The Assassin's Song

by Productive faffer

The life of an assassin: questions, the constant threat of death and the fact that you work until your dying breath. However, one refuses to be intimidated by death, refuses to live by the rule of 'killer 'till killed' and above all, he refuses to be denied his answers. His question is as follows: who, or what, is behind his final contract? And just where will it lead him?

19. An aged assassin

Chapter nineteen: An aged assassin.

The light of the sun flowed over Fluttershy's cottage like molten gold, casting a deep, lavish colour over her home that was peaceful, warming and luxurious. Of course, this is only metaphorical, if molten gold were flowing over the mare's cottage she and all its occupancy would be both highly confused and have suffered a most lucrative death. Celestia's sun creped through the cracks of the curtains, sunlight falling directly onto Blood Moon's face, causing the assassin to stir and frown against the sudden light and move his head a little before he lost his grip on his sleep. With an annoyed groan, he woke up, arching his back and stretching his hind legs out before his eyes fluttered open. He cracked his neck left and right to relive the crick threatening to pain him and took stock of his surroundings; Twilight was in front of him, her muzzle close to his and her mane cascading over his face, Fluttershy's head was rested on the crook of her neck, her hoof draped over her friend's shoulder. The scene, both cute and hot for the stallion, prompted a grin from him as he laid his head on the pillow, moving his body into them.

'That's a nice way to wake up.'

His movements caused Twilight and Fluttershy to stir a little, Fluttershy moving further into Twilight and Twilight doing the same to Blood Moon. He grinned again and relaxed as Twilight put a hoof over his shoulder and pulled him into her more. He settled into thought; he began to

make sense of what had happened over the last few days.

'What would the Goldhooves have to gain by killing the elements? Hardhoof's plan must have been something for self-gain…hmm, maybe to use it as a way to knock Armour from his position as Captain of the guard and take it for himself? Perhaps…did the masters of the family tell him to do that, or was it his own idea? And if it was, why would the guard I interrogated have said it was…Celestia's…orders…No…no way, she wouldn't, would she? Would she? I mean, she is her prize student, practically a daughter to her, would she go so far as use her as a way to get to me? No that's impossible; she doesn't know we're dating. Ha, I'd trot a thousand miles on broken glass to see her expression when she heard about that. Hmm, perhaps I'm wrong about this, she may not know about me being here at all, but if she does …I don't know, it's possible, she has always been bitter and I know for a fact that she's capable of taking the lowest of blows…but then, if she does, how would she know I'm here? Luna? No, she'd have sent the night guard as well as the day guard, likely she didn't want to get dear Lu-Lu involved in this whole thing. So that means that she didn't tell her, either yet or she won't at all. I'll have to thank her. The question still stands, how did she know?'

Blood Moon's gaze went to Twilight; she was supposed to send her a friendship support every week, or whenever she had learned something, right… could she have let it slip? He frowned at his idea. It was possible, he didn't like it but it was possible. He'd have to ask her.

The sun had continued on its travels as he had been thinking, finding its way onto Twilight and then Fluttershy's eyes, making them crack open in response to the invasion of light to their darkness. Twilight murmured a little and Fluttershy yawned cutely as they woke up, both wondering what was up with the position they were in before they remembered what had happened last night and relaxed back into each other, smiling slightly. Twilight looked ahead of her and saw her coltfriend grinning at her. She giggled and rested her forehead on his.

"Don't get any ideas" she whispered. The dark stallion chuckled and moved forwards, kissing her softly before he moved back, keeping his grin. Twilight glanced behind her and looked at Fluttershy. "Morning Fluttershy" she said as she clambered clumsily over Blood Moon and plopped down on the other side of him, her hoof over his chest, while Fluttershy moved in and lay where Twilight had before, her own hoof on his chest. Twilight leant over the side of the bed to find that Spike wasn't in his basket; she frowned before she caught the smell of eggs being fried in the air.

'He must have woken up early to make breakfast.'

"I could get used to this" Blood Moon comments, breaking her trail of thought as he enjoyed the feeling of Fluttershy snuggling into him, kissing the butter yellow softly before Twilight cozied into the other side of him. Twilight and Fluttershy both sighed contently, closing their eyes as they relaxed against him.

"Well, well, well. What do we have here?" All three pairs of eyes snapped open. Blood Moon swallowed as Fluttershy froze and Twilight tensed. In freaky sync, they all looked over the covers at who had busted them; it wasn't good. Rainbowdash, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, the CMC and even Sand Stalker were looking at the three of them with mixed expressions; Applejack and Rarity were pouting, Rarity hiding it under an air of 'got ya' better than Applejack; Rainbowdash and Sand were smirking at them; Pinkie had her signature smile on, but the assassin could see a small amount dejection hiding behind it; Scootaloo looked confused at the position her dad was in and the other two fillies had the same expressions, only aimed at the mares rather than the stallion.

"Ah think, RD, this is what bein' caught 'red hoofed' means" Applejack said with a grin on her face, although pretty much everypony could see through it.

"I, uhhh, uh, um" the butter yellow mare stammered, trying and failing to get words out.

"We-we…I just, uh, sleep…trotting" Twilight tried. Rarity giggled into her hoof.

"More like sleep…" she glanced at the fillies, a grin on her face that said everything. "Well, you know what I mean dear" she said with a wink. The mares beside Blood Moon blushed.

"We didn't do anything" Twilight blurted at her friend's accusation.

"I thought you were a one mare stallion Blood" Sand said with an ever widening smirk. Blood Moon narrowed his eyes.

"Leave it will you, 'Shy couldn't sleep so Twi offered to help" the assassin said as he sat up. Rainbow snorted a laugh.

"What, by offering to sleep with her" the cyan mare asked. Both the mare's blushes went deeper. The assassin raised an eyebrow, looking between them all as he decided to change tactics.

"I thought you were meant to be friends, this ain't very good support" he said as he crossed his fore-hooves. Rainbow glared at him.

"I don't know what's making you so sure about yourself; Uncle Sand is right, I thought you were supposed to be a one mare stallion" she floated over to him "I can't help but notice that a little thing called 'Loyalty' has been thrown out of the window as of late." The stallion and mare stared each other down, glaring into each other eyes and snarling viciously until the assassin spoke.

"Y'know what?" Twilight tensed as she got ready to stop her coltfriend from lunging at one of her best friends. "You're right; first everypony goes against you about helping me, Sand Stalker reveals his unkempt promise to you and now this. We should tell you what's going on between us." Everypony looked a little insulted but didn't say anything, instead just they glared at him, apart from Fluttershy, who just looked guilty. Rainbow seemed satisfied and sat against the hoof-board.

"Alright, so what's going on" she asked.

"Few days ago, Fluttershy discovered she had some unrealised emotions for me, in the bathtub she got a little carried away" Dash raised an eyebrow "right after, when Shining showed up I managed to…figure out she may have some emotions for me, she told me how she felt, Twilight found out and here we are" he explained with an air of rather unbelievable casualness, finishing with a shrug. In response, pretty much everypony held their mouth agape, including Sand Stalker who had an eyebrow raised with it.

"You-wait, what" Rainbow demanded. The stallion smirked.

"And the truth will set you free" he said with that same smirk. Besides him, Twilight was biting her lip awkwardly while Fluttershy was hiding her face in the crook of Blood Moon's neck, who was rubbing her fore-leg reassuringly. RD blinked away her shock.

"So-so it's you, Twilight AND Fluttershy?" The assassin shrugged.

"You could say that." The mare continued to stare.

"You… do know that's the makings of a herd, right?" Blood Moon frowned.

"A-a 'herd'? What in Tartarus do you mean by 'a herd'?" Twilight answered.

"A herd is basically the name of a group of lovers; it tends to be around five or more ponies, mare or stallion, and another thing to mention is that you don't really own a herd, you're part of one" she explained. They all watched the stallion's face as he went through his thought process until he answered.

"I don't like that" he told them.

"Like what" the magenta mare asked.

"What they call it, a herd of all things. It makes us sound like animals, not sentient beings, I mean, what's wrong with 'group of lovers'?"

"It's not exactly easy to say" Twilight retorts.

"But it's easier to go around saying" he argues "would you like me calling you cattle or something?" Twilight doesn't say anything. "Exactly, when we're in a group we're called 'a group of ponies' not a herd, so why start now?"

"Are you really arguing over what to call yourselves" Rainbowdash buts in. Blood Moon slowly swivels his gaze to her.

"It's called a debate not an argument and now that you mention it, you're the one who brought it up" he pointed out. The cyan mare's glare darkened, causing the assassin's grin to stretch further across his face. Rainbowdash couldn't bare that grin on his face, it wasn't exactly smug but it held a certain self-confidence that made her want to just rip it off his face. They kept staring each other down until the mare figured out he wasn't scared of her and sat back again.

"So, you're dating both Twi and Fluttershy" she clarified, mainly for herself. Twilight spoke timidly up.

"W-well, technically us…being together means that not only me and Blood Moon are dating, as well as Blood Moon and Fluttershy, it sort of means…" as she trailed off Rainbow was starting to get the picture, as well as everypony else, and redness was starting to grow across their faces while Sand Stalker was in the process of going through a slow motion face-hoof.

From her position, Rarity stammered out her observation.

"Y-you and-and F-Fluttershy-as well as you and Blood… darling isn't that a little-little…I'm not too sure what it is, but it's just a tad…" she covered her face with her hooves as she groaned out her frustration and confusion, trying to make sense of the whole thing.

"How did all o' this happen" Applejack asked "between you and 'Shy ah mean." Fluttershy rubbed her fore-hoof bashfully, her blush going from an embarrassed red to a coy cute pink.

"W-well, you all remember your first heats right" she said quietly, not quite comfortable talking about this in front of Sand Stalker and the fillies. The mares nodded bashfully, it wasn't like they could forget. "Well-well me and Twilight sort of had ours at the same time, but we didn't really know what it was, so she came around here to see if I knew what it was…one thing lead to the other…" once again, as the sentence trailed off everypony in the room got the point, thankfully asides from the fillies in the room. Everypony in the room was blushing again, harder, deeper and much redder, knowing that two of their best friends had gotten up to rather questionable things in the very room they were sat in.

"So, ya'll had yer first heats…together?" Both mares nodded once. The apple bucker was silent for a while.

"Applejack, what's 'heat'?" AJ looked down at her little sister for a second before answering.

"Ah'll, tell yew some other time" she said. Nopony really knew what to say after that; it had just been revealed to them that the two mares either side of Blood Moon had experienced their first heat at the hooves of each other. It was both, rather awkward and made the room a little too cramped. Blood Moon scratched the back of his neck, practically smelling the tension in the room, as he watched the reactions; Rainbow seemed, for all intents and purposes, just a little broken, staring at the three of them with her jaw hanging low, though he couldn't help but notice the dejection in her eyes; Rarity and Applejack looked to be thinking about something, an eyebrow raising expression given the circumstances and Pinkie Pie seemed to be doing the same thing, Blood Moon wished he knew what they were thinking; Sand Stalker had a hoof to his chin, mulling everything over, this was all inconsequential to him but Rainbowdash's reaction intrigued him, mainly the way she seemed to deflate a little as Fluttershy explained how she'd been with Twilight for her first time; the fillies were more confused than anything, Applebloom was scratching her head, Sweetie-Belle was frowning while Scootaloo was trying to replicate Blood Moon's 'raised eyebrow look'. The dark stallion loosed a deep sigh.

"Listen, it's no good dwelling on this, what's done is done" he told them as he stood up, getting out of the bed, prompting Rainbowdash to fly back to her and Scootaloo's bed. Hunter and Dusk, who had been watching quietly throughout the whole ordeal, took this as their cue to find their places on the assassin as Fluttershy and Twilight got up after him, the unicorns making the bed. "Personally, I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this; I was lead to believe that this isn't frowned upon, so why are we getting so much stick?" Rainbow cringed slightly and scratched the back of her neck.

"Well, it's not that dear, just that it's a little sudden" Rarity said as she hopped off the bed, Applejack and 'Bloom following after her.

"Yeah, pretty much everything with you had been 'a little sudden' Moon" Rainbowdash commented with her fore-hooves crossed. "I mean, you appeared out of nowhere and then all of a sudden you were at the library with the Changelings, getting to know us, the party then the next thing we know we were abducted by that Guard and you and Uncle Sand come rescue us. Then you didn't even wait a day before you asked Twi out. A little sudden doesn't cut it, BM." The assassin frowned.

"What did you call me? 'BM'?"

"Yeah, Blood Moon, BM, get it? Like RD or AJ." The assassin's face went slack.

"I already have a nickname, with just as little dignity as that one. Mooney, remember?" He shook his head as he trotted away, mumbling something like 'BM' before scoffing. Twilight and Fluttershy giggled before going to trot after him, until Rainbow sped into their path.

"And just where do you think you're going" she asked, crossing her fore-hooves as she angled herself accusingly at them.

"For breakfast with our coltfriend" they answered at once. Rainbowdash narrowed her eyes at them both.

"You think we're gonna let you trot out of here" she asked as Sand Stalker hopped out of his chair and went for the door.

"'Scuse me" he mumbled as he walked past the three mares.

"Oh, sorry Uncle Sand" she said immediately as she let him pass by. "Anyway, as I was saying, you're not getting out of here without answering a few questions" she told both mares. Fluttershy rubbed her left fore-hoof up and down awkwardly, while Twilight bit her lip again.

"Well, what did you want to ask" Fluttershy murmured timidly. Rainbowdash straightened up while she was hovering.

"For starters" she said, before leaning in with a small grin on her face "just what happened between you two." Both their memorise shot back to that day when they'd spent a rather hot, sweaty and sticky day together and they couldn't help but blush again. The pair noticed that had been happening much more often lately.

"Really, Rainbowdash, that's your question" Rarity said, unimpressed with her query. Rainbow turned to her quickly.

"Oh come on Rare, you can't be telling me that you're not just a little bit curious" she told her, before she glanced at the fillies "uhhh, why don't you guys go see what Blood Moon's up to" she said, more telling them to leave than suggest anything but they complied anyway. Once they had left she turned back to Twilight. "So come on, spill it, what happened between you two?"

"We already said, one thing lead to another and it just sort of happened" the purple mare muttered.

"Yeah but, what 'just sort of happened'?"

"Why are ya'll so interested anyway RD, what, are ya'll jealous of Twi or Fluttershy for some reason" she asked with a smirk. It was the cyan mare's turn to blush as she stammered her answer out.

"N-no, I'm just wondering y'know, I mean, come on, two of our best friends just told us they've been together so I can't be the only one that's curios about this" she argued.

"Yeah" Pinkie said as she popped up from behind the Pegasus "I wanna know what kind of partying you two got up to" she exclaimed, either grabbing the wrong end of the stick or speaking in a rather subtle innuendo. The purple and yellow mares glanced at each other, still just as embarrassed, before Twilight answered.

"Well, it happened about a year ago, maybe eleven months. I was feeling strange around my…y'know, my nether regions and I didn't know what it was, the only thing that was different was that I couldn't seem to stop glancing out of the window, hoping a stallion, a mare, anypony would come by. Anyway, I wasn't really thinking straight so I didn't look in any of my books; instead I went to Fluttershy's place. When I got there I found her in the same kind of way, she was telling me she'd being feeling the same way and I asked her if she knew how to stop it, neither of us really knew what to do until I accidently sat on a brush on the floor and it found its way into an… intimate spot, I recommended it to Fluttershy and, well, I let you figure out how it went from there" she finished. Rainbowdash had sat on the floor as Twilight had told her story, her grin slowly stretching over her face as it progressed until she reached its climax. The Elements of Harmony sat in silence, Twilight and Fluttershy more awkward than the most of the others. The silence was going well until Rainbowdash spoke up.

"Hey, Twilight." Said mare looked up at her.

"What?"

"You do know that makes you a filly fondler, right?" The two simple words made Twilight put her head in her hooves, growling out her frustration as her friend giggled into her hoof.

"Ah don't know what ya'll are laughin' at Rainbow, pretty much everypony knows ya'll are jus' as exclusive to stallions as…well, Twi is. Pretty much everypony in Ponyville knows yah tail swings both ways" Applejack defends from her position. In response, Rainbowdash falters in her words trying to argue the point but nothing comes out, just her lower jaw going up and down.

"Who's the filly fondler now, huh" Twilight asks with an ever so slightly smug grin on her face. The cyan Pegasus crosses her fore-hooves with a pout on her face.

"Yeah, yeah whatever. It's just, is Blood Moon the only reason you two are getting together? Do you really love him that much?" Twilight and Fluttershy glanced at each other.

"Well, I guess you could say we've always been a little closer ever since that day" Twilight admitted. "I guess you could also say that, Blood Moon was just the little kick we needed." Rainbow cocked her head to the side before a sly grin worked its way across her face.

"Prove it" she said simply. Everypony in the room gaped at her.

"What" Twi and 'Shy said at once. Pinkie popped up from behind them.

"Yeah! If you guys like each other soooo much, why don't you show us" she asked with a grin on her face to match RD's. Rarity was awestruck at her friend's request but was at a loss for words, Applejack was in the same way but she could have said something, only she didn't; she had plenty of experience with Pinkie's experimenting. Meanwhile, Twilight was gaping at the rainbow coloured Pegasus.

"W-what do you want us to do" she asked, as timid as Fluttershy. Rainbow's grin stretched even further as she asked, knowing that her friends were willing to get as frisky as she was.

"Kiss" she said simply "and no short-changing, I wanna see a REAL kiss" she told them. Twilight swallowed as she looked at Fluttershy, who throughout the whole ordeal had worn a pink blush on her face and had her eyes as wide as saucers, her pupils pinpricks. Fluttershy glanced at Twilight, who was still looking at her and had been waiting for her to look her way before she put a hoof on her shoulder, pulled her in and pushed their lips together, her eyes squeezed shut as she tried to block out her friend's presence while she pushed her tongue into Fluttershy's maw, Fluttershy gladly obliging her while her own crept into Twi's mouth. They kept it up for a while, moans sounding here and there as their tongues wrestled and explored each other's maw's until they mutually pulled back, a strand of saliva between them as they panted lightly for breath. They looked up at Rainbow, who was watching with a rather blatant blush on her face and a trail of drool going down her mouth. It was unknown to everypony else that she'd gotten a little wet at the scene. "W-wow" she said quietly.

"Happy now" Twilight asked the ever so slightly broken Pegasus, bumping her flank into her head as she passed her by. It was unknown whether it was intentional or not. Twilight and Fluttershy trotted downstairs, finding Blood Moon and Sand Stalker sat waiting for them, Scootaloo sitting with her dad while Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle played around with Hunter and Dusk. The dark stallion looked up from the fillies he had been watching with a grin on his face and looked at Twilight and Fluttershy as they dismounted the stairs, the rest of the mares following them down, the dark stallion raising an eyebrow at them.

"What took you" he asked as he stood up to greet them.

"Nothing interesting" the purple mare responded with an air of dismissal. Blood Moon grunted as Hunter and Dusk returned to their perches on him, all three watching Pinkie, Rare and AJ make their way down stairs, apparently something on their minds, and Rainbowdash bring up the rear, a small smirk on her face. "Breakfast" Twilight suggested swiftly, trotting over to the kitchen, where the sweet smell of egg on toast was flowing from. Everypony but Twilight and Blood Moon sat at the table; they'd both noticed the same thing: where was Spike? The looked at each other with equally confused looks on their faces, as they searched the kitchen for signs of the drake; he'd cleaned up after himself, leaving no trace; he hadn't left a spot at the table for himself, meaning he didn't plan on coming back; and he hadn't told Twilight, Blood Moon or anypony where he was going, or that he was going at all, so he didn't want anypony knowing where he was or that he was even going at all. They continued to look over the kitchen, drawing some looks from the other ponies in the room before they frowned and made a mutual decision.

"Anypony know where Spike is" Blood Moon asked as he continued to search the kitchen fruitlessly. The assassin got the general shaking of heads and hooves to chins before they shook their heads as well. He turned his head to Twilight. "We gotta look for him" he said to his marefriend, who nodded slightly as she turned from the kitchen. The both stepped outside and cast their gazes over the front of Fluttershy's home.

"Spike" Twilight called, her voice echoing slightly. They got no response.

"SPIKE" Blood Moon roared, his deeper voice carrying further than Twilight's though still getting no answer. Twilight frowned while Blood Moon raised an eyebrow at the baby dragon's sudden disappearance. Blood Moon looked up at the phoenix sat on his shoulder. "Hunter, can you give us a bird's eye?" His feathered friend saluted him before taking off, soaring high into the sky as he searched for the purple and green dragon. After a few minutes of Blood Moon and Twilight watching him fly, filled with the stallion occasionally poking the mare causing her slightly annoyed grin to slowly stretch across her face with every prod, he finally gave an almighty cry; singling he'd finally found his prey. The bird of fire hovered in a spot in the air, over where they could only guess Spike was located, and the pair trotted over to him.

Once they arrived, Hunter having landed on the assassin's shoulder again, they were surprised with what they found; it was Spike, wrapping his legs in his arms as he rocked back and forth, his eyes wide and sparkling with tears. Twilight gasped slight, putting a hoof to her mouth in shock while Blood Moon's eyebrows had shot into his mane-line. Twilight trotted cautiously over to the weeping drake.

"Spike" she said quietly, careful not to surprise him. He looked up to see his mother/big sister stood over him, her coltfriend stood a few feet behind her.

"What" he sniffled before putting his face back into his knees. Twilight glanced back at Blood Moon for support, the stallion approaching as warily as the mare.

"Spike, you okay buddy" he asked as he lowered his head to Spike's level. The drake's head suddenly shot up and he glared at the assassin, making no effort to hide it this time.

"Don't call me 'buddy'" he hissed between sniffling some more. The dark stallion straightened up in surprise at the dragon's reaction, both ponies glancing at each other.

"Spike, what's wrong" Twilight asked of her assistant, who had gone back to crying into his knees. Once more sniffling, he looked up at Twilight; he went to answer but glanced back at Blood Moon, his glare coming back quickly. He didn't like him, it felt a whole lot like when Twilight had first adopted Owlowiscious, like Twilight was been taken away from him again but it wasn't like he could do anything about it this time, if the results of trying to get Twilight to get rid of Owlowiscious were anything to go by, that, and Blood Moon wasn't the type to be got rid of easily, if at all. Spike managed to pull his gaze back to Twilight and answer her.

"It-it feels like I'm never getting to speak to you any more, like you've just forgotten about me" he explained. Twilight suddenly understood, smiling sadly at him as she sat next to him.

"Spike, I'll never forget about you and I'm really sorry about not speaking to you it's just…things have been a little hectic lately, y'know. You'll always be my number one assistant" she said as she wrapped her hoof around the drake. She was taken off guard when Spike broke free of her embrace and stood up, now glaring at her.

"Well it sure don't feel that way, ever since…HE" he pointed a claw at Blood Moon, who was watching with his head cocked and an eyebrow raised "arrived, I Feel like I don't even exist anymore. You keep saying that I'll always be your number one assistant, and that's just it; you raised me from an egg, hay you hatched me, and you've been my sister and practically my mom ever since" he padded over to the side of the small stream, sitting down next to it and letting his feet hang over the small drop. "But now it's nothing like before, like you don't even need me, or even want me." Twilight looked a little hurt at that, she swallowed the lump in her throat as tears welled up in her eyes. She reached for the green and purple drake and wrapped him in her hooves, squeezing him like there was no tomorrow and not letting him go, despite his efforts to squirm from her grip.

"Spike, I'm sorry for the lack of attention lately but…but I…" She couldn't think of anything to say, instead she just, impossibly, squeezed him harder. Spike sniffled a few more times as he hugged Twilight back, the purple mare having also taken to sniffling a little. "I'm sorry Spike, it's just that I keep getting wrapped up in stuff and I sort of can't help it." She leaned back but didn't put him down. "Listen Spike, I know things have been a little different lately, but I promise, sooner or later, things will be back to normal, just the way they were" she told the drake. The little dragon's eyes welled up again and he pulled Twilight into another hug, holding her tighter than he ever had before. He then approached a potentially sensitive subject.

"W-what about Blood Moon?" Twilight leaned back and looked back at her coltfriend before she looked back at Spike, nothing in mind to say. The dark stallion answered for her.

"Spike, I thought we'd made our peace but it seems not, I apologies for assuming you were okay with this, I hadn't even considered how sensitive a subject this could be for you" he approached and sat down beside the mare and dragon. With a grunt he continued. "Would you believe me if I said it's obvious to me now? Of course you're a little sensitive about the prospect of losing Twilight; she's the only family you have" he said, Spike nodding slightly in Twilight's hold. "Listen, the last thing I want to do is pull apart any relationships between you all" he looked up at the drake and the mare, a thought he wasn't sure whether to address or not coming slipping into his mind. With a deep breath through his muzzle, he made his decision. "Spike, feel free to say otherwise, but now that me and Twi are dating…that's another member of the family, brother" he said as he turned his gaze to the two of them properly. Spike sniffled again, this time while he was wiping his tears away with a small smile on his face.

"Yeah, I guess so" he agreed "who knows, maybe it'll be nice to finally have another guy around" he added as he and Twi let go of each other and sat between her and Blood Moon. Before long had passed, they were called inside when Rarity shouted them from the doorway.

"Twilight, Blood Moon, Spike dear, are you coming inside, breakfast is getting cold" she told them. The small family of ponies and dragon all stood up and returned to Fluttershy's house. Upon arriving, Twi and Blood Moon finally settled down for what Spike had prepared for them, thoroughly enjoying his works. Once done, they planned on settling into the front room, and would have, had the door not been knocked upon. Fluttershy instinctively went to answer it, barely giving the assassin time to hide.

"Hello" the butter yellow mare asked her caller. She was surprised with what she got; it was a unicorn mare, with lush red fur and a sakura pink mane and tail, her mane done up in a braid while her tail hung free, the rest of her was the dictionary's representation of 'pretty'. The other mares, fillies and Sand Stalker looked to the voice that had come from the door and spotted the mare Fluttershy was conversing with. Twilight stood and approached, lingering behind the Pegasus.

"Hi there, I'm looking for somepony call Blood Moon" Feather Heart said politely. Twilight raised an eyebrow at her words, wondering why somepony would be looking for her coltfriend. Blood Moon's had eyes snapped open as he recognised the voice; he peeked around the door to see her stood there; she looked innocent enough but he didn't like it. He stepped out and the mare saw him, smiling slightly, watching as he trotted over to her, seemingly normal. Her smile spread a little further across her face when he stood before her. "Hey Blo-AHH!" She was cut off when the assassin lunged for her, grabbed her by her neck piece and hauling her into the cottage, closing the door behind him and slamming her against the wall, putting a blade to her neck as he pinned her against it.

"How did you find me" he hissed threateningly, eyes narrowed at her suddenly terrified form. Feather Heart was taken off guard by this reaction; she'd been expecting something a little more friendly at least.

"I-I… Blood Moon, what's gotten into you" she asked, thinking something was up with him. Her thoughts were dashed when he leaned in further, his eyes narrowed with a deadly fire burning behind them.

"I know for a fact, nopony knows where I am or how to find me, now I'll ask again" he told her as he pushed the blade a little further into her neck "How. Did. You. Find. Me?" Feather was shaking now, tears welling in her eyes. She put her hooves over her pink eyes and tried to turn away but the stallion wouldn't let her.

"I-I just asked around; everypony said they'd seen you with the Elements of Harmony, so I went to all their houses and Fluttershy was last on my list. I swear I didn't say anything, not even Mayor Mare knows I'm here" she nearly sobbed. Blood Moon saw the truth in her eyes and calmed down, standing up straight and stepping back.

"Right, I'm-I'm sorry about that, just a little paranoid as of late" he explained as he helped her recover. The mare brushed herself off and glared slightly, half-tempted to slap him.

"A little" she blurted, having slapped him without thinking about it anyway. "What are you like when you know you're being followed" she demanded as her death glare slowly turned into a grin as Blood Moon rubbed his cheek, grinning, before he wrapped a hoof around her neck in reassurance, pulling her into a hug that he made sure was more friendly than romantic. She looked past him, at Twilight and Fluttershy who were still watching with curiosity at who this new mare was and just a little bit of fear at Blood Moon's outburst. "Hi, I'm Feather Heart" she introduced as she held her hoof out to Twilight and Fluttershy.

"I'm Twilight."

"Fluttershy" she mumbled, shaking her hoof. The secretary then looked around the room, spotting the other mares, Sand Stalker and the fillies, smiling friendlily. Blood Moon had Twilight, Feather Heart and Fluttershy take a seat, preferring to stay on his hooves, before he checked outside through the window.

"Feather Heart is a friend of mine" he said absentmindedly as he looked through the window, turning away so he could talk to the group properly "she's Mayor Mare's secretary and one of the few ponies I trust. We're also helping each other with a problem, which, presumably, is the reason she's here" he turned to her properly "do you have something for me?" Twilight raised an eyebrow as he said this, wondering what he meant by this, she glanced at Fluttershy as she did the same. The red mare simply nodded.

"Yes, that…stuff you brought us the other day has finally yielded results. The assassin nodded.

"Great, it's 'bout time. What news-" Twilight cut him off.

"Wait, what are you talking about? What 'stuff' what 'problem' and how do you two know each other" she asked. The stallion grunted. Sand Stalker cocked his head as he observed the conversation.

"Wait, Blood, is this the Feather Heart you told me about the other day?" The assassin nodded, and the merc instantly smirked. Their conversation had attracted Feather's attention, causing her to glance at the mustard stallion, who nodded her way. "Feather Heart, I've heard a lot" he told her cryptically. The mare frowned before she gained a pink blush that matched her mane.

"You-you told him about…y'know, what happened?" The assassin swallowed.

"Yeah, well, this is the friend I told you about when this whole thing started" he told her "it was sort of unavoidable." The mare rolled her eyes before she looked back at Sand.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, I guess."

"Can we stop side tracking, please? What happened between you two" Twilight more demanded than asked. Blood Moon turned to her.

"Okay, well for starters, it wasn't between just the two of us. It was me, Feather and Mayor Mare. I dropped by the day before I helped you out with your magic and…well let's just say it was good timing and we spent the afternoon getting to know each other." Twilight frowned slightly.

"Wait, by 'getting know each other' do you mean…?"

"Yeah, Mayor was in heat so I helped her out" he explained with a shrug. Twilight blinked.

"The Mayor?" He looked at the purple mare.

"Yeah." Twilight looked at Fluttershy, mouthing the words 'The Mayor?' "Anyway, these results my investigations have yielded" he said, getting the conversation back to its head. Feather nodded before she answered.

"Yes, our lab techs managed to find out who it belonged to, seems it was a local thug called Lock Pick." The assassin grunted at the name.

"Lock Pick, huh? Alright then, so, how do I find him?" He didn't like the way she cringed.

"That's the problem, he's already out of town; we think he's been sent to Canterlot by…whoever employed him, to lay low for a while. I think that if we want to find out for sure who has it in for us; we're going to have to find this guy." Blood Moon nodded.

"Alright, I doubt if this guy was working alone he'd have the sense, or the funds, to go to Canterlot; the Goldhooves are based there right?" He got a nod. "Then that makes things lean towards them being behind this" he murmured. "Where exactly is he?"

"We think he's holding up in some manor owned by somepony called Fancy Pants, we also think he may be the brains behind this" she admitted. Rarity gasped.

"Fancy Pants? He can't be involved in this; he isn't the type to get involved in this sort of thing. I dare say he's one of the only nobles that's actually nice." Feather gave her a sad look.

"I'm sorry, but according to our contacts he was given a train ticket to Canterlot and told to head straight to his home. Either he had something to do with this or he's in for a real bad time" she said. Rarity wined slightly, Applejack putting a comforting hoof over her shoulder. Everypony suddenly noticed a darkening in the room, and the temperature dropped dramatically; they all couldn't help but look at Blood Moon, who seemed to be emitting a strange gravity of darkness. They then realised why; he had donned his robes, armour and weapons, strapping his hoof-bow and rope dart to his bracers and making sure that the former was properly loaded. He cracked his neck left and right, a pair of audible cracks sounding, before he relaxed his body slightly.

"Sounds like I have a job to do then; find this Lock Pick, and deal with Fancy Pants" he said simply from beneath his hood. Twilight cantered over to him, Rarity following soon after.

"Wait, you don't mean kill him, do you" the purple unicorn said.

"You simply can't dear, Fancy Pants is not a bad stallion" Rarity pleaded.

"Not bad on the surface, I don't know what he's like on the inside though, but I'll soon see" he made for the door "and depending on how things work out, so will he" the assassin said with a dark grin on his face. The pair of mares continued to follow.

"Blood Moon, please, don't go" Twilight begged.

"Blood Moon, darling, surely you can't be serious about this." The assassin turned back to them, the simple act causing them to instinctively step back.

"Of course I'm serious, why wouldn't I be?" The mares glanced at each other.

"Will you please take a second to think about this? This…Feather Heart has been here barely five minutes and already you're getting ready to go off and kill somepony." The assassin put a hoof on her shoulder.

"Twilight, I'm sorry but this is my job. I'm an assassin, it's what I do" he said as his hoof went from her shoulder to her face as he caressed her softly. Twilight reached up and held his hoof in hers.

"I know, it's just…I hoped you wouldn't have to do this" she whispered to him. After a small while of the two looking into each other's eyes, a silent conversation going on between them, Twilight gave in, giving a long winded sigh as she reached forward and wrapped him in a hug. "Be careful" she told him as she leaned back and kissed him softly. From her spot, Feather Heart watched Blood Moon kiss Twilight; she opened her mouth to say something but Sand Stalker beat her to it.

"Dating" he said simply, the simple word making a small stone drop in her chest.

"Oh" she answered, her head lowering slightly in her unhappiness. Meanwhile, Blood Moon had disengaged his kiss with Twilight and turned to Rarity.

"Listen, if he doesn't deserve it, I won't kill him. I won't make any promises, but I want you to believe me in that if he does die by my hoof, it'll be because it needed to be done" he told her. He didn't get an answer; instead she just nodded sadly and trotted away, returning to her seat next to Applejack and settling back into her comforting hold, crying quietly into her shoulder, clearly unhappy at the prospect of losing a good friend of hers. Blood Moon had looked up at Scootaloo, prompting her over to him; she cantered over to him and wrapped him in a hug of her own. She looked up at him with questioning eyes.

"Where are you going dad?" He looked down at his daughter and sat on his flank, pulling her into a deeper hug.

"To work Scoots, I'll be back soon, don't worry about it" he said, as they released each other.

The filly looked up at him with wide eyes.

"What are you gonna do?" The assassin swallowed.

"I'll tell you later" he looked up at his marefriend "or maybe Twilight can tell you" he suggested as he stood. Back with the rest of the ponies, both Rainbowdash and Feather Heart's jaws were on the floor.

"Dad" they both repeated. They both looked at Sand Stalker for answers, who was suddenly unwilling to answer.

"Long story, ask Blood Moon" he told them simply. They looked back at Twilight, Blood Moon and Scootaloo, who were watching as Fluttershy trotted up to them. She stopped next to Blood Moon as he stood up.

"Blood Moon…" she couldn't think of anything to say, instead she just leaned forwards and pushed her lips to his quickly. This time, only Feather was confused; she turned to Sand Stalker again only to find he wasn't there.

"Alright" the dark stallion said to the whole room "I should be back by tonight, you guys make Feather Heart comfortable; if I'm not back in two days, feel free to assume I'm stuck in the Canterlot prisons regretting my life decisions." When he was finished, Feather heart frowned.

"What did you mean by make me comfortable?"

"You're staying here until the job's done, when I get back, you can tell Mayor how it went." Feather's frown went deeper.

"So I'm a carrier pigeon now" she said. The assassin smirked.

"There are comments I could make about birds here, but I'll leave it alone" he said with that same smirk. It was the red mare's turn to roll her eyes, the secretary doing it with a grin on her lips.

With that, he turned and left.

---

The assassin sat atop the train as it sped along the tracks, a steady 'Chug-Chug' sounding in rhythm as it continued its journey to Canterlot. Blood Moon had travelled this way many times before, hopping atop one of the carriages and watching as the scenery went by. He rather liked traversing Equestria this way; it was fast, free and some of the company you could meet up here was extraordinary. Right now though, he'd run into something he'd both never thought he'd run into again, and was happy to see. Across from him sat three other ponies; two stallions and a mare. They were assassins of the Shadow Weaver's order.

They were dressed in identical garbs, the only differences being that the first stallion's, who was a little smaller and younger compared to the others, was a dark green colour, the other stallion's was oak brown and the mare's was midnight blue, the mare holding the superior rank over the other two. The suits they wore were an industrial style work suit; thick leather made up the bulk of the suit, a belt going over the chest with many pouches attached to it, the mare having a few knives beneath hers. It wasn't mock leather either, it was the real deal. The coat's sleeves went over the shoulders, the suit's colour giving way to dark grey leather sleeves beneath the bulk of the suit. The fore-hooves were covered in think leather boot-like gloves, belts and buckles keeping them tight to their legs; attached to the left fore-leg was a black iron hoof-bow, identical to Blood Moon's own. The coat went down their back's and reached over their flank, covering their cutie marks. The back wrapped around their fronts, buttoned up to the chest, revealing a light grey undershirt beneath the coat. A belt went around their waist, similar, if not identical, to Blood Moon's and containing all the same equipment. On the left side of the belt was a simple razor blade, an oak handle attached to a silver-grey Japonyese style katana blade; the weapon didn't sit in a sheath, instead being left on show to all who would look, letting anypony who looked at them know they were armed. The younger stallion and the mare's faces were uncovered; the colt's tiger-orange fur and cream mane revealed to the dark stallion, his Pegasus wings folded by his sides against his coat; the mare's soot grey fur and glossy raven-black mane was flowing glamorously in the wind, whipping against the breeze and around her unicorn horn, across her cheek she had a thin scar, though it only added to her looks. The other stallion wore a gas mask over his face; a circular air filter stretching over his muzzle, loose brown leather wrapping around it, while inky-black windows over the eyes gazed emotionlessly back at the assassin. Only his mud brown mane was visible through the mask, having been wrapped into a ponytail through a small hole in the oak-brown hood, while his hind-legs showed his particularly dark shaded forest-green fur. The other two didn't wear their hoods or masks, the mare had a her hood draped around the back of her neck while her mask was held in between her chest-belt and the coat, while the younger stallion had his hood up while the mask was hung around his neck.

"It's good to see you again Blood Moon" the older stallion said, who went by the name Falling Leaf. His voice was muffled some by his mask, a metallic ring echoing with his words.

"And you Leaf, it's been a while since I saw anypony from the order. Last time I saw you, you were a snot muzzle, rookie. Look at you now, an enforcer with your own apprentice" he said wistfully. He looked at the colt. "What's your name kid?" The young stallion tensed slightly when Blood Moon spoke to him.

"Uhh, my name's Candle Light sir" he responded, his voice youthful and nervous. The assassin cocked his head.

"Candle Light" he repeated, sort of liking it. He nodded.

"Yes, my parents were, well, candle makers. My dad was called Camp Light, and my mom was called Night Shine. We lived in a small village on the outskirts of the griffon kingdom, when I was a few years old it was raided by bandits. I was the only survivor. Falling Leaf found me and I've been a Shadow Weaver ever since." Blood Moon nodded slowly as he took the story in; many of the Shadow Weavers were orphans. He looked over at the mare.

"And how are you Ember Spark?" The mare had been the daughter to a smith, her parents training her into the professions. What they didn't know was that she had her eyes on other prospects, those of a mercenary or soldier. In the end, she ran away from, how she described them as, overly protective and controlling parents.

"Fine Blood Moon, it's been a lucrative few years" she answered in her signature husky voice that had been the last sound heard by oh-so-many stallions. "I'm more interest in what you've been up to though, Hunter; last I heard you were looking to retire, then you were after one of the Elements of Harmony" Blood Moon didn't question how she knew this, Ember had a way of knowing a lot of things she shouldn't "then I catch wind of you helping out some mare before you go on to protect Ponyville. Not a day after you get into a fight with…what's her name?"

"Pinkie Pie" Candle ventured.

"Yeah, that's it" the mare said, casting him a winning smile, holding the kind of sexy attitude only a truly deadly beauty could have. The colt actually blushed a little. Blood Moon smirked at the scene; Ember was, notoriously, as hot as her name and used it to her advantage. It was rumoured that she'd charmed her way through a whole barracks in order to kill the captain inside. Blood Moon wouldn't be surprised if she had. "Anyway, after that, you drop off the face of Equestria. What's going on?"

"Eh, y'know; stuff." The assassin's weren't really surprised with the vague answer, Blood Moon was known for keeping his problems to himself, only asking for help when he needed it.

"What are you doing on a train to Canterlot" Leaf asked. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Doing my job. I'm heading to Canterlot for something important" he said cryptically. The oak clad assassin cocked his head to the side.

"Celestia?" Blood Moon shook his head.

"No, I'm going for somepony not quite as important."

"So why are you going there" Candle asked, not quite as subtle as the other two assassins. Blood Moon couldn't help but smirk.

"Alright, I'm heading there to solve a problem; somepony called Lock Pick spied on me doing something questionable and now I'm after him. He's holding out with a guy called Fancy Pants, who's supposed to be behind this whole thing; I'm gonna question and kill Lock Pick and then make sure this Fancy Pants doesn't cause me anymore problems." Leaf and Ember nodded while Candle swallowed slightly again. It was obvious that the novice had just come out of training and still wasn't comfortable with killing ponies yet; the dark stallion could only give him a sympathetic look, all the assassin's had been there.

"You need any help with that" Candle asked. The assassin shook his head.

"No, this shouldn't be too hard. But, while I'm here, do any of you know anything about him? Where he lives would be nice." Ember and Leaf put a hoof to their chin.

"He's supposed to live in some big manor house. You should be able to recognise it by the thing above the door; it's meant to be some kind of crest I think, but it's really just his cutie mark on a shield." Blood Moon nods as he listens to Candle's information.

"Alright, so what am I looking for?"

"It's a midnight blue shield, beneath a white shield with three crown shapes on it, there should be purple jewels on them" he explained. The assassin nodded.

"Alright, that helps. What do the rest of you know?"

"Only interesting thing I heard was that he hasn't been coming out of his home nearly as often as he usually does" Leaf says.

"Fancy Pants, huh? Last I heard he was hiring security" Ember tells him. Blood Moon stroked his chin with his hoof.

"Does he know you're coming" Candle asked.

"I doubt it; Fancy Pants isn't a paranoid stallion, so he won't be on the lookout. That, and all of his resources are based in Canterlot, so he won't have heard of anything coming for him" Leaf answered. Blood Moon lay back on the carriage and shrugged.

"So what are you guys doing" he asked.

"We've just taken taking Candle Light here on his first contract; I was the support and Ember was the judge" Leaf answered, once again. Blood Moon looked at the mare.

"So, how'd it go?"

"Perfectly, I couldn't have done it better myself. He didn't even need Leaf's help" she said, making Candle blush once more at the complement. Ember giggled at the redness on his face. She looked back at the dark stallion. "What's with the bird, anyway" she asked. Blood Moon sat up and looked up at his bird, fussing his head while his eyes showed a smile.

"He's my pet; I was looking for some kind of animalistic companion but they all seemed to hate me. Then this guy crashed in to me 'cause his wing was broken and things progressed from there" he said as Hunter hopped off his shoulder and padded over to her before leaping on to her. She smiled and stroked his head, the phoenix nuzzling her back, making her smile go wider.

"He's nice" she says as he keeps nuzzling her.

"He's my bird, 'course he's got perfect charm." Candle and Ember both chuckle while Leaf stays as stoic as before.

"What did you call him" Candle asks as Hunter flaps over to him, landing on his shoulder.

"Hunter. Fluttershy suggested it" he answers. Leaf looks down in thought.

"Fluttershy, isn't she one of the elements? Kindness, right?" Blood Moon nods. Leaf then looks up at Blood Moon's mane.

"What about him" he asks, nodding at the mouse there. Blood Moon swivels his eyes up, spotting the mouse stood on his horn.

"Dusk, he's…no wait, let me do this" Ember and Candle raise an eyebrow as Blood Moon sits up and leans his weight on one hoof, propping his head up on the same leg. "Say hello, to my little friend" he says in his best Al Coltpone voice. Candle tries to hold back his laugh, but fails miserably as he laughs into his hoof, Ember falling to her back and laughing just as hard, even Leaf loses an amused grunt. The assassin grins as he watches what are supposed to be stone cold assassin's, hard as rock and emotionless, laugh at his joke. The whistle on the train sounds just before it shudders to a halt. "Looks like we're here" he observes as Hunter flaps back to his shoulder. He goes to Candle "Candle Light, good luck on your time in Weavers" he says as he grabs the mask, pulls it back and lets it snap back onto his face. He goes to the mare "Ember, as ever, it's great to see you" he says before he pecks her on her scarred cheek. He goes to Leaf as Ember giggles and holds the cheek he kissed, blushing lightly.

"You ain't kissin' me Moon" he says as he raises a hoof. Blood Moon grunts.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll see you around Leaf" he replies as he shakes the earth pony's hoof and turns away, hopping off the train, the other assassins joining him, Ember putting her hood up and places her mask on her face as they turn to each other again; Leaf and Ember both bow before they disappear, Ember in a flash and Leaf in a spiral of leaves.

"It was an honour to meet you sir" Candle says. Blood Moon smiles slightly and bows his head.

"And you Candle, as I said, good luck in your life."

"Thank you, and you sir" he says as he visibly concentrates, his brow creasing and a single drop of sweat leaking from his forehead before he disappears in a puff of feathers. The assassin smirked, a sort of pride sparking in his chest as he watched the novice manage to teleport. He turned back to the streets of Canterlot, looking around as he took to one of the buildings and trotted along the rooftop.

Canterlot was that kind of place that never ceased to amaze you, no matter how many times you visited the place, with its white stone walls and endless tall towers. There were three main districts in Canterlot, the mountain district, the market district and the family district; the mountain district was the home of the Canterlot Palace and most, if not all, of the nobles; most of the buildings were finely made and designed, suitable for the aristocratic residents of Canterlot; water features and statues were the norm around here, as well as tall buildings and shady alleyways, making it the professional killers both dream and nightmare, considering the amount of guards that were stationed both around the district and the palace itself. The market district was exactly what it said on the tin, the place where the bulk of the stores and stalls were kept and most of the shopping was done in Canterlot; it was separated into two sub-districts, the upper-class side, where all the nobles would buy all their fine clothes and wine, then there was the middle-class side, where the more average ponies would buy their foodstuffs and other essentials; it was also in the market district where you could find the most back alley spots to buy and sell…questionable goods. Finally, the family district was the place you would be greeted with when you first stepped into Canterlot; the main gate to the grand city lay at the front and the train station lay at the back, both entrances leading into an undeniable masterpiece of architecture; beyond the skin of the Canterlot family district, everything looked pretty much average when compared to the city; simple yet functional homes, though managing to keep the fancy styling of the rest of the city.

Blood Moon continued along the rooftop, gazing down at all the nobles as they trotted by, unawares as to the presence both above them, and lingering in the streets; it amused him to no end that some of them assumed they were alone down there, when in actual fact there were endless amounts of eyes watching them from the shadows. The assassin quickly came across a home that stood out more than the others; it was an overly large mansion, the main building an almost perfect square with balconies and walkways surrounding it, pretty much all of which had a guard or two on them; the building had a tower on the front and back corners, spiral rooftops and archers sat in the small lips that looked over the walled off compound and manor; the design of the place was of the same as the rest as Canterlot, elegant swirls of gold and purple, a midnight blue worked into the luxurious designs, marble archways, tall spires with flags atop them dotted around. On the front, above the main door, sat a shield, white on a midnight blue outline that stretched a little over the white, on the shield were three crown like shapes with purple jewels embedded in them.

'Three crowns with purple jewels. This is the place.'

Blood Moon looked closer at the guards and spied that these weren't normal soldiers; instead they wore a grey and black leather vest over their chest, black bandanas over their heads and chainmail over their flanks, a pair of swords over their backs.

'Mercenaries, no doubt low rent grunts. Hmm, looks like Ember was right though.'

They trotted around in a patrol, their eyes narrowed as they marched around the compound, in search for any trespassers. There were more on the grasses in the gardens, on the walls and around the outside of them, some with spears in their grip and others with swords on their back, the same make as the ones inside the walls. The assassin drew up a plan in his head.

'Hmm, too many to fight directly, not without alerting Fancy Pants or Lock Pick anyway. If I can get a feel for these guard's routs I should be able to sneak in without being spotted.'

With that thought, Blood Moon relaxed onto his front casting his gaze over the building. From his position on a high-rise apartment block across the street, he had a pretty good view of the guard's patrol routes; for three long, tedious and boring hours he observed their movements.

The two on the front gate didn't move, instead they just glared at anypony who got too close; the guards on the balconies always had their eyes on the ground below them, rather than watching all over, making a weakness in that they didn't even glance at their colleges or inside the building; the patrols around the gardens were simple enough, just two guards going in an oval from one end to the other, another two guards around the edge; in the towers, there were two guards per vantage, armed with a bow and a quiver of arrows each; walkways around the second and third levels had two set of patrolling guards, both in pairs and on either side of each other as they trotted around; on the walls were at least eight guards, all staying one position and watching over the streets below, not the compound or gardens. Before long, the assassin had his plan; he'd leap from his position and onto the wall, from there he'd make his way across a tree that would camouflage and hide him until he had the opportunity to take down the guard stood on the balcony before he hid the body back on the roof he was on; the main thing that annoyed him was that the place had spells that protected against unapproved teleportation into the compound, he could dismantle the defensive spells but it may take too long, depending on what was defending the defensive spells. That, and it'd be no fun if he did.

He looked to the sky, assessing it to be around one in the morning; he decided to wait until night time, it would give him a better chance at avoiding being detected anyway. He relaxed again, Dusk and Hunter doing the same, and waited the day away.

---

Twilight stood in the kitchen with Spike, having decided she's try and spend more time with him, while the drake made lunch for everypony. Ever since Blood Moon had left, everypony seemed a little tense, with maybe the exception of Sand Stalker, who kept telling everypony to calm it down and relax. As Spike was in the process making up his works, Rainbowdash trotted in, looking like something was on her mind.

"Hey, Twilight" she said as she entered the kitchen. The purple mare looked over at her from her seat at the table, smiling slightly when she saw her.

"Hey Rainbow, what's up" she asked. She noticed the cyan Pegasus looked a little down about something.

"Can…can I talk to you about something?" Twilight got up off her seat.

"Sure, what's the matter?" RD glanced at Spike.

"Can we talk, y'know, in private?" Twilight blinked.

"Oh, um, sure" she responded as Rainbow lead the way outside. Once they were stood in Fluttershy's backyard, the Pegasus turned to the unicorn.

"What was Scootaloo talkin' about when she said that Blood Moon was her dad?" Twilight mentally sighed.

"Oh, that. Well, the other day, you remember when you asked him to pick up Scootaloo, Cheerilee wouldn't let him pick them up unless he was related to one of them. He decided to say he was Scoot's dad. Things must have progressed from there and they made it sort of official" she explained, watching as her face got slowly more understanding.

"Oh, right" she said quietly.

"Is something wrong?"

"No…yeah, it's just…I always thought Scootaloo was my little sis, y'know. I mean I took her under my wing, I'm teaching her to fly" she answered, unwillingly admitting her desired relationship with Scoots. Twilight looked slightly panicked and put her hoof on her friend's shoulder.

"Hey, don't be like that, you're still her big sister, always will be. But, I thought you'd understand that she needed parents as well as her sister; we both know she's at the age where she'd need both." Rainbow nodded, but didn't say anything; a few days ago she'd have said something like 'are you kidding me' but now that she'd re-met Sand Stalker she could appreciate what she was talking about.

"I guess so" she said quietly after a while "at least we both know he'll look after her properly" she said a little louder. "And I know you will too" she added. Twi raised an eyebrow.

"Huh, what do you mean?" 'Dash looked up at her.

"Well, you're dating Blood Moon now, and he's her dad. Doesn't that make you her mom or something?" Twilight's eyes snapped open, a spark of panic lighting inside her and feeling the familiar sensation of unwanted responsibility being dumped on her, yet again. She also couldn't help but feel a slight pang of age insecurity hit her as well.

"H-her mom? Rainbow, I-I don't know, Blood Moon's a great father figure for Scootaloo but I'm not sure what kind of mother I'd make. I don't know if I'm even ready for having a foal, even an unofficially adopted Scootaloo feels like a bit too much. I mean, out of everything that's happened, all the sudden stuff that's happened I mean, suddenly having a child is just-just…it's where I draw the line" she exclaimed. Rainbow waved a hoof to stop her.

"Yeah, okay I get it, I understand. I was just saying y'know." As they finished their talk, they sat on their flanks and watched the stream behind Fluttershy's home go by. They turned back to the house when they heard the door open and close and Scootaloo trot out. Rainbowdash stood and trotted back to the house, recognising the situation as something that she should give them some privacy for. As she passed by the filly, Scootaloo faltered slightly, making RD do the same, before the small orange filly wrapped her big sister in a small, unexplained hug.

"'Dash" Scootaloo started.

"Yeah" said mare responded, as she put her fore-leg around the filly's back as she hugged her in return.

"You're a great sister." The Pegasus mare welled in pride and affection at that.

"Thanks squirt" she responded, tussling the little Pegasus's mane. The two disconnected and continued on their ways, Rainbow entering the house and Scootaloo sitting next to Twilight.

"What was all that about" Twi asked, a small smile on her face, glad that Rainbowdash could finally bring herself to show public displays of affection.

"I don't really know, I think that after Blood Moon adopted me…sort of-I guess you could say I can appreciate family more than I used to" she explained. The purple mare couldn't help but smile again.

"That's pretty grown up, y'know." Scootaloo giggled slightly.

"Thanks. Twilight, I was wondering, when Blood Moon said he was going to work, what did he mean?" The unicorn swallowed slightly.

"He's…he's doing really important work, but I think Blood Moon should tell you what he's doing, it's the kind of thing…the kind of thing father and daughter should talk about" she said. Scoots nodded, still disappointed with the answer.

"Alright" she responded quietly. Twilight looked down at her, spotting her slightly depressed face.

"Hey, are you alright" she asked. The filly looked up at her.

"Yeah, I guess. It's just…I was wondering if Blood Moon is ever gonna really adopt me." It broke Twilight's heart a little the way she said that, alongside the fact that she didn't know for sure herself. She wanted to say yes, assure her that she was going to have a real dad, but she knew she couldn't lie to the filly, unintentionally give her false hope. Before she could say anything though, she suddenly noticed there was a presence on her chest, a sort of warmth, and she suddenly noticed she was holding Scootaloo against her chest in her fore-legs; she'd wrapped her in a hug without realising it. She recovered from her stupor quickly however, and managed to answer her before Scootaloo could ask why she was suddenly being held by the element of magic.

"I…I'm not sure Scootaloo, Blood Moon's nothing if not unpredictable" she admitted, not answering but not exactly lying either. Scootaloo nodded in her chest, deciding she didn't mind the magenta mare holding her. She looked up at the unicorn's face.

"Twilight" she started, causing the mare to look down at the filly "if Blood Moon really does adopt me…will you be my mom?" Twilight almost cringed at the question; she considered her answer carefully, but with one look at the filly's wide, curious eyes, her answer was obvious.

"Sure" she said, smiling slightly at Scootaloo. The Pegasus filly smiled back and nuzzled her. They sat together for a while until they heard a voice from the house.

"Hey, Twilight, Scootaloo, lunch's ready" Spike called. They stood up together and trotted back to the house, both of them wondering what Blood Moon was doing.

---

"Y'know, it's times like this I love my job" Blood Moon said as he watched the pair of mares show a love for each other he was certainly loving right now. Besides him, Hunter and Dusk nodded noiselessly, agreeing with him as they watched the mares do things they both didn't truly understand but sort of amused them anyway. In tandem, the three cocked their heads to the left, steadily going further and further until they were on their side before they raised their eyebrow. Then their eyes widened and their jaws dropped as they watched the mares get into a position even the dark stallion didn't recognise. "Hmm, I'll have to remember that one" he muttered as he watched them…well I'd tell you but it's better to leave it to imagination. When they were finished he was fairly sure one had proposed to the other, judging by how she leapt on her and started planting kisses all over her face.

Turning away from the mares he now wished a long and happy marriage to, he looked back at Fancy Pant's manor. Night had fallen and it looked to be getting towards the end of the guard's shift, considering how drowsy they were starting to look; he looked to the sky and judged by the position of the moon it was getting to around nine o'clock. He looked back to the compound and spied his chosen entry point; with a nod at Hunter, prompting him to hop onto his shoulder, he put his plan into action.

With a short, graceful hop, he landed on a thick branch of the tree that reached over the wall and trotted along it, not making a sound as he made his way along the limb of the tree. He hid in a small clump of leaves and watched the guard he was going for yawn; once he was done taking his overly long, drawn-out breath, stretching his back as he did, the assassin lunged, the guard's eyes snapping open and you could actually see him draw in breath and open his maw to shout his warning to his colleagues before the dark stallion slammed his hoof into his muzzle, before he leapt around his neck and wrapped his right fore-hoof around his neck while his left snaked behind and held him in place as he struggled and writhed around, trying to tug his opponent's powerful leg away from his throat, his efforts slowly being reduced to just wriggling around until the lack of oxygen to his brain put him out like a light as he slumped against the assassin. Blood Moon hauled him up over his shoulder and leapt back to the tree, trotting on three legs as he carried the guard back to the other side of the tree and leaping up to the building, placing him down and searching him; before long he came across a key, no doubt the key to the door to the balcony he'd been stood on. Moving back to the tree and quickly the building before he put the key in the lock and turned it; it wasn't even locked.

'Discord's antlers, these mercs are idiots. What kind of guard doesn't even lock the door?"

The assassin poked his head inside the door, peering left and right through the gloom; the shadows were cut up by a knife of moon light, lighting up the long hall in intervals as Luna's moon light shone through the window. He went left, hugging the wall and keeping to the darkest spots of the mansion. He heard hoof-steps from behind him, and turned to see a trio of guards trotting his way; he backed into a corner formed by the wall and tall potted plant, bowing his head and melting into the shadows. Four seconds later, the same three guards passed him by and the dark stallion decided to follow, listening in to their conversation.

"-Think he's paranoid? Forty guards hanging around this place seems a little overkill" the middle one said, a big earth pony with a great sword on his back.

"Maybe" the one on the left answered, a smaller Pegasus with a pair of daggers on either side of his armour "but with that mare around, what's her name, Fleur-de-lis or something? I don't blame him." The other guard, another earth pony, smaller than the other with a simple sword on his back, shakes his head.

"Nah, I think it was something like Fleur Dis Lee" he says. The Pegasus shrugs.

"Either way, what I wouldn't give to tap that." The three of them chuckle for a second before the first earth pony speaks again.

"What about that punk who's been hanging around, little asshole should really learn how to speak to the guys looking after his sorry flank" he spits, clear distaste in his tone.

"Yeah, but have you heard why he's hiding" the Pegasus asks. The guards shake their heads, looking the winged pony's way. "Word on the street is that he was doing work for the Goldhooves that involved taking pictures of the mayor of Ponyville, trying to get dirt on her y'know." The smaller earth pony grunts.

"Nothing out of the ordinary then. I did a job for them once; they paid good but they're all a bunch of total pieces of trash" he curses, the other two muttering their agreement.

"Damn straight, anyway that's not the best part; this dirt he's got? Guess what it is."

"Uhhh, skimming tax profits into her own account?" The Pegasus shakes his head.

"Abuse of political power?"

"Nope."

"Alright, cut it out, what's going on. What's this dirt?"

"Apparently, he managed to snap pictures of her doing the deed with her secretary." The middle earth looks over at him.

"Is that it" he demands. The Pegasus shakes his head, a smirk on his face.

"Not yet, let me finish. It wasn't just her and the secretary, it was her, the other mare and the Hunter." The two earth stallions froze in their steps, both snapping their heads over to him.

"T-the-the Hunter, you mean Blood Moon? The killer who can't be seen, caught or killed? Are you kiddin' me" the bigger stallion hissed. The smaller one seemed to be hyperventilating.

"T-t-the Hunter? Oh sweet Celestia, one of the damned Shadow Weavers taught me everything I know, and he's meant to be one of them, one of the best. Wait a sec, do you think he'll come here, after this punk I mean." The Pegasus shrugged.

"I don't know, but if he does, I hope he doesn't come on my shift." The middle earth grunts.

"Hey, I bet he's here already. Watching us right now, blade in hoof, getting closer, closer, ever closer until…"

"He pounces" the assassin whispers as he slammed his hoof into the back of the middle earth's head, knocking him out instantly. The other two spin around to him, drawing their weapons; the Pegasus takes to the air but doesn't get far until he find the dark stallion's rope around his neck, cutting off his air flow while the other swings his blade at Blood Moon, who doges rather than blocks, as to avoid the clang of metal on metal, before he smashes his hoof into the merc's muzzle and leaps over his head, wrapping the wire around his neck as the Pegasus finally loses consciousness as he throttles the other as though using a fibre-wire.

Once both were snoring slightly and done with, he sheaths his sword and drags all three over to a dark corner; he smirks as he lays the big earth on his back, puts the other earth's crotch on his face before putting the Pegasus's face between the big earth's legs. He wished he could be there to watch them wake up.

Trotting silently away with a smirk on his face he reaches an intersection; left or right? He goes to the left side of the hall, a light shining from that side, and peers around the corner; he spots a doorway guarded by a pair of unicorns, it opens for a second as a unicorn beauty steps out and says something to the guards before going back in, the sound of a door lock engaging echoing down the hallway.

'Hmm, must be the Fleur Dis Lee those guards were talking about. Maybe she'll know something about this place; preferably where to find Fancy Pants and Lock Pick.'

"What do you think" he asked Hunter, who looked back at him and shrugged. With a smirk, he looks around the corridor that leads to Fleur's room; it was completely void of any hiding spots, the whole room being lit up, the marble halls dazzling but not blinding. He looked up at the ceiling; there were some shady spots and it was high up, so he had a chance of remaining undetected. With a shrug, he stepped back from the wall he'd been hiding behind and looked up it; he concentrated his magic in his horn and let it flow around his body before he put his hoof to the wall, feeling every nook, cranny, crevice and tiny crack and gap in the walls, using it to grip the wall as he trots up the side of the hall until he reaches the ceiling and steps onto it, hanging upside down, his mane and tail hanging below him as he trots around the corner and over to the door, inverted the whole way. As he goes he keeps his eyes on the guards, both of which looked like any other security guard; bored, tired, would much rather be at home with the wife and kids. He felt the same way. He continued to the door and stopped, dropping down and landing without making a noise. He wraps his fore-legs around the leftmost merc and chokes him, the other snapping his gaze over to him at the sound of nearby struggling, only to be met with a sleep-dart being shot into his neck, putting him quickly to sleep. The two fall to the ground, unconscious, before the assassin casts a gravity inverting spell on their bodies, watching as they float upwards before turning to the door. He crouches slightly and peers through the keyhole; through it, he saw Fleur, sat at a vanity coming her mane, humming a tune he thought he recognised, while a breeze from her window made her mane and tail flow glamorously. He grunted; he could only guess how long it had taken to perfect that effect, and the fact that she could never know if she had an audience made him wonder how she acted when she knew ponies were watching her. He reaches into his mane and pulls out the lock pick set, the irony not lost on him, as he puts his eye back to the keyhole and looked at the tumblers.

'Impressive.'

The lock to Fleur Dis lee's room wasn't a standard issue lock. Highly advanced, no doubt expensive, tumblers sat between him and his goal. This was the work of either a paranoid or protective stallion. Or perhaps possessive one.

Pulling the necessary tools from the small leather sleeve and working the lock, small taps sounding as the tumblers fell into their proper spots, he glances behind himself a few times, watching for any approaching guards; none came. Once he was done, he slowly swung the door open before closing it again. Fleur hadn't noticing the door opening, still looking into the mirror and running the brush through her mane, still humming that tune. Blood Moon looked around the room and spotted a seat across the room; he trotted over to it and sat down in it, adopting a bored expression as Hunter and Dusk sat on the back of the seat. Fleur suddenly stopped humming, noticing a new presence in the room and slowly turning and spotting the assassin sat on her chair. To the assassin's surprise and impressment, she didn't scream for the guards or shriek in alarm, the only thing she did was give a small gasp of surprise, putting a hoof to her mouth.

"Bonjour" she said in a Prench accent, her voice slightly high pitched but a little husky at the same time, giving it both a suggestive and innocent feel. She looks over the mystery stallion in her room, taking in his dark colours and muscled and scared physic. "'Oo are you" she asked as she turned to him properly "'ow did you get past the guards?" She angled her head slightly, narrowing her eyes the smallest of amounts, though the effect was still there. "Do they even know you are 'ere" she asked in a slightly suspicious tone. The stallion couldn't help but be impressed with how this mare could express herself; a simple and very slight change of tone, the smallest of changes in body language. If you could change how others perceived you in these slight ways, you knew that you were doing something right. The assassin grinned in a way that answered her question. "'Oo are you? Some mystery gentlecolt caller?" The assassin's grin went further across his face.

"To a degree" he answered. Fleur stepped off her seat, prompting the stallion to do the same; it was the kind of habit you picked up in this kind of occupation.

As they trotted up to each other, Blood Moon took in the mare; she had a shimmering white coat, over the glamorous body only a supermodel would take the time to perfect; a glossy two tone pink and light grey mane, which flowed gracefully around her horn, and tail, which hugged her flank a little too much to be natural but he'd be lying if he said he cared, both of which curled slightly and were wavy from the brushing they'd just received; her eyes were a light shade of violet with a darker shade of eye shadow hiding on her lids, long lashes flicking off of them; her cutie mark was three fleurs-de-lis, the middle one gold and the outer ones purple, slightly smaller than the other; her body was nice, most attention paid to her backside, though after Zecora the assassin doubted he'd never see an ass to match it, that said, this Fleur obviously paid due attention to herself. They met in the centre of the room, Fleur standing taller than Blood Moon though the aura of intimidation he emitted killed the effect.

"An assassin per'aps" she murmured as they started circling each other.

"You're smart mademoiselle" Blood Moon says. The mare's face slackens slightly.

"I take it you're 'ere for Fancy Pants" she concludes. The stallion nods.

"Not happy about it, I take it." Fleur hums slightly.

"Why would I be 'appy about my partner being killed? I'd try to stop you, but what could I do against you, Blood Moon?" The assassin chuckled.

"You know me, Fleur Dis Lee?" The mare grinned slightly, one side of her mouth rising.

"Anypony 'oo is anypony knows the great 'unter" her eyes narrowed again, though she kept her lopsided grin "I will not 'elp you. Fancy Pants is my lover and I shall not betray 'im" she told him, leaning in and staring into his eyes in a way that made the assassin doubt her sincerity.

"You sure" he asked, flashing his signature rouge smirk "I can be pretty persuasive when I want to be." They continued to circle each other; the best part about this was that they knew exactly what game the other way playing; Fleur was stalling him until the guards, Fancy Pants or anypony could arrive, while Blood Moon was trying to glean information from her; they feigned ignorance, but they knew that the other knew, but they also knew that they knew that they knew, despite pretending that they didn't know that the other didn't know that they knew. A simple, yet elegant dance of the mind. "Where is he?"

"I will not tell you." Blood Moon narrowed his eyes but didn't make any other move; he didn't want to play the torture game with this mare, it would be a cruel and unnecessary waste of time, resources and a beautiful mare. He thought of the other angles to work. He shrugged and turned for the door.

"Then our time together is done" he said simply "I'll find him myself." Fleur bit her lip in slight panic and frustration; she had to stall him somehow, but this stallion didn't seem the type to be mesmerised by simple beauty. She'd need to take it up a notch with this one.

"Per'aps I can tempt to with other information" she said from behind the assassin, who grinned in victory. "If you truly are the 'unter, I can only guess you 'ave also come for Lock Pick as well as Fancy Pants." The dark stallion turned back to her.

"He's here" he asked, feigning ignorance.

"Do not play dumb with me; I know as well as you that you chase the thug for the…" she giggled slightly as she remembered what pictures she'd seen "dirt, shall we call it, 'e 'as on you." Blood Moon trotted slowly back to her.

"I take it this information will not come cheap" he said as he approached. Fleur grinned as she sat on her bed, even that simple act coming out as gracefully as an art form, her eyes half-lidded with a seductive grin on her lips.

"Of course not" she answered as she brushed her tail over her flank suggestively. Blood Moon couldn't drop his grin as he stood next to her bed.

"So what is my debt for what I want to know?" In response, Fleur patted a spot on the bed besides her, prompting the robe clad stallion to hop up beside her.

"Just keep me company for a while" she whispered in a sultry manner, brushing her hoof over his jaw. "You can do that, can you not?"

"Depends on how I'll be accompanying you" he answered, speaking in the same low octave that Fleur was. In response, Fleur snaked her hoof around his neck and pulled his lips to hers, engaging him in a long, passionate kiss, wrapping her tongue around his and moaning into his maw, turning her head and pushing in further, mashing their lips together as she made an attempt to both stall him and, in a more recent realisation, fulfil her own new, and rather suddenly discovered, desires.

"I'll give you one guess" she said breathlessly and huskily. The assassin chuckled.

"Tell me what I want to know and I'll consider it" he answered as Fleur lay on her bed and he followed her down.

"I'm not talking until you persuade me to do so" she answered. The stallion grinned as he kissed down her muzzle, collarbone and neck, prompting tiny sighs and moans from Fleur.

"Seems we're at an impasse then" he muttered as he worked his way down her body with his lips. His hoof strayed to her pussy but before he could reach it, she'd grabbed it with her own and stopped his progress.

"What's the 'urry?" She flipped him over, resting on top of him, putting a single inch between their faces. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side.

"Good question, I've got one too; where's Fancy Pants?" Fleur's lopsided grin stretched further across her face as she licks his nose slightly.

"I'll tell you what; I'll tell you one thing, one piece of information for every time can make me beg" she told him.

"Deal" he answers with a grin on his face. She answers by giggling and straying her hoof down his body before she finds his erect member, grabbing it harshly and gripping it tightly. She rubs it up and down as she leans down again, kissing him along the jaw before pulling back and looking disapprovingly at his robes and armour.

"First" she mutters, still jacking him off. "We'll need to be rid of these robes" she coos as she pulls his hood down, leaning forwards and slipping her tongue into his maw, the assassin gladly obliging her. Blood Moon grins as she moves down his body, keeping eye contact as she goes until she comes face to face with his cock. "Let's start from the bottom" she starts, as she sucks around his balls daintily, soft slurps and suckles sounding as she did "and work" she kissed around the base of his shaft, flicking it with her cute little tongue "our way" she runs her tongue up his length roughly, her warm breath and groans making him twitch "to" she kisses on side of his head "the" she licks a bead of pre-cum from the tip, swirling her tongue around to gather up as much as she could "top" she finished, before she dived onto his dick, sucking for all she was worth, bobbing her head up and down as she closed her eyes, showing him the eye shadow hidden behind as she groaned and suckled in a neat rhythm, letting her tongue touch his balls again whenever she deep throated him. Her hooves went up his hind-legs as she worked, gripping his flank as she did, earning a growl of satisfaction from him when she held his cutie mark, slapping it slightly when she when up, losing a light 'pop' when she released him. "Délicieux" she says breathlessly, before she looks up at him, a small smirk on her lips "but do not think you are not going to work" she tells him as she repositions herself, putting her face directly above his stallionhood and opening it slowly. "If you can sit there and receive a treat from me, and think you can get information, you must be insane" she says as she flicks her tongue over the tip. "If you want me to tell you-" she was cut off when she felt his cock pushing against her cheek, brushing against her face. She giggled and nuzzled it slightly "I think you get the ide-HUUMMMP" she was interrupted when Blood Moon thrust into her mouth, pulled back and thrust in again quickly, his balls slapping against her face as he fucked her face.

Fleur looked up his body and grinned at him, mouth still full of dick, and he grinned back, taking it as a signal to keep it up and he steadied himself with his fore-hooves and started pounding his cock down her throat and his crotch into her muzzle. As he worked his way to orgasm, the mare reached up his body and took hold of the straps and buckles and started to release them one by one as she used her lips and tongue to pleasure him as he continued to thrust into her gob. Her mind was split between the massively arousing feeling of a cock inside her maw, slipping through her lips and wrapping her tongue around it, while at the same time, trying to release the first of the buckles. After a few tries, she finally managed to release the first clasp and worked on the other as Blood Moon reached down and grabbed her horn, giving himself some better leverage and allowing him to pleasure Fleur as he humped her face. The model groaned in pleasure as he continued to piston in and out of her, sending vibrations over the assassin's member and up his spine, only just managing to retain enough thinking power to try and unbuckle the second clasp; after a few groan, sweat and thrust filled seconds the second buckle was released. With both buckles free, she released him from her mouth, got up off her front and unceremoniously sat on his cock, letting him plunge far into her depths.

Both ponies loosed a groan of pure ecstasy as his cock went deep inside her, pressing against a combination of spots that made her want to scream before he'd even started thrusting. As she straddled him, she gave him a show by flicking her mane and striking a pose as she bobbed up and down on him, running her left hoof up his body until she found the leather buckles and whipped them off of him, her body still on full display as they rutted, as she took to pulling his gear off of the assassin and tossing to the other side of the room, not aware that they'd landed on Hunter and Dusk who had been watching with estranged interest. Blood Moon grinned as she stripped him, knowing exactly what she thought she was doing.

'An assassin is never without a hidden blade' he thought, feeling the sharpened metal hidden in his tail.

Done with the weapons she worked on tugging the leather off around his head. With a final one final pull, in perfect tandem with a thrust, she tossed the assassin's robes onto the chair he'd been sat on, once again, unwittingly throwing them onto the phoenix and mouse sitting there, having gotten from under the weapons not a moment before the robes had landed on them. Now that she had him laid bare, she had to admit: she liked what she saw; hard and toned muscles that had obviously come from field work rather than training or a gym, battle scars etched over the length of his body, with the exception of his chest; she frowned as she suddenly noticed a few out of place bumps and ridges inside her marehood; was his stallionhood scared? Still sat on his cock, his hard on slipping in and out of her soft and velvety walls as she giggled innocently and bounced up and down on him, she clenched his maleness with her inner walls with a smirk on her face. "Somepony is enjoying 'imself, hmm?" The assassin grinned again, before he suddenly sat up and flipped her onto her back.

"You said you wanted me to make you beg, right?" She looked up at him, a sultry grin on her face. He chuckled and started thrusting again, his hips pumping as he fucked her, sweat casting a sheen over the lovely mare and assassin as they moved in tandem, slapping into each other. Blood Moon took hold of Fleur's shapely hind-legs in his fore-hooves as he continued to piston in and out of her. She squealed and giggled like a filly when he spanked her cutie mark, his hooves moving over her near perfect body until he found her marehood and started flicking and rubbing around her clit. She stifled a moan and clenched up a little, her hind-legs wrapping around his back and pulling him in, not letting him out, only allowing him thrust by moving his hips.

"S-sweet Celestia, you're good at this" she managed to groan out. Blood Moon grinned and thrust harder, a sharp gasp pushing from her lungs. Every moan made by Fleur Dis Lee was matched by a short grunt from Blood Moon as they pounded into each other. "'Ere, let me 'elp" she murmured as she climbed up him and sat on her haunches, his cock still buried in her marehood as she shifted around and rested her fore-hooves on his shoulders as they grinned in each other's faces. "Now then" she whispered as she lifted herself up and dropped back down onto him, ripples going over her flank. She giggled as Blood Moon threw his head back, groaning as he felt her cunt squeeze him relentlessly. He managed to gather himself and look back at her smiling, pretty face and pushed his lips to her own waiting maw, caress down her back until he found her plot, fondling it softly until he lifted her up and dropped her, slamming up into her as she went down, making her moan into his maw and her fore-legs slip around his legs and hug him tight as they fucked. Blood Moon felt his balls churn and Fleur's walls clamp around him. "I'm...going…to…cum" she managed to breath out between grunts, groans, sighs and squeals as he continued to thrust into her as he lifted and dropped her onto his cock. The assassin grinned and pushed himself forwards and thrust into her a few more times before he went deep and held it in place. Fleur whined slightly when she felt him stop moving.

"C'mon already, git on with it" she moaned as she rubbed her hooves around his back.

"Tell me where to find Lock Pick, and I'll consider it" he told her. She giggled in response.

"Well played Blood Moon, alright then; you can find him about nine doors down, on the left side of the corridor" she said before she wrapped her hind-legs around his back again, forcing him to move. "Now, fuck meeeehhh" she was cut off when the assassin started to pound her demanding pussy relentlessly. One thrust, she writhed around below him; two thrusts and her back arched; three thrusts and she felt a fire spark in her loins; four and her maw opened in a silent scream; five and she did, a scream that Celestia herself probably heard erupted from her maw as they came together in an explosive orgasm, the thick, white, sticky fluid pumping into Fleur's pussy as the stallion growled as his own back arched in time with his final thrust, as he felt her walls nearly crush his cock in their lust and her lubrication squirt out of her opening and land on his crotch and run down her ass, no doubt staining the sheets in the process. The assassin thrust into her a few more times, making sure to empty his load into her before he pulled back and watched the overflow of cum rush out of her marehood. Sat on his flank, he cast his gaze over her body, taking in her curves and the sheen of sweat making her shine. Fleur looked over her well-fucked body at the grinning stallion, and couldn't help but smirk herself. "Now you know where Lock Pick is, I take it you want to know where Fancy is, hmm?" Blood Moon nodded.

"Of course" he answered simply. She sat up again, still a little shaky from their antics just now, and slid gracefully over to him, laying her hind-legs to the side while she propped her head up with her fore-hooves, leaning her weight on the knees, a sultry grin on her lips and her eyes half-lidded and suggestive.

"Well, don't think I'll give you a freebie. You must work for your information" she told him. The assassin smirked and immediately got the idea, moving forwards and kissing around her snout, muzzle, up her face and eventually along her horn, any unicorn's weak spot. "Now, I choose the last event, what did you 'ave in mind?" Blood Moon's grin went wider as he pushed her gently down the bed and rested on her.

"Well, we can't have anypony knowing what kinds of debauchery we got up to, can we? So I suggest" he turned around until her pussy was in his face and his cock in hers "we clean each other off." He heard Fleur giggle.

"I take it you are not referring to a bath together" she cooed as she daintily licked some of her juices off his tip.

"It would take too long" he answered "'sides, it's undeniably more fun this way" he said smoothly. Fleur silently agreed with him and got to work finishing the blow-job she's started a small while ago, carefully sucking her and his sexual juices off his member, tasting her own cum and pussy lubrication as well as his own cum and hints of sweat. Blood Moon, on the other hoof, had taken the time to appreciate the marehood in front of him; her delicate slit was a neat white on the outer lips, the soft, sensitive skin leading to her pink inner walls, her pussy being a little red and puffy from the pounding he'd just given it; her pussy hair was a remarkably well kept tuff, the same shade of violet as her eye shadow, and was styled and shaved into the shape of a fleur-de-lis, the hairs flowing towards her pussy as though directing the stallion or member meant for her towards it; her clit was a perfect, glistening pearl of desire, but what really held his attention was the tiny golden hoop piercing it, a small fleur-de-lis shaped violet amethyst hanging from it. After a second of gazing at it, he decided he rather liked Fleur's clit-piercing, and took to suckling on it, playing with it with his tongue inside his mouth, prompting a few squeals from the attractive mare he was eating out. He dug his tongue inside her cunny and tasted himself, prompting him to pull back slightly before he shrugged and lapped at her pussy again.

'I still say it needs a hint of pepper.'

Blood Moon continued to lick away his and her cum; he took to feeling around her flank, coming to appreciate her taught rump as he spanked it a few times; when he was done with the splattering of love juice around her marehood, he moved down her nether regions and licked away the small amount of cum that had found its way into her asshole, teasing and tickling her, causing her to squeal and giggle again. Before long, they'd both thoroughly cleaned each other but had forgotten about that by now and were perfectly happy staying in their sixty-nine position as the stallion and mare ate and sucked respectively. Blood Moon concentrated on her clit, which unbeknownst to him burned with desire if he left it for more than a moment, as he flicked and tickled it with his tongue and nibbled at it lightly before he'd suck on it harshly, like he was trying to pull it off in his lust, and going on the gripping her cute piercing with his teeth and pulling back on it, making his partner scream in both pain and pleasure. Fleur had the easier time of it, given that Blood Moon was subconsciously thrusting his cock into her maw again, this time being much less gentle as he pumped his hips into her mouth, her throat clenching around his stallionhood; she hugged his flank and pulled him into her mouth faster, rougher, the way she wanted it now and Blood Moon let her, combining both their efforts so he could fuck her face like the little slut she felt like and, furthermore, damn well enjoyed feeling like. Fleur tensed when she felt him lap over a sensitive spot, and unwillingly held him in place, making him hold his maleness down her throat as she enjoyed him going over that spot again and again until she remembered that with a seven and a half long and inch and a half thick pony cock stuffed down your throat, it got kind of hard to breath. What she hadn't noticed was that she'd been moving her throat around while she'd been subconsciously trying to breath, and had been slowly pulling him closer to climax, a place she would soon find. The assassin's back arched as he threw his head back.

"Gonna…gonna…gonna cum" he growled as he thrust into her one final time, a predator like growl escaping his maw as he came directly into her uncomplaining stomach. Blood Moon panted a little as Fleur swallowed down any seed that had tried to escape her stomach, Blood Moon pulling out as she did, a few final ropes of cum splattering onto her happily smiling face. She then noticed her pussy was burning in desire, and was not being pleasured.

"Why am I not cumming" she asked breathlessly.

"Why don't I know where to find Fancy Pants" he replied, still a bit brain dead after his climax.

"Make me cum and I'll tell you."

"Tell me and I'll make you cum." Fleur pouted a little.

"Sácre bleu" she muttered as she tried to buck her pussy into Blood Moon's face, but he'd held it down with his fore-hooves; she tried to resist the feeling of his warm breath, mere inches from her cunt, as well as the hooves idly tracing patterns over her opening, but couldn't deny that she positively burned with desire. She moaned slightly, knowing she was too close to be able to go back now, as well as the fact that she wouldn't let him cum and leave her unsatisfied. "Fine! He's most likely in the library, now please-AHHHHH" she was cut off when the assassin had dived back onto her pussy, probing deep and lapping at her slit and sucking at her clit again, making her scream and writhe around as she got closer and closer to her… "Oh…sweet…CelestiAHHHHH!" Fleur's marehood had exploded in climax, her fluids rocketing down her pink, inner flesh and into Blood Moon's maw, who swallowed it down gladly as he tasted her sweet cum; Fleur shook violently as she rode out her orgasm, clamping her fore-hooves down on his head as she leaned over his body while her hind-legs wrapped around his head, holding him down and forcing him to consume all of her fluids. After thirty long seconds of world-ending orgasm, she fell back onto her bed, her legs splayed around her as she took heavy and laboured breaths with a wide grin on her face. She gave a long, content sigh, looking forwards and spotting Blood Moon on her front breathing as heavily as she was; she giggled again, leaning forwards and kissing his balls lightly, making him turn around and lay beside her. "That was fun" she said. Blood Moon chuckled.

"Agreed" he answered. Fleur turned her head to his, spying his content face as he held her. She moved forwards and pushed her lips to his, in a last ditch attempt to keep him here but all's she got was one of the best kisses she'd ever had, lips, tongue, moaning, caressing and all as she held him in place until he disengaged and pulled back. "Thanks for your help Fleur, but now I have a job to do" he said as he stood. The mare panicked slightly.

"Are you sure you don't want to stay longer" she said as he trotted over to his gear.

"Sorry" he said as he magicked his robes and weapons onto his body. He heard hoof steps from behind him. He turned to see Fleur trotting over to him, not giving time to react before she'd wrapped her fore-hooves around his neck and head, burying his face in her chest.

"Please, stay" she whispered into his ear.

"Fleur" he started as he broke free from her embrace, running his hoof down her face gently.

"I understand you don't want to see your coltfriend dead, but he may have made a hostile move against Ponyville; I'm here to find out why and make him answer for it. The same for Lock Pick. I'd rather I hadn't had to involve you in this but…" Fleur shot him another grin.

"You don't regret it though, do you" she finished, running a hoof down his chest. "Please, if you don't have to kill him… please don't." Blood Moon nodded.

"I won't, you have my word on that" he told her. She smiled thankfully, leaning forward and kissed him, soft and warm all over his lips as she'd pull back and peck him a few times before she'd go in deeper again, wrapping her fore-legs around his neck.

"Would it be bad of me to wish you good luck, and hope to see you again" she asked breathlessly, leaning her fore-head on his as they broke the kiss for a second. Blood Moon smirked.

"No, not if you mean it. And you can be sure" he reached down and gripped her taunt flank, slapping it slightly, and making her gasp playfully "I'll be sure to find you again." She grinned and moved in again.

"Très bien" she said quietly as she moved in to kiss him again, the stallion gladly obliging. He kept it going for half a minute.

"Fleur" he whispered between their lips connecting and disconnecting, light smacks and giggles and chuckles, coming from them both, Fleur and Blood respectively.

"Oui" she responded in the same manner. Blood Moon took his time with the last few touches of their lips.

"Sleep well" he said before he put his hoof gently on her neck before firing the sleep-dart loaded into his hoof-bow into her neck. Fleur immediately went limp, though managed to keep up her efforts for a few seconds before the drug worked its pleasant warming feeling through her system and she drifted away from consciousness. Lowering her gently to the ground he spotted a slight smile on her lips as she breathed deeply. He used his magic to carry her to her bed and lay her upon it, covering her with the sheets and stepping back. He couldn't help but feel slightly mean at doing that right after using her for information like that, so he decided to leave her a kind message so he didn't come off as a total bastard. He hunted around for a quill and parchment and upon doing so, finding both in a draw in the vanity, he sat down to write his note.

Fleur

Sorry about that, loose ends y'know. I hope you understand why I had to do that. I also hope to see you again, I have to admit, you've grown on me more than I thought possible. Have no doubt that I'll be visiting you next time I'm in Canterlot my fine lady.

Your dark stallion

He signed it by quickly sketching his cutie mark and stood up, carrying it to her bedside table and held it down with the balanced dagger. He looked over the small picture, and decided it wasn't romantic enough; with a small spark of his horn, he conjured a bouquet of black and blood red roses, setting them down beside the note, before leaning down and kissing her cheek, watching her smile slightly in her sleep and cosy into her covers. Pleased with his work, he trotted silently away, flicking off the lights as he passed them.

Once he was outside Fleur's room, he looked up at Hunter and Dusk, both of which were sat on his shoulder.

"Oh, like you wouldn't have done the same" he said. Both pets just narrowed their eyes at him. Grinning to himself, the killer trotted down the corridor, flipping back into 'assassin mode' seamlessly as he moved silently down the darker side of the corridor, he came across three guards as he went, posted to stand along the wall, none of which looked like they were enjoying the night shift; one had actually yawned and none looked like they'd have done anything if they had spotted him. As Blood Moon trotted down the hall, he counted the doors on the left side.

'Six, seven, eight and nine, here we are.'

He stopped at the ninth door, hiding in the shadows from the pair of guards that stood either side of doorway. He looked between the two of them, and was annoyed to see that these guys didn't look like they'd been awake all day and night. The two of them also looked like they were much higher rent than the others around the place, real professionals, with much more experience etched across their faces; they both had wrinkles like Blood Moon's own stretched across their faces, though they weren't as deep considering their younger age; the one the left had a thin scar going down his right cheek; both had hard expressions, discipline and a severe lack of emotions shining through; both gazed straight ahead of themselves, but their eyes were taking in as many details as they could in the dim light, while their other senses were reaching far beyond their sight. The pair of guards had identical colours which, along with their near identical faces, lead the assassin to believe they were related somehow, brothers perhaps, twins most likely; both of them had slate grey manes and tails, they weren't styled but were kept under control by the military headbands that kept any loose hairs out of their eyes and away from their horns; they had ocean blue eyes that were as emotionless as their faces, but spoke a life of battle and training to the assassin, though little else; their coats were well kept and were of a polished-silver colour, stretched over a powerful and muscled body. The mercs wore dark grey plate metal armour, the edges being jet black, and was buckled down over deep black leather, the metal flowing back, flicking up and down like black flames in a strong breeze; their legs were covered in more mock-leather, buckles and clasps holding it down; on their backs they had a long sword, a few daggers accompanying it, while in their hoof they carried a long-spear, and no doubt knew how to use them.

The assassin considered his options; sneaking was out of the question, considering they had their eyes open and seemed to be refusing to even blink; a distraction wasn't going to work seeing as the two of them seemed well disciplined and trained, and would likely do some kind of textbook investigation to find out what it was and were bound to catch him out; head on would work but it'd take too much time and he'd arouse the suspicions of Lock Pick; sleep darts wouldn't work for both of them, the other would see where it'd come from and put the problem back to the 'head on' scenario problem; they were bound to spot him if he tried to trot up the wall. Time bend? No, he'd have to drop the hide spell to cast something like that and these guys would spot him anyway. Blood Moon ran a hoof down his face in frustration; he hated dealing with guards like this, it was possible but it always took too much time. He looked back at them; try and fool them? Very, VERY, unlikely but with the current circumstances it was his best bet. With a shrug he made his decision, undoubtedly the wrong decision, and stepped out of the shadows. Both guards whipped their heads over to him and narrowed their eyes, gripping their spears and pointing them at the assassin menacingly.

"Halt, who are you" righty demands.

"Produce any weapons you're carrying and lay that at your hooves" lefty commands. Blood Moon gives them a 'calm down' look.

"Name's Shadow Flash, I've been hired by the Goldhooves to act as mister Lock Pick's personal bodyguard" he tells them in an official tone. He doesn't like the way righty grins.

"I think you'll find, WE are his personal guards" he said as they advanced on him, spears aimed at his throat.

"Nahhh crap" Blood Moon muttered. They lunged at him as one, Blood Moon hopping back and drawing his blades. They followed him as he moved, moving in a perfect pair as one lunged with his spear, the other would dance around a go for the assassin's blind side, trying to hit him from behind as he dodged. Having unsheathed his weapons, Blood Moon stopped hopping back and met the merc's spear with his swords, catching hit in his crossed blades and holding it there until the other attacked from his left, making him spin away from his first attacker and block a downwards slash from the guard's spear that came a little too close to his head. The sound of metal on metal reverberated down the hall and almost immediately the light flicked on, the sounds of clamour and guards approaching from either side of the hall echoing towards them. "Nahhh double crap." The two mercs grinned darkly as they continued their assault, slashing and stabbing at him with the blades of their spears; one of them drove his weapon down at him, Blood Moon responding to him by parrying the stab and spinning past him, slashing at his leg, cutting deep and drawing blood. The other guard stepped in rapidly, jabbing his weapon at the assassin, who blocked his first strike, parried the second and dodged the third, countering by slamming the hilt of his weapon into his chin. The one he'd cut made a wide swing with his weapon, Blood Moon ducking under it and countering with a quick stab of his blades, the merc hopping to the side and slicing at his throat, his weapon sliding along Blood Moon's own until they flicked off, the guard moving and slamming the shaft of his weapon into the assassin's head.

Cursing and rolling to the side, he looked back at the pair of guards; one was rubbing his chin and the other was looking over a deep slash in his leg. They looked up again and snarled before they lunged, standing side by side as they resumed their attack in perfect symphony; one went up while the other went down, Blood Moon blocking one and batting the other away with his hoof; one went right and the other went left the dark stallion blocking them both either side of his face; what they did next impressed him: one leapt up onto the other's back and stabbed down with his spear while the other made rapid jabs with his own, forcing the assassin to divide his attention between blocking and dodging a rapid firing of spear stabs while duelling the guard on his brother's back, making him fight two opponents at once; he didn't like that.

The lower unicorn swung his blade wide, putting the shaft of his weapon behind it as he lead with the blade and followed through with the staff, both attacks being blocked by Blood Moon. The other guard took advantage of his opponents predicament, having his brother's spear locked against both his swords; he stabbed his blade down at the assassin who looked up just in time to move his head to the right. The lower guard used this to his advantage, piling on the pressure and pushing his spear against Blood Moon's blades and throwing him to the ground.

The assassin got up again, growling as he did, and looked back at the guards, the top one having hopped off his brother, with his eyes narrowed.

"Alright, no more mister nice guy" he seethed. Both mercs just smirked and settled into an identical stance. Blood Moon span his blades and waited for the mercs to attack; the pair of mercs moved in at once, the way they had done just before but didn't get far before a sharp 'SNAP' echoed through the air and the leftmost guard staggered back, a steel bolt reverberated in his chest piece. The merc grunted and looked down at the bolt protruding from his armour; as he looked the assassin raised his left leg, the rope dart trailing out like a snake standing on its stomach in an 'S' shape before striking out at the other guard, wrapping around his neck and tugging hard, pulling him off his hooves. The other guard had yanked the bolt from his armour and gotten angry, lunging at Blood Moon in an attempt to take his head off; Blood Moon rose his leg and took the strike on the armour plating on his leg; he wrapped his leg around the shaft of the weapon and tugged it away from the merc, sheathing his blades as he held the weapon in his magical grip and shoved the guard away with his other hoof; the guard who the assassin had pulled off his hooves was up again, and crossed spears with the dark stallion; they moved quickly and gracefully, the shafts of the weapons giving off dull 'clunks' when they met, crossing and stabbing as they moved back and forth. Blood Moon caught the guard's weapon in a lock, the tips of both staffs pushing against each other as they both pushed against their opponents in a battle of strength. The assassin piled on the pressure and the merc couldn't keep up with the sudden amount of weight pushed against his own weapon and the assassin spun past him, cracking him in the face as he spotted the other guard ready himself to fight. Blood Moon bucked the one he'd been facing away and pushed himself up onto his hind-legs and hurled the spear like a javelin; the guard caught it in his hooves, stumbling back a bit and set down on his hooves again; Blood Moon drew his blades instinctively and defended the back of his neck against the spear he felt clang into them; he rolled back and grabbed his foe by the front of his armour, head-butted him and threw him at his brother.

The guard with the broken nose grunted and stumbled back, backing into his brother; they both snarled and threw down their spears, their horns sparking to life in a midnight blue glow and their long swords slid from their sheaths in a long, drawn out 'shink' before they fell into a stance. Blood Moon grinned and settled into his own, though his smile faltered when he heard the pounding of hooves on marble floor. This was taking too long, the other guards protecting this place would be upon him soon, and he had to deal with these two before he could hide properly. The two moved in, slowly, cautiously, taking their time; the assassin grinned again and circled them. They pounced. Both were moving as one again, but by now the dark stallion had figure out how to counteract it; he'd defend against one and attack the other, not allowing them to work in the same manner. Split them up. Righty slashed and Blood Moon blocked, spinning and bucking the other away as he put himself between them; the merc behind him slashed at him, the assassin reached back with his weapon but didn't look at him, because the other was already on the attack again; he slashed at the assassin's throat, was blocked and parried, his weapon being rebounded away from him as the dark stallion cut at his brother to keep him at bay before slashing at his armour, managing to cut at one of the buckles that held the plates in place, watching it swing loose and reveal the leather that was now the only thing protecting him; the guard behind him stabbed at him, Blood Moon ducking and spinning below his strike, beating the pommel of his weapon over his opponent's temple; bucking the guard behind him in his vulnerable chest, he leapt up and over the merc's head and landed on his back, chopping his hoof into his neck, putting him out cold. The other merc had straightened up and was readying another attack at the assassin, but faltered at the sight of his unconscious brother, giving the killer a chance to end this. He leapt of the merc's back and brought down a whole lot of pain in the form an atomic head-but, bringing his forehead down on the merc's snout, an audible and sickening 'CRACK' echoing through the air. The guard staggered back and stumbled over his hooves, falling to his flank and holding his broken muzzle on his hooves, viscous curses leaking from his mouth. He looked up to find the assassin looking down at him, a blade to his throat.

"End it" the guard ordered. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side before he sheathed his blade. The guard frowned.

"Why would I do that" the assassin asked as he helped him up, hauling him to his hooves. "I don't waste talent" he said as he went to the other guard and checked for a pulse; he was fine, unconscious, but fine. "Take your brother; tell the other guards I ran for it. If you're looking for work after this, go to the Shadow Weavers; tell them the Hunter sent you and they'll accept you with open hooves" he told them as he put the guard's brother on his back. The merc narrowed his eyes.

"Why would I do that" he mimicked "I should kill right now" he said. Blood Moon grinned.

"But you haven't, have you? You're intrigued by my offer, you're wondering where it could go for you and your brother." The merc narrowed his eyes but didn't argue. After a second, he let a grin of his own spread across his face.

"I'll consider it, I'll tell my brother about it and we'll think about it" he said. The assassin nodded.

"Good, and before I go, what's your name? I like to be on a first name basis with those I consider a good fighter." The merc made a look that said he was considering not answering.

"My name's Dark Guard, my brother's Gloom Watch."

"Blood Moon" he answered, shaking 'Dark Guard's' hoof.

"Pleasure" he murmured before he glanced behind him, the sound of hooves on marble getting closer calling for attention. "Now hide, I'll take care of the rest" he said. Blood Moon nodded, stepping into the shadows cast by an outcrop and using his magic to pull the shade cast by it over his body. Almost as soon as he does so, at least fifteen guards thunder around the corner. Dark Guard turned to them. Blood Moon didn't know whether to trust him or not; the merc had acted like he didn't care much for his charge, if the conversation between the guards he'd listened into earlier were anything to go by it didn't surprise him, but it felt too good to be true if this guard would just abandon his charge and bugger off in simple respect for the assassin's wishes; Blood Moon hadn't lied to him, introducing himself as somepony who'd been sent to the Shadow Weavers by Blood Moon himself would win him points, but it was all down to if the merc believed him or not. What he said would decide it. "Where in sweet Tartarus have you been" he demanded.

"Looking for Oakroot and his squad, we think they might have been killer or disposed of" a big Pegasus merc answered.

"Did you find their bodies?"

"No."

"Then they're not to be counted as dead until you find their cold, dead corpses. Why did you look for them anyway?" The guard narrowed his eyes and stepped up to Dark Guard.

"Because we were instructed to investigate any patrols missing from their routs" he nearly shouted.

"Not when it's clear somepony is fighting off an intruder" Dark Guard did shout.

"Well where's this supposed, intruder then" one of the other guards asked.

"He ran, me and Gloom managed to hold him off but he almost overpowered us, in fact, the only reason I'm not killing you lot right now is because it's your FINALLY getting here than prompted him to do so" he answered "you lot will go look for him while I go take my brother to the medic" he said with an air of finality. The other mercs grumbled but otherwise complied.

When they'd left, Dark Guard looked at the shadow Blood Moon had disappeared into and nodded once before he trotted away. Blood Moon looks left and right before he trots up to the door.

Looking up at its towering form, regarding it with an air of strange suspicion, he tests the door; locked. He frowned and scrutinised the lock, peering through the keyhole and spying on the room's occupants; one stallion sat on a chair, the flames in the fireplace were casting a flickering glow over his body as he sat in its warming aura, lights off. He was breathing deeply and steadily; he was asleep, he'd actually slept through the whole fight that had gone on right on his doorstep. Taking his lock picks out and working the door, his efforts lasting for no longer than seven seconds, he pushes through the door and approaches the sleeping stallion. He frowned again; he looked familiar. Then it hit him; this was the thug that he'd put a throwing knife into the day he'd first met Sand Stalker, the one with the orange fur and black mane and tail. He moved around his mark's chair and gazed upon his sleeping form; his snored softly, his chest rising and falling as he slept, a small trail of drool running from his maw. Blood Moon raised his hoof and slapped him. The thug spluttered awake and shouted slightly.

"What the buck, what's going on" he demanded, before he worked the sleep out of his system and saw the shadow covered stallion stood over him. His face slackened in sudden fear. "The buck are you" he demanded. The assassin didn't do anything to acknowledge the question, instead he just kept glaring down at Lock Pick.

"Language" he scolded, his voice deep and rumbling. The thug just snarled and narrowed his eyes.

"How in Tartarus did you get in here" he demanded "who are you" he asked again "why are you here?"

"I picked the lock, I'm an assassin and I'm here to kill you" Blood Moon answered. Lock Pick swallowed, trying and failing, to keep his face stoic.

"Like hay you are; there's a small army of guards coming your way right now" he threatened. Blood Moon didn't say anything, instead he just struck his target across the temple, grabbed him by the throat and slammed him against the back of the chair, holding a blade to his eye.

"Shut up, now you're going to answer a few questions for me. First, when you took those photos of Mayor Mare, who were you working for?" Lock snorted.

"Ha, you really think-" he was cut off when the dark stallion hauled him up and pulled him over to the fire, ripping the guard away with his magic and slamming the thug's head down into the flames and letting him burn for a second, listening to him scream, before he pulled him up again and slammed the back of his head down on the marble surrounding it.

"I'm not in the mood for games" the assassin growled darkly. "Tell me who you were working for and I'll consider killing you quickly."

"Get a life" the thug hissed. Blood Moon leaned down threateningly.

"I've had a life for fifteen thousand years, I don't need another" he said before clobbering the thug over the head with his armoured hoof. "Who were you working for?"

"Buc-" The assassin lifted him up and ploughed his head into the back of the fireplace, listening to the dull 'crunch' as he cracked the skull.

"Tell. Me."

"NO!" Blood Moon lifted him again and rammed his head into the mantle above the fire, letting him drop into the fire again, pulling him out after a few seconds of screaming.

"Tell me now, or I'll cut off your most valuable asset" he seethed, pulling out a tomahawk and putting it between the thug's legs. The thug smirked.

"Go ahead, I'm dead if I tell you anyway." The assassin nodded.

"Damn straight." He hauled him up and slammed him down. "Who did you work for?" He didn't answer. He slammed his head down again. "Who?" Nothing. He hauled him up and rammed him down into the flames, holding him down for a full ten seconds. When he pulled him out, the thug's face was little more than burn marks. "Who?" Lock Pick didn't answer again. With and incredibly pissed off growl, he straddled him and started raining down hooves into his face, breaking his nose, jaw, cheekbone and eye sockets. "WHO" he demanded. Still nothing. He picked him up and got ready to ram him into a wall until he spoke up.

"Alright" he exclaimed, coughing on his own blood "I'll tell you, just gimme a chance to think." Blood Moon rammed him against the wall and pinned him there.

"Speak" he growled.

"It-it was Fancy Pants, he wanted me to get dirt on Mare so he contacted me and had me get pictures of her doing something damaging to her reputation." Blood Moon gave a sinister and intimidating smile.

"Good answer" he said. The assassin threw him away and replaced his tomahawk and drew a single blade. The thug spotted him advancing; his eyes widened and looked around for something to defend himself with. He spotted a thin bladed sabre and picked it up in his hoof, holding it in an offensive manner. He charged Blood Moon and swung the blade down, the assassin taking it on the base of his own sword and letting it slip down, sparks flying into the air as he passed him until it hit the end of the blade and stopped his movement, ramming the tip of his weapon through his target's neck. Lock Pick gurgled for a second, choking on his own blood once more until he fell limp and very much dead. Tugging the weapon out of his mark's neck, wiping the blood off on his coat, he slipped it back into its scabbard and stepped away from the body and towards the door. Peeking his head out, he found that the lights had been cut again; with a small smirk on his face, he trotted out and closed the door and looking left and right, deciding which way to go. His choice was made for him when he noticed an illumination spell lighting up the corridor to his right and decided to continue going left.

'Left's a good direction anyway. Much more trustworthy than right, doesn't cheat at cards.'

Trotting silently down the hall he saw a door that caught his interest, a big pair of fancy looking, oak doors. Above the doors was a plaque, made of more oak, that read; LIBRARY.

With a shrug, he pushed through the well-oiled doors, deciding it time to see if Fleur had lead him to the right place. Inside he got row upon row of books, some old, some new and all glowing orange in the fire that roared in front of two big comfy looking chairs. On one of the chairs sat a stallion with a royal blue mane and white fur. It seemed he'd noticed the assassin's entry and stood and turned to greet him. He wore a long, snake tongue coat that draped over his flank and covered his chest and fore-legs, a purple bow-tie in his collar; on his face was a moustache, the same colour as his mane and tail, while resting on his muzzle was a monocle. The stallion didn't seem all to surprised to see Blood Moon and instead greeted him with a polite bow of his head.

"Evening" he said simply, his voice upper class and polite, but held a hint of 'alpha' to it. Blood Moon nodded back.

"Evening" he said back. Fancy cocked his head to the right.

"Here to kill me, I presume?" The assassin grinned darkly.

"My job's always easier when the target has resigned to his fate" he said as he approached. Fancy narrowed his eyes.

"If you think I'm going down without a fight, you couldn't be more wrong." Blood Moon grinned again.

"Even better" he said simply. The assassin watched as Fancy Pants pulled a fencing sword displayed above the roaring fireplace, the elegant and well-polished weapon gaining a light blue aura as it floated over to him. The dress-coat clad stallion made a display of putting the blade to the middle of his face before whipping it down, lifting it above his head in a classical battle stance. Blood Moon couldn't help but smirk as he drew one of his blades settled into a similar stance. As the pair of duellists approached each other, you could practically hear the dramatic 'final fight scene' music in the air...wait, you could hear it. With a frown, the dark stallion looks around the room until he spots the phonograph playing, a record spinning as the music played. Fancy shrugs.

"It's more exciting that way" he says simply. Blood Moon points a grateful hoof at him as he speaks.

"Thank you! Finally, somepony else who appreciates that" he exclaimed before he advances on the blue tailed stallion. Blood Moon moves in quickly, slashing and stabbing faster than seemed possible. Sparks flew as Fancy's blade met them, blocking both strikes and meeting the downwards guard-breaker in a sword lock. The assassin frowns; he shouldn't have been able to block that.

A stab for the jugular and a slice at the neck; both were taken on the aristocrat's rapier, as he slipped his blade into the path of the assassin's. The killer raised a confused eyebrow. Lunge for the heart, an attempt at disarm. The first was parried out of the way and he slipped out of the second. This time, the assassin grinned. Thrust, swipe, block, parry, dodge, block again, slash, stab, lock, lock break and a slice in tandem as they rebounded off each other. All of these actions passed between the two fighters in barely a second, their weapons blurs to the untrained eye as the moved towards and away in almost perfect symphony, the pair of them elegantly poised and postured as they moved around each other, their weapons never stopping in their dance of death and danger. The assassin angled his blade up as his target angled his down, crossing them and moving the weapons in, locking them once again.

"I must say, your bird is marvellous" Fancy says nonchalantly.

"Thanks" the assassin replies in the same way, Hunter puffing his chest out in pride. This time Fancy goes on the attack; stab, slash, stab again, swing left, swing right, parry, thrust, hop back, block, push forward, stab left, stab right and go down the centre. None even came close to the assassin's fur, never mind anything important. The assassin and aristocrat moved back and lunged forwards at once their blades locked once more. The assassin cocked his head.

"You do realise you're going to die by my hoof don't you" the assassin asked his mark, who was acting way too casual for somepony who was facing off an assassin in his library.

"Well, I was just hoping to appeal to your good nature to let me live" replied Fancy Pants as they broke the lock and struck at once, going straight into another sword lock. They pushed away from each other and went at it again, their weapons sung across the distance between their starting position and their opponent's neck, both dodging back and going for another strike.

"Alright, alright wait, wait wait wait wait wait" he said quickly as he raised a hoof to stop the noble from fighting. "Listen, as much as it pains me to admit it, you don't seem the type to try and blackmail the mayor of Ponyville" he said. Fancy raised an eyebrow.

"Blackmail Mayor Mare? Why would I do that, do I look like the type to even want to become mayor of a town" he made a motion with his fore-hoof, presenting himself to the assassin "I'm a noble, an aristocrat. Not the best material for a politician" he said with a slight grin on his face. Blood Moon huffed.

"It's nice to find a noble who's honest" he muttered before he cocked his head. "Hmm, if you don't want to blackmail Mayor Mare into stepping down from office, why have somepony gather information on her and send her a letter telling her to step down unless she wants them getting out" he asked with slightly narrowed eyes, leaning on his sword. Fancy suddenly looked frustrated, stabbing his rapier into the ground and slouching onto a seat.

"Because, I was forced to" he grumbled, resting his head on his hoof and looking incredibly pissed off. He glanced at the assassin and motioned at the other chair. "Sit down" he said, apparently forgetting the pony he was offering the chair to was supposed to be here to kill him. Once he was sitting, he turned to the killer properly. "I can only guess you know about the Goldhooves" he said as he poured a drink with his magic. It still seemed lost on him that the assassin he'd given a drink to was still confused as to how they'd gone from sword fighting one minute to drinking and discussing how much they hated the Goldhooves the next.

"Of course I do, they're one of the main reasons I'm here." Fancy took a sip from his glass, murmuring his understanding.

"Not surprised. You know how they came to power?" Blood Moon nodded. "Then you should also know how they get most of their work done, yes?" Again, he nodded.

"Yes, they tend to air their dirty laundry in other pony's gardens" he said.

"I trust you also know how they keep their 'Business partners', shall we call them, obedient." The assassin frowned.

"Blackmail…are they holding something over your head?" Fancy Pants growled again, his eyes narrowed.

"Yes, for two years they've been holding a single flaw, a single black stain on my character, over my head and exploiting it to their greatest ability" he grumbled. "A little while ago, Loaded comes to my house and tells me I'm going to hire a thug or somepony who can do work to get dirt on Mayor Mare. Of course, I knew exactly what they were doing but I didn't have much of a choice; it was do as they said or they'd tell what they knew to the masses. It'd destroy my reputation amongst the nobles" he said. Blood Moon put a hoof to his chin in thought.

"So…the Goldhooves were the ones behind all of this" he murmured. The assassin looks up to see Fancy Pants watching him, the look on his face suggesting he was considering something.

"You are no friend of the Goldhooves, I can only presume" he said. The dark stallion nodded. "I wonder… our goals are aligned; you wish for them to back off their takeover of Ponyville, and I'd rather they weren't breathing down my neck" he said. "Say, if I were, hypothetically, willing to scratch your back, would you be willing to scratch mine?" The assassin grinned.

"Depends how well you scratch mine" he answered. "I can see where you're going with this, but what can you offer me? I'm an assassin, a business-stallion like yourself, this isn't a charity case" he explained.

"You didn't strike me as somepony who demands payment for something, especially when he's on a job he's doing out of the kindness of his heart" he said with a small grin on his face. Blood Moon cocked his head. "Oh please, don't think I didn't see the pictures Lock Pick took; if you weren't helping Ms Mayor out of kindness, I doubt you'd be the kind of stallion to earn her favour in the first place." The assassin couldn't help but smirk.

"You're smart Fancy, I like that. Tell you what; I'm gonna help you out, but in return, I'd expect a favour" he told him. Fancy nodded.

"If you can get the Goldhooves off mine and Fleur's case, I'd do anything" he said. "Within reason" he added after a short sip of his drink. He glanced at Blood Moon. "But, if you'd forgive my manners, I must suggest you-" He was cut off when the door to the library flung open, one of the mercs barging in.

"Mister Fancy Pants, sir, we've word of an intruder in the" he spotted the assassin sat in the chair beside his boss. He assassin waved a hoof at him.

"Hey" he said casually. The guard's eyes widened immeasurably.

"INTRUDER" he roared as the assassin leapt out of his chair, swords drawn. He shot a bolt full of sleeping venom into his neck, putting him quickly to sleep as he turned back to Fancy, shaking his hoof.

"Well, it was nice meeting you but I have a daring escape to make" he said hastily before he galloped back to the door and made his exit.

---

Blood Moon appeared outside Fluttershy's home with a flash, falling to his front in a beaten, broken, bloody, panting and maniacally laughing mess. On his shoulder and head, Hunter and Dusk were stood bolt straight; their eyes open wide and disbelieving at what their master had just done. Blood Moon giggled demonically to himself as he lay on his stomach before the pain of his wounds hit him and he cringed slightly; he hadn't wanted to kill those guards but when that one had almost punctured his lung, he'd sort of been forced. He dragged himself to the door with his fore-hooves, groaning in pain the whole way, a faint trail of blood marking his path. After a few meters, he tried to bring himself to his hooves but failed and fell to his front again. When it became clear he wasn't going to get up, Hunter took flight and made his way to the cottage, landing on the window sill and tapping on the glass with his beak.

Inside the house, Rarity blinked herself from her near-sleep state, looking up and around herself until she spotted the phoenix on the sill; this struck her as a little odd, for one wouldn't Blood Moon be with his bird-

"Oh sweet Celestia" she said as she got up from the coach and made for the door, careful not to wake up the fillies. When she got to the door, she threw it open and bolted out, quickly spotting the dark stallion in the dim light coming from the house. Her eyes widened upon sight of him. "Blood Moon" she exclaimed as she galloped over to him. When she arrived next to him, she couldn't help but put a hoof to her mouth in shock when she saw the state he was in; there was blood leaking from beneath his robes and-"oh my goodness" she whispered when she saw the trail of vital fluids leading from the spot he'd no doubt teleported from. He coughed up some blood and looked up at her, a smattering of the same red liquid on his lips as he grinned up at her.

"Hey Rare, how're you doin'" he asked, his voice strained and horse.

"Oh, Blood Moon you poor dear" she whispers as he gains a vivid blue glow, the mare lifting him with her magic. "Whatever happened?" The assassin coughed up his blood again, growling in pain as it came out.

"Ah, y'know, magic duels, sword fights, chases all the usual stuff" he said as Rarity opens the door with her magic. Inside, she carries him over to the kitchen, flicking on the light and laying him on the side as Hunter and Dusk sit nearby, looking nervus. With only slight hesitation, her horn sparks to life and his robes, armour and weapons whip off him, a use for that spell she never thought she's need, and surveyed the damage more thoroughly. Once again, she put a hoof to her maw in shock, tears welling in the corner of her eyes when she saw the sheer extent of his wounds; numerous slices and cuts were etched across his body, all leaking blood and all of them fresh; some were deeper than others, one or two of them were harmless nicks while others were deep gashes, the blood coming out in greater abundance; his left hind-hoof was at an unnatural angle; but the main problem was the huge laceration running right across his side, cutting from his cutie mark, along his body, and ending just before his neck.

"B-Blood Moon" she squeaked out "don't panic, you're going to be fine" she assured. The assassin choked on his blood before he coughed it out and nodded weakly. Rarity bit her lip nervously as she thought what to do; still panicking slightly, she sparked her horn to life and puller her sewing kit from upstairs and the first aid kit from on top of a cupboard. When she had them both, she took a deep calming breath.

'Alright Rarity, you're a professional, you can do this. I mean, it can't be any different from sewing a hole in a dress.'

The white mare looked down at the dark stallion and noticed he was taking very shallow breaths.

"Blood Moon, are you still with me darling" she asked his almost-corpse. He nodded once.

"Y-yeah, you okay?" Rarity couldn't help but swell with affection when he said that; even when he was lying broken before her, he was the one asking her if she was okay.

"Yes, well, it's just that it's my first time doing something like this" she admitted as she put a towel over some of the bigger wounds. "Any pointers" she asked. Despite his state of near death, he, to Rarity's amazement, still managed to shrug.

"Yeah, first, keep me awake" he instructed.

"How?"

"I dunno, keep talking to me, keep me stimulated" he said. Rarity nodded.

"Alright, what else?"

"Uhhh, y-ah-you gotta disinfect the wounds" he managed to strangled out. She nodded and looked at the first aid kit; inside she saw a bottle of disinfectant and picked it up with her magic. He went to get a towel until the stallion stopped her. "Don't bother with the towel, just pour it on" he told her. Rarity swallowed and nodded, swivelling the cap off the translucent bottle and tipped it over him. The stallion hissed and growled as the steriliser washed its way over his open cuts, tears welling in his eyes when it hit the bigger cut and went deep into the injury. "Alright, good, now the other side" he said, still in pain. Rarity's eyes widened when she heard him but did as he asked, glancing the red stains on the sideboard as she flipped him.

Blood Moon let loose a small growl when she set him down, despite how gentle she'd been, but it was nothing compared to his reaction when she started cleaning his wounds. "Alright good, now you gotta sew me up" he said. Rarity almost fainted when he said that; this wasn't what she did, she was a seamstress not a doctor. She flipped him over again, careful to be gentle with him, and took in the big-ass cut on his side. She swallowed and got to it, finding a piece of strong thread and slipping it through the loop of a needle before she started sewing up the biggest cut. As she worked, she kept glancing at the semi-conscious assassin; she looked back at the gap in his fur and skin, memorising the length and depth, a skill all dressmakers had, and let her instincts take over. Gazing over his face, knowing his body wasn't likely to be in much better condition, she ran a hoof over his mane, brushing it out of the way, feeling the sweat that had leaked from him as she did. He looked up at her and caught her concerned look.

"So how's your day goin'?" Rarity couldn't help but giggle at his remark, a small smile shining through in spite of the situation.

"Oh fine, just cleaning up my best friend's coltfriend's wounds" she said as her horn kept sewing him up.

"Nothing out of the ordinary then" he concluded. Rarity smiled slightly as he made his observation, looking back at his body when she hit the end of his injury, cutting the thread with a pair of small scissors. Blood Moon looked up over his body, and judged the quality of her work. "Not bad" he murmured when he looked over her needlework; it looked like a professional nurse or doctor had stitched him up.

"Thank you" Rarity said graciously as she looked over his other wounds. Now that the largest of his injuries had been repaired, he seemed to be doing better than he had been before, seemed more relaxed despite still being riddled with holes. Rarity took to sewing up the rest of his injuries as he made conversation.

"So, where is everypony, Twilight, Feather Heart and all" he asked, wincing slightly as Rarity weaved him shut.

"Asleep, Miss Feather is up there with them; when it got to mid-night, Sand Stalker insisted we all go to bed but Scootaloo wanted to wait until you got back and wouldn't go to sleep. After what must have been half an hour of trying to get her to come to bed Rainbowdash and Twilight just gave up. Then Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle decided they wanted to wait with her, of course when all three of them were adamant they were staying up for you there was no arguing with them" she said as she finished the last stitch and flipping him over. On his other side, the stallion grinned at her story.

"Having a kid stay up for me… you have any idea how good that can feel to a stallion like me?" The seamstress smiled warmly.

"Do you have any idea how it felt for Scootaloo, knowing she had somepony to wait up for" she asked in return. Blood Moon couldn't help but glance up at her, giving her an appreciative look for her thinking.

"You're wise beyond your years Miss Rarity" he told her.

"It's such a good thing she's found somepony to look up to. Rainbowdash is an excellent big sister to her but she can be a little" she fished for a word "brash, sometimes." The assassin grinned but offered no argument.

"So, what were you doing up anyway?" The mare shrugged.

"I was looking after the girls, the dears fell asleep after two hours but I decided to wait up for you" she told him.

"Why" he asked. Rarity finished the last stitch and started bandaging him up, wrapping his torso in off-white dressings. When she was done with the bandages she looked down at his leg, the assassin following her gaze. "I got it" he muttered as he reached down and took hold of his leg before he twisted and wrenched it back into its proper place; Rarity could see him clamping down on his scream, but could see it rising to his maw. She panicked slightly and though fast, pulling his head into her chest and using it to muffle his roar of pain, feeling it vibrate through her whole system as he loosed his pain. After holding him patiently with empathetic tears tempting to spill as she stroked his mane, she reluctantly released him and helped him off the side, offering her slim frame as a crutch when he wobbled slightly. Guiding him out of the room and flipping the light off as she went, setting him on the couch and sitting beside him. The assassin's pets followed after them, Dusk sitting on the arm of the couch while Hunter perched on the back of it. "So, anyway, why did you stay up?"

"Oh, well, I was just wondering what became of Fancy Pants" she admitted. The assassin looked over at her.

"He's fine, turned out he was being blackmailed by the Goldhooves into doing their dirty work" he revealed. Rarity gave a sigh of relief and leaned her head on his shoulder, wrapping her fore-legs around his own.

"Thank you" breathed. Blood Moon rested his head on hers.

"Don't mention it." She looks up and catches him watching Scootaloo fondly.

"You've touched so many lives here Blood Moon" she says quietly "all of our friends, Scootaloo, Sweetie-Belle. I just can't believe how one stallion can do so much for so many" she said. The stallion shrugged.

"I'm a foalsitter, a bodyguard. It's in my nature to protect and help others" he answered. She looked up at him properly, causing him to look down.

"I'm not so sure about that, you're a good stallion, maybe not a heart of gold but you're better than most." Her voice lowered to a whisper. "Twilight and Fluttershy are lucky to have a stallion like you in their lives." Blood Moon grins.

"And they're just as lucky to have a mare like you in their lives. Rarity, the company you kept at Canterlot, nobles right?" Rarity nodded.

"How did you know I visited Canterlot?" The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"You're not from there?" She smiled slightly and shook her head.

"Ponyville, born and raised."

"Not really surprised, you're no noble; you're gracious, kind, generous, modest, good to your friends, the best big sister a filly could ask for and beautiful beyond belief." Rarity moved in a little.

"Blood Moon, please stop, else you'll make me blush" she said.

"Too late" he countered as he returned her advances. Their lips met half way, Rarity's slightly pink lips brushing against the killer's own slightly chapped and dry lips as they moved together in tandem, Rarity turning her head slightly and closing her eyes, revealing her light blue eye shadow as she moved further into their shared embrace. Rarity's cheeks gained a little pink as she blushed, feeling her tongue make contact with his as they mutually advanced their kiss, the mare groaning slightly as she felt the stallion's tongue explore her mouth. They parted after a while, a strand of saliva lingering between their tongues when they pulled back, the mare panting lightly as a small smile stretched across her still open mouth, the blush still lingering on her face.

"I can see why Twilight does that so often" she said breathlessly. The stallion chuckled.

"What can I say? Irresistible to mares" he joked. Rarity nodded.

"I'll say" she said as she moved back in and reconnected their lips, this kiss lasting for only a few seconds. When they pulled back Rarity had a new glow in her face and sparkle in her eyes. The assassin stroked a hoof down her face in an attempt to keep the mood going, it was working until he yawned. Rarity giggled. "Somepony needs so bed rest." She was answered by the stallion drooling a little. "Blood Moon?"

"I just imagined you in a nurse's outfit" he explained. Rarity giggled again, tapping him on the nose.

"Well, play your cards right…" she trailed off when they heard a stirring from in front of the fire as Scootaloo shifted around and blinked her eyes open.

"Hrmmm…huh? Where?" She looked up and spotted her dad sat on the couch with Rarity.

"Daddy" she said as she stood up, losing her balance and falling again before she managed to trot unsteadily over to him. The stallion reached down and picked her up, holding her against his chest.

"Hey Scoots" he said, his lack of sleep catching up to him as he hugged his daughter.

"I waited up for you" she said. The way she said it, and just her words, made him feel his tears tempt as his memories came back to him.

"I know you did Scoots" he said as he carried her in his fore-leg and hobble over to the fire, laying down beside it, still holding the Pegasus filly against his chest. As he lay behind the other two sleeping fillies, so they still got the warmth of the blaze, he felt the mare he'd just kissed sneak up behind them, laying down beside him, making a small protective wall between the elements and the fillies, in a subconscious protective manner. As Rarity pulled her little sister into her and Applebloom was left to hug the assassin's leg that Scootaloo wasn't holding against her chest, laying on the floor in front of them.

"Dad" Scootaloo mumbled sleepily.

"Yeah" the dark stallion mumbled, just as drowsy.

"Love you" she said quietly. The assassin opened his eyes slightly, gazing down at her. He pulled her into his chest and kissed the top of her head.

"Love you too Scootaloo" he answered before he fell to sleep, embracing and in the loving embrace of his daughter.

---

Celestia scowled at the report held in her gold magic, screwing it up and tossing it into the fire in her room.

He'd been seen.

In her city, under her very nose, he'd been seen. The nerve of it enraged her, and she could tell by the way Shining Armour had swallowed lightly it was showing through her face, despite her efforts to hide it. The simple fact that he'd been here and he'd been seen, by no less than twenty of her ponies just pissed her off. She caught her anger and pushed it down, taking a few deep breaths as she pushed her hoof away from her, a calming technique she'd taught Cadence, who'd gone on to teach Twilight and something the princess of the day hadn't had to do in millennia. She ran a hoof down her face and took another deep breath.

"Princess Celestia" Shining started, concerned for the well-being of his boss but Celestia just brushed him off.

"I'm fine Capitan Armour" she said, guessing his thoughts "I'm just frustrated is all." The stallion nodded.

"I'm sorry, I don't understand how he managed to escape; I've had the whole of Canterlot on lockdown, nopony should have been able to get in or out without me knowing." Celestia huffed; getting in or out of Canterlot? For Blood Moon; foal's play. She trotted to her balcony and looked over her capitol, Shining following soon after; she didn't say anything, but she didn't like the way he shadowed her from a distance, it was one of the reasons she'd never appointed another bodyguard; it reminded her of Blood Moon too much. She kept gazing over Canterlot for a second until she felt her frustration fall to the sensation of teased. That was what her old foalsitter was doing; rubbing her muzzle in it, letting her stir and suffer as he smirked in her face. She hated that. The simple fact that it was in his power to do what in Tartarus he pleased and there was barely anything she could do about it. Her fore-legs weakened and she fell to her face, resting her pouting head on the guardrail, unawares to the fact she was holding up her plot to Shining Armour, who at least had the gentlecoltly decency to turn his gaze away. After a brief peek of course. Still pouting out over Canterlot, she remembered the big stack of reports waiting on her desk; that report she'd thrown on her fire had been the first of many, and she knew that when she'd said she'd be heading this investigation herself, there was no getting out of it. Standing up again, she went back inside, glancing the small redness on her guard Captain's face and sat back at the desk. She looked through them all.

Witness report

Witness name: Upper Crust.

Circumstances: Claims to have spotted suspect fleeing the scene when returning from a dinner party.

Synopses: Spotted a pony matching suspect's description galloping away from Fancy

Pant's estate before disappearing in a flash of light.

Celestia shook her head; saw him running before teleporting away?

'Honestly, how does that help? All unicorns have the capability to teleport.'

She looked down at the next report.

Witness name: Rum Bottle.

Circumstances: Claims to have found the suspect hiding in his shop front, after being woken up by the sounds of the guards.

Synopses: Found suspect in his shop, hiding from the guards. Claims to have thrown him out and called the guards before the suspect head butted him and escaped down an alleyway.

Celestia growled at the piece of parchment in front of her; it was practically nothing, nothing that helped, this pony hadn't even gotten a good look at him, despite him being right in front of him. She ran a hoof down her face as she looked down at the next one.

Witness name: Battlements.

Circumstances: One of the guards that perused suspect through Canterlot.

Synopses: After following the suspect in pursuit, he claims that the suspect suddenly turned and took to combat. His comrades were quickly dispatched by the suspect in a professional manner before he too fell to the suspect. Upon wakening up he describes his initial reaction as confusion, as the suspect could have easily killed him and his fellows but instead chose to spare them.

The princess of the day felt like crying. Not even her guards had anything helpful. She skimmed through the rest of the reports and came up with much of the same thing; vague descriptions of vague events, not a single detail or half-decent description of her suspect, although she knew it was Blood Moon, she'd need solid evidence to mount a full on raid of Ponyville to find him. That annoyed her further; she was princess, why wasn't her word enough to prove it was him? Still, since her plan was to bring down a small army on Ponyville, it was sort of understandable. She growled again, throwing the reports up in the air and resting her head on her desk. It was torture, the simple fact that Blood Moon had probably come out of that smelling like a rose; she needed relief. She turned her head to Shining Armour.

"Captain Armour, I need some time to think this over. Go back to Cadence, you're dismissed" she said as she waved him away with her hoof. The stallion nodded and saluted before he trotted out of her room. Celestia trotted wearily over to her bed and dumped herself on it.

Everypony had noticed her changes as of late; she was acting much less regal, proper manners having taken a backseat to finding Blood Moon; she still hadn't told Luna, who knew what kind of reaction she'd have if she knew Blood Moon was holding out in Ponyville, with Twilight Sparkle. Hay, it was only years of stress relief and calming techniques that had come between her and going in there herself. What made things worse was that idiot Hardhoof, who'd had the bright idea to go after him directly. Huh, little good his 'head on' approach did him when he suddenly, and explicitly, went missing and with no trace. She couldn't hold down the grin that stretched across her face as she thought about how annoyed Loaded had been when he found out about his son going missing. It was soon replaced by that scowl again; she covered her face with her hooves and growled out loud again, thrashing around in her bed like a filly who wasn't getting her way. She relaxed again, her legs spread out around her, another pout on her face; she hated the way that stallion had the ability to do this to her, send her down a long winding road of stress and pure aggravation. She really needed a drink. Or a stallion.

She blew hard through her nose as she thought; long gone were the days when royal bed-warmers were available for company, these days it was all about keeping up appearances, so sleeping around with what basically amounted to a glorified rent-colt wasn't really allowed any more. It was more damning than anypony could really appreciate; Celestia was nothing if not aged, it didn't show (to her rather, utter smugness) but she was still old, so she came from a time when a monarch got what she wanted, when she wanted. Be it the head of her ex-foalsitter, a tankard of Appaloosa mugging or just somepony to help relieve her stress and tension. With a heavy sigh, she reached down with her fore-hoof and prepared to get to work and try and relax herself, her thoughts clouded between imagining that well-hung guard she'd peaked with his marefriend the other night and her old foalsitter that was plaguing her mind.

---

Fleur Dis Lee awoke groggily up, the sleep lingering in her eyes as she rubbed the sand away with her hoof. She looked around and caught the smell in the air and remembered what had happened. She grinned to herself as she lay down again; she peered to the side and spotted the letter and roses there. With a smile she sat back up, taking the flowers in her hooves and holding them to her muzzle; when she smelt them she raised an eyebrow. Freshly cut grass, morning dew and fresh spring daisies?

'My favourite fragrances…'

Placing the black and blood red roses down beside her, she picked up the note with her magic and read it. Her smile got wider as she read it; yes, she did understand why he had to do that.

She rubbed the spot he'd injected her absentmindedly; it was strange, she'd taken sleeping pills before and she'd always woken up with a headache and the feeling she experienced while they worked through her system had been numbing and fuzzy, but she'd woken up feeling pleasantly refreshed and the feeling of the drug Blood Moon had used had been warming and pleasantly mind dulling.

Though, inevitably, her thoughts went back to the rutting her and Blood Moon had shared. She lifted her covers and looked down, between her legs and subconsciously pushed them together. She lay back on her bed and giggled to herself mischievously.

'That was a positively evil thing to do.'

She snuggled comfortably into her duvet and rubbed around her stomach absentmindedly.

It was such an awful thing to do, not telling your partner you were in heat and letting him cum with you.