After Twilight had become a princess, she stayed in Canterlot, eventually bringing her friends along, the only pony who hadn't come was Fluttershy, who stayed to look after her animals.
After Twilight had become a princess, she stayed in Canterlot, eventually bringing her friends along, the only pony who hadn't come was Fluttershy. She had stayed to look after her animals, but she promised to visit whenever she could, the last few times she's come to visit, she noticed that her friends were... Changing, but could not put her hoof on it, when she comes for her next visit, she'll find out.
Canterlot was a beautiful city, filled with thriving ponies, majestic architecture, and dozens of friendly shops, that felt like they would be something a pony would find in Ponyville. The streets were often filled with a wide variety of colored ponies, like gumballs in a machine, each one different colored than the rest. Most ponies would jam their way through the middle of the street, trying to get to their next destination as quickly as possible, but a few ponies would move to the side, trying to avoid the constant rush of the city, among these few was Fluttershy, her bright yellow coat and light pink mane just standing out among the others.
This was the day she was supposed to meet her friends at Canterlot Castle. She had been counting down the days on her calendar at home, this would be the first time in the new year she would see them and she hoped to share stories of what was going on lately in Ponyville.
As the yellow pegasus walked the streets of the city, she couldn’t take her eyes off of the gleaming castle that kept getting closer and closer. Fluttershy could distinctly remember the banners they put up on the day Twilight was crowned the newest Princess of Equestria. The pegasus smiled to herself at the thought.
Fluttershy trotted toward the castle quickly knowing who she would see first thing when she passed through the gates. The pony blinked as the gates open and a new light shined down upon her, the ocean blue, shimmering beauties that were her eyes squinted slightly as the light bounced off of Rainbow Dash’s armor into her eyes.
“Dashie!” Fluttershy squeaked, hugging her friend, who was turned to the side.
Rainbow Dash jumped back, making the pony fall off of her.
“Who are you?” Rainbow Dash asked loudly, her raspy voice silencing the room.
Fluttershy could feel the eyes of numerous soldiers staring down at her. She didn’t like to be the center of attention, actually, she hated being the center of attention.
“W-what do you mean, who am I?” Fluttershy asked Rainbow Dash, who still stood over her, not helping her up.
The pony stared down at her as well.
“Das-”
The cyan pegasus burst out into laughter, as well as the rest of the room.
Fluttershy was confused.
“I’m just kiddin’” Dash said, snickering still a little and helping the other mare up. “Let’s go get the others.” She said with a rather forceful punch to Fluttershy’s front arm, which made it sting for a second.
“O-okay.” Fluttershy said cautiously, looking back into the room with now talking soldiers as she walked into the castle.
Just as she entered the castle, the colors once again surprised her, it was always white that overtook the castle, but there were always different colors somewhere, the carpets were pink and most of the banners that hung from the windowsills were a deep magenta, most likely because of Pinkie Pie’s upcoming birthday.
“Rarity should be somewhere over here.” Dash said, walking up a few steps and turning to the left, where a giant door stood before her with Rarity’s cutie mark painted onto it.
Rainbow Dash held a hoof up to knock, but a screech behind the two mares stopped her.
“Rainbow Dash! Do you have no manners?!” Rarity shouted, quickly moving towards the two. “The paint is still drying!”
“Oh, well sorry, I didn’t think it was that important to you Rarity.” Rainbow said, rolling her eyes. “It’s just paint.”
Rarity looked insulted, she turned to Fluttershy, who smiled towards her.
“See what I have to live with, darling?” She said, putting a hoof around Fluttershy’s back and walking away with her. “Let’s get you away from this brute and get the girls all rounded up.”
“Okay, Rarity.” Fluttershy said, looking back to Rainbow Dash, who slouched her shoulders and gave Rarity a look.
“Who are we going to?” Fluttershy asked, turning back to Rarity.
“Why Spike of course.” Rarity laughed.
Fluttershy smiled, she had always enjoyed having Spike as company, he had grown rapidly over the past few years, starting to live on his own and going on to get a job under Rainbow Dash and Shining Armor with the military. The once tiny dragon had grown to be taller than all of the mares and even Big Macintosh, he was just under Princess Luna’s height, but still growing.
Rarity hadn’t seemed to of changed since she went into taxes, and other revenue and money things that concerned Canterlot, other than the fact she had talked about it so much.
“Spiiiike?!” Rarity called, “Spike?”
“I’m over here!” A deeper voice than Fluttershy had remembered called, appearing in a long hallway and quickly running over towards us, “Fluttershy!” He said, bending down to hug the smaller mare.
“It’s good to see you.” Fluttershy said in between the hug.
“It’s been too long.” Spike said, letting go.
Suddenly a loud beeping noise came from the room Spike had come from,
“Oh, dammit.” He cursed.
“Spike!” Rarity gasped, “Language!”
“Oh, whatever.” He said, running back towards the room and closing the door behind him. The beeping stopped seconds later, but the dragon did not come out again.
Rarity rolled her eyes and sighed, “That dragon, always going in his room and sitting there all day on days off.” She said, turning and dragging Fluttershy with her.
“Might as well go get Pinkie and Twilight.” Rarity said.
“What about Applejack?” Fluttershy asked, awkwardly moving out of Rarity’s grasp.
“Um, she probably won’t be up for awhile...” Rarity said, moving faster.
“What do you mean?”
“She’s... uh, down in the dungeon... tending to some of the ponies.” Rarity said.
“Oh, well I’m sure she’s taking good care of them.” Fluttershy smiled.
“Yes.” Rarity said. “She must be.”
Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle were both found in one of the throne rooms. Pinkie running in figure eights around most of the pillars in the sides of the room, while Twilight boredly watched her run back and forth from the throne.
“Twilight!” Rarity exclaimed happily. “Fluttershy’s here for a visit!”
Twilight immediately brightened up, her wings flaring up in excitement.
“Fluttershy! You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear from you!” Twilight explained. “How are you?” She asked.
“I’m doing great.” Fluttershy said with a warm smile. “How are you doing?”
“Oh, terrible.” Twilight said with a frown. “Everything here lately has been such a mess.”
“Oh, I’m sorry, did I come at a bad time?” The yellow pegasus asked, looking back towards the door she entered.
“No, no, no.” Twilight said, hopping off of her chair and coming towards the two ponies. “I think you're just what we need, would you like to stay for dinner?”
“Of course.” Fluttershy answered, hugging the alicorn. “You ask me that everytime I come.”
Pinkie Pie circled around and ran through Twilight and tackled Fluttershy with a hug.
“Fluttershy! Fluttershy! I missed you, we missed you, so, so, so, so, SO much!” Pinkie giggled, jumping off of the mare. “I can’t wait to introduce you to our new friends at Abstergo!”
“At where?” Fluttershy asked, getting to her hooves.
The room around the pony was dark, so dark you couldn’t see the concrete walls or iron bars that confined him to a few hooves of space, so dark that he could feel the blood dripping from his face better than her could see it.
“Just tell me where you’re all holed up, and I promise I’ll make it quick, and painless.” A voice said in the dark.
The pony felt the bindings on his hooves rip against his fur as he tried to move his hooves.
“You expect me to believe your bullshit?!” He shouted, spitting in the direction of the voice.
A strong hoof connected with the tip of his muzzle, knocking him onto his back and allowing the pony another few swings as it got on top of him. Blood and spit was showered from his mouth onto either the ground beside him or the wall beside him as the pony kept on with the punches, beating the helpless stallion until he could barely talk without upchucking blood.
“Tell me dammit.” The voice said.
“Fuck you.” The stallion said through red teeth.
Metal ringed in the dark, and soon the stallion’s neck was slashed and refused to stop gushing blood onto the floor, staining it even more than before.
“Templar... bitch!” The pony struggled to say as he choked on his own blood.
“Stupid Assassin.” The mare said, opening a door and walking up cold, dark steps.
The wine glass glinted in the overhead lights, Fluttershy could see her reflection, her mane was perfect, like she had made it the morning of her arrival, she knew that her friends wouldn’t care about her appearance either way, but she had made sure to look especially good to impress her friends. Her eyes glinted like normal, shining a sapphire blue, sparkling in the light. The mare smiled at her own reflection, loving her appearance.
“Fluttershy!” Rarity shouted, taking a sip of her wine elegantly. “Stop dozing, darling!”
“Oh, was I dozing?” She asked, “I’m sorry...”
Fluttershy looked from behind her mane, all of her friends and Spike had gathered around the table, eating their food and talking amongst themselves, laughing occasionally, all was normal.
“Shy, did you see all of the soldiers working around the castle?” Rainbow Dash asked, “They’re not fighting anything now, so I had them help with the repairs or other things.”
“That’s nice, Dash.” Fluttershy said with a smile. “But why... oh, nevermind.”
“What is it?” Rainbow insisted, moving closer to the shy mare.
“Why would you need so many?”
“So we can take out any threats in our way.”
Fluttershy gulped, fighting herself to go on with the conversation.”Couldn’t you just ask them to go away?”
“Ponies won’t listen Shy, it doesn’t work like that.” The cyan mare shouted, slamming her hoof down on the table and making the plates and glasses rattle.
“Oh... I... I didn’t mean to make you angry...” The yellow mare said, ducking her head down and hiding behind her pink mane.
Fluttershy knew that her friends had been under pressure since some of the Changelings had been seen on outskirts of towns, stealing what little they could and disappearing. But she didn't know Dash, her best friend since flight school, would treat her like this, for the second time.
The mare closed her eyes, remembering the last time she had visited Canterlot, she had interrupted the rainbow maned pony and she had gotten angrier than ever before, screaming at Fluttershy to leave her alone and get away from her.
Fluttershy had not returned until now, five months after what Dash had said, she knew she didn’t want to have to go through it again, so she didn’t speak.
“...Rainbow Dash has to make hard decisions for the well being of everypony, Fluttershy.” Spike said, speaking up. “She doesn’t do it because she can.”
Fluttershy didn’t listen, she just resumed eating her meal behind her mane.
The pink mane suddenly flashed out of her face, Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy with a vicious look on her face, “He’s talking to you, answer.” She ordered.
Fluttershy felt a burning feeling in her chest, her heart hurt, she felt tears glaze over her eyes when she pulled away from Dash.
“Rainbow Dash!” Rarity shouted, grabbing the pony by the hoof with her magic, “She is not one of your soldiers! Be nice to her!”
“Dash, really, it’s fine.” Spike said, “Leave her be.”
“Rarity, I treat ponies how they deserve to be treated, and when she is rude enough to not answer, it’s justified!” Rainbow shouted, pulling her arm down.
Fluttershy got up, she knew she wanted to stay away from the conversation to avoid Rainbow Dash.
A vase shattered on a wall at the yellow mare’s side, spraying glass and water around like shrapnel, the pegasus turned around with tears in her eyes, Rainbow Dash had a wing raised, breathing heavily at the table.
“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted sternly. “The vase!”
“Get the hell back here.” Rainbow demanded, pointing to Fluttershy’s seat.
Fluttershy ran for her room, tears breaching her eyelids and pouring out like water from a broken dam, making damp lines on her fuzzy cheeks. She knew she shouldn’t have come, she knew that something had changed, her friends would have never done, or let that be done to her.
Fluttershy reached her bedroom door pulling th-
Her mane was caught by a speeding pegasus, who picked the smaller mare up by the mane, pressed a hoof to her chest, and pushed her into the wall.
Fluttershy panicked, swinging her hooves out in front of her, until they too were held down by the more powerful mare, Rainbow Dash.
“Dashie, stop!” Fluttershy squeaked, trying to use her back legs to kick at the standing mare.
“No, I asked you to sit down, and did you listen?!” The mare shouted in the other pony’s face, inches away from her.
“I-”
The rainbow mare pulled back and slammed Fluttershy back into the same position, the drywall behind her cracked with the force that was used.
“DID YOU LISTEN?!” Rainbow screamed, dropping the sobbing pony at her hooves, the kicking her once as she curled up into a ball, making a squeak come out of her.
Fluttershy cried and shook as Rainbow Dash left her line of sight, leaving her there to bathe in her own tears. The mare sniffled over and over, then took a breath, then cried some more. She had experienced crying, but never like this, she knew she was hyperventilating.
“She’s fuckin’ pathetic!” Rainbow Dash shouted from a different room.
Pinkie Pie laid down next to Fluttershy, holding the sobbing pony close.
“Sh-She... Pinkie...” She sobbed, crying into the other pony’s shoulder.
“Shh, Shh, Shh...” Pinkie said. “She didn’t mean it...”
“My... my head...” Fluttershy whispered, holding it in her hooves.
Fluttershy’s heart, and head hurt badly, Dash had done a number on her in physical, and mental ways, the mare wanted to think that it wasn’t her friend who had done that to her, but she couldn’t.
Her room surrounded her, she looked to the door, which slowly crept open.
Rainbow Dash stuck her head in.
Fluttershy felt herself frown.
“Uh, hey, Shy.” Rainbow said, scratching behind her neck.
The yellow pegasus rolled over in her covers, turning her back to Rainbow Dash and pulling up the blankets on her.
“Go away.” She choked out.
“But I-”
“Go away, Rainbow Dash.” She said.
She heard hoofsteps, then the door closed.
The mare felt tears come to her eyes again, quickly streaming down her cheeks. As much as she wanted somepony with her, she didn’t want to be around Rainbow Dash, she hated herself for talking that way to a friend, but she didn’t want to talk to her.
The door clicked again, opening back up.
“I told you to-”
“It’s me, Shy.” Pinkie said, trotting over to Fluttershy and putting a hoof on her back. “I wanted to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk right now, Pinkie.” Fluttershy said, curling up and feeling pain go through her mind. “I just want to be left alone.”
Pinkie climbed up on the bed with Fluttershy, laying down behind her. “You don’t have to talk,” The pink mare said, “just listen.”
Fluttershy rolled over and faced the normally outrageous and crazy pony, meeting with a serious faced, and tired looking mare.
“Did you get any sleep?” Fluttershy asked in a worried tone.
Pinkie chuckled a bit, “No, I wanted to help you.”
Fluttershy blushed.
Pinkie looked up at the ceiling with teary eyes. “Things have been different... y’know?”
She knew.
The pink earth pony looked like she was in a losing battle of fighting off tears. “Dashie’s been so angry, Applejack won’t speak, Rarity is constantly arguing with somepony, Spike won’t listen and has outbursts, Twilight is being so bossy and mean, and I...”
Fluttershy stared at the pink mare in disbelief, she hadn’t seen her cry in ages.
“I’m just a mess, aren’t I?” She asked with a weak chuckle.
Fluttershy frowned and put a tender arm around Pinkie, trying to give her some comfort.
She hadn’t known half of it, she knew her friends had changed, but she only thought Dash had something wrong, she thought to herself about the night before, about the lack of reactions Dash got.
“Pinkie...”
“No, I am, I can’t sleep, I won’t eat, I can barely stand being around the girls...” Pinkie said, nodding her head from side to side.
“You need to sleep Pinkie...” Fluttershy said, holding her hoof to Pinkie’s forehead, “You’re going to get yourself sick.”
“I... I can’t.” Pinkie said.
“Just try.” Fluttershy said, pushing Pinkie’s head down onto a pillow beside her.
“Can you stay here?” Pinkie asked, looking up at Fluttershy as she stretched.
Fluttershy giggled for a few seconds. “Of course, as long as you get some rest.”
The pink pony looked at Fluttershy for a few seconds, then closed her eyes, snuggling close to the other mare, holding her like she was her last friend in Equestria. Fluttershy welcomed the touch, holding Pinkie just as she would to Angel bunny or any other animal of hers.
“Fluttershy...”
“Hm?”
“Fluttershy...”
“Pinkie, what do you-”
When the eyes of the mare opened, a giant, glowing bipedal creature stood before her. What Fluttershy assumed to be her face was a pale white, she almost looked... transparent. Her hair was black as night, she wore what looked to be a plain white wedding gown. Where her hooves should have been, was a large mass with five other smaller, more lengthy things. The mare assumed the features to be some kind of claws.
“Wh-who are you?!” Fluttershy asked, backing up.
When the mare looked around her, she saw nothing, she stood on nothing, she saw nothing in the distance, except for the creature, what looked to be the floor shattered and put itself back together like glass, reflecting off of other, unseeable lights.
“My name, is Juno, I come from the First Civilization, from a world much different than yours.” It spoke.
“What do you want?” Fluttershy asked, looking around for anywhere to run.
“Do not think of running young one,” Juno said, waving her hand around her, showing the landscape, “there is nowhere to go.”
Fluttershy looked back up at the creature, which slowly kneeled towards her running her claws through the pink mane of the pegasus, who cowered at the alien touch.
“I only want to help save you, and your world, just like my own.” Juno said with a slight, reassuring smile.
“What is wrong with my world?” Fluttershy asked, feeling the creatures hand in her hoof. Twilight would have gone crazy for something like this.
“A group of ponies, threatens to destroy it.” Juno said.
Fluttershy gasped, “Why would somepony want to do that?!” she squeaked.
“They want to make a perfect world,” Juno said, “although their interpretation thereof - emphasizing purpose, order, and control over the freedom of individuals.”
“Isn’t that what our princess’ are for?”
“No, Fluttershy, your princess’ grant you peace and freedom in Equestria, giving you the right to do what you want, when you want. These ponies will steal your lives from you, almost quite literally, all the choices in your life, will be made by them.” Juno explained, “That is, unless somepony makes a stand.” She said, looking down at Fluttershy.
Fluttershy knew what she was aiming towards. “Oh, oh, no, I couldn’t, I don’t have any experience with politics.”
“That isn’t what I mean.” She said, pulling something from her dress and throwing it in front of the pony.
What landed in front of the mare, frightened her beyond belief.
It was an axe, a smaller version of one through, one that could be held in one hoof, it had a long and sturdy wooden handle, with a lone feather, attached by a small string with three red beads, it had a leather piece for a handle guard, what intrigued the mare the most was the shape of the blade, it had been carved out in the middle, but it resembled an uppercase A, with the middle piece removed and put as the handle going through the top half of the blade.
“Wha- No! No! No!” Fluttershy squeaked, backing away from the weapon.
“Seek out this symbol... a house in Manehattan” Juno said, a large symbol, the same as the blade appeared by her side for a few seconds, then faded off into the landscape.
“But-”
“Or watch your world burn.” She said, “I know how they have changed, Fluttershy, it’s time you get them back, so you don’t have to remember them like this, like Templars.”
The world around Fluttershy faded into pink, she realized she was staring into Pinkie Pie’s mane.
She rolled over, staring at the wall.
It wasn’t a dream. She knew that, something had been different, the touch in her mane, the words passing through her lips, it was like she had really been there.
The next day she left for Manehattan, although she felt bad for not telling her friends where she was going, she felt like they didn’t need to know. Manehattan was a bit different than Canterlot, it was smaller, but still had the big city feel to it. Fluttershy was overwhelmed, she had no idea where to start, she didn’t want to show the symbol to the wrong person, if Juno was right, she could put herself in danger.
What kind of house was Juno even talking about? An apartment? A ranch? A farm?
The timid pegasus gritted her teeth, she didn’t even know what to look for.
Somewhere behind the mare, a coin fell to the ground. On impulse, she turned around to locate the noise, a pony in a black hood with a coin purse in his wing ran away from a confused mare, looking in her saddlebag.
“Stop! Thief!” The mare shouted, pointing off towards the running pony.
Fluttershy felt something come over her, she didn’t think what it was, she only acted towards it, the next thing she knew, she was on top of the hooded pony, the coin purse still clenched in his wing, the yellow pegasus looked around. Her saddlebag had dropped, leaving the contents of the bag on the ground, the mare noticed the drawing of the symbol had unraveled and was shown to anypony who cared to look.
The mare she had seen what felt like seconds ago pushed through a crowd that surrounded the mare who tackled the thief.
“Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!” the mare said, kissing Fluttershy on the forehead, it was an older mare, maybe in her late fifties or early sixties.
Fluttershy felt a tug on her mane, it pulled her towards her saddlebag, where a brown earth pony helped her scoop up the contents of her bag and put it back in quickly.
The pegasus was pulled out of the crowd by the brown pony, who held her saddlebag in his mouth.
Fluttershy noticed the slight goatee on the stallion, and his greying hair. Again, an older pony. Atop his head was a black hat, almost like Applejack’s stetson, but with a flat bill going around it. He wobbled slightly on his back leg, showing his age.
The pony turned around and faced Fluttershy. The mare hadn’t noticed she’d been following him to the edge of town, where the city ended and a large brick mansion stood in the distance.
The stallion spit the saddlebag out, going through it and finding the drawing of the symbol and showing it to the mare.
“How did you get this?” He asked in an old, raspy voice.
“I-I um...” Fluttershy stuttered, not knowing what would happen when she answered.
“Answer me, girl.” He ordered, pointing a hoof at him.
The mare looked into the pony’s eyes, he didn’t seem like he wanted to cause any harm, Fluttershy knew a bad pony from a good one, and he was no bad pony.
“I was told to find it,” Fluttershy decided to leave out Juno. “In this city.”
The stallion narrowed his eyes, “Was it Celestia?” He asked.
“Um... no.” The mare whispered.
“Why is it that she keeps sending you Templars to do her dirty work?” He asked.
“I... I’m not a Templar.” She said, rubbing her hoof against the ground.
The stallion sighed. “So when I take this one in, she’s not going to try to kill me?”
“Oh, no!” Fluttershy gasped. “I would never do such a thing!”
“I saw what you did in the marketplace, I would expect no less.” He said.
“But... I didn’t mean to!” She squeaked.
“Okay, okay, come on.” The stallion sighed, picking the saddlebag back up and walking towards the house.
Fluttershy stood there for a second. She didn’t know what the pony’s intentions were, but he had something against the Templars, and he seemed to know what the symbol meant, so maybe Juno had meant for her to go to this house.
“Hey! You coming or not?” The stallion shouted from the door of the brick house.
“I’m coming!” Fluttershy called, hurrying to his home.
The stallion had gotten Fluttershy and himself a cup of coffee, the interior of his house was much different than most would expect, it looked to be rundown and about to collapse upon itself. The stallion had sat across from Fluttershy on a large velvet chair, the yellow mare sat on a large couch, slowly sipping her coffee.
“So.” He said. “What is your name?”
“Um... Fluttershy.” The mare whispered.
“It shows.” He said with a smile. “My name is Achilles.”
The mare smiled warmly, liking the friendly company.
“The Element of Kindness, if I’m not mistaken.” Achilles said.
“Yes.” She said.
The stallion put on a serious face, leaning forward and putting the drawing down on the coffee table in between them.
“Tell me what the Element of Kindness wants with this symbol.” He said.
“Juno... I mean-”
The pony nearly choked on his coffee.
“You spoke to Juno?” He asked.
“You know her?”
“Of course I know her, most Assassin’s do.” Achilles said. “Altair, Ezio...” He mumbled.
“Who?”
“Nopony, nopony you need to worry about.”
Fluttershy leaned back in her seat, feeling a bit more uncomfortable than before, she didn’t know what she was getting herself into, her mind told her to run away, to go back home and never come again. But her heart told her to stay, to stay and listen.
“Tell me about them.” She said, putting her hoof on the drawing.
He told her.
Most of it terrified her, ponies taking other ponies lives, assassinations of ponies who were thought to be just normal, everyday ponies. Some of it she understood though, in an odd way of understanding. The ponies were money hungry, or powerful to a dangerous level, Achilles told a story of Ezio Auditore da Firenze, a Florentine nobleman, how he eliminated Templar threats for the good of everypony, and his death.
“So, what does Juno want with a pegasus?” Achilles asked, “She knows we don’t allow them in the order.”
“She wants me?” Fluttershy asked, her heart skipping a beat.
“Apparently.” Achilles said, “She doesn’t just tell anyone to find the symbol... I guess we could make an exception.”
Fluttershy thought about the order, could she do something like that? Could she allow herself to kill? Even if it would be for the greater good?
“I need to think about this, I don’t know if I could...”
“It’s different for everypony, Fluttershy, ponies take things differently.” Achilles said with a smile. “But I need you, I haven’t seen an Assassin in years, the world needs to stop the Templars, or everything will fall.”
“What about my wings?”
Fluttershy thought about what she had said, was she really considering it?
Achilles tapped his chin. “We cut them off.” He said in dead seriousness.
Fluttershy’s eyes grew wide, her heart stopped, just as she opened her mouth to protest, Achilles laughed.
“We bandage them up, flying won’t be necessary.” He chuckled.
Fluttershy felt herself let out a breath and chuckle. “Okay.”
“Okay? You’ll do it?” Achilles asked, brightening up.
Fluttershy thought about this, by speaking to this pony, she was endangering herself, and what she cared for, she would have to kill other ponies, for the good of Equestria. If Juno thought this was destiny, then Fluttershy was ready to accept it.
“I’ll do it.” She said with a deep breath.
Achilles smiled, getting up and wobbling over to the timid mare, patting her shoulder. “Then we best go over some things.”
“...10...11...12...13...” Achilles counted.
Fluttershy’s arms ached already, she hadn’t done push ups since Flight School. She didn’t know what else Achilles had planned for her, it was only the second workout, the first being a mile run. She knew that she wasn’t doing good, in fact, she knew she was doing terrible.
The mare fell on her chest, breathing heavily, trying to muster up breath for her drying mouth.
“17” Achilles said. “You’re going to need some work.”
“H-how d-did you do this?” Fluttershy asked, rolling over and watching her chest rise and fall with speed.
“Training, practice, more training.” Achilles said, scratching his beard.
Next up Fluttershy had to work her legs, doing pull-ups with the joint on a limb of a tree and pulling herself up, which she barely did before falling and catching herself with her wings.
“You cannot rely on those.” Achilles said, “They should only be used for disguise.”
“But, I’ve used them since I was a filly.” Fluttershy whined. “It’s a reflex.”
Achilles went back inside and returned with boxing tape, tying it around her wings so the feathers couldn’t spread.
“Now try.”
The mare struggled to climb the tree, falling a few times before finally getting up to the branch and resuming her workout. After a few seconds, her legs felt tired again, but she kept going, doing more than the times before so she didn’t fall. But after a minute, she fell, catching herself on her front hooves and falling onto her stomach.
Achilles chuckled.
“Fear, the worst enemy for an Assassin, it’s what stops them from acting, and what pushes them to keep going.” he explained.
“What do you mean?” Fluttershy asked, getting back to her hooves.
“You were scared of falling, therefore you pushed yourself to keep going and not stop.”
“And acting?”
Achilles took a step back and threw a wild hoof in Fluttershy’s direction, the mare immediately covered her face as a reflex, waiting for the hit, but it never came. When she took her arms down, the stallion laughed.
“Fear is what stops you from acting.” He laughed, waving her towards the entrance to the mansion. “Come.”
Fluttershy smiled, Achilles was right, he had known exactly what she would have done in those moments. It was odd, feeling like the pony knew her like that, but it also gave her a sense of safety.
After hours and hours of training the mare’s body, the sun was going down and every part of her body ached when she moved, sweat drenched her mane, coat and tail, tears had been shed during training, the mare had thought she could do no more, and wanted to give up, but Achilles kept pushing her until the very end.
“Night is approaching, you need your rest now.” He said. “I suppose my old body does too.”
Fluttershy found herself inside, gathering her saddlebag and heading for the door, just before she reached for the handle, Achilles spoke from a rocking chair.
“Where are you going?” He asked.
The mare turned around, “I’m going to rent a room in the city, I’ll come back tomorrow.”
Achilles got up and hobbled over to her. “Oh, nonsense.” He said, taking her saddlebag off. “You can stay in the guest room upstairs, there is a bath and a bed far better than any hotel.”
Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you, Achilles.” She said, traveling up the stairs to the left and taking her saddle bag with her.
“Thank you, Fluttershy.” He said with a smile. “You gave me more help than I could have hoped for.”
Fluttershy got to the top of the steps, thinking of what the pony had said, she smiled to herself and made her way to what she guessed was her room, it was across from a larger room, with a giant bed that looked like it was used regularly. Her new bed looked like it was never used, but kept like somepony slept in it every night.
The mare quickly found her way to the bathroom, starting the bathwater, being far too tired to take a shower, the bathtub looked like it was used for a princess, being bigger and taller than what Fluttershy had seen before, even in the castle.
The mare poured lavender into the bathtub to help her relax, she stripped the bandages from her wings, turned the water off, then lowered herself into the bathwater slowly, cherishing the feeling of the hot bathwater on her skin, and the smell of lavender in her nostrils, the mare knew from experience that it was a perfect herbal muscle relaxant. The mare leaned back so her back pressed against the wall of the bathtub, she took in a deep breath, gathering all the relaxation she could from the water.
Just as the mare closed her eyes, she heard something from downstairs, a record player had started, and had begun to play a soft music loud enough so the mare could hear it.
She smiled at the music, slowly stretching out her legs. Achilles must have turned it on for himself, not knowing she could hear it.
The mare heard a creak in her room and opened her eyes, looking for the source.
Another large, bipedal creature stood in the room, only this one seemed different, he didn’t even seem to recognize that she was there, he was in a large, armored grey suit with a hood to cover his face, on his face a black and grey goatee showed his age. He just stood, looking into a mirror at himself.
Fluttershy blinked, and he was gone.
The mare shook her head and closed her eyes again, sinking down into the water so she was fully submerged, then came up, listening to the water run out of her mane and face. She shampooed herself with a strawberry scented foam-like substance, mixing the lavender and strawberry in the water smelled even better to the mare, causing her to smile.
She stepped out of the bathtub just as the music finished.
She wrapped herself in a light blue towel, drying her mane, tail and coat until she got into bed, pulling the covers around her and curling up. She thought about the music Achilles had played, she hadn’t been sure what it was, it wasn’t from anypony she’d heard of.
The mare hummed the first few seconds of the song in a quicker pace to herself, liking the beat and overall liking the song.
The mare finally found peace, and fell into a deep slumber.
Fluttershy awoke normally, looking around the room she had stayed in for almost seven months. The days had passed quickly, her training becoming more brutal by the day, always ending with a hug from her mentor, a bath and sleeping.
Over the months Achilles had taught her how to climb, defend herself from incoming attacks, use a weapon properly on a test dummy, and how to counter incoming attacks, her body had become more muscular, but stayed slim to keep her looking like the mare she was. Her attitude had changed, becoming more assertive and meaningful with her words, although her tone of voice hadn’t grown much louder, she could speak freely without stopping herself or stuttering.
The mare had changed greatly, becoming more and more like an Assassin each day. She could take anything Achilles could throw at her, being hoof to hoof combat with Achilles himself, despite his old age, the stallion could fight like he was young. During the third week of her training, Fluttershy was introduced to fighting, she practiced with Achilles daily and usually was the first to give up or Achilles would stop for her to keep her from crying, which happened almost everyday for the first month of her combat training.
She had even practiced with a hood, like a normal Assassin. Only her hood was made from a potato sack, Achilles hadn’t given her any real hooded suit yet.
She had been introduced to the dual hidden blades, strapping around her two front hooves in a tight fitting bracer. She had learned that the best way to fight was on her hind legs, standing up like a dragon or any other bipedal creature.
The bow and arrow had been one of Fluttershy’s favorite weapons, the mare could hit a target from fifty hooves away on the bullseye. The mare would put the bow, and the ten arrows she kept on her back at all times during training, getting used to the feel of them and the hidden blades.
The flintlock pistol was one of the mare’s least favorite weapons to use, it was loud, heavy and much less accurate than the bow.
“Flutters?” Achilles asked, clapping his hooves in front of the mare’s daydreaming face as she lounged on the couch.
Fluttershy sat up. “Yes?” She asked with a smile.
“Come with me.” He said. “I want to show you something.”
The stallion wobbled off in the kitchen’s direction, Fluttershy followed close behind, ready for the days upcoming workout. Achilles stopped at the record player, turning the crank to start it up.
The mare heard a song she had only heard a few times before, it was different than the one from her first night in the house, but strangely similar.
Achilles stopped at a candle that hung from the wall and pulled it downwards, to the mare’s right, a door in the wall creaked open, revealing a staircase that led down into a dark room.
“Come.” Achilles said, walking down the steps.
Fluttershy followed closely behind, when they got to the bottom of the stairs, Achilles lit a match and lit a candle.
“Close your eyes.” He said.
Fluttershy obliged.
Fluttershy listened to Achilles go around the room, lighting match after match, lighting more candles to illuminate the room.
Fluttershy opened her eyes, revealing a giant room, the walls looked like a candy store for weapons, swords, axes, flintlocks and daggers were arranged on the walls, one wall was like a boutique for Assassin outfits. Fluttershy counted quickly, estimating that there were over ten hooded coats.
But the real prize was in the center of the room. It was a white coat with blue trimming down the front pieces, the hood was also white, the hood had a triangular piece sticking off the front, bearing a sewn in eagle was meant to cover a pony’s eyes and most of their face, leather straps bound the torso of the robes together, serving for weapon sheaths down the middle it was buttoned up, leading down to a red cloth belt that bared the assassin insignia. the pants were black for a few inches then went into worn, brown, leg length boots for her hind legs. The sleeves concealed the right hidden blade, but the right also held the insignia and stood out so anypony could see.
“Try them on.” Achilles said, walking up the stairs to give privacy. “Then come up, I need you to fetch me something in Canterlot.”
A shadow moved through the dark hallways of Canterlot castle, one second it was on the ground, the next it was on the ceiling, climbing overhead of patrolling guards. A door opened, revealing a large beam of light on the landscape, overhead, the shadow was revealed as a disguised Fluttershy.
“...Twilight, I’ve already told you about this.” Rainbow Dash talked into a small device attached to her ear. “She’s not coming back.”
There was a louder voice in the earpiece, but not enough so the hooded mare could hear.
“I didn’t mean to!” Rainbow yelled.
“Are they still arguing about me?” Fluttershy asked herself, climbing down the walls to get a better look.
The hooded mare stuck to the shadows, passing the guards with stealthy perfection.
Rainbow Dash opened a door, lighting the hallway again and quickly shutting it behind her. Fluttershy noticed that there were no guards in this hallway, so she quickly scampered for the door, silently pressing an ear to it.
The mare felt a strand of her mane come from behind her ear, she quickly brought her hoof up and put it back behind. The robe was designed to help hide her mane, but not her tail.
“Where could she have gone?!” Twilight voice asked from behind the door. It seemed like they were face-to-face now. “She couldn’t have gone too far.”
“Pinkie Pie doesn’t do things like this! She doesn’t run off like Fluttershy!” Twilight shouted.
The door suddenly opened, causing Fluttershy to fall forward into the light of the room.
“Ah think we have bigger problems, girls.” Applejack said, grabbing the mare by the hood and dragging her inside.
“An Assassin, what a nice surprise.” Twilight said, stepping away from Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy stayed face down to hide her identity, the last thing she wanted was for them to know who she was.
“Bring him here.” Rainbow said, stepping closer.
Fluttershy was on her back knees, still facing down, away from their gazes.
“You Assassin’s, always hiding under your hoods, show me your face!” Rainbow Dash said, smashing Fluttershy across the face with a powerful hoof.
Applejack had Fluttershy’s arms behind her back, keeping her up straight.
“No.” Fluttershy said, trying to disguise her voice the best she could.
“Oh, a mare, this should be extra fun.” Applejack said.
“Who do we have toda-”
The rainbow maned pegasus ripped the hood down, holding the familiar mare by the mane tightly, pulling her head back to look into her eyes.
Rainbow Dash had a look of confusion on her face, she drew back from the mare, letting go of her mane, a symphony of gasps echoed through the room.
“Fluttershy?” Twilight asked, “Why would you...”
Dash drew her hoof back and slugged the mare again, causing her to yelp in pain, she could taste the blood coming from her nostrils.
“Fuckin’ traitor.” Rainbow mumbled, hitting her in the stomach.
“You call yourself an Assassin?” Rarity asked, stepping in front of the mare. “You're just a scared mare.” Rarity delivered a kick to Fluttershy’s chest, launching her backwards when Applejack let go.
“Most of you at least put up a fight.” Applejack said, smirking and grabbing the mare from the ground, slamming her head into the stone wall.
Fluttershy’s body hurt. She wasn’t prepared to be discovered and beaten like this, by the ponies who she once called friends. She felt blood seep through her head and through her mane onto the wall, streaking down as she fell against it.
The mare wasn’t ready to fight, as much as she thought she was, she hadn’t been. She felt like she was going into shock from the situation.
“Pathetic.” Rainbow said, kicking her stomach so she was trapped in the corner of the room.
Fluttershy stood up as best as she could, stumbling towards the door in a slow escape.
“You come in here, thinking you can fight?” Twilight laughed, opening the door for the mare. “Go tell your pathetic creed to keep trying, you’ll all die by our hooves.”
Fluttershy stripped the tape off of her wings and flew towards the train station, as much as she hated to, she admitted defeat.
“You cannot just go in and attempt to fight them!” Achilles shouted at the bleeding mare.
“I didn’t mean to...” Fluttershy whispered, cringing from the forceful bandaging.
Achilles muttered a few words to himself, then spoke, “I knew I shouldn’t have let you go out there yet...” He said, “You aren’t ready to fight.”
“Yes I am!” Fluttershy shouted. “I was surprised! That’s all...”
“You can’t be surprised, you have to think about every possible thing that could happen, and be ready for it!” Achilles fired back.
“I’m only one mare!” Fluttershy said.
“An Assassin can take on countless enemies at once!”
Fluttershy felt tears seep from her eyes. “Pinkie Pie ran!” She cried, “They’re going to kill her!”
Achilles stopped, ripping the bandage and placing the last bit of it on the mare’s head.
“I’ll find out where she is, you get some rest, they didn’t do enough damage to keep you in bed tomorrow.” He said, “We need to go on a trip.”
Achilles and Fluttershy walked through the streets calmly, the mare had notice more soldiers than ever out today, patrolling the streets in two’s, four’s or even six’s. Fluttershy had her hood up ducking through crowds of other ponies with Achilles at her side, watching her.
“Don’t look like you want to cause harm, they’ll just get more suspicious.” He said.
Fluttershy nodded, bumping into a soldier and walking away, despite his hurtful words.
“They’re looking for her.” Fluttershy said, looking around at the soldiers.
A small group of soldiers shoved past the two, running in the direction of a crowd of ponies.
“It looks like they found something.” Achilles said.
“I’ll figure out what.” Fluttershy said, pushing through the crowd to see the commotion.
Pinkie Pie stood with her back against the wall to three large stallions, it was clear to Fluttershy that she had been trying to hide, she was adorned with a large black coat which was in the process of being stripped off of her. As she resisted, the mare was hit across the face with the butt of one of the guards gun and thrown to the side.
Fluttershy moved closer, helping the pony up. “You have no right to treat her that way.” She said in a stallion-like voice.
“Oh, you think you can just butt in on these things?” The guard asked with a laugh, turning towards the other two, “I’m not the one under the hood, pussy.”
The gun came in her direction, just as it was about to collide with her head, she ducked under it, grabbing the pony by the back of the head and slamming her own into his, she kicked a leg out from under the dazed guard and drove a hoof into his muzzle as he tried to move to his feet, knocking him out.
The two other stallions charged as Fluttershy stood on her hind legs, one swung a musket from one side and the other from the opposite, one swinging high and the other low, the mare dove through both of the attacks, rolling off and seeing both of the stallions get hit by the others attack, one stallion had been knocked out when the back of the gun hit him in the face the other had been tripped when it hit his ankles, Fluttershy swiftly grabbed one of the weapons that they had dropped and used the stallions head like a golf ball and the gun like the club, also knocking him unconscious.
Pinkie Pie had her hoof over her face, frightened of the hooded pony that stood before her, just as she thought her life would end, the pony raised a hoof to help her up.
The disguised Fluttershy helped her friend up. Returning to Achilles with her.
“We must go before more arrive.” Achilles said, moving quickly back towards the town exit with the mare and disguised mare.
As they arrived at the house, the two mares entered the house while Achilles kept watch outside.
Fluttershy ran up to her room upstairs, making the other mare follow her. Pinkie had taken a blow to the head and it was bleeding, it was nothing fatal, but it was something the hooded mare had directed her attention to.
As Pinkie sat on the bed, Fluttershy rummaged through the bathroom, finding gauze and bandages, as well as some disinfectant and painkillers.
“Take these.” Fluttershy said using her stallion voice. She held two small pills out for the pink mare.
The pink pony swallowed them without question.
The hooded mare began to wipe the cut Pinkie had gotten on the side of her head with disinfectant, causing the mare to cringe a little and whimper. When she finished with that, she applied the bandages, then the gauze over them.
“I don’t know the stallion I owe my thanks too, but thank you anyways.” Pinkie said, watching her savior work.
Fluttershy felt no point in hiding it, she pulled her hood down and showed her face and eyes to the now shocked mare. Pinkie wasn’t like the rest of them. She ran for a reason.
“F-Fluttershy?” Pinkie whispered, looking up at the usually timid mare.
“Pi-”
Pinkie Pie latched onto the mare in a tight embrace.
“I thought you were gone...” Pinkie said, squeezing the yellow pegasus, causing a blush to form on her face. “I came looking for you.”
“Why did you leave, Pinkie?” Fluttershy asked, hugging the mare back. “You knew it would put you in danger.”
“I couldn’t stand it there for any longer, Shy, they were always yelling, and demanding this and ordering that.” She said. “They executed somepony... a filly, for stealing from a bakery.”
Fluttershy gasped.
“She was starving... she hadn’t eaten in days.” Pinkie explained. “I didn’t even say anything... I just stood there... watching...”
Fluttershy let go of the mare and held her by the shoulders. “There was nothing you could do, they wouldn’t have let you stop them.”
Achilles entered the room.
“Nopony followed us, we should be safe.” He said.
“Granted they don’t come looking for you.” Fluttershy said, sitting next to Pinkie Pie.
“They shouldn’t suspect someone as old as me, it’s been too long.” Achilles said with a smile, “Probably have forgotten about me.”
Pinkie looked over at Achilles, then turned away quickly.
“Don’t worry, If she trusts you, I am nopony to think differently.” He said, nodding to the pink mare.
Fluttershy looked to Achilles, then back to Pinkie. “You two have a history?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“D-”
“It’s a... long story.” Achilles interrupted the earth pony.
A pony climbed up the side of the mountain Canterlot rested on. His natural Navy blue coat made him almost invisible against the mountain. He was a pegasus, so why he climbed was beyond everypony. He reached the top of the mountain with ease. The top was covered in forest, a perfect shroud for anypony who didn’t want to be found. He opened one of the pockets of his saddlebags and pulled out a curved piece of wood. Out of the other pocket of his other saddlebag, he pulled out a strange contraption. It had a taut string and a hoff crank. He attached the curved wood to the contraption so that the string threaded through the two ends of the wood. Lastly, he took out a small telescope and attached it to the top of the contraption.
He had made a Crossbow with a scope.
He lie down and looked over the castle through the scope. Princess Twilight was talking to one of her higher-ups in the army. The stallion put a bolt into his Crossbow and took aim. Twilight’s head was in his crosshairs. he pulled the trigger and the bolt flew. Twilight’s Head shot forward and the bolt missed by a mere inches.
“Luna Fucking Dammit!” The stallion said, punching a tree.
The force of him punching the tree jangled his necklace. To him it was more like a dog tag. The form of an A, missing the middle line, but having a crescent at the bottom that didn’t connect in the middle. The stallion looked back through his scope to see what made Twilight jerk her head. Another one of Twilight was looking down at a hooded figure. The whole suit was white. Just like an... The Stallion’s eyebrows rose. The two cohorts started to beat the hooded pony as the Princess watched. The two ponies ripped the hood off to reveal the brightly colored mare who limped off without as much as one word.
“This could be interesting.” The stallion said to himself, “Another assassin. Maybe that one fellow knows about them.”
The stallion opened his wings and flew down to the streets of Canterlot, where he entered an antique music shop and went behind the counter right as a customer walked in.
“Hello, my name is Lance, and this is The Music Shop.” The stallion said to the customer, “How may I help you?”
Rainbow Dash stomped down the hallways of Canterlot Castle, the marble flooring beneath her clicked under her hooves. She was heading out for the day. Twilight had told her to ‘cool off’ and have some fun in the city, then come back the next day.
The mare sighed. Fluttershy had visited them three nights before, and all of them had landed some kind of punishment on her, but Twilight had let her go, which had made the rainbow maned mare frustrated and angry, she knew that Fluttershy was her friend.
“So why would she join them?” The mare said aloud, putting a disgusted emphasis on them.
The mare shook her head, ruffling her mane up like how it used to be. She had never drastically changed it, but it had taken different looks over the years.
The pegasus found herself in the streets of Canterlot, watching the guards salute her, then trot on by.
She watched a Zebra calmly walk the streets among all of the other ponies, years before, everypony would run in fear from even a resemblance to their kind.
The mare smiled, walking along the sides of the buildings, giving a glance inside the shops every so often. A lot had changed in the last six years.
As the mare looked into a lone alleyway, she saw something move in the back corner, making her stop. She watched for a few more seconds as ponies passed her by. A guard stopped near her, looking where she was looking.
“Something wrong, Miss Dash?”
The mare studied the dark alleyway for a few more seconds, seeing something move again.
“Come with me...” She said, trotting into the dark.
The mare and the guard slowly crept into the alley, looking around them every few seconds. Both of them could hear the faint sound of dripping water, causing them to check their surroundings more cautiously. They finally reached the end, where nothing seemed out of the ordinary, or moving.
“Do you think it-”
Dash heard a loud crunching sound behind her, she whipped around quickly and saw the guard laying on the ground, with a hooded mare above him.
“Shy?” Rainbow asked, backing herself into the back wall.
The mare took her hood down, revealing the once timid mare.
“I’ve come to talk to you, Dash.” Fluttershy said.
Dash reached down to her back leg, feeling for a knife. It wasn’t there, she had taken all of her armor and weapons off for the walk.
“You came to kill me, Shy.” Rainbow said. “I’m not that stupid.”
“I didn’t come to kill anypony.” Fluttershy said with a sigh, “I came to show you something.”
The yellow pegasus pulled something from out of her robes, and threw it on the ground in front of Dash, making it skid to a stop at her hooves. It was a necklace, made from pure gold, in the center of it, a red lightning bolt.
“You’re the element of loyalty, Dash.” Fluttershy said. “You aren’t supposed to leave friends behind, no matter what happens.”
“I didn’t leave anypony behind!” Dash shouted, hoping that a guard heard her.
“You left yourself behind, your true self.” The mare said.
“Things change, Fluttershy, ponies change!”
“No they don’t, they just say things like that to cover up who, or what they really were, and always will be,”
Dash noticed that the mare she once called a friend stood right in front of her, with a hoof on her shoulder.
“A friend.” Shy finished.
Fluttershy smiled as Dash’s eyes went wide, and tears welled up in them. Dash’s hoof was now on her shoulder as well.
Suddenly, the mare was struck across the face, Dash stood over her, laughing.
The strong mare got on top of the assassin and pressed her hooves to her neck, choking her.
Fluttershy thrashed at the mare, swinging her hooves to try to get out of the deadly grip.
“You can’t change me, Fluttershy.” Dash said with a maniacal smile.
“I-” Fluttershy tried. “Dashie-”
The assassin could hear and feel her own heartbeat, it wouldn’t be much longer now.
“Dashie, stop, Dashie, stop.” Dash mocked with a laugh. “I’m not stopping ‘til you stop breathing.”
“Plea-” The mare choked, “No-”
The rainbow maned pegasus pressed harder against Fluttershy’s windpipe, with enough force to crush it.
The yellow pegasus put her hoof up on Dash’s side, the blade from her wrist careening out and slicing through the mare’s belly, causing blood to trickle out slowly, then quickly.
Dash let go, pushing her hoof against the new wound as Fluttershy coughed and sputtered on the ground.
The assassin heard hoofsteps from the entrance of the alleyway, she drew her blade and stood up quickly, blindly jabbing at the oncoming pony. She felt the blade enter, so she looked to the side, there stood Applejack, with blood sloshing from her neck.
“Flutter...shy...” The mare said, falling to the ground, letting her own blood pool around her.
Fluttershy heard everything in a muffled tone, Dash shouting for help, Applejack spitting and coughing.
She had just killed one of her very best friends, faster than anypony could have blinked.
The mare disappeared into the dark, climbing up to the rooftops as fast as she could, then running to the edges of town, where a carriage waited for her.
Lance was sleeping on a chair near the back of the Music Shop, a newspaper draped over his head. He snored, just a little. The store’s walls were all lined with records, except for a small space, which held a Grandfather clock, pendulum always swinging. His store specialized in old types of recordings. His motto was ‘the older, the better’. Sometimes, a pony would walk in for a specific song, which he usually had, but he mostly sold to rich collectors who paid through the roof for something he bought for three bits. He found it ironic that people didn’t appraise the old things they had, because, if it was in good condition, they were worth something.
Lance’s talent is music. He listens to all of it and loves all of it. Some ponies had found it immoral to rip ponies off, but it’s their fault for not appraising their things. He’d also been the only appraiser in town for quite some time.
Lance was awoken from his sleep by some commotion outside. He looked at his clock.
2:15 am
“You have got to be kidding...” Lance said, throwing the newspaper down and walking outside.
He looked around in the darkness. Nothing could be seen, but things could be heard. He jogged towards the noise to find two mares. One he remembered from inside Twilight’s chambers, and the other one he hadn’t seen before. She was slowly thrashing on the ground in a pool of crimson, while the other was holding her side.
“What in Celestia’s name happend?!” Lance exclaimed.
“She-” The rainbow maned pegasus choked, “Call the guard!”
“GUARD, DO SOMETHING!!!” Lance yelled.
Large quantities of guards and soldiers ran towards the alleyway, just before the two mares were concealed by them, the rainbow maned one yelled something out, throwing a paper ball in his direction.
“Find her!” She shouted.
He opened the ball, revealing the pony’s face. It was a buttery yellow pegasus, a bubblegum pink mane was draped over her face, her cerulean eyes shimmered in the brightness of what Lance assumed to be a camera flash. She was naturally beautiful. The only thing off was the hood, which only meant one thing...
Lance opened his wings and flew straight up, looking for anything that was abnormal. Out of the corner of his eye he spotted a racing carriage, leaving the city at a surprising and suspicious pace. His powerful wings propelled his directly over the carriage. He landed silently on top and looked into the back window upside down.
What he saw was a sobbing mare, with crimson stains on her hooves, another pink mare held her in a tight embrace, running her hoof through the others mane, offering soothing words. He did the only thing that wouldn’t alarm them, well, not too bad.
He knocked on the glass.
Brown hooves knocked him off of the back of the carriage, the two stallions rolled for a few seconds and both heard the carriage come to a stop. When the dust settled, Lance found a large, brown earth pony standing over him, pinning him to the ground.
“Since when does Celestia send polite killers?” The stallion asked in a slow, steady pace. Lance noticed that he was far older than him, but just as powerful.
Lance pushed his lips into the stallion, immediately making him jump off. Lance laughed on the ground for a few seconds.
“I’m not from *gasp* Celestia!” Lance choked out between laughs.
Just as Lance stood up, a voice came from his side.
“Achilles!”
Lance felt himself get rammed from his right side, throwing him to the ground and putting a throbbing pain in his side. He looked back to see the mare in the picture above him, her hood was down and tears were still streaming from her eyes, down her cheeks.
“You don’t seem happy for what you did. Why not?” He said, holding his side.
“I-” Fluttershy stumbled. “What?”
“I’m assuming you're the one who cut that mare.” Lance said, “I’m correct, aren’t I?”
“...Yes...” The mare whispered.
“Well, the rainbow mare sent me to find you,” Lance continued, “but you’re an assassin, based on your robes.”
“I didn’t have any choice!” Fluttershy sobbed, “She was going to kill me... I didn’t know what to do.”
Achilles pulled the necklace from Lance’s neck, looking at the insignia.
“Where did you get this, boy?”
“Doesn’t matter, fossil.” Lance said, “What does, is that she isn’t fully trained. An assassin never lets their emotion take over.
“Everypony has emotions, nopony can kill and not feel something.” Achilles said, turning to Fluttershy then back to Lance. “Come.” He said, waving his hoof towards the carriage.
Lance raspberried, “Why should I? I’ve got a store to manage. You’ve actually bought some records from me anyway, both come from assassin heritage.”
“You dragged yourself into this by following the carriage, so I cannot let you leave until I show you the things I need to show you.” Achilles explained. “Besides, I miss the company of somepony without a squeaky voice.”
Lance smiled, “I think he’s talking about you, greenhorn. Fine, I’ll come with you.”
The group arrived in Manehattan the next morning. All four of them quickly entered the house, with Achilles falling back to see if they were tailed.
They weren’t.
The four sat in the living room in silence, Fluttershy had taken her robes off and snuggled up with a blanket and pillow next to Pinkie Pie in a large leather chair, silently snoring. Pinkie still was awake, slowly running her hoof through the hair in Fluttershy’s mane. Achilles sat on rocking chair, across from him was Lance, who sat on a small loveseat.
“Oh great, nopony to sit next to me.” Lance said, breaking the silence.
‘Just like every other day in my life.’ Lance continued in his mind.
“Don’t think the girls trust you yet.” Achilles said with a chuckle, getting out of his seat. “Would you like something to drink?”
“Can you make a Grasshopper?” Lance asked.
“Yes, I can make coffee just fine,” Achilles said with a wrinkled smile. “I’ll be right back.”
“A Grasshopper is an alcoholic drink, pansy.” Lance said after Achilles left the room, “So, what’s your name, raspberry?”
The pink mare looked over with an unreadable look on her face. “Pinkamena Pie, but my friends call me Pinkie Pie.”
“Well Pinkie, how were you thrown into this conundrum?” He asked, getting out of his loveseat, “You don’t seem to be the fighting type.”
“Fluttershy is a friend, I don’t abandon friends.” Pinkie said with a light smile, looking down at the mare who Lance assumed to be Fluttershy.
“Good...” Lance said, holding out a hoof, “Call me Hawkeye.”
Pinkie leaned up and shook his hoof, “Sounds like a superhero.” she said, drawing back and moving into a more comfortable position for the stirring mare.
Lance chuckled, “Never heard that one before. What is that stallion’s name, I never caught it.”
“Achilles...” Fluttershy mumbled, opening her cerulean eyes.
“I’m gonna guess that’s his name.” He said, “Not much to do here, is there?”
“He’s an older pony, we don’t expect much, but he has these things ‘Shy calls ‘Rope Darts’ in our room, she ends up hitting a wall or something with them though.” Pinkie explained, “Or we’ll go out and about, usually in the forest.”
“Hmm, haven’t seen rope darts in a long time, the forest sounds good.” Lance said, touching his forest camouflage mane, “What would YOU like to do?”
“The forest sounds good today.” Pinkie said, turning to Fluttershy, who smiled and nodded up at her.
The three ponies walked outside and into the woods. The trees were larger than most in Manehattan, being in a more private area of the city. The sky was a bright blue and the sun was just bursting over the horizon, casting a golden glow on all of the landscape. The light was refracted from the many pools of water in the forest, as well as the eyes of the ponies who walked through the delicate, elegant piece of land.
“It’s beautiful.” Fluttershy said, staring off into the sunset.
“It’s not the only beautiful thing here.” Lance said, nudging the two mares.
Fluttershy had a streak of pink under her eyes and across her muzzle, Pinkie was grateful to have pink fur.
“Um... I’m gonna go help Achilles around the house, you two... have fun...” Pinkie said, returning inside.
Fluttershy tightened her leather bracer that housed a hidden blade on her right foreleg, walking off into the forest.
“Where are you going?” Lance said, “It’s so scary in the woods alone.”
“Fear is the worst enemy for an Assassin, it’s what stops them from acting, and what pushes them to keep going.” The mare quoted, turning her head to see Lance.
“Being an assassin isn’t the only thing in life, you know.” Lance said, “And not all assassins have to use hidden blades.”
“It’s traditional to the order.” Fluttershy said, letting Lance follow her through the forest.
“So are the robes, but it makes you stand out like a caterpillar in a flock of butterflies now.” Lance countered, “Assassin’s have to adapt to their environment, Fluttershy.”
The mare giggled. “I don’t always wear the robes, Canterlot is the best place for them, everypony has some kind of clothing on.”
“And I’m not an assassin.” Lance said with sarcasm, “I just have everything of theirs’.”
The mare giggled again, “C’mon, I wanna see the sunrise.” She said, climbing one of the trees.
“Then follow me.” Lance said, spreading his wings.
The mare didn’t resist spreading her wings, flying above the treetops with Lance at her side, finding a perch on a high rock. The mare laid down, watching the sun peek over the horizon.
“Celestia is great with that ball of fire.” Lance said, “I don’t care if you’re supposed to hate her.”
“I don’t hate Celestia, I never will hate Celestia, she was once a great leader, a great pony on the inside.” Fluttershy said, “She made bad decisions.”
The mare scooted closer to the stallion, feeling a bit more comfortable around him as she talked to him.
“You know, I don’t see my friends very often.” Lance said, “I hardly even get to touch another pony, because it’d be considered assault as long as it was in the Store, and nopony likes sompony they don’t know touching them outside the Store.”
Fluttershy pressed her hoof to his nose “Boop.” She giggled, taking her hoof away.
Fluttershy noticed something off about the stallion, something in the way he spoke, or the way he moved around her. She recognized the look, it was something that cut deep, something that had stuck with him over a long period of time. She tried to remember who she’d seen it in before.
Rainbow Dash.
The mare gasped, and moved away from the stallion.
She had seen it in that rainbow pegasus so many years ago, through Rainbow’s ego and reputation, was a lonely, heartbroken mare. She’d never known much of her parents, she hadn’t met anypony that would look through that shell, she’d never been loved by another pony, that’s why she had been so happy when Twilight came along, she had a group of friends that cared for her like they were sisters.
The mare was pulled back into reality when a tree branch snapped, she noticed that her right foreleg was around the stallion and had pulled him close, she stared into his confused eyes for a few seconds, then flew away, back down into the trees. The buttery yellow mare leaned against a tree as she sat in it’s branches, cursing herself for thinking of Rainbow Dash, and cried to herself at the same time, thinking of the mare who used to be her best friend.
“Did I do something wrong?” Lance asked himself.
Lance flew down to the mare, finding her crying at the forest floor.
“What’s the matter?” Lance said, patting her back.
The yellow mare jerked away and slammed her hoof into the tree, the hidden blade sinking into the tree an inch from Lance’s hoof.
“Leave me alone...” She said in a cold tone.
“”I’m sorry if I did anything to upset you,” Lance said, pulling his hoofs back but I can’t leave you in worse shape than I got you in.”
The mare stood up on her hind legs and jumped from tree to tree with perfect balance, not saying a word to the stallion who followed her.
“Was I being creepy?” Lance asked, mimicking her path through the trees.
The mare stopped, looking back at the stallion with teary eyes, “No... I-” She stopped. “You remind me of somepony.”
“One of the two you went to yesterday?” Lance asked, “Those are the only ones I know, except for Pinkie.”
“Y-yes... Rainbow Dash.” Fluttershy said, trying to hide her eyes and face behind her mane like she used to.
“I’m going to assume that’s the seven color-maned mare.” Lance said, not sure what to do.
“That’s her.” Fluttershy said from behind her mane. “She and I used to be friends, all six of us were, we made up the Elements of Harmony.”
“I-I’m sorry.” Lance said.
“It was... a long time ago...” Fluttershy said. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
The mare let herself drop to the forest floor, trotting back in the direction of the house. Lance followed her a few paces behind.
“Why do you call me beautiful?” Fluttershy asked, stopping. It seemed like all the noises in the forest stopped with her.
“Be-because I wanted to be friends.” Lance said.
“Nopony has called me beautiful... not in a long time.” Fluttershy said, looking over her shoulder with an odd look in her eye.
“Well, then it was good I said it.” Lance said.
The mare turned to face the stallion, staring deep into his extravagant blue eyes, the next thing she knew, she embraced the stallion with a tight grip, clinging to him like a foal to their teddy bear. She felt his warm fur against her own, it felt so good to hug somepony, she felt his muscles tighten underneath his skin and felt his steady heartbeat speed up, he smelled like the air near the ocean, so fresh and clean. Lance put his head on her shoulder and wrapped around her tightly.
The mare let go first and left him standing there without saying a word.
“...Should we head back?” Lance asked, “Whatever he want’s to show us sounded important.”
“I’ll meet you there.” Fluttershy said quietly, sprinting through the brush.
The Stallion spread his wings and flew above the forest towards the house.
What you are about to read does include clop, if you are not good around these kinds of things, you don't need to read it. Two red lines will show when it starts and ends so you can get the rest of the story.
Fluttershy adjusted herself under the covers of her bed, lying on her belly. She sighed deeply, looking out of a window, over Pinkie Pie’s sleeping body, her eyes glinted and sparkled in the moonlight, she stared into it for a long time, but found herself watching Pinkie’s sides rise in fall in unison with her breathing, as energetic as the pony was awake, she slept like any normal mare. The yellow pegasus wrapped a hoof around the earth pony’s body, moving closer and snuggling up to her.
The pink mare shifted, she awoke groggily.
“I’m sorry, Pinkie, I didn’t mean to wake you.” Fluttershy whispered into the night.
“Its okay...” Pinkie said, rubbing her eyes and turning to face the mare. “Is everything alright?”
Fluttershy marveled at the mare’s seemingly glowing eyes, even though she wasn’t facing the light of the moon. The deep, ocean blue irises seemed to speak to her, drawing her close.
“‘Shy?” Pinkie asked.
The pegasus stuttered, “Yes, of course.” She said, still staring into the blue beauties.
“Fluttershy, what are you stari-”
The mare was cut off by lips being pressed to her own. The yellow mare had closed her eyes and squeezed the mare tightly against her.
Pinkie Pie drew back, staring at the mare with wide eyes, Fluttershy’s cerulean eyes had been clouded with forming tears.
“I- I’m sorry...” The pegasus tried. “I just...I...”
Pinkie put a hoof up and brushed some of the hair out of Fluttershy’s face, revealing her tired and sad eyes.
“You can tell me...” Pinkie mumbled.
Fluttershy gritted her teeth and let a few tears stream for her eyes.
“I... don’t want to lose you... not again...” She sobbed, burying her face into Pinkie’s shoulder.
Pinkie pulled Fluttershy up and held the sides of her face, using a serious tone.
“And I don’t want to lose you.” She said, lightly kissing the mare then pulling back.
“Pin-”
Pinkie aggressively kissed the mare before her, pulling her lips apart then pressing them back together, She felt the shy mare follow slowly, a faint berry taste lingered in her mouth, the two began to spar with one another’s tongues, then wrapping them around each other like braiding a rope.
Fluttershy thought she could taste cotton candy as the mare advanced on her, pulling her on her back and being on top of her, Fluttershy could feel the pink mare’s weight above her as she pulled away from the kiss. A burning sensation lit inside of the shy mare’s chest, she moved up towards Pinkie to continue, but the mare held her down.
“Ah, ah, ah.” Pinkie chirped, “Roll over.”
Fluttershy obliged, rolling over and feeling her wings unfurl a bit.
The assassin felt a warm presence on her neck, followed by a wetness, she quickly realized that Pinkie’s tongue was on her neck, licking her and kissing her up to the base of her ear. The mare wriggled under the other, knowing her wings we starting to really spread.
A moan escaped the lips of the pegasus before she could stop it, making the mare on top of her stop for a few seconds.
The next sensation came from her wings, at the base of the right one, Pinkie was kissing and licking gently, she felt a wetness from between her haunches. Another moan came.
“Enjoying yourself?” Pinkie giggled, still licking.
“I... oh Pinkie...” The mare found herself unable to speak, and only moaned again.
The earth pony licked up the wings, causing Fluttershy to buck her hind legs roughly. She squealed at the ecstacy rocketing up her spine into her brain. She felt the mare on top of her actually parting the feathers on the wings with her tongue and licking in between them.
Pinkie’s hoof slid down Fluttershy’s back and in between her haunches, feeling her steamy and dripping sex, sliding her hoof up and down on it.
Rainbow Dash paced back and forth on the floor of Canterlot castle, her hooves clacking with each step. She had been waiting for Twilight and the others to go over things with her, Applejack was still in the hospital, so she couldn’t make it, Rarity and Spike had to take a trip to Fillydelphia, looking for... her.
Her. The murderer. The bitch. The backstabber. The...
Friend.
The word echoed through the mare’s mind, Fluttershy and her, always by each other no matter what, during the best young flyers competition, during the battle with Nightmare Moon, Discord, Chrysalis, Sombra...
The two had always had one anothers backs.
But now Rainbow Dash wanted the mare’s spine.
She thought of all the ways she could torture the helpless assassin, drowning, suffocation, branding and even more horrendous torments.
“...Fuck...” Rainbow Dash said aloud. A lone tear fell from her eye, she couldn’t believe she had imagined such things, such horrible things.
Fluttershy pinned the pony below her down, covering her mouth to keep her from shouting out. The Alicorn beneath her was Twilight Sparkle.
“Twilight...” Fluttershy started, feeling the blade on her hoof retract. “You once believed in friendship until the end, that we would always stay who we truly were... friends.”
“Wmh nehav fwemmh!” Twilight growled through Fluttershy’s hoof.
“We were friends, once, then you just... left.” The pegasus whimpered, her voice cracking at the last word. “And you took everypony with you, that day you tried to change... tried to be who you weren’t, you tried to be a princess, Twilight.”
“Amh ah primnecmh!”
“No, you are a unicorn, you were not born with those wings.” Fluttershy said strongly. “The only reason I’m letting you live is because I still believe we can be friends... and things can... I don’t know, be back to normal.”
Fluttershy got off the top of the mare and helped her up, Twilight brushed the saliva from her lips, and stared at Fluttershy in silence.
“Now don’t-”
“GUARDS!!!”
Fluttershy’s hoof extended outwards and smashed Twilight Sparkle across the face, knocking her out cold.
She was running, faster than she had ever in her life, shouts and screams erupted behind her. Torches lit the oncoming storm. Her legs hurt, her hooves were bleeding from the constant running, it seemed like the mob had legs fueled by their shouts and anger. Everywhere the mare went, they followed, she could not escape so many at once, one was bound to see her everytime she tried to hide or try to make a break for it.
Fluttershy knew that she could not escape without her wings, even then there were still countless pegasus swooping down at her. Like the rest of her body, Achilles helped her focus some of her training into her wings to make them stronger, and much more powerful.
She felt the bandages rip as she spread her wings, leaping into the air and flying towards the moon, trying to block her figure with the barrage of white light coming down at her.
Suddenly, something snagged her hind hooves, the mare instinctively looked back, seeing a dark figure pulling at her, dragging her back towards the mob. Fluttershy kicked the pegasus holding her in the chest, pushing it back a few body lengths. She flew straight down, for the trees in a dense forest, swinging in between the narrow pathways of the dark Everfree.
The mare smiled, the only pony capable of following her through here was-
A shout drew her attention for a split second and she rammed into a tree, sending her spiraling into the ground, dirt and mud built up as she slid on the ground, eventually running into another tree base and grinding her to a bone-jarring halt.
The dazed mare shook her head slowly, one pony approached her from the front, she tried to move back and felt the base of the tree pressing up against her back.
Fluttershy shook her head again to try to stop seeing three of the pony approaching her, everything was spinning, spinning so fast. Her head began to throb, she could hear her heartbeat, pulsing in her brain. She heard the blade slide out from her wrist, but couldn’t get up to use it.
The pony was now coming into vision, slowly stalking up to her until the point she leaned down to look at the mare face-to-face. Cerulean reflected off of a burning magenta.
“...was... you...” Fluttershy finished her thought.
Just as she thought she saw tears forming in Rainbow Dash’s eyes, blackness engulfed her vision, and she fell to the side.
A wooden carriage clambered up the hill towards the Canterlot castle, A small pony laid inside of it, not moving. Its hooves were tied behind its back and it seemed to be in an awkward and uncomfortable position. Looking closer, one could notice that it was a young mare in a white hooded suit, the hood currently up, the mare had a battered yellow coat and a bubblegum mane and tail, her eyes were closed from her lack of consciousness so the color was not revealed.
Crowds around the street grew silent as the caged carriage passed by, almost everypony stared in disgust, fear, or anger. One even went as far as throwing something at the cage which held the pony, shouting an insult and erupting the crowd into a storm of threats and insults.
The sky was dark, it had been raining for most of the day and finally stopped, leaving behind cloudy skies and wet roads. A bell rang repeatedly in the distance, refusing to stop and eventually waking the mare.
The carriage stopped, reaching its destination. Two large ponies jumped down from the front part of the carriage and released the cage doors, revealing the young pony, who they dragged from the cage and onto the concrete, skidding her back knees along as they dragged her towards the front of the castle, where a crowd of ponies cheered upon seeing the guards and the mare they had apprehended.
Princess Celestia stared down at the mare from a large wooden platform with a sturdy bar running a few hooves above her, hanging from it was a noose which was to be used shortly.
A public hanging.
The bruised Fluttershy was dragged up onto the stage and the crowd silenced. She faced downwards, her hood blocked her face. Suddenly, a hoof grabbed her by the mane and made her face the crowd as the hood was ripped off of her head.
Fluttershy’s face had never been so hard to look at, her right eye had been blackened to the point in was swollen shut, from both of the nostrils on her muzzle, dried blood streaks ran down her lips and onto her chin. Her good eye was clouded with pained tears, as the rest of the suit was pulled off of her, the rest of her body was revealed. Almost every reachable part of her body had been cut, scraped, bruised or beaten to the point where it was hard for the mare to stand up straight.
Rainbow Dash stood at the side of Princess Celestia, staring down at her hooves, that were stained with dried blood and bruised. The blood was not her own though, it was her best friend’s, it was Fluttershy’s blood.
“The mare standing before you today...” Celestia started, hushing the crowd. “Is an assassin.”
The crowd said nothing, only stared at Celestia, some offering a quick glance to Fluttershy.
As the Princess continued, Fluttershy closed her eyes, thinking.
Juno, She thought. If you really thought this was my destiny, is this how it ends? Was I supposed to do all of this, for nothing? Please, just give me a sign.
The mare opened her eyes, looking up at the sky, where thunder crackled and the rain started up again, showering the crowd lightly.
Fluttershy was pushed up onto a short stool, the noose was fastened around her neck, so tightly it was almost choking her. She felt the harsh material scrape against her neck, cringing at the sharp pain it sent through her bruises.
She hears Celestia whisper something to Rainbow Dash, then a bag was placed over her head.
Rainbow Dash stepped up to a lever, putting a hoof on it and looking up at the crowd before her.
“Let there be one less in this country! One less in this world!” She shouted, pulling the lever.
Fluttershy seemed to drop downwards in slow motion, the floor had collapsed underneath her, drawing her down, ready to strangle her with the tight rope, ready to end her life.
Just as she dropped, lightning crackled in the sky and struck down at the stage, making contact with the wooden bar the noose was wrapped on to, instantaneously shattering it into a million pieces.
Fluttershy’s hooves connected with the ground, the bindings on her front hooves that had been behind her back had broken as well, leaving her standing up straight. The mare quickly ripped off the noose and the bag, staring out into the crowd from under the platform with enraged eyes.
Underneath the mare’s hooves, was a small tomahawk, the blade perfectly wrapped around, making the assassin insignia Fluttershy had grown to love. It was the same tomahawk Juno had shown her in the vision she had the night before she had left Canterlot.
She picked it up in her teeth and charged at the crowd, making them erupt into terrified screams and shouts.
The mare flipped her hood up, smashing through a crowd of guards, Celestia had just spread her wings, ready to take flight, Fluttershy climbed up on the ascending walls on a building, Celestia took to the air, and came crashing right back down, with Fluttershy on top of her, hoof holding the tomahawk that had impaled Celestia’s spine.
Time seemed to freeze as Fluttershy circled Celestia, looking down at her with hate filled eyes.
“...Dammit...” Celestia said, gasping for breath.
“Don’t you talk like you didn’t know this was coming...” Fluttershy said, “You’ve been stealing from ponies for decades, killing countless of them that had found out about your schemes.”
Celestia chuckled weakly. “Is that what you think?” She asked. “I’ve been killing you assassins because you can’t handle change, you can’t see the future.”
“We see the future just fine, it is you Templars who wish to change it so you serve as kings and queens, deciding what we do with our lives.” Fluttershy said, kneeling down to the Princess who was quickly bleeding out.
“We are all kings and queens already, you just don’t know it yet.” Celestia said, spitting out a clot of blood. “Tell Pinkie to go fu-”
Fluttershy ripped the tomahawk from the Princess’ back, ending her sentence.
Pinkie Pie paced back and forth in the living room, Achilles watched from the rocking chair in the corner of the room, carefully cleaning a small dagger, Lance sat on the couch, tapping his hoof to the floor.
The door slowly swung opened. Fluttershy entered.
“Fluttershy!” Pinkie Pie said, running over to her and hugging her, “We were worried sick!”
Achilles looked over to Fluttershy’s face, her eyes gleamed, but he could see the hurt and sadness clouding her vision.
The hooded mare gently pushed Pinkie away without a word, she lowered her hood and slowly limped up the stairs. Pinkie Pie followed her with her eyes. A look of confusion was on her face.
The trio heard scraping hooves upstairs against the wooden flooring. The bathtub was turned on and low, muffled cries were emanating as the mare moved around upstairs.
“You two find out what happened, I will be watching to see if she was followed.” Achilles said.
Pinkie and Lance nodded, trotting up the stairs quickly, finding the mare in her room. She was struggling to take off her robes and had tears welling up in her eyes.
“Please... just... go away...” She sniffled.
“Fluttershy... you need help.” Pinkie said, trotting to her side. “What happened?”
“Ponies tried to hang me!!!” Fluttershy screamed, pain lacing her words. “She... she...”
Lance stepped closer to the mare, with a calm tone, he spoke. “Who did this?”
He moved her mane to the side, hoof prints were bruised onto her neck, like an evil tattoo.
Fluttershy lowered her head, she blinked, she was thankful her eye had gotten better on the trip back.
“Take it off, Pinkie.” Fluttershy said.
Pinkie Pie slowly and carefully stripped the mare of her robes, revealing a new bruise every few inches, many lacerations covered her body, likely from a whip or a weapon similar to. Fluttershy cringed as the suit was taken off.
“Sweet Celestia...” Pinkie said, stripping the last piece of her robes off of her.
Fluttershy tried to hug the earth pony, but the bruises made her stay in place.
“Da-Dash did this...” Fluttershy said, feeling her heart double in weight and push against her chest.
“How... how could she do this...?” Pinkie asked.
Fluttershy looked over at Lance, who stared at the bruises in disbelief.
“She was angry... so, so angry.” Fluttershy said, feeling a tear fall from her eye as she lowered her head again. “I don’t think she could hear me...”
“Shy, she won’t get away with this...” Pinkie said, holding her in her arms. “I promise you that.”
Fluttershy cried into her best friend’s chest, and Pinkie let her. She just sat there. Holding the sobbing mare until the sun fell, Pinkie carried the mare to the bed, laying down with her and snuggling with her. The pegasus had eventually cried herself out, just snuggling deeper and deeper into the pink earth pony’s fur.
“Pinkie...?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yes?”
“I need to talk to Achilles.”
The pegasus longed to stay with her friend, but moved downstairs a bit faster than she had gone up them before. Achilles and Lance were sitting in the kitchen, Lance enjoyed a kind of cider while Achilles sipped a glass of water.
“Achilles.” Fluttershy said, looking at him with a strong look in her eyes. “Celestia is gone.”
The brown stallion nodded, “I hope you know that I am deeply sorry about Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy looked down at the mentioning of Rainbow’s name, but looked back up quickly. “Thank you, Achilles.”
The old stallion wobbled out of his chair over to her, “We need to keep you in bed for awhile, Celestia’s death is sure to attract much more guards than before, and you aren’t going to be in any shape to fight any time this week.”
Lance bumped the table and gave Achilles a knowing nod.
“Er, maybe not next week either.” Achilles corrected himself.
Fluttershy swung her hoof in a wild punch towards Lance, catching him off guard and knocking him backwards onto his back. She quickly got on top of him, the stallion made a quick move and wrapped his back legs around her lower back to pull her down, but the mare grabbed the stallion under his arms and lifted up until she was standing straight up, before the stallion knew what she was doing, he was slammed down on his back.
The mare looked down, seeing not Lance, but Rainbow Dash under her, the same look was on her face when she was beating her, a blind, white hot rage.
The mare bent down and smashed her hoof into the other mare’s face, then proceeded to pick her up, slamming her into the wall, Fluttershy felt like she had superpowers, her hooves acted before she thought of what was happening, an empty shelf was tipped over on top of the multi-colored mare.
Fluttershy watched herself pick up swords and knives as the other mare dodged them as she scooted away with fear in her eyes. She eventually backed herself into a wall and a small knife lodged into her left ear.
Just before she landed the killing blow, silver flashed in her vision, then she was staring at the ceiling. She noticed her rapidly pounding heart and then a scream came from the other end of the room.
Three stallions wobbled into her vision, looking down at her with worried eyes.
Fluttershy shook her head, looking at Achilles above her.
“Fluttershy, you need to calm down, that is not Rainbow Dash.” Achilles said slowly.
The pegasus looked up, seeing Lance up against the wall with a frightened look in his eyes and blood streaming from the top half of his ear.
“Lance... I’m sorry... I didn’t mean...” The mare made herself stop talking.
“No, you’re okay, I’m just a little... a little shocked.”
Lance stared at her for a few seconds, a worried frown on his face.
“You need to get some rest.” Achilles said, dropping something, Fluttershy came to see it was a frying pan she had been hit with.
Fluttershy stood up, looking at the mess she made, the innocent pony she had hurt. She lowered her head in shame.
Pinkie Pie held Fluttershy on her hooves as they exited the room and headed upstairs.
“Pinkie... how do we come back from this?” Fluttershy asked, staring into Pinkie’s eyes.
Pinkie pulled Fluttershy up onto their bed, covering her up and putting a hoof on her chest.
“I don’t think we can.” Pinkie said bluntly.
Pinkie Pie took Fluttershy’s hoof in her own, rubbing it and trying to give the mare some comfort.
“Applejack, and now Celestia...” Fluttershy said, running a hoof down her face.
“Not Applejack.” Achilles said, standing at the door. “You both need to get ready.”
There was a rare look of fear on Achilles’ face, Fluttershy sat up in bed.
“What’s going on?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
Achilles sighed and pulled back the window curtain. “They found us.”
Despite the pain in her body, Fluttershy hopped up out of bed, trotting over to the window with haste. As she appeared at the window, the room fell very silent. One pony she never thought she’d see again, then a dragon she knew she would have to see again were outside, marching with angry looks in their eyes.
Behind them, lines of Celestia’s royal guards stood at attention, ready for orders. Fluttershy quickly counted how many rows there were. Four lines with an unknown amount of guards in each line, at least ten or maybe more. They were more than a hundred yards away, but Fluttershy could tell it could only be them two leading such a group.
“Achilles, get everypony out of here.” Fluttershy said.
“But Flut-” Tried Pinkie.
“Now.” Fluttershy scolded, her voice just above a whisper.
“Fat chance I’m leaving.” Lance said, appearing at Fluttershy’s side.
“You need to go, they want me.” The pegasus said.
“They want all assassin’s.” Lance reminded. “Might as well put up a fight.”
Pinkie stood with a frightened look on her face, visibly shaking as Achilles took her from the room.
Fluttershy stopped Achilles and embraced Pinkie, squeezing her tightly.
Pinkie sobbed into Fluttershy’s neck as the hugged, Fluttershy tried her best to conceal her fear, but tears still dripped from her eyes.
Achilles pulled the earth pony away and disappeared downstairs.
Fluttershy quickly ran over to her closet and Lance moved with her, both taking needed weapons and armor.
Fluttershy flipped her hood up and Lance put his necklace around his neck, luckily, Lance had an assortment of blades that he had brought with him, including his own style of the hidden blade, which extended from the top part of his hoof other than the bottom, stretching out a good six inches past Fluttershy’s blade length.
The two looked at each other, Lance had finally agreed to put on a black hoody other than the full robes which Fluttershy wore to conceal his face.
“Let’s go.”
The two quickly moved downstairs, as they moved towards the door, they heard a harsh knock come from it.
They looked at each other, Fluttershy shooed Lance into the other room where he wouldn’t be seen while she waited a couple hooves from the door.
“We know you are in there, Achilles!” Somepony shouted from outside.
Actually, it wasn’t a pony at all, it was a dragon.
“Open the Luna-Damn door!” Spike shouted, banging his claws into the door again. “There is no use in hiding!”
Fluttershy slid her hood down and put a hoof on the rope dart at her side, waiting patiently.
She heard the door get kicked, then it was slammed into again and again, until eventually it came falling down, Spike standing over it with fury in his eyes.
In his claws, a very pristine looking flintlock pistol glistened in the sunlight outside.
“Fluttershy?” Spike asked.
The dragon barely recognized his old friend, she had grown visibly stronger and more in shape than she had been the night she came to the castle, her hair had been cut and put back in a ponytail, likely because of the robes she wore.
He felt his heart quicken in movement. He was actually intimidated by her.
“Hello Spike.” Fluttershy said slowly. “What are you doing here?”
The grip he had on the pistol tightened.
“We came to find an old assassin,” The dragon said, unsheathing a sword with his free claw. “but I guess there is a change of plans.”
“Call them off, Spike.” Fluttershy ordered, “I don’t want to hurt you.”
The dragon laughed, his golden armor clanking as he did. When he returned to Fluttershy’s gaze, he grinned. “That isn’t going to happen.”
Fluttershy sighed. “Then so be it.”
Out of nowhere, Lance dove onto Spike’s side, lashing out on the dragon’s armor with his blades.
Fluttershy charged just as Lance was slammed into the side of the wall, she slammed her body into Spike, pushing him back out of the door and back onto the porch, where she stayed on top of him, she intended to use her blades right then, but Spike grabbed her by her front hooves and pushed up his back legs into her stomach, launching her over his head and onto the dirt road, where all of the guards stood.
Applejack took no chances and jumped on top of her former friend, slamming her hoof down at her, which Fluttershy struggled to dodge, rocking her head from side to side.
The pegasus got a look at the stitches and Applejack’s neck, she had done that to her, she could do it again.
Fluttershy reared her head back and bashed it into the opposing mare’s skull, launching her off.
The two stood up and eyed one another, Just as Fluttershy unsheathed her tomahawk, Applejack spat blood at the pegasus’ hooves and grinned, her white teeth almost completely overtaken by scarlet blood.
“We should have never trusted you.” The earth pony said with a grin, waving away the guards that would have invaded the two’s fight.
The pegasus wore a blank face, free of emotion. “I suppose I could say the same.” She said.
“My power exceeds your’s.” Applejack said, “Surrender now.”
She thought on that for a second, if she were to surrender, would she become one of them? Would they kill her, perhaps?
“Very true, old friend.” Fluttershy said, sheathing the tomahawk again.
Applejack grinned, “I knew you were weak.” She said. “You’re nothing but a broken frame of a weak pony, you were always weak, and that can never change, without your pathetic teacher, your pathetic life, what are you?”
“An Assassin.” Fluttershy retorted bluntly.
Applejack took a wild swing with her hoof, Fluttershy guided her body under the punch, in what seemed to be in slow-motion, the pegasus placed her left hoof on the mare’s chest, then her left hind leg behind the other mare.
All at once, Fluttershy dragged her leg back, sweeping the legs of the earth pony and pressing all of her body weight down onto the hoof on Applejack’s chest. Just as the orange pony hit the ground, the hidden blade on Fluttershy’s hoof cascaded from it’s sheath and jammed into the chest of the mare under her.
There was a silence for a few moments, everyone was transfixed on the two ponies, one kneeling above the other, one gagging and choking, a crimson trail leading from her mouth and her stomach.
“Flu-”
Fluttershy quickly pulled the blade from Applejacks chest and thrusted it into the earth pony’s neck, cutting off her words.
The pegasus pulled out again and lifted the mare’s head up, then smashed it back into the dirt with a full force punch.
When the victor stood, anger flared in her eyes, she looked around, as if challenging anypony to oppose her.
“Come on!” She shouted.
One lone guard charged the mare, swiping a musket bayonet at her, she artfully kicked the gun from his hooves and headbutted the guard, denting his armor and sending him sprawling back, she then proceeded to pull her own gun from it’s holster and shot the pony dead.
The shot echoed through the forest where the guards had come.
Spike put up his claw, “Attack, you fools!”
Three more guards came, Fluttershy threw her flintlock down with enough force to break it and pulled out two more, shooting two of them down before knocking the helmet from the other’s head and forcing her blades into his neck.
Another guard only had time to take a step before the mare whipped around, sending a rope dart in his direction. The impact from the dart dropped him to the ground, he shouted out in pain, holding the spot where the dart impaled him.
The mare felt a building rage inside of her, from what Applejack had said, from what everypony had said to her, doubting her and breaking her spirits.
Everypony rushed towards Fluttershy, shouting and hollering about Celestia, the Elements of Harmony and Twilight.
The pegasus slid under a pony’s legs, cutting along his legs and making a wide gash where he was cut.
Another was right behind him, he swung the butt of his musket and smashed the back of his fellow guard’s head, Fluttershy took no time to literally pick the stallion up with her hidden blades that had been jammed into his chin.
Musket shots were ringing out, Spike was shouting orders, Lance had seemingly disappeared and ponies were dropping in two’s and three’s at a time, whether from Fluttershy’s relentless barrage of attacks on the unskilled guards, or their own muskets killing their own ponies.
Some guards had made the choice to turn tail and run, considering the staggering drop in numbers or just from fear of the assassin that had exceeded killing over thirty guards without any injury.
Spike shouted for them to come back, but without any luck, as soon the rest of the guards fled the scene.
Only two remained in a wake of bodies, Spike and Fluttershy, the mare stood, heaving for breath, adrenaline pumping through her brain and her robes stained with the blood of other ponies.
Fluttershy could see the fear in Spike’s eyes, he was afraid of who she was, he was afraid of her power, he was afraid of an assassin.
“Looks like you didn’t have to call them off, Spike.” Fluttershy growled, her voice had become gruff, like she had lacked water.
“They dishonored our Princess.” Spike said.
Fluttershy lowered her hood, “And what will you do?” She asked.
Spike looked down at the bodies, looked at his armor and weapons.
The he fell to his knees.
Tears streamed from his face, his eyes were tightly closed as he stared up at the sun in the sky, howling like a child.
“I d-don’t kn-know anymore, F-Fluttershy...” He sobbed, looking over to her with tears in his eyes, streaming down his face.
Fluttershy stared at the dragon, while her mind was surprised, she wore no emotion.
“S-so much has changed s-since y-you left,” He cried out, dropping to his hands and knees. “I knew there was something wrong, but I didn’t want to tell myself that.”
Fluttershy walked over to the broken dragon, her hidden blades sheathed themselves, blood wiping from them as they slid back in place.
“They are taking your life away, Spike, you are still young, you can get away from this.” Fluttershy said, leaning down next to the defenceless dragon. “You need to leave this place, you need to evade the Templars for as long as you can, until they let you go.”
Spike looked up at her, gazing into her deep eyes, she had changed so much since he had last seen her, she almost was like a completely different mare.
The dragon stood up, then turned, looking at the sun that was slowly setting in the distance.
“Then that is what I’ll do.” Spike said, walking slowly away from he had came.
He turned around a few seconds later, Fluttershy just stood, watching him.
“If you see Twilight again,” He choked up, more tears threatened to come, but he held them back. “tell her I’m sorry, and I hope to see her again.”
Fluttershy nodded, then watched as the dragon slowly disappeared.
She turned around and looked at the bodies, Achilles would have her hind if he knew she let Spike escape, but what he didn’t know didn’t hurt him.
The pegasus spread her wings for flight, but noticed something shine on the ground.
After twelve months of searching all of Equestria for any possible sign of Achilles, Pinkie Pie or even Lance, Fluttershy had come up with nothing, not even a name. In the first few days, she thought they may return to the manor, but as the days grew to weeks, and the weeks grew to months, she began to search more widely, even searching in Canterlot, or Lance’s music shop, which had been seemingly left to collect dust.
Fluttershy constantly looked for the tiniest lead on any of her lost friends and mentor, after a few months, she began to lose hope in ever finding the ponies she’d been so close to. As she remembered what happened the day she lost them, the more she grew to despise what Lance had done, he left her alone with all the guards to fend off by herself.
Fluttershy wilted and let her head drop onto the bar table, the mug in front of her head rattled loudly.
“Need anything else, lad?”
The words echoed through her mind, she’d rather not get drunk again.
She looked up, even though she had grown used to being thought of as a male many times with her hood up and the look of her robes, it still bothered her.
The mare slid her hood off, revealing her clean and fresh face, her hair had grown a little longer, but it was regularly cut and put in a ponytail for help with her hood.
“I’m alright, thanks.” She said, smiling at the bartender.
The bartender looked flustered, “Apologies, Miss, I didn’t think somepony wearin’ those robes would be female.”
Fluttershy raised an eyebrow, “Have you seen anypony else in robes like this?”
“Every once in awhile, most of ‘em are the quiet type, like yourself.” He said.
Fluttershy pondered those words for a second, she hadn’t seen anypony in robes like hers before.
“Thank you anyways, I’ll be off now.” She said, sliding from her chair and standing up.
“Any time, Miss.” The bartender said, “See you around.”
Fluttershy waved without looking back and walked out of the bar, the smell of the ocean hit her quickly, the salty, crisp air. The neverending sound of waves crashing down along the shore, the light of the moon reflecting on the water giving enough natural light to see on the dark docks.
Torches also provided light, but were usually crowded by cold crewmates of ships.
In the last few months, Fluttershy felt the need to expand her search outside of Equestria, but she wouldn’t get very far on her own, she would have loved to have her old friends back, but they were clearly not going to help her, considering the fact that Applejack and Celestia were dead because of her, not to mention Spike’s abandonment of the Templars.
She had tried to find Spike too, but with just as much luck as the rest. She figured the dragon was lying low to evade everypony that might have been looking for them.
“Ready to sail, Cap’n?” Croak asked in his raggedy pirate accent, appearing by her side from the darkness. steam rising into the air as he spoke.
Fluttershy had met Croak shortly after coming to the docks, looking for a ship, he had been kind enough to show her the ropes and was actually a great fighter when it came down to it. Croak had been mysterious at first, not telling many ponies who he really was, but she had learned enough about him to know that he had lost his parents to Celestia’s royal guards when he was a child, and ran away to the sea to escape from the same fate. Boy was he happy to hear that Celestia was dead, and Fluttershy was the mare to have killed her. He shared the same hatred for the crooked law as her, giving them the chance to become even better friends.
Fluttershy still couldn’t get him to share with anypony his real name, neither could any of their crewmates. She had quickly sprouted into the Captain of the Altair, a ship named by herself. She had remembered the word from her time with Achilles, and found no other word that could replace it.
“Cap’n?” He repeated, looking at her.
“No, not just yet.” She said, keeping her voice low and head down.
“What’re ye’ hidin’ from, Cap’n?” Croak asked, slapping her on the back and laughing.
The mare gave him a stern, but not serious look, causing him to jokingly cower away.
“I just don’t kno-”
Just before she finished her sentence, she smashed into a large, barrel chested stallion with a large, drunken grin on his face and the aroma of rum in his immediate area.
“Blimey, Croak!” He practically shouted, slapping Fluttershy rump with his hoof and making her eyes widen. “Ye got yerself’ a fine mare here,” He leaned closer to Croak, whispering loudly, “ye gonna take ‘er on board and fu-”
Croak grabbed the stallion by his neck and carried him over to the end of the dock, throwing him into the icy waters. When he surfaced, he was shouting every curse Fluttershy had gotten to know around such ponies.
Fluttershy moved closer to the larger stallion, making their way to the Altair and boarding.
The mare made sure to formally step onto her ship, right hoof first, then follow through.
Just before the two separated for their beds, Fluttershy tapped his shoulder.
When he turned around, she spoke, “Hey, thanks for helpin’ me out back there, I don’t know what I would do without you.”
“‘Course, ‘Shy, I ain’t gonna have somepony talk about me gettin’ dirty with the Cap’n.” He said with a wink.
Fluttershy blushed hard as they went in opposite directions to their rooms on the ship, she was glad she had such good friends.
When the mare got into the room, she began to strip from her robes, when she was fully undressed and naked, her ponytail was let out too, making her hair dangle down at her shoulders. Just before she blew out the lamp lighting the room, a jingle from around my neck caught her attention.
Fluttershy told herself that she had worn the necklace for her creed, not for Lance. She didn’t want to remember that piece of garbage. That coward of an assassin.
When she slept, her dreams were focused around Pinkie Pie and Achilles, finding them again, returning back to the homestead maybe, getting things back on track and back to normal.
She also dreamt of Rainbow Dash, and the remaining powers of Equestria.
