Leap of Faith

by A bag of plums

Good and Bad News

“Thanks for letting me stay for a while, Fluttershy,” Sunset Shimmer gave her friend a hug as she entered the house, leaving the blowing snow behind her.

The wind had really picked up the night before, turning the outdoors into a freezing landscape. Sunset had been shivering even through her two coats, scarf and leggings.

“It’s no problem, Sunset,” Fluttershy took the girl’s coat off for her. “It’s what friends do after all, isn’t it? Besides… I like having friends over. So does Angel.”

“Yeah… How’s everything been around here? All quiet?” Sunset looked around the place.

Fluttershy’s home was very neat, everything placed in an orderly fashion, including the photos on the wall and even the footwear by the doorway. The only untidy place in the house was her brother’s room, but the rest of it was sparkling.

“If you mean Te-Templars, then you’ve got nothing to worry about,” Fluttershy answered as they headed to her room with Sunset’s bag. “We haven’t seen anyone strange, though, you know the house just down the road? The one that’s been empty all this time?”

“Yeah?” Sunset recalled the ‘for sale’ sign the last time they passed it. It was just down the street, along the same row of houses.

“Well, it was sold. I hear there’ll be people moving in after the break. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing suspicious about it. Houses are bought and sold all the time.”

“Hmm… Well, you mentioned after break, so I think we’ll have that covered for a few weeks.”

The two girls entered Fluttershy’s room, placing Sunset’s bag by the doorway. The room was mostly pink, filled with many different stuffed animals, along with a little white bunny, eating a carrot on the pink haired girl’s bed.

“Angel, we have a guest,” Fluttershy motioned to Sunset.

The bunny continued to chew on its carrot, looking to the window.

“He’s glad you’re here,” Fluttershy whispered.

“Well, it’s good to see a close friend every once in a while,” Sunset sat at the edge of the bed and stretched her arms back. “You and the other girls do anything interesting while I’m gone?”

“All of us met up two days ago,” Fluttershy mentioned, sitting down beside Sunset, petting her bunny. “We’re all fine, but we’re still worried about you and this whole Assassins business. We’ve seen d-death, Sunset… It’s not s-something I want to see again soon… Especially not a friend’s.”

“Hey, don’t worry,” Sunset pointed a thumb at herself. “You won’t believe it, but I’ve picked up some skills myself. You remember the messages I sent out? About my strange dreams?”

Fluttershy nodded and took her phone out of her pocket, opening her messages. “Yeah, I remember. About how you’ve been dreaming about the Assassins’ founder?”

“Well, the thing is, after every dream, I pick up a new skill. Something the First Assassin picked up when she arrived in this world.”

“A new skill? You mean s-something like-”

“Swordfighting and parkour are just some to name,” Sunset nodded and grinned. “Oh and the Assassins’ eagle vision.”

“Eagle vision…” Fluttershy tried to recall. “What’s that again?”

“It’s uh…” Sunset waved her hands in the air. “Seeing things that are unseen.”

“Oh, umm…”

“Well, it’s just a way of highlighting people with your eyes,” Sunset tried to narrow it down. “You know, someone taught it to Emerald Edge. That someone kinda reminded me of you.”

“Oh?” the pink haired girl asked. “She does?”

“Yeah, she does.” Sunset went on to describe Posey to her quiet friend and the more she talked, the more she was sure that Posey was somehow related to Fluttershy. “Do you have an ancestor like that, perhaps?”

“Oh, I don’t know much about my family line, Sunset,” Fluttershy tapped her fingers on her knees. “But an archer… I don’t think I’ll be any good with a bow and arrow. A-And I don’t think I can stomach s-shooting anyone…”

“Don’t worry, me too,” Sunset patted her friend’s shoulder. “I don’t think I can ever be an Assassin like these guys.”

“Yeah, Assassins…” Fluttershy scratched at her hair. “Umm… I saw the news, Sunset, about… about Dewdrop. I’m sorry.”

“Yeah, me too…” the girl leaned back on Fluttershy’s bed and rubbed a hand down her face. “And Velvet… she doesn’t want to come back, Fluttershy. She wants to find Wolfgang for killing the others. We don’t know where she is now.”

“Oh dear…” the pink haired girl breathed. “But don’t worry, Sunset. Velvet’s tough. I’m sure she’ll be alright.”

“I hope so… Ugh…” Sunset covered her face with her hands. “This winter break is too much, Fluttershy. I mean, we’ve fought the sirens and everything, but this is totally different.”

“Y-Yeah, it’s too much, alright,” Fluttershy hid behind her hair. “I just wish we could just forget everything. The weapons, the bad guys, the d-death…”

“Sure wish I could forget,” Sunset sat up and hunched her shoulders. “But I made Mentor Steel Shine a promise. I’ve got to follow through with this, Fluttershy. And I can’t just sit back and let Sombra take over both our worlds.”

“You won’t be alone, Sunset,” Fluttershy tried to make a confident face. “The girls and I are here for you.”

“Thanks, Fluttershy. I appreciate it, really I do.”

“Mhmm,” the shy girl nodded happily. “Friends always stick together, no matter wh-what we have to face. I may be afraid, but, it won’t be as bad when I have you girls with me.”

“Someone say girls?” Fluttershy’s room door burst open as a energetic Pinkie Pie cartwheeled in. “Hiya, Sunset!”

“Pinkie Pie?” the fiery haired girl drew back in surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“Well, we heard you were staying at Fluttershy’s for a while and since we haven’t seen you in such a long time, we decided to crash the party!” Pinkie said in a breath, pulling out a colorful tube from her bag. “So it’s party time!”

“Wait…” Sunset raised a hand. “We?”

“Well, yeah, silly. We!” Pinkie pointed a thumb to the doorway.

One by one, the rest of the Rainbooms entered the room, with Sunset’s eyes growing bigger and bigger as her closest friends stood by her.

“Girls! You’re all here!” Sunset gave them all hugs.

“Of course! We’re pretty awesome, aren’t we?” Rainbow flexed an arm. “We’d never leave you by yourself. We’ve always got your back.”

“Ya sure do, Sunset,” Applejack tipped her hat. “Maybe we can beat this Sombra with a little hocus pocus with our magic and all.”

“So, what did we miss?” Rarity brushed her violet hair with a comb. “Do tell. Eh, with the exception of the gory bits, if you please.”

Sunset and Fluttershy looked at each other and chuckled. “Sit down. I’ve got a lot to say. Just wait till you hear what happened.”

---

The winds howled around the two Templar guards as they shut the back doors of their truck, swiftly making their way to the front and getting into the vehicle where it was warmer.

“Gee, it’s freezing tonight…” Low Tone, a black haired man shivered and pushed snow off his cap.

“Well, the faster we get this shipment to the outpost, the faster we can get home,” his partner, Flightpath started the truck engines. “I’m ready to go to sleep.”

“You want me to drive?”

“It’s fine,” Flightpath waved her hand. “I don’t want to get out again. I’ve got this.”

They pulled out of the lane they were in, carrying two pallets of bricks and a few buckets of cement in the back of their truck. The cold had seeped into the truck, but thankfully, they had internal heating.

They drove for about half an hour, with nothing but the radio to break the silence. Finally, they arrived at their destination: a Templar outpost that was in need of refurbishment. Flightpath was just pulling the truck through the gates when she saw something.

“Hey,” she said, nudging her partner. “Look up at the sky.”

The man dutifully glanced up. There was what appeared to be a tiny golden glimmer up in the clouds, twinkling like a star.

“What do you think it is?” Low Tone muttered.

“Looks like a comet. Wanna make a wish? I wish we were out of this weather and some place warmer.”

“It’s growing brighter,” Low Tone observed. Indeed, the golden sparkle in the sky was growing bigger, more intense, like a comet, crashing down to earth. “Well, I wish we’d get the week off.”

The thing in the sky grew and grew in brightness, until it was blinding.

And then suddenly, the truck was rocked by a titanic impact, shaking the truck’s suspension and sending Low Tone and Flightpath jolting in their seats. The airbags burst from the front, enveloping Low Tone and Flightpath in their size.

“What... was that?” Flightpath rubbed at her head, where blood began oozing out from a cut. “Were we hit?”

As the smoke cleared, both Templars were surprised to see a teenage girl kneeling on the now cratered hood of their truck, glowing with a golden aura and a pair of gossamer wings extending from her back. She had ears on top of her head, like some kind of freaky humanoid creature.

All the glass on the truck had shattered, letting the cold wind in, which bit at their exposed skin almost immediately.

Low Tone pushed down his airbag and widened his eyes. “What the f-”

Then a pair of hands reached in, bursting both airbags, before pulling the Templars out by their throats, holding them above the ruined hood, their feet not touching the vehicle.

“W-What are you…?” Tone looked into the girl’ glowing eyes, doing his best to breathe.

The girl tilted her head towards him, no emotion on her face. “Where is Wolfgang?”

“Wolfgang?” he repeated. “Why’re you looking for him?”

“Where is he?!” The girl’s grip on the Templar’s throat constricted, choking the breath out of him.

“I-I… Augh… I don’t know!” Tone squeaked, unable to inhale.

“Where?!” she yelled again, tightening her grip.

“Stop! Stop it!” Flightpath begged, pulling at the girl’s hand. “I’ll-I’ll tell you. Let him go! Wolfgang’s back at the Board’s main building, last I saw him. Please, that’d all we know! Don’t kill him!”

Then nothing happened for a few seconds. Low Tone and Flightpath continued to hang in the air, but then eventually the girl let go, tossing them both back into the truck through the windshield.

“If you tell anyone of this,” she warned the Templars. “I will find you. Don’t make me have to waste my time.”

Crouching, the girl blasted back up into the sky with a mighty flap of her glowing wings. She would’ve already vanished from sight if not for her glow.

Low Tone grabbed his throat and gagged violently, finally able to breathe once again; it became red from the girl’s iron grip.

“Tone, you okay?” Flightpath patted his shoulder. She herself had come out unharmed, with the exception of the girl landing on their truck.

“Y-Yeah…” he leaned forward and exhaled. “What… what should we do? This is going to be something to explain to the chairman.”

“You heard what she said!” Flightpath hissed at her partner. “If we blab, she’ll find us again! No way! I don’t want to see her again!”

“What do you want? To just go home and forget that this happened?” Tone waved a hand over the hood of the truck. “Even if we left the girl out, how are we going to explain this? We crashed into… into thin air?”

“So you want to tell the chief?”

“We don’t have much of a choice. And come on, like it or not, Wolfgang is one of our own. We can’t just let him die.”

“Okay, okay, I’ll radio it in…” Flightpath began to shiver again as their adrenaline decreased, allowing the cold to seep into their veins. “I just hope we know what we’re doing.”

---

Velvet Breeze flew through the cold wind, barely feeling it all across her body. Whoever was in the shard with her, she was keeping her safe and warm, and keeping the shard from draining everything from her.

Velvet had heard the name Emerald from Mirror Match, but it couldn’t be the First Assassin, could it? How could she be in the shard with her.

But no matter. Velvet had received information on Wolfgang’s whereabouts. She knew what she had to do. For High Noon, for Dewdrop, and for her sister, Satin. This time, Wolfgang was going to be on the other end of the stick.

With power coursing through her veins, Velvet Breeze flapped her wings harder, gaining speed as she shot towards the Board’s building once more.

---

Comments

[badninja]

Hopefully they can stop Velvet before she goes mad with power. She is getting kinda creepy here.

[Condray]

What's the worst that could happen? Other than how every time in canon someone got a load of Equestrian magic, other than through friendship, they went power mad.... oh dear.

[Sonata Eternal]

Is Velvet finally going to kill that Wolf? I hope so. He needs to DIE now. can't wait~!!

[Jaxxon Markus Citadel]

Oho, Wolfgang is fucked now. And you seem to draw a lot of attention to the sold house during Sunset's segment. Significance?

[Vuradux]

7754184

"This is a Chekov, Russian-made, 25 caliber. Careful, it could go off for like, no reason"

[MoonlightRift]

“Well, it was sold. I hear there’ll be people moving in after the break. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing suspicious about it. Houses are bought and sold all the time.”

Home Run? 👀

Think that was his name.