Blades in the Crowd

by walk-in closet brony

Prologue

Dearest Twilight,

He comes for me, just as he came for the others. I can feel the watchful sting of his gaze everywhere I go. First Applejack and Rainbow Dash, then the others. It's just us now. Sometimes I wonder if what we've been doing is right, good for our little ponies, but then I remind myself that you've never led us astray and that you'll always be there for me. You're a better leader than any crackpot princess that tries to govern in that goddess-forsaken castle, no matter how many times we've bowed to their forelegs and kissed their hooves in fake earnest. I know in my heart that you will know what to do when the time comes.

May the mare of understanding guide us,

-R

A distraught purple mare magically crumpled up the parchment in a foreboding sigh and threw it in the waste bin next to her desk, lowering her head in a melancholy fashion. With a reassuring smile, her right hoof slowly stroked a golden, hypnotizing sphere in her lap that began to speak calm, soothing words into her head.

"Don't worry . . . I wont let him take you away from me . ." She whispered.
________________________________________________________________________________

Ten years earlier . . .

"VIRTUE! Noble Virtue you wake up and get down here this instant! You're breakfast is getting cold and your father needs you at the stand in thirty minutes! It's a busy day today!"

An aged mare stood at the foot of the old staircase, her eyes fixated to the top waiting for her son to appear.

---

Noble Virtue stirred in his bed, his dream of saving the world interrupted by a loud call from below. He roused awake and shook his head vigorously, realizing his tardiness to the dining room and most importantly, his job. Wrestling his bed sheets away from him, Virtue slipped from his roost and collided with the hardwood floor, eliciting a pained grumble from the groggy Earth pony.

"Ugh . . coming! Oh goddess, this cannot keep happening." Moaned Virtue as he clambered off the ground and towards the bathroom to freshen up.

Noble Virtue had grown up in a middle class home in the town of Ponyville, which had just then started it's rise to becoming a metropolis. His father, but a simple food merchant, worked a stand in the same place that he had been selling his wares for almost twenty years. It was a simple life, but a livable one compared to others who had been hit by the industrial awakening brought on by the element of magic, princess Twilight Sparkle, who had risen to political and economical control alongside the other bearers of the elements of harmony, who also held firm stakes in the way things were being run in Equestria. The years grew on and Virtue completed school, only to join his father in the merchant guild to help raise funds for the rent.

"Virtue!"

"COMING!"

Noble Virtue descended the stairs with a brisk air about him, trying to ignore the creaking of the stairs as he trotted over the rotting wood. The wallpaper, as crummy as it was to start with, was also withering away.

"Virtue's gonna be late! Virtue's gonna be late!" Chanted Virtue's sister, Penumbra.

"Eat your breakfast Pen, here's your flapjacks Virtue." Said their mother, jumping back and forth between stations.

"Thanks mom, where's dad?" Asked Virtue as he scarfed down the morning meal.

"Your father's already at the stand hon, he's waiting for you so you better hurry."

---

The walk from Virtue's home to the town center wasn't a very long trek, only three blocks away from his house stood the town center and the marketplace where he and his father sold their food.

A loud voice rung out, catching Virtue's attention.

"You can't evict me! I payed my bills on time!"

Two large armor-plated guards towered over a unicorn and levitated a piece of parchment towards the mare's face. Virtue shriveled a bit. These guards had princess Sparkle's insignia on their helms. They had always been overly-aggressive ever since her royal majesty Twilight Sparkle took up permanent office in Canterlot, carrying out orders they deemed, "given straight from the mouth of the princess."

"Yes we can. You're being relocated to a temporary living quarters until further notice." One spoke.

"What the hay! Why?"

"By order of Princess Twilight Sparkle. Your home is now inside the building plot of her majesty's own personal palace to be. You have until the thirty-first to move. If you have a problem you can write a letter of formal complaint and send it to the address on this slip." The other guard explained.

"Formal complaint!? You can tell the "princess" that she can take my formal complaint and shove it up her-"

"Alright, that's enough outta you," Said the unicorn guard, interrupting the mare's outburst,"I could incarcerate you right now for treason if I wanted to. But since I'm feeling nice . . ."

The guard blindsided the mare in her right temple with his baton, smirking as she fell to the ground.

"AGH! Is-isn't anypony going to do anything?" The pained unicorn groaned, staring pleadingly into the crowd that had formed before her front lawn.

The two guards chortled as they glanced around the street, looking for anyone with a vengeful face, but all they saw were frightened little ponies trying to continue on with their day. Noble Virtue felt like galloping over there right now and pounding each of those idiots in the face.

"See? No one cares you whelp. Now get out of my sight before I arrest you for loitering on government property!"

The defeated mare limped away, clutching the eviction notice in her jaw, her forehead now oozing blood in short gushes. The guards themselves laughed it off and shot a grim look at everypony that continued to stare, effectively clearing the area of all curious onlookers.

Virtue felt ashamed to be among the cowards. Those who never acted, only complained about lack of action behind closed doors yet took the oppression and the punishments everyday, hoping for a new outcome.

---

The buzzing of the merchants and the stock vendors in the city square could only be outmatched by the sound of metallic, military horseshoes clopping against the hard cobblestone as they patrolled the bustling area, on the watch for troublemakers and those who crossed over their business boundaries, selling in areas not permitted to them by Ponyville's captain of the guard. Noble Virtue jostled his way through the maelstrom of ponies, trying to find his father's stand in the middle of the organized chaos. A trio of enforcers crossed his path, and Virtue was nearly bowled over by the guard's shear size.

"Watch it colt, lest you wish for me to lock you in the stockade!" He blared.

The guard bore the purple crest of Princess Sparkle.

"Sorry, I'll try to be more careful." Spoke Virtue in a sincere, apologizing voice, as much as he did not mean it.

"Next time, you'll be imprisoned whelp! Now return to the crevice you crawled out from and don't let me see you again." Barked another guard, a Unicorn, also bearing the icon of Princess Sparkle.

Noble Virtue broke into a gallop, getting as far away from the guards as he could.

"Stupid . . jerks . . ." He panted.

A large mass stopped Virtue in his tracks, and to his chagrin, it too was not pleased to see him in the late manner he had arrived in.

"You're late son . . . again." Chided Virtue's father, Tailor Made.

"Sorry dad, I ran into a couple of purple-snouts. They kept me waiting-"

"Son, I don't need excuses right now. Just, please, put on your apron and earn some bits." He pleaded.

"Yeah, alright . . ." Sighed Virtue.

---

The day wore on, and the combined trade skills of Virtue and his father managed to earn them enough bits to pay for another months rent. With the waning sun leaving towards the west, the waxing moon rose in the east, signaling it was time for all the merchants to return home.

"I think we did pretty good today, don't you?" Asked Tailor Made as he hung his apron onto the cart.

"We've had better, remember that time when we sold the whole carts-worth? We ate good that week." Said Virtue.

The two reminisced while they packed up their wares, unaware of the approaching duo of guards, both of them bearing the dreaded crest.

"Uh-oh. Dad, purple snouts." Said Virtue, lowering his head.

The two entrepreneurs held their breath, awaiting the insults and retorts that usually came from the guards in purple. Luckily for Virtue and his father, the guards passed their stand, one of them knocking over a stack of dried apricots to the ground. They continued over to another stand, owned by a blacksmith.

"Hey! Your rent is past due, you owe the guild leader two-hundred and fifty bits plus thirty in interest!" They commanded, knocking over some of the stallion's hardware sending it crashing to the ground.

"Watch it you jerks, you almost broke my product! And I ain't paying your crazy "protection" fee to that corrupt tyrant sitting in that mansion! The only thing I need "protection" from is thugs like you!" He scolded, leaning down to pick up a broken horseshoe.

The guard waited for the artisan's attention to be affixed elsewhere, then reared back and bucked him hard in the side, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Listen you!" The Pegasus spoke. "I don't take lip from lowlifes like you, understand? You either pay up, or I take you on a one way trip to palooka-ville on the pain train."

To Virtue's surprise, the old stallion looked up at the guard and spit in his face, smirking with defiance as he spoke.

"You wear that armor like you possess the honor to bear it, but you and your goons are just a bunch of scoundrels, feeding off of the citizens like your mad princess does up in the capitol." He hissed.

The guard grinned devilishly and wiped the mucus from his helm.

"Barrel, Swifty, take this fool around back and beat him to an inch of death, then arrest him for treason to her royal majesty." He sneered.

The old stallions defiance quickly melted away as he received an abrupt kick to the ribs by one of the guards. He was then picked up and dragged towards the back of Sugarcube emporium, the largest sweet-making superstore in the land. The guard who ordered the cruel punishment smirked and began to trot off before glancing at Virtue and his father, who looked on with fear and disgust.

"Well? What are you two simpletons gawking at? Go back to your rubbish heap and forget what you saw." He commanded.

Virtue and his father left with haste, careful not to anger the already ticked off guard any further.

"Those sorry excuses for guards, it infuriates me that they have the authority to run amuck in our city and treat others like dirt!" Complained his father.

"Dad?" Asked Virtue in an equally frustrated tone. "Why don't we ever try to do anything to stop them? Why not sign a petition, or peacefully protest?"

"Because of what you just saw. We would be snatched up by the guard so quickly, we wouldn't even have time to drop our protest banners. It's that tyrant in Canterlot I tell ya, that princess Sparkle just up and went mad one day, and Celestia or Luna wont do a thing about it! The princess of the day is too soft to turn on her old student and lady Luna is too afraid to go against her sister's wishes. It's a sorry world you and your sister have to grow up in son, and I'm sorry that you-"

Tailor Made was cut short, too stunned to speak as he gazed upon the street he and his family lived on. It was filled with angry ponies, all chanting and shouting angrily. The guards at the end of the street were trying to speak over the crowd, but to no avail.

"Tailor! Over here!" Shouted Virtue's mother, waving them over into a small pocket within the protestors.

"Goddess, what is going on Scarlet? And where's Penumbra?" Asked Tailor.

"Penumbra's right here with me." Said Scarlet, revealing Noble Virtue's younger sibling. "Oh Tailor, the guards, we've all been evicted!" Cried Scarlet, pulling Tailor into a sad embrace.

"Evicted? What for!?" He yelled.

"The captain of the guard has seized our property to build some kind of palace for the princess! This is terrible, where will we go?" Whimpered Scarlet, Leaning over her children and caressing their manes in earnest.

Penumbra began to cry, and all Virtue could do was sit and wait for something to happen.

"This is outrageous! I'm going to march up there and have a word with that scoundrel!" Shouted his father.

A pony next to them, a farmer by the look of him, chuckled and spoke snidely.

"Good luck with that friend! They wont let anyone close to the podium." He chortled.

"Yeah, we'll see about that." Hissed Tailor as he began to push his way through the crowd. "Scarlet, watch the kids."

Virtue watched his father, a prominent figure in the neighborhood held in high regards by many who knew him, trot through the crowd and further toward the podium than anypony else had gone. He was practically in the muzzle of the forward guard's face when he began to speak. Shouts from the crowd who were familiar with the voice of Tailor Made began to hush the crowd, waiting for the wise words of the humble food vendor to find a resolution to the situation at hoof.

"Everypony Hush! Tailor Made is going to speak!"

"Quiet down!"

"Shut up, that's Tailor Made about to speak up there!"

When it was quiet enough, Tailor Made addressed the guards and requested they state their business.

"Our business? You'd do well to get back in line with the rabble you old codger!" Shouted the captain.

"Good sirs," Pleaded Tailor."Can we not make an appeal to her royal highness? These are good ponies you are forcing onto the street. Honest, hard-working souls that only live to see their families prosper."

"I'll give you one last chance street urchin, one last chance to get back!" Yelled the Captain.

Tailor Made gulped and opened his mouth to speak again when an enforcers baton struck him clean in the jaw-line, sending him flying into the open embrace of the crowd.

All was momentarily silent until a brick flew from the masses, striking the captain in the head.

"GAH! Who dares? That's it, guards! Arrest them all!" Commanded the captain, who held a hoof to his bleeding snout.

The crowd heard this, and surged forward, pushing and shoving against the advancing enforcers.

Noble Virtue and his sister were held tight by their mother as the chaos of the riot swirled around them. It wasn't until the Pegasus battalions swooped in and began bludgeoning citizens in the skull did the crowd begin to break, and so began the arrests of at least forty eight Equestrians, four of them being Noble Virtue and his entire family.

---

The crowd of condemned criminals were herded into an abandoned warehouse, seeing as though the current jailhouse was too small a fit for the mass of innocents that had been beaten and thrown in chains. Noble Virtue and his family huddled in a corner, licking their wounds and tending to a whimpering Penumbra.

"Please sweetie, don't cry. Mammas here, mammas here to make it all better . . ." Hushed Scarlet, calmly rocking Penumbra back-and-forth in her lap.

Noble Virtue and his father sat by the iron fence that had been used to contain the civilians inside the building, keeping the guards safe on the other side. There was a window on Virtue's side, but it led to a steep drop below, warranted by sharp rocks and surrounded by fierce, untamable waters that narrowed into a river that flowed straight through the city of Ponyville.

"Dad, what do we do?" Asked Virtue, seeking guidance from the family patriarch.

"I, I don't know son. We wait it out I suppose. Princess Celestia will surely hear about this and we'll be released in no time. You'll see." He reassured.

"Oh, alright."

The dismal atmosphere of the room only did aid to compliment the equally poor morale of the ponies held captive inside the large space. Whimpers were heard throughout, and multiple citizens who had received serious head injuries during the brawl were suffering from blood loss, yet there was no medical care to be given. Virtue could only stare in disbelief, until his attention was caught by two guards discussing a pressing matter quite close to his position.

And if Virtue was good at anything, it was hearing things he wasn't supposed to hear.

"Orders? Orders from who?" Asked one guard.

"Straight from the princess herself." Spoke the other.

Virtue continued to listen intently.

"She can't be serious? The whole lot of 'em?"

"Yep? These commands are to be carried out immediately or else it's the gallows for all of us."

The other guard sighed in contempt.

"Poor fools, they don't even know what's coming to 'em." He spoke before wandering between the other guards and relaying whatever was written on the parchment to their wanting ears.

"Dad? The guards, they're leaving." Observed Virtue.

Tailor looked on, and true to his son's words, the guards began leaving one by one. The crowd began to notice as well, and began to stand up and protest the absence of their captors.

"Hey, what's going on?"

"Where're you jerks going?"

"You get back here and let us out this instant!"

Unwavering to the retorts from the crowd, the guards emptied the warehouse, the last two Earth pony guards pulling the doors shut behind them. The cacophony of complaining continued, an equal distribution of confusion making it's way through the gathered mass of ponies.

"Momma, what's going to happen to us?" Asked Penumbra, clinging to her mother.

Scarlet didn't answer, unclear of the question herself.

Virtue kept his attention fixed on the door, his interest piqued long enough to notice the black smoke billowing from underneath the cracks of the door. The smell of smoke filled the air, and the ponies trapped inside could smell it's brimstone scent tickle their nostrils as the horrible truth descended upon them one by one.

"THEY'RE BURNING US ALIVE!" Yelled one stallion, igniting a wave of panic that swept through the crowd.

"Goddess, what are they thinking? LET US OUT! THERE ARE CHILDREN IN HERE!" Yelled Tailor Made despite the fact that his voice had been lost in the ocean of others, all crying out to a goddess that wouldn't come to save them.

Scarlet began humming a lullaby to a crying Penumbra, who openly sobbed into her mothers velvet fur.

"Honey, take Penumbra and follow me!" Yelled Tailor, grabbing his son's hoof and guiding him to the window.

The four huddled in the corner, gasping for fresh air and exchanging panicked looks. To everypony's surprise, Tailor Made picked up an old stool and threw it through the small window, shattering it violently.

"Scarlet dear, give me Penumbra." Spoke Tailor as he grasped his daughter for the final time.

"Dad? What're you doing?" Questioned Virtue in a panicked tone.

Tailor Made, as big of a stallion that he was, pulled his family into a tight embrace and spoke with an unwavering voice.

"Listen children, this window is big enough for the two of you to fit through," Penumbra had already begun to shake her head, unable to hold back the tears. "Virtue, you be as brave as you can for me and take your sister. It's a long drop down to the water, but you can make it. Your mother and I will manage, just take your sister and go!" He commanded, hoofing Penumbra to Noble Virtue and pulling his wife into a protective hug.

"Momma, don't make me go!" Pleaded Penumbra, trying to squirm her way out of her older brothers forelegs.

"You need to darling, please! Go!" She cried.

The fire had begun to lick it's way among the crowd, the smell of burning flesh and the sound of pained screams raking the room.

"Children, we love you so much . . ." Their father spoke as he nudged them out of the window and into the icy grasp of the cold mid-night air.

The two screamed on their way down, watching the rocks below get closer and closer.

SMACK!

Virtue plunged into the cold waters below, and to his utmost horror, realized the noise he had heard moments before entering the bowels of the raging rapids was the sound of his sister's nimble body colliding into the sharp rocks that had dotted the coast.

He wanted to scream, but was knocked out cold when his head struck a protruding rock underwater, the relentless rapids carrying his body downriver towards the city of Ponyville.

Comments

[walk-in closet brony]

And so a new assassin is born!

In honor of the new Assassins creed game coming out, I've decided I'm going to replay all of the old games to get hyped for the new one. This is a result of all this hype.

Like, comment, and enjoy the read!

I need to stop starting all these new stories . . .

[CECUNSC]

You remind me of Valve.

[dark_zero]

wow twilight if it is a sadistic princess but she gets her time

media.tumblr.com/tumblr_mf3vp98DKx1r6abke.png

mm3.vistoenpantalla.com/imagenes-productos/camiseta-assassins-creed-simbolo-large2.jpg
also their friends ex elements of harmony

I do not use ironic discord to corrupt