"STOP!" Flurry and Sunlight screamed as they ran helter skelter through the streets of Ponyville. Their deranged target knocked over baskets of fruit and bundles of other goods as they ran through the outdoor market. The cloaked pony seemed determined to reach her destination, wherever that might be.

But what she didn't count on was Sunlight and her knowledge of the town. Her mind was a veritable road map, and it came in handy on a number of occasions. This was one of them. She turned to Flurry mid gallop and pointed down an alley with a hoof. Then she raced away. Flurry watched her go with more than a bit of puzzlement, but continued after their assailant.

The cloaked one barged around a corner without paying attention, then all of a sudden skidded to a stop as Sunlight appeared in front of her. Flurry bounded around the corner to see her cousin in a deathly staredown with their opponent. The cloaked pony scoffed. "What are a couple of fillies gonna do to stop me? I mean, after all, you're so young…"

"Age is irrelevant," Sunlight said seriously, "we can track you, we can find you, and we can bring you down. The choice is yours. You can either come with us back to the Castle of Friendship and we'll have a small talk with my mother and father, or…you can stand right there and Flurry and I can wrestle you to the ground and then we'll go have that talk."

"Oh, I don't intend to talk to your mother," she retorted, "I intend to make bits, and that's just what I'm going to do. Now, move, or else I will fire this horn into your tiny heart, and make it explode, and you'll die right where you stand."

"I wanna know why you've been killing our friends!" Sunlight squeaked.

"I have my reasons for why I carry out these kinds of missions," she said, "and I don't have to explain myself to two fillies. Now, get the buck out of my way!"

"How dare you?!" Sunlight said angrily, "how dare you use that kind of language in the presence of two princesses of Equestria?!"

"How the hay do I know you're really princesses?!"

Flurry and Sunlight exchange a look around the cloaked one. Their expressions read like a book. They couldn't believe that somepony who could pull of masterful hits like the ones she had could possibly be questioning their princess status. After all, they weren't dressed up. Anypony with eyes could see their wings and their horns.

They both opened their mouths and squeaked in unison. "BECAUSE WE'RE ALICORNS!"

"Alicorn, shmalicorn. I need solid proof! Anypony with even a quarter of a brain can glue wings onto themselves, or a horn. Show me. You," she pointed at Sunlight, "purple filly. Shoot a magic blast at the ground and turn it into quicksand."

"NO!" Flurry yelled as she realized what the cloaked pony was doing, "IT'S A TRAP…"

But it was too late. Sunlight, in her haste to prove her royal status, had already performed the spell. She began sinking into the earth beneath her. Flurry raced around the cloaked pony, determined to save her best friend. "SO LONG, SUCKERS!" The evil one said as she raced away.

"Flurry! You've gotta go after her!" Sunlight yelled

"Never mind that!" Flurry said, "your life means more to me than catching her!"

Sunlight smiled, grateful for a friend who would do anything for her. The quicksand was rapidly gathering around her small midsection and Flurry reached in with her hoof and began heaving. She tugged and pulled with all of her strength, but couldn't free her friend. Then she turned around and looked at a couple of ponies nearby. "Please, help me!" She yelled desperately.

The two ponies quickly galloped to the young princess's aid. They grabbed onto Flurry and used all their might to try and free Sunlight. They pulled and pulled and pulled and finally, after about 15 minutes, they were able to pull Sunlight out of the lethal bath. The purple filly panted for a moment before throwing her hooves around Filly.

"Thank you," she whispered, "I don't know what I'd do without you."

Flurry smiled and returned the embrace, "and I don't know what I'd do without you."

The two of them turned and profusely thanked the two ponies for their help. The ponies bowed to the princesses before returning to their business. They were curious about why quicksand had suddenly appeared in the middle of the road, but they simply chalked it up to magic and didn't ask any questions. When one lives in Equestria, one has that luxury.

Meanwhile, across town, the evil cloaked pony, Sharpshooter, lined up her next target. She pulled out the hit list her employer had given her. Thankfully, she had made multiple magic copies of the original, otherwise she would be in extremely hot water. She had dropped the first list somewhere in the Everfree Forest and when she went back to retrieve it, it wasn't there. Buck those ponies, she said to herself, they can all die, for all I care.

From her hiding place on top of the tallest building in town, she peered this way and that, looking for her victim. Using the magic target she had created, she was able to spot the third pony on the list. "For 100,000 bits…I'll take down that jerk," she said out loud, "…Fluttershy."

Carefully, she lined up the shot. There was a lot of activity around Fluttershy. Even in the evening hours, the market was a busy place, filled with ponies doing their last minute shopping for the day. With the Summer Sun Celebration fast approaching, everypony was hustling about, purchasing food and other things to have at their own parties. They lasted all night and ended when Celestia raised the sun, proclaiming the longest day of the year into existence.

"Buck Celestia," she said, "she can go to Tartarus! After what she and that witch sister of hers did to our family…"

She reminisced for a moment about the reason she had for going into the hit pony business. Celestia and Luna had declared that the land their family home sat on was to be repossessed for Equestrian use. When she found out that the "Equestrian use" the two royal mares spoke of was simply a wild animal reserve, she was infuriated. She swore that one day she would kill the two princesses and thus take vengeance for her family.

What she didn't realize was that Celestia and Luna had given her family another tract of land to live on that was even better than the first one. The royal mares had visited her village one day and realized that the land they were living on was overgrown with brush and weeds and the family had no means of clearing that stuff away. So the benevolent princesses decided to reclaim that land as a reserve for animals and give the family an even better home.

But Sharpshooter had been absent when all this had taken place. She had run away from home, and never looked back. She was intent upon murdering the leaders of Equestria. "I will kill them," she said viciously and vindictively, "but first…I've gotta do this job. I've gotta get the bits to be able to stay in Canterlot long enough to kill them."

She lined up her shot when she heard a door bang from behind her. "Stop!" A voice squeaked. She groaned and turned to see the two fillies who had chased her down earlier. "What?!" She asked abruptly, "can't you two see I'm busy?!"

"I really don't care how 'busy' you are," Sunlight squeaked indignantly, "you need to come with us!"

"Yes, as royal princesses, we have the power to arrest ponies," Flurry added, smirking with triumph.

"Oh, you do, do you?" Sharpshooter asked with a sneer, "well, let's see you try and stop this!"

With that, she fired a blast with deathly precision. Sunlight and Flurry could only watch in horror as the blast went in and out of Fluttershy's heart. Blood quickly spurted from the wound. Sunlight bent over and sobbed into Flurry, and Flurry sobbed right back. The kind yellow Pegasus had fallen over, dead in an instant.