's your cutiemark supposed to mean? And what are you doing with THOSE?" Pinkie Pie said while pointing at Swift's arsenal. The look on Swift's face told you what he was thinking: 'She said all that in one breath!? Holy hay...' 'So that's what was missing! My weapons...' "Whoa whoa whoa, okay, let's slow down a little," Swift said, staring at his weapons "I don't really feel...comfortable answering a lot of those. They're kinda...unspeakable." "Whatcha mean 'unspeakable?' Is something wrong with your voice? Why can't you speak about them?" Pinkie asked. She was starting to piss Swift off. "I just...don't wanna talk about it." "Darling, we aren't going to think any less of you. Can you please tell us what's going on so we can help you?" Rarity asked. 'Damn it, I'm going to have to confess...' "My name's Swift Slash, I'm an assassin, I got stabbed by a foe of mine, I came to Ponyville to avoid getting killed, yes, I'm staying for as long as I can, my cutie mark is a sword with wings, representing my ability to use a blade swiftly, no, my name is just Swift Slash, I do know...karate (karate wasn't something Swift learned, he just wanted to dumb it down a little) THOSE are my weapons I use to keep myself alive. Happy?" Swift said in a dull tone. Pinkie Pie and Rarities jaws were on the floor by the time he finished. They were speechless. "Assa....assassin!?" Pinkie muttered. "You don't look like an assassin...' "I don't think we can help you there dear," Rarity said. "I don't need any more help. You two have done a lot to help me. I just need to be able to stay hidden from danger for as long as possible, there are ponies that want me dead," Swift said, taking back all his weapons and his knapsack. He was glad they hadn't touched anything in his knapsack. "Oh dear, why do they want you dead!?" asked Rarity. "Let's just say...I pissed off a lot of ponies." "Oh, we can help with that!" Pinkie said, smiling again. "I'm sure one of our friends will like to help! They're all friendly and I'm sure-" "No," Swift said. "What do you mean no, silly? Where are you going to stay?" Pinkie questioned. "I...I don't know....but where ever-" "Please dear, let us help. There is no place to live right now. All the hotels are packed." 'I'm going to lose again....F my life.' "Okay, where are you gonna take me?" Swift said dully. "Well, let me introduce you to our friends!" Pinkie beamed. 'Great even more ponies to judge me.' "Leeeeet's gooo!!!" Pinkie said. She bounced off, Rarity following. Swift then followed too. Pinkie gathered all her main friends: Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Applejack and brought them to Twilight's house. "Okay everypony, say hello to our new....FRIEND!" Pinkie said, while unraveling her hooves, pointing at Swift. Everypony looked at him funny. They either looked at him confused, or they looked at him shaking in their hooves, scared at what Swift had around his waist. Swift took note of the pony gang: A purple unicorn who looked smart, a timid looking yellow pegasus with a graceful pink mane, an orange earth pony with a blonde mane with two hairbands keeping them in place. She also wore a stetson hat. And finally, an extremely colorful cyan coated pegasus. Why was she so colorful? Her mane was a friggin' rainbow. Swift hadn't really been anywhere near mares before, so he felt awkward. "Um, hello everypony," Swift began. "My name is Swift Slash an-" "HE'S AN AS-" Pinkie said, but got a hoof to the mouth. "A...lawn mower pony...." "A lawn mower pony? Really? What am I gonna do, trim the grass with my sword?" "He's an Assassin," the purple pony with a purple mane and purple eyes said. (She must love purple) The rest of the group gasped. "Good job...um...-" "Twilight. Twilight Sparkle." "Good job Twilight. Not that many ponies know about Assassins." "Thank you. I've read about you Assassins, killing for control and power." "Sorta, but yes. But don't worry everypony, I plan on retiring. Nothing else much to do since everypony I've know and loved is dead." The group gasped again. "Oh you poor thing..." the yellow one with the pink mane said. "I'm sorry to hear, but, if you're retiring, why do you still have your weapons?" Twilight asked. "Protection," Swift responded. "Sorry if they scare you, but I doubt I'm ever going to pull them out." "Anyway," Pinkie began, "Swift needs a place to stay, he's got no home here. Can anypony take him in while he looks for a place to live?" The faint sound of crickets filled the air. "Please everypony, one at a time," Swift said sarcastically. "Look sugercube," the orange one began, "It ain't that we don't like ya, it's ya kinda scare the hay outta us." "I understand, but, I reassure you. I'm not violent," Swift said, trying to hold a laugh. "So why are you an Assassin?" Twilight asked. "A very...personal reason," Swift said unsteadily. "I see....anyway, we haven't introduced ourselves, besides me. This is Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash. 'Rainbow Dash lives up to her name I see.' Swift said to himself. "He...hello..." Fluttershy said. "Howdy," Applejack said. "Hiya! Don't worry Swift, you don't scare me," Rainbow Dash said. "Uh, partner? Wha don'tcha take off yer hood?" Applejack questioned. "I just prefer it on," Swift said. "An', one more thing, why ya standin' on yer hind-legs?" "Again, I just prefer it." "Well...I guess you can stay here until you get back on your hooves," Twilight said. "Oh thankyouthankyouthankyou Twilight! See Swift? I toldja they were nice!" Pinkie said. 'Yeah...A real joy....' Everypony left Twilight's house and the last two that remained were Twilight and Swift. It was night so Twilight thought it would be a good idea to show Swift his side of the house. "Okay...There, that's your side, this is my side," Twilight said. There was a huge purple force field cutting the house in two. 4/5ths of the house was Twilight's. "Okay, good night!" 'At least she shows GREAT hospitality.' She had given Swift the guest bed. Swift was starving, but he could wait for morning. He was tired as hell.