This Is Going To Be A Terrible Waste Of Bullets...
Manehattan-Car-neigh-ge Hall
A anthro unicorn stallion with a sleek blonde mane and tail wearing a black tuxedo with a red rose in the buttonhole threw open the door leading to the roof of the theatre, a terrified look on his face and he took to the stairs two at a time, constantly looking over his shoulder, as though he was being chased by something that was hot on his heels.
Hey, there. Nice to know some ponies or people or griffons or whatever you are have an interest in my origin story. Who am I? I’ve been called many things while I’ve been here. I’ve been called a murderer, a monster, a demon from Tartarus, nigh unkillable. Progress incarnate, that’s a new one, I gotta say. I’ve even been called “a true hero who damns the guilty with true justice.” Admittedly, that one tickled me pink. But, even so, none of those are who I truly am. Truth is, I’m a hunter.
The stallion doubled over, out of breath as sweat dripped off of him. He’d never run this hard or this fast in his life, having used magic and his servants to attend to him, and wearing a tuxedo certainly wasn’t helping matters any. Taking as long a break as he dared to take with whatever was chasing him right behind him, the stallion started running again.
Heh, yeah, I know what you’re thinking. What the fuck is a hunter doing in the peaceful land of Equestria, the land of ponies where friendship is magic, blah, blah, blah. Truth is, that’s all a bunch of PR bullshit or minotaur shit, or whatever kind of shit you want it to be, but it’s still shit either way. It hasn’t been that way since they made that Twilight Sparkle chick a Princess and she started pushing for her reforms, only to be spat upon and ultimately killed in her sleep for fighting for what she believed in on the orders of a bunch of spineless cowards too afraid to let go of the power they’d had for centuries, or even kill Twilight while she was awake. The same cowards I’m hunting now. And they way things are going, there will be no going back to the way things were.
Throwing the door directly in front of him open, the stallion emerged onto the rooftop of Car-neigh-gie Hall, the one facing away from the front entrance. He ran towards the edge of the building, and made read ready to use his magic to teleport to the rooftop of the building directly across from him.
Then he heard a cra-chink noise come from directly behind him, causing him to freeze in place and slowly turn on the spot, and when he saw what was standing right behind him, a look of the utmost horror crept into his face as a silent scream left him.
So, who am I? I’m the cure for the sick, sad world that Equestria has become, thanks to these Traditionalists and Equestrians First scumbags.
Blood and brain matter splattered everywhere as the unicorn stallion was shot directly in the head. As his body fell to the ground, the being holding the gun was revealed. He wore a black leather jacket that held many items, ranging from shuriken to flashbang grenades to a branding device, and the hood of which was pulled over his head. Underneath the jacket, the being wore dark gray body armor with the insignia of a red bat of some kind on the chest, black pants with a belt that held several different holsters and sheaths, three of which held a gun identical to the one he held in his hand and two different knives. He also wore black leather combat boots and black leather gloves. Underneath the hood, the being wore a red helmet of some kind that concealed his identity, had a voice filter, and made his eyes seem as though they were glowing pure white.
My name is Jason Todd, but you can call me the Red Hood. And this is my story.
…
Canterlot Castle-Three Years Earlier
A purple anthro Alicorn with a dark blue mane and tail, both of which had a magenta stripe in them, entered one of the vast guest bedrooms within Canterlot Castle, a thoroughly depressed look on her face. She wore an elegant lavender dress, a pink diamond necklace, and brown sandals with heels. Upon her head was a golden tiara. This was Twilight Sparkle, recently-crowned Princess of Equestria… although, at the moment, she was wishing she was still an ordinary Unicorn, getting ready for bed in her old treehouse/library home, back before Tirek had smashed it to splinters… back before she had to put up with all of this hatred and anger towards her and her politics.
I just don’t understand it… why do they hate me so much? thought Twilight as she striped down to her black bra and panties. It’s not like I’ve done anything horrible to them… I’m just trying to make sure that Equestria isn’t left behind in this ever-evolving world we live in now. I mean, right now Equestria is laughably out gunned, lovers of two different species can’t get married, no matter how much they want to, and the Council is made up of royals and nobles who only have interest in themselves rather than the common good.
As Twilight snuggled into the blankets and bedsheets, she felt a wave of hopelessness wash over her. Maybe I’m not meant to be a Princess of Equestria is this is how ponies are going to treat me… maybe I should just step down…
No, Twilight. You can’t step down now. Do you really think all of this hatred will just go away because you’re not a Princess anymore? a stronger voice told Twilight deep in her subconscious
Immediately, Twilight reached into a bedside dresser drawer and pulled out three pictures. One of them was of her and her friends, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie. The second was of her and the other three Princesses, Celestia, Luna, and Cadence, all of them looking very formal and elegant in their dresses. The third was a picture of a pegasus stallion with orange fur and a blue mane and tail wearing a Royal Guard dress uniform. This was Flash Sentry, Twilight’s secret coltfriend… although, she was starting to suspect that he was getting ready to propose to her.
Twilight thought for a moment about what this might mean for them, given all the hate she’d received. Flash must truly and deeply love her if he was willing to risk going through all of the same minotaur shit she’d been through… and if he wanted to start a family with her.
Twilight smiled. As long as she had this group of ponies by her side, she could take anything those nay-sayers and Traditionalists threw at her.
And with that, Twilight returned the pictures to the drawer, and closed her eyes… completely unaware of what was going on right under her muzzle.
…
“Well? Are we going to do this thing or what?” grumbled a voice in the shadows to one of its four fellows.
“Are you really sure about this? I mean, we’re about to MURDER A PRINCESS-”
“Shut up! Do you want to get us arrested? Besides, we’ve got the one thing that can make our troubles that much easier.”
As the voice said this, a faint gleam of light from a shining blade appeared. A gasp was heard.
“Is that… is that really-”
“Orichalum. The boss stallion had this thing forged just for this sole purpose… something about getting some mare drunk enough not to stand on her own two hooves or something like that. Anyways, this is our room.”
As the five shadowy figures reached the bedroom, they silently opened the door. There, sleeping soundly on the bed, was Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Well? Who wants the honors?” asked one of the voices.
“I’ll do it.”
“She’s all yours, Gallant.”
As the single figure crept silently into the room, the orichalum blade in his hand, they felt as though a huge weight was resting upon their shoulders. Finally, the figure clamped his hand down over Twilight’s nose and mouth, causing her to awaken.
“Get on her! Keep her down!”
As the other four figures held Twilight down, the princess tried to muster up some magic. However, before the princess could muster the magic to fend off her assassin, the orichalam blade slashed across her throat, cutting deep into her flesh. As blood gushed out of the wound in her throat, Twilight stared in horror at her attacker, unable to scream or even breathe as they continued to stab her. Finally, after a moment of fruitless struggling, Twilight went limp and cold, and her eyes turned glassy. She was dead.
“Good job, now let’s get the buck out of here!”
And with that, the five killers ran for it, leaving their handy work behind.
…
Princess Celestia, an anthro alicorn mare with alabaster fur and a mane that resembled the lush green fields, the open blue sky, and the pink of love and compassion, yawned and stretched as she woke up and climbed out of her vast four-poster bed and made her way over to the balcony on the other side. Stepping onto the cold white marble, Celestia channeled her energies and focused them at the blazing golden sunset. With seemingly no effort at all, Celestia raised the sun to such a position that gravity would be able to take care of the rest until sundown, where Luna would take over and raise her moon.
Celestia smiled. Looks like it’s gonna be a beautiful day… considering, she thought to herself, thinking back to all of her prized pupil’s troubles as of late. I don’t understand it. If these Traditionalists can’t bring themselves to trust Twilight, then why can’t they trust me? It’s not like I’m in any danger. If Twilight really wanted to seize control of Equestria, she would’ve done it by now, and considering how strong she already was as a unicorn, I don’t think Luna and I could handle her now as an alico-
Celestia’s inner dialogue was interrupted by a member of her guard bursting into her room, a mingled look of panic and embarrassment at seeing his leader in her nightclothes. “P-Princess C-C-C-Celestia… f-f-f-forgive m-m-m-me,” stammered the guard as he started to turn beet red.
Celestia frowned. What could’ve possibly happened to get this guard all worked up like this. “It’s all right, just tell me what’s wrong,” she said.
“I-I-I-I-It’s P-P-P-P-Princess T-Twilight… sh-she’s b-b-been… m-m-m-m-m-murdered!”
Celestia could almost hear the glass in her mind breaking into a million pieces. Part of her wanted to dismiss and demote the guard because of his lies… and yet, the look on his face and the way he was acting was very, very hard to fake.
“T-Take me to her,” said Celestia, doing her best to sound dignified.
The guard was taken aback. “Your Majesty, are you-” he began to say, only to be drowned out by Celestia’s anguished voice.
“TAKE ME TO HER, I NEED TO SEE HER!” wailed Celestia.
Nodding to show he understood, the guard led Princess Celestia out of her room and through the halls to Twilight’s room, where a small crowd had gathered, mostly consisting of royal guardsponies.
“Let me through! Let me through!” yelled Celestia.
The crowd made way for her. And then Celestia saw her. Her worst fears had been confirmed.
Princess Twilight Sparkle lay on her bed as a couple of guardsponies moved around her, examining the crime scene, while a third, who had orange fur and a dark blue mane and tail, sobbed uncontrollably and stroked Celestia’s pupil’s mane. Blood was splattered all over the bedsheets, and there was a dark slash across Twilight’s throat.
Princess Celestia couldn’t believe it. She closed her eyes and called upon a healing spell. Twilight’s injuries were repaired but the alicorn did not awaken. Celestia tried a shock spell. Twilight’s body shook and vibrated as though it’d received and electrical shock, but still she did not awaken.
No matter what the tear-soaked Princess Celestia tried, she could not get any response from her beloved student. Finally, she was forced to face the truth.
Twilight Sparkle had been slain in her sleep.
“Twilight… I’m sorry… I’m so sorry…” wailed Celestia as she fell to her knees and wept.
…
One Week Later..
At the request of Princess Celestia, the Pegasi Weather Patrol had made the sky almost completely hidden under a shroud of dark gray clouds that poured rain upon those adorned in black who’d arrived for the state funeral for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia watched on as more and more ponies filed past the glass coffin that contained the purple princess, who looked so at peace, wearing her coronation gown, her hands forever holding a bouquet of enchanted flowers that wouldn’t wilt for a hundred years… and she couldn’t stop herself from weeping. She blamed herself for bringing this fate upon her most faithful student. If she hadn’t made her a Princess, none of this would have happened.
Finally, once everyone was seated before the large podium that had been set up, it was time for the eulogies.
"Fillies and gentlecolts... today, we are here to celebrate the life of one very special unicorn, who ascended to become an alicorn princess... only to be taken from us in such a cruel fashion," said Celestia, a glistening tear on her cheek as she began her speech, pausing a moment before she could find her voice. "Twilight Sparkle was... like a daughter to me. I remember the day I met her, the day of her entrance examination... she seemed so happy, so full of life, so eager to learn new things… I could use so many words but they would never be able to truly convey how wonderful she is…. except maybe stubborn. Once she was sure of something she set to it…. and perhaps loyal as well….. I-I’m sorry… forgive me.” Celestia said as she ran off the stage, tears falling behind her, along with Pinkie Pie and Luna.
Fluttershy, a butter yellow Anthro pegasus with a pink mand tail clad in a black dress with matching heels, swallowed her pride and, with as much courage as she could muster, took the stage.
"H-Hi... I'm Fluttershy," murmured Fluttershy, her knees shaking from both fear and sadness. "T-Twilight... was... one of my... best... friends... and... I MISS HER SO MUCH!" she wailed at the top of her lungs, causing several ponies attending the funeral to jump. Mere moments later, Fluttershy passed out from both her stage fright and sadness. The rest of the funeral, compared to the beginning, however, was really quite uneventful.
Finally, it was time for Shining Armor to do his part… something that, no matter how many times he had to it, never got any easier: honor guard. Today, however, he wasn’t just saying good-bye to one of his comrades… he was saying goodbye to the baby sister he’d watched grow up from the day she was born.
“H-honor guard!” he barked, his voice choked up. As one, the guard ponies who stood in their black dress uniforms snapped to attention, their horns glowing. “Ready… aim… FIRE!” barked Shining Armor.
As one, the soldiers fired off colorful blasts of magic, which exploded into fireworks with a loud Boom!
“Ready… aim… FIRE!”
Boom!
“Ready… aim… FIRE!”
Boom!
“Ready… aim… FIRE!”
With the last Boom! Everypony began to depart the funeral and return home. Not among them was Spike Sparkle, who was a well-built purple and green dragon as tall as a full-grown stallion, despite still being a teenager. He was clad in a black suit and tie as he approached his mother’s glass coffin and sank to his knees beside it, weeping.
“I promise you, Mom. I will get stronger and I will avenge you. I’ll make these Traditionalist bastards pay for what they’ve done to you with their lives,” Spike whispered once his tears had been reduced to dry sobs.
”And I’m sure you will, one day.”
Spike slowly looked up, and saw a being not dissimilar to the beings living in the world that magical mirror he and Twilight had once journeyed through so long ago walking towards him. Spike wasn’t familiar with the material his dark clothes and helmet were made from, but something about him made Spike think of a soldier, or some other kind of warrior.
Red Hood knelt down beside Spike and looked at him. He knew the pain the young dragon was feeling all too well. It was the pain of losing the only family you’d ever known, or had hoped to know one day.
”You, uh, you take after your father?” Red Hood asked Spike, his mask filtering his voice.
“What? N-no,” said Spike, sniffling as he spoke. “Twilight’s not my birth mother. She adopted me after she hatched me as part of her entrance exam for Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.”
”Ah, I see. Why don’t you tell me more about her? It might make you feel better.”
Spike heaved a sigh and began to tell Red Hood all about his mother, about the adventures they’d been on, the friends they made, the foes they’d vanquished, and Twilight’s ascendency to Princesshood.
And that, according to Spike, was went things went downhill in a hurry. Once she had been made a Princess, she started pushing for reforms that would allow the common folk to have a say in what goes on in the Equestrian Parliament, replace Equestria’s strictly magical lifestyle with a more technological one, and allow lovers of two different species to get married, among other things. Needless to say, this did not go over well with a large amount of the population, namely most of the Nobles whose families had been in power for centuries, although several of the more Noble houses actually supported Twilight’s reforms. The hatred of the fraction of what had become known as “The Traditionalists,” had nearly all but broken Twilight. And then, only a week prior, Twilight had been slain in her sleep by rogue guards on the payroll of some Traditionalist.
As Red Hood listened to Spike’s story, he felt a growing hatred for the Traditionalists build up within him. Once Spike had finished his story, Red Hood turned the young drake to look at him.
”Listen to me. I swear on my life that I hunt down the ones who killed your mother, the ones who hired them, and pretty much everyone you hate in this world, and send them off to Hell. I will search this entire Goddamn planet if I have to. And one day, when you’re older and you’re ready, you can help me to do it. Understand?” Red Hood said with the utmost seriousness in his voice.
Spike gazed into this strange being’s eyes, feeling slightly unnerved by what he had just said, and nodded to show he understood.
Before Red Hood could say anything further, a female voice called out, causing Spike to look behind him.
“Spike! Come in! You’ll catch cold out there!”
“That’s my aunt, I-” said Spike as he looked back to Red Hood.
Only to find that he was talking to air.
…
As the rain continued to pour down from the skies and lightning flashed across it, Red Hood made his way through Canterlot via the rooftops with help from his grapple gun, searching for anything that could give him a clue as to where his targets, who he’d identified by the various wanted posters he’d seen around the city, could be hiding.
Come out, come out, wherever you are, thought Red Hood as he scoured the city, searching for his targets. It wasn’t long, however, before he noticed that there were a couple of men who seemed to be making an awful lot of effort to keep their faces hidden.
Bingo, thought Red Hood, calling upon his helmet’s Tactical Mode to zoom in and get a better look. Sure enough, Red Hood immediately recognized the two stallions as ones who were involved with Princess Twilight’s murder. As he began to follow them from the shadows, Red Hood was able to listen in on their conversation thanks to the devices in his helmet.
”Killing that 'Princess’ was easier than I thought it would be. Guess it goes to show you that she should have never tried to change anything.”
“Yeah… but, all the same, I sure hope it was worth it to Blueblood. He’d do anything to get his father’s love, and this proves it,” the second stallion said.
“Can’t help but agree with you there, man. Hard not to show your son at least some form of respect after saving everything they’ve ever known,” the first stallion said as he and his cohort arrived at a run-down building and entered.
Red Hood grappled his way to the top of said building and looked down upon them through a skylight in the roof. Inside the room below were two other stallions, who were soon joined by the two that Red Hood had been following.
...
“Did anyone see you?” asked Gallant Heart asked one of the guards who’d just entered.
“No, Gallant, no one saw us,” said one of the guards who’d just arrived.
“Good,” said Gallant, letting out a sigh of relief.
“How long do we have to stay here, Heart?”
“We wait until the shift changes, then we make a run for it out of the city and hole up some place safe until we can find the means to get away from Equestria,” said Gallant. I never should’ve agreed to this… but, he threatened my baby brother, what else was I supposed to do? thought Gallant before something crashed behind him, pulling him out of his thoughts.
Underneath the now smashed skylight in a superhero landing pose was a mysterious figure dressed in black with what seemed to be a red bat of some kind on his chest. Underneath the hood of his jacket, the figure wore a red helmet of some kind. The guards surrounded Red Hood, drawing their swords and taking up their starting stances.
“Flashy entrance. Tell me, have you by any chance heard of a door, or do you just like pulling glass out of your shorts?” one of the guards asked the masked figure.
”At least I’m not one of the idiots who brought a really big knife…” the figure said, before, almost like lightning he pulled out what seemed to be two identical projectile weapons of some kind and pressed something on them that presumably made them ready to fire. ”...to a gunfight.”
The sight of the strange weapons made the guards falter a second, before one of them lunged forward with his sword. Red Hood sidestepped out of the, grabbed the guard by the sword arm, and busted a cap in his skull. Two more guards were to meet very similar fates within minutes, until only a terrified Gallant Heat was left alive as he darted for the door.
”Ah-ah-ah! You’re not getting away that easy!” said Red Hood, firing his grapple gun, which was set to “ZK Mode,” and used it to pull himself toward Gallant, kicking him in the back and knocking him to the ground, where Red Hood held a gun to his head.
”Now, you’re gonna tell me who wanted you and your friends to kill Twilight Sparkle, and you’re gonna do it before I lose my patience and go looking for answers elsewhere,” Red Hood told Gallant as he cocked the gun.
“All right! All right! But, you gotta understand, they threatened to kill my brother if I didn’t go through with it-” said Gallant before Red Hood pushed the gun harder against his head.
”Your brother’s life is not your concern right now. I am, so I’d cut to the chase if I were you.”
“All right, all right! It was Prince Blueblood! Prince Blueblood is the guy you want! Please!”
”Anyone else? Job like this, he must’ve had some friends help him out,” snarled Red Hood.
“Yeah, yeah, he did! Lord Ivory Shell, Lord Cosmo and his father, Lady Sundancer, and Lord Rooternburg were all in on the plot! That’s all I know! That’s all I know, I swear!” screamed Gallant Heart as he started to cry like a little girl.
Red Hood got up off of Gallant and shot the stallion right between the eyes, killing him almost instantly.
”Thanks for the tip. I’d have done it behind a barn, but I didn’t have time,” Red Hood said to apparently no one before he turned to leave the way he came in.
On his way out, however, something shiny caught his eye. Upon investigating, Red Hood discovered that it was a knife, very well made like his own, although he couldn’t identify the metal the blade was made of. He could, however, hazard a guess as to who the blood belonged to.
”Nice knife. Gonna have to clean it off when I get back to the Hideout, though,” muttered Red Hood as he placed the knife in an empty sheath and made his escape.