Leap of Faith

by A bag of plums

Decisions

Princess Twilight Sparkle had only spent a few hours in the library with Princess Cadance and Spike when word came back that the two Eclipse agents might’ve found the tower.

Closing the book she had, Twilight followed Cadance out, explaining to her the reasons why they were here.

“Emerald Edge,” Cadance repeated as she threw the library doors open with her magic. “I know that name. Royal spymaster of my predecessor, Princess Amore.”

“Spymaster?” Twilight asked as she beckoned for Spike to hop on her back.

Cadance and Twilight took flight, moving through the castle halls with speed. “Back in the old times, the princess would have one spymaster, a pony that could gather information and, ahem, remove threats to the empire secretly, perhaps something like the Eclipse agents today. Emerald Edge was one of them.

“They gave their lives for the empire, Twilight. No one really knew what they were doing until you mentioned all this, but each brave pony held strong against Sombra to the death.”

“I feel sorry for them,” Twilight shook her head sadly. “The risked it all to get Emerald Edge to the other world.”

“Well, it makes sense that nopony’s ever heard of this if they were locked away in some tower,” Spike said his piece as they flew out through a window into the night sky.

They soon spotted the tower with help from the Eclipse guards; Agent Cinders was outside the tower’s only door, reflecting moonlight off on a small mirror to signal the princesses and Spike.

The grey coated agent quickly moved out of the way to allow them to land, their hooves clattering on the crystal floor before coming to a halt.

“Agent Cinders,” Princess Cadance acknowledged. “Where’s Agent Eclair?”

The guard raised a single hoof and pointed it downward.

“Down?” Spike asked as the agent headed through the door, directing them to follow.

Cinders nodded.

“Well then, let’s go,” Twilight was the first to move after him. “Lead the way, Agent Cinders.”

The princesses lit up their horns with magic light as the tower’ steps led down into total darkness, the light from the doorway already fading.

The area around them was quiet, almost like the calm before a storm, and it wasn’t a pleasant feeling.

Agent Cinders seemed to know where he was going, trotting down ahead of the princesses, ahead of the light source. Twilight figured he must’ve been somewhat used to the dark, but that was odd, considering he was a Solar Eclipse agent.

“Umm… Twilight?” Spike brought her attention back with a pat. “Your saddle bag is shaking. Is it your book? Is Sunset Shimmer trying to contact you?”

“Sunset?” Perhaps her friend in the other world had more news, but unfortunately, now wasn’t a good time to get the book out. “I’ll check the book when we get to a brighter spot. Plus, I don’t want to fall down into the depths right now.”

“But… You have wings.”

That comment made Twilight step in her tracks. Of course, she had wings!

“Why are we still walking?” she giggled and spread her feathery appendages.

Stepping off the steps, she glided down in the dark, her horn lighting the way down. Soon, she was able to see the floor below, reflecting her light back at her.

“Good thinking, Twilight,” Cadance landed close by, followed by the silent agent. “Sometimes we forget simple things like that.”

The path ahead was also pitch black, but nothing a little magic couldn’t handle. With a cast of her horn, Twilight lit up a row of wall sconces, lighting the long hallway with bright pink lights.

At the end stood an old door, its frame off the hinges, along with Agent Eclair, who was inspecting the door thoroughly.

“Ah, Princess Cadance, Princess Twilight,” she bowed slightly. “I believe this is it. The door, it has indication that it was blasted off with something powerful. See the scorch marks? Magic.”

“Not just any magic,” Cadance stiffened and frowned. “Do you feel it, Twilight? There is still some residue here. It was dark magic.”

Only one pony had that a thousand years ago.

“Sombra…” Twilight breathed.

“Therefore, this must be the correct tower,” Eclair explained. “We searched a few others. This is the only one with damage like this, and…” Eclair pointed a hoof above the door, where a faint sigil of a swirl of stars could be seen, worn with age. “Cinders was the first to see it. No mistake, this is it.”

“Good work, agents,” Twilight smiled and moved to the door. It was made of solid wood and yet, was able to withstand a blast of Sombra’s magic without being shattered to pieces. Star Swirl the Bearded must have cast some strong magic on it when he was still here.

“Here,” Cadance joined her sister-in-law and wrapped the door in magic. “Help me with this, Twilight.”

The lavender alicorn did the same, the two of them steadily lifting the heavy door, placing it at the side, leaving a large enough gap to allow them to head inside.

“So what do we have in there?” Twilight huffed as she released her magical grip on the door.

“Equipement,” Eclair looked around, searching high and low. “Weapons, armor. It is like a storeroom.”

“This is it?” Twilight took a look around for herself. “This is Star Swirl the Bearded’s workshop?”

Instead of scrolls, books and potions, metal, armor and weapons took up the space. It looked more like a commander’s office than a mages’ den.

“This can’t be what Sunset Shimmer wrote to you about, can it?” Spike asked, lifting a piece of faded armor in his hands. “Do we have the right tower?”

Cinders pointed a hoof out and spun it in circles, then stomped it on the floor twice.

“Agent Cinders believes we are looking for a secret passage,” Eclair translated for the others. “That would make sense. Look for anything that does not match.”

Twilight and Spike checked the tables, looking through piles of metal pieces, while the others spread out across the room.

“Normally I’d suggest it would be a book,” Spike patted at the table with his hands. “You know, you pull it and the secret passage opens.”

“Well, we have to remember, Spike, Star Swirl lived a long time ago. For all we know, it’s just something simple that we’re overlooking.”

“Can’t you just cast some magic to locate the secret passage?” Spike groaned as he came up with nothing after all the sifting through.

“I could always try,” Twilight shrugged. “Let’s see what we’ve got.”

“Wait.” It was Agent Eclair, stopping beside a barrel of what looked like lances. “Look at this.”

“What?” Spike bounded over eagerly. “What did you find?”

“Do you see it?” Eclair directed a hoof to the rusty old weapons.

“What are we looking for?” Spike asked her.

“This one,” Eclair narrowed their eyes down to a single lance. “See this. The dust has coated over the weapon for so long, but you can faintly see marks on this one. Marques de dents. Teeth marks.”

Twilight bent lower and examined it, but she didn’t see anything that would make it different from the other lances.

“I don’t see it,” she gave up, stepping back. “You’ve got sharp eyes, Agent Eclair.”

The Lunar Eclipse agent smiled. “A necessary qualification, princess. Now let us try it…”

Eclair grabbed the lance’s shaft with her teeth and pulled. It didn’t move for a second, but when it did, the sound of a mechanism activating could be heard, before a portion of the crystal wall slowly descended into the floor. Beyond the secret door was another dark hallway, leading down a flight of stairs.

“Cool!” Spike ran up and looked down the tunnel.

“Good work, agents,” Twilight joined him and lit her horn up. “Let’s see what we have down here.”

---

“Are you sure this is the place, Dewdrop?”

The two Assassins were perched on a rooftop overlooking a squat white building. It was sparsely lit with floodlights and had three cars in its parking lot. Though it looked unassuming, Dewdrop knew from a previous visit that it was anything but.

“Positive. This is where… this is where Satin died. I would know it anywhere.”

“And you think Wolfgang is inside?” Velvet asked.

“Frigid mentioned the labs,” the older Assassin clenched her fists. “This must be the one. Even if he’s not here, someone should know about his whereabouts.”

“So what’s the plan, Dewdrop?” Velvet watched the windows, only spotting four people seated at desks, typing away on their computers. She then activated her eagle vision, highlighting them all as grey. Civilians.

Dewdrop grinned darkly. “Simple. We break in, find Wolfgang, and kill him.”

“And if he’s not there?” Velvet asked, unfurling her hidden blade and retracting it.

“Then we find someone who knows where he is a make them squeal.”

“So how do we get in?” Velvet looked around for the different possible entrances. “Do you still have Trueshot’s gun?”

“I was thinking of taking the back door,” Dewdrop said. “That’s the place I escaped from when we were last here… Yeah, we can get in through there. If there are any Templars, we’ll kill them. Simple as that.”

“O-Okay.”

Dewdrop led the way down, scaling down a water pipe, before tossing herself over a fence, dropping into a dumpster on the other side. Velvet swallowed before following, only breathing again when she landed in the same dumpster; it smelled really bad.

“Good work, Velvet,” Dewdrop pulled the young Assassin out and threw an old apron with red stains off her shoulder. “Come on. This way.”

The blue haired Assassin led Velvet around the back of the Templars’ labs, keeping out of the lamplights, sticking close to a steel fence, the one they had jumped over. When they were close enough, Dewdrop dashed across the place, silently gliding over to the door. Velvet did the same, joining Dewdrop by the grey door; there was a keycard reader next to it.

“Okay, this wasn’t here the last time I was here…” Dewdrop stared at the card reader for a moment. Then she kicked it.

Beep.

The door swung open.

“That was… easy,” Velvet said as they both slinked inside.

“I didn’t think that would actually work,” Dewdrop said happily as they proceeded down a white plaster hallway, passing by a vending machine as they made for the stairwell. “Come on, let’s head up to the labs. The second floor will do.”

Velvet Breeze kept close behind Dewdrop, her eyes darting around every corner, looking for any signs of Templars. Looking out from the stairwell doorway, the Assassins spied two women working at their desks, one writing reports, while the other tapped away on her keyboard; they both had labcoats on.

“Looks good,” Dewdrop whispered. “We can ‘ask’ one of them. I’m sure one of them should know something about Wolfgang.”

She pushed open the door and slinked out, keeping low behind the other desks, slowly making her way towards the first, which was the woman writing the report.

However, before Dewdrop could get within striking distance, a guard rounded the corner, immediately seeing Dewdrop and Velvet. He raised his radio to his mouth, but Dewdrop was faster, shooting out one of her hidden blades and skewering his radio hand.

“Ahh!” he exclaimed. The women who were at the desks looked up and, upon seeing what was going on, instantly bolted.

Dewdrop was on the guard in a heartbeat, pinning him to the ground and pressing her remaining hidden blade to his neck.

“Wolfgang,” she growled. “Where is he?”

“Wolfgang? I don’t know who you’re talking about,” he said sharply.

Velvet, unsure of what to do, stood by the stairwell door, watching.

Dewdrop wasn’t having any of it. She moved the hidden blade and stabbed it down in the guard’s arm. “Where is he?”

When the Templar didn’t answer, she stabbed him a few more times, down the length of his arm, ending in his palm.

“Aaagh! Okay, okay!” the man cried out. “I-I don’t know where he is-”

Dewdrop punched him in the face with her other hand.

“Wait, wait!” he brought up his other hand to cover his face. “I don’t know where he is, but I know where he’ll be!”

Dewdrop returned her hidden blade to his neck. “Where.”

“Wolfgang mentioned that he was going to a masked party at Match Mansions! It’s the day after tomorrow! That’s all I know.”

“Thank you,” Dewdrop smiled sweetly, then jabbed her blade through his soft neck.

“Dewdrop…” Velvet gasped as the man fought for air. After a few seconds, he stopped moving and went limp. “He told you what you wanted.”

“We couldn’t risk him raising the alarm and warning Wolfgang.”

Velvet gestured at the guard. “And a dead body won’t?”

“He would’ve blabbed, Velvet,” Dewdrop cleaned her hidden blade on the guard’s shirt before retrieving her other blade. “We can’t have them ready for us when we go for Wolfgang.”

“The Templar mentioned Match Mansions,” Velvet reminded. “Sounds familiar.”

“Match Mansions,” Dewdrop repeated, patting Velvet on the shoulder and directing her back to the stairwell. “Home to the infamous Witch of Manehattan. She throws a lot of parties. This is probably one of them.”

“Mirror Match?” Velvet said aghastly. “We can’t go there! You know what she’s capable of! We don’t stand a chance.”

At that moment, the alarms to the building went off, one such speaker blaring above their heads just above the stairwell door. The blue haired Assassin pushed her friend in, before leading her down the stairs and back outside the building, running back to the fence they had flung themselves over.

“We need to do this, Velvet,” Dewdrop cut the barbed wire at the top of the fence with a sword and spun herself over, landing in a crouch on the other side. “If we miss this chance, who knows when we’ll find Wolfgang again. He needs to die.”

“But Dewdrop-”

“But nothing,” Dewdrop said. They mounted Dewdrop’s bike, hidden around the corner in an alley, and sped away from the scene, passing a police car on the way back to the safehouse.

---

“What are you even working on now, Frigid?” Keila fell against a chair next to the Assassin, sticking a leg on the table. “You act like you’re so busy all day, but what are you actually doing on that thing? Playing web games?”

“I’m doing work, Keila, leave me be,” Frigid Night pulled his hood low over his eyes. “The data we got from Cobalt is heavy. There’s a lot to read.”

“Pffft, yeah,” Keila spat and gave him a push with her other leg. “You have all this information. Why don’t you call Velvet and Dewdrop back and we’ll work a plan to beat the Templars? We don’t need to keep them out there, Frigid. If we all work together, I’m sure there’s something we could do.”

“Once again, Dewdrop’s out there because she wants to be,” Frigid stressed as he scrolled down the document. “I told her she could come back, but she wants Wolfgang dead.”

A slight beeping sound got Frigid’s and Keila’s attention, staving off further argument, before a white notification box appeared at the bottom right of the laptop screen. Clicking on it, Frigid brought up the faces of Dewdrop and Velvet Breeze, looking back at him from their laptop screen.

“Dewdrop, Velvet,” the acting Mentor said, pulling his chair closer to the table and placing his arms on the table. Keila got off the chair and walked behind him, also looking at the screen. “What can I do for you?”

“We found out where Wolfgang is headed,” Dewdrop explained. “There’s a party at Match Mansions in two days. That’s where we’ll be.”

“Match Mansions?” Frigid didn’t need Keila to tell him to know that there were a thousand ways their plan could go wrong. “No, Dewdrop. Abort. You know what Mirror Match is capable of. If she finds you there…”

“We’re not passing up this chance, Frigid,” Dewdrop frowned and slammed a fist on the table. “Wolfgang won’t get away again. He killed Satin. He killed High Noon. Don’t you want to see some justice?”

“Wolfgang isn’t the problem, Dewdrop,” Keila joined in. “Mirror Match is too dangerous. You can’t go there.”

“Nothing doing, Keila. We’re going to that party, whether you like it or not. The only thing we need is money for outfits. Can you wire the money our way?”

“We’re not-!” Keila looked helplessly from the screen to Frigid, then back to the screen. “Frigid, say something.”

“For once, I agree with Keila, Dewdrop,” Frigid sighed and pulled his hood back. “If you go there, there’s no guarantee you’ll get out of there alive.”

“We’re not amateurs, Frigid. There’ll be crowds of people there. The Templars won’t dare try anything with so many people around.”

“You’re not an amateur, but Velvet is. Don’t you think taking her to such a dangerous place is a bad idea?”

“Then Velvet will go back.” The young Assassin looked at Dewdrop with shock all over her face. “I’ll go to Match Mansions alone and kill Wolfgang.”

“No, Dewdrop, you can’t,” Velvet pleaded. “It’s too dangerous alone. Please, don’t do this.”

“See, Velvet agrees with us,” Keila waved a hand at the screen. “Come back, Dewdrop. Forget this one. We’ll find him again.”

Dewdrop seemed to consider her options for a second, then shook her head at the screen. “I’m doing this. You’re not stopping me. Dewdrop out.”

“Dewdrop!” Keila yelled as the screen minimized, the call ended. The Saddle Arabian Assassin slumped down on the ground by Frigid’s chair folding up to her knees. “Why? Why won’t she just listen?”

Frigid leaned back and breathed out through his nose. Maybe it hadn’t been such a good idea to tell Dewdrop about Wolfgang. Perhaps if Mirror Match wasn’t involved, it would’ve still been okay, but he didn’t know what she was going to do if she caught Dewdrop in her home.

The grey haired Assassin looked at Keila and did what he thought could help. He placed a hand on her shoulder and gave her a reassuring squeeze. It was something he hadn’t done in a long time.

“Keila, I’m sorry.”

The Saddle Arabian Assassin made no attempt to speak or move.

“I see my mistake and perhaps… Perhaps you’re right. I’m just a cold and heartless killer. I wanted to get things done, but I forget that you are all your own person and I shouldn’t throw your lives around like that.”

“You almost sound like you care, Frigid,” Keila shook her head.

Just then, Sunset poked her head out of her room.

“What’s going on?”

“It’s Dewdrop,” the acting Mentor began. “Mirror Match is involved and she doesn’t want to come back. Not till Wolfgang is dead.”

“What?” Sunset leaned away. “What about Velvet?”

“I doubt she’ll come back on her own,” Frigid assumed. Velvet Breeze has a strong will. If Dewdrop was staying, then she probably was too. “She’ll stick with Dewdrop. She won’t let her do this on her own. It’s my fault. I told Dewdrop about Wolfgang. I didn’t expect him to be attending a party with Mirror Match.”

“It really is all your fault, Frigid,” Keila’s voice turned frosty. She brushed his hand off her shoulder and stood up. “Because of your greedy decision, it isn’t just Dewdrop that might get killed, it’s Velvet too. They aren’t ready to handle Mirror Match. You can be nice all you want, but it’s too late.”

“Keila-”

“If anything happens to them, it’s all on your head, Frigid Night.” The black and white haired Assassin stomped off, slamming her room door behind her.

Frigid turned back to his laptop screen and brushed a hand through his grey hair and sighed.

“Keila’s right, you know?” Sunset folded her arms. “This is your fault. Don’t you care about anyone else?”

“I… I don’t know…” Frigid admitted. “I did once, kid, I’ll tell you that.”

“Then what? Was it Mirror Match?”

Frigid looked at her. She was a lot smarter than she looked. “Yeah… She was everything to me, you know? Then she turned around and stabbed me in the back. How can I trust anyone else after that? Hmm? How?”

“From what I’ve heard, you still trust her. You still love her, but what about the Assassins? How can you love your enemy more than your brothers and sisters?”

“I wonder that myself, kid, but I see my mistake this time. This one’s on me. If Mirror Match kills Dewdrop or Velvet Breeze, I don’t know what I’ll tell Keila or Morning Blade.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” Sunset quizzed.

“For now, I’ll do what I can to help them out from here to give them the best chance at coming out of his alive,” Frigid said and put his fingers to his keyboard. “They need funds for disguises.”

Frigid also added the entire Templar dossier to the folder. Perhaps the added information would help them with their plans.

“I hope they know what they’re doing,” Sunset walked backwards to her room.

Once she was gone, Frigid let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes as his email went on his way. “Me too, kid. Me too.”

He had contemplated taking Mirror up on her offer several times, to leave this war together. Looking back now, perhaps that would’ve been the better choice. At least then, none of the others would have to worry about her.

Frigid Night leaned down on his arms. Perhaps he didn’t know what he was doing after all.

---

Comments

[badninja]

So the pressure got to him. I feel sorry for him but after all this time he should have known better then to have done this.

[Maxemilien]

Well, now we know Frigid isn't a Templar Spy, or somethings, he is just someone who has made some really bad ecisions, auther, don't let anyone [any Assassin] die, please, we need Velvet, Dewdrop, Morning Blade, Kiella even Frigid Night alive!

[Sonata Eternal]

Dewdrop and Velvet are going into dangerous territory!!!! I hope Velvet can kill Mirror Match now!! about time!

[A bag of plums]

7690354 I can make no promises.

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

Match Mansions, eh? I have this unpleasant feeling that Mirror is going to kill Dewdrop. She did mention that she wasn't going to spare Dewdrop's life the next time they meet. Going to this party really isn't in Dewdrop's best interests.

[MoonlightRift]

Murphy's law is about to strike again