Detective Pie - Episodes from Manehattan

by Random Gamer

The Order - Part 2

The following day.

The other members of the Assassin Order were either orphans or petty criminals who, instead of paying for their crimes, chose to repay society by serving the Order. Pinkie and Twilight were the only recruits, while the rest of the lower members were either initiates or apprentices. They also wore no clothing or armor, while the rest of them did.

Before Seera arrived to take them to the Grandmaster for further learning, the only apprentice asked them to come to his room. Twilight, like always, was sceptical about this while Pinkie happily followed him. After both of them went inside, he carefully looked to the sides of the lounge to make sure no one is watching them and then closed to door.

"Look, I know you may have a lot of questions," he said. "But you'll get answers. Eventually."

"I want answers now!" said Twilight. "What is this 'Assassin Order' all about? Who are they?"

"I guess you already know the tales of the Lunar and Solar Order," he said, "Don't you?"

"Of course we do, silly!" said Pinkie. "That's why Twilight quoted it!"

"These orders kept safety and just like their unofficial leaders, one worked during the night and the other during the day." He said.

"Let me guess, everything went haywire when Luna tried to take over?" asked Twilight.

"Worse. You see, unlike Celestia, she granted the Lunar Order unique abilies and magic which allowed them to see clearly during the night," he lectured them. "Each recruit was enchanted by Luna herself and the strengh of said abilies rose as he or she rised through the ranks."

"Oh, no..." said Twilight, horrifed. "Does that mean that-?"

"Yep," he uttered. "When Luna became corrupted with a desire to make night eternal, so did they. All of them."

"So... you're the... umm..." said Pinkie. "Good guys?"

"Essetially, yes," he answered. "But I have doubts if doing as I'm told has some , if any, impact on the world."

"Why?" asked Twilight. "Why do you have doubts?"

"Over the course of a thousand years, their numbers grew and most of them now control most of Equestria through various corporations and companies," he said. "Our numbers have lowered drastically over the millenia and can't even be compared to the once great Solar Order, which had ten thousand members at it's peak."

"Does... does Celestia know of this?" asked Twilight. "Does she even know of this Order?"

"Partially," he said. "She knows about both, yet has no idea what has happened to each after a thousand years."

"But now that Luna was returned, back to good," said Pinkie. "Why didn't they?"

"If you paint something red and then buy blue paint," he said. "Will the thing you painted red become blue?"

"Why not paint over it?" asked Twilight, "As strong as she is, why didn't she attempt to return them back to normal?"

"I... I don't know," he said. "Maybe the Grandmaster knows something, but I most certainly-" he was cut off when Seera walked into the room.

"Ah, here you are," she said. "You'll have more time for chit-chat after your training and studying is complete." Twilight and Pinkie followed her to some sort of room with a blackboard. In a sense, it was a class. The other recruits were already seated when they arrived and so, to not anger the grandmaster, they quickly found a chair and sat too.

"What you have learned yesterday, my fellow recruits, was to not draw attention to us, hide in the shadows and be sure your actions cause no harm to us - direct or indirect. These are the three tenets of the Creed but there also three ironies which you must accept." He lectured them and took a piece of chalk.

"Even though were promote peace," he wrote as he spoke. "We commit murder." Twilight, unable to contain herself, raised her hoove in the air.

"Yes, recruit?" he asked. "What's on your mind?"

"Is murdering the only way?" she asked. "Is that the only way one's influence can be stopped?"

"There are ways of torture, bribes and even poison, but the only thing that has proven to exceptional during the millenia of the Order was murder," he answered. "Any other questions?" Since no one else had questions, he continued on.

"We seek to open the minds of ponies, yet require obedience of rules." He once again wrote it down after saying it. Afterwards, he looked at the class, but since no one had any questions about this irony, he continued with his lecture.

"We seek to reveal the danger of blind faith, yet follow it ourselves," he said and wrote it down. "Those are the three ironies each of us follows, contradicting the three tenets."

"But doesn't that undermine the Assassins' cause?" asked Twilight without raising her hoove. Even though this wasn't a school, it was considered to be very rude.

"Not at all, Twilight Sparkle," he replied and Twilight was curious when did he learn her name, as she didn't recall telling it to him. "Though seemingly hypocritical, the ironies do not undermine our cause. Rather, they demonstrate the way in which we embraced contradiction. A wise member once said 'one may be two things – opposite in every way – simultaneously.'"

"And what about the Maximum?" asked Pinkie. "Can't we learn it now?" Once again, she gave a question without raising her hoove, but the grandmaster didn't seem to mind. In fact, he almost seemed to enjoy being showered by questions.

"The Maxim is the primary guideline of Order and even though you could learn it right here and right now," he said. "I want you to memorize the tenets and ironies first, as you will not only learn the Maxim tomorrow, but also be given basic training."

"If anyone else doesn't have any questions, you may leave and return to your rooms." He waited for a few seconds and then instructed Seera to escort them to their rooms. Twilight and Pinkie were escorted to Seera's room instead of theirs for no apparrent reason. Perhaps she too, wanted to have a word with them.

"Sierra?" asked Twilight. "Why did you bring us here?"

"It's Seera," she said. "I wanted to speak with you in private."

"You will tell us the Maximum so he doesn't have to?" said Pinkie. "Pretty please?"

"No, that is not the reason I brought you here," she answered. "I want you to know that despite what the Grandmaster told you yesterday, about how he'll hunt you down, he would never harm of any of you."

"Then why did he say it?" asked Twilight. "Why make threats when he can't he carry them out?"

"Mayday presumably told you about how little of us are left compared to the Lunar Order," she said. "Did he?"

"Yes, he did," said Twilight. "So by making those threats, he wants us to stay?"

"Twilight, please," she said. "Of all the cities and towns, Manehattan, Canterlot and Cloudsdale are the last ones to have a sanctuary like this one. Last time we counted, there were just twenty of us. One grandmaster, eight assassins, two veterans, one iniciate, four apprentices and four recruits. Every new member is like a new spark which gives us a hope that one day, neither us of them will exist or be needed, for there will be peace."

"But we got here by accident," said Twilight. "We were tasked with investigating the Church of Light, not the Assassin Order. We even mistakenly repeated the tenets because we though they were a part of joining the Church of Light."

"Those chain-smoking, fungi-inhaling monks?" she said. "They're completely harmless."

"I have a party scheduled tomorrow," said Pinkie and grabbed Seera by her robes. "I. NEED. TO. GET. OUT!" Seera responded by moving her left front hoof slightly, threatening Pinkie with some sort of knife protruding from a bracer attached to her hoof.

"He won't carry out threats," she said, putting the knife closer to Pinkie's throat. "But I will." Pinkie let go of her and Seera's knife retracted back into the brace.

"We will find a way out." said Twilight, angered. "I'll tell Celestia everything about you and this place." Seera smiled.

"IF you find a way out," she taunted them. "It's an elaborate maze of rooms and traps that just don't make any sense. And just for fun, it's all underground."

"Challenge accepted." Said Pinkie. Before they could carry on with their conversation, two ponies approached them from behind and forced them to return to their rooms. Once both of the got inside, the ponies stood guard infront of both rooms, as if the Grandmaster himself heard them proclaiming that they would escape. Twilight's skepticism turned into anger and she started plotting a plan of escape. Pinkie, in the room next to hers, spent most of her time either sleeping or telling jokes to herself and subsequently laughting at them. Maybe they won't escape tomorrow, but they eventually will, one way or another.