> A Silver Lining The Assassins Story
>  by Deathstroke3170
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1: Beginnings
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter: The Beginnings.
Free running across the roofs, the rain started to drop onto my hood, time slowed down as I was reaching my targets, Templars. Not just any old Templars, the Grandmasters themselves. Activating my Eagle Vision, I saw my golden opportunity, blinding, in front of me across the courtyard. “The Grandmaster’s thinking of ways to get rid of us Assassins, please,” I thought. “Hey Silver!” I looked up to see the love of my life land right next to me hugging me, my Eagle Vision fizzled out from the physical contact.

“SSSSSSSSHHH, you’re going to blow our cover!” I said, she giggled at me when I said that.

“I already scouted the place for guards and your brothers are here by the way and took most of them out,” she said.

“Why are my brothers here? I’m pretty sure that I only told you that we were assassinating the Grandmasters to prove our worth,” I said

“Well I guess they overheard our conversation,” Ash replied and shrugged “At least they are here to help with taking out the Grandmasters, it won’t be easy”

“We’re assassins, we can take on anyone if we do it from the shadows,” I said with enthusiasm.
I saw my 2 brothers shoot their rope launcher towards us from the east and west of us, and traveling towards us. My older brother landed next to me with a stern face and started swearing under his breath.

“Idiot, facing the Grandmasters by yourself with your lover over there, you were going to get yourself killed if it wasn’t for me and Sash taking out most of the guards already” He angrily said.

“Well thank you for that, you didn’t really have to, I love a challenge!” I said as I blew a raspberry at him.

“You’re not taking this seriously you’re going to get yourself killed and I don’t want to see my bro die,” Reign said and then looked at Sash who was silent with his thoughts. “Isn’t that right Sash?”

“Huh, oh yeah…we don’t want to see you die, you are so young,” Sash said.

“Yeah, yeah alright I will consider things more carefully next time, sheesh you’re so uptight these days no wonder Clare broke up with you,” I said without thinking.

Reign punched me in the jaw hard, jumped off the ledge and yelled: “Come on Sash were leaving!”. Ash did not look happy when I got back up.
“You didn’t have to say that, I know you think you’re the best there is, but the only reason they would come is to look after you,” Ash said, “Look, I didn’t have a brother or even a proper family to look after me just don’t mess up your chances with them.”

I sighed, I hated when she was right. “Ok, I’ll go apologise when we finish the job first,” I said, and I pulled my hood up, ready to tear the Grandmasters’ faces into oblivion. I took out my new toy from my father. A sleek wooden barrel, polished metal gears, and the curvative stock of the rifle. It was a similar version to the legendary Rogue Assassin Shay; the air rifle was modified to shoot bullets as well as darts and grenades if needed.

“What are you doing?” Ash asked as I took aim.

“Let’s just say I’m giving them a welcoming gift!” I said and fired the sleep grenade at the window. CRASH. I then shot the rope launcher towards the window and ziplined across to find that the room had only one Grandmaster sleeping. The room was actually quite small with a bookshelf and a round table with a thin layer of dust covering it. Ash ziplined in and rolled right next to me as I looked at the sleeping man, I brought out the hidden blade and stabbed his throat.

Ash then whispered “Where are the rest of the Grandmasters? I feel like this is a trap Silver!”

The bookshelf then suddenly swung open to reveal a dark staircase, “Well obviously not a trap!”  I said as I activated my eagle vision seeing more blinding yellow light but rather appearing a few levels down. “It will be alright, you got me anyway, we can do this, we have faced much worse than this,” I said happily.

Ash grabbed on to my arm so suddenly and asked, “You won’t leave me right?”

“Of course not, I will always be with you,” I said as I grabbed her close to me. The darkness was starting to get to me as I slowly walked down the stairs, the slight echo of my footsteps making my spine shiver with anticipation of what was to happen next. Ash was holding on to me very tight almost making me want to tell her to be calm, but I knew she needed comfort, she’d been all alone for the past 19 years of her life, until I found her taking a peasant’s money. From the first day I met her, she trusted nobody until I came along and I seriously would kill anyone if they touched her as she is my equal. But enough contemplating about myself, reactivating my eagle vision I saw a door at the end of the hallway glowing in a yellow blue with a tint of red. “There is a door,” I said as we neared it, “And I think everyone is behind those doors.”

“What do we do? We can’t just waltz right in and survive,” Ash asked.

“Well my plan sucks but I think our best chance is to just open the door and I’ll release a shrapnel grenade and be done with it,” I said.

“But there are civilians in there, I see blue silhouettes,” Ash said.
“That’s weird, all I see is a heavy yellow glow,” I said pondering about this.

“They’re looking away we can sneak in now and there are no guards which is weird,” Ash said.

“Ok let’s go,” I said as I opened the door. Inside was almost like the first room we went in but with an extension that we were in, and we quickly snuck behind a table and chair. We were in a sort of secret library with books on the side and tables in the middle but beyond it was the other room with a big round table and torches on either side of the wall.

The 9 Grandmasters were in deep conversation and arguing about something.

“We should use it to take the Assassins out and take over the creed,” one grandmaster said.

“No, we don’t know the capabilities, we could kill hundreds by accident,” another Grandmaster said.

“Why does it matter if we kill hundreds, we are looking for a new world order and don’t care if civilians die, we are here to control the world under our own eyes,” another Grandmaster said.

“Well what does it do? Do we know anything about this apple?” asked the first grandmaster.

“Apple…” I whispered.

“This is bad, this is very very bad, we shouldn’t be here, why did I agree to this, oh we are going to be killed because of you,” Ash said and shoved me. I landed on my butt and hit my head on the table making a squeaking noise. Then there was silence from the Templars.

“Come out now and put your hands in the air so we can see them,” the first Grandmaster said.

*Start Twist of Fate Here-Kari Sigurdsson*

“Stay Down” I whispered to Ash, her eyes widening with fear. I got up slowly but primed my gun for bullets and set it down next to Ash, “Ok you got me,” I said with my hands in the air preparing to take down the Templars. The majority of the Grandmasters I did not recognise, and I was trying to remember every detail about them in case I survive this ordeal. The first templar closest to me had brown hair and an old face full of scars with a templar eyepatch, he was wearing a Templar uniform with a cape with the Templar cross on the side and was pointing his revolver at me. The others were all similar except some had different hairstyles and had blonde, black or brown hair, facial features were all totally different, but only that one held a weapon out and my mind was racing on how to approach the situation.
But one thing caught my eye there was one person sitting his face covered by a mask, but he was holding the one thing that the Assassin’s feared. The Apple of Eden. He stood up and started walking towards me, his face mask stretched a bit, meaning that his face was scrunched up intrigued at me.

“Well, this a first,” he said, “How did you manage to find us,” but then he laughed hysterically, “I know how you came and maybe we should introduce them to you,” He clapped his hands and out came my brothers.

Sash and Reign walked towards the one with the apple, Sash looked very nervous, but Reign had the biggest grin on his face. I yelled, “How could you betray the creed?!”

“I betrayed it because of you!” Reign shouted and brought out his sword “I will prove to you I am the better brother.”

“Well this is interesting,” said the man with the mask and apple as he was sitting back in his chair. The one with the revolver lost interest and was about to put it away when Sash kicked the gun out of man’s hand and thrust forward his hand. The audible “SHINK” could be heard as the hidden blade pierced the adam’s apple and blood dripped. He then leaped into action as I faced my brother head on.

“We shouldn’t be fighting, I’m your brother, we fight for the greater good, for free will” I yelled as I thrust with my rapier. He parried with a flick of his sword and punched me in the face, I staggered.

He then thrust the sword towards me and said: “I don’t care about who I’m fighting for, I’m better than you and you know it. I have assassinated the impossible and me beating you...” I quickly sidestepped and kneed him. Bone crunched as his face scrunched up in agony.

“It's not my fault that I was picked to be the leader of the Creed,” I said and shoved him away to bring out my other sword to dual wield. I glanced at Sash who was fighting the majority of the Templar masters and had killed 4 out of the total 9 Grandmasters, the rest were trying to surround him, but he was fighting for the revolver with one of the grandmasters. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ash leaping to help Sash and kicked the one trying to hold Sash down, then Reign slammed into me with his shoulder and elbowed me in the face. 

“I am stronger than you, faster than you and better than you,” Reign said.

I shook my head out of the daze and said, “But I’m smarter and braver…” Reign grabbed me and threw me to the ground. He leaped up into the air and brought down his spadroon. With both swords out of my hand, I kicked up into Reign’s chest where his ribs were broken. He grimaced in pain and fell back, while he was down, I grabbed both my swords and placed them back in place. “This is over I will not fight you anymore,” I said.
“It's over when I say it's over” Reign yelled and leaped up grabbing my throat and started to choke me. Bringing my leg across and underneath, I kicked him off and got on top of him, brought out my hidden blade. 

“I will not hesitate, to put you down for good if I have to,” I said.

“You're too weak to,” Reign said coughing blood up.

I glanced to the side to see Sash and Ash had killed the rest of the Grandmasters except for the one with the apple in the chair watching everything. He then pushed the chair out of the way and pulled out his revolver “That’s quite enough” He said pointing it at me, “I am part of the Black Cross, and you will not ruin our new world,”

I got off Reign with my hands up and paced away from him. “Good, now finish him Reign” the black cross member said, he held up the apple of Eden and it glowed with power. Reign grimaced in pain and started getting back up, but then I glanced at Sash who snuck behind Black and leaped at the gun. They both struggled for the gun, Ash holding my rifle and trying to aim for Black Cross but struggling to. Reign stood up and barrelled towards me, but I had enough.

Blood already seeped into the carpet, but the black cross member held Sash around the neck with his arm. “Well then, what a misfortunate,” the he said *End Song*, “But you will now surrender so I can use you for blackmail against your father, but you on the other hand,” he aimed towards Ash and grinned under the mask “There is no use for you here” Black said and pulled the trigger. BANG!

“NO!” I yelled as I ran to Ash.

*Start The Times We Had-James Paget*

“Oh,” Ash said as she dropped to the floor, the gun dropped. I held her as she fell, everywhere around me a white void enveloped us. “You’re not dying,” I said drastically, tears falling down my face, “Stupid me, I shouldn’t have been here if it wasn’t me for being so arrogant you would still…”

“Ssh, don’t be sad, my time has come for me, either way, I would have died, it's up to the fates,” Ash said staring into my eyes.

“I will tear the fates and heavens,” I cried angrily.

“I know you will, you have been so kind to me Silver, for so long I was alone, afraid of what the world would be like to me when I first met you one year ago I was glad you found me. When you offered me a place to stay and food to eat instead of sending me to prison, I didn’t know how to say thank you, you were so kind to me. I knew I shouldn’t have blamed you for putting us in this mess,” Ash said her breathing slowing.

“I want you to promise me something,” Ash struggling to speak while coughing up blood.

“Anything,” I said pleadingly. 

“I want you to live on, you can’t live in the past, it will hurt you even more than the pain you are in now,” Ash said raising her hands to touch my sorrow face, full of tears.

“No, I can’t do that” I cried.

“Yes, you can I believe in you, in my heart I know you will, there will be a time that you will meet someone else in your life, I want you to live on with that someone and forget the past” Ash said.

“I can’t forget you,” I said.

“Just promise me that please,” Ash said, her eyes pleading.

“Ok, I promise,” I said my tears rolling down my face trying to think of a plan to save her, but it was already too late, the white background happens when only an enemy or an ally dies, and I need information.

“Good, now hold on to me and don’t let go,” Ash said as she closed her eyes. Her breathing slowing down further.

I held her as the white void slowly dissipated, my eyes stung, red bloodshot eyes and within my arms a lifeless body, a body that had life 2 minutes ago. Her beautiful brown eyes were closed, her brown luscious hair drooped losing its colour, a sad smile on her, I felt dreadful. I laid her body and tucked her arms together and looked up to see Sash holding a fresh knife wound but a broken tortured body of the templar, still alive and breathing but an inch away from death.  I looked into the eyes of the templar and said, “May your soul burn for the things that you have done.” Stabbing both his eyes I let him fall to the floor and picked up the rifle with the blood of Ash. Sash came towards me holding the Apple out to me.

“I’m sorry for your loss, I didn’t mean to betray you I feared Reign,” Sash said.

I sighed and grabbed the Apple from him. “What are you going to do with it?” Sash asked.

I replied, “Going to destroy this weapon once and for all and leave it in the past,” bringing out the hidden blade I held the apple in my other hand and thrust forward. A bright light burned my eyes and I fell unconscious.
> Chapter 2: A New World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: The New World

*Start A Lost World-James Paget*

The damp floor of the forest lay under the cloak of the Assassin, the moon shone brightly on the Assassin making him glow. In one hand the apple of Eden fizzed with power, and in the other was a crescent moon pendant. I lay ready to die struggling to breathe. Then suddenly, I gasped. I brought myself up breathing in very heavily, my eyes cleared to see that I was in a forest. The trees were covered with claw marks and the damp smell of dew tingled my nose telling me danger was a foot. I looked at my hands to find the Apple and then a crescent-shaped pendant, the silvery tint made my eyes water, I then realised I had forgotten what happened the past day. I looked at the Apple, the mysterious device created by the Goddess Isu with mystical powers of unknown limits, I stared at it for quite some time when all my memories flashed back at me. Dropping the apple, holding my head, hurt by the memories replaying over and over, etching into my mind. The death of Ash, the betrayal of my brothers and the Black Cross almost killing me, it was almost too much, my head spinning like someone poisoned my drink.

I fell to my knees not knowing what to do, tears running down my face, no longer remembering my humanity. I brought out my hidden blade ready to end myself with no reason left to live for, then the glistening in my left hand caught my eye. The white boned narwhale crescent polished, it shone in my eyes and I brought down my right hand slowly faltering. Not realising that the promise I kept was strongly in this bond, my gift to her on the first night we kissed under the aurora.

I held onto the pendant tightly realising Ash slipped it into my hands, those sneaky hands, I started crying again, the tears rolled down my chest, my mind figuring out what to do, my heart telling me to let go. I couldn’t take it, I punched the nearest tree and kept punching at it, my gloves slowly tearing as I had flashbacks of her. Ash and I sitting on the ledge of a building leaning against each other as we were doing a night patrol but tired out. Me trying to watch Ash trying out to be an assassin, practising to shoot, and climb while I was meant to be talking to my mentor. Me and Ash tag fighting in the tournament for Senior Assassin. It was all too much; my head couldn’t take it anymore.

Bringing out my hidden blade I cut myself across the shoulder, the blood seeping into my cloak. It cleared my head from the flashbacks, but I still felt the sadness in me. The blood splattered on the ground, I then stared at the tree where I punched. It was smoothing out almost like a slate, so I continued punching, my heartache fuelling me. I then brought out my dagger, I struck the tree etching words. Ash Rose, In my heart you will always be there, May your eyes shine my path to a better future. The blood sweat and tears ingrained the tree making it appear like a ghoul was just there but to me it made my heart lift an inch up.

I looked at the Apple of Eden on the floor still sparking with power, I slowly picked it up deciding on what to do with it I then drove it into the burial of Ash. I stabbed my dagger right to the hilt into the tree above the words Ash Rose and walked off, the pendant around my neck and my heart buried under a pile of rubble.

I trudged away still thinking about the times I had with, Ash and me dancing under the moonlight on the ship in the middle of the night, salty air filling my nose and the smile that burned my mind. The times that I saved her, and the times that she saved me, it all happened in a year. It almost made me smile again. I then heard a voice “Silver…” I looked around, hoping to see her again but to my dismay emptiness, the forest winds howling like the wolf and then actual wolves howling. The wound, I laid myself down against a tree, poured some gunpowder around my wound and took out my flint and steel. I prepared myself and sparked the powder, I felt a sensation but that was it, the voices continued, “Silver” the voice said.

I looked up to see a transparent blue Ash staring down at me, her hood up not showing her face, her body telling me she had given up on me. I yelled at her “Stay away from me! You’re not the real one”

“Oh yes I am, and I am ashamed of you,” the spirit said.

“Shut up! Sh xut up! Shut up!” I shrieked and leaped at her. The spirit dissipated when I touched her, and I was on the floor. I stood up and dusted myself to see a lonely perch up in the trees and I launched my rope launcher towards it. I then looked at the horizon of my perch to see a castle blazed alight. I realised that I have no idea where I am and as I pondered about this I fell asleep.

I stood in a black empty background and scenes of the death of Ash were blaring in my eyes. My vision starting to blur looking towards the images of death. I couldn’t look anymore, and I felt like a child to fall and huddle myself until another voice echoed “Hello” sounding lost and scared.

“Who’s there,” I said bringing out my blades, a black shadow moved in the background moving close to me. My eagle vision telling me that someone was approaching, “Stay back” I said holding out my blades. I then saw a weird shape like a horse, it was slowly trotting towards me.

“I am here to help,” said the voice.

“I can’t see you,” I said with a hint of fear, “Could you come out of the shadows.”

“I can’t see thee either,” the voice said.

“Are you speaking old English?” I said, the shadow almost touching me and realising that the voice was female.

“What art thou talking about?” she said.
“Um, Goodbye,” I said and started backing away slowly.

“Don’t thou want help? I only join when thou has a nightmare.” she said. I turned and ran away from this horse creature. I couldn’t understand what was happening in this nightmare, but she called “Come back, I just want talk” and the blackness took over me.
*End Song*

The sun woke me up and I almost fell out of the tree. Well then, that was a weird nightmare I thought, my stomach grumbled in complaint and I needed something to eat. After having my fill of bunnies, I could not help to realise that this forest was confusing. My sense tingled telling me something was wrong with the place I was in, from what I could tell the closest point to civilisation was the castle that I saw in the distance last night, but I couldn’t tell which direction it was in as every time I looked through the canopies and for the castle it appeared in a different direction than last time.

Until I heard laughter and general noises coming from the east. I clambered up the nearest tree to find a simple layout of a normal castle in view. A grand stone castle at the back and villagers in front. I almost fell out of the tree as I realised that they were all ponies, but then I had to really rub my eyes to find out there are unicorns and pegasi exactly like in greek mythology. My head was started to swim as I realised that I was not on the same place that I called home. I could also see knights standing outside of the castle glistening silver armour and holding spears in an odd position. My mind was slowly deteriorating just by looking at the ponies, the idea of ponies as a race that had the functionalities of humans, it wasn’t until I heard two unicorn speak to each other that my mind collapsed on itself.

Meanwhile at the Castle of the Two sisters

(Everfree forest) (Luna and Celestia are speaking in the respective Archaic English because I can’t write Ancient English :P )

“My sister, may I speak to you privately about important matters,” Luna said in the doorway of the dining hall.

“Can it not wait, for I have to begin day court soon, and finish breakfast,” Celestia said.

“No, it cannot wait, it’s about a pony I met last night” Luna cried out urgently.

“Fine, let's speak in my room,” Celestia said as she activated her horn. Both sisters were in Celestia painted white golden encrusted room. “What is it you must speak of, to have interrupted my breakfast?” Celestia asked angrily.

“The pony I met last night was different than all the other ponies I’ve met before that had nightmares” Luna began “Firstly it was a stallion, and I could not see properly with my eyes and when I looked at his nightmare it was filled with torment and despair, no visions though, but I could hear the crying of the stallion. His heart appears the colour black with no joy left in his heart as if someone close to him has died.”

“This seems very serious, we will try to help” Celestia replied, “I need time to think, we can only help so much, it is only up to the stallion to open up if we are to help. Be yourself and try to talk to him”

“I tried Sister” Luna said, “But he kept on running away scared when he should be a stallion and face his fears”

“Now, Sister, some stallions are the gentle type, they cry to let their emotions out rather than bottling up inside of them, it hurts them more,” Celestia said “Well I have no idea now on what to do, but do please tell me if this stallion appears again,” The chimes of the sundial ringing in the background “I have to attend day court now.”

“I understand, Sister,” Luna said still pondering about this mysterious stallion. In a flash, Celestia disappeared and Luna was left by herself to do whatever she wanted until nightfall.

Meanwhile in the Crystal Empire:
Sombra trotted up towards the Pillar Gates of the Crystal Empire, “Today is a good day to take over the crystal kingdom, Mwahahahaha” Sombra said. “I won’t be known as Sombra I will be known as King Sombra the king of all monsters.”

“Um, ok then, state your name and business,” said the crystal guard.

“Did you not hear a word I just said?” King Sombra asked in confusion.

“No, I wasn’t really paying attention,” said the other guard “It’s so boring around here, standing here in the sun all day”

“Well then witness my true power,” yelled King Sombra, releasing the magic that was building up in his horn, the sky darkened to a sickly sulfuric yellow. Black crystals emerged out of the ground, “You have no idea who I am,” King Sombra said as he already charged forward into the guard piercing the armour and killing him instantly. “You will be my new slave,” King Sombra said as his horn glowed with power and blinded the other guard. The dead guard started forming black crystals around him, reanimating his corpse to become an empty shell. The other guard stared in shock to see that his friend was now reanimated as an entirely different being.

“I will not let you past me,” The guard said and charged towards Sombra with his spear. The spear shattered against the armour, a shard piercing the guard's leg and Sombra laughed.

“You are a fool,” Sombra said, looking down at the defenceless guard “I’ll let you live, but send your princess a message, I am coming, and you will not see the end of it until the whole kingdom is enslaved and the crystal heart is mine,” King Sombra growled. The frozen guard quickly scurried away to warn the princess. “This is going to be so much fun” King Sombra cackled as the impending doom appeared.

Princess Amore was not happy, she stared outside the crystal palace window staring at the sky, the smell of darkness seeped towards her kingdom. She knew this was going to come someday from the visions that she had, but she hid the fact that she didn’t believe it would happen. “Oh, why did you choose this path Sombra, your destiny could have created a better world” Amore whispered to herself.

“Princess we are at your service, what would like us to do?” the guards asked as they held their long crystal spears.

“Take the guard towards the hospital for care and prepare for the siege.” Amore commanded, “I hope we still have time”





*Start Raise the Dead-Tyber Core*
Sombra stared at the pillar gates and laughed maniacally, “What a useless piece of rock” and charged at the base of the pillar. The pillar shook with black magic, the crystals became as black as night then collapsed into small chunks of debris, the debris then suddenly shifted and formed an army of 50 black crystal ponies. “You will serve me and take over the crystal empire” Sombra commanded “I want every pony in chains!” and started trotting towards the crystal empire. The swarm of the black crystal ponies surged forward thundering their way through the empire. Princess Amore all of a sudden felt the heavy dark presence of the shadows creeping up on her, realising that Sombra was coming closer. The dark ominous presence could be felt, the charging of the thundering hooves against the hard cobble floor. The dark crystals appearing like an infectious virus, King Sombra casually trotting, the crystal guards trying their best to stop King Sombra. But the crystals kept on jutting into the bellies of the unsuspecting guards and killing them instantly. The guards bled but the black crystals would form inside them and reanimate their corpses into black crystal ponies.

King Sombra was laughing ferociously as he continued to murder the pony guards, “You are all worthless” Sombra said as he stabbed another guard with his horn. Then a trumpet could be heard as a cannon was rolled towards Sombra, “You think a cannon will stop me, insolent fools,” Sombra said as he waved his horn and a pure wave of destruction crashed into the cannon splitting it directly in half. More cannons appeared to the left and right of him aimed at him, ready to destroy Sombra, the commander crystal guard yelling “Fire.”

A black crystal wall shifted upwards blocking all the strikes, Sombra cackled at the patheticness of the crystal ponies. Waving his horn forward blasting the crystal wall towards the cannons piercing the guards and one by one they became nothing but black shells. Amore could see him, she could not understand why, she had to confront him if they were to live. And then she saw, hundreds of the crystal civilians chained by the army of black crystal ponies. “I must end this, whatever the cost” Amore said as she cantered down from the palace balcony activating her magic towards King Sombra. King Sombra smiled with a sadistic face

“My what a pleasure to meet you, Amore. After so many years appearing and saying I will make a change, and today is that change as the new ruler of the crystal empire,” Sombra said.

“No, you could have made the land a brighter place with the power you possess,” Amore said.

“The power I possess, look at me I am a monster, it’s all because of you that I have to suffer, every crystal fair, you never once come to see if I was alright only Radiant Hope was there for me” Sombra angrily said.

“I know and I’m sorry,” Amore whispered.

“You dare whisper after all the hurt and sorrow that you caused me there are no more chances,” Sombra said as his horn darkened into a sickly pale shade of purple.

“Now!” Amore said cannons blazed and blasted King Sombra, guards charged in with spears after the final blast of the cannon but were met with a black sphere made out of crystals.

“Stand back!” cried Amore, the guards tried to scatter but it was too late, Sombra burst out of the shell killing the majority of the guards and disabling the cannons. Amore created a shield with her magic, but the black crystals were too strong and caused her to be pushed back into the crystal castle. The impact caused a lot of pain, but she still stood, she was not a weak princess.

“SOMBRA that is enough” Amore shouted, her magic releasing pushing Sombra back a metre stopping his kill on a guard. There was blood spilled everywhere, it was hard for Amore to look at Sombra to see that he would do such a thing, gutting his enemies and letting them bleed until the black crystals reanimated the body. Sombra continued to ignore the princess and continued his rampage on the leftover ponies, thrusting forward his horn pierced the soft gooey tissue of a guard, the guard's eyes rolling to the back of his head fainting on the spot.

“Well what a shame,” Sombra said as he now faced Amore “I hope you have no regrets” and charged directly towards Amore. Amore saw this coming and placed a barrier with her magic but SHINK Amore looked down to see Sombra break through her shields, horror-stricken at the fact that Sombra had stabbed her with his horn into her own heart.

“It looks like I win” Sombra laughed as he pulled out of Amore. Amore fell to the ground feeling different as if her body crystallizing *End Song*

“You haven’t won yet” Amore wheezed.

“What do you mean?” Sombra demanded.

“I have sent Radiant Hope to Celestia and Luna,” Amore said wheezing in pain, her whole body becoming black crystals.

“You didn’t!” exclaimed Sombra.

“I sent her when I felt your presence,” Amore said her breath shortening with every second passing.

“You will pay for this” Sombra said angrily “and your whole kingdom will see the end of it too. Bring them forward,” Sombra said, the crystal civilians were all in chains, some tried to fight but sooner or later surrendered to the might of the black crystal pony. The grief looks of the crystal civilians made Amore's eyes widen.

“What have I done,” Amore cried “I have failed everyone” her body turning fully into black crystals.

“Not yet, you haven’t,” Sombra said while bringing up his hoof.

CRASH
> Chapter 3:  Crystal Empire under Siege
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3:  Crystal Empire under Siege

I woke up feeling sore all over my back, I then realized that I was lying on top of two Pegasi. I scrambled away hitting my back into the tree.

“Oww, you have got to be kidding me, it wasn’t a dream that I am in a land of talking ponies,” I said. “I should help them, can’t leave here them with their injuries” as I bent down to inspect them. Up close I could see that they were different from the ones my home. Firstly, they had fancy colours. One had a dark blue colour fur and a pure white mane while the other had a red mane with orange fur, weird tattoos on the flank, one smelled like fresh water from a stream and the other smelled like strawberries.
I was about to touch them to check if there are any broken bones but then my eagle vision activated, warning me that there was a presence slowly trotting towards me. I quickly turned around to see a unicorn staring at me, her eyes in confusion on what I was. I could sense a deep breath meaning that she was going to scream but I quick drew my air rifle with the sleep dart active and took the shot. The unicorn crumpled to the floor, I then ran away, I couldn’t do this anymore. “Me living in a land of talking ponies, unicorns and pegasi, oh what am I? crazy?” I thought, I just continued running off to who knows where.

After what felt like hours of nonstop running I found myself in plain view of distant kingdom in between the mountains. It was a nice change in scene from the forest to the plains and mountains, the kingdom appeared to be made from crystals judging by the reflection of the sun, but I had to pause for a second to catch my breath. I stared at the plains, for a bit “It reminds me of the times, I had races with my brothers” I said, pausing after the word brothers. It was just about noon by the looks of it, the sun shining in my face but peering towards the kingdom a storm seemed to be brewing, “Maybe, I should check…” I thought.

SLAM.

I landed on the ground, my face contorted in pain as my wound reopened. Looking up I saw a unicorn lying on the floor, trying to catch her breath, she then got stood up and said “Sorry…APE!” and scrambled back. I chuckled at the word ape, but my head started hurting, “Oh no, you’re hurt” the unicorn said as she activated her magic. Her horn glowing bright and my wound then exploded in pain as I clutched myself. The wound started knitting itself back together, and the pony said “I’m sorry for hurting you”

“It’s alright” I said and then the pony fainted. I sighed I grabbed a flask from my pocket and sprinkled some water on her. Sputtering back to life, she mumbled “Monkey talking,”
“Hey, I am not a monkey, I’m a human.” I said.

“Oh ok, Huuumaaan,” the pony said, struggling to pronounce it.

“I also have a name, Silver Adler” I said raising my hand.

“Ah, Radiant hope” Radiant said while confusingly bringing up her hoof to shake mine.

“Awkward” I thought, “Um, why are you in such a rush that you had to bump into me?” I asked.

“I didn’t mean to…OH MY GOD, I need to go now,” Radiant said.

“Does it have something to do with that?” I pointed to the dark ominous clouds over the Kingdom.

“If you must know, the Crystal Empire is under attack from King Sombra and I was sent by the princess, Amore, to warn Princess Celestia and Princess Luna and call for reinforcements” Radiant said in one breath, “Also he’s my friend.”

“WAIT WHAT!” I said, grabbing her shoulders, “How could a friend do this, he is not a real friend, I am going to kill him” as I started walking off.

“Wait what, you can’t do that,” Radiant said, “He’s my friend.”

“A real friend wouldn’t be evil unless you’re evil yourself.” I said bringing out my hidden blades. The audible gulp could be heard as she stared at those blades.

“I am not evil, my friend is different, but may I ask what are you?” Radiant asked.

“I am an Assassin and I work in the dark to serve the light” I said and started walking away. Turning my head back to see Radiant Hope speechless. “Why am I even helping” I thought, I sighed and continued knowing the full reason anyway. I turned around again to see Radiant galloping off again probably to tell the Princess Celestia and Luna.

*Start The Hero Within-James Paget*
An hour later I was standing in front of the gates of this supposed crystal Empire, the once glittering Empire of crystals now under siege with black crystals encasing the beautiful colours. Smoke drifted away from the centre of the Empire, the dark ominous orange clouds drifting about. My Eagle vision told me of no enemies and also of the golden opportunity at the top of the Crystal Palace. I stared at the nearest building, calculated the path I would take and acted. The breeze brushed my black hair, my silver eyes pierced the Empire for enemies but none were found. I was born with blue eyes, but when I discovered I was an Assassin, my eyes started to change. My father told me that I had a lot of potential when he discovered my eyes and that I would become a world changer. I laughed at the fact of that because I was just one person and didn’t believe that I could make a significant change in life, as the majority of the times I got myself, and others, in trouble.

I continued running across the crystal houses, the smell of gunfire filling my nose, “So they are not that primitive in their way of life, they somehow discovered gunpowder” I thought when suddenly a shadow came down at me. *0:39* I rolled sideways and brought out my rifle to see a black crystal pegasus flipping and coming down hard. I took aim, time slowing down and fired, the crystal pegasus continued its course which surprised me and rammed into me, knocking the wind out of me and bringing me along for a ride. I continually hit it with my hands as I didn’t want to break my blades. The pegasus began descending towards the centre of the Crystal Palace where all the civilians were chained up. The crystal ponies’ heads where all down in shame for they could not fight against this King Sombra. “I need to free them but how” I thought but then I had an idea.

I aimed the grappling hook towards the nearest building and hoped for the best, the grapple unravelling and latching onto the building. The sudden jerk made the pegasus let go and I started falling, luckily, I landed in a haystack through a hole in the roof. The shadow passed by after a few minutes, I shuffled around the haystack to find myself in a crystal house. The interior was made from crystals, with the setup of a bedroom. I jumped back up to my feet to realise that my eagle vision was could not detect the black ponies. “Well thank god I had lessons with my father on training without eagle vision,” I thought “It would have been better if I had paid attention and not cheated a bit though.”

I burst through the front door shocked at what I saw, the crystal ponies all chained and beaten up from the rough enslavement. The black crystal ponies all turned towards me, their blank eyes trying to pinpoint me, “Hmm, they seem to be only able to see through sound” I said then it hit me. “They are all dead” I gasped, the black ponies rushed towards me hearing my gasp. *1:24* I slammed the crystal door and tried to find a weapon such as a hammer. I heard banging at the door and constantly looked around to find no weapon, but then an idea struck me. I brought out my 2 tomahawks and undid the strings for the blades. I grabbed two chunks of the hardest looking crystal and started wrapping them around the shafts frantically as the black ponies could be heard breaking down the crystal doors. Placing the axe blades for safe keeping inside a box that was in the kitchen, I prepared myself for the coming army.

The black ponies broke through the door to find me ready, they surged forward ready to bring me to King Sombra. I charged sliding across the dining table swinging my makeshift mace into the first head of the pony knocking it to the ground with the head flying off smashing into another pony. I spun to hammer two ponies in the head, then underarm swing upwards into another pony, the ponies kept funnelling through the broken door attracted by the noise of the smashing. I kicked one in the face, then shouldered another into the wall fracturing it. Another leapt at me knocking me to the ground, I smashed my mace into the face of the pony causing it to instantly falter. I rolled to the side to dodge a pony hoof trying to stomp my face, the floor cracking under the strike, I smashed the throat of the pony and backflipped over the group of ponies to the doorway. *2:03*

“Come and get me.” I yelled at the ten remaining ponies all inside the house, I then saw the line of ponies walking to the underground prison to my guessing. I crushed the nearest chains freeing the ponies and telling them to hide, until the black crystal ponies began calling to each other. I looked up to see King Sombra, standing on his throne of black crystal, he did not look happy. His horn glowed with power and then my eagle vision told me to move. I jumped out of the way to find a crystal was in my place. Shocked at what I saw, a black pony managed to catch me from behind knocking me down to the ground.

I backhanded the pony and managed to roll away before another crystal jutted up from the ground. I knew I couldn’t do this forever, but I pushed on, I was starting to be surrounded the black ponies forming a ring closing in towards me. I smashed into the front lines and hammered away aiming for the heads, my weapon slightly fracturing from the overexertion. I launched a shrapnel grenade into the group, body parts flying apart, I continued fighting until the army of 40 ponies where destroyed. But more kept on coming, Sombra constantly annoying me by summoning crystals and doing it more, and more rapidly. *2:49*

Meanwhile at the Castle of the Two Sisters:
Radiant Hope burst through the doors of the castle huffing horrendously to find the princesses. The knights in front were surprised to find a crystal unicorn smash through the guards but let her in because of the importance to the crystal empire. Princess Luna and Celestia where arguing about the sun and the moon and daylight savings but were interrupted when the crystal unicorn Radiant Hope barged in.

“The Crystal Empire is under attack by King Sombra, I am Radiant Hope sent by Princess Amore to ask for reinforce…” Radiant said but fainted midway.

“Oh dear” Celestia said.

“We need to go now then” Luna cried out.

“Knights guard the castle while we go deal with this assault and bring Radiant to the healing room.” Celestia yelled out.

“Yes Princess” all the Knights said saluting.





Activating her magic Celestia’s horn glowed with power and teleported both Luna and herself to the Crystal Empire. The crystal empire was in ruins, the sun shining behind the dark threatening clouds. Like a storm, the wind was picking up, changing with the anger of Sombra. They were standing on the main path to the centre of the Crystal Palace but what they saw was shocking. Black crystals were extended from the ground, bodies displayed on top horrifying the Princesses as they trotted down the path. Then they heard multiple smashing noises, to see a dressed up ape fighting strange black crystallised ponies. The figure was demolishing the black crystal ponies, body parts flying everywhere and then it laid it’s eyes on them.

“What do we do?” Luna whispered.

“I don’t know,” Celestia said looking at the fighter.

“Is that King Sombra?” Luna asked.

“No that can’t be him,” Celestia said, “I think it’s here to help,”





I stared at the two Princess, “I should end this now, or I will have to deal with those two later” I thought. I turned my head to see Sombra had leapt down from his throne and was charging at me. I heard a gasp from behind, but I saw the attack coming from a mile away. I placed my hands on his forehead and back flipped over, landing on a black crystal. He cursed, and his horn glowed with power. The crystal I was standing on entrapping my right arm and leg.
“I have you now, you ape, no one messes with me KING SOMBRA!” Sombra said and charged towards me.

“I am no ape, I am a human, my name is Silver Alder and I am here to kill you fake.” I said as I prepped my hidden blade looking into the eyes of the red iris.

“RRAAAAAH” Sombra yelled.
The dust picked up as Sombra neared me, I waited patiently as he thundered towards me and at the last second time slowed down. SHINK Sombra looked down surprised to find a blade was buried inside his throat. He clutched his throat feeling the soft velvet blood drop, before collapsing on the ground wheezing.

*End Song*
“What was that?” Sombra asked.

“A hidden blade,” I said breaking away from the black crystal. But then a crackle of laughing could be hear from King Sombra.

“I will not be beat by a stupid looking ape thing” Sombra said rising slowly. His horn glowed again with power trying to heal his wound.

“Well looks like I will have to end this” I said slowly walking up to him.

“Sister should we not intervene, we do not kill ponies, it is our code” the dark pony said abruptly.

“You are right sister,” the lighter one said, “STOP RIGHT THERE THEE”

I turned around to see the Princesses trotting towards me. One was a deep blue furred with a slight silvery blue mane, majestic pegasus wings, a sharp horn and a moon symbol on her front and her flank. The other Princess was a strong white furred with a pink cotton candy colour mane, divine pegasus wings, another sharp horn and a yellow sun symbol.

“I will kill this pony, he does not deserve to live” I said standing behind him holding out my blade towards his spewing neck.

“It is not right creature to kill,” the darker one said.

“I am doing this for the benefit for the ponies” I said.

“Thee are still not meant to kill for personal gain, you do not get to decide who dies and who lives, it is up to Death” the lighter one said, her horn glowing softly.

“Well I’m sorry to disagree but I do this for a living” I said bringing my hand closer.

“I command thee to STOP!” she said, “I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria and thee will not harm King Sombra as he is under our protection”





“Sister I don’t think this creature will stop trying to kill Sombra” Luna said in her connection with Celestia.

“I know sister I can see that” Celestia said in her mind.





“We must act then” the darker one said. Celestia’s horn glowed with the intensity of the sun making me shut my eyes and cover my face faltering backwards away from Sombra. But Celestia misjudged her power usage and Sombra’s fur began to burn, Luna quickly fired her beam to counter the solar flare but instead Sombra started to become a shadow. His whole body slowly converted itself into an Umbrum and he roared in delight for his shadowy new form.

“Why thank you Princess Celestia and Luna,” Sombra said “With this new form I will be able to conquer all of Equestria”

*Start Wander-Dyathon*
“Not if we imprison thee first” Celestia said as she prepared her magic, and entrapped Sombra in a ball of magic.

“Let me out” Sombra bellowed.

“You are not welcome here Sombra, your heart is as black as Tartarus,” Luna said as she blasted her magic towards Sombra.

Sombra suddenly grew very bright, blinding the crystal ponies all turning away, I was still blinded by the sun.
“You will not beat me, if I cannot have the Crystal Empire under my rule, NO ONE CAN!” Sombra yelled as his horn furiously glowed with red power.

“What is he doing sister?” Luna asked urgently.

“Oh, no we have to imprison him before he can place his curse” Celestia warned, her horn glowing brighter with Luna and her together, the magic ball blasted off towards the Frozen North and buried itself into the ground. Sombra cursed heavily making the ground shake, Celestia and Luna jittering in their hooves, my sight finally cleared to find that Sombra was gone. But then the ground shook heavily.

“It’s too late Sister” Celestia said sadly, “He managed to place the curse down before we could entrap him under the snow”

“What do you mean sister” Luna asked.

“The Crystal Empire will cease to exist,” Celestia said, “We must go now.” I looked around to find that indeed the Crystal Empire was disappearing, the buildings becoming mist, the wisp of the palace coming apart.

“We need to save the civilians” I said realising that the city was disappearing.

“True, Strange creature” Luna said.

“I am sorry Sister there is no time,” Celestia warned, “We must flee first”

“We are running away?” Luna asked shocked.

“Yes, and we need to bring this creature with us,” Celestia whispered, “It could be a danger to our society and needs a close eye kept on it”

“But we are leaving the crystal ponies to die then” Luna said.

“I don’t know sister what curse that Sombra has placed, but I believe he wouldn’t kill all of them out of cold blood” Celestia said then looked at all the black crystals with the dead guards on top realising her mistake. “If we do not go now, we will disappear also, and our kingdom will have no one to rule”





“Alright Sister,” Luna said, turning towards the ape, only to find it gone from its place.

“It’s around the corner,” Celestia said, her horn burning bright entrapping Silver in a ball of magic for transport.

“Hey, let me out,” Silver said banging on the wall, “We need to save these ponies, you have magic you can save all of them”

“I am sorry creature there is no time,” Celestia said, “Now go to sleep”, the lack of oxygen slowly getting to it making it faint.*1:53*

“Let’s go Sister” Luna said sadly, as the city slowly turned into a wisp. The crystal ponies that were hiding now slowly fading away, the majority hugging loved ones as they realised their impending doom. All crying while huddled together they slowly vanished into nothing, the buildings becoming nothing more than clouds and then disappearing into the night sky as the sun had set.

The beautiful night sky twinkled with remorse though as the great empire slowly disappeared. The Alicorns flying high to see the empty spot of the kingdom appearing as though nothing ever stood there in the first place. Celestia felt tears drop from her eyes to see a perfectly happy civilisation come to an end and disappeared in a click. “We could have saved the Empire if it were not for this creature in the way” Celestia thought and then sighed realising that blaming was not right.

“I wondered what happened with Princess Amore” Celestia said looking towards Luna.
Luna on the other hand was dazzled at the weird creature that they had captured, the black cloak had come off to reveal a handsome face, a white crescent moon pendant glittering under the starry sky.

“What a weird bipedal creature, it managed to take down Sombra all by himself and would have killed him if we did not intervene.” Luna said thoughtfully.

“Tis strange, the creature managed to disappear without me noticing, it was only with magic that I could detect the silhouette of the creature” Celestia said, “We will have a lot of questions for this creature when it wakes up.

“Sister, it also has my symbol of the moon” Luna pointed out.

“Strange indeed” Celestia said, “Let’s go home first, before we make too many assumptions”
*3:10*

And off into the night sky the Princesses flew not looking back at the destruction of the Empire. Instead heading back to the cosiness of their own palace to seek the warmth of the fires.
*Song slowly ending*
> Chapter 4: Break out and Betrayal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: Break out and Betrayal

I woke up in a cell, the rust evident throughout the bars meaning it wasn’t maintained regularly. There was a damp smell of rotting wood and the cell appeared to be empty. No guards or knights to hold me down.

“Ow my head feels so light,” I said, looking around to find that the prison was a few levels down. I looked down at my cloak to find I was completely stripped of my weapons and possessions. I sighed realising that there was no point in breaking out, not yet anyway, better to wait for the guards to escort me out and talk to the princesses. Sighing I walked away from the metal door and lay down on the haystack that was given to me as a bed and shut my eyes.

“Wake up,” a voice said.

“Huh,” I said dazed by the sudden voice.

“We are taking you to the Princess, do not resist or we will have to use force on you,” The unicorn knight said in a gruff voice.

Oh yay, meeting with the Princesses. Thinking about the time with the last meeting with the Princess of Germany, that was a messy fight and the end of a monarchy. There were two unicorn knights, both in shimmering silver armour, each holding a spear.

“Hold out your hands,” the knight commanded. Standing up from my bed, I placed my hands in front of me. The unicorn’s horn glowed with power and a restraint was placed on my hands, the cuffs the colour blue. The door clicked, and I walked out slowly the knight tugging at my cuffs.

“You will only speak when the Princess asks you to,” the unicorn said tugging at my cuffs again, digging into the skin, “You will answer all the questions asked by the princesses and when they are satisfied with your answers, you will be placed in the cell until further notice,”

We walked, I mean, I walked up towards the stairs, one knight in front, one behind nudging me every so often if I slowed down, typical guards. I let my eagle vision flow through me to find the place was full of knights, but I began notice strange things about the castle, secret passages that lead to various places and cleverly placed traps. Hmm Interesting, maybe I can use it to my advantage, after passing through many hallways and doors, I was led to a grand throne room where the princesses were sitting in their respective thrones, the sun setting down could be seen through the windows.

My escorts of Knights took their position next to the princesses and stared at me.

“I am Princess Celestia,” Celestia said, her head up high showing her grace.

“And I am Princess Luna,” Luna said, also raising her head.

“And together we are both rulers of Equestria and you are in the kingdom of the Two Sisters,” Celestia said, I nodded realising that the name of the land was related to horses and I giggled for some odd reason.

“Silence!” Luna said, “You have no right to laugh!” I stood there silently, waiting patiently but then spotted my weaponry and possessions on a tray next to Luna.

“Today, you are here for the attempted murder of Sombra, but first tell us who and what are you?” Celestia said.

“My name is Silver Adler and I am a Human,” I said, Celestia intrigued used her magic to levitate my arms around a bit, “Tis Strange” Celestia thought to Luna.

“And what is your profession,” Luna said.

“That is for me to know and you to find out,” I said smugly.

“This creature is mocking us Sister,” Luna thought.

“It’s alright Sister, we will deal with insults later,” Celestia thought.

“Ok Silver, what are these?” Celestia said holding up my hidden blades.

“Those are my hidden blades which I tried to kill Sombra with,” I said casually.

“I see, what about this,” Luna said holding up my air rifle.

“That’s a customized rifle,” I said.

“What is a rifle?” Luna said, accidentally cocking the hammer.

“I would put that down now,” I said cautiously, moving a step forward, “I can show you what it does, but I need something not expensive,”

“Hmm, should we sister?” Luna thought.

“I don’t think, he wants to harm us anyway, it should be alright,” Celestia thought.

“Ok but if thou do anything too suspicious, the guards will use force to take thou down,” Luna said, floating the gun towards me, the shackles disappearing, and I smiled dryly.

“Hmm can’t remember if I placed a sleep or a shrapnel grenade in it” I thought, checking the barrel of the rifle and peered into the slot, the sleep grenade stared right back at me.

“Thee, can use this empty pot,” Celestia said lifting a brown pot, I took aim and shot a perfect arc into the pot, the grenade rattling as gas slowly spewed out.

“Is it meant to do something?” Luna looked in confusion, her eyes slowly drooping and collapsed where she stood.

“Huh, what did you do?” Celestia said drowsily, trying to stay awake and fell on top of her sister.

“Just something to relieve your mind, while I escape,” I said lifting a cloth to my face, seeing the rest of the guards fall to the floor.

“Well then that was easier than I thought it be,” I said, gathering up my possessions I then realised that Ash’s pendant wasn’t on the tray.

“Grrrh, I have to come back here,” I groaned in annoyance, activating my eagle vision to find a passage underneath the throne. I pushed the stone throne away from the tile, the grinding sound causing a guard to stir in its sleep. Lifting the tile, a roughly made dark hole was in place, it led roughly 2 metres down and led around the back to the garden by the looks of my eagle vision. I jumped down and moved the heavy throne back in place with a crack of space left and walked away listening to the breathing of ponies.





I was the first one to wake up. “Oh, what happened,” I said, looking up to see that Silver has disappeared and that my sister was on me.

“Sister,” I whispered.

“Huh,” Celestia snorted.

“Wake up,” I said.

“I don’t wanna,” Celestia whined.

I sighed, sometimes I have to act the eldest, I stood up sensing for Silver with magic and making Celestia fall flat on her face.

“I didn’t eat the cake last night,” Celestia yelled all of a sudden, getting back up on her hooves, awakening the rest of the guards on the floor.

“It seems to me that Silver has vanished without a trace,” I said, “He has made a fool out of us sister,”

“He may have but he did not kill any of us or any of the guards,” Celestia pointed out.

“You do have a point, sister” I said, staring at the shining moon, “What do we do sister when he comes back?”

“What do you mean?” Celestia asked.

“He took everything of the tray, but I did not place back his crescent pendant, I have taken it to my room, so he is most definitely going to take it back,” I said.

“And why did you take it sister?” Celestia asked.

“No reason…” I said blushing slightly trying to think of an excuse, “Well it was because it was the shape of the moon that I thought it could be important and had something to do about me.”

“Hmm, we could place the castle under lockdown, so we can catch him,” Celestia said.

“That would not do as everypony would be concerned about the castle and the state it is in,” I said.

“Actually, I will place an enchantment on the pendant so if he does take it we can track him down later,” Celestia said firmly believing the idea was perfect.

“That is a great idea Sister!” I beamed teleporting to her room in a flash taking the pendant and placing it on the hoof of Celestia. Celestia’s horn glowed lightly with power and the pendant was lifted in the air landing back into my hoof.

YAWN

“Sister thou just had a nap,” I rolled my eyes, “Well I must be off I have nightly duties to attend to now,” and disappeared. Celestia yawned again causing the guards in the rest of the room to yawn simultaneously.





A few days later, midday in the Everfree forest.

“I’m going to need to track down Luna,” I thought, realising that I could not wait any longer, “might as well learn about the society while I eavesdrop on the location of Ash’s pendant.” I neared the castle peering through the walls. Luna was still sleeping as I came closer and realised that she was nocturnal. Coming to a halt, I realised there was no reason for me to go to the castle till later when she was awake.

“It might be better to learn about the society while I wait but I have to be careful about the guards.” I thought, landing on top of the thatched roof of a farmer watching the markets bustling full of ponies, unicorns and pegasus. I came to notice that they only sold specific things like cakes, vegetables and other produce but no livestock, “They seem to be all vegetarian,” I remarked, my stomach grumbled for the cake that was just so close but so far away. “I wonder what kind of money system they have.” peering over the edge of the roof to see the pony vendor holding a bag full of carrots passing it to a pegasus while the pegasus handed back 2 coins. “I can’t tell if my money is worth the same amount as theirs,” I thought.

It was then I heard a kid unicorn humming to himself walking along the alleyway behind the house holding a bag of money with his magic. My eagle vision kicked in and I slowly crept to the other side, at the edge of the roof to find out that there was an older unicorn yelling at the child with a hoof held out, for the money and his 4 gang members standing behind. This angered me, and I leapt off the roof, time slowing down. Grabbing the one yelling at the blue child unicorn, I slammed its face into the fence, knocking it unconscious. I grabbed the two nearest members in mere seconds and crashed their two faces together and the other two backed off scared.

“Boo!” I said.

“AHHHH!” they cried out flying off.

“What’s your name?” I asked casually turning to face the child.

“Um…Moonlight Astral” the blue unicorn stuttered.

“Don’t be afraid, being afraid won’t get you very far in life,” I said softly thinking about the time with my father helping me up after I was beaten up by a bully.

“Ok mister…” Moonlight Astral said.

“Alder,” I said, “Hold on to those coins,”

“They are called bits” Moonlight Astral stammered, his eyes fearing towards me.

“Sorry I’m not from around here, but anyway, how about I walk you to wherever you need to if you are scared,” I said, realising at what I just said.

“I was trotting to the well down this alley to make a wish,” said Moonlight Astral,

“Alright let’s go,” I said, “What were you going to wish?”

“I can’t tell you that, or it won’t come true,” Moonlight Astral said, I chuckled at the innocence of the child. We walked towards the well, all ponies stopped to stare at me, out of place as I was, but I had a plan. They were shocked at my appearance, not knowing what to do but I acted invisible as if I was there by myself.

“Would you like a bit Mister Alder” Moonlight Astral said.

“Oh, it’s quite alright Moonlight, I can’t stay right now, but here,” I said kneeling, pulling out an apple and gave it to him, “Remember to stay strong and to fight for what is right,” and pulled out a smoke bomb disappearing. When the smoke cleared everyone in that vicinity rushed towards Moonlight comforting him and I chuckled as I heard him say “Help me” drowning in the sea of ponies. While I held myself in the well. After everyone cleared out of the way it was nearing dusk as I clambered out of the well, the area already cleared of ponies. My hands ached holding on to the walls of the well, “I hope Moonlight is alright” I thought, looking towards the castle ready to deal with the real problem.





The castle was full of knights but as I neared the castle they changed shifts with a different knight. The armour was as dark as night and they appeared stricter than the day ones. “I better be careful around them,” I thought crouching on the branch of the tree. I activated my eagle vision to find that Luna was waking up. I travelled to her balcony and landed softly and stood next to the door listening. Luna opened the door to find her Lieutenant Knight standing in the hallway reporting for duty.

“I want a full sweep of the area from both sky and land, and report back to me when done,” Luna commanded.

“As you command, Princess Luna,” The lieutenant said saluting and trotted off.

“Now to get ready to lower the moon,” Luna said, trotting towards the door of her balcony. I felt her presence and I quickly leaped of the balcony to hang from my grappling hook. Luna looked to the sky and stared at the sunset, the orange hue on her face, warming her to the bones and the beauty of the sky slowly changing. Luna’s horn glowed a light blue and moved the moon, I stared in awe realising that the Princess of the Night was actually moving the moon with her magic. “I better be careful with the Princesses, she could kill me without a thought if they wanted to,” I thought. The sky twinkled with the stars, shimmering as they came to life, painting the sky with her horn to create a unique background reflecting on Luna’s mood at the time.

“All done,” Luna said, beaming at the sight hoping that everypony could see it. She trotted back inside and closed the balcony doors to go to night court. I was still staring at the moon when a whooshing sound could be heard, and my eagle vision told me that a pegasus was patrolling the area. I climbed the balcony and quickly barged through the door sliding beneath the bed to hide from the guards, the pegasus landed with a thump on the balcony.

“Luna, forgot to close her door again,” The pegasus guard sighed, shutting the doors about to leave when I sneezed.

“Oh, crap,” I whispered, knowing that the Pegasus definitely heard me.

“Who goes there?” the pegasus demanded bringing out his 2 swords with his bat like wings. The blade glimmering in the moonlight. “I heard you sneeze in here!”

I waited patiently until he turned towards the balcony door and then I struck. From behind I grabbed his wings and clanged them together, the swords dropped. I then held his throat slowly choking him into submission, until he regained his senses and flapped his wings about knocking me to and fro around the room. But it was too much for him as the lack of oxygen got to him, he dropped slowly to the floor and was knocked out. I got up bruised from the multiple banging to the wall and then realised that Luna was in the room.

“I can explain,” I said holding up my hands and pulling my hood down, in defence.

“I know what thou are looking for and I don’t know who you are truly so how about a bargain that you can’t refuse?” Luna asked craftily.

“And what would that be?” I asked.

“I give thee this pendant that is so important to thee, and thou shall give me answers to my questions,” Luna said.

“Or I could take it from you without you even knowing,” I said craftily.

“I would like to see you try,” Luna smirked, readying her magic.

“Actually, you know what I’ll play your little game,” I said, taking out the chair from the dresser table and sat down the back of the chair facing Luna.

“Um, ok then,” Luna said, she was not prepared for the sudden change.

“I would also like to place one more term down before we begin, you must not tell Celestia about this because I don’t trust her, this is just between you and me,” I said.

“And why is that?” Luna asked.

“Because she nearly burnt me in the process of dealing with King Sombra,” I said plainly.

“That seems reasonable enough,” Luna said, “Knights, take Dreamy out of my room and place her in the infirmary while I deal with this, also do not tell Celestia about his arrival.” Moments later a unicorn in dark armour appeared and touched the unconscious pegasus and flashed away.

“Ok firstly what you ask I may not be able to answer because of personal reasons,” I said.

“Hmm we will see, first question, where are thee from Silver?” Luna asked.

“I come from New York, America,” I said.

“I see,” Luna said, having no clue where that is pondering if it is even in Equestria.

“So, what is this place to be exact,” I asked, curious about the actual place I am in.

“I’ll be the one asking questions here, but we are on Equestria in the Everfree forest,” Luna said.

“What is on your flank?” I asked ignoring her request.

“Oh, that is called a cutie mark, they tell of the secret talent that thee possesses inside,” Luna said.

“Oh, kind of like a tattoo,” I said bringing up my right forearm showing the Assassin’s insignia.

“That is a weird symbol, what does it mean?” Luna asked tilting her head,

“It means freedom and is based on my hood,” I said bringing my hood up to show the ‘A’ like shape.

“Hmm, well it's getting late,” Luna said looking at the clock on the wall reading 12:00 am, “I have other duties to attend to, you have answered one of my questions so far, so you don’t get this,” lifting Ash’s Pendant, dangling it in my face.

“Fine, I’ll meet you tomorrow at dawn,” I sighed moving the chair in place ready to leap out of the balcony when Luna called.

“Silver, don’t stress too much about your dreams, they are only just…” Luna said softly.

“She knows,” I leapt out of the window before she could say anymore.





At the crack of dawn, the thestrals started changing shifts with the day knights. The Day Knights did not like the Thestrals that much, it reminded them too much of the terrifying vamponies they were only told about as little foals. The two groups were always having brawls with each other over who was more superior but this time it sparked the interest of one Day Knights attention to the Thestrals conservation.

“Did you hear what happened with Luna?” Moon Petal asked.

“Didn’t she find the weird two-legged creature fighting with Dreamy,” Rain star said.

“Yeah and apparently that creature has to come back until he answers all questions from Luna,” Moon Petal said.

“That is interesting, I must report to Celestia at once,” Solar thought galloping towards Celestia’s Chambers.





Dusk approached, the beautiful orange glow of the sun slowly faded into the night sky as a shadow landed on the balcony of the castle. The shadow silently creeped into the room of the princess looking for the pendant, it was then spotted on Luna’s table dresser. Slowly edging forward trying to not wake the sleeping princess, he grasped it. The moment his fingers touched the string, it gave him a massive shock and he was blasted back several feet and landed on Luna’s bed.

“AHHHH,” Luna screamed, scrambling up the bed to find Silver was sprawled on the bed. “Oh, dear me Silver, are you alright?” then Luna’s eye caught the sight of cackling lighting from the pendant on the table. Luna sighed, “Well, then he wasn’t joking,” and got up to the bathroom.

Silver gasped as his eyes sparked with lightning and then back to normal grey eyes as he got up to find Luna gone from her bed.

“Ow, my head hurts,” Silver said.

Luna laughed in her chair as Silver held his head.

“Thou took quite a shock,” Luna said, “But it is time to answer my questions,”

“Do you have water?” Silver said, realising that his mouth was parched.

Luna disappeared for a second then reappeared with a glass of water in a blue hue of colour.

“Thank you,” Silver replied.

“Now the first ordeal of questions, what is your profession?” Luna asked, “and no smart comments,”

“I am an assassin and I work in the dark to serve the light,” Silver sighed knowing that there was no way around it, but it was quite obvious by the weaponry that he held.

“So, you kill for money?” Luna asked.

“No, that’s a mercenary,” Silver said, “I take the life of high social status people such as Kings or Queens for the freedom of citizens and serve justice to those that do not use their power correctly,”

“So that would include me,” Luna said gulping at Silver, knowing full well that if she did anything wrong he would come kill her.

“Yes, it would, also what are you?” Silver asked, “You’re not a Pegasus, nor a Unicorn but both at once”

“Oh, I am an Alicorn which is both a Pegasus and Unicorn which you deduced,” Luna said, “You also seem to know of pegasi and unicorns but not Alicorns, why is that?”

“Oh, Pegasi come from Greek mythology and Unicorns come from folklore,” Silver said.

“So everypony is a myth?” Luna gasped.

“In my world, we have regular ponies and horses,” Silver said, Luna gasped at the word ‘horse’.

“DO NOT SAY THAT WORD IN FRONT OF ME!” Luna boomed in her Canterlot voice.

“What, horse?” Silver said confused over the meaning of a horse.

Luna realised maybe she overreacted a bit because of Silver’s face, Silver on the other hand chose his next words carefully.

“A horse, in my world is a creature like ponies but bigger and taller and have a lot of strength,” Silver said.

“Oh, HAHAHA,” Luna chuckled, realising that the two are completely different things.

“What does horse mean here?” Silver asked.

“You must not say it in front of anyone as it offends everypony, it means a pony that is a whore,” Luna said.

“Oh…” Silver said, trying to think of a way to change the subject.

“What about your family Silver, do you have any back where you live?” Luna asked.

“I have my father who is the leader of the Assassin’s for America, and my two elder brothers,” Silver said sadly, thinking back to the past where the father wrestled against all 3 at once and still managed to win even with coordination. Luna realised it was a soft topic and decided to ask about it more later.

“There are more of you?” Luna asked.

“We fight against the Templars,” Silver explained, “The Templars want to rule over our world through their eyes meaning no free will where everyone was subject to their rules, we assassins exist to fight against the templars and to stop them from the conquest over free will,”

“So, the Templars are the evil ones, interesting,” Luna said, her view on Silver have changed dramatically as she has come to realise why there was so much killing.

“And thee must kill?” Luna said.

“Nothing is true, everything is permitted,” Silver said mysteriously, Luna tilted her head in confusion.

“It is about the morality of what we do. In acting and killing those that are, the evil harmony and peace may last and is justifiable by our actions,” Silver explained.

“Ah, I see.” Luna said understanding the truth behind the saying, Luna thought about the next question to ask then realised that Silver had terrible dreams and would always yell out the words Ash as if missing someone.

“Do you have a special somepony?” Luna asked blushing slightly.

“A what?” Silver said, knowing fully well what it meant.

“Someone that you love dearly,” Luna explained.

Silver sighed heavily, “I did,”

“Did?” Luna asked realising that was what the screaming meant.

“Please don’t ask,” Silver said, as his mind started to delve into the recent memories, Luna could sense his hurt and decided that tonight was enough.

“Thou are free to go now, I have more questions later but today is enough.” Luna said and looked away for a second only to find the bed empty, “Why did I have to ask if he had somepony special to him” Luna got up and trotted to the balcony space and stared into the night sky.





Silver woke up his mind drifting to the deeply etched memories of his love, hating it that Luna reminded him about it. He was trying to bury it as deep as he could, but it was hard to. He looked to the horizon to see the sun slowly drifting upwards and the warm sun touched his cloak warming him to the bones. Silver looked down to see that the markets had started early, he clambered through the trees thinking about Luna moving towards the town to see if anyone was in trouble, “Why must Luna ask me about if I loved someone, was it really necessary?” Silver then saw the same unicorn foal Moonlight Astral. He looked cleaner and was smiling happily next to Radiant Hope, then it dawned to Silver that Radiant was looking after Moonlight as he was an orphan. For some reason the colt looked up and to his bewilderment saw Silver kneeling down staring right back at him, he waved and smiled but Silver did not respond.

“Who are you waving at?” Radiant Hope asked, confused looking in the general direction of the wave.

“Um…” Moonlight said, looking back to see Silver had disappeared, “Nopony.”





Celestia was sitting in her throne, a bit uncomfortable at the recent news of the Assassin speaking to Luna privately and about his appearance in the general vicinity of the village in which he confronted an orphan colt and walked him to a well and then disappeared, well according to the many witnesses. Celestia waved off the thought of Silver talking to Luna originally as not being dangerous, not worrying at all until the recent news of a murder. The one murdered was of a high noble status and what was troubling Celestia as the throat had been stabbed exactly how Silver did against Sombra. Not many ponies did like the one murdered and he was also a constant nuisance to Celestia on how to keep the kingdom under control. Celestia figured out that Silver was an assassin when they confiscated his weaponry and it made him a prime suspect in the killing of the high noble status unicorn Blueblood, “Maybe I’ll pay Silver a visit later with Luna,”





*Start Last Reunion-Peter Roe*

Luna woke up with a shadow over her and she yelped only to realise that Silver was sitting on a chair reading a scroll on the geography of Equestria and the different races.

“Silver do not sneak up like that, thou almost gave me a heart attack” Luna said, standing up and stared at Silver, his clothes use to look full of grace but in the past few days it had deteriorated with everyday becoming dirtier and full of scratches. Silver didn’t look any better his face had rims around his eyes signalling the lack of sleep and the scratches across the face. “What happened Silver?” Luna asked.

“With what?” Silver asked.

“Everything, thine face, and thine clothes are almost ruined,” Luna said, “Does it have to do with thine nightmares?”

“Nightmares?” Silver asked fearing that Luna knew something.

“I know you keep on having these nightmares, I hear your cries almost every night and it has dawned on me it has to do something about your family or your loved one,” Luna said moving Silver’s chair closer to the bed. “I am here to help,”

“So, you can read my mind,” Silver sighed “You know there is a thing called privacy,” Silver said slightly raising his voice.

“I know Silver, but I am drawn to those that cry in pain in their dreams, it is my duty to save those in need, but your biology is different, and I have not been able to appear properly, I can only hear you nothing else,” Luna said hurt by the raised voice.

“It has to do with family,” Silver said. *0:55*

“Are thee sure, you keep on screaming out Ash?” Luna asked.

“Do I really have to talk about it, it’s doesn’t concern you,” Silver said looking out to the balcony listening to the soft breeze come through making Luna shiver.

“Does it have to do with your mother, you haven’t spoken of her?” Luna asked.

“No, she died giving birth to me, I am the youngest one, I have 2 older brothers Reign and Sash,” Silver said.

“Then is Ash your loved one,” Luna said knowing that the truth had hurt Silver as he looked away.

“Yes,” Silver exhaled tears dropping, Luna came forward rushing her wings covering Silver in hug in a motherly gesture, “Ssh, it’s alright, it is not right to be alone in this world”, Luna whispered, “I see thou are a kind hearted soul, who cares for those in need, thou are not alone, thou have now a little colt that looks up to thee”, Silver calmed down and hugged back Luna.

“Thank you, Luna,” Silver said wiping the tears away, Luna let go of him and suddenly had an idea.

“Why don’t we have a dance?” Luna asked.

“A dance?” Silver asked confused

“To keep thine mind off it and to strengthen our bond,” Luna said.

“Bond?” Silver said confused again.

“We are friends, right” Luna giggled, standing on her hind legs, using her wings as balance, and her horn glowing to move a gramophone needle. *1:55* Placing her forelegs on Silver’s shoulders and moving with the music. The soft melody of a piano playing as it loomed to Silver the similarity of a waltz, taking steps with Luna. The timing perfect as they moved through Luna’s room going slow, stepping left-right. Luna’s eye shone in happiness to dance with someone for the first time in years, Silver on the other hand enjoyed the delicate piano, running through his veins as his natural ability to dance surprised Luna. Their eyes locking more than once as they danced, the soft taps of the Luna hooves on the floor echoing throughout her room. It was an enjoyment that Silver took in deeply as he held onto Luna. Silver started to feel the music pace slightly quicken, it was then he realised he did not know how he was going to spin Luna. Luna had an answer to that as they slightly levitated with her magic, as both walked into the air, Silver spun Luna lifting one foreleg high and spun her. Luna giggled as she spun feeling the soft grip of Silver holding on to her back, she felt overwhelming joy as she saw Silver smiling, a genuine smile, one he had never made since Ash hugged him. Luna brought them both back on to the ground when she slipped, only to let Silver catch her. Luna could feel the breath of Silver and looked up to him, her eyes glittering under the moonlight and then she felt an urge and closed her eyes. Silver eyes widened as she moved to kiss him, her wings flaring.



 *2:50*

“Solar, what do you see?” Celestia asked.

“I see Luna hugging Silver,” the knight said which confused Celestia, “Now they are dancing,” as Solar craned his neck to see through the keyhole wondering if it was necessary to do this. Celestia was bewildered by the act of Silver and Luna, “Is Silver manipulating my sister!” Celestia mane started to move as if it was in the wind, it was then the next words that blew Celestia’s top off.

“Luna’s about to kiss Silver, and Silver has a knife in his palm,” Solar said urgently.





BANG *3:08*

Celestia barged in frightening both Luna and Silver as they both stopped. Silver was terrified, quickly hiding his blade, which he had accidently set off.

“Get away from my Sister, thee assassin, Knights arrest him,” Celestia boomed.

Silver looked at Luna eyes wide, “How could you Luna?” Silver asked moving away from Luna in shock “I trusted you,”

“I have nothing to do with this,” Luna cried out.

“Sister you have every part with this murderer, now go to my room,” Celestia exploded, and zapped her away. The knights rushed forward with spears and swords, Solar taking the charge, Silver stood paralysed for the first time before instincts over took him. As they neared closer Silver pondered “Do I kill them or knock them out?” as Solar made a swipe to the head with his spear. *3:35* Silver then made the decision, leaned back from the spear and grabbed pulling it towards him. Solar unbalanced by this manoeuvre and moved forward to find a blade in his throat.

“Is that what you did to Blueblood?” Celestia shouted out, “Kill him out of cold blood?” aiming her horn at Silver and fired a beam of pure light. Silver dodged in time, but the intensity still could be felt, only for a spear to come thrusted towards his face and a spear towards his back. Silver rolled away and brought out both revolvers and shots rang throughout the castle leaving 12 dead knights. Celestia was horrified at the weapon and zapped both revolvers out of his hands leaving only a melting puddle of metal. Silver was surrounded, and he realised his best chance was to escape and not fight as it made his image degrading and started running towards the balcony doors. A spear flew past his ear, and the unicorn knight swiped the sword towards his head. Silver narrowly slid on his knees bringing out his sword and cutting in between the chinks in the armour, bringing down the knight. Silver leaped over the last pony and jumped on top of the balcony rails only to be hit by a spear in the shoulder and grimaced in pain as he made it to the nearest branch. Celestia halted the knights as Silver jumped in between the trees looking for safety. The spear was pulled out and clattered across the branches as Silver leaped for the next branch only to fall unconscious from the loss of blood and the ringing words of “FIND HIM!” from Celestia’s booming voice.

*End Song*
> Chapter 5: Setting In Stone
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Setting in stone

Zecora was not fond of finding a dead animal in front of her path, well that was until it started breathing very slowly. She realised it wasn’t any creature she had ever seen before and it was dying.

“You will not die today, for you will see another day,” Zecora said, thinking of a way to pick up the animal without injuring the creature further. She poked the creature to see if had a conscious but was met with a groan. “What to do” Zecora thought, she then realised that she had a potion that she had just made before for floating for the little foals. She turned the creature over and poured the concoction into the stranger’s mouth, it gasped in pain and the body floated up enough for Zecora to move underneath and carry it towards her hut.





I gasped in pain to find myself in a house of some sort. I groaned sitting up right to feel massive amounts of pain in my chest area and legs, “Damn you Celestia!” I said, finding a strange animal in front of me, it was like a horse but with stripes.

“I am Zecora, and you are?” Zecora said taking in a deep look at me.

“Silver,” I said.

“You have 3 broken ribs, a spear wound and a mild concussion, thanks to which now I am your physician,” Zecora said.

“Thank you Zecora,” I said, acknowledging my wounds and the realisation that she spoke in some sought of rhyme.

“There is no need for thanking me, I am just a humble zebra in helping thee,” Zecora said, “Drink this, it will make you full of bliss,” handing a bottle of orange liquid, I stared at it as if it was poison but then decided that I would be better to drink, “If she wanted me dead, I would have been” and drank the liquid. It did not smell of oranges sadly, as I fell to unconscious.

Waking up again it was roughly dusk by the looks of it, with my head spinning a bit I saw Zecora placing herbs and plants inside a cauldron. “She’s an alchemist, that explains all the potions and stuff” I stood up from the hay bed and walked out the front door to get some fresh air, the smell of the liquid brewing was unbearable. Taking deep breaths, I looked to the sun to feel a soft warm sensation, understanding that the sun here was much different than back from where I came from.

“Where are you going, it is not safe for the foraging,” Zecora said.

“Just getting some fresh air, the potion remedy reeks,” I said.

“You also seem all better, it almost seems like you want to flutter,” Zecora pointed out.

“Your remedy really helped, thank you!” I said, “I wish I could repay you, all I have are these coins, they are not the same,”

“That is fine, I always help those in need as that is how I am define,” Zecora said, my stomach rumbled, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“Now it is time to forage,” I said, bringing out my rifle, “I’ll be back in a bit,” leaving Zecora with her mouth wide open.

The night was cold, it was almost like a harsh winter came through, “Is it even Summer now? Time has been going so fast I don’t even know if it is the same time back where I am from,” I stared into the sky, there were less stars in the sky as if Luna hastily did it almost seeing a sadness in the sky like she was weeping. “I have always loved the night, not just to hide myself but it’s beauty and the wonders it can show like the aurora” I sighed at the state of the sky, “I hope Luna is alright, it is not right to face the wrath when I should be held responsible,” sitting myself down on the branch I was on.

The wind howled, and I felt it to the bones, Luna was right, my cloak was getting dirty and there were two holes around the shoulder area, “I will fix these later, but now I need food.” After some time, I still could not find any critters to eat and I didn’t sense anything to eat either which was annoying as I always have meat to eat. “I might have to go back it’s getting late” I thought when I heard rustling behind me. holding my rifle and aiming at the bushes, the rustling sound continued until an egg came out. The egg rolled towards me, which confused me as it was big, much bigger than a normal chicken egg and I was hungry and couldn’t wait to boil it.

I checked behind the bushes to find a wolf gnawing on what appeared to be a rabbit. “It must have been saving the egg for later, I should leave it alone, I’m not ready to fight again” I thought stepping backwards when the most cliché thing could happen, I stepped on a stick, making the wolf turn towards me. Its teeth bared, blood running down it maw, I took a stance ready for the incoming attack. The eyes of the wolf never laid off of me as it circled around me, “Animal Instincts, it's staring at me, measuring the potential of an enemy I am, one single look away and it will attack,” I thought trying to keep eye contact but the night was getting to me and I closed my eyes for a split second.

The wolf pounced at me rearing its jaws towards my throat, knocking me down and gnashing down at me as I held it back with my left forearm across it’s throat, but I pushed the blade right into the cranium with my right hand, the wolf freezing instantly and collapsed on me. Sighing as I started skinning the beast and was already heading back to Zecora’s Hut with an egg and a wolf on my back. I knocked on the door to find an annoyed Zecora.

“You have been gone, for all this time when it's almost dawn,” Zecora said, then eyes wide with all the blood on me, “What beast did you fight, to give you such a night?” while staring at the large egg I had.

“How big is your pot?” I asked, anxious to eat and not caring about the blood on me.

“It is big enough, to fit all kinds of stuff,” Zecora sighed.

“Lead the way,” I said as she walked back inside realising I wasn’t even listening.

“Here you are, let's hope you don’t get a scar,” Zecora pouted pointing to her pot with boiling water. I pretended to not hear the zebra whining about safety in the forest when I placed the wolf on the table, knocking some potions and scaring Zecora. I placed the egg in the cauldron. I shut my eyes landing on the bed when suddenly the cauldron exploded and a very surprised Zecora landed right next to me from the explosion.

“That’s no normal egg,” Zecora said as the smoke cleared away to reveal a blue baby dragon climbing out of the cauldron.

“Are you serious, there are dragons?!” I yelled in the sky waving my fist, “What next a freaking hydra?”

Zecora opened her mouth about to say something but decided to close it, as I neared the baby dragon. The dragon had a sleek body, its colour of light blue crystallized like scale and its beady eyes eyeing me as I came closer, seeing a reflection of myself in its eyes as it made a humming sound. It tried flying towards me but before it touched the floor I caught it with my reflexes. It was no bigger than my palm and it hugged my hand in a loving way, rubbing its head around my thumb.

“It likes you, just as it is blue,” Zecora said from afar, the dragon then bit me. I held it grimacing in pain when I felt weird inside me as the dragon turned a great deep red like blood before yawning and laid in my palm purring in a way. “Strange, it turned deep red as if it bit me, something has changed inside me” I thought as I felt my head swarm with drowsiness and I headed to the bed to rest placing my new pet down on my pillow. “I think I will name it Shards” I whispered as I smiled at the perfect name I had just thought of, slowly letting myself drift to sleep.





Waking up a few hours later, I found myself feeling the scratching of a dragon paw. I turned my head to come to face with Shards my new dragon pet.

“Aren’t you a cute one,” I said, pulling myself out of bed and it clambered up to my shoulders, “I’m going to call you Shards,” Shards turned the colour yellow, as it licked me on the face. “So, it uses colours for emotions” as it changed back to its light blue form. Zecora was nowhere to be found as I went to the table which held the wolf. I looked at the pot in which Shards just came out of when I felt Shards dig into my shoulders as it stared at the wolf. Shards leapt of me and landed next the wolf and started digging, making a giant mess as it tore through the meat of the wolf.

Personally I would have grimaced at the sight as it reminded me of my German Shepard I used to have named Bear as he actually knocked down one surprisingly when I was younger, but when the little dragon popped his head out of the carcass and brought a piece of meat for me and tilted his head waiting for approval I couldn’t help but smile. I took the piece of meat and Shards lit up a great yellow as it jumped around, I took the giant cauldron out from its place and recovered the remains of Shards’ egg shell. I nudged it towards Shards and it surprisingly did a little back flip and started eating its shell.

My eyes widened in shock as it ate as crystals started shifting as Shards grew. “Weird, it grows when it eats its same element,” I thought, looking for something to start the fire again, Shards must have sensed me somehow and leapt down from the table and breathed a blue fire towards the wood lighting it instantly.”Impressive”as I looked around for a pan when Shards started coughing and breathed fire towards the floor only for a crystal shard to land right next to my finger almost like a pencil but thicker.

“Thanks, Shard” I smiled as it tried flying back towards the table only for me to pick it up and place it back to the wolf that is was eating, “Don’t wolf it all down,” I said jokingly when Zecora spoke behind me.

“That was a terribly pun, almost as bad as a nun,” Zecora said poking me in the back, scaring me half to death.

“Don’t sneak up on me like that,” I said, poking a piece of wolf with my new crystal stick and held it above the fire.

“Oh no, is the Assassin scared of being known,” Zecora smirked, I was about to open my mouth to say something but was surprised for Zecora to hold my mouth with a hoof.

“I know you are an assassin, it’s written all over your weapons” Zecora said, “But I have judged you to be safe as I see inside you a kind-hearted soul who is loving towards creatures,”

“I just realised something: you don’t rhyme all the time, how come you never said anything?” I asked.

“Because you never asked,” Zecora smirked and started moving towards the door “I am off to collect some herbs and plants, and some ants,” leaving me to wonder whether she actually rhymes all the time or if it was just in my head.





A day ago:

*Start Dyathon-Love is alive*

Celestia barged into her room, ready to blow again until she saw her sister crying. “I almost forgot about her” rushing towards Luna as her wings unfurled and hugged her. When Luna pushed Celestia away, she knew something wasn’t right.

“You know sister we are connected, and I can hear almost every thought,” Luna sniffled, “You just called me a her and you almost forgot me is that right?”

“I didn’t mean to,” Celestia apologised, “I’m just angry at Silver that is all,”

“Silver, this is what it’s about. What does he have to do with anything?” Luna cried out.

“Everything sister, he manipulated thee, he was about to kill thee and would have done so if I wasn’t there to save thee,” Celestia said.

“He did not manipulate me sister,” Luna said, “What have you done with him?”

“Nothing, he managed to escape my grasp and he has horrendous weapons, killed all 12 of my finest knights with…”

“I don’t care of your knights, what did you do with Silver?” Luna repeated.

“One knight managed to throw a spear into his shoulder, that was all, we will be searching for him at the crack of dawn,” Celestia said, “And why does it matter sister if Silver is dead or not, is it because you are deeply in love with him that you are clouded in your thoughts, that you cannot see truly that he is evil, ”

“No, it is not love, I am not in love with him, I acted out of instinct,” Luna pouted, “maybe you want to hear it from my side of the story first because he is innocent, I am sure of it,”

“Fine sister, but there is evidence to support the fact that he would have killed you without a doubt,” Celestia said sternly and then Luna recounted the whole story.

“It seems to me it was all a ruse, to let your guard down so Silver could strike thee,” Celestia said sitting next to Luna, “Did you know Blueblood was killed,”

“No, I did not sister, but what does this have to do with Silver,” Luna said.

“He was murdered in his home, with the same way that Silver kills, a blade in the throat and he was of high status, noble,” Celestia said.

“So, thou are saying that since Silver is an assassin and that since this Unicorn Blueblood was killed with a stab to the throat that it was Silver?” Luna demanded angrily, “What kind of logic is that, I could stab thee to the throat the same way, this has nothing to do with Silver,”

“Thou would stab me?” Celestia questioned in shocked, moving away from Luna.

“What I am trying to say sister, is that Silver would not kill me, he is so kind-hearted to those that he trusts and loves, you have heard of the orphan colt,” Luna said.

“Yes, I have and have already assigned Radiant Hope to look after him in the meantime while she studies magic and I heard that Silver walked him to a well that is all,” Celestia said.

“Well if you were to actually talk to the orphan, you would have known that the colt was about to bullied for his bits, but Silver intervened,” Luna said.

“I did not know that,” Celestia said astonished, “But it does not explain the death of Blueblood, and why you did not tell me of these meeting with Silver. What importance does it have that you have to hide it from me?”

“Yes, it always has to do with you sister, always the hotshot, me, me, me,” Luna said, emphasising the “me” with a hoof in the chest, “I am done with knowing about you, everypony adores your sky like there is no tomorrow, the sun, that brings warmth to everyone, whereas for me, my sky is neglected every single night” as tears rolled down Luna’s eyes, her body colour changing into a dark, night shade of black, her eyes flickered in colour, “And only Silver and my guards appreciated my beauty, and I feel empty every single night as I put in effort to make the sky as beautiful as I can but no. You only lift up the measly sun and there the sky is done for you, my efforts go nowhere and now I am stuck here only for me to look at my own starry sky hoping,”

“And what do you want me to do sister, make all the nobles praise you?” Celestia retorted.

“Don’t even get started on those pesky Nobles, they are not even needed in the society we have now, it only leads to corruption, such as Blueblood, he was a thorn in your side always pestering you about which action you should take during your meetings,” Luna cried.

“So, what are you suggesting sister? We kill every noble there is, oh maybe we make sure you get a sacrifice to you every single night as you aren’t treated fairly for your doings,” Celestia snapped staring down at Luna who was cowering. Luna shocked at what her reaction on what Celestia said, a small bit of her was telling her to say yes and it was growing louder as her form flickered. Darkness seeped through her body as the lights in the room dimmed as if the world was ending, the magic in the lights being absorbed in the darkness.

“NO,” Luna cried out, “I do not want to,” as she saw the hallways of death of multiple noble ponies and the last one was of her sister. Tears fell from her face as she vanished to her own room, leaving a stunned Celestia wondering about her sisters new flickering form.

“NO, NO, NO!” Luna cried as the voice in her head grew louder telling her to kill and to gain the throne, “I WILL DO NO SUCH THINGS,” and hid under her blanket like a scared filly crying. Celestia barged in and found Luna under the blankets.

“Oh Luna,” Celestia said, comforting her in a hug.

“Leave me sister I am too dangerous, I am not thinking right,” Luna said.

“It’s alright sister I am here, we can deal with this together,” Celestia said.

“I SAID LEAVE ME!” Luna exploded.

“Alright Sister, I thought you would need some help and in need of encouragement but if thou want to push me away, then fine by me,” Celestia sighed, hugging Luna one more time, “If thee need anything dear, thee just call me, remember that sister” leaving a sniffling Luna to rest.

*End Song*





After the wolf was cleaned by Shards, cleaning up was a breeze and the carcass was removed by placing the bones outside. Shards clambered up and perched onto my shoulders, he (I’m presuming now) was dirty, and I came to realise maybe it would be a good time to clean ourselves. Shutting the door, I came to realise that I did not know where any lake was and climbed a tree and checked around with Shards on my shoulder. An hour later and I found a lake east of Zecora’s house where the running water was cool at the touch, Shards turned purple and leapt away from my shoulder to hide in a bush.

“He seems scared of the water” “Shards, don’t be scared, it’s just a bit of water, nothing is going to hurt you,” I said nearing the bush as I found Shards’ tail sticking out of the ground. “It digs when scared, its so adorable, I wish Ash was here to see it, she would have loved it except I am in a land of ponies and dragons and most probably other mythical creatures” I sighed and pulled Shards out of the hole by the tail and he flashed a bright red as if in anger but when he saw me he relaxed and changed back into a blue hue of colour. He whined shaking its head as if to say he didn’t want to go into the water, and I patted him down his blue crystal spine for him to purr, “You don’t have to be afraid, you can have courage and still have fear,” I said placing him on the ground as he neared the water seeming to understand what I meant.

He bared his crystal teeth but slowly edged closer until he was at the very edge of the bank, he then leapt into to the water. It washed off the majority of the blood and I decided to go take off my clothes to wash and to clean myself. I let my mind go as I remembered the echoes of Celestia’s words about Blueblood as the blood triggered my memories. I hated Blueblood from the first moments I heard about him, Blueblood from what I heard from snooping around the streets was a rich noble that did nothing but pester Celestia, but word on the street was that there was a hit on Radiant Hope for reasons by him because the crystal ponies were not needed in the society.





Blueblood was sitting in his comfy luxury chair in his office in the castle as if he owned the whole world and decided that today he would celebrate his influence on the sun court in the morning. He opened his door and bumped right into Radiant Hope and knocked her down.

“Sorry Mister,” Radiant Hope apologized tears falling down her face learning about the destruction of the Crystal Empire.

“Blueblood and watch where you are going,” Blueblood said rudely and trotted away disgusted at Radiant Hope not knowing who he was. As he continued down the hallway he met Celestia walking to the dining hall and asked.

“Who was that pony I bumped into?” Blueblood commanded.

“That was Radiant Hope, she’s from the Crystal Empire and has had hard times learning that her whole country disappeared because of King Sombra,” Celestia said, Blueblood zoned out at ‘Crystal Empire’, “The crystal empire, are you serious I just had a meeting with them last week or so and didn’t comply with the trade, who needs them anyway my kingdom is far of better without them anyway, didn’t abide to any form of trade or anything that strengthened us as an alliance,” Blueblood thought, “A nuisance to our society, I’ll place a hit on her so that there is no remembrance of the Crystal Empire by the time I am dead,” And trotted down the hallway out to the outskirts of the castle and whispered to one of the Solar knights, Blueblood had always talked to her when placing hits.

“I want a hit on Radiant Hope for 2000 bits in hand, and want them to meet me at my office at 2:00PM sharp,” Blueblood said, placing a bag of bits into the knight’s satchel which was on the floor, and left to go back to his office, and currently by the looks of the sun it appeared to be roughly noon and headed back inside on his way with a bottle of fresh liquor, good old strength whisky. It was technically illegal, but Blueblood had his ways, involving a lot of money. Sitting down back in his chair he drank 4 shots before succumbing to the influence of alcohol and resting his eyes.

Silver on the other hand had spied the knight moving throughout the city, it made Silver question the motives of the knight as it trotted cautiously down an alley that lead to a dead end as if she was hiding something, and finally made the end but she simply knocked on the wall and a sliding bit of metal appeared, and eyes were in place instead. Silver activated his eagle vision and spied multiple ponies from Unicorns, Pegasi and regular ponies, playing games of poker. The knight whispered to the sliding part.

“There is a hit on Radiant Hope for 2000 bits in hand by Blueblood and wants the meeting at his office at 2:00pm sharp” The knight said, “Are any of you interested?”

“Let me talk to the group first,” a gruff voice said sliding the metal piece back in place. Silver decided to intervene and landed right next to the knight holding his blade towards the throat of the pony.

“Repeat what you said, and don’t make any cries for help,” Silver said sternly staring down at the knight, his grey eyes pierced through the very soul of the knight and made her shiver as the visor fell. She repeated what was said, and Silver pointed at her chest and said, “After you are done here, go home to your family and resign you are not worthy to be called a knight, a true knight fights for the honour of the princesses, if not I will find you and I will kill you,” she then looked away realising that he was right, she wanted to be a knight in the first place to rid the criminals but when she graduated she just became a knight guard and she sighed.

“I can change if you want, I need my job to raise my family,” she pleaded, but she was all alone only speaking to herself but felt like she was being watched and decided just to wait for the response of the mercenaries. The eyes popped out again.

“One will come in 5 minutes,” the eyes said, “Also he wants 750 bits upfront,”

“Tell that to the boss, I was just the messenger,” the knight said.

“Was?” the eyes said but found out the knight just left trotting away hoping she will never have to talk to Blueblood again.

Silver heard everything and was happy that she wanted to change and decided to check on her later and waited for the mercenary to come through. 5 minutes later and the whole metal door opened to reveal a dark green pony with a dark purple mane. He made it around the corner when Silver landed on top of him breaking his hind legs bones, he was about to scream in pain when his throat was slashed, and his body was hung outside the metal frame and Silver knocked the metal gates. Silver zipped upwards just in time for the metal slide to reveal the dead face terrifying everypony in the safe-houses. Silver then waited for them to open the door and when that happened all hell broke loose.

There were 8 ponies in there from Silver’s eagle vision and they never stood a chance. Silver landed on the door pony breaking the neck instantly and casually popped a shrapnel grenade in his rifle, knowing fully well that he had to take out the unicorns as they posed the greatest threats, then the Pegasi because they can escape the fastest and the normal regular ponies for last. But it would be much easier to just kill them all at once rather than getting hurt in the process and he shot the shrapnel grenade and closed the door. One gory moment later, Silver opened the door to find the whole room was mutilated.

“What a sickening sight, all mercenary ponies,” Silver sighed moving both dead ponies back inside, so no one could find them and closed the door.

Blueblood was woken up by one of his personal guards to find out that no one had came and it was nearing 5 on the clock, he sighed and decided to wait anyway knowing full well that ponies would want the hit. And arrived at his house it was when he realised that his bedroom door was opened and unlocked which gave him much concern as he always locked it before he left for work. He opened the door to find nothing out of ordinary until his door was shut and locked, he found a weird bipedal creature holding out a sword, the glinting steel terrifying Blueblood as it was a bit too close to his throat.

“Ah, so you must be here for the hit I am guessing,” Blueblood said casually trying not to wet himself as he suddenly hallucinated a demon with angel wings.

“Yes, yes, I am,” Silver said, casually putting the sword back in its hilt.

“Yes, I believe Radiant Hope deserves to die, as the crystal ponies are a nuisance to the society as they have nothing for…” Blueblood said when Silver quicker than Blueblood could comprehend was a blade in his throat.

“I mean that the hit is for you,” Silver said, as Blueblood’s eyes were in shock. His eyes rolled back, and thump could be heard later as Silver left the room not bothering to hide the body as he knew sooner or later the Blueblood would be found out either way.





I was slowly brought back from my flashbacks to find out Shards had disappeared, I’ve been standing there for quite some time the water was dripping from my body the cold air bringing me back to my senses as I found Shards acting like a shark swimming underneath with his tail in the air and leapt at me but with a fish in his mouth and placed it on a pile he had made on the shore and handed me two fish on a crystal stick it was.

“Thank you, Shards,” I said genuinely and rubbed his head, he purred in content and flapped his wings around, my eagle vision kicked in to find Zecora peering from a bush, “I wonder how long she’s been there staring at me” and decided to keep to myself as I was finished cleaning up. Getting dressed I realised that Zecora had already left, probably wondering what took so long as it was approaching dusk. My cloak was washed, and I had let it dry in the sun when I took a dip, and it was now warm and comfy after Shard’s breathed a little fire around me. “Wow, Shards has a lot of self-control”

Walking back with Shards’ little bounty, I sneezed, and I swear to some mystical being in the sky that I sneezed out sparks, and my eyes didn’t lie as the sparks slowly drifted down and I had no idea what it meant, and I looked at Shards. He looked back at me and sort of shrugged his shoulders.

“Oh well,” I shrugged questioning about my human biology might have changed into something completely different, and we arrived back at Zecora’s house.

“I am surprised Celestia hasn’t sent her knights yet to find me” when I heard the flapping of wings. I shut the front door, dropping the crystals with the fish and hid inside the nearest room calling Shards to come with me.

“Silver are you alright, it looks like you had just a fright?” Zecora asked from the other side of the door. Silence was all I answered when there was a knocking from outside of the door.

“Please open the door Madam Zecora, we are Celestia’s knights and are looking for a bipedal like creature that has escaped,” A voice said outside.

“The knights, that bite,” Zecora whispered kicking the crystal behind her as she prepared to open the door, I looked behind me to look for a place to hid and found myself in a bedroom with a window and a stand. “A Window, perfect” and opened it and let Shards hop in my pocket of bullet ammunition.

“May we search all your rooms, Madam?” The unicorn knight asked

“Um…would you like some tea, for those who are free” Zecora said.

“That is not we asked for and we will be searching your rooms now,” the unicorn knight said.

“Ok…k” Zecora said.

“Well luckily, I’m outside now” I thought and waited hearing tables being overturned and cupboards being opened. “Are the knights that stupid to be looking inside cupboards?”

“Thank you for letting us look through your house Madam Zecora, you are free to do what you please,” the same unicorn said.

“Well let’s hope you find the criminal, it might get physical” Zecora said, and closed the door on them. The bedroom door opened for Zecora to stare in shock at my whereabouts, and I appeared behind her as I went around the back and gave Zecora a fright.

“Why did you do that…” Zecora pouted, about to rhyme.

“Payback,” I said sticking out my tongue and taking out Shards, he was sleeping and was cuddled around a bullet. I placed him on my bed, “I will be leaving soon, I have overstayed my welcome here and since I am healed enough I should be leaving,”

“Do you have any place to go though? You aren’t from around here, so I presume you have nowhere to go” Zecora asked.

“No, I can’t do this it is against my nature to do so, I am staying only one more night and leaving,” I sighed, knowing that I should leave anyway as they knights will find me sooner or later, “The knights will keep coming back here and it may be time to face the crimes that I have done,”

Zecora was silent and didn’t say anything and left to her bedroom, I sighed and went to my bed lying down and closed my eyes as the moon starting to shine through my room.





Luna had fallen asleep after crying the rest of the night and the day, which concerned Celestia as her loving sister felt like she was becoming dangerous and Celestia had no idea on the new flickering form of her sister. In the end Celestia promised that she would visit Luna as often as she could during her breaks and couldn’t eat breakfast, lunch or dinner knowing that her sister needed the comfort. But every time she came to Luna’s bedroom she only heard whimpers from her sister, and the occasional twist and turn. Celestia wished she could help by traveling through the dreamland but Luna never taught her the magic to enter dreams nor had the capability to do so as her attributes ere with the sun. This concerned Celestia even further as Celestia could only whisper words of encouragement.





*Start Distant Journey-Peter Roe*

Luna was having terrible nightmares scaring her utterly as usually her own subconscious would be shielded from nightmares, but it was that moment of snapping from the argument that caused a new voice to talk to her constantly, telling her to kill and to create an eternal night. The nightmares were so terrifying, dead pony bodies littered across the hallway and a cult of dark hooded ponies spouting out words she could not understand as if they were summoning someone or something. But it was when the dead ponies started talking and moving that she woke up. Terror filled her eyes and the sweat all over her body glistened as she suddenly realised that she was safe.

She found her sister Celestia slumped on a chair tired. Luna smiled knowing that her Sister did love her indeed and that without her, she would be all alone in this. It was then that the voice started calling to her again egging her on to kill Celestia right there, where she was most vulnerable, her throat, ready for the blood to drip down onto the carpet.

“I WILL NOT,” Luna cried out tears dripping down her face as she had no idea what was going on, her mind almost shattering from the voice screaming at her to do it and she flew out to the Everfree forest leaving a confused Celestia. Celestia got up from her chair a bit dazed from the loud scream of her sister but she knew that she needed to follow.





Silver woke up to find his heart thumping, he started sweating profusely as if fear had taken a hold of him and was channelling through his entire body. It had only been 5 minutes or so since he laid in his hay bed as his eyes glowed a great light blue as if he heard Luna cry out in pain, before becoming the normal stormy grey. He stared at the sky through the window, seeing a bland night as if someone else did it entirely, knowing that Luna was hurt either physically or mentally. Silver had this tingling feeling about it as if he was connected to Luna almost like a bond.

He decided to go find out if Luna was alright as the cry sounded very close. Silver crept out of bed when suddenly Shards yawned cutely and looked up to see his master going somewhere. He happily jumped up and flew a few feet to Silver’s shoulder, the wings flapped tremendously trying to stay aloft and waited contently as Silver started traversing through the forest. But the cries softened as he neared a clearing the sounds of whimpering could be heard but determining where the sound was coming from was hard. The heavy thumping inside of him stopped as the fear suddenly vanished, Silver slumped on a familiar looking branched oak tree and stared off at the moon, entrancing him as the moon shone down on the earth.

*0:58*

Luna had been cantering through the forest, her legs trembling and tired, the fear slowly residing and the voice slowly stopping. She neared a clearing not knowing that Silver was slumped on a high branch nearby, the moon was shining brightly on her as if it was searching for her. She stared at the moon and the voice finally stopped and brought herself to calmness and tranquillity. This made her mind clear and she could finally think for herself. The smell of the forest and the sudden quietness let her mind flow thinking about the past events with her sister and the arguments.





Silver was perched staring right into the moon so hypnotised, it was only with Shards’ digging in the shoulder that Silver managed to snap out as he came to realise that the night was growing cold and the sounds of the bugs had stopped. Silence worried him until he heard someone crying out his name. The distant almost distraught calling, the sounds of someone calling to him,





Luna worried about the voice inside of her, it was as familiar to her as if it was her own voice, Luna suddenly felt afraid realising that she herself would become a monster if the voice suddenly took reign of her. That this monster would hurt everyone around her and wouldn’t stop till all the blood was shed, Luna shivered at the thought and stared at the moon wishing for guidance and for strength.

It was then she realised that Silver would come and look for her if she started killing and would end her life without even thinking about it. She started crying not knowing what to do and wished someone was there to comfort her. It was when she looked up to find something glinting in the tree. She neared closer cautiously, it was a dagger, and she looked upon the words that was etched in the trees below, she realised that it was about Silver’s love Ash, the words etched across the smooth bark the written words of the blood sweat and tears that Silver felt during that day touched Luna’s heart as she realised the area she was standing on was like a burial. It was from this she could feel a thumping. From down below the Apple of Eden still sparked with power and with Luna standing very close by the leaking magic was absorbed by the Eden and it transported Luna to a flashback of Silver’s memory.

*1:45*

The tragedy unfolded as Luna realised Silver’s past was full of death and betrayal. Luna felt lost in Silver’s memories as it was much different than what she expected, she never realised that Silver’s kind could be so evil. She saw Ash for the first time and was astounded by her beauty even though they were different species, Luna realising one of the reasons for Silver loving Ash but it all changed when the fight with his brother Reign had started.

It was grimacing to watch as she felt so helpless for someone so close to you willing to kill you. Luna realised that was what her sister must have felt when she talked about the stabbing of the throat. It saddened her as the fight continued getting more intense. The revealing of the Black Cross had stunned Luna wishing to intervene, then Silver killing Reign in a quick blade strike to the throat brought sadness to Luna’s eyes as Silver didn’t try to save Reign first. It was very intense, but it became most intense when the shot rang, Luna stared at the weapon in fear as Ash clutched her chest, shattering Silver’s heart.

The anguished cries of Silver and Ash telling him to promise to forget her changed her view on Silver completely and realised that he needed the comfort and was so full of killing as his rage consumed him. Luna realised the whole truth of Silver and his kindness towards her and as Ash died it brought tears to Luna’s eyes as she imagined the times that Silver had spent with her only for her to die by the enemy hands. *2:35* The scene faded away as Silver held a strange apple shape in his hand and stabbed it with his hidden blade slowly bringing her back into existence at the burial. *End Song*





I could pick out the voice to be Zecora’s, as she cried out my name. I climbed down jumping halfway and found Zecora running down a pathway, “She looks like she has been crying” as Zecora stopped right in front of me.

“I thought you left me, already,” Zecora whispered.

“No, I haven’t yet,” I replied, “It’s alright Zecora, I can take care of myself, Shards is also here to protect me,” as Shards yawned and flapped down to the small pocket of ammunition.

“I know I can’t force you to stay, but where else would you lay,” Zecora said, “I don’t want to see you suffer knowing that I could have helped you,”





Zecora wanted Silver to stay not only because he had nowhere else to go, it was also the fact that she felt lonely, every single day of her life. She would make potions, sell them and then come back home by herself. It was a sad life for her, living day by day doing the same thing over and over, and it brightened up when Silver came along, especially with the baby crystal dragon. The feelings towards him had grown every single day as they spent time together and with the baby dragon It was almost like having a family.





I sighed, looking at her, the silence, no wind or any sounds as I thought about it. “I have nowhere else to go,” I looked at her and smiled.

“I’ll stay, as long as you like,” I said.

“Thank you, Silver,” Zecora said, hugging me, immediately blushing ever so slightly at it. It was then that Zecora slightly leaned over to me and gave me a kiss on the lips. I froze there stunned as I did not know what to do. It then hit me that Zecora liked me, it would explain everything about her spying on me and the reason of why she wanted me to stay. But I slowly pushed her away, tears started brimming in her eyes as I held her shoulders.





It was that moment that Luna noticed a rugged pathway down towards the left of the tree and decided to move away from the site of the monument, she almost felt bad for being in that area as if it was like desecrating the site. As she thought about the death of Ash, she looked ahead to see Silver.

“Silver,” Luna cried out, galloping towards him in a rush about to hug him knowing everything about the death of Ash and wanted to comfort him when she saw another pony, “No, not a pony, a zebra, Zecora?” Zecora had hugged Silver but the last straw was drawn when Zecora kissed him, it caused something to snap inside of Luna, the bonds of jealousy were created latching on to Luna hurting her and entrapping herself into her own mind, tears swelled in her eyes and dripped downwards.

Luna felt herself fall and the darkness surrounded her, her mind blanking as something forced the reigns from her. The stars in the sky started to twinkle and caused Silver to look up as they fell towards Luna casting her, the stars surrounded her and was soon absorbed into the mane. The shadows surrounding her darkened, making her float. The shadows slowly seeped its way into the skin Luna changing her completely, her eyes closed during all this. The transformation was complete as Nightmare Moon had finally risen from the depths of Luna’s mind the alter ego of the jealousy and bitterness free at last and she slowly rose. Taking new breaths almost as if it was a newborn foal, she flexed her wings and she stood high opening her eyes, the bright light hue seeing the world around her and stared down towards Silver, smiling sadistically.

“Poor Zecora,” Nightmare Moon cackled with power.

*Start I Will Return-Alliance*

Silver shook his head as the stars distracted him from Zecora, she was whimpering when suddenly a crack could be heard from Silver’s chest, and out sprouted a horn, painted with his blood, impaling the right lung and breaking 2 ribs. Silver cried out in pain, the pain intensifying, only to look down to find a horn. Silver started to slowly lose conscious, the lack of oxygen affecting his brain and he told Zecora to run.

“I’m not done with you yet,” Nightmare Moon laughed as she saw Zecora sprint away and then looked at Silver body who was on her horn blocking her magic to affect Zecora.

“Who…are…you?” Silver wheezed, his insides feeling like they were on fire.

“Why I am your worst Nightmare,” Nightmare Moon stated as her horn began to glow with power, Silver feeling something different inside of him like dark magic making his body twist and turn inside screaming in agony, the excruciating pain amplified as he felt his body almost rupture on itself.

“Nightmare…” Silver cried.

“Moon,” Nightmare Moon laughed, and bowed down for Silver to slide down her horn, making Silver grunt in pain and fall to the floor. The wound gushing out blood making Nightmare Moon squeal in delight about to lick the blood, but Shards felt this pain and woke up angrily huffing a great red hue. Flapping his wings tremendously he saw his master was wounded badly and breathed out fire closing the back wound crystals forming as a bandage. Nightmare Moon was amused by this, and laughed at its struggled to save Silver, Silver with all his determination flipped himself around to face Shards.

“Shards run away while you still can,” Silver groaned trying to stay conscious so that Nightmare Moon wouldn’t hurt Shards. He would have listened to his master, but he knew better and breathed fire again enclosing the front wound. “Thank you, Shards, now go!”

“Yes, why don’t you go,” Nightmare Moon cracked, “I’m still having fun with your master,” this angered Shards and breathed shards of crystal towards Nightmare Moon, she placed up a shield and simply flicked him away with her horns magic sending Shards out of Everfree forest, “The eternal night still comes,” she cackled, “And you are getting front row seats, my beloved Silver,” and vanished to the Castle.





Zecora bumped into Celestia as she galloped and informed the Princess of the terrible news about Silver and the new Alicorn but what made it worse was the sudden explosive sounds from the castle.

“Go now and hide,” Celestia warned.





“Where are you Sister!” Nightmare Moon screamed making the villager ponies terrified as waves of explosive bolts destroyed the houses tearing up the ground.

“I am here!” Celestia appeared protecting the villagers as debris shook the ground, and crashed against her barrier, “And I am not your sister,”

“I am Nightmare Moon, creator of the endless nights,” Nightmare Moon bellowed creating a dark beam, as it rose and aimed directly towards the sky.

“We shall see about that,” Celestia said, charging her beam and firing it directly towards Nightmare Moon, the beam hissing towards her but Nightmare simply fired the dark beam and it collided. *1:24* The beams colliding created a powerful shockwave as the debris shook, the castle started falling apart, the foundations breaking apart. So many memories broken, and the villager ponies cowered in fear seeing everything that they lived for destroyed as the beams cracked with energy. The night vs the day, the sun vs the moon and the good vs the bad, that is what everyone saw as each beam sizzled with power as lighting sprouted from the beams and sparks flew setting alight the houses. The strength of both Alicorns equal in strength as the beams never faltered, the world around them breaking apart.

“Why are you doing this Luna?” Celestia cried out, looking for hope in reasoning.

“Why Luna is dead, and I have taken her place as rightful heir to the night and destroyer of Celestia,” Nightmare said.

“Not if I can help it,” Celestia said, her powers slowly diminishing, as Nightmares seemed to grow more, the beams used to hold midway but now was slowly pushing towards Celestia. Silver slowly groaned and manage to upright himself to see Celestia and Nightmare Moon fighting, the ringing of the word Luna is dead angered Silver as he realised that truthfully, he had been missing Luna deeply from the last time they have seen each other wondering all this time if she was alright. Silver with all his will power grunting through the pain knowing he had to end this fight. He could see clearly that Celestia was losing badly and that Nightmare was gaining more power as if the night sky was giving her power. He took a step forward only to groan in pain, his father words echoing, “pain is only in the mind” knowing he had to do something or everyone would die, the steps caused Nightmare Moon to crane her head to see him.

“Oh, so I see my pet is up,” Nightmare said, “You know I did something special inside of you,”

“What did you do?” Silver cried out the pain amplifying every step he took towards Nightmare.

“You see, it's for me to know and you to find out,” Nightmare laughed, and her smile was wiped of when Celestia flashed with a golden light holding the elements of harmony.

“You wouldn’t dare sister,” Nightmare Moon said, “I still am Luna, take my body and your sister will be gone with me,”

“And that is a risk I am willing to take,” Celestia said, as she eyed Silver nodding her head, Silver managed to get the idea in his head somehow even with the pain. Silver calmed his mind and leapt at Nightmare Moon with all his might grunting heavily as he collided, causing the beam to disconnect and wounding Nightmare with the beam searing her fur.

“You insolent fool, you should be grateful for what I did,” Nightmare Moon growled.

Silver did not respond and held her with all his strength remaining around her neck and yelled “NOW”, Celestia responding invoking the ancient magic within the elements of Harmony and the rainbow spirit activated. It travelled towards both towards Silver and Nightmare Moon.

“No, I gave you immortality so that you can rule, side by side with me,” Nightmare cried but Silver did not respond as his strength was failing, the elements rushed forward hitting both of them. Nightmare Moon cried in intense pain as Celestia moved towards them both, the connection to the night cut, and Silver started to freeze up as he felt his limbs freezing like concrete drying. *2:41*

“Nightmare Moon, for the destruction of the castle and the village and the attempted murder of Silver, you are now banished to the moon forever,” Celestia boomed tears filling her eyes knowing that it was the only way to save Luna for now.

“No…” Luna voice cried out, stunning Celestia as she outstretched her hoof towards Celestia, but as Celestia was about to take Luna’s hoof she disappeared. *End Song*

Silver was turning to stone; his mind was becoming blank as Celestia stared at him. The state he was in was not good, as Celestia was in so much pain and anguish from the tears falling from her eyes, the anger was evident. But what stunned Silver was Celestia hugged Silver as she let everything out, her torment gushing out in the forms of tears, the warm tears touched the Silver and as stone started forming around Silver but as Silver was about to say something important his mind blanked.

Celestia looked down at Silver’s frozen form and sighed not knowing on what to do, the villagers all confused where they looked at the creature that was frozen in stone much like Discord. She knew she had to calm the citizens or a riot could start. She was lost in her ways, advisors were corrupted, and she and the citizens had nowhere to go. “Canterlot, that is the only place we can go,” the castle had been going under construction for quite some time from back when Starswirl the Bearded had vanished without a trace and was almost finished, interior wise it wasn’t finished but that can be fixed by the villagers.

It was a perfect idea for the time being an announced it to everyone, she sent messages to all other surrounding cities such as Fillydelphia, Las Pegasus and Cloudsdale about the destruction of the castle and told of the movement that would happen. She didn’t state the reason wishing to keep it secret and she knew she had to blot out Silver from the history books later as it would cause so many more questions that she did not want to answer as she herself didn’t have any answers herself.

After 10 minutes going through with everything, it was all sorted, she calmed herself down, taking deep breaths. The stress was just bearable from before as multiple villagers kept asking questions shouting them at the same time. By the end of it she had sent her knights forwards with the villagers to Canterlot as she wanted to think about the turns of events that had happened. It had caused the greatest grief to her to send her sister to the moon, and as she stared at the moon hoping to see a glimmer of Luna it was met with clouds. It started to rain heavily, and the burning smell started to dissipate, Celestia sat on the wet floor her mind in confusion on who to trust as she saw something glint in the ruins.

Silver’s pendant still intact and a painting torn in the middle, one side with a smiling Celestia and one side with a sleeping Luna in a bunny suit meaning that Luna’s room was destroyed. It brought tears to her as she lifted the painting out of the wreck, the paint slowly dripping and ruining the painting she realised the destruction had taken a heavy toll on everyone but more so on herself. Sections of the castle still stood intact but it saddened Celestia as she stood looking back at the fun times throughout the castle as it had so many secrets, hideouts, passages and traps.

The castle was left by both Luna and Celestia Parents, but they had disappeared without a trace. The will written stated that the castle was left to Luna and Celestia to rule and it was with Starswirl being a guardian if anything were to happen to them. She felt useless in this world and for the first time, she had to rule the kingdom by herself. But as she walked away holding Silver’s pendant she found one thing lying between the rubble a diary. Like herself Celestia always had a personal diary but with this, Luna’s diary was special as it was the one she had given to her for her first birthday. Celestia was heartbroken her will to live crumbling, the smoke cleared and the rain cleared up and there it was the moon that shined so bright as if a sign.

“Luna!”
> Chapter 6: Chaotic Returns
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6: Chaotic Returns

Darkness, that was all I saw, and then a light. A simple shining light that danced across my eyes as it brightened up the void I was in, the void clearing into a bright white room. My senses telling me nothing about the place I was in and confused me as I realised I was floating like an angel and an angelic was choir singing, when suddenly a voice cut in.

“Quiet, I can’t think with all you lot sounding like banshees,” a voice said seemingly annoyed.

“Who are you?” I asked, looking for where the voice came from.

“Hello there, the name is not important right now, Silver, I have been watching you very closely, from the moment you landed in Equestria,” the voice said craftily, “You see I am trapped in stone the same as you and I have a deal for you, if you get me out I can get you out too,”

“But I’m stuck and you’re stuck so how can I possibly help you?” I retorted.

“Well if you had let me finish first then we wouldn’t be having this conversation,” the voice said, “You have a very important task at hand in which there is the sword of Eden in your world and it is the only way to break out from both our stone prisons and yes I know of your world and yes I know about the assassins blah, blah, blah and yes I can send you back to your home. Any other questions?”

“Well seeing as I haven’t accepted yet and we have time, tell me your name first and then we have a deal, names are very important as they hold power,” I said.

“Fine, my name is Discord and I am a Draconequus, I do not have enough power to show my true form as I need to save my magic to send you to your realm, and to bring you back,” Discord said.

“When I find the Sword of Eden, how will I come back and how will I find you?” I asked not really knowing whether to trust Discord as the name suggested a lack of harmony.

“That’s easy, because now I am in your head, I will see everything, hear everything and know everything so be careful when speaking out loud you may seem to be a bit mad,” Discord cackled and laughed now in my mind almost like he was relishing at the thought.

“Ok Discord and what happens if I want to stay back and not go back to Equestria,” I asked wondering about the possibilities of going home and living in a normal society without any ponies and forgetting about them, it was a strange thought. Discord then laughed, echoing throughout my head as he almost sounded like he had tears in his eyes. I heard a THUD as Discord continued laughing before pausing.

“Oh, you are such a funny person Silver you know that, now have a fun time back on Earth,” Discord laughed as I heard an audible click of the fingers and the lights went out, descending into darkness.





The bitter winds of Russia blistered my face, the blizzard ruffling my fur coat around as I walked down towards the docks. “My ticket out of here, from this war between the Assassin’s and Templars,” I thought looking at the nearest ship, a brig, its glinting ram ready to be steered into the ice and enemy ships, the word ледокол (Ice Breaker in English) encrusted on the side. “It’s not so easy to sneak onto a brig but luckily the blizzard covers me,” I thought leaping onto the ships side, the ice making my grip falter almost instantly but before plunging to an icy cold death, I stabbed my sword into the hull of the ship halting me, and I continued to climb, making my way to the cargo hatch. As I reached for the handle, a gruff voice spoke.

“And what do you think you are doing on mah ship?” the captain asked as I turned around, his black coat donned, his beard ancient and silvery and his eyes sparkling with excitement as if he was mad.

“I was going to be a stowaway on your ship Captain as I want to leave this country,” I said as I decided it was better than lying upfront.

“Well I can see that, yah sword almost went through my bloody head but anyway, to stay on my boat you must work on my boat so unless you decide on joining me crew then you may not join us on our trip to America” the captain said as I thought about it, “Hurry up, I haven’t got all day,” the captain yelled.

“Yes, I will work as one of your crew members, until we get to America,” I said.

“What’s your name?” The captain asked.

“Mike Assault at your service, also how long will it take to reach America?”

“Assault you say,” the captain muttered, “About 3 months, now go to your quarters I’ll wake you lot in the morning,” the mad captain laughed and hurried off to his captain’s quarters happy about his new crew member. “That man is so big and hunky I could use him for a lot of things,” And went back to reading his map planning the trip to America.

“Well how bad can it be,” I thought.





*Start They Sail for Gold - Trevor DeMaere*

It was cold, wet and damp and Mike started to hate working on the Ice Breaker, his job was to hoist the sails, lower and pull up the anchor, move cargo and gold seeking. Gold seeking was the worst, the captain would send him underwater to search valuable shipwrecks for treasure and it was growing tiresome for Mike as the constant moving between land and sea irritated his ears and the coldness was making him feel sick. The treasures that Mike had found where not that great either, this was because of the constant predators of the deep that frightened him, such as sharks and the legendary Kraken, and the debris was hard to pass through in some ships. Some days there was a chest in some ships which appeared to have been unopened in ages making it seem like pirate’s gold, but it came out to be usually silver too rusted to be worth anything and some gold.

But today that changed as Mike stood on the edge of the ship holding a chain in his left hand ready to jump off into the depths. The day looking fresh, the sun shining high in the sky and the sea breeze brushing his hair. Mike placed a set of goggles given to him by the captain, which was an early invention by his back in the early days of the captain. And as the anchor was lowered into the depths, the sea calmed at the touch, the murky depths scaring Mike just a little but he jumped taking a deep breath, swimming down to the depths with the chain in his hands.

*0:39* Mike swam, holding his breath for as long as he could, his lungs started to burn for the desire of the sweet salty air, but he pressed on as he neared coral, full of wondrous colours of fish of all different shapes and sizes. The exotic colours danced in Mikes eyes as he continued through the reef trying to keep an eye out for predators. As he continued swimming he saw it near the drop off, just like the captain said there would be, a massive French Téméraire its encrusted French words “Fougueux” which the captain, for some reason, knew was lost during the battle of Trafalgar during the Napoleonic war. The ship had been wedged between rocks and all 74 cannons corroded, the hull severely damaged, the sails tattered in the water making it appear like it was moving in the wind ready to sail again for another day.

Mike had questioned the captain about his knowledge of the location of the ships sunk but the captain didn’t reveal his secrets and just pressed Mike onwards about the great rewards that would be found. Mike realised he was running out of time, his breath waning and took one gasp of air on the surface before he started pulling himself towards the captain room through the doors as he glimpsed a shadow overhead. It was a bull shark, this terrified Mike and he knew he had to hurry up and find something valuable.

Inside the captain’s room he found a chest intact and multiple swords around the room and a skeleton dressed like a captain of the French navy. The swords caught his attention as some had golden handles and looked like they were worth quite a bit, but the blades were severely corroded. One sword caught his eye, it was an arming sword held by the dead skeleton, the sword was out of place as the rest were sabres, which the majority of the French used. The blade was corroded in some sections and some chunks of the metal was missing like it had been shattered, but the gold really shined in the depth making Mike question its origins.

The skeleton was smiling as if it knew this day would come, the glare of the golden teeth making Mike shiver in anticipation as to whether the skeleton would come alive. Its eye seemed to be focusing in the direction of the sword and then he saw the French Assassin’s Creed Insignia etched into the table beneath the sword. “Hmm, that is interesting,” Mike thought, slinging the sabres on his back and the chest firmly in one hand and pulled on the chain but he looked at the arming sword one last time and decided to take it. Just as he was about to reach for it the chain started pulling away.

Mike had a sudden urge to grab the sword and let go of the chain even though his lungs were starting to burn. He grabbed the sword and at that moment the sword charged with power, lighting flashed before his eyes before reverting to its ancient corroded state. Mike felt calmer and, in a sense, feeling courage in his heart and felt like he could do anything, his burning desire for air ceased to exist and he started swimming with all his might to the surface knowing that the sword was something special.

The shark that was around had continued to circle around the boat and once it spotted Mike it launched itself towards him. Mike saw it and held the sword with two hands waiting for it to come and sliced right through the shark. The shark split directly in half, the blood covering Mike, forming a cloud of velvet ink, the sharks body already being ravaged by other creatures of the deep. “Better get out of here, other sharks will come now” Mike thought swimming his hardest towards the chain moving slowly away.

Mike swam at a pace that he did not like as he could feel the shadows of sharks creeping up his spine. The arming sword in his hand almost felt like it was vibrating at a frequency that Mike had no idea why it was doing it but as Mike reached the surface, he quickly peeked down below. A Great White Shark was already rushing towards him which terrified Mike but as it came closer he realised the ship was next to him, dropping the chest he grabbed the ladder and started climbing upwards with the sword and the Great White shark leapt out of the water ready to bite Mike’s leg off. With the sword in hand Mike sliced downwards with all his might, the blood spilt and rained into the ocean.

Mike looked at the dead shark staring at the eye of the shark, its lifeless body bobbing up and down, Mike realised that the treasure was still in need and threw the sword overhead. It swayed through the air, it spun like a wheel before it landed stuck in the wood, the golden glint causing every crew member to gasp and back away forming a ring around it. The captain prayed that Mike would be alive as he saw the pool of blood, and then Mike diving back down into the depths. Mike steeled himself with courage and swam through the blood to find the chest had sunk near the ledge of the drop off.

He quickly hauled it and swam back to the ship not looking back and leapt at the ships in-built ladder. Luckily no sharks appeared and made Mike sigh in content, the captain so happy that Mike was still alive as it would have been such a waste to see him gone, and the captain beamed and cracked at the sight of the chest in Mike’s hand its contents ready to be spilled upon the ship’s floor. The captain whipped out his flintlock pistol aiming at the ancient padlock as the chest was being laid down by Mike and blasted it, the faint sound echoed across the ocean and the lid was opened.

The eyes widened on the crew to the size of the coins they had just found, the gold of unbelievable size and made all the crew cheer. Mike was relieved as everyone started patting him on the back in thanks to great bounty that they had scored and hoped that they would now stop fearing him as if he was like a giant. Mike handed all the sabres to the captain and then gathered the arming sword and placed it in his hands feeling the power within it. The sword felt different, he didn’t know what power it held but he knew it was important. *End Song*

The captain stared at Mike’s new sword, its old corroded iron glared in the captain’s face but with the gold, made the Captain question about the possibilities of the price of the sword and its origins. Mike decided it was best to ask the captain about keeping possession of the sword.

“Captain, I would like to keep this sword, if you don’t mind at all Sir,” Mike said.

“Sure, seeing as you have been putting in the hard work, I’ll let you keep it,” the Captain said.

“Thank you, Captain,” Mike said, saluting at the captain.

“No need to be thanking me, you have a very special name and a special heritage in your blood, the name Assault isn’t as common as you think, and also that sword there is something special about, I have my presumptions.” The captain said.

“You knew my father?!” Mike asked astonished.

“Why yes, your father and I were great lads, back in the day, but then the dark days of war hit us like a bullet and we were separated in the midst of the battle,” the captain said, “He later saved me and so I owe a debt to him and haven’t heard from him since.”

“My father’s dead,” Mike said, lowering his head down.

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that, my debt still needs to be paid, so I’ll show you something,” the captain said ushering Mike to follow him to the captain quarters. “Well come on lad,”

Mike hurried towards the captain quarters and found himself in a dimly lit room with only candles as the source of light. The room was ordinary nothing special, that was until the captain opened the secret passage on the side of the bookcase.

“You must not speak of this room!” the captain said sternly, Mike nodded intently and peered inside the new room. It was a small study like area in which on the table was the Russian Assassin’s creed symbol painted and there on top was a few pieces of metal, and a revolver. The gun was polished steel with the wood gleaming in the light of the candle, Mike stared at the revolver, its quality of hand crafting was evident to him and realised that the captain had made it himself. The captain reached for the metal bits and gave it to Mike.

“Those bits are most probably for the broken bits of the sword that you have,” the captain said.

“How do you know?” Mike asked.

“My whole entire life is devoted to the creed and when I came upon those broken pieces, I ought to know of some kind of knowledge about it,” the captain said.

“Then what is so special about it?” Mike asked.

“Well since you haven’t guessed yet, it’s the Sword of Eden” the captain said plainly, “I had my presumptions the first moment I laid my eyes upon it,”

“This sword is meant to be legendary, and non-existent!” Mike exclaimed.

“Well lad you have a lot to learn, Excalibur, the sword of Perseus and sword of Attila the Hun,” the captain spouted, “those are all the same sword, the sword of Eden.”

“Then why is the sword broken and at the bottom of the ocean,” Mike questioned.

“Not sure about that, all I know is that the French Assassin’s did something and caused something to happen,” the captain said, Mike looked at the 3 pieces, staring at the rusted metal and placed it in the corresponding spots in the sword. The sword shivered and began to glow for an eerie second before the lights disappeared, Mike stared at the now complete sword. Its gold lustre seemingly intensified after the act was done. The captains eye dazzled at the sword and realised that the sword was still not complete something of it was missing. The captain thought long and hard but came up with nothing and decided to send Mike back.

“We have a long journey ahead of us Mike,” the captain said, “We are not even half way yet,” laughed the captain and ushered him out of the room before closing the secret door and leaving Mike to wonder what the captain was doing.





After a month of travel, the ship had finally reached the port of America, landing at the port of New York. The captain wished Mike farewell on his journey and thanked him dearly for the treasure. Mike was happy at the moment but then became depressed about leaving Russia, “Why do I have to be born from Templar and Assassin heritage,” and decided to look for a job to support himself. The captain came running back yelling for Mike as he hobbled a bit away from the local tavern and whispered to Mike about the location of the Creed.

“Go join the creed, I hear a storm has been brewing, go make yourself useful” the captain said before hobbling towards the ship. Mike wondered about it for a few minutes then decided that maybe it's for the best, this time he would die fighting for the right cause.

Mike thought back to the time in Russia where he found his parents dead murdered in the peaceful night when he was a child. Mike had just woken up from a dream about flying and wanted to tell his parents about the dream, it hurt him so much as he stared at their lifeless bodies trying to wake them up, but they never did. He had cried into his aunt on his mother side at the funeral and as she revealed the forbidden love that the parents had. She blamed it on the Assassin’s side for the death and Mike believed it for a long time.

As he grew up he came to realise that the Templars were right in governing people through their own rules, that the Assassin’s ideal of New World Order through the mutual understandings and freedom of will wouldn’t work as human nature was too corrupt. He trained night and day with the Templars, being 1.96m he became a formidable fighter and was waiting to get the chance to kill the Assassin that ruined his life and from what he learnt, the Assassins of Russia often acted before thinking from the reports of the Templars.

On the first night he stormed one of the assassin’s hideouts, his left eye was injured in the event turning his eye completely white, blinding him in that side and a light scar across his mouth wounded from a hidden blade. As he was about to free the templars from the hideout, when an assassin had stopped him in the tracks. The assassin was old but had wisdom in his eyes and he could feel the rage in Mike and knew who he was. The assassin told him everything about the Templars and what they had done to Mike in order to become the person he was today. The Templars where murdering the parents of children so that they could guide the child towards the ideals of the Templar.

This changed his life forever to learn that his life was a lie that he was working for the wrong side his entire life, but he ran away dishonouring his name not knowing what to do, running away from the battle that was taking place. His pride wounded severely Mike went to leave the country and decided to use the boats. As he continued thinking about it, he bumped into a hooded figure. She had an assassin’s creed symbol on her belt, her sleek lithe figure dazzled Mike at first but before he could say anything she already left.

He turned around about to say something when he realised that his sword had been taken by the feeling of lightness on his back. He spotted the glint of the sword down the street and sped off to catch the assassin. Heading down the alley Mike found her waiting around the corner, trying not to be noticed at all, typical trick for an assassin to blend in. Mike casually walked past her but before she could run he held on to her arm.

“Do you mind telling me why you have my sword?” Mike questioned.

“Oh, no reason,” she said, handing it back to Mike before raising her right arm upwards zipping away. Mike was utterly confused by this action as the Assassin’s of Russia didn’t have any way to move between buildings. He saw her going across the roofs like a typical assassin and decided to follow her. After 10 minutes of following she ziplined towards a window from what Mike saw and realised that he was at the location of the Assassin Creed guild hideout.

The building itself looked like it was in ruins, the paint was peeling, and most of the windows were broken. Mike thought most likely that the building was in that condition to trick the Templars into thinking that it was abandoned. And as he walked inside with his sword out he was met with dozens of guns pointed at him, all loaded and primed, Mike would have felt a twinge of fear by now such as sweating but he felt none and realised the Assassins wanted answers.

“I’m looking for a job” Mike said casually, the sword placed back in his sheath, “My father was part of the Russian Assassin creed, my name is Mike Assault and my father is Malcolm Assault”

“Assault, you say,” someone said at the back of the room, and out came Silver’s father, Light.




*Start WHY DO YOU BREAK ME | by Lucas Brodan*

Silver landed standing back in the middle of the forest, his eyes sparkling with lightning before returning to the stormy grey silver. The moon hung high in the air shining upon Silver and he started to feel for the wound, but it wasn’t there which relieved him. In place was a scar, the scar was x shaped for some odd reason and he realised that Discord was the one that fixed it. He stared back at it realising that Luna wasn’t on the same moon. He sighed realising he was home, the starry night sky used to hold a certain beauty to Silver but after seeing Luna painting it, the sky looked so plain.

The forest around him became very familiar to him realising that it was the forest that his brothers use to play hide and seek in. And there it was, a little cottage, the one that his father would use for hunting and where they lived for the first years of Silver’s life. The cottage window was illuminated and made Silver wonder why it was on when it was the middle of the night, and as he peered through the window he smiled.

He barged through the door and hugged his brother Sash, holding him in a tight embrace. Sash himself was not in good shape as if he had just been in battle, his cloak was burned in several sections as if he was caught in an explosion in which he had, his hidden blades were broken, and his revolver was missing but Silver didn’t realise any of it as he embraced his brother.

“SILVER, WHERE IN THE HELL HAVE YOU BEEN?!” Sash cried out turning around and hugging Silver even tighter, “I have been so worried for you,”

“You wouldn’t believe me Sash if I told you but here goes nothing,” Silver said, repeating his experience in the Land of Equestria. He didn’t tell Sash everything, leaving out the personal details about Luna’s love and what had transpired with her banished to the moon saying that he was transported back to Equestria by some magical mystical powers.

“So, you're telling me, you were placed in a land of ponies and mythical creatures just from destroying the Apple of Eden!” Sash exclaimed, his face blinked in confusion on the reality of Silver stories and wondering if Silver had taken some sort of drug, but he believed his brother anyway “That is some absurd witchcraft, and just to let you know, you have been gone for 6 months.”

“6 MONTHS!” Silver proclaimed, “Time must be faster in Equestria” Silver thought, rubbing his face. “What about our Father, is he still working at the Creed?”

“Oh no!” Sash thought “I am going to have to tell him sooner or later”, “I’m sorry to say this but Light is dead.” Sash whispered.

“NO! you can’t be serious,” Silver said holding Sash’s arm “He can’t be dead, he has the whole creed to protect him, how is he dead” sitting down in the chair in disbelief. “WHO DID IT!”

“Calm down first Silver, revenge is going to get you nowhere,” Sash said.

“DON’T TELL ME WHAT TO DO!” Silver cried out and started crying into the palms of his hands. The tears falling down his face looking at Sash.

“He was a good man Sash” Silver said, “He helped the poor as much as possible and even spared Templars showing compassion like a good ruler.”

“You’re lying,” and Silver stood up and rushed out the door to the Creed’s hideout.

Moving through the air, onto the roof of a house, Silver was crying, and it hurt him severely to know the one that had raised him had died. He continued free running across the roofs when a guard had spotted him. But before the guard could say anything Silver stabbed him in the throat and continued the tears touching the floor until Silver reached the Creed’s hideout. The whole hideout was burnt to the ground, some areas still standing but the fire had taken a heavy toll on the foundation of the building, it hurt Silver’s eyes as he moved towards the building. The ashes cool to the touch as Silver knelt down when he felt the presence of Sash coming towards him behind.

“Silver, it all just happened so fast, I’m sorry I wish I could have protected our father, but it was too late he was already going mad when he learnt of your disappearance. He thought you were dead and when he learnt that Reign was a traitor it made him lose his ability to lead the creed,” Sash said, but Silver wasn’t listening he was staring at the ashes as if he was looking for something. “Your father had two bodyguards Anna and Mike because the war was getting rough, the two guards they became lovers in the end, but turns out Anna was a spy for the templars.”

“What!” Silver said, standing up.

“She tried to confess and fully wanted to redeem herself for her actions against the Creed, but Light flew into rage and tried to kill her on the spot. I tried to hold down our father, reason with him but he broke free and was about to kill her, but Mike stopped him, and they fought then Mike then killed him.” Sash said.

“Where is he?” Silver asked.

“And why should I, so that you can kill him, he didn’t mean to he was only defending Anna, look I know our father is gone but at least you have me!” Sash said.

“WHERE IS HE?” Silver commanded, letting his blades free.

“I have no idea, honest to gods,” Sash said, raising his hands, Silver wasn’t happy with his response but knew it was the truth from his Eagle vision. “Don’t try to stop me Sash, he deserves to die.”

“Fine but know this, you always had me to help but you keep pushing me away and that is going to be the death of you, also you missed the funeral because of the deranged adventure you had.” Sash said walking away from the site of destruction.

Silver stared down at the ashes, his eagle vision trying to sense for something until he found it. He picked it up, still in good condition and placed it in his holster. The etching of Grace and Justice within the revolvers and as Silver turned his back away something glinted in his eyes. It was a little chrysanthemum, the water droplets glistening in the moonlight, the purple colour sparkled in his eyes. Silver picked it up looking at the flower in content and prayed to whom he did not know as the silence was music to his ears and started to head towards the graveyard.

*End Song*





*Start Brand X Music - Untold Stories*

Mike was hardened, his beard gruff and unable to shave at the moment, his eyes deep and sunken as if old age had grasped him. His pondering lead to the thought of what had transpired recently, the Assassin’s hideout had been burned to the ground, all the blame was on him and Anna which made it even harder as his reputation was just getting better when he was the right hand body guard for Light. He had just killed Light, the leader of the Assassin’s of America to protect Anna and he started having second thoughts about it but his love for Anna was pure and bright. He sighed, the moonlight glinting in his face.

This wasn’t the first time he was thinking about the incident, looking through the window of the abandoned building he was in seeing if there were intruders on the east side. The building slightly creaking in the wind, the majority of the windows covered in cobwebs, and the door was chained up, Mike had to break a window open to get inside but to cover his tracks he literally took out the window frame. His thoughts were clouded wondering what to do, for being hunted and wanted for the deed that was done.

On the other side Anna was resting her head, her face scrunched up in worry for she was now being hunted by the whatever was left of the Creed. She felt like she was the blame for all this, for working for the Templars in the first place, she almost just gave up on life when Light brought out his sword. The silvery glint still in her eyes remembering the sword so close to her neck, so close to death.

That was before Mike had blocked it with the arming sword he had. Even though corroded, Mike wielded the sword as if he was a legend. Anna could still remember the clashing of the swords, the sparks that flew across her eyes before Light’s son Sash could restrain him. It was then that Light backhanded his own son before Light’s murderous eyes laid on Anna, she tried to calm Light down but it was no use before Mike stood in front of her. His sword at the ready for the next strikes, they circled each other, like animals, Light’s eyes filled with murderous intent. Anna then shook her head, it was his eyes burning inside her mind, what she didn’t know was that Light had special eyes which Silver had inherited, where his eyes could strike fear into the heart of enemies.

Mike came up from behind and hugged her as she whimpered, her heart with heavy guilt, as she looked at the man that she loved. Her heart fluttered to see his face of such handsomeness, the strength he had, the love he cherished and the inner softness inside. To a majority of people he appeared like a monster with his inhuman strength, his size towering over people and the intelligence in strategy and tactical warfare. Anna felt his hands rub her head in a loving manner telling her it was alright, it was soothing to her ears as she closed her eyes.

“I can’t stay like this anymore, we can’t keep on hiding, Mike, I know you love me and want me to stay safe but I can’t keep living like this, it’s not living anymore,” Anna said, looking directly at Mike’s sunken face. Mike sighed, hugging her in a tight embrace, the smell of vanilla still lingered in her hair as he tried to think of something to say.

“I wish we could, I can only propose to change our positioning, I am sorry my sweet Anna, there is only so much I can do,” Mike said, looking into her eyes.

“I understand Mike,” Anna whispered, reaching for her weapons and the supplies on the floor, “At least it is away from here, I have been pacing too much lately,”

“We can leave now if you want,” Mike said, picking up the supplies from Anna hands, heading to the window unlocking it and peeking outside, looking for enemies. Mike did not have eagle vision as he trained with the Templars first which was annoying to Mike at first but then he learnt of ways to protect from the variable assassination techniques. The soft breeze came through the window making Anna’s hood wave, making her shiver, she pulled up her hood covering her freezing ears and looked at Mike. His hulking body ushering her forward towards the window, as the coast was clear. Well that was what Mike had thought when he looked outside but on the roof of the very same house was Silver, he had been tracking Mike from after his visit to his father’s grave.
During this time Discord was constantly blabbering about prophecies and futures and random nonsense about both ponies and the humans, making Silver almost snap under the constant talking.  Except one prophecy caught Silver’s mind.

“Say that one again,” Silver said,

“Oh, the one about the moon returning,” Discord giggled like a little girl,


“The moon will rise once again in a millennium, on the day of the rising sun, six shall restore the moon to its most clear state, but downfall in the end to those that intercede,”





“Interesting...” Silver thought, then realised that he should be paying attention to the Mike and Anna.

Silver found them through constant scouring through the neighbourhood, checking every abandoned house knowing that they would most likely hide in there. As Anna had left the window, Silver waited patiently for Mike to come out, Discord for some reason was silent instead of his usual blabbing which helped Silver think clearly for once in a while. Silver hadn’t even realised Anna was scaling the same wall that Silver was on, as Silver was so fixated on his revenge on Mike. Anna looked up to see Silver in a perched position and then realised what he was going to do.
“MIKE LOOK OUT!” Anna cried out, as Silver had stepped off the ledge down towards Mike who was on the rafters closing the windows, Mike looked up to see the assassin and quickly leapt off the rafting and rolled on to the streets below. Mike whipped out his sword from his back while Silver wasn’t happy as he landed on the wood and jumped off bringing out his rapier, bringing it downwards on to the floor. Mike rolled away holding his sword up and stared into Silver’s eyes, the silvery glow making Mike gasp.

“You’re the missing son,” Mike said, “You shouldn’t be here,”

“WHY WOULD YOU DO IT?!” Silver yelled, “WHY?!” Rushing towards Mike. To Mike it was very sloppy and he dodged it like a raging bull. Silver stumbled and turned around facing Mike, bringing out his revolver in the left hand and starting to shoot sporadically. Mike looked in fear at the revolver, but then the sword somehow started acting on its own and Mike followed its gestures blocking the bullets with the flat side of the blade. The bullets dropping to the floor, Anna was terrified at Silver, the presumed dead son was like a ghost trying to haunt her for the death of Light.

“Look Silver,” Mike said, while parrying each strike from Silver, “I’m sorry for killing your father, I didn’t mean to I was only protecting Anna, you can’t rage on like this forever, I am stronger than you,”

“Now you sound like my brother, who I hate now after he betrayed the Creed,” Silver said, fiercely striking Mike, and then looked up to Anna on the roof who was still paralysed watching the scene unfold not knowing on what to do.

“SHE DIDN’T BETRAY THE CREED!” Mike yelled, parrying once before hitting Silver with the pommel of the sword, making Silver bleed through the nose. “Ooh, that’s got to hurt” Discord thought, while he munched on some popcorn. “This is the most interesting thing that has happened since my time, reminds me of…”

“Shut up” Silver said, holding on to his nose feeling the blood, his rage spiking up again, before bringing up his revolver with one bullet left aiming at Anna, she stared back frozen and Mike roared leaping at Silver tackling to the ground, a shot rang out and the bullet travelled towards Anna. Before Anna could react someone tackled her to the ground, her head in a dazed as she looked up to see Silver’s brother had come. Sash stared at the fight in seriousness wondering on what to do as the fight played out.

Silver now lying on the ground as Mike started punching him in the face, which only angered him even more and Silver could no longer contain his rage as he felt sparks flying of his fingers. Mike looked at the fingers then grasped the sword of Eden before lighting surged forward, knocking Mike back to a standing position. The sword started glowing heavily as the electricity changed the sword, the rust peeling away and the sword started humming with power. Then the electric discharged stopped, Silver stood up looking at his new profound powers, the energy cackling from his hands. He had absolutely no idea why and how but he looked at Mike with delight. “Now that’s interesting” Discord thought, while eating a pretzel “That sword is so getting me out of the cage.”

“Now this is so much easier, “Silver laughed, before unleashing electricity again, Mike absorbed it with the sword, as it started humming with more power before it flashed a great white. Everyone in the vicinity covered their eyes. A loud ringing could be heard as the white slowly fading away and instead a gleaming white sword was left. Silver felt the energy in his hands had died, as if he was out of power and decided to fight the classic way, picking up his rapier. Sash on the roof worried about Mike and Silver, as his eyes cleared from the white flash.

“You can’t beat me, Silver,” Mike said, holding out his sword, “This is the sword of Eden, I can strike you down from afar and I don’t want to hurt you. I told you I am sorry, I can’t do much more.”

“Well yes you can, you can give your life to me,” Silver said, thrusting his sword towards Mike. He parried it and kicked Silver in the chest. Silver felt the wind be knocked out of him, his rapier clattering to the floor as he kneeled on the floor waiting for Mike to come.

“This is OVER, stop this, revenge isn’t something that should drive you, it won’t change the fact that your father is dead even if you kill me,” Mike said, cautiously grasping the shoulder of Silver, Mike sighed, “ I know of your story, Sash told me what happened, it was the same day I asked for the job to be bodyguard for Light, Ash died because you weren’t fast enough to save her, you shouldn’t take your anger out on me, I was only doing the same thing that you were doing, protecting a loved one,” Mike looked at Anna, telling her to go with his eyes, but she shook her head. It was then Mike realised that Sash was there. Meanwhile Silver was listening but hearing Mike talk was making Silver madder by the second, every word was like a dagger to his heart tearing each vessel inside of him as he heard the specific words “weren’t fast enough”

“YOU HAVE NO IDEA WHAT HAPPENED, DON’T SAY ANYTHING UNLESS YOU KNOW THE WHOLE TRUTH!” Silver yelled shouldering Mike away, bringing out his hidden blades and shoved his right hand with all his might and pulled back. *End Song* What Silver didn’t realise that Sash saw it coming and was in the way, everything was such a blur to Silver that he didn’t realise that Sash had jumped down and intervened. Mike looked on with a grim state realising that Sash was in front of him, putting his head down in silence. Silver looked with horror at what he had done and as Sash gave one last smile he collapsed, the white screen enveloped Silver and Sash, exactly like with Ash. Silver fell to his knees and placed his hands over the wound trying to stop the blood flow but the velvet blood was already paved onto the street, it was too late. Sash looked at Silver one last time, croaking a bit.

“No, No, No, No, why Sash, I didn’t mean to, the blade was meant to kill Mike, I just…” Silver said, with tears in his eyes.

“Just what? Killing someone for revenge won’t help you. Look at Reign, he wanted revenge on you, love you being better than him and look where that ended up. It’s so that you realise the truth Silver, I have always loved you as a little brother, Reign never paid much attention to you when you were young but I did. When our father wasn’t around he always told me to look after you, not Reign, I need you to appreciate that me being your brother has been the best thing that has happened to me in my life. When you returned back from your crazy deranged adventure I was beyond relief, I was thinking of committing suicide on that day, so I decided to go to our home one last time, I was so close to putting a blade through my chest.”

“I want you to realise that what Mike did was exactly the same as what you did,” Sash coughed, the blood spilling down his chin as he continued, “You have to let go off the past, Mike saved his loved one, he protected the one he loved, that is what you tried to do with Ash.”

“I know that, you don’t think I know that already? It’s not because he did the same thing as me,” Silver sighed, “It’s because he managed to save Anna, while I couldn’t that’s why I am mad, why I can’t let go of the past. It tells me that I am a failure, not being able to do anything, that I had these talents but couldn’t even save the one closest to me.” Silver cried.

“Brother, look at me in the eyes and tell me this, would having your revenge save you? Would you change after killing Mike? Even if you managed to kill Mike and didn’t kill me, I would never look at you the same, I already told you the truth, you just have to believe it, I trust you will make the right decision when I go,” Sash sighed before coughing more blood “You are the last of our line, live to the fullest so that our bloodline can continue on, promise me you will live on.”

“I promise brother, with blood and tears” Silver said, holding Sash’s hand one last time, the cold feeling of death washed over Silver as the last words uttered out from Sash.

“I want you to know that I love you brother till the very end.” Sash whispered.

The white veil that surrounded Silver cleared up to find Mike, his sword still out its glow dying down. Silver prayed, to who he did not know anymore, as Mike solemnly tried to figure out what Silver was doing. Anna had clambered down after Sash had leapt in front of Mike, she could not believe that Sash leapt off and saved Mike, she was forever in debt to him but he was gone now. Anna hugged Mike closely as they still looked at Silver. He looked at Mike and decided it was best to stop his revenge and to listen to Sash for once in his life but his eagle vision activated and he realised that what was left of the Creed had stopped to look at the fight that had transpired. The sword of Eden reactivated, the precursor weapon reborn after the lightning, and the pieces that were missing realigned and reforged causing everyone to follow the beacon of bright white light.

Silver thought for a few minutes, thinking about Sash’s last words of living and back to Ash’s words of love. He was the last line of the Alder, the Creed shouldn’t be under his name it was too much responsibility and he looked back at the Assassin’s on the roofs of the houses, their eyes laying on him.

“Fellow Assassin’s I would like to say a few words, I am Silver Alder. The majority you know me already, I am the missing son of Light, I know you are confused, you now see that my brother is dead. The reason is because of my own doing and with that I am no longer eligible to be the Leader of the Assassin’s of America, however I am allowed to place a final will if you so call it,” Silver said loud and clear but took a deep breath for what was going to come out next, “Mike Assault shall be the Leader of the Creed.” Silver said loudly, the uproar of Assassin’s could be heard loud and clear, but when Silver raised his hands everyone was silent.

“I know the majority of you are saying that Mike is a traitor, in my eyes I thought he was one too, he murdered my father, but what makes us different is the intentions and sacrifices that were made. He saved his lover Anna, risking his own life trying to protect the one he loved, it was the same case as me, except where he succeeded, I failed. In failing I let the creed fall, as my disappearance led my father to become mad, losing two of his sons on the same day. One a traitor, and one a failure, he lost his mind, he was going to bring the downfall of the creed. And because of this it is my fault, and for that reason I am no longer part of the family line of Alder,” Silver said, before sighing, “You may argue against Mike being the leader, as a traitor is always a traitor, but it is us Assassin’s that are different from the Templars. The templars wouldn’t even glance at ordering the execution if you were a spy, but my father before showed them compassion and asked them to join the right side, to fight for freedom. Some of you now that are listening used to be part of the Templars,” Silver said pausing letting the thought sink through, to everyone listening, as they all started to murmur with agreement,  “and with this I trust Mike will lead the Creed into a better future than what I can manage. So I say goodbye.”

Silver turned away ready to leave as everyone stared back at Mike, ready for what would happen to the Creed but before they could say anything, Mike kneeled on to his knees and held the sword of Eden in his hands as an offering.
“I will honour you, Silver, in making me the leader and sparing me a great sacrifice must be made, you have brought my family name from the grave into a new light. I shall not let you down,” Mike said, handing the sword towards Silver. Anna and the rest of the Creed stared in shock as he gave the one of the most powerful weapons in the world to Silver. Silver looked at the sword, the power within it danced before Silver’s eyes, and Discord egged him on to hold the hilt. Silver thought about the options, if he took it, neither Templars or Assassin’s could take and use it incorrectly, if he didn’t it would make Mike seem like a traitor anyway. Silver held on to the sword’s hilt and felt the power within him surge to a great extent. An audible click could then be heard in Silver’s head as the whole world around him blackened, everyone gasping as they witnessed Silver vanish into nothing.
> Chapter 7: Soaring High Above
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 7: Soaring High Above

Rainbow Dash was flying around in Cloudsdale, practicing being the very best in the summer flight camp, she was already topping her class but more practice couldn’t hurt. The wind was cool to her wings as she soared throughout the rings of the camp, practicing her turns as she felt she was lacking skill in them, that was until she heard Fluttershy sobs. Her eyes quickly strained on to the source of the sound, her ears perking to the noise following it as she flew with speed, towards the ground where Fluttershy was with Hoops and Dumb-Bell. Fluttershy had her wings splayed across the ground, her ears folded against her head, she looked at Hoops and Dumb-Bell with tears in her eyes as the hurt was evident. This angered Rainbow Dash, as she flew close towards Fluttershy.

“Leave her alone!” Rainbow Dash said, swooping down spreading her wings at the last second, her pink magenta eyes glaring into the eyes of Dumb-Bell and Hoops’, as she heard every word that was said before, “Klutzershy!”  and “ground you permanently.”

“Ooh, what are you gonna do, Rainbow Crash?” Hoops said, taunting her.

“Keep making fun of her and find out!” Rainbow Dash retorted, ready to smash Hoops in the face.

“You think you're such a big shot? Why don't you prove it?” Dumb-Bell countered, backing up Hoops.

“What do you have in mind?” Rainbow Dash asked, Hoops thought about it in a moment and then conversed with Dumb-Bell, it was pretty obvious what was being said even though they turned around, but Rainbow Dash ignored it knowing that whatever the competition, she was going to beat them brutally. Rainbow Dash trotted towards Fluttershy and hugged her best friend, Fluttershy smiled lightly towards her loving friend embrace and whispered a “Thank you”. It was then that Hoops and Dumb-Bell had finally made up their mind with big grins on their face.

“A RACE!” they shouted in unison.





*"I Loved You" by Lucas Brodan*

I opened my eyes to darkness, the recent nightmare of the death of my brother and father haunting me as a swirl of light illuminated the shadow realm I was in. Laughter filled the room, the bitter female voice wasn't Discord though, it was Nightmare Moon, the echo of the laughter rung in my ear as I tried to pinpoint where it was coming from. My head twisted and turned but then the swirls of light transformed blinding me as Nightmare Moon materialised in front of me. 

She looked exactly the same as I first saw, her cold blue eyes, a black coat with her starry mane twinkling in the dark and her majestic wings of darkness. She then smiled which enraged me as she was acting like we were old time friends. I was about to leap at her and kill her on the spot for trying to kill me when I felt the clanking of chains grasp on to my arms and legs holding me in position, the shadowy texture of the chains biting into my ankles and wrist as she laughed at my struggles. I didn’t even know where I was as she looked at me curiously almost studying me before she returned to her state of composure.

“Why hello there Silver, I have waited so long to see you after your trip to your old home, how are you feeling about the death of your brother and father?” Nightmare Moon asked maliciously.

“How do you know about that, were you there during my nightmare just then?” I said trying to break free and strangle her. She laughed and disappeared before whispering into my right ear and slowly moved to my left.

“And so what if I was there, I feed on all nightmares not just yours but your one was especially hurtful,  it was so tasty!” Nightmare Moon relished, “And you shouldn’t care anyway, I know that you love her deep inside, I am her other and better half, I know deep inside that very broken heart of yours, you wish for someone to mend it, to nurture it and to be loved.” Nightmare Moon said, trotting in front of me, encircling me as if she was the predator and I was injured prey.

“What do you want?” I asked, still struggling, “You wouldn’t want to visit me just to taunt me,”  

“Maybe I do, you see being stuck on the moon for some hundred years so far has made me, what would you call it, lonely, no one to talk to, only feeding on the nightmares of Equestria but never appearing in form. You know the pent up frustration that Luna has for freedom and the fun I had with her is starting to get boring.” Nightmare said melancholically.

“What did you do to her?” I asked before being interrupted.

“Breaking you is so much fun, but you see I’m not just here to make fun of you this is more like a warning,” Nightmare said, as she spun and disappearing leaving me in utter darkness, before Luna appeared. I was stunned at this, as Luna struggled in her chains, her space blue eyes were red from crying so much, her wings chained down to the floor from the base of her body. Her body was filled with streaks almost like lashes which angered me deep inside at the abuse that Nightmare Moon had done.

“Luna!” I yelled as I struggled within my own chains. She looked up as if she heard me but then became terrified, her eyes shone with absolute terror, the fear evident as she thrashed in her chains as if to get away. I cried out seeing Luna in pain, as I yelled for Nightmare Moon to stop, my voice becoming hoarse with every stop. Then Luna’s voice cut through me making my eyes look directly at Luna.

“Why Silver? You would never do this to me, I don’t understand, all this time I thought you loved me that you would do anything for me,” Luna cried out, tears falling down her face, as she strained against the chains until a shadow swept over her.

“Stop Nightmare Moon, I’ll do whatever you say, just leave Luna in peace, she doesn’t deserve any of this,” I yelled, as the shadow form swept over Luna and became solid turning into Nightmare Moon. She laughed at me touching Luna’s bruised face, and made Luna collapse to the floor. Luna’s body slowly rose up and down as she breathed, making me feel relieved. The chains clanking together as Luna disappeared into nothing. The emotions that I felt inside of me could not be described as Nightmare Moon smiled. She sensed the bitter anger towards her and loved every bit of it.

“Why are you doing this? What did I do to deserve this, you stabbed me right through the back, all for what, a game, for fun?” I raged, hoping Luna was ok.

“Ha, ha, ha, ha, you see Silver, this was a test of your morals, of what you fear most, I see you squirm to kill me but you can’t, knowing that if you try to she dies, you see if you haven’t noticed, your greatest fear is losing the ones closest to you when you have the chance to protect them and save them. You carry many burdens and guilt, and are pathetic at times it makes you so cute, so don’t make a move against me, and you will be my favourite pet, when I come back!” Nightmare said, poking a hoof at my chest, and stared deep into my eyes testing me. My body froze in fear realising that she was becoming the embodiment of fear. I felt myself falling as I tried to grasp onto something but I blanked out as Nightmare’s devilish laugh reverberated.
*End Song*





“Pft, a race, you honestly think you can beat me, suit yourself” Rainbow Dash said smugly flying towards the tracks, but then realised that Fluttershy was still on the ground trying to flap her wings and hover but getting nowhere.  

“It’s ok Fluttershy, with more practice you will be able to fly as good as me,” Rainbow Dash said, placing her head underneath Fluttershy’s wing and both flew towards the starting line. As they neared the stadium Rainbow Dash thought of a better idea. “You know what you can be the flag bearer, and watch me beat those losers to the ground.”

“Now don’t say that, that makes you seem like the bully now.” Fluttershy shyly said, as she was placed in the position of Flag bearer, while Rainbow Dash thought about what Fluttershy said as she was flying towards the race line.

“You're going down!” Hoop said confidently.

*Start Fly Again-James Paget*

“In history, maybe, see you boys at the finish line!” Rainbow Dash said, prepping her wings, the feeling of wind drafting through her feathers. Rainbow Dash looked forward getting her head in the game zone, concentrating on the route ahead of her. Everypony who was watching her anxiously was zoned out of Rainbow Dash’s vision as she waited at the right moment for Fluttershy who was holding up the flag. She flexed her wings up high and the crowd cheered on wondering who would win the race, tension was thick in the air as everyone became suddenly silent looking towards Fluttershy. 

Fluttershy looked at the racers and saw they were eyeing her to start, their face full of determination and the slow gust of winds blew through Fluttershy’s mane scaring her a bit. She dropped the flag causing the three Pegasi to dash off, the wind rushing behind them. The extreme gust of wind blew Fluttershy off her cloud, making her spin off towards the ground. The crowd didn’t even notice as they watched the flyers zoom through the air. 

Fluttershy screamed as she closed her eyes waiting for the ground to hit her while she flapped her wings with all her might but without much help. Only slowing herself down that she would get broken hooves and ankles but what surprised her was that she didn’t reach the ground. She didn’t feel the cold hard impact of the ground and she thought about if she was dead or not. She took a peek and found that a swarm of butterflies had caught her, she was bedazzled by the beauty and wonder of the tiny butterflies holding her and taking her to safety. She was so entranced by the butterfly as they kept on flying with her towards a patch of forest that didn’t look daunting to her and as she glanced up she could see the sun bright as ever and blurs of blue, brown and yellow flying through cloudy rings.

Meanwhile Rainbow Dash was concentrating hard not even realising that her best friend just fell to the ground without anypony to help her, as she swerved left and right at the tracks. The wind was buffeting the rainbow mane as she saw the first major turn coming and banked to the right angling her wings just like she had practiced. To the left of her was Hoops and to the right was Dumb-Bell, as she concentrated forwards, she heard the crashing of Dumb-Bell into a cloud pillar. POOF! She laughed in her mind, but it was no time to laugh as she realised that Hoops was still neck-and-neck with her. 

She tried her hardest to fly faster and was then slowly beating Hoops, the wind in better favour of her but what she didn’t realise was the draft she created was allowing Hoops to gain speed. She had never flown like this before, it was so intense for her. The freedom was unlike anything she had ever felt! The speed, the adrenaline, the wind in her mane, it was a much different experience and she loved it so much that even death couldn’t scare her. What Rainbow didn’t realise was the draft speed allowed Hoops to gain on her to the point of catching up. Hoops smashed right into Rainbow Dash knocking her out of the path.

“Ow!” Rainbow Dash yelled as she was slowed momentarily before she flapped rapidly with her wings forwards trying to regain the lost momentum right behind. She saw Hoops right in front of her and was angered by him smashing into her.

“Ha! Later, Rainbow Crash!” Hoops yelled back, as he kicked her in the face causing Rainbow to be briefly stunned. This got Rainbow Dash even more worked up as she lost her rhythm in her wings and slowly fell behind and tried her best to gain on Hoops. Hoops on the other hoof was having the time of his life thinking he had already beat Rainbow Dash as he neared the last ring. But just in case he angled downwards like a hawk and rushed towards it at maximum velocity. Rainbow saw this and realised she would lose. 

“No, I can’t give up!” Rainbow thought as she realised she had to keep going for Fluttershy’s honour and she knew she had to win. She vowed she would win for Fluttershy in her mind when they decided on the race and she planned on keeping it as she dove down like an eagle. She started gaining her maximum velocity but something inside of her felt different as she wanted to win with all her heart. “For Fluttershy” Rainbow Dash thought as she felt the sound barrier slowly breaking, she zipped past Hoops and stuck out her tongue, but she appeared as a blur to him.

With every second passing, the barrier was fracturing as she then felt her whole body lurch forward with extreme velocity towards the ring. She had to close her eyes, as the wind stung it and she realised that she was moving faster than any filly should be moving, worried for a second before she felt something inside of her snap. Hoops on the other hoof was astonished and shocked at the speed of Rainbow as he spun out of control before stabilising himself, frozen in place with his jaw literally left open as he saw no point to fight anymore, then he saw something magical. 

The moment that Rainbow touched the last ring, a bright beautiful rainbow appeared behind her, she did not realise that she had just performed the sonic rainboom. All this time she thought it was an old mare’s tale to bring a pegasus’ spirits up that you can accomplish anything type story but she just proved the legend to be true. Her face widened with the biggest smile of all as she smashed right through the finish line continuing on creating an actual rainbow fascinating everyone as it changed the lives of five other ponies drastically. 

Her cutie mark appearing on her flank, the lightning symbol of a rainbow with a cloud which felt like a warm burning sensation and she looked at her flank to find her cutie mark. She was quite surprised by it but realised that now her talent was to move fast as lightning and she loved it. Except for the fact she had been staring at her flank too long and wasn’t looking where she was flying as she passed through thick ominous clouds towards the Everfree forest.

*End Song*

Fluttershy was singing with her new animal friends, her beautiful voice making the forest more lively, as the animals started swaying to the music dancing with her when all of a sudden a loud explosion shook her and caused all the animals to scatter hiding making her fall flat on the ground. Her ears rung intensely as she tried to understand what had happened, shaking her head to clear her mind as she got back up. She had just felt the intense shockwave of Rainbow Dash’s sonic rainboom but didn’t know it was her that performed it. Fluttershy looked up to the sky seeing the rainbow spread throughout the sky and causing her to follow the path of it but then she realised that all her new animal friends were gone, they had all gone into hiding scared of the giant loud noise. The rabbits were particularly slow as they hid in the nearest bush. Fluttershy saw that and decided to approach them slowly. She crept forward and lifted up the bushes to find the scared animals

“Shhh, it's okay you can come out, everything's okay. There's nothing to be afraid of.” Fluttershy said softly to all the animals. The animals looked cautiously towards Fluttershy and realised that she wasn’t a threat anymore and crowded all around her. Fluttershy felt her flank feel warm and looked to find her cutie mark, “I can speak to animals” Fluttershy thought happily as she laid down, staying with all her new friends, closing her eyes and relaxing wondering what happened to Rainbow Dash.





As Rainbow sped through the air she neared a clearing on the side of the castle of the two sisters, a mysterious broken site where Princess Celestia and Luna once lived. To her it wasn’t of much importance because she lived in Cloudsdale and it wasn’t necessary to learn of the castle, unless she had been sleeping in class. Rainbow Dash was still flying faster and didn’t know how to stop as she neared dangerously close to the ground. All of a sudden she felt cold, usually the wind and flying at high altitudes did not affect her but upon the entering the boundaries of the castle it felt different. The air was dryer, dry like the desert and the wind was sharp piercing through her fur as if sand was in the air and then she realised that she was nearing a statue. It was a weird minotaur type creature, wearing clothes and held strange items which she could not comprehend. She tried to swerve and turn but it was like it was destiny for her to collide in to the statue, no matter what Rainbow did it was inevitable. Instead she braced for impact, and as she collided an explosion shook her making her black out.

Silver woke up with a terrible back pain as he realised he was lying on a piece of rock, breathing heavily looking for Nightmare Moon but to find he was back in the castle courtyard. Turning his head he saw a blue pegasus with a rainbow lightning tattoo, “No not tattoo, what did Luna say it was, a cutie mark, that’s right…” Silver thought,  but then realised what he said, feeling something inside of him empty. Silver feeling guilty moved to a sitting position to find the Sword of Eden on his back, slung on the right side of him while the air rifle was on the left side. 

He took out the sword feeling the power within, something different about it, Silver was about to stand up when his head started spinning rapidly. “What did Nightmare Moon do to me?” Silver groaned trying to think properly. And then something clicked in his mind as he was looking at the sword he was holding, before placing it back into its sheath. “Discord, I can’t hear him in my head, that’s a relief, he was so noisy, can I really trust him and free him, why was he set in stone the first place,” and he thought about whether to call out to Discord both in his mind and out loud but nothing happened. 

“I wonder how much Discord knows about what happen at my old home?” Silver thought, “No wonder he laughed hysterically at me when I asked if I could stay, when I find him I’m going to kill him,” Silver stood up, and looked at the castle, the destruction evident, rubble scattered across the floor of what use to be the courtyard and the vines growing wildly. Looking towards Luna’s room, its features crumbled and the insides torn apart. Silver started remembering what happened on that day, when Nightmare arose and possessed Luna, he sighed, trying to remember the prophecy.

“The moon will rise once again in a millennium, on the day of the rising sun, six shall restore the moon to its most clear state, but downfall in the end to those that intercede” Silver thought, “Who are these 6, are they ponies, I need more info on this, I…” A whimper from the blue pegasus caught his attention. He looked at the young blue pegasus, her flowing rainbow mane caught his eye, its breathing slow, like it was just winded.

“Was she the one that set me free, it looks like she collided into me, no wonder she is breathing heavily,” Silver thought, kneeling down, her face clenched as if in agony, but her breathing steadied and Silver knew it wasn’t good to leave her be as she could be attacked. But before he could do anything he heard a voice,

“RAINBOW DASH!” a shy voice said, barely audible if it weren’t for Silver eagle vision and hearing.

“I better move, don’t want Celestia to catch me in this state, I wonder where she lives now?” Silver thought and headed towards the castle and watched. A creamed colour pegasus and forest dwelling animals came out of the forest, the pegasus’ face distraught at the sight of Rainbow dash.

“Oh no, are you alright Rainbow Dash?” Fluttershy said nudging Rainbow Dash, she groaned in pain and opened her eyes to find Fluttershy.

“What happened?” Rainbow asked, as she lifted up her head to find the statue she smashed into was ruined, “Well I hope that wasn’t important” Rainbow Dash thought, looking back at Fluttershy, with the biggest grin on her face.

“DID YOU SEE WHAT I DID?!” Rainbow Dash blurted out, not really thinking about her injury that she had just endured, or Fluttershy’s concerned face.

“No, because I fell off the podium,” Fluttershy stated, as she kicked up the dirt a bit with her back hoof, while the animals were now watching from afar who was hurt a bit that her only friend didn’t notice her, that she could have been injured and Rainbow wouldn’t have noticed.

“Sorry what was that?” Rainbow asked, sometimes she wished that Fluttershy spoke louder,

“I said, that I FELL OF THE PODIUM!” Fluttershy said a bit louder, and walked off hurt that Rainbow wasn’t there for her, “Oh, no wonder she looked upset and she was so concerned about my wellbeing” Rainbow thought,

“Hey Fluttershy, look I’m so sorry, it was just I was in the heat of the moment that I didn’t realise that you fell off, I know that you always look out for me, especially when I’m injured” Rainbow said solemnly and hugged her best friend. Fluttershy responded well and hugged back the smell of sweat permeated the air as Fluttershy felt the overworked pegasus struggling not to collapse.

“It’s alright Rainbow, just pay attention a bit more, oh look at the new friends I made” Fluttershy said pointing towards the bushes as the two pegasi walked away from the castle leaving Silver to wander about the castle like a ghost.
> Chapter 8: Interlude, A Diary and surprises Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Start A Time Alone - Trevor DeMaere*

Dear: Myself 
 
What have I been doing all my life…I am living in a world of predominantly ponies, pegasi, unicorns and alicorns. I have no idea anymore I feel like my sanity has been chipped away but some days now have become so vivid in my memories that I can no longer forget anymore. As I am writing this down now I have no idea why I even picked up the diary in the first place, it was on the main road to a small village called Ponyville. A dark blue book with nothing written in it yet, and I pondered whether to return it or not, I am not usually a person to write in a book about my feelings on specific days, but here I am writing this now, maybe it is to keep myself sane. Life has become so different now, since the ties with my old life has been severed thanks to Discord (who I want to kill now and beat him senselessly) I now live a life full of freedom and torment of slowed aging. Nightmare Moon making me immortal has been both a curse and a gift, for I always wanted to do good for the better and with being immortal for the rest of life I can do it however I now have to witness many things that should not have happened or I could have prevented. 
 
Before as an Assassin, my entire life has been me fighting against the political leaders of the time with Sash, Ash or my father. The days of wars against the templars had been rough at times, where there have been casualties on both sides but worse of all was the whispers on the streets about the children knapping. It was something that I despised so much, and I wanted to stop it as much as I can but alas I cannot now because of the world I am on. I sometimes wished that people would stop becoming corrupt with power, at times I even wondered why I even kill the nobles it becomes a vicious cycle. They never learn, I can only guess it is human nature in which we must all endure. The days I live now are mostly me hiding or helping ponies along the road. From the ponies talking and items that are dropped along the roads I have learnt more about the world I must live in now but more on that later. 
 
Day 1 From Return:
 
After Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy left, I was truly left alone to think about Nightmare Moon’s return. To truly vanquish her is a difficult task that I have not thought of properly even when I am writing this. I discovered in the castle ruins that there was a secret library in which there were scrolls of many different spells and one on the extensive history of Equestria. A lot of the scrolls and books have been signed by a stallion I presume named Starswirl the Bearded, who has written a lot of interesting things about Equestria, ranging from the elements of harmony in which was what Celestia used to banish Nightmare Moon to the moon and many other mystical artifacts. It has sparked my interest about the Elements of Harmony as they came from a Tree, called the Tree of Harmony, this tree is in the Everfree forest which is where I am currently in. The history has given me insight about the land and how it came to be, but in some of those written scrolls and books there were some prophecies that have not been determined yet. One foretells the end of Equestria from a great planet in the sky while another foretells of a being who can change shape in which will shape Equestria for the better. However, there was nothing on how to specifically beat Nightmare Moon which means I have to rely on the mysterious 6 ponies. 

The prophecy still lingers in my mind, with as a line that still bothers me till this very day is about the six ponies. Who are these 6 and how will they stop Nightmare Moon. The one called Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy for some reason has reawakened my eagle sense where they appeared golden and for that reason I believe that they are 2 of the chosen six but to my judgement I have no idea who are the rest of the ponies. The ruins of the castle have now become my safe place in which it has been abandoned for many years but there are things outside of the castle that roam at night. The howls and growls and roars that sound throughout the night echo heavily but for some reason the creatures that make the noise are always deterred from the castle which is a relief. In the day the forest is not as dangerous but even then, with the looks of serenity and peace it is all an act of deception. 

 
Day 3 From Return: 
 
I have learnt a lot about Equestria for the past 3 days and the whereabouts of Celestia. I wonder myself at times on what Celestia is like and how she truly acts. I have only talked to Luna and learnt about her duties ranging from dream duty and hunting beast of unimaginable ferocity. From what I have read on Celestia it seems that she’s a benevolent ruler and there have not been any cases of revolutions or assassinations against Celestia which evidently shows her capabilities as a ruler. Luna on the other hand, I do not know what to say or write, I’ve only known her for a few days then she loved me. Celestia has moved to the castle in the mountains and has called it Canterlot which to me was so funny that I was almost spotted on that day. Canterlot was bigger than I had suspected at first, along the roofs and the walls it glistens with gold, the main castle is now larger than any that I have visited in the past and it is more secure than the old one. Now there are more nobles to assassinate. The nobles still act the same as they do in the past, the whispering and murmuring is very annoying, it seems to me that ponies and humans have a lot more common than I thought. I have explored Canterlot in the dead of night as me wearing a black suit in the middle of the day is too suspicious. Stealth was not always one of my strongest points and it was with total concentration that I had to study the movements of the ponies. There were also no knights in shining armour, they appear more as guards where they wore no visor but still a helmet of some sought. Also, as I waited for night time there was no change in shift, which was odd, but I have deduced that the bat winged ponies must have had their allegiance for Luna and must have either fled or waited for her return. The layout of Canterlot is full of alleyways and appear to have become more civilised with strange new foods, strange places such as a spa and a shop called Curio. It has come to my attention also that the ponies have started to wear less and less clothes, before it reminded me of pagan times the clothes they wore but no it is very strange. Luckily, they are only ponies and not humans, it’s not like I will start being intimate with them anyway.
 
I have also heard of a new village that has popped up called Ponyville, it’s a quiet little town where nothing anything of importance has happened apart from the fact is that it is a growing town. There has been no word of the Crystal Empire which I still blame Celestia for not saving anyone. With the claims of Celestia as being a goddess I must entirely disagree with the notion. 
 
Every night now I have been reliving the death of my family over and over again, it has become a burden, and the guilt is as strong as it was when I first experienced it. I feel like I cannot let go of the family I loved so much. I sometimes hear the laughs of Nightmare Moon echo throughout my dreams as I know she sees me in a mess, waiting for me to break into nothing and to return and claim me as a pet. I dread the day when she comes back, but I promised myself to free Luna and to separate them two and to have a little talk to Nightmare Moon. 

*End Song*

*Start A Hero Within Us - David Eman & Trevor DeMaere*

Silver stopped writing, the sun was nearing the horizon as it was turning into night time. The quill was still in Silver’s hand when the cold draft of wind rustled the tree he was in. Placing the little black book inside his cloak, he gathered the ink and the quill placing it inside his pocket and started moving across the Everfree forest. The howls of wolves echoed throughout the forest and the roars of various creatures thundered throughout the night, but something caught Silver’s attention. A sniffle, something that he would not have noticed if it weren’t for his eagle vision. There he found a little rose-coloured unicorn crying, but when he got closer to it, the unicorn horn was broken. Snapped at the base as if been cut by something blunt, “Oh, poor unicorn,” Silver thought. He crept closer and touched the little head of the crying unicorn who was huddled underneath a tree, using the roots as coverage. It was getting darker and the little unicorn opened her eyes wide and nearly screamed but a finger was placed on her mouth. 

“What’s your name little one?” Silver asked, intrigued at the broken horn, every now and then it would fizzle with magic. The unicorn only whimpered and tried to move away in fear. “I am not going to hurt you, I am here to help you,”

“My name is Fizzlepop Berrytwist,” Fizzlepop whimpered, she moved away from Silver’s hand. The fear in her eyes was still shifting,

“Where are your parents, you shouldn’t be here alone, it’s not safe,” Silver said genuinely, 

“My parents don’t love me, they left me without saying good bye, I don’t care where they are,” Fizzlepop said angrily, 

“Are you from an orphanage?” Silver asked,

“What is it to you, why are you helping me? I don’t need your help!” Fizzlepop said, keeping her mouth shut as if she did not want to talk anymore. 

“Well why don’t you come with me, I have a warm fire and food to eat,” Silver said holding out his hand to her, “it’s a lot safer than huddling underneath the roots of a tree, I promise I’m not here to hurt you,”

Fizzlepop looked at Silver, the face smiling, a warm smile she had never seen in a long time, something her father would do. And she took his hand.

Silver carried Fizzlepop like a baby, her head and forelegs over his shoulders as he continued walking towards the castle. It was quiet for Fizzlepop as she nuzzled closely, the warmth of this newcomer felt relaxing, but she was still on guard. Before her parents said to not trust strangers but she was sick and tired of sleeping under a rotting tree all by herself. She couldn’t believe her friends, just abandoned her as simple as that, she never understood them and hated them for that reason. She opened her eyes and saw a shadow, the dark rigid lines of a creature leapt across the forest. She started panicking, her breath quickened but Silver held on quickly bringing her view of his face and shushed her. He was alert and Fizzlepop could see it, the sword where he had usually placed on his back had to be moved to the belt area for Fizzlepop and he brought out the arming sword. It shined in Fizzlepop’s eyes, the gold coloured entrancing her but before she could say anything, something leapt over her knocking down Silver. It was a timber wolf, the dry bark and the green glows set her off as she tried to run away. But when a timber wolf hunts it never hunts alone. Fizzlepop looked back towards Silver whose face was now covered in the green blood and the corpse of the animal laid on the floor. The sword was washed with the blood of the timber wolf and was held at the ready, as the pack surrounded them. Fizzlepop was scared, it was much worse than the Ursa minor that took her horn as she looked around for an exit but before she could do anything Silver grabbed her and did something extraordinary. They flew up to the trees into the safety of the branches, flabbergasted by the way they were moving through the air, “Was it magic?” Fizzlepop thought but to her horror the wolves drew their claws, digging into the wood as the growls grew closer towards her even at the safety of the trees. Being terrified was something that she hated and was trying to not jump out from the tree and run to safety. It was only because of Silver grabbing her and running across the branches that she didn’t do it. The thumps of her hearts echoed through out her body as the growls continued to follow them from bellow. 

The castle of the Two Sisters came into view and Silver relaxed a bit knowing they were safe. He leapt of the branch on to a stone façade and grunted in slight pain, absorbing the shock through his knees onto the floor. Fizzlepop heard the growls fading away and huffed in relief. Silver already placed her down and started rummaging through his belongings bringing out 2 apples and a can. The can was something new to Fizzlepop as she poked it with a hoof, but only felt the metallic material it was made from. She tried to read the label, but it was all nonsense to her as she stuttered to make out the words. Silver read it out to her, canned corn, something she had never heard before and decided against it to open it. Instead she opted for the sweet-smelling apples, the red colour dazzled in her eyes as the fire was brought alight illuminating the castle area they were in. The first bite made her stomach grumble in delight as she quickly devoured the apples, meeting her satisfaction and was already falling under sleepiness. Huddling closer to the fire, she rested on a smooth round rock and decided to go to sleep rather than asking more questions about the strange creature, but the mood was cut off when the strange creature spoke to her.

“What happened to your horn Fizzlepop?” Silver asked, he knew it was a soft topic but curiosity took the thought out of him. 

“A big blue bear took it,” Fizzlepop said, trying to not remember the day of when her friends abandoned her. She was starting to cry thinking about it but then a warm hand brushed her forehead.

“It’s alright, I will protect you from now on,” Silver said solemnly, before standing up and heaved a log into the fire. 

“What is your name?” Fizzlepop asked, looking at the clothes it was odd, as she had rarely seen 

“Silver, you should go to sleep now, Fizzle, it’s getting late now. you are safe, I will be on guard, don’t you worry about it,” Silver said, before standing up and disappeared into the darkness. 

Sleep had taken hold of Fizzlepop and she was surprised that she did not have any nightmares about her friends leaving her instead it was a dream about the strange creature that helped her. He was on the edge of a lake as she was playing in the water, the water blue and crystal clear but all of a sudden, the waters colour turned a deep red. She stopped and looked at the now blood red water she was bathing in, staring at her hoofs as the water turned into blood. Whose blood she did not know and did not want to find out as she quickly clambered to the edge of the lake and found that Silver was gone. It was then silent, the water’s edge calm as she looked away trying to understand what was happening until the cries of torment echoed throughout the blood creating tremors. She turned expecting something to be in the blood, something ghastly to come and get her but the blood stopped churning, however when she looked towards the blood she didn’t see a reflection of herself. It was Silver’s, the hooded cloaked figure that she now trusted murdering ponies. She was shaken to the core, as she saw Silver slice a pony’s throat before dropping the body. Something about the image was telling her that there was part truth in this, that Silver wasn’t just a nice mysterious animal that would help her, but she still didn’t understand what it meant. Voices filled her ears as she heard the shrills of mares and the guttural screams of stallions, as Silver waded through pony after pony. Fizzlepop eyes widening with alarm as the clear waters started turning red every time Silver murdered a pony. Trust was something that should be earned not given, and now Fizzlepop was questioning Silver. It was too much for her as she tried to run away but she wasn’t standing on solid ground anymore. 

She fell through the abyss before waking up, shook and terrified. Silver was nowhere to be found as she looked at the now dying fire. Her nightmare fresh in her memories and was terrified of what Silver could do now. It was starting to get cold, the dew was forming, and the cold air made her breath solidified. She got up wanting to stay warm for the rest of the time sleeping and tried moving a log with magic, but her horn just fizzled. She didn’t notice that a giant creature was lurking in the darkness, its claws sharpened to cut through the meat of a pony. It crept towards her hiding in the shadows, its growls kept to a minimum as it reached closer to her. Fizzlepop sighed and bit the wood, moving it into the fire but then she heard someone or something breathing. The stench then hit her, something very foul as if a rotten carcass was close by. She looked around her expecting Silver but there was still no sign of him. It was then she felt a slight breath down her neck making her shiver, the creature before her snarling as she scampered away. She didn’t know what it was, it was like a combination of different animals, a tiger, goat and a snake. It was such an odd creature and she did not have time to admire it as it leapt towards her, roaring at her. She shouted out for Silver hoping that he was close by, but it was no use as the creature leapt towards again. Her heart beats quickened, scampering around looking for a place to hide. It was the only thing she knew and wished nothing more than for this to end. She tried to scream for Silver but all that came out was a whimper, as the creature had her now. The claws holding her into position, she struggled but the snake was now close to her face. She shuddered not knowing what to do but then she saw a shadow above her, “Was it Silver?” she thought, but it was something worse. A Ursa Minor. She squirmed to see it again her fears reignited with new passion as she tried to work her magic, she did not want to die, and her horn flashed with a bright light causing both creatures to look away. Especially the chimera that clawed at its eyes thinking the bright light was not meant to happen. 

She sprinted off away from the darkness of the Castle never turning her head back to see if the savage animals where after her. Silver was still nowhere in sight and she cried, alone again. She hated everyone now, the empty promises that was made to her, how could of she been so ignorant. Fizzlepop hated everything now, with a hot fiery passion, she despised Silver now, the empty promise of telling her it was safe boiled her blood. “But what did the nightmare mean,” she wondered but quickly dismayed the idea, it was a stupid one and wished nothing more than to forget the bizarre creature Silver was. Fizzlepop could only trust herself, herself alone now. 

*End Song*
> Chapter 8: Interlude A Diary and surprises Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Start Seasons of Peace – Trevor DeMaere*

Day: Unknown

How could I have been an idiot? Why did I do this to myself? I was meant to save her and all I did was leave her scared and alone. I had everything within my power to do so, why wasn’t I there when she needed me most? I feel so empty now, the death of my love Ash, my father Light, my brother Sash and now another death by my own doing. What is it that makes everyone that I love die? Everyone that I care about is always taken from me. I feel like Death watches over me continuously, ready to reap the souls of the ones I love and stay by my side as a curse even.

Silver stopped scrawling across the black book as the quill waved in the wind, as if waiting for the writer’s hand to start again but Silver was deep in thought. Thinking on what to write next, the ink dried into the black book under the arid air. It was nearing dawn and Silver was perched, on one of the observatory towers that had not been destroyed during the battle between Luna and Celestia. The deep sunken eyes of regret and the pain of bloodshot eyes writing about his realisation of the disappearance of Fizzlepop, a filly that he wanted to save, wanted to make something right in the new world he was in, but he ruined it. It was heart wrenching for him, the sudden realisation of Fizzlepop’s disappearance and then what’s worse was that evidence all pointed to an attack and even death. 

Silver had been staying up all night reading the vast broken library, hoping to find a way to vanquish Nightmare Moon from his mind and forever from Luna’s body but heard the cries of the filly. Determined to save her, he sprinted with all his might towards the sounds of despair down the dark menacing hallways of the old castle but collided into Nightmare Moon. The ghost like image of Nightmare Moon swayed towards Silver, and then she turned into Ash’s dying body. “No, it can’t be her!” Silver thought, the anger seeping through his head, “Am I hallucinating, what is wrong with me, she’s not here,” The body then turned into something that he did not expect, the dead body of Fizzlepop Berrytwist, the blood seeping from a wound on the neck, the bones at an awkward angle and the tear that was hanging on the eyes slowly dripping towards the floor as it glistened in the moonlight. Silver exploded, something inside of him snapped,

“Nightmare Moon STOP!” Silver shouted, as he grabbed his own head to shake away the bad feelings, the hallucinations, banging his head onto the wall but the image did not dissipate. He couldn’t take it anymore as he brought out the sword towards the apparition, the blood of the Timber wolf still fresh, clinging on to the blade. It connected but nothing made the illusion disappear, every time Silver swiped towards the ghostly image, it never faltered. The anger in him rose as he continued attacking with every hit nothing happening. Anger blinded him and blocked his hearing and his process of thinking, his main purpose to purge Nightmare Moon but to no avail as he brought his sword one more time downwards into the ground. The sword driven into the ground became stuck and Silver closed his eyes feeling the exhaustion and he started crying. The once proud assassin was now crying at the sword, a harsh reality of what his life would be. Opening his eyes, there was nothing there except for the gashes across the wall and an empty hallway, filled with nothing but leading to the downstairs courtyard where the camp was set up. He quickly realised that Fizzlepop was in danger and charged towards the stairs with hope that he wasn’t too late. But he was.

The memories of the past event haunted Silver deeply now as he looked at the now broken observatory tower that he was perched on, where he could still see the moon slowly setting, only for the sun to rise. The moon is something of beauty, the lights of the stars illuminated the backdrop of the moon but still it still it felt like something was missing, the night sky’s beauty lacking in detail like a signature, Luna’s signature. He sighed looking at the now empty courtyard with nothing to land on safely. Jumping was all it would take, something that would be easy to do. Something that would make life much easier, but before he decided he dipped the quill into the ink bottle and scrawled across the black book.

I did have feelings for you, Luna. It’s something I have been meaning to say to you but now you are gone, I only pushed you away. I am just so lost in my thoughts, conflicted in a way. I only wished I could have expressed it better, but I couldn’t, you were beautiful, your eyes dazzled me when I first looked at them and I was attracted to you, my mind my body told me that you were the one that Ash said I would meet, but I was not ready, I don’t know if I will ever be. I have no clue anymore what I am, an Assassin I once was but I stripped my own title away, my own heritage that I can no longer forget, a saviour to those of the Crystal Empire, a thief, a liar, what am I? I just wished that I could understand myself better. I deeply regret what I did Fizzlepop Berrytwist, you will hate me forever for not being there for you and you must have gone through so much, you are only a young filly, no child should ever experience that pain. I hope you are happier in the place you are now. You have my condolences.

Silver pulled out a tuft of Fizzlepop’s fur, the rose colour stabbing him in the heart as he untied the string attached to a crystal. The light blue hue of the crystal shined under the bright moon, as the moon’s beam reflected off the shard with precision and accuracy. Shards’s the dragon, had not returned, and Silver felt like he had only Nightmare Moon to blame but he still felt guilty for his actions. Two things of utmost importance to Silver now and one more, the crescent moon pendant.  “I will get that back one day,” Silver thought, staring at the night sky, the many stars illuminating the faint pavement.

What only remains of Fizzlepop is just blood and a tuft of the rose-coloured fur which I now hold close to me in a pocket where Shards use to sleep in as a reminder of what I failed to do. The orange fur, and a destroyed campsite is what remains of the attack, with the orange fur alluding to most probably a Chimera according to the library notes on creatures. I am deeply sorry Fizzlepop, I wish there was more I could say but all I can think about is what I could have done to save you, it reminds me of Ash and the many ways that could have played out.

Silver stood up, placing the diary back in his coat, the dry air still blistered in his face as the morning sun hit his face. A perfect moment, a time that would change everything, but then the dark foreboding clouds came. The rain poured heavily onto the coat of the lone assassin, the campfire finally doused by the rain as the burning charcoal aroma rose through the air. Silver looked closely towards the now cracked pavement thinking about it. However, a promise Silver intended to keep as he stepped away from the beam and made his ways indoors. Only for the beam of wood to slightly crack from the rain, the rotting wood that Silver stood on was precariously groaning under the weight. Silver looked towards the window and leapt. The beam of wood couldn’t take his weight as he fell. Looking up to the sky one last time he fired his rope launcher blindly into the air hoping to latch onto something. Then the sudden force of pain went through his right arm before landing onto the floor with a heavy thud.

*End Song*

Waking up was a nightmare in a literal sense for Silver as the rain was pattering across the hard cobble floor of the castle, the crows however on the castle towers squawked in surprise that their meal had woken up. Silver sat up straight using his arms and took in deep breaths as he saw shadows going over him. However, he screamed in pain as the feeling of a dislocated shoulder echoed throughout his entire body. The hot searing sensation of agony spasmed making him convulse and fall back down onto the floor. “Why can’t Nightmare Moon leave me alone?” Silver thought, as another appearance of Nightmare Moon branded in his mind. Through the deep thoughts the burning sensation turned into a heavy throb. As the pain subsided to a heavy throb, he realised he was in the empty courtyard, except he wasn’t, someone had saved him, more specifically dragged him across into a covered area away from the cold rain but who? His right shoulder was dislocated, and he grabbed it with his left as the sharp pain travelled through his shoulder with the slightest touch, but he knew he needed to do it. He took in deeper breaths and popped it back in place. The sickening crunch echoed and later a groan of denial of the pain that was there reverberated throughout the forest scaring the crows hanging in the castle interiors. He knew he needed a sling and a doctor to look at it or it might not heal properly. Silver thought of several plans in his head but several led to something he wished he did not want to meet. His mind was playing games with him again as he tried to stand, the image of Luna’s tied up body while Nightmare Moon looked over her sadistically was right next to him there to taunt him.
 
“I need a drink” Silver thought desperately trying not to fall for the hallucinations as he looked through the open doorway. The rainwater was dripping into the gutter which led into a bucket. His parched throat was like a desert, cracked with desperation for water as the mirage of Luna continued to follow him. It was the hardest 10 minutes of Silver’s life as he struggled to a castle wall to lean on. The dragging and the cursing could be heard throughout the forest as the chills and strain caused discomfort with every jolt another swear leaked from his mouth, swearing like a Phoenician sailor. Silver had not felt this kind of pain since he fell off a horse learning how to ride one when he was younger, a distant memory that Silver did not plan on forgetting, the tender moments of his father. 

By the time he reached the wall, Silver was drenched in sweat, the first obstacle was overcome but now the next arised. The struggle against the wall was tiring but through the sheer force of determination he stood and started already staggering to the broken campsite where the bucket was. Bringing out his left-hand Silver reached for the bucket and brought it to his face, the cold shivered down his spine as he drank. Except he felt like he was being watched, the stalking eyes of a predator of some sort or a pony. Concentrating, the eagle vision was meant to flow into him, but something was wrong, the sides of the vision was corroded with black edges like a nightmare. He shook his head trying to make sense of the weird visions but came up with blanks. He staggered onwards to the supplies and reached for a silk cloth and tied a sling across his arm. The pain was excruciating but slowly died down, but he needed a doctor, or the wound could worsen. He thought of the plans from before and prepared to head to Canterlot. Ponyville was out of the question as there was no doctor that he knew of and it would take forever to find one, he had to confront Celestia. It was something he did not want to do, it was something that he had delayed until he was absolutely certain he had to, but it was now time.

Silver staggered to find the railways, listening intently for the train’s whistle but nothing was heard as he trudged along the forest hiding him from the views of the ponies. Luckily for the assassin that there were two rope launchers, one for each hand which made climbing easier but still hard to manoeuvre properly without his other arm to balance. The rustling of the wind and the thundering of the train meant that it was close. Climbing a small section of an abandoned bridge he spotted the tracks of the train; the train however was not going as fast as it should have been. “Perfect a carriage train,” Silver thought “Easier to get caught but at least it is going slow due to the rain.” Looking towards the sky, the dark ominous grey clouds started clearing up but what astounded him was that pegasi by the looks of it were moving clouds away from Canterlot. “What sorcery do pegasi possess?” Realising that he had been staring at the clouds for too long, the train almost went past him as he was hidden behind the bridge. Waiting till the last carriage passed by, he leapt at the edge, just managing to pull himself up. Something was up though as he tried his eagle vision, it wasn’t working it would just falter. Shaking his head, he decided to use sounds putting his head towards the door of the carriage he was on. The rickety sound of the train along the tracks confused him but if he concentrated he could here the snoring of a pony.

Silently he took out his lockpicks and started picking the lock only for the door to open. He was faced with a guard, an E.U.P guard to be exact, something that Celestia had created to ensure that there would be peace within the land, a police force. The guard was about to shout but time slowed down for Silver, the unicorns horn getting brighter every second. Silver saw this and did not want to deal with conflicts, he was tired, hungry and even worse, injured. He wanted nothing more than a peaceful journey and grabbed the horn unexpected to the unicorn and pulled it outside closing the door all in one motion and pushed the unicorn off the train. The unicorn tumbled across the floor, across the tracks, and laid lifelessly. Silver couldn’t care less knowing that if it had survived, he just wanted to sleep but his moral sense kicked him in the head making him turn towards the body. 

The mare had other ideas and stood back up and used the unicorn magic to alert the other unicorns. It was special magic which was useful for communications in which there was a frequency that unicorns could talk to each other from far away, the E.U.P guards had a special frequency that was continuously used so that no other ponies could access the information being spread out. However, it did have limitations on the range and you had to have specific training to pick up the magic frequency. Silver did not know any of this as he looked towards the now standing mare who was concentrating hard.

Silver on the other hand saw that there was a train behind speeding towards the unsuspecting mare who had closed her eyes to convey that she had been attacked and warned about the intruders. Taking out the rifle on his back which had not been used in a long time, poured gunpowder into the barrel and aimed at the mare. He fired causing the mare’s eyes to widen at the sudden loud bang noise as felt a whizzing by her right ear. She turned to look at what almost hit her but saw the train that had been blaring its whistle the whole entire time. She jumped to the right of the train and it thundered past before taking the track to the right of the one that the carriage train. She looked towards the black cloaked figure and its stance as it turned its back towards her and headed inside, now a small figure as the train continued on its journey towards Canterlot.

“It saved my life!” the mare thought, “I could have died by the freight train but the strange bipedal figure shot something towards me and let me live, I hope it doesn’t hurt whoever I was meant to protect on the  train, I hope my husband will be alright,” The mare removed her helmet to let her mane fall free, the white and purple stripes flowed freely in the wind as she continued cantering along the tracks to Canterlot. “Night Light stay safe!”
 
Silver continued walking through the train and found a grey E.U.P Guard sleeping on the job, it was a regular pony and based on what Silver  had read was they were not just called normal ponies, but specifically Earth Ponies. He continued along listening intently to the surroundings, his eagle vision still playing up which was annoying and his arm, since dislocated, couldn’t fight properly. He was walking through a storage like train carriage where they kept the food for the train and the other various items which Silver was confused about. But he continued along looking for somewhere to sleep without getting noticed. The next carriages had crates with two guards in the front, one named Night Light and one named Blue Shine from the conversation. However, he looked at the contents of the crates finding that two of them were being shipped to Canterlot, more specifically to Celestia. Grabbing the lid, he pried them open with the hidden blade driving the blade into wood. Inside he found some books and other various equipment, seemingly school based in hay. The other crate had books with hay, but he had no time to admire them as the train took a sharp turn causing Silver to lose his balance, and a shove to the wall of the carriage right into his right arm causing him to groan in pain. Outside Night Light and Blue Shine heard the groan and whispered to each other.

“That must be the intruder,” Night Light responded, “I am gonna shove my spear up its…”

“Dude remember we are guards, we aren’t here to kill that’s an assassin or mercenary job, we aren’t judges, it's up to the Princess to make that decision,” Blue Shine retorted.

“You do know what it did to my wife!” Night Light snapped.

“Yes, I did and now with all that yapping about it's probably gone by now,” Blue Shine face-hoof, “Doesn’t matter now, I placed a spell that would alert us of anything moving between this carriage and the next carriage, so it won’t be able to go anywhere, we can go check still if you want,” Blue Shine said.

“With pleasure,” already unlocking the door with his magic, with a simple tap of his horn to the lock it unlocked. The mechanism turning the deadbolt, but Silver was already gone.
> Chapter 9: Interlude Regrets and Promises Unedited
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The train thundered down the tracks, towards Canterlot’s station where the glistening golden armoured guards were set up around the perimeter of the train station. There had been an increasing number of bandits and thieves which plagued Canterlot in a variety shape and form hence the extra security. The train was filled with valuable resources for the new student of Celestia in which to say Celestia was proud. Twilight Sparkle had been excelling in her studies faster than her old student Sunset Shimmer and in doing so had to order new resources about the history of other places that were currently developing into well-known cities to keep up with her pace. The package was delivered straight to Celestia’s door with an escort which was a bit overwhelming but secretly there was something else being brought to Celestia that had to be kept under lock and key at all times and watched closely. No one knew what was inside the crate except for Celestia herself and two trusted guards and underneath the pile of straw, hidden in a small chest there was a soft heart beat barely audible to the pony ears. 

*hr*

Celestia was pacing around the floors of Canterlot with a grim face. The package was meant to arrive 10 minutes ago making her start to panic. The package was something that had been discovered recently by a young archaeologist adventurer who goes by the name Daring Do. It was a bit of a wonder for Celestia as she could remember the day so vividly even though it happened weeks a go. It was that somepony needed to talk to her privately and urgently and the guards were not letting her in. It was only by chance with the morning stroll that Celestia met the young energetic pony with the eyes of danger through the gates. She was also in a good mood to listen and have tea with the young archaeologist who told a grizzly story which reminded Celestia of Luna’s monster hunting stories. However, Celestia couldn’t quite tell how much was real until they got to the point where the young archaeologist wanted to talk about specifically. The artifact in detail was something that Celestia had never heard of before, the description of the power that it held in the one hoof was too devastating. After the long talks of setting arrangements for discovering the priceless artefact in which in return Daring Do would be more renowned for archaeology and would be further funded for expeditions, Celestia was exhausted. But by the look of Daring's face, a deal was struck and Celestia congratulated Daring one last time before going of to mentor Twilight. Now as Celestia sat on her bed, Celestia glared at the ticking clock in her room with every sound of the ticks making her right eye twitch in discomfort. The right eye, she couldn’t understand herself even with the best doctors around why the right. She sighed, making herself stress over a little artefact but what she had heard from the reports made her shiver.

A growl echoed in throughout her chambers, causing her to look around for an animal. That was when she realised it was just her own stomach. It had been only been 2 minutes since the clock stroke 12, and she knew she needed to calm down. Sitting down and calling for tea she recalled the tales that her sister would say when she went on her monthly hunts into the wilderness to hunt down monsters and creature to bring the populations down. It was a gruelling job and she wished it didn’t have to be that way, but her sister insisted on the job with Starswirl the bearded long ago. The hunts would last for a week and every time Luna would come back battered and bruised looking as she hadn’t slept for days on end. It sickened Celestia but every time the subject was brought up Luna would immediately talk about something else as if avoiding the question entirely. But in a matter of days Luna would be back to her normal self as if nothing happened. It was a concern to Celestia and when she did talk about it, it was only when she wasn't in the infirmary to heal that she would boast it to the moon. But even those were rare times, she sighed thinking about Luna, the sun still up high in the sky. Celestia always wondered what would happen if she was sent to her own sun that she grew up to love. What would be like to stay trapped, alone and scared with not needing to eat. A nightmare, she thought but was lost again that she didn’t notice the knocks on the door. She was already taken back to the last days with Luna and loosing her beloved sister again. In all the times she had felt pain, the raw breath of sadness escaped her lips in a form of a whimper and the thoughts of what she could have done to change the outcome was what rocked her mind. The knocks grew louder, and she unlocked the door with haste and magic expecting the parcel, but it was only the tea. 

The brew of camomile relaxed Celestia's mind, with the aroma permeating the room as she felt one with herself. The stress of running a whole kingdom by herself was starting to get to her head with being alone everyday, no family to talk to was difficult. Whenever Luna woke up to have breakfast which was Celestia’s time to sleep they would always talk about each other jobs and having fun with each other by playing pranks and just good old sisterly time. Now the empty room of Luna resides in the highest observatory tower waiting for her return. In Luna’s room, it consisted of all the things she liked such as moon decorations with a glowing night sky on the ceiling, but it wasn’t finished when Celestia moved into the castle and still needed work. The room could be seen from Celestia's bedroom chambers in which she would always see it as she did her paperwork. Thinking about Luna hurt her heart, she always felt alone since that very day. The day her parents disappeared was a memory that was too painful to remember but with the help of her sister they managed to pull through the tough times. And tonight, was Nightmare Night, something that she had been dreading, to create a day for Luna from a bedtime story was something she asked herself why did she do it. It was strange to her that the package being late, but she shrugged it off as being a coincidence and nothing to do with Nightmare Moon. She left the window and sat on her bed and realised that she could have just sent a message to find what had happened with the parcels instead of stressing over it. Then the door burst opened with 2 bulky unicorns in armour huffing and puffing holding behind them 2 crates. 

“Princess Celestia” the guards said in unison while bowing simultaneously. “We are deeply sorry for the delay in the delivering of the package. There was a problem that occurred with the train.”

“Hmmm, what was the problem, it must have been a big problem to be so delayed,” Celestia said her brows furrowed in concentration figuring who was behind the attack. “Diamond dogs...dragons”

“Before reaching the station, one guard, Twilight Velvet, was tossed out of the end carriage and we had to stop and wait for her to catch up. We don’t know who it was but what we got from her and her partner that it was no ordinary pony or even animal,” the guard said calmly. As the guard described the creature Celestia face remained neutral but her mind was already guessing who it was and didn’t really know what to feel. 

“So, he’s back...” Celestia murmured to herself. “Anything else?”

“Also, there was sighting of a mysterious shadow across the roofs too fast for us to catch up to. We even sent our fastest pegasi, but it still managed to evade us,” the unicorn guard said. 

“That is fine, as long as no one is seriously injured then the threat can be contained, call in Twilight Velvet and Night Light here immediately and you are relieved for the rest of the day,” Celestia said, her tone indicating a sense of worry, but the guards shut there mouths not wanting to question the princess's judgement 

“We will do this at once princess,” the guards said in unison while bowing again then hurrying off to find the two ponies. “Should we have asked Princess Celestia to cancel Nightmare Night” 

“Don’t be ridiculous, Princess Celestia knows what she is doing and it's a day of remembrance for her...” The other guard said as they trotted towards the stairs.

Celestia waited till the doors closed before sighing loudly to be able to think now. She looked outside her window of her chambers towards the now expanding city of Canterlot, with the preparations for Nightmare Night in the background wondering why Silver was here and how did he escape the stone prison.

She looked to her desk filled with paperwork almost as tall as her and shuffled through the desk drawer taking out something of his, the narwhale crescent pendant. She didn't know the history behind it, but she could feel terrible bloodshed and great sadness with a touch of her magic. The white but dull bone was something she had admit was something of beauty, the carvings on it entranced Celestia’s eyes and the thought for that special pony. Thinking about him Celestia had no clue what to say the day that Nightmare Moon appeared and to blame it all on Silver. Luna's trust in the creature was strong but flawed with only an inch away from death. That night Celestia had never ever felt true anger before, seeing someone even daring to kill her little sister right in front of her. Celestia felt betrayed when the words from Sol came out, that single word knife was enough to set her off and she blew it but now as Silver roamed her new city in pursuit for what she had no idea she felt like she was wrong... 

Silver stood on the edge of a tall building on the outskirts of the place called Canterlot, a lot was the same since he visited, and he could taste the blast of mountain wind. He could see many things, but he didn't know what festival was being held as white tents, stalls and caravans were being set up. He was here for 2 reasons which was to heal and get his pendant back. The train that stopped to pick up the guard he threw managed to catch up with him and only by letting the guards on a wild goose chase, that Silver evaded the flying pegasi. It was exhilarating running through the streets of Canterlot, but it was still to close to his likings. He was meant to be working in the shadows not in broad daylight and getting caught especially with the mysterious festival going on. Silver looked to the grand marble castle with the one of the observatory towers being Luna’s room, but he could only see emptiness. The security had been tightened a bit because he had been seen but it wasn’t impossible. Crouching low and sticking to the shadows of the trees and buildings he crept like a lion. But as he approached there were more pegasi on the move and less darts to use. Reaching the side wall of Canterlot castle the grand scale of it was bigger than the old castle by double the size, he couldn't really believe it himself that the whole of Canterlot was built in less than 20 years. He then spotted the white and purple unicorn that he threw off with a dark azure blue coat unicorn talking to some guards about something to do with Celestia. Silver’s eagle vision had been becoming faulty and he knew it himself, at times when he needed it most it would fail, and it all began after his return to Equestria. He clambered through the bushes, trying to not rustle the guard’s attention but it was hard when he did not fit in the bushes because ponies were evidently much smaller than humans. Climbing over the gates he landed on a flower bed in which the garden was empty. A green mystical grass hedge was all that Silver could see and he realised it was a giant maze, reasons to him unknown. As he past the maze he felt a presence that shouldn't be there whispers of deceit and betrayal formed in Silver’s mind as he neared a particular statue. Its weird figure was enough to deter Silver but upon closer inspection the voices where very similar to the being he talked to before. The statue of Discord stared right back at him with a grin and a smirk but before Silver could decide what to do voices cut through his thoughts. The voices belonged to the one that he saw earlier but it was too late to do anything as he could hear the voices right around the corner of the maze. 

Climbing the nearest tree, he was lucky that the guards weren’t looking straight. Velvet Sparkle was arguing with Night Light about Shining Armour their son at school and his grades in which he wasn’t doing the best in maths and science, but he excelled in physical education. Silver couldn't really bother about them arguing and continued to the castle through the gardens. He started scaling the wall of one of the observatory towers but he was going up too slow as of his right arm, he was going to be spotted soon. The window was locked and peering inside he found only darkness. Then in a heart beat Nightmare appeared on the window, her evil glare locking onto Silver smiling.

“What do you want?” Silver asked angrily with so much distaste that Nightmare almost gagged.

“Awwww did you hurt your little stringy arms and visiting my sister to go fix it,” Nightmare Moon said sarcastically “You know you should take better care of yourself, wouldn't want my royal pet to be dead when I come back,”

“I know your coming back and I will be here to stop you and end your reign,” Silver said with confidence, he was starting to think that talking to the window out in the open as not being a good idea with the seconds passing by, he could have been spotted.

“Don't make me laugh!” Nightmare snorted, “like I just did, I am an all might powerful goddess and you are nothing but only a pawn in a greater chess game, powerful in the enemy’s territory but a sacrifice no doubt.” Silver wasn’t listening as he continued climbing but every time, he past a window it would darken and show Nightmare. 

“STOP…IGNORING…ME! Today is Nightmare Night meaning today everyone fears me, especially those loyal to me, they shall rise and raise me from the moon,” Nightmare Moon smirked.

“What do you mean loyal...you don’t mean there are cultist that worship you!” Silver exclaimed, his head spinning from the elaborate scheme that Nightmare was planning. 

“And what are you going to do about it, there are followers all over Equestria it would take too long to find them all!” Nightmare said. Silver was silent, not knowing the answer, one way or another Nightmare will rise but is it the right time to? “Do you even have any idea of what you have become part of, since the day you created me, I have become my own entity...” Nightmare said, 

“I did not create you Nightmare Moon,” Silver said, but by the looks of Nightmare's face she wasn’t lying. 

“So, you are telling me that you didn’t even think for yourself why I suddenly took over Luna,” Nightmare Moon laughed, “This is perfect, your in for a special treat,” the images of Zecora showed up in Silver’s mind and the day that she kissed him on the lip, something that he didn't understand. Zecora kissing him on the lips felt awkward for him as he didn't expect the lips to be so smooth and soft like a human and what was worse was, he wasn't attracted Zecora. The only pony that he felt any attraction was Luna, but the scene played out as Luna transformed into Nightmare Moon. He could feel the jealousy that Luna held meaning that she liked him making himself feel guilty. The scene played out till Nightmare stabbed him from behind, the horn bright with blood as Silver looked down towards his scar. An X mark was only left from Discord healing him, but he felt searing pain there as if it was fresh. ‘What am I going to do…it looks like the only thing I can do is confront Celestia about the truth... I can’t do this alone anymore, I need help.’

“Don't even try to go see my sister if you want her to still be alive, I have bonded with you meaning I have control over your body, and I will do something that you will regret!” Nightmare Moon yelled staring down Silver, as if to call her out on the bluff. Silver was conflicted and didn't want to risk losing Celestia as a potential ally and decided it was for the better. Looking back at Celestia, Silver had a very strong distaste towards her with problems such as creating Nightmare Night to cover the truth and for caring more about her reputation as a ruler rather than trying to free Luna at any cost. He could hear the manipulative whispers that Nightmare Moon was saying, and he was trying to resist the urge to kill Celestia. Silver weighed the options and took a giant push of the wall before smashing into the nearest window with his feet and rolling through trying not to hurt his right arm. Along the broken glass and the frame, he could see a long hallway with different rooms and Nightmare’s voice gone allowing his head to clear up but now causing him to think about the truth.

Originally Silver first goal was to find the pendant and then confront Celestia to heal himself. He realised it wasn’t the best plan, even now with the circumstances that had been laid out to him the plan was terrible and the only option was to look for the pendant in Celestia’s chamber. His right shoulder felt numb and, in more agony, than before as he stumbled through the long hallway. The white paint of the building glared at Silver, where it was meant to brighten the place in Celestia’s eye but in reality, Silver felt strange. The feeling of white felt uneasy for him as he treads carefully through the castle. He could hear the guards coming closer with the uniform and armour rattling making it very easy for Silver to pinpoint them. “Amateurs,” Taking the first door on the right it opened to a royal guest room with drapes of silk and colours of royalty. He didn’t even know if Celestia had his pendant, but it was a chance he was willing to take as he climbed through the balcony that faced the very front of the castle looking towards the city. He could feel the vast nation of Canterlot's power as he zipped to the top of the observatory tower. The wind rippling through his black hair and hood as he sailed to the top of the tower working the gears of his gauntlet, as he reached the level of Celestia’s Chamber and landed on her balcony. Reaching towards the door handle he leaned over listening as his control over his eagle vision was little to none and concentrated. The door clicked open with it swung forward as a purple unicorn filly yelped and quickly shuffled herself underneath the bed.

Twilight Sparkle had been reading alone through some new history books that her personal mentor Celestia gave to her when she heard the balcony door opened so suddenly, she jumped and quickly scrambled underneath the bed. After finishing the book, she was gonna get ready for Nightmare Night and it was the first time that she was allowed to go out on her own with friends. She didn’t know if anyone should have been in the room as Celestia was at a meeting with her parents in the throne area and Cadance was outside meant to be looking after her, but Twilight hadn’t heard from her in a while. ‘Probably preparing for Nightmare Night, or on a date with Shining,’ She didn’t know who it could have been as the beating in her ear didn’t stop at all. She could hear the clanging of weapons hitting into each other as the newcomer walked into the room. Silent she was as the strange figure with only two legs walked towards Celestia’s desk. She peeked a bit under the bed to see the hooded figure start rummaging through the pile of paperwork that Celestia tries to get through everyday. She gasped at the hooded figure as she could see the weird things that it carried but also that it was injured in the right arm. The figure was silent not making any sound as Twilight didn’t know whether to scream for help or to try and escape. That was until Cadance barged through the door and asked for her. The hooded figured disappeared from Twilight’s eyes as Cadance found her open book on the floor. Then in a blink of an eye Cadance had a blade next to her throat. Cadance gulped audibly as the hooded figure made a shushing noise. Then it spoke and his voice was something that both Twilight and Cadance were both stunned by. 

Silver realised the mistake of grabbing the pink bubble-gum unicorn by the horn and holding the hidden blade against its throat as not being diplomatic, he didn’t know if he could escape from Celestia’s grasp a second time nor did he want to try. He retracted the hidden blade and let go of the unicorn letting it up to chance for her to run or stay there.

“I mean you no harm,” Silver said softly but realised that was a poor choice of words when he just threatened her with a blade to the throat. That was there he saw the wings of a Pegasus and he realised that he was facing an Alicorn, like Luna and Celestia. The great magic potential that he read in the scrolls and book was almost limitless and he was actually a bit terrified of the species.

Cadance tilted her head in confusion, on the one hoof she was very confused, she thought she would have died but on the other hoof she wasn't scared. She was intrigued, she didn’t understand why though, she inspected the creature and the way it looked was nothing she had ever seen before and from the look of the sling on its right arm she could see that the creature was injured and looked like it was in great pain. She approached the creature with determination and spoke softly trying to not anger the new creature. She could sense something deep within this creature, but she didn’t know what. She thought that she would be scared or more really terrified and flee from the situation but here she was wanting to understand the creature more than ever.

“My name is Cadance, the royal niece of Celestia and you are?” Cadance asked, 

“My name is Silver, I am sorry for placing a blade next to your throat, I was startled and thought you were a guard,” Silver said pulling down his hood revealing his now bearded face with black hair, the dangerous eyes of grey softly looked back in to Cadance when suddenly his right arm shook violently causing excruciating pain to flare throughout his arm. “Argh”

“Are you alright, here let me look at it,” Cadance said as she moved closer to examine the injury and her horn glowed with power. Twilight wanted to come out of her hiding spot and show off her magic skills to Cadance with what she learnt with Celestia just recently to do with applying bandages, but she was having second thoughts to trust the creature. Twilight could see Silver as being dangerous, it for some reasons had blades in wrist and other strange weaponry on it's back, “What would happen if Cadance healed Silver, would he attack or even kill!” 
 
“Cadance don’t do it,” Twilight said loudly from under the bed and shuffled herself before hitting her head hard “OW!” 

“Twilight, that’s where you’ve been, I have been looking for you all over the castle, it’s my duty to foal sit you when not supervised, I don’t want you to get in trouble with your parents,” Cadance said, while lifting Twilight from under the bed with magic. “I know what I am doing, and I can’t let Silver suffer from this pain, I can feel the both physical and mental pains of anypony I am close to, it is my magical ability, and it is my nature to help those in need,”

“But we don’t even know how Silver got the injury, he could have fought with one of the guards or something,” Twilight countered, pointing at his makeshift sling. 

“Your imagination is strong Twilight but why don’t you ask him yourself, I am sure he can answer for you...” Cadance said,

“But what happens if he lies,” Twilight said, and looked towards him again to inspect him further. The many weird contraptions and funny looking items on Silver made Twilight even question more about who he was, “Why does he have blades in his hands. He looks dangerous Cadance, nopony should have that many weapons, it’s like he is an assassin or a mercenary of some sort...” 

Silver had been silent during the argument and was wondering where Celestia was now trying to ignite his eagle vision but felt nothing until Twilight said “Assassin”. In that time Twilight burned a sudden golden yellow while Cadance turned a deep green hue symbolising an ally. It was strange as he didn’t expect Cadance of all ponies who he just met to be already helping him. It then occurred to him that Twilight was one of the six from the prophecy, but he still couldn’t understand Cadance. He could see through the many floors of the castle as the enhanced sight came back to him. The layout of the castle was something typical of a regular castle of the world he was from and be could spy Celestia on the ground floor in the throne room attending day court talking to two unicorn guards. His arm wasn’t getting any better as he laid down, resting his back on the bed side as he decided it was best to answer Twilight’s claims and tell her the truth instead of ignoring it or lie.

“And you are right...Twilight, I am an assassin, but I am not here to kill Princess Celestia I swear that is not what I am here for. I was here to get something that belongs to me dearly, that Celestia holds,” Silver said, he could see in Twilight’s eyes the burning desire to discover more as she was bouncing up and down saying “Told you so, I'm right you’re wrong” around Cadance. “I hurt my arm from falling and trying to stabilise myself with my grappling hook.” While showing his left gauntlet and the mechanism inside. Immediately Twilight looked at the gauntlet with curiosity but then blinked a few times and looked Silver in the eye trying not to stifle a laugh.

“As if you would say the truth, you’re an assassin that would say anything to get out of any situation” Twilight argued, glaring at Silver with distrust.

“Tell her Cadance, I'm not lying, I know you can tell if somepony, I mean someone lying or not,” Silver stated and mentally hitting himself ‘Speaking pony language already what am I crazy!’

“How did he know I can tell the truth or not!” Cadance thought but just put it aside for now, there was more to Silver than meets the eye. “Twilight he is telling the truth, and I think it’s best we heal him,” Cadance could feel inside Silver many things, the strong emotion of love and caring for the ones he loved but a big chunk of Silver's heart had been filled with regret, an empty hole and a raging bull in a corner of the mind wrapped with chains. Cadance could feel the pulses of mental energy, this emotional energy generated was hard for her teenage mind to comprehend all at once but after learning to follow the beats of Silver’s heart she could truly unlock Silver’s distraught mind. Trying to put together the emotional trauma and mental damage Cadance could perceive a strong dislike towards Celestia and felt best to respect Silver’s wishes of not wanting to meet her again. She could perceive an enormous amount of bloodshed involving Celestia and felt that if Silver wanted to, he could have killed them both before they said anything to Celestia.

Little Twilight looked back to her foal sitter and saw the seriousness in her gaze, which Twilight then realised that maybe she should go tell Celestia about all this instead of making a judgement herself. 

“What is your history with Celestia?” Cadance asked, wondering why Celestia would keep something of his and what could have caused this long-standing hatred towards her. 

“I... was the one that caused Nightmare Moon,” Silver regretted, the room fell silent as Cadance unravelled the sling around the right arm with magic. The more frequent hallucinations were not helping He felt powerless every time Nightmare showed up, playing mind games constantly to bringing him down to be fearful which was his job as an Assassin to the Templars. “Why couldn't be as simple as killing Templars than facing magical ponies” It made him wonder if he could even free Luna now from Nightmare Moon's influence,  the possibilities crossed through his mind as his statement hit the two ponies in the face like a slap. Twilight jaw hung in disbelief and shock not wanting to believe the news. Cadance was also lost for words, she hadn't really read up on Nightmare Moon like Twilight but back before when she magically teleported into Celestia’s throne and was adopted by Celestia there was a glass stained window which was almost covered up by drapes but there exposed was a dark mare face, black with hatred and eyes of piercing blue that Cadance had no idea who it was. Cadance as a young filly filled with curiosity asked why Celestia covered up the window and who was that pony but all Cadance saw were tears of sadness and regret from the eyes of a benevolent ruler almost walking briskly away and murmured “All my fault if only I was there from the beginning.”It was only by asking the nearby guards stationed in that area that Cadance learned the truth. The truth scared Cadance when she was little but as she grew older all she could feel was remorse. “Celestia blames me entirely for Nightmare Moon, I just know it, but it was also her fault for not being her big sister and taking care of her when Luna needed it most...like me,” Silver said mumbling the last few words realising it was like himself and his brothers, if he had been there from the beginning and checking on Reign and instead of ignoring him maybe he could of stopped the betrayal. However, Twilight already stopped listening at ‘Celestia fault’, Twilight had lost all respect for Silver as he blamed Celestia for the cause of Nightmare Moon, she knew Celestia at heart like a second mother who always knew what was best. She could see Celestia as honestly being perfect in every way possible, never had Celestia made a mistake teaching her magic and life in general. Twilight started disliking Silver more and more as she thought about it. “That is why I do not want to confront Celestia,” Silver lied, the real truth was that he was scared for both himself and Celestia and the capabilities of Nightmare Moon.

Cadance was having trouble with Silver’s right arm as she didn't really have a clue on what she should be looking for. She presumed Silver had broken or fracture the bone, but it was very strange the structure of the human body. Moving the sling was hard without causing horrendous pain for Silver but he couldn't do anything as Cadance was only trying to help. Twilight had been silent the whole time and was wondering whether to go tell Celestia, she could hear the remorse in Silver's voice, but she didn’t know if it was all an act. Conflicted wasn’t how she usually felt, she always felt like she had a sure answer to the questions that loomed over her. She could see the pain from Silver and her heart was feeling sympathy. She didn’t understand why though, she thought that Silver couldn’t be trusted but whenever she was lying to Cadance about eating a cookie when she just brushed her teeth or any other thing, Cadance always knew if she was lying. Meanwhile Cadance decided it was best to refer to the other arm and compare them and what ever fault the right arm had she would fix. Looking through another spectrum, to see the bones was precise magic, but she was an Alicorn. She wasn’t a doctor but Celestia taught her a simple healing spell in case of injuries and what to look for if something wasn't right and she believed it should work on Silver. Cadance then spotted a small breakage on the right arm bone connected at the socket, she could also see heavy bruising from the dislocation of the shoulder. 

“This might hurt a bit,” Cadance said with concentration as she prepared the healing spell. A shock of light and a scream in pain echoed through the chamber. Silver could feel the individual cells of his bone fuse back together in an instant when it should have taken a month as he tested his arm thinking about it. He also couldn't really believe that Cadance had actually healed him when she just met him and especially that he threatened her with the hidden blade. “The ponies are too nice, if a war happens would they even survive or even Nightmare Moon returning...”

His right arm felt amazing after the pain subsided as he rolled his shoulders and realised he could move faster. “Thank you Cadance, I am truly thankful for what you did. I have no other words to be honest and want to repay you back, it is the way of the Assassin’s code.” Silver acknowledged, as he faced Twilight, “Twilight, you have no reason to trust me but...” Twilight looked away and already was gone to tell Celestia of what had transpired hoping that Silver rot in the prison. She hadn’t mastered the teleporting spell, so she moved the old fashion way and ran. Silver didn't expect that to happen and realised that his combat perceptions were a bit slow, but Cadance beat him to it and released a magic blast. Twilight fell onto the floor with a “Thud”, Cadance couldn't believe she just used her magic without even thinking and was horrified with herself. She quickly ran towards Twilight realising her mistake acting impulsively and checked Twilight vital signs. She relaxed a bit when she could feel the soft beats of the heart echo through her ear but then she wondered what she hit Twilight with?

When Cadance turned back, Silver was gone already. ‘How could he leave me like this! Why did I even heal him in the first place he’s an assassin, you don't just generally heal a random stranger that could kill without a thought but why did I do it and whydo I feel like this won't be the last time I see him...’ as she tried to wake up Twilight. ‘Reckless, Stupid, Celestia was right I have become too quick to act, after that one-time incident against Prismia. I need to start growing up and think first before acting and that starts from today!’ She then got a fright of her life as Celestia stormed the door, wings flared and magic primed. Celestia already had a face of worry when she saw Twilight on the floor next to Cadance and asked what happened, hoping it had nothing to do with Silver.

“Nothing happened, I found Twilight like this, sleeping and was gonna take her to her room. I think she fell asleep from over studying,” Cadance lied, and already lifting the knocked-out Twilight towards the door. 

“I heard a scream coming from my bed chambers, a stallion’s voice” Celestia said, looking at Cadance suspiciously, but Cadance acted like nothing happened.

*Start Pearl - Kari Sigurdsson*

“I didn't hear anything aunt Celestia, maybe you misheard something,” Cadance replied and was already gone out the door. Celestia on the other hoof knew that he was just here but couldn't understand why Cadance would protect him. She lifted the pendant hidden within her ethereal rainbow mane with magic, and peered at the crescent, a symbol of love or a symbol of loss. She could feel her mane flying from the opened balcony door as she sat down on the floor staring at dusk, the beautiful arrangements of orange and yellow mixed together darkening to open up the night sky. Tonight, was Nightmare Night, one that she created as a memory for her and to feel remorse over her actions and cherish the one she loved. It was one of the main reasons that she took Twilight as her own personal student, to be a big sister again. But this night especially she could feel a creeping darkness close to her, a cold feeling up her spine, tendrils of deceit and lies filling her head. 

“Silver I just wanted to say sorry...I don't know...I blamed you for everything and since you returned, I feel I was wrong to accuse you, Luna was my fault...” Celestia whispered into the night the wind picking up as if a storm was coming. A great mythical storm that the Pegasi could not control.

Silver hanged from underneath the balcony with the gauntlet and sighed, wondering was he wrong to hold a grudge against Celestia, if only he talked to Celestia earlier, maybe nothing would have happened between Cadance and Twilight. He hoped that Twilight was alright knowing that it was slack of him to run away when Cadance healed him, but he couldn't bring himself to show Celestia that he was still alive. He waited patiently waiting for the right signal of the closing door as he leapt through the darkness traveling a different route. What were his next plans, he didn't know himself as he clambered the walls and free ran across the roofs of the houses his mind on autopilot. A majority of the ponies he could see where gathered in the centre to celebrate Nightmare Night where little fillies and Colts where running about and getting candy. “No wonder Nightmare showed up in the middle of the day,” But as he crossed over a majestic mansion, the words “Kill Celestia” rang in his ear something that he thought would never been said. He peered over the edge of the mansion looking at the open window, the candles set up to show the shadowy figures and the elaborate assassination attempt against Celestia. He didn't know what to say as he heard those words, should he stop the assassination plot? Nightmare’s whispers echoed Silver’s mind telling him to let it happen or to do it himself her voice cutting through his own thought like butter. He couldn't bring himself to do it though, his morals told him that it wouldn't of what Luna wanted nor did he hate Celestia so much to wanting to kill her. He realised that he had a lot more in common to Celestia allowing him to fight against Nightmare’s suggestion of killing. He was gonna stop this assassination plot and stand against Nightmare Moon proving he isn’t a pawn to her game. 

Climbing downwards with both his arm felt great as he approached the window, with the wind howling and as the rain came pouring through, he saw his opportunity gone with a click. His only possible chance was to go through the front door which he was regretting but it was the only way in without drawing so much attention to himself. Ringing the doorbell, he waited for somepony to open it. To his surprise there was only the sound of pitter and patter from the rain and his beating conscience.  Silver bent down on one knee and unlocked the door realising that the first floor was almost completely empty apart from the kitchen area. He also came to notice was that the lights where magic not normal globes. Magic was a weird concept to Silver as he believed you could do anything with it but still there were limits to it. He crept silently through the mansions 1st floor hearing laughter in the 2nd and 3rd floor. Shutting the door behind him, he quietly tried to find the stairs, lurking throughout the shadows passing a massive library, and a dining area. He could hear the kitchen from downstairs and walked down the long hallway. He then spotted a chandelier with a fancy staircase leading up to the upper floor in which he took. He could hear the laughter from an outside open window in which the little ponies were playing in the rain and others quickly scampering towards the doors for candy. Something he had never experienced before and to him it was all very strange, Nightmare Night being for little children? “What was Celestia thinking...it’s probably not to scare the citizens of the truth but why hide it?”

With Silver peering outside he didn’t notice a little light purple filly bump into him.  

“Ahhhhhh, Daddy there’s a strange monster in our house,” the little filly cried heading down the hallway as her aquamarine streaks in her multicolour purple mane bounced up and down in panic as she sped faster than Silver blinked. Silver rubbed his eyes the peculiar colours getting to him as he looked outside one last time, but the rain covered the window. Already heading for the opposite end of the hallway Silver found another set of stairs and headed upstairs to be greeted by Pegasus butler. Before it could make a sound, Silver rushed forward choking the startled Pegasus but missed catching the silver platter with food as it clattered onto the marble steps. Silver scowled at his stupidity and headed up the stairs to another long corridor with many doors. He concentrated hard as his eagle vision flowed through him but stuttered with a black haze. The many ponies had gathered in a room on the right-hand side of him from where he was but couldn’t get there with the two butlers’ outside and he could hear the little filly's voice from downstairs telling somepony that 'the monster was right here!’ Still as a tree he brought out his air rifle and placed the last sleeping dart and aimed for the furthest away from him. A click and he rushed towards the other butler sliding and hooking his left arm around the neck of the unicorn butler. The eyes rolled back, and the body slumped against the floor. He silently put his head next to the door as he listened for the assassination plot. He was quite lucky as he just realised that the ponies had only started the meeting and where talking about the various locations of guard stationed and where Celestia was at certain times. ‘They awfully know a lot and Celestia didn’t even know that they were tracking her every move from the beginning'
 
The names were just as weird to him as ever, Blossom Star, Fluffy Cotton but some were still unknown only picking up pieces from conversation. There were at least 10 ponies in that office but one resonated more than the rest. A mare's voice that had originally said “Kill Celestia,” From what he could get from the conversation she was the leader of the scheme. The name Amber Dusk was still not very convincing but ponies where strange as he thought on how to approach the problem, a conundrum of a plot. If he killed the ponies now would the assassination go on? Other questions swarmed his mind such as how they were going to assassinate Celestia, did they hire somepony to kill Celestia with money and relaying the information to the killer now or was the whole group planning to kill Celestia through a very thorough understanding on location and killing by some conventional means like poison or knife. 'So many ways to deal this situation I should just break in and stop this madness whoever is inside!' He brought the sword of Eden out from its sheath, the blade crackling with lightning checking the condition of it making sure it was ready to kill his enemy’s. The blade gleamed after the thorough clean of the dried-up Timberwolf's blood which was basically like sap. Preparing himself for battle he loaded several things, including his pistols, rifle and phantom blades. Something he hadn’t use in a while because he was more of a head on person and fighting where he could see everyone position.

Immediately he kicked the door open and counted 15 ponies with a majority being the higher society class ponies, there rich garb shining in superiority but there was one that stuck out. The eyes of a killer, someone that would do whatever it takes to get the job done and that pony was a problem. A grey coated Pegasus and a red unneat mane, nothing seemed special about the pegasus to Silver, but it was hiding something, the wings tensed not for flight but for something else. They were all seated at a round table with plans laid out, Canterlot's floor plans was one of them and further names of either alliances or enemies. A map was hanged up behind to show the whole of Equestria with marks on certain locations for various things that Silver could not read but he knew it had to be in relation to the names. The ponies had all turned to face him, the majority of the faces where full of confusion, some showed fear and others remained neutral in their expression not knowing what to expect. Already acting out of instinct Silver grabbed the nearest pony being a unicorn and thrust his hidden blade into the cranium as chaos erupted. Silver rolled and grabbed another unicorn strangling it while pulling out his pistol knowing that the race were the most dangerous enemy and shots flew as bullets collided into 5 heads before aiming the last one at the horn of a unicorn. The screams of pain echoed as the horn burst with potential magic the explosion blasted Silver back into the wall. He saw an earth pony charge, but Silver countered too late and fell to the floor, the hit causing the wind knocked out of him and pain flared throughout his chest. Silver fought through the pain and saw the two hooves come crashing down on him. His legs were in position and kicked while turning over knocking the head of the earth pony into a table. The vase toppled of the table onto the head of the pony and with precision Silver threw a knife into the throat of a unicorn charging a spell. A fire had started burning the centre table as the cinders of the plans floated up into the air but the map that was still up on the wall was untouched something that Silver needed encase there were other assassination plots. Silver lunged at one of the lists of names and save it from the scorching fires. However, he had no clue who the names were for as the Earth pony got back up, the smell of burnt parchment filled the air quickly. Angry, the brown pony turned itself and launched its hind legs towards Silver’s face. His hair whooshed with the power of the kick and if he had been a touch slower to duck that would have been the end of him as the kick knocked the hood down revealing his face of alien, a face certainly to be remembered if anypony were left alive to tell the tale. With Silver underneath the hindlegs he struck the barrel of the pony with the hidden blade and threw him across the table. Fear had taken hold of the rest of the ponies alive as they couldn’t move their legs frozen like Discord in stone. They could only see a deathly black shadow kill without remorse. But the Pegasus killer was only studying Silver by the looks of it not afraid at all as the others cowered behind yelling at her to save them. 

“I was paid to kill Celestia not protect you, that will cost you extra you know!” the mare killer’s voice said, 

Silver meticulously fired a phantom blade at the killer knowing that the pegasus was hiding something, but the wings of the Pegasus closed together covering herself with metallic feathers blocking the incoming projectile. ‘So that’s what she was hiding’ Silver could see two unicorns that were trying to use a spell, their horn glowed in urgency and had to act quick enough to distract the killer otherwise the unicorns would either escape or launch a devastating spell at him. A knife flew into the air towards the killer and then shots fired at the unicorns leaving only 2 pegasus and an earth pony left but a simple distraction wasn’t going to affect the killer as she spiralled around the knife seeing herself in the reflection as she headed towards the newcomer with speed. CRASH! Dazed Silver jaw was bruised heavily as he felt the hard-wooden floor and opened his eyes to find a metal wing sliced downwards aimed at his neck. Silver rolled away and drew the sword of Eden in one motion, the power it held stopped the killer in its place.

“Who are you?” The killer questioned, Silver knew that it was to stall for time as he could feel the fire raging towards the map and the other remaining noble pony attempt to creep up behind him. The shadows created from the fire was what gave them away as the earth pony from behind tried to hold Silver’s arm down. The two remaining pegasus came flew at full speed in such little space towards Silver to punch him at the same time while the killer would come for the finishing blow. However, the sword glowed with power and fired a beam that pierced right through the body causing blood to rain and fell into the fire. The other pegasus was so shocked he didn’t realise the sword was swung in his direction too late to swerve away from the blade noticing the bloody muzzle of the earth pony stumbling backwards. The right joint between the wing and body was ripped to shreds, bone protruded out and death claiming him as he continued straight into the door painting it in blood. Silver spun with momentum and in one final swing decapitated the last earth pony. A loud heavy THUD landed next to Silver and the head rolled towards the killer who scrambled back towards the wall, she was a killer but not meant to be the one killed. But before she could make another move a shadow swept over her and the hidden blade was inside her head silencing her thoughts. 

*End Song*

Silver pulled back the blood running from his blade, as he assessed the room now, full of red and a fire raging in the background, leaning down he picked up a broken picture frame. A black and white family photo of a unicorn family of the leader Amber Dusk, purple coated green wavy mane unicorn who must be the husband and the little filly he saw earlier. Silver covered in blood and bruises placed it back on the burning table and collected anything reusable such as the knives. Silver stripped the giant map off the wall and studied it closely looking at details and clues on what the symbols meant but then he saw that one of the unicorns was still alive. Lightning and thunder echoed outside as Silver checked the unicorn and it was the leader Amber Dusk. Her horn a mess, a huge chunk was missing as she tried to stay still and crawl to a secret hatch underneath the blood-stained rug. Silver grabbed and pulled the mare to her hooves asking for answers. Silver could see Amber's face much closer and was scarred with burns, the explosion caused so much pain turning the bright orange yellow coat charred black. 

“What do all these marks mean” Silver asked, pointing on to the map the several x’s and the circles,

“I’m not telling anything to you,” Amber Dusk scowled in pain, “My thoughts will either die with me or I escape and come back to kill you,” 

“There are many things worse than death,” Silver said, “Are you working with Nightmare Moon”

“Few ponies would remember her name or even invoke it less would dare say her name,” Amber Dusk whispered,

“Firstly, I’m not a pony, secondly you are going to tell me or else I will...” 

“Break me, I am as good as dead, you won’t get anything from me,” Amber spat, blood getting on the boots of Silver as if to emphasize the point. Nightmare's seductive whispers started wrapping around him, curls of black tendrils snaking in through his ears making Silver drop Amber.

“What are you going to do to get the answers from her,” Nightmare appeared pointing to Amber Dusk who was trying to crawl away. “If you don't get the information now who knows what happens, I will return and the first thing I do is to come for you…” 

“No, I'm not going to torture the answer out of her, that is not the way of the Assassin,” Silver scowled, however Amber perked her head up to see that Silver was talking to himself, a sign of something else. 

“She speaks to you doesn’t she, you have the gift,” Amber Dusk gasped, “You are the one that was prophesised to return Nightmare Moon as her rightful place, the ruler of the Equestria,”

“Another prophecy, the first one still doesn’t fully make any sense... I will not be the one to bring Nightmare Moon back,” Silver argued, looking at Amber Dusk who was slowing down in crawling away as her energy was fading. 

“Oh, but you are, and you shall witness a birth of a new era with her return,” Amber laughed, coughing up more blood but she felt she was lifted up. Silver held her by the mane, wanting answers but didn't want to give Nightmare the satisfaction of following her commands. 

Nightmare stood next to Silver waiting his response as the fire grew stronger, licking the walls and burning the bodies of the dead, the sounds of screams echoed outside yelling fire. “You don't have much time left, decide now, you either don’t gain the information and I return when you least expect it, or you can choose when I return,”

Silver stared at the burning fire as he didn’t even realise, he had released his hidden blade about to strike Amber in the face. He was so close to finishing her life, but he couldn’t, he needed the information he wasn’t ready to face Nightmare yet nor did he think Celestia was ready. 

Bringing out his revolver, the words ‘Justice’ shined in the fire as aimed at the hoof and pulled the trigger not looking back. The screech of pain was loud that any pony could have heard it, but the thunder shook the sky clearing out the sound.

“Tell me what these mean!” Silver said in a controlled tone, holding the revolver and was precariously aiming at the other hind hoof shaking. But Amber wasn’t looking, they were shut tight blocking out the pain as she cried. It pained Silver to do this, he felt a knife rip his heart an irony of some sought as he didn’t know if he could continue with his actions of torture.

“The X’s are the followers of her, and the circles are who we’re going to strike next, Celestia’s loyal followers, the paper list you took contains the names of all the next assassination, that’s all I know I swear!” Amber Dusk sobbed as she felt beyond dizzy and pain. 

“She’s hiding something else, you better ask…” Nightmare whispered, as she spun around to look at the massive moon in the sky. The humongous surface of the moon was perfect to see as the rain started clearing up, revealing the bright white shadow. Silver glanced at the moon but was confused to see an eye then turning normal. Looking at herself Silver wasn’t sure if there was anything else to ask Amber and decided to end her out of her misery by slitting the throat. The warm blood dribbled onto the gauntlet with Nightmare Moon cackling and as the next lightning strike flashed, she vanished. Silver stood over the dead room and suddenly felt the need to leave the room when suddenly the entrance of the door opened with the little filly that called him ‘Monster’ poked her head through and immediately saw the dead ponies. 

She was horrified looking at the strange cloaked creature and found her mother on the floor covered in a pool of blood, making her feel extremely sick. She staggered through the room seeing all her mother’s friends and acquaintances and her stomach decided to hurl all over the floor as she saw a decapitated head of an earth pony. Something real, not a fake one like in Nightmare Night… as she stumbled towards her mother. Starlight Glimmer cried. She held the hoof of her mother even dangerously near the blazing fire, she tried to wake her up as if it was all a bad dream, but she felt coldness at the touch. She turned around to find the strange creature gone away from her as her filly mind overloaded with so many mixed emotions that she laid on top of her mother and passed out. Then came bursting was Firelight, shocked at the carnage of dead ponies, sickened to whoever did this. He was in all honesty frozen in place until he laid eyes on his broken daughter, the damage done to her filly mind would forever haunt her as he lifted his broken daughter outside the mansion with magic covered in his wife blood where he was greeted by several fire fighter ponies trying to contain the fire and unexpectedly Celestia. 

Silver stood on the roof and faded into the smoke the instance he saw Celestia, ‘I shouldn’t of come back to Canterlot, if Celestia finds me she will kill me,’ Her stormy rainbow mane billowed as a result of her anger, Firelight could see that she had a deep scowl that would frighten anypony but when she saw him her eyes of remorse and guilt lit up. Celestia approached the stallion unicorn, covered in blood and hugging fiercely a cute unconscious filly. She wasn’t here for that as she knew that Silver was at the mansion a few minutes ago looking through the haze of smoke, she had to capture him before something like this happened again. Celestia received the recent news of the fire which got her immediate attention, disappearing in an instant from her cosy bed hoping it wasn’t Silver’s doing. ‘Why must you betray my trust and respect for you Silver?’ She felt guilty for this ordeal as she could see the shock running through the father’s eyes and blood and suddenly tears swelled in her eyes but in an instant wiped them away, it was not the time not yet anyway. She promised that she was going visit the filly after all this as she steeled herself ready to see the damage caused by Silver. The shadowy figure gone in an instant above on the roof as she headed inside the mansion before the evidence burned up. She trotted through the puddles of rain and the burning centre room continued to blaze on as the smell hit her. Carnage was all she smelled as she hurried up the stairs and burst through the door of the place where Silver once was. The horrific scene of blood trailed across the room as she sucked the fire through her horn. The fire could tell her pieces of what happened, it was her way of magic as she listened to the fires. Screams of panic and fear ripped her ear drums, Celestia staggered back hitting into the burnt wooden table holding her ears. Bullets ripping through bone and flesh she shut her eyes in discomfort and took deep breaths. She looked at the state of the dead ponies with decapitation being the first one to cause her stomach to turn upside down. The situation at hoof was all her fault, she knew it that something bad would happen if she left Silver to roam her city

“No more Silver, this ends now!” Celestia promised looking out to the window to see the storm picking up again and the moon covered once more.
> Chapter 10: Restoring Health Unedited
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Celestia sat silently at her dinner table, eating by herself with the sound of the fire crackling. A plate of strawberry sponge cake left untouched as she was deep in thought, Silver was on the loose again and he just murdered 14 noble ponies not too long ago, for what reason she did not understand. These massacres were getting out of control and Silver had to be stopped but she didn’t know where to begin. She couldn’t just outright kill him, that rule was long abolished from Equestria's laws because of all the injustice it brought. The cold rain pattered against the window of the dining room where Luna was usually adjacent to her but instead, she would be eating breakfast. It was such a strange situation at first for both of them when they started seeing each other less and less but all in all; they learned to cherish those short moments together. Silver was peculiar, to say the least, she didn’t understand his motives, and the relation to why kill certain ponies, there was no gain from it for himself or to anyone else. Only darkness. Celestia believed strongly that it was morally wrong to kill overall and Silver had been killing like he was God. She had already sent far and wide the secret assignment to capture Silver with it now in the hooves of the E.U.P guards and whoever captured Silver would be paid handsomely for their deed. However, she felt skeptical at the task, capturing Silver won’t be easy and he wasn’t turning himself in without a fight. ‘He will kill his way out, and worst of all I might be next,’ Celestia thought, the dread of a metal blade close to her throat. It had been a long night for Celestia as she left her and strode to the nearest balcony and took flight. The cold wispy night brushed underneath her feathered pegasus wings with the moon still covered by thick dark clouds. 

She landed at the medical wing of Canterlot and opened the massive wooden doors where apothecary and magic were used to heal the sick and wounded. The rain dripped from her now matted fur, when a clock chimed, ringing thrice before silence entered the room, it was around midnight and made Celestia look outside one last time. The strange weather had made her think, was something more sinister happening in the background. ‘A plot, an assassination, maybe that’s what Silver was doing?’

She entered through the door and found the dead bodies, well what remained of them. Charred, decapitated and stabbed, they had moved the bodies from the mansion to be examined more closely at, then in the morning be buried. She wished she had an answer for tomorrow; she had to address the issue of the sudden burning and she had no clue what to say. She may have to tell a small white lie, a misdirection truth. A secret that had been kept from everypony for over nearly a thousand years.

One particular pegasus, however, piqued her interest as she passed the tables. Metal winged, with an unneat red mane and a gaping hole in the cranium, laid on the table. Something was off though, never before had she seen a pegasus with perfect metal wings, usually if a pegasus had an accident with their wings, such as burns, or bones broken beyond repair they were unable to be fixed. But these feathers made of metal, were sealed onto burnt scar tissue with unicorn magic, and a different kind that she had never seen or felt before. ‘The feathers are razor sharp and can even pierce through magic’ She did not like it one bit, she had only felt this kind of power of magic since Nightmare Moon’s appearance as she stared at the lifeless body. There was something eerie about the familiarity of the pegasus but she had no name, no address and not one single evidence stated she ever existed. One pegasus came into mind but she dismissed the idea quickly ‘No...but that can’t be right, he said he had no family. It must be a coincidence, it can’t of been an assassination,’ Celestia didn’t want to think about it anymore, already looking the other way but still had dread creeping through her veins.

She moved past the room and to where all the patients were, most them sound sleep. Butlers, chefs, and house staff were the majority of the patients, but they were not the reason she came down. Some had severe burns while others had minor injuries but under the doctor's orders, everypony had to stay at least one night. ‘Some don’t have anywhere else to go…’ Celestia thought grimly. The darkroom was dimly lit with a lantern light that illuminated in the left corner of the room with a little filly in bed and a slumped stallion on the bed. The doctor was sleeping on a chair next to them and the news must have been dreadful as the blanket of the filly was still wet from what could only be tears of the father. It was all her fault, if only she stopped Silver when she had a chance. She nudged the doctor awake, who nearly jumped out of his fur however Celestia shushed him. She was here to know the condition of the little filly and the father's history. The father was familiar, but she couldn’t put a hoof on who.

“Princess Celestia, what brings you here on this terrible night,” The doctor said who was wiping the drool from his mouth.

“I have come to know the condition of this filly and father,” Celestia replied, she could see the doctor's strained face as if ready to deliver some bad news.

“I am sorry Princess, the father, Firelight, is with minor injuries and slight trauma but I’m afraid the condition of the filly is critical. The filly's name is Starlight Glimmer, she suffers from smoke inhalation, 2nd-degree burns and severe trauma and distress,” The doctor said calmly. Celestia was not though, the anger however subsided after a few moments and she masked her face with guilt.

“Firelight...”It brought back memories of the wealthy business pony who had helped with the trading agreement with neighbouring cities such as Manehattan and Appleloosa. Suddenly Firelight lifted his head from the bed to see who had called out his name. When he saw it was the Princess, he started kneeling at her hooves.

“I am so sorry you had to see my face like this Princess,” Firelight exclaimed, trying to hold himself together.

“Sssssh, it’s Celestia from now on, no need to hold back,” Celestia whispered as she wiped the tears away from the father.

“The filly won’t wake up, I believe that she’s been stuck in a state of reliving the horrors of the night over and over again, well it is a theory,” the doctor said when Firelight pointed at him.

“You’re a doctor, why can’t you help my daughter, I...just want her back,” Firelight sulked, Celestia glared at the doctor before looking at the filly. The filly’s face was scrunched in pain, a single drop of torment left her eye. Celestia was torn by this, she had to apprehend Silver and bring him to justice.

Celestia let go of the fragile father and placed her attention to the little filly. “Starlight Glimmer, what a cute name;” as she channelled her magic into the horn. In a dazzling display of magic, a mini ball of light was created. The rays of the sun, condensed together to create the orb but toned down to not destroy everything and everypony. The orb of magic flitted around before finally landing on top off Starlight. Then the filly woke up, her eyes opening up for the first time, but the eyes were not of the fillies. They were cloudy, forgotten, unclear of the whereabouts she was, Firelight, however, couldn’t hold back and hugged his daughter.

“Oh sweetie, are you alright?” Firelight asked the concern in his eyes lit up trying to find reassurance in his daughter only for silence to cut right through his thoughts. “Starlight?”

“I feared the worst...” The doctor immediately regretting saying that as Firelight turned towards him in anger. Celestia decided to speak next to clear the filly’s mind.

“Starlight, can you hear me?” Celestia asked with hope in her eyes but no response. This deeply saddened her, but she wouldn’t give up yet. The doctor coughed to get her attention and she walked out and closed the curtains while alerting Firelight that they would only be a minute.

“With all due respect Princess, the filly simply won’t truly wake up, trauma can only be cured by time, the doctor whispered. Celestia was not happy with that answer.

“There is nothing else you can do, to save the filly?” Celestia asked, her voice slightly raised. She wasn’t a doctor, but she knew magic should be able to do something. The doctor turned a bit pale at the sudden tone change and thought his next words carefully.

“I have only a theoretical cure, which involves tampering with the mind but there has not been a lot of research and testing on it and secondly we need a unicorn with enough magic to visualise at the microscopic level, and thirdly it is unethical to the recipient,” the doctor said anxiously. “One false move and the filly’s mind would be erased forever leaving a husk,”

“Then I will be that unicorn, just tell me what I must do,” Celestia said, about to open the curtains.

“It is not that simple, Princess, the filly’s memory will be, in a way, forgotten and locked away until something triggers the memory such as a place or sound,” the doctor said while holding Celestia's shoulder. All she could think of what would happen to Firelight and the little filly, the poor filly’s innocence taken and burned away with blood and carnage. 

“They would have to move far from here or Starlight might remember everything.” 

It was a lot to take in for Celestia and she wasn’t the one deciding as she relayed the decision for Firelight and that made him cry. To see the stallion, a father of one cry, was a harsh moment for Celestia, the memories made here in Canterlot from when Starlight was born had to be locked away and basically forgotten. The identity of Starlight stripped away and replaced with something empty, Firelight faced back to his Princess and the doctor.

“All I want is my little Starlight back, and if it means starting from the beginning then I shall,” Firelight said, stepping away from the bed to let Celestia do her magic. Celestia stood in front of the filly and channelled her magic, a delicate procedure no doubt.

“You must let your mind flow into Starlight and try to navigate and view her memories that must be forgotten,” the doctor said, as the yellow magic illuminated the room. 

Celestia delved deep into the filly's mind, almost like it was swimming. Her surroundings had become black and only black, but her horn lit the way into the sudden darkness. It brought back so many memories hidden deep in her mind reminding herself of Nightmare Moon and the threat that she once was. She was suffocating, the more she travelled through the ink, the less her horn glowed bright and the more intense memories that started spiking her mind. She couldn’t control herself as she started to remember the battle. As they were locked in the magic blast, Nightmare Moon’s magic conjured so many scenes in her mind and were so horrifying that it took years to forget. Landscapes that had become nothing from the lack of sun, the dictatorship that Nightmare would rule over all of Equestria and the never ending torment of her little ponies. The shame of not being there to stop her and not being able to turn her sister back into who she once was. The greatest pain however was everypony turning their backs on her, following Nightmare Moon’s command and waging war on all of Equestria. Memories she kept hidden away from anypony. However she pushed through the milky memories, she had to think of today and the future and not stay in the past. She could see in the distance a light, a beacon of hope as she started swimming towards it. As she neared closer she felt the great power within the light. Loyalty, kindness, generosity, honesty, laughter and magic, reignited something inside of her, the feeling of the elements of harmony washing over her fear. She was not going to let the past dictate the present!

Celestia burst through the inky water and took a gasp of air, almost retching her insides out only to look at her surroundings and found herself in a very fancy bathtub. Celestia was confused, she shivered sitting in the black bathwater, those memories still burned in her mind. Standing up to Nightmare Moon was the hardest moment of her life, every other threat she always had Luna as support. She hugged herself, it was all she could do from the cold water when she realized she was in a house or more specifically a mansion, as by the lavish decorations. ‘A house...this must be the mansion where Starlight lives in’ She deduced and climbed out of the bathtub and followed a wisp of magic created from her horn which led her outside. She walked down the red-painted corridor only for it to start becoming more recognizable to her and several corridors later she found it. The double doors that Silver once walked through and left burning. She steeled herself, expecting to see carnage and death and walked through the double doors but only to find a crying Starlight where her dead mother would have been.

“Starlight...” Celestia whispered trying to get close only for the filly to scamper away and hide underneath the table. Instead, Celestia crept towards Starlight and sat underneath the table with Starlight, even with the uncomfortable spacing Celestia only wanted to nurture her. Celestia had to tuck in her wings and legs to be able to fit, which made Starlight giggle a little, it was then that Starlight spoke, a sweet little innocent voice with a little hoarseness from the sobbing.

“Where am I?” Starlight asked the hurt in her voice piercing Celestia's heart. Celestia couldn’t hear the doctor or Firelight to guide her on what to say and decided what was best in her heart, a friendship lesson she learned a while back.

“You are…lost my dear, I am here to take you to your father Firelight, would you like that,” Celestia said softly, hoping by following a motherly approach and kindness that Starlight would open up and let her free of the guilt that had latched onto her. The filly looked towards Celestia and nodded; her watery eyes clung on just as Starlight did with the Princess. The crying child, haunted by nightmares of unknown darkness, held on. A tight grip, so young, the hope for the filly was within Celestia’s hoof. Celestia then wiped the tears away from Starlight and then helped her onto her own back, the filly holding on tight to Celestia’s fur. Starlight was confused as to wondering why was she brought onto the back of the Princess but Celestia flexed her majestic white pegasus wings bedazzling and making her lose focus. Then taking off through the opened window, they elevated and ascended into the sky, and circled the mansion, where Celestia now had to think on a way of locking the memories away without Starlight from knowing. The only solution she could think was in a literal sense and believed that she had to chain the mansion up from the eyes of Starlight and that it would lock the memories. ‘But how do I achieve this when Starlight is always watching’ Celestia thought, as she stalled in the air thinking.

However, the answer came directly to her, as the clouds parted revealing the fireworks of colour as both Celestia and Starlight turned to face the night sky. This night made her stop her in her tracks to take in the wondrous sight of the mixture of stars, the moon, and colour. Luna's night sky was painted so vividly, and beautifully, a memory that somehow Starlight knew of, except there had been no recordings of it in any books or scrolls in full details. Celestia for the past century would always try to paint at sunset, the beautiful night sky like her sister would but could never get it right. There was always something missing from the sky or the colour combination didn’t match, and it always made her feel empty inside, with heart wrenched in not being able to do what her sister could.

Celestia realised it was her memories that were being played out, and it was there the mind of Starlight and herself had merged into each other and the memories were colliding. Celestia could tell it was her memories by looking towards the far hillside at Everfree forest overlooking the old kingdom laid her sister and herself. The time she had pink cotton candy hair and when her sister was still an adorable little filly. A touching memory of her sister’s newfound skill of controlling the moon and stars, they had snuck out of their castle through the various passages and tunnels hidden underneath and decided to turn the sky into a masterpiece. Luna had been asking suggestions about what to put into the sky as her signature to Celestia, and it was Celestia’s idea to use a crescent shape. Luna’s manipulation of the sky was breathtaking to Celestia, with the fluid movement of controlling the stars, and mashing the different colours to make a beautiful scene. One of the last things that Luna created that night was a portrait of her sister, smiling, the mixtures of stars, colours, and strokes formed the new constellation which astounded Celestia. “A late-night gift for being the bestest loving and caring sister in the WHOLE WIDE OF EQUESTRIA!” the last words of Luna rang in Celestia’s ear before she shook her head in pain. Realising she had a job to do Celestia started chaining the mansion. A blue hue of magic formed as massive chains and padlocks formed and locked itself around the estate. She had no idea if it would work and was already working on other ideas. What happened next confused and disorientated Celestia as the mansion right before her eyes started sinking. Magical glyphs covered the mansion as it crumbled beneath the surface leaving a barren landscape. The structural integrity collapsed and toppled itself, caving towards the centre and sucked up dry.

Starlight was too distracted to notice her home crumbling, looking at the night sky instead, the extravagant mixtures of colours blowing her mind away. Never before had she seen a beautiful night sky like this one and it was breath-taking and now wondered to herself why the sky was never like this.

In place of the mansion, there was nothing at first, it had become like empty farmland, desolate, but then a tree grew. Not just any tree, a flowering tree, with glittering gems aloft on the branches and a shining star in the middle. This shining glimmer caught the eyes of the filly, who was beyond amazed now but Celestia was done with memories. She knew what it meant now and left. The sun slowly rose in the distance and that was where Celestia started to head. The sun was guiding her to the father of Starlight as Celestia’s intuition told her that she was close by. She flew over the Everfree forest and out into the open plains, passing some hills when she saw a village with a certain purple and green maned unicorn, talking to other citizens. Celestia wracked through her brain to figure out the location when she found a sign. 

‘Sire’s Hollow’ 

Starlight quickly leapt off Celestia’s back before even landing and rushed into the arms of Firelight, a hug so tight that it made Celestia’s heart clench. But it brought a smile to see the filly so happy to be with her father. Celestia knew it was time to go though. There was nothing else to do except watch. Celestia took flight towards the sun and looked back one final time to see the two of them waving. It was such a happy ending but in reality, it had only just begun and Celestia felt a cold feeling crawling up her spine, even with the sun in her face. Silver was going to do something even more drastic and what could be worse than mentally scarring a filly.

Into the sun, the blinding light made her close her eyes and when Celestia opened her eyes again she found herself back in the medical wing. The dark gloomy medical wing now shone with bright light meaning that it was morning. Celestia found herself at the side of the bed holding the filly’s hoof. On Starlight's forehead laid a circle of glyphs before fading into nothing and she mewled, eyes still closed and hugged the closest thing next to her which was Celestia's hoof, a tight squeeze. And she smiled. Celestia had to cough several times to awaken the doctor and Firelight but when they woke up, they bombarded her with several questions, too many she had no answer to. Firelight beamed with joy at the state of his daughter as he stared at her smiling daughter. The doctor wiped some sweat from his forehead and was relieved, but he took measurements and tests, just in case. When everything came out to be fine, they were all alleviated from the stress. However, Celestia had a burning question herself, a possible place to relocate for both Starlight and Firelight.

“Firelight, does Sire's Hollow mean anything to you?” Celestia asked.

“Why yes, yes it does, that is where I grew up and where Starlight was born before we moved to Canterlot in search of a better life. Why do you ask?” Firelight replied. Celestia recounted the details of rescuing Starlight but leaving the personal parts out.

“Well I suppose we could move back there,” Firelight said. “But it won’t be easy moving back there,”

“Do not worry about your expenses and belongings, you shall receive funds for your departure. And that goes to all of you,” Celestia pronounced facing the rest of the sick and wounded who had woken up and were eating breakfast. “For those that have no place to call home can reside here for the time being and be given work,”

Celestia, however, fainted on the floor, the exhaustion of using magic the whole night was finally succumbing to her. Everypony rushed forward to help her up but she shooed them away.

“It is alright, I just feel nauseous” Celestia stuttered, leaning on Starlight's bed for leverage. “I shall return,” as Celestia slowly trotted towards the door and back to bed.
> Chapter 11: Hour of Glory Unedited
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The heavenly sun rose in the distance of Canterlot covered by the thick gloomy clouds, as the burned mansion crumbled to the floor, the support finally giving way. And in the far corner of Canterlot, the assassin laid underneath a giant bell in a clock tower, or so he thought. After the fire, Silver felt that the first thing he should have done was flee from Canterlot, but he stayed, and as he laid asleep in his torments a loud bang scared him from the ground. He realised he chose a bad position to sleep but had not much of a choice, he needed somewhere secluded away from the guards that would be hunting him down to rest for the night and this area was deserted when he came. Killing everypony in that room had sapped his strength to continue forward but with so much blood on his hands, there should have been no reason for him to stay. The bell cut off Silver’s thought and made him disoriented, making him nearly stumble off the small space he was on, that was when he realised, he was at a school. At the gates, the big words ‘Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns’ glared right at his face. ‘I have made a grave mistake,’

The bells rung in his ear again making him lose track of what he was thinking, he needed somewhere away from the constant ringing. And the only place was up. He started to climb up to the highest point of the school. He could have zipped to the top with the rope launcher but it would be suspicious with something fast-moving up the school, he didn’t want to be caught the same as last time. Nearing the top he started to relax, having a bird’s eye view of his surroundings. He took deep breaths as the buzzing in his ears stopped and the location of several things were brought to his attention, but it all fizzled in his head afterwards. ‘Why eagle vision, why do you stop working, when I need it most,’ Silver thought frustratingly as colts and fillies unicorns skipped and pranced to school. It was then he noticed several things, parents dropping off their children before going to work, and for some reason several guards patrolling the area who seemed to be asking too many questions to his liking. 

One particular unicorn caught his attention, Twilight Sparkle, who appeared to be cheerful and was with several other ponies and a dragon walking towards the front of the school. Twilight’s friends were an array of different colours, that Silver still wasn’t used to, it was almost like he was looking at a rainbow. The dragon caught Silver off guard though, the light purple scales with a cream white underbelly and dark green spikes, but it wasn’t the colour configuration that confused him or that dragons existed, he remembered from a lifetime ago Shards the crystal dragon, the one he raised. It was the fact that the dragon was standing on 2 legs and had a collar around it, like a slave or being herded. ‘I must be going insane, dragons are not meant to ever stand on two legs like a human, they have always stood on 4 legs in the books. Twilight looks better though, I wonder what Cadance did to you?’ Silver came to notice his general surroundings looking for a way to escape, the guards were closing in on his positions, he needed to move. Many props appeared to be leftover from Nightmare Night, webs, hanging sheets with eyes, skulls, bats and other various novelty items where all being cleaned up meaning a lot of ponies to dodge and evade. Silver understood the general idea of it was to scare fillies and colts but it seemed a little extreme and for what purpose would Celestia gain from this. It was then by chance that Twilight happen to look upwards and stared right back at Silver perched on the roof, who was too deep in thought looking for routes to take. Twilight’s head crashed with pain making her stumble across the cobblestone walkway, her friends quickly rushed towards her before she could fall flat onto her face. 

“Twilight, are you alright?” Minuette asked, while Lemon Hearts helped Twilight up. “It looks like you just saw a ghost, Nightmare Night finished already,”

“I dunno, I thought I saw something up where the spires were, and now my head hurts,” Twilight replied, feeling a headache coming along. Spike hugged her forearm, mewing with the intent of helping her up but his measly claws didn’t do much. However, Twilight smiled and patted him on the head, he was getting better at learning things. For the past year, she had tried so hard to accommodate for Spike growing up and taking care of him but training him was a nightmare. He would always interfere with her schoolwork and made her always late in handing in assignments. He had become such a nuisance that she had complained to Celestia, but only once because she was given the biggest lecture of her life. However Twilight agreed on what Celestia had to say though and it now taught her the responsibility that she carried; Spike was no pet. Spike would be a pony at heart and be like a child to her. 

“I am going to report this to the guards, they said if anything strange happens we immediately report it to them,” Moon Dancer, and already left. Twilight looked back towards the spires but saw nothing out of the ordinary. 

“Tw...i...light, Twi...light, Twilight!” Spike stuttered, Twilight beamed with joy and immediately forgetting about her incident, excitement exploded within as the new possibilities filled her mind in what could Spike learn. Teaching Spike to speak took so much dedication, with him being always distracted by anything and everything around him. But she knew her hard work and commitment would pay off, the only trouble she didn’t know was would Spike as a dragon be the beast type of dragons that were like animals or the societal one. 

“Yes, yes, my name is Twilight,” Twilight smiled, she kneeled to Spike’s height, and looked into his eyes. “I don’t think you be needing this anymore,” 

Spike’s red collar was dropped onto the floor, and Twilight hugged him. ‘He’s growing up so fast’ Twilight looked behind herself to see Minuette, Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine had tears in their eyes, the scene overwhelming them. 

“That was beautiful!” Minuette cried while hugging Lemon Hearts and proceeded to put the collar in the bin. Twilight couldn’t believe her friends were that emotional or dramatic, but she loved them nevertheless and looked back towards the spirals feeling troubled. The weird feeling that she was being observed, but she couldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. 

“My mind must be playing tricks on me,” Twilight murmured and was about to go when she was confronted by two guards. But when she saw who one of them was, she jumped up in glee, and immediately hugged him. “What are you doing here, Shining, I thought you were at school and didn’t start your job as an E.U.P Guard until next week,” 

“I thought the same but there’s some top-secret stuff going on lately and they’ve called for more intake in recruits,” Shining whispered, looking towards the other guard as if for approval but he wasn’t even looking towards Shining’s way and was instead pointing out orders. All of Twilight’s friends and herself included made ‘Ooooooh’ noises, all already formulating conspiracies on what was happening. The consensus they came up with was that there was a ghost and that Twilight got spooked by one. 

“I’m not afraid of something that doesn’t exist!” Twilight snapped, but was ignored. “Anyway if you didn’t know, this is my BBBFF, I mean my big brother, Shining Armor who's now a E.U.P guard.

“WOW!” Twilight’s friend goggled, and were all captivated as if Shining Armor was in holy light.

They all tried to start asking questions like curious fillies in which the other guard was paying attention and laughed. Shining took control of the situation by asking his sister the truth, ignoring her friends so that no sensitive information was leaked because that would be a disaster. Twilight recounted what she saw, but trying to describe the thing she saw was blurry in her head as Shining looked upwards at the spires wondering if the creature was still there as he listened. Shining shifted his armour, feeling uncomfortable and immediately becoming more concerned about her sister. The bell however rang again signalling the start of classes, as Twilight and her friends all quickly said their goodbyes before running off to class, leaving only Shining and the other guard. 

“Hey kid, so what did you get from all this,” Dark Eyes questioned, who was both Shining's mentor and Captain of the E.U.P Guard. They didn’t call him Dark Eyes for nothing, with gold luscious fur and an unneat maroon mane he looked perfectly normal until you saw his eyes. Oddly enough there was always dark rims around his eyes as if he had no sleep or was really old or was always punched in the eye or possibly all three of them at once. Shining couldn’t really take him seriously at first with the eyes but when he started yelling out punishments right off the bat, Shining begrudgingly started to listen.

“Not much Captain and stop calling me kid, I have a name,” Shining whined, the captain had been repeatedly called him kid and whelp and never called him by his first name or last name which was getting up his nerves, heck recruit would have been better and it was his first day on duty.

“Firstly you’ll earn your name when you have shown your duty and honour as a E.U.P guard, that was written in the E.U.P guide book, section 1 paragraph 5 and secondly what do they teach you whelps at school these days,” Dark Eyes sighed, and immediately pointed towards the spires of the school. “Up there you see, less than 5 minutes ago, the assailant was just up around that area, meaning that it still lurks around and is trying to escape. In those 5 minutes of the disturbance, I have already set up a perimeter, meaning that the creature has nowhere else to go.”

“Ok,” Shining said distractingly, taking in all the information and at the same time not paying attention, continuing to look up where the spirals were. He could feel a long road ahead of him until he became of the same rank as Dark Eyes but he needed his priorities right. ‘First I need to pass being a recruit,’ Emptiness was all he saw but was the alien gone? When his captain turned away to talk to the rest of the guards on standby, Shining teleported to a steady flat part of the roof. 

*Start Discovery - Tyber Core*

As he slowly climbed across the roof of the school to reach the balcony of the attic he kept his eyes peeled for clues of a creature of some sought, not really knowing much details because of the huge secrecy of the mission. Shining would never question Celestia's judgement in all these matters, his little sister Twilight spoke so highly of her in every aspect but it appeared to him that some information was being held. Important information that could have made the job a lot easier but orders were orders. Shining joined the E.U.P guards and dropped out of school because both his parents were of very high ranking officers and have been well recognised for their efforts, he wanted to follow in their hoofsteps and be the first to obtain a role as Captain of the Guard. They worked tirelessly every day to send Twilight and Shining to school and he knew that they would keep working past retirement. They never had any time to go on holidays, much less be a proper family, with Cadance always having to look after his little sister. However, he was forever grateful for them and he was going to change all that and make sure that both his parents can relax and stop working. A dream so close to becoming a reality as he turned to view his surroundings. The balcony he was now on had broken glass everywhere on the floor, the glass doors shattered at the handle and left wide open. He was going to capture this strange creature to earn himself a proper ranking. Poking his head into the hallway he couldn’t see anything. Jittery in his golden armour, he sneaked across the carpet floor holding out his sword from its scabbard, trying to find any clues for the creature. It was the first time he was on his own and he was still learning techniques of the sword but he was determined.

The school's attic he was in had been used for storage and held props for the play, textbooks and lot's of lost stationary. Many crates and cardboard boxes littered the room with the exits being the same dimly lit hallway he was in and a bright white door visibly opposite to Shining. He surveyed the area creating a magical orb of light in the air. The darkness faded by a bright blue orb but to Shining, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. Closing the balcony door behind him, a loud clatter caught his attention and on the floor was a knife. Shining crept slowly, knowing it was a trap of some sought and was on edge, knives do not drop from the sky, especially inside. He picked up the metal blade with magic, inspecting the craftsmanship to find a very solid blade but incredibly light. He deduced it was used for throwing and found stained blood on it. ‘Was this used for the murders’ In reality he was trying to hear for something out of place. That was when he heard, someone or something shifting up above him and creating a slight rustle of material or cloth. The cloaked creature came down striking hard and knocked down Shining off his feet. The arms of the creature stabbed downwards ready to kill but to its surprise found the unicorn that should have been dead blocking with the flat side of the sword. The expert shielding happened to make it seem that Shining had experience but was in fact luck of the greatest kind which he managed to flick the sword at the right moment without looking. The creature's arm was over-extended and Shining managed to kick off the creature and scramble away to get some distance between them. Shining held the sword with magic at the creature’s face as it slowly got up. 

“Not another move!” Shining yelled, while looking for a way to tie up the thing he just caught. He looked into the cloak of darkness to find nothing but silvery grey eyes, eyes he could not decipher. Many things became prominent to Shining one being the height of the creature. It was much taller than him being roughly twice the height of himself but appeared to be standing on two legs with arms. Shining tried to figure out the enigma of what or who but to his surprise, he was stumbling backwards from a strong kick to the chest. Grunting in pain Shining crashed into boxes as the mysterious figure started running. 

Shining was having none of that as his blurry vision cleared to see the creature kick down the doors and run outside. Sheathing his sword, he galloped full speed and followed it with all his might but carefully avoiding the edges of the roof. It was fast, like riding on the wind fast, it started leaping towards the roof of the school and across the different faculty buildings. Shining tried to follow but some leaps were too big of a gap for himself and required him to find another route. He lost valuable time and distance and surveyed the direction it was going towards to see if he could cut the figure off. To him, it appeared to be heading to the train station, ‘To escape!’. As it neared the pegasus guarding the south side of the school, the alien managed to evade both of the guards simultaneously. The pegasus alerted by Shining’s warning leapt into action and flew directly up to the figure, ready to subdue. But to their surprise the figure jumped on their heads, using them both as platforms before landing onto the school wall and rolling onto the floor outside of the school gates.

Shining cantered across the rooftop, instantly teleported down to the ground and already smashing through the school gates while signalling the two guards on the floor groaning to call for reinforcements at the train stations. There he could see the figure running across the roofs as he tried following from down below on the ground. Colours blurred through Shining, trying to catch up with the figured and he tried to not crash into any pony while looking upwards. Majority of the citizens didn’t even notice the hooded creature above and Shining was getting tired while narrowly avoiding several ponies. The train station came into view with several guards patrolling the area but that did not deter the cloaked figure as a train approached the station. 

Shining started panicking, he realised this was going horribly planned, he tried to signal to his fellow unit about the assailant rushing towards their way but they couldn’t hear him over the train noises. 

“Calling Battalion Unit 100, the assailant is approaching you from the north side of the train station!” Shining called through the special guard frequency. 

“I read you loud and clear Shining Armor,” Spearhead replied, as he told the rest of his group to be on the lookout for the creature they had to find.

“Over there!” yelled a guard pointing towards the figure running across the roof. The figure was moving faster than expected and with precision was able to jump across roofs with perfect execution. They were all expecting a fight for their lives when the hooded figure landed right in front of them. Spears all immediately pointed towards the throat and the figure was surrounded, with sweat visible on the guards. They all had heard stories of the capabilities of this creature and didn’t want to take any chances with it. Seconds past with the creature raising his arms above his head as if it was surrendering, the guards closing in to restrain, only to be tricked with the figure flew to the roof of the train station like it was magic. 

Shining knew better as he saw the ropes latched onto the top and the assailant flying upwards but he realised the train was about to leave. The final train whistle blew loud and clear signalling the departure of the train and made him panic. He placed the whole mission into jeopardy and for what, only the glory of becoming someone within the ranks and not upholding the principles of what it means to be an E.U.P guard. He scowled at himself for being so reckless in his actions and already dreaded the punishment that was to come but knew he deserved it. 

“Captain Dark Eyes is going to have my hide for this,” Shining panted as he burst through the train station, he needed to get to the rooftop as fast as possible. Discretion was utmost important for this mission, under the Princesses Celestia’s orders and Shining realised he failed in almost every way possible. Everypony in the room was staring right at him at the sudden barge in with much concern, the extra security wasn’t of much help as the citizens knew something was going on. Especially with Shining acting tired and appearing to be chasing some pony. Shining saw the sign of the rooftop access and quickly ushered himself with silence, there was no time to warn them about the danger if there was any. Shining was out of breath when he finished climbing the stairs and only found the hooded figure to be already mid-jump onto the train that was already leaving the platform. Shining dashed alongside the roof of the station, the wheels of the train were rolling and picking up speed knowing he had only one chance before the creature would disappear for good. 

He aimed for the last cart and hoped that it would work, as his feet left the rooftop. Leaping off the roof through the air was terrifying, the feeling of being a pegasus for a few seconds was exhilarating and felt like an eternity until he rolled on the roof of the train. Grunting in pain he picked himself off the ground to find the figure already turned towards him. Shining brought out his sword in determination, maybe hope wasn’t lost for him.

“You are under arrest by Princess Celestia’s order, you are going to answer for all the crimes that you have committed. There’s nowhere else to run!” Shining yelled over the thunderous wind, not knowing if the figure could hear him from the deafening roar of the train wheels. The figure drew the sword from it’s back, ready for a fight which Shining did not like one bit. The figure being taller and stronger was definitely an issue for Shining as he was looking for weak points. With a hooded cloak, it appeared to him that the figure had no armour and would allow Shining to incapacitate it. The sword was covered in a sharp glow making Shining’s fur stick up, ‘If I get hit by that sword...I don’t want to know what would happen to me’. He felt very uneasy with the power held within the figure’s grasp but didn’t falter in the slightest. The highest honour was being the captain of the guard and he wasn’t ready to lose that chance. 

Shining charged forward, sword held high and slashed downwards. The figure parried the strike and front kicked Shining in the chest. Shining grunted in pain while skidding on the floor and almost fell in-between the gap of the carriages. His stomach flared in pain, he had to think differently or he would never overcome the creature. He swiped across the feet of the figure with his sword to give himself some space and scrambled upwards before shoulder charging the figure. The figure was surprised by the sudden tactic and almost stumbled off the edge. The train started to hit a curve which shifted the carriages making the battlefield unstable but Shining wasn’t going to let that stop him. Swords clashed, locked against each other but slowly the glowing blade was pushed closer and closer towards Shining. He was having a hard time with his footing, with the figure being much stronger. The blade made Shining shiver, a weird feeling of indescribable energy, the aura of unimaginable power. He needed to stall for time, to figure out a plan on beating this creature.

“Who and what are you?” Shining grunted, the swords touching his own horn, the strength of the figure was unrelenting, and he was stuck defending his face.

“My name is Silver, Shining, but know this, nothing is what it seems,” the Silver replied, shocking Shining, he couldn’t believe it, the figure spoke. Celestia never said anything about whether the creature could speak only that it was a demon capable of killing and wanted it to be captured alive and Shining couldn’t tell if being a demon was in a literal sense or a figurative one. At that moment Shining was disarmed and hit in the temple with the hilt of the sword. Shining lost concentration of holding the sword with magic and it sailed behind Shining landing several carriages downwards.

“How do you know my name!” Shining spat, his head now swirling, trying to think clearly was getting harder by the minute, especially with blood trickling down his forehead. 

“I have been listening to what you were saying to your sister,” Silver held out the sword at Shining's throat but there was hesitation. Shining could see the sword slightly wavering and he took that chance. Shining realised he had been looking at the problem wrong, instead of fighting with Silver's strength of swordplay, why not fight it with something different. Magic burst out of Shining’s horn and directly into the Silver's chest.

“STAY AWAY FROM MY SISTER!” 

*End song*

Shining stood up from his kneeled position and took a stance for magic. The smoke cleared to reveal no damage on Silver but instead the glowing sword, burning brighter than ever before which confused Shining. Charging another spell, he blasted another bolt of magic, only for it to be absorbed into the sword. ‘Well ain’t that a problem’

A game of tag was played, as Shining tried to blast Silver with multiple bolts of magic but would only dodge or absorb the magic while Silver tried to hit him with non-lethal strikes. He didn’t release any full blast of magic as there were innocent ponies on the train, he didn’t want any collateral damage on himself. Shining picked on the subtle change in hostility, where the figure tried striking with the hilt or the flat side of the blade and was trying to use it to his advantage but Silver was fast. The fighting was getting pointless, both Shining and Silver seemed to be running out of breath and the train didn’t seem to be stopping. One mistake was all it would take for Shining to almost plummeting off the side of the train and down a cliff and he acknowledged it trying to stay within the boundaries while also trying to avoid the strikes. Trapping the creature with chains had been impossible with Silver’s magical sword was able to cut through the magic like butter and it was the final thing before Silver came to close for magic usage. A very strong left hook knocked Shining towards the side of the train making him almost stumble down the cliff but he stopped himself with his front hooves. He wasn’t ready to lose yet and bucked with all his might but didn’t anticipate Silver being so close to him that his kick was more of a push. They both went there opposite ways, with Silver landing safely on the train while Shining was about to fall off. He was about to go head into the cliff but managed to turn around in the nick of time and hold onto the edge with teeth. He struggled with his footing, scrambling upwards with all his strength left in his tired aching legs and tried to grab onto anything but slipped. 

Ponies on the train could only see the dangling naked white legs and were blinded by the sudden appendages flailing about. The passengers had been hearing thumps and magic being used like there was a battle on the roof of the train and were all troubled by it. Shining closed his eyes in fear waiting for the inevitable and was about to use magic to absorb the impacts and hopefully not become a splat on the cliffside when he suddenly stopped falling with something warm wrapped around his horn. The scenery of jagged rocks and terrified Shining as he looked down in confusion but realised that he was saved. Looking back up there was a sharp tug at his horn, and Silver trying to bring him back up.

“If I wanted you dead, you would have been already Shining,” Silver huffed, grabbed his hoofs and pulled Shining back onto the train.

“Why save me? You gain nothing from helping me. I won’t allow you to run freely from this, you just murdered 15 ponies, and all for what. You burned a mansion down to the ground leaving so many homeless, caused grief to a now single father and worst of all, you scarred a little filly who might not even recover,” 

“I...” Silver paused, struggling for an answer.

“And you don’t even know why you did it, you monster!” Shining looked in disgust, realising that the train was coming to a halt, from all the action that happened up here or because they were at a scenic lake.

“I did it to save Celestia!” Silver blurted out, his sword placed on his back, he needed to leave or there was going to be a lot more trouble. 

“You’re just saying that to save yourself. YOU DESERVE TO BE PUT IN JAIL!” Shining shouted, placing a bubble around Silver and tried to tighten the space. He knew that wouldn’t hold Silver for long, he needed a different plan but what could he do. Silver was becoming more frustrated, whipped out his sword and sliced the bubble of magic like it was nothing. He charged faster than Shining could comprehend, closed the distance, grabbed Shining by the neck and unsheathed the hidden blade. The blade just touching his throat, almost piercing. Shining gasped for air, the unbelievable speed scared him, ‘How in Celestia’s name did he do that,’

“It may seem like I murdered 15 ponies, but I can reassure you it was without reason. I stopped all of them from Celestia’s assassination,”

“And how do I know you're not lying? How do I know that your not making any of it up to save your own fur...skin for the matter being,” Shining wasn’t convinced at all, he read the report given to him by his mentor, nothing stated anything related it to being an assassination unless Celestia withheld information? Shining hoped for his battalion or anypony to come as reinforcements, he could see the instability that Silver was, the eyes through the darkness of the hood were of pain and longing.

“I have a map, with all the future assassinations that are being planned out, all the names and locations, is that enough evidence,” Silver said, not knowing what else to say, it was his last bargaining chip. Pulling out a rolled map of Equestria with the various names and locations. ‘I am going to stop them all, for Luna's sake,’

“You’re still hiding something else Silver and unless you turn yourself in, there is no other way to prove your innocence,”

“I am stopping these assassinations whether you like it or not,”

“And for what purpose, give me one good reason why I should let you go and not come after you!”

“I am done playing games, Shining, if you won’t listen to me fine by me, but if you try to capture me, I will not hesitate to kill you,” Silver threatened, and pushed Shining backwards onto the train.

Shining looked in confusion as Silver jumped off the train almost immediately, a steep dive into the pristine lake and landing perfectly. Shining realised he was on a scenic tour train which would go through the various landmarks of Canterlot's region, but he was in shock. ‘Crazy, why in Celestia's name would Silver do that, how will he survive that fall, a leap of faith, madness!’

His one chance was gone, with the train still stationary. He wasn’t prepared to jump down from the cliff, Shining valued his life heavily more than a title and laid down looking up to the now bright noon. That was when a furious looking train conductor poked his head from the carriage gap, the moustache fuming. All Shining could hear for the rest of the trip back was being berated on how a guard shouldn’t be on top of the train but he wasn’t listening. He couldn’t say anything also because the mission was concealed to the general public. Shining kept on repeating the words ‘Classified’ until his tongue was in a knot and the conductor left with fury. Shining could only stare at the window while he waited for Canterlot’s stop, but he did not see the beautiful scenes of lakes and forest, only Silver, a face of unknown origins. He was filled to the brim full of questions about, was he alive, who was he, what relations does he have with Celestia, where will he go and who will he kill next? That last questioned burned Shining’s mind, as he brought out the throwing knife, with stained blood. ‘Maybe hope isn’t lost,’
> Chapter 12: Reflections of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

SPLASH 

The cold water soaked the black robe of the assassin, unbeknownst to him, the shapes of darkness slithered through the lake towards him with maws of blood. Silver dragged his body from the depths of the lake, as he shivered from the cold, the crystal blue water was a sight to behold if he had time to fully take in the view. He was running out of time, usually, assassinations occurred very close to one another, that was the way of the Creed, by striking fast repeatedly and deep within the ranks of the Templars there was less time for them to recover. Nightmare Moon’s cult swarmed his mind, questions arose like how did she gain so many followers in one night of rising? Why would anypony want to follow her, what did she offer and at what cost? The nightmares he had last night started to crawl back into his mind, etched were the horrors of Nightmare Moon’s malicious power but he shunned them out. He needed to focus on finding the next assassinations and stop them before it was too late. As he headed to the sandy shores, vicious shadows of crocodiles swam closer to him and with a snarl threatened his casual swim. Not wanting to die by measly reptiles he climbed the nearest tree to get a better view of his surroundings and plan for his next endeavour.

Kneeled on the branch of the nearby tree, he could feel the harsh glare of the sun on his face with it showing to be past noon. ‘Celestia must be angry, judging by the sun burning my face, I better not do anything too explicit,’ Taking in the sights, he gazed at the gorgeous lake, with colours of bright turquoise he had never seen before, it was so pristine that it appeared perfect in every way except for the ravenous snarling crocodiles, they definitely did not belong in the scene. Something strange happened here but he could not decipher what and left it that. He looked back at the train tracks towering above, the railing and supports rusted with flaking brown specks in which appeared that they could break at any minute. The only thing he could think of was Twilight’s brother Shining, as he spied another train passing along the tracks, tooting it’s horn cheerfully. When they first met, Silver really did not want to kill Shining at all and mistook the unicorn following him to be the other guard with dark eyes. His broken eagle vision could not really tell them apart but when he realised, he was fighting Shining, he thought running away was his best option. The way that Shining and Twilight interacted with one another just this morning indicated to Silver they were very close to each other. Killing Shining would probably lead to Twilight being traumatised and even worse being hunted down by her forever. ‘He shows great potential as a leader and fighter, he could perhaps rise to the rank of Captain if he worked himself for it. Hmm it’s strange, Twilight and Shining do not look even remotely related, yet they are brother and sister...actually the same can be said about Luna and Celestia. I do hope I made my message clear though, I really don’t want to kill him.” 

Unfurling out the dripping map and the disintegrating list of names from his pouch, he tried to put correlations of who each figure was to the points on the map, studying their locations and trying to commit it to memory but some parts were indecipherable from the water. Worn words and running ink dripped down the map, deteriorating at the edges, such that the rims of the map showed destroyed places like the Dragon's Lair and Macintosh Hills. One aspect of the map that did astound him was the way the map was drawn. It was beautifully hand-drawn with detailed landscapes and drawings of the towns, even though damaged, it had vibrant colours and appeared to be lifelike, so much that Silver couldn’t believe his eyes when there was a gradual slow sway to the map landmarks as if they were in real-time. To him, it had to be an illusion of some sought, all even magic. It was very odd Equestria’s geography, it seemed like that some cities were modernising but at the same time there were multiple that still weren't developing at all and were stagnant by choice judging by the map. He touched the words of the Crystal Empire and felt it crumble away, bringing the haunting image of the missing city he tried to save from King Sombra. He could remember running through the great plains trying to escape from Canterlot, to finally free himself of the goddam colourful ponies and start a new life, only to be sucked deeper into their problems. “A strange day, no doubt…” 

Prominent cities such as Cloudsdale, Baltimare, Fillydelphia, and Manehattan were where the assassinations were plotted, and he did not like it one bit. For one he was missing a few names and locations from the water damage and on top of all that the time frame between the assassinations was going to happen too close to one another meaning that he might not be able to save everyone. Even now, how much time was left. The names of the ponies were giving him a headache trying to understand them, but he gathered that they must be all supporters of Celestia, why else would they be on the hit list? However, one major problem arose as he tried planning his next moves carefully. “How in Tartarus name do I find out who is assassinating who, I just can’t introduce myself to everyone, Celestia would strike me down. In God’s name, why is assassinating so much easier than stopping them!” Packing away the now dry map, he glanced towards the dipping sun and recognised he should cover as much ground possible to reach these locations. But in all honesty, he had no idea where he was and no way to locate his position but with nothing left to do, he traversed the trees towards the train tracks, hoping it would level with the ground and lead to a village or town or some point reference.

As Silver neared the metal trestle bridge there was something familiar with the water’s edge. He could not quite tell if it was the same spot, but he stopped and searched around just to make sure. With great digging skills and trying to ignore the freezing waters, he found some green gunk stuck on a hard surface of some sought, half stuck in the ground on the inside of the nearby bushes. Silver immediately dipped it in water to clean it and the crystal illuminated a still blue and the sun rays reflected over the almost forgotten past. It was Shard’s aged crystal tail. ‘Well use to be,’. Memories flooded his mind with lost history, and he didn’t know how to feel about it or why he couldn’t remember before. This was the same lake as the time he bathed with Shard’s and a peeping Zecora but now the lake had expanded further than he remembered, making him wonder how many days or years had passed since he came back to this world. 'I wonder if Zecora is still alive,' Silver contemplated, as he perched on the prehistoric mossy tree and looked out towards the ancient Everfree forest, understanding his general bearings, but more importantly trying to find Zecora’s hut through the thick brambles of leaves and sticks.

He wanted to go check up on her, to see if she was still alive but decided against it. Last time they talked it was himself telling her that he didn’t love her and then being stabbed by Nightmare Moon, they were not really on speaking terms. Turning away from the lakeside view, he realised he should have done this a long time ago and followed a disappearing track that was instantly bringing him memories. Along the greener dirt track leading through the dense lush forest, the trees were progressively starting to bend towards him menacingly and the air was growing still with every step. Silver progressed and was starting to worry down the path. The sounds of the forest were nothing to him as the only noise was the crunch of the dry leaves on the ground when he realised that they were wilted and almost blackened as if a blaze of fire had swept through the area. Something was definitely off, Silver’s senses had gone into overdrive, all clues screamed danger as he wondered what had happened all around him. He started running towards the one spot he knew, the one spot he had always remembered since he arrived on this land, never wanting to forget it no matter what. But as he stirred the leaves up and the beating in his heart quickened to the outburst of energy he came to a complete stop. He was in disbelief. Blackness covered his eyes as he peered at the stump of the tree and was utterly shocked.

He could only take one more step before staggering to his knees. What once stood of the wooden grave was a giant gaping hole in the ground, the dagger long gone, ripped from the bark of the tree and the most important thing vanished without a trace. Ash's grave was desecrated as Silver felt defeat on his knees with the black tree towering over him. What beautiful words laid upon the broken tree was stripped and the emptiness inflicted onto to him. He tried to hold himself but felt broken as if jagged glass were embedded in his skin. The Apple of Eden, the artifact of ultimate power, to bend the will of humans into submission and to do the bidding of your choosing. A dangerous weapon that Silver believed that neither Assassin’s nor Templar’s should possess but now it was gone. ‘A pony must have dug it up…and left in a hurry, all while a battle was raging on?’ Silver could not comprehend what surrounded him, there was too much for his mind, the heart-ache and disbelief of everything around him. He touched the black stump with the loving etched words, the grooves that had been dug with the dagger filled with blackened ash.

The more he stared at the engrained words, the angrier he got. It was spreading like a wildfire, deep concerning questions lit up in his mind. Why did it have to be Ash’s grave, how did anyone know about this place? He placed his hand inside the damp hole trying to grasp onto something when he knew was gone. Silver vowed to find the Apple, as being the son of the leader of the Creed it was his sacred duty to make sure the Precursor’s items never fall into the wrong hands no matter what the cost was. He punched the tree in frustration with his left arm and simultaneously leaned on the tree with his right arm in defeat. Why was life so hard for him, there was nothing left to fight for, he had no more family, no friends and yet he still persisted on? Why? The Creed he left was in shambles and here in Equestria, there was none. He cried. The feeling of being alone in this world, full of ponies and mythical creatures, a child’s imagination was honestly terrifying. He still didn’t understand why he had not gone mad from this world or maybe he was already, and this was all in his head. Silver wiped the tears away, a little laughter escaping his lips in realisation maybe it was all one really bad dream. But deep down inside, he knew there was nothing that he could do to escape.

Gloved hands felt the coarse wood, tracing the grooves of the words that he inscribed on the night, specifically ‘future’. There would always be one as long as he served the Creed and when the time's come, set Luna free. But he hesitated for a second, there was no Creed here, was there any point of finding the Apple, he could just leave it up to fate. Silver doubted if the Apple could be controlled by the hooves of ponies but looking at the destruction around him, he realised his mistake. ‘How much blood is on my hands’ as Silver arms shook in fear. He calmed his nerves down, he wasn’t going to break, not yet. Nothing came through his sunken eyes as his eagle vision flowed through him but failed and faded away, there was no way of locating it. He was getting frustrated by his vision but all he could do was wait for it to return in time. The devastating battle around him screamed for attention, the etches of sword marks, burned landscape and multiple skeletons of ponies present in Silver’s eyes. He decided the best thing to do at the moment was finding anything resourceful and cleaning up Ash’s grave instead of moping around.

It was a massacre, so many were dead, he counted up to 10 pony skeletons all of the different races, but it appeared to definitely have happened a while ago. Taking himself away from the burnt tree, he tried to pinpoint the time of the ponies' death by taking a closer look at the dead bodies. The sick pale skeletons had thick green moss growing like patchwork over the body while bugs and other creepy crawlies fought on top of the skulls. Here he could see the different bone structures of each race and each had something unique. Unicorn’s obviously had their horn, which to his better judgement were very fragile as he tried touching it, for it too only crumble in his hand. He couldn’t understand how magic functioned out of the bone and left it as that. Moving on to the pegasus, the formation of their wings were of interests here, something he had not seen before. They were extremely lightweight compared to its size, almost hollow in fact, similar to that of birds which fascinated Silver. Lastly were the earth ponies, who’s biggest feature was their size. They were almost twice the size of the pegasus and unicorn and had big heavy bones that were very solid against stone. He realised he would have died if the earth pony from the mansion actually bucked his head properly. After thorough analyzation, he still needed evidence of the age to which the smell hit him. There was none and was enough to conclude, this had happened either months or even years ago. Checking for anything related to their deaths was minute, nothing was on the ponies, clothes were stripped off and personal items removed.
The bodies had no damage whatsoever, no sword marks or any kind of stress which made Silver question the reality of the battle, had there been one in the first place. Identifying who they were, was the next step and the biggest problem. The remains had nothing left on them, that was until he searched behind the grave tree to find two more skeletons glinting in bronze and faded gold.

They wore golden armour with stars imprinted onto the chest plate, but the gold had rusted and faded. ‘Must not be real gold then, gold doesn’t rust, it must be bronze painted gold,’ He had seen that star symbol recently as Silver thought to his last encounter and it clicked instantly in his mind, they were E.U.P guards, it was the nearly the same armour as Shining Armour’s. However they had a slightly different swirl pattern on their chest, Silver assumed it was either to show different ranks or they had changed the style of the armour meaning that these guards had died a long time ago and were of an older generation. ‘What really happened here…’ Silver’s mind was turning the clocks, trying to make sense of the battle in front of him. His biggest concern was the Apple of Eden and how much damage was caused by it and he was already feeling a dread just thinking about it. ‘He or she already knows how to use it, I need to find it before too many innocents get hurt, magic might be involved and I don’t know what the consequences of mixing the two’ as Silver started burying the bones.

As night approached, all was silent, for there was not a whisper of wind in the woods. The eerie silence disturbed by the final patting of dirt, and Silver looking at his handy work of burials. Having no shovel to dig was hard but with the recent rains, the soil was soft for the taking. There were now graves of emptiness displaying no way of knowing that dead ponies had been buried. However, Ash’s grave was now clean, he could finally feel peace within himself. He still was in a little shock that anypony would desecrate a grave and prayed that nothing bad happened when he left.

“I shall return someday!” Silver whispered, not knowing when he would come back to the grave. 

Climbing up to the top of a nearby tree he felt an uneasy calmness tingling in his spine. Wisps of darkness were illuminated by the bright moonlight rising from the horizon. Nightmare Moon hadn’t returned to torment him yet and the more he thought about Nightmare the more he thought of Zecora. The rich African accent surprised him in more ways than others as it reminded him of home in a way. There were many African’s in America and recently with the amendment that abolished slavery allowed them to properly integrate into society for the better but there was still much-unbalanced power. The Assassin’s were trying hard to fight for their freedom but was a challenging ordeal now left up to Mike.

Silver couldn’t take it anymore, he needed to talk to Zecora. It was somepony that he would be able to talk and take him in with open hooves, the only pony he could trust out of anyone. Hopefully, he wasn’t too late. How many years had it been since he was in this strange place? He set out to the hut in the middle of Everfree forest or what he generally remembered. Finding the hut was easier than expected but finding Zecora was impossible, the hut had been abandoned already. The occupant was long gone and left nothing but dust, Silver already fearing the worst. ‘No, she can’t be dead, there was still so much to say,’ He couldn’t lose another…friend. Jarred right open, almost off the hinges the thick front wooden door looked like it had been attacked and the outside hasn’t been maintained for years with fungi growing out from the doors and window edges.

The interior of the hut was much the same as the last time he remembered it, with there being one massive living room with a giant black cauldron in the chimney area, a back room which was originally Zecora’s room and a bathroom. Curtains were draped over the windows filled with cobwebs and cupboards were empty as Silver stepped through the doorway. Walking through the midst of thick dust and emptiness, it was dark with only the moonlight to guide him through the forsaken place. However, there was no way of telling him that she was dead. Well with the evidence around him, Silver felt a little silver lining, hope wasn’t all lost, not yet anyway. Dragging his fingers across the old wooden table where witchcraft and alchemy were done, layers of dust spread across and wavered slowly to the ground. Silver wasn’t paying attention; he was so deep in thought wondering what was he doing with his life. Tracking down Zecora would take too long, time was not on his side as he pondered what he should do now while sitting down on the wooden stool. The wind’s from outside picked up all of a sudden and rushed from the front door and right through to the back, the dust swirled around him violently before it moulded itself to a shape. ‘Not again!’ Hooves landed on the wooden floor as the evil blue piercing eyes found her prey, smiling. With an explosive burst, colours emerged from the dust, into a deep navy blue like the night sky and out stepped Nightmare Moon, with glaring fangs. Her appearance made Silver jump ready into action knocking down his chair and slicing through her neck only for it to phase right through. Laughter erupted from the Mare in the Moon and with ecstatic joy, blasted Silver down with magic. He braced for impact expecting severe pain but when the magic collided with his face it turned into dust, making him cough and drop the sword.

“Ah, so this is the place where your Zebra friend lives,” Nightmare smiled, looking around the dusty place and then bringing her eyes back to Silver. “I love what you have done to the place!”

Silver was cautiously trying to step back from this madness but was stopped by the evil glint, why was she here and why now? He slowly picked up his sword while keeping eye contact with Nightmare and trying to figure a way to dispel the dust.

“You can’t hurt me! you’re just an illusion,” Silver blurted, but immediately regretted as Nightmare amusingly glared at him.

“You don’t think I can hurt you while I’m banished on the MOON, I am the ruler of the night and I shall do as I so please, the nights are getting longer Silver and the clock is ticking,” Nightmare laughed maliciously when suddenly her eyes shone with dark violet magic, before becoming one with darkness and seeped into the floor. Shadows stripped themselves off the wall and slithered towards her, warping into a black sphere. Nightmare’s new form darkened, absorbing the countless shadows and increasing in size at a rapid pace. Silver watched in horror as the entire hut shook from the vortex, ‘I need to get out of here!’ the winds scratched at his face, as he hastily placed his sword on his back. Now was not the time to fight. He turned around immediately, climbing over the table, sliding across it and charged right through the broken door before the giant black sphere dispelled itself in a giant explosion.

Silver was launched into the air from behind, the feeling of weightlessness taking a hold of him. CRASH! He couldn’t hear anything except for a loud buzzing, and the taste of dirt in his mouth. He knew he blacked out at that moment, but for some reason, he felt energized, taking a direct explosion should have killed him. Turning himself over onto his back, he couldn’t see the sky, the surrounding air was smoky and the smell of burning wood permeated through his nose. Trying to get up from the ground was like carrying boulders when a face of darkness suddenly appeared in his view. Smiling with deep intent.

“That was just only a taste of my full power,” Nightmare Moon gleamed her face only a few centimetres away from Silver’s face. Her hot breath breathing down his neck, he could see his own reflection in the pearly whites of Nightmare and he didn’t know what to do in this situation. He was defenceless at this point or was he. There was a slight pause though as she stared into the abandoned woods, sensing someone being there but immediately dismissing it before she looked back down upon him. “When I return, I will have my eternal night, nopony shall stand in my way, not Celestia or even you will stop me in my conquest!”

Silver with all his might shoved his hidden blade into her skull with his right hand, only for it to phase right through like previously. She laughed in his pathetic attempt and raised her left hoof high above his face, while he looked in fear preparing for the pain. “ My eternal night shall reign forever!” as she stomped at his head with full force, only for her form to suddenly dispersed back into dust.

He coughed up the dust and laid on the cold wet dirt shivering, the landscape surrounding him transforming. ‘Too close’ as he pulled himself up from the ground, to see that the hut was now set ablaze, a beacon of power. Nightmare Moon’s magic was too much for him to handle alone, his objectives were plain and simple now, to stop the assassination’s, hold back Nightmare from returning and find a way to bring back Luna safely. ‘Better keep moving, Celestia’s E.U.P guards are going to see this and I don’t want Shining trailing me, that is if he decides to follow.’ 

Silver felt strange, the explosion of magic from Nightmare Moon should have killed him but here he was watching the wooden hut burn. Somepony saved him but who was it though, was it Zecora! Calling out Zecora’s name was a lost cause, no one replied. A lantern of light shone overhead piercing the hazy sky with ferocity as a new fiery aura of dark cobalt magic spread across the ground in haste. All around him he could see Nightmare’s magic breaking away the floor, melting away the dirt into a swampish land. It was changing so rapidly for himself he started sinking through the mud, the trees around him were decaying at an unprecedented rate and vines grew rapidly from the ground. His eagle vision flared as he saw two figures glowing green running away in a panic, but they were too blurry to make out the shapes of who they were. ‘They must have been the ones who were watching over me’ and now he felt even more cautious. Dark lightning magic was tearing the ground and heading outwards, the ground terraforming along his route, but he wasn’t paying attention. Being watched wasn’t his first time and this wasn’t the first time he was saved either. That's all he could think of as he progressed through the trees, trying to reach up to them when they suddenly vanished. Right into thin air, they disappeared off his radar confusing Silver, ‘Must be a unicorn performing magic’. It couldn’t be Cadance or Twilight, they were too far away, nor did he think they cared enough about him to follow. Thinking back to the first time he was saved he had fallen from the broken support beam, dislocating his right shoulder just a few days ago but now this. Stopping atop of the branches of a particularly large tree with thick foliage he decided to rest first. He had travelled out far enough for Nightmare’s magic to stop flowing and now he could finally rest in peace. ‘No point in stopping assassinations without any sleep,’ as he gazed at the thick stars one last time.