Prologue
I felt the cold hard steel pressing into my back. As it slid inch by inch I felt the cool kiss sever arteries, veins, and even my own heart. The aim had been true to the mark, but I could expect nothing less of her now. I felt her slide the blade out of my back, and the blood as it almost immediately began to pulsate out of my wound. Suddenly, I had no strength and it was all I could do to roll myself onto my back as I collapsed onto the ground.
I was staring up now, staring up at one of my best friends, Rainbow Dash, holding the blood covered sword in her mouth. The tears ran down her face in droves only to be caught by the hood of her cloak. The sword cluttered to the ground, a cacophony of metal rung through my ears. I knew I was going to die, so why was it that I could only smile at her? Why wasn’t I angry, or scared, or nervous?
“Twilight, I’m soo sorry. If only you hadn’t seen me with the mayor. Then none of this would have had to happen,” I knew at the moment those words left her mouth why I was happy instead of anything else. It was because I was looking at Rainbow Dash. She wasn’t some horrible killer like I had been terrified she was. Instead, she was still the same pony I had always known; Maybe a little misguided, but she was still the wonderfully arrogant and loyal Rainbow Dash.
As my last breaths leave my body I pray my final wishes reach Princess Celestia. Please don’t be angry with Rainbow Dash. It was never her fault, nor do I think she ever had a choice. This is how she was raised and I’m sure that, given time and patience, she would gladly take another path. I don’t regret knowing her, and I don’t regret being her friend. So, please Princess, please let her live and learn another path.
My eyes closed upon the kingdom of Equestria, that I loved so much, for the very last time.
Chapter 1: Family Matters
The sunlight beamed across my muzzle and directly into my tightly closed eyes. But, try as they may my eyes simply could not shut out the early morning rays. Slowly; very angrily, they were forced open to greet the day. A very angry greeting it was.
“SPIKE! You left the blinds drawn last night didn’t you,” Normally the morning would be something to smile about. Today, however, was not the case as I had spent most of the night going over a new spell book I had just gotten. Needless to say I was quite a bit short on patience and beauty rest.
Several moments later I exited my makeshift home with my scaly assistant trying desperately to keep up while carrying a bag containing some of the heavier books in the library. I didn’t really need them today, but I had decided it was a fitting punishment for making me wake up this early. As it was, my hooves were shaky as I walked the early morning route and it was several minutes before the early morning air managed to invigorate me.
It was a beautiful day none the less. There was not a single cloud in the sky, even at this early hour. Somehow, I found the thought that Rainbow Dash had woken up even before me ,just to clear the sky, comforting. If that usually lazy pony could wake up this early then surely I could do it to.
“Remind me to thank Rainbow Dash for this wonderful morning Spike,” I quickly shook the remnants of my sleepy self out of my face, my mane, and my tail. It, of course, had the unfortunate effect of leaving my mane a little bit dishevelled, but a few out of place hairs here or there were nothing for anypony to get worked up about.
Several minutes of happy trotting, and a quick stop at the Cake’s for an early morning snack, later I found myself in the middle of town witnessing a crowd of people surround the enamored pegasus pony. At first I had simply assumed that Rainbow must have performed some amazing feat, but, as I made my way into the crowd, I realized that most ponies seemed almost sad in the crowd. I couldn’t pretend to understand as to why everypony was upset, but I wanted to get to Rainbow Dash to figure it out faster.
I began to squeeze myself through the tightly packed crowd of ponies. Most were too engrossed in their own conversations to even notice as I poked my horn in between them. Admittedly, it was slow going as I pushed aside pony after pony, feeling like I was fighting against a torrent. It felt like an eternity later, as I felt the closeness of the ponies begin to cut off my own air supply. I nearly began believing that I was going to suffocate in that throng, but I did manage to keep my head about me. With one final Plop I was finally through the crowd and standing in front of Rainbow Dash.
It took a few moments before she noticed me standing there, and I was completely unsure of what to say as of yet. When she finally did notice me she was all smiles as she trotted over to me, “Geez, rough day Twilight?”
She was of course speaking of my now utterly chaotic mane and tail. Squeezing through the crowd had obviously done a number on what had already been a less than stellar appearance. All I could do to acknowledge this face was to grin and shake my head sheepishly.
“You know, I wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye to all my friends first, right? You didn’t have to rush through everypony.”
“Leave!?” Was I hearing her right? She had said she was leaving and she said it in such a casual manner. I was flooded with confusion and mild paranoia, trying desperately to understand what it was that could have driven her away from Ponyville.
“Bwahaha, you should see the look on your face right now,” I still didn’t quite get what she was saying, but seeing Rainbow Dash rolling around on the ground in laughter gave me hope that she was just playing a prank on me, “Relax, I’m only going to be gone a few weeks. My parents sent me a letter and I need to go home to help them out for a few weeks. Geez, it’s not like you’re never going to see me again.”
Did I ever feel like an idiot. A few weeks was a long time, but nothing compared to a lifetime. Still, something was bothering me. Literally, it felt like somepony had put something sticky into my mane as I was trying to squeeze my way through the crowd. I could only imagine what that sticky something was, but none of the images were good.
Several hours later, we all gathered to bid goodbye to Rainbow Dash. I know it sounds silly, but even though it was only going to be a few weeks we said our goodbyes as though it would be years. Rarity even gave her a special cape to keep her warm on the journey. It was one of the sadder moments I can remember, but we all made sure to smile and wave as she took off.
“Well, things sure are gonna be a might boring without Rainbow around,” Apple Jack might have been the first to say it, but we were all thinking it. What were we going to do without Rainbow Dash to drag us into spontaneity every once in a while?
“Couldn’t we just go with her and help out?” A brilliant idea from Pinky? This day was getting weirder and weirder.
“That’s a great idea Pinky,” I chimed in not wanting to be left behind in the moment. Then as suddenly as the idea had come, it left just as quickly, “Does anypony actually know where Rainbow Dash’s parents live?”
“No.” A straight forward response from Rarity.
“Not really.” A rather meek response from Fluttershy.
“Nope.” Apple Jack maintained her usual bluntness.
And the idea was quickly dieing before it had even began. How in all this time had none of us ever asked where Rainbow Dash’s parents lived? We must have been terribly self involved to have never asked. After all, I knew I had told her everything about my parents and my time studying with the princess. She always listened when I really needed her to.
“Of course silly,” Once again Pinky had managed to bring me speechless. Before I could even close my gaping mouth she continued, “I followed her home once when she wasn’t looking. I thought about throwing her a party in her own house. Then I got lost. I mean, who would have thought that Traphistus was such a big city? But I’m sure they live there somewhere. How hard could it be to find them?”
It seemed a little hopeless, but then I remembered one final important piece of the puzzle, “Didn’t the mayor say she was going to Traphistus a few days back? If she knows the city then maybe she will know how to help us find Rainbow Dash.”
“Whoo boy, won’t Rainbow be surprised when she sees the five of us there to help her parents too.”
With that it was settled. Rainbow Dash would have done the same to help any of us should we have needed it. So, now it was our turn to be there for our friend.
We all quickly went our separate ways to gather our things for the journey. I, myself, ran back to the library to pack some quills, paper, and books on Traphistus into my bags that I then slung over my back. Finally, I let my magic tie the elegant purple cloak Rarity had given me a while back. It was going to be a several day journey and I didn’t want to get cold on it. Finally we all met up to begin our journey. Rainbow Dash would have a several day head start on us, what with flying there, but that would just make it all the bigger of a surprise. We are all beaming at the thought of how she would react to us.
Chapter 2: The Power of Loyalty
The hood on my white cloak hung low over my head. Here, now, no one could possibly know who I was. Yet I still felt the eyes of other members drill into me as I passed by. It had been a very long time since I had last walked these halls and, even now, in the outfit of a full Journeypony I felt as though I didn’t belong.
My wings ached under the strain of the belts and long metal sheaths attached to them. Likewise, I could not get used to the feeling of the belts and shorter sheaths now adorning my hooves, nor the cold steel I could feel along my back. I had worn this gear many times before, but in more than a year of absence it felt almost alien to my body. I missed the freedom of the sky, and the lightness of wearing nothing. But, I had been summoned for a job and I could not leave, nor remove my gear, until it was properly completed.
I grabbed the handle of the large metal door at the end of the corridor, the handle leading into the master’s audience chamber. Everything inside was exactly the same as the last time I came here. Bloodstained swords hung framed on the walls and underneath the name of the honored member they had once belonged to. After every three swords a tapestry hung, each portraying a mission of especial honor to the organization; all the tapestries depicted bloody battles. The second to last tapestry depicted the day I had earned the titled of Journeypony and, also, the day I had finally learned to steel my emotions on the battlefield.
It was a gruesome tapestry. My figure stood against a pony with a long flowing mane, a glowing blue horn, and, where the front hooves should have been, the claws of a lion. Under my feet were countless bodies including four that looked like Celestia’s royal guards. I could never forget that day. It was the day that I realized that everything I did was necessary, but at the same time I had realized that I could never truly walk in the sunlit sky I loved so much.
“Storm Blade, or should I call you Rainbow Dash?” The master sat in the large chair at the end end of the large audience chamber, his one patched eye a reminder of everything he had given up for this organization. Somehow his use of my Creed name and my worldly title filled me with both fear and shame. He wanted to show me that I had no place being proud of a fake name, and he accomplished that with great disdain.
“No master, Storm Blade is who I have always been,” It hurt to deny the name that had so many good times with my friends; The name that had helped to vanquish Nightmare Moon and Discord, but the master was right in showing me that Rainbow Dash was nothing more than a lie. I slowly lowered the hood on my Creed cloak and bowed my head to the master allowing my rainbow mane to slightly spill out onto the floor.
“It’s good that you haven’t forgotten who you are now that you are a savior of Equestria. Now, approach and listen to the mission I have ahead for you,” He spoke with such disgust at my achievements. But, why shouldn’t he? These were the achievements of a pony who had never existed, a mear covering for the truly disgusting shadow underneath. The covering should never have shone as brightly as it did now, but there was little I could do about it. I approached and bowed my front hooves and head below his raised seat. I could never betray my loyalty for him, no matter how he felt about me.
“Rise,” He spoke as he stood from his chair and gently strode over to my tapestry. He had been so proud on the day I accomplished that. I still remembered the look of pride on his face, “This mission may be a little more personal than you are used to. The target this time is the mayor of your beloved Ponyville.”
It was a good thing he was still staring at the tapestry or else he would have seen the utter shock on my face. How could I be asked to kill somepony like her? Moreover, how was it possible that she was doing something against the interests of Equestria? No, I just couldn’t swallow this that easily.
“It appears that she has been secretly funneling money to a radical group called the Equestria Liberation Front,” He continued without caring to look behind him and witness my anger over the target, “Apparently they are dedicated to ‘Freeing’ Equestria by killing the Princesses and handing control of Equestria over to the nation of Squreisha. One can only assume they will be handsomely rewarded for this.”
Even if I didn’t want to believe it, the organization’s information had never been doubted. If the master said it was true then she must be worthy of being a target, “You are quite familiar with the terms of a mission? You are judge, jury and executioner. You will make sure she is dead, and that there are no living witnesses, nor any way to track it back to us. To the kingdom we are simply shadows.”
I once again bowed my head and responded politely, “Yes master, it will be done.” I was already half way to the door before I was once again stopped by his words.
“Oh, and Storm Blade,” It was such a nice tone of voice, unlike the master at all, “Shadow Hoof will accompany you on the mission. I can’t risk your emotions clouding your judgement on this mission. He will make sure the job is done properly.”
“Yes master,” The thought of that ridiculous pony being my watchdog infuriated me. I was his superior in the organization by almost two full years and now the master was acting like I couldn’t be trusted. I would prove to him that I was still as good as ever and that I could compete with any task he threw my way.
Chapter 3: The Sights of Night
The night air felt good on my stiff wings; they had been confined by those hellish straps for the better part of the day. But here, standing on top of a rooftop in the city, extra weight or no, it just felt right. I could forget most of everything, even what I was up here for. The one thing I couldn’t forget, though, was the pair of beady eyes boring into the back of my cloak.
He was waiting for me to make a mistake, I could feel it. I knew he wanted what I had, he wanted the freedom I enjoyed from the master. Even if it took sabotaging me...
In the dead night, above this one street; as I waited, and watched, I also imagined. I imagined how he would wildly hack into my body. If I was lucky he would sever my head completely in the first stroke, but he wouldn’t stop there. He probably wouldn’t stop until the flesh had been rent from my very bones. The very thought of it drove paranoia and fear into me, along with another thought.
I could kill him first. The feeling of driving a sword through somepony’s hind quarters was something you can never forget. He would quickly lose mobility in his rear end and would be helpless. I would be free to take my time in making it look like an accident. Maybe he slipped and fell off the building, and I was there to put him out of his misery? Oh how I knew the feeling welling up inside of me. The wonderful release of releasing the life from his body; of controlling the very moment he bled out.
NO! You can’t think like that... It was subtle, but it was there. The voice of all my friends trying to keep me from those dark thoughts. I used to relish in the kill, but they always kept me on the straight path. I couldn’t kill with enjoyment anymore. Now, I did it because it had to be done, and I tried to remember every pony.
For the time being I pushed the paranoia and fear out of my mind. The wind whistled through the gaps in the large brick laid buildings and I watched as the last few ponies slowly cleared out of the now darkening back street.
A couple of hours ago the mayor had entered into the bottom floor of the building at the far end of the street. To my understanding, she was meeting with the group she was funneling money to and was not to leave until she would not be noticed. This meant an empty street and a window of opportunity.
A few dozen minutes later she finally exited the building onto the empty street. By god, she was even smiling as she walked out. Was betraying her entire country something to be so proud of? The thought of her happiness over something like that welled up inside of me, threatening to crush any light or happiness I had. I wanted her dead, but more than that, I wanted her to feel every sweet second of it I could draw out of her. It wasn’t right. It wasn’t even what Creed had trained me to do. But, at that moment there was only the hate and sting of betrayal gnawing at my strings.
I reared back a few steps and took a running jump off the ledge of the building I had been standing on. I could have easily unfurled my wings and glided softly beside her, but that was not in my mind right now. Hatred and gravity guided me as I hurtled towards her unsuspecting figure. Unconsciously my right foreleg curled a little bit and the blade that was strapped to it sprung from it’s holster as I crashed to the earth.
In that final instant I felt that familiar sick pleasure as the blade arched across her flank. The finely honed edge separated skin and muscle as it glided through several inches of her flank. I could see the blood start to trickle down her back legs and knew she would want to scream for than anything. But, I was far faster. As I impacted with the ground I rolled once and, as I brought myself up, slashed that innocent half a foot blade across her neck.
Once again muscle and skin separated with the utmost ease and almost at once I heard the reassuring gurgle that let me know I had dug into her wind pipe. Blood was pouring down her throat, muffling any screams and preventing anyone from being alerted. But, more than that, she would now suffer just as I wanted her to do. Yes, she would die now, she would drown in her own blood eventually, but before that she would feel the intense fear of her life slipping away from her. She would live for a couple of minutes knowing she was going to die and feeling every last ounce of my wrath.
Then, all at once I noticed how blurry my eyes were. Suddenly I was perfectly aware of the stream of wetness that had been running down my face this entire time. I wanted to bat them off my face, to present a visage of pure hatred, but I couldn’t risk accidentally slicing myself with one of my blades. So, instead, I watched the distorted figure of the mayor gurgle for mercy as her life slowly ran down her neck. Her hindquarters slowly drooping as the muscles lost blood first then oxygen.
Finally, I couldn’t hold it back anymore. The anger, the anguish, the sadness, and the distress all burst forth from me. “Why!?” I screamed at the top of my lungs as the tears flowed freely from my eyes as the dam burst.
“Why!?” The same question ushered forth again despite the fact that the now frantic form of the mayor no longer had the ability to respond to my hated. I bucked once, hard, as the spring loaded device on my back reacted to the motion and shot the long sword out of it’s scabbard and past my head. Effortlessly I grabbed the blade in my mouth without looking and enjoyed the abject horror that entered the nearly dead mayors face.
“WHY!?” My scream was muffled from the sword now held tightly in my mouth. But, it didn’t matter anymore as my scream transformed into a guttural howl. I quickly launched myself at her and, in the last moment before we collided, my right wing flared instantly placing me perpendicular to her. The blade slid instantly in between her eyes down to the hilt as I dropped back on my feet slowly.
Silence fell upon our little scene. I couldn't bring myself to remove the blade from the now perfectly still mare. And so, I cried, I cried for a full on minute before finally removing the three foot piece of metal from her. As soon as it was free she slumped to the ground, a motionless pile of mare and blood.
I had lost myself in my emotions. I had become unstable. I had not acted as a Journypony of Creed should. But, more than all that, I could not stop crying, not even now. I replaced the sword in it’s scabbard sloppily as I continued to let the streams flow down my face. Finally, I did the one thing none of us ever should. I took the hood of my uniform off of my head and let my face breath in the night air to help calm my soul.
This is what having feelings wrought. I couldn’t perform my mission properly and nearly messed everything up. What’s the point of all these friends when one day I might have to kill them? What happens if one day I have to murder Fluttershy? Or, worse, Twilight? No, when this is all over I need to find a way to cut them all out. I can’t act like this again, I just can’t
Chapter 4: Bloody Hooves
It just can’t be! The...there’s no way. My mind raced at a million miles an hour as I watched that familiar mane, mottled and tarnished with blood, flow from where that hood had been hiding the truth until now. Oh, how I wished it was still obscuring her from my eyes: How I wished I could pretend I hadn’t seen Rainbow drive a blade straight through the mayor.
That’s when it hit me; I could pretend it never happened. It was dark out, anypony could have mistaken the mysterious assassin for somepony they knew. A trick of the lighting; That was it! It wasn’t really a rainbow coloured mane, but a trick of the waning light. I heaved a sigh of relief as the stress slowly evaporated from my mind, but, at the same time, the familiar pony at my side let out an audible squeak.
How could I have been so engrossed in my own rushed rationalizations that I had forgot Rarity standing right beside me? As my head jolted to look at her, the normally calm and collected pony was a mess of nerves. Any colour her body normally held had been drained and replaced with a ghostly dishevelled appearance as words slowly tried to squeak themselves out of her mouth, “How, but, How could Rainbow Dash do something like that?”
There was a nagging voice in the back of my head asking me exactly the same question, but I couldn’t be bothered to listen to it. Right then, right there, my world was made up entirely of that idea and I couldn’t let my reality be torn down. So, as Rarity continued to spiral towards madness, I found my hoof working its way to her mouth. I silenced her rather harshly and refused to remove my hoof even as I felt her hyperventilating against it.
“Listen to me Rarity,” I felt myself pushing ever close to her face, but it was like some kind of strange dream. I could feel the desperate look creep across my face and the threatening gestures I would make, but it didn’t feel like me. It felt like I was watching some kind of dream version of me, “That wasn’t Rainbow Dash.”
“Buph,” The muffled response was quickly cut short as I dug my hoof in deeper.
“No, I don’t care what it looked like to you. The Rainbow Dash we both know would never do something like that,” Slowly, I watched the realization, and finally acceptance, creep across Rarity’s face. She seemed almost as relieved as I had been at the discovery. Colour crept back into her face, her eyes regained a little luster, and she even began to tame her mane as I released my threatening grip.
“Of course you’re right Twilight dear. Rainbow Dash might be a brute, but...”
Her voice was forced intro trailing off as I began to ignore her in favour of examining the scene. I had read about death before, many times and in many different texts, but this was like nothing I could have read. This wasn’t scientific, or dignified, but instead was a gore of the likes I could never have imagined. Coagulated blood stuck to my hooves as I approached, each step making a sickening squelch as if I was treading on her very own corpse. And, when I finally reached the now semi rigid body of our mayor I noticed something. No, I affixed on something to keep me from taking it all in.
Her eyes were still open, the death had been so instantaneous that she hadn’t even been able to close them as I’d read often happens in death. I wanted to give her something, I wanted to provide her with some small piece of solace. For some reason I thought trying to close those eyes would provide that. I tried with a bloodied hoof to close them, but maybe my resolve wasn’t strong enough. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew that rigor mortis had set in, hardening the nerves and muscles of her once limp body, but the thought never made its way forward. Instead, I stared at the bloodied face of an old friend and felt dirty.
I had watched as she died and done nothing and now I couldn’t even give her eyes rest from this world. Instead, all I could do was dirty her fur more and more, bloody her body and stain my soul. It felt so wrong, it felt so painful, it felt as I was the one who had killed her. I wanted to shed tears, to break down and cry, but the tears refused to flow over this desolate landscape. It was then that I finally became aware of the quiet sobbing of my friend beside me. She had come with me, bloodied her own hooves, and had been able to do what I simply couldn’t. I tried desperately to hide my lack of tears with a concerned face and wise words.
“We need to tell Princess Celestia,” I tried to steer the conversation away from our dead friend. It was a thinly veiled attempt to keep from heading my own dark feelings. I was trying to bring back my own happiness, to remember the good times as an innocent student, “If some pony, or some ponies, are going around doing things like this, she needs to to know.”
“Of course, you’re right.”
The words were few and far between from there on. A brief discussion about cleaning ourselves up before meeting back up with the others, a short and unfinished discussion about how to break the news to them, and a foreboding air permeating our thoughts. It wasn’t clear at the time, but that was the last time any pony would see the body of the mayor and the beginning of our time at the top of a hitlist we knew nothing about.
