A/N: hey guys, got some time to write another chapter for this story, but I should give a fair warning, the later parts of this chapter, may become graphic and disturbing, so be advised, but regardless, enjoy the chapter.
Trials of Redemption: chapter 3: the party
It had been a few days since Twilight had given Fleet a tour of the town, and tonight was the night for his grand party, he had his servants go around town the past few days hanging up flyers, all the residents of PonyVille were invited, almost everypony was busy getting ready to attend the party, with it being a formal affair, Rarity's business became full of orders for dresses and suits, which she was more than happy to fulfill, but she still managed to put time aside to fix up their dresses from the Gala.
As they all waited in the dressing room, they all sat in front of mirrors, putting on their dresses, and fixing their manes, and when they had finally finished, they left the shop and immediately, started making their way to Fleet's mansion, luckily for them it was only half a mile from the shop entrance, so they decided to walk.
Not long after, they reached the end of town, and could see Fleet's house, lit from basement to attic, ponies all making their way inside, as they got closer, they began making their way through the crowd that had assembled in the front of the house, as they approached the door, they noticed the same butler from the first time they were here, when he saw them he smiled, "aw, Miss Sparkle, it's good to see you and your friends again, Master Fleet is waiting for the other guests to arrive, please enjoy yourselves" he said as they smiled and walked past him and through the door, as he watched them go, he reached up to the small hidden headset and pressed the small button, "they're here" he said as he brought his hoof down, and turned to greet the next guests.
As they made their way inside, they were amazed by what they saw, the main room was now more furnished, and better lit, decorations hung from the main chandelier, and wrapped around the banister of the staircase, ponies walked in between each room, admiring the dazzling scenery, they could only imagine what the other parts of the house looked like, other ponies dressed in similar suits, walked around levitating trays of wine glasses and snacks, it was clear that Fleet spared no expense.
As they all started making their way, they heard a particularly loud clinging sound, all the guests in the rooms turned to the staircase, to see a well-dressed unicorn stallion there, levitating an empty glass and a fork, he had a large smile on his face as he placed the glass down, he cleared his throat and began speaking.
"my friends, firstly I would like to thank you all for coming and attending my party, I promise this to be a grand night for all, but I would also like to thank you for being such welcoming neighbors, I hope that I can repay you all for being the best neighbor I can be, and I hope that we can all get along in the future, but for now, let's all enjoy the party!" he said loudly as some ponies in the crowd cheered and went straight back to their chatting, drinking, and eating, Twilight and her friends watched as Fleet came off the stairs, and walked straight over to them, a broad smile on his face.
When he walked up to them, he looked at Twilight and smiled, "aw it's good to see you and your friends again Twilight, you look beautiful tonight you all do, I hope you are enjoying yourselves, please allow me to give you a tour, now that everything is finished" he said as he started walking, Twilight and her friends all looked at each other, and then walked to catch up with him.
(Later…)
After giving them a large tour of the house, they arrived at Fleet's private library, on the second floor, they all walked in laughing as Fleet closed the door, when Twilight looked around, she was amazed by what she saw, books, lots of them, shelves filled with book after book, when he said he had a collection of his own, he really meant it, "wow, this is an impressive collection, even the library doesn't have as many books as this one room" Twilight said in amazement, Fleet smiled at her, pouring multiple glasses of wine, for all seven of them, "I thought you might like it, I have books from other exotic places, like the Griffon Kingdoms, the dragons, and even the Crystal Empire" he said proudly, Twilight kept looking at all the books, "well, it truly is amazing" she said, Fleet took a step towards her, "well, if you ever feel the need, we could trade books every now and then, I'm sure we have books the other doesn't" he said with a smile, as he levitated a glass of wine to her, she gladly took it, and took a sip.
Just as they did, he glanced up at the clock, and his smile immediately fell, and for a moment Twilight could see a look of pure fear in his eyes, but then it was gone, just as quickly as it appeared, Twilight glanced at the clock, it was later then she thought, the tour must have taken up some time, but that doesn't explain his brief fearful look, she turned to him with worry, "hey Fleet, is everything alright, you just looked as if you saw a ghost" she said, catching all her friends attention, he turned and looked at her, frowning, "I…I uh, um, I'm sorry to say this, but I need to go, I have…something important to do, I'm sorry to leave you like this, but please, enjoy the rest of the party, I'll see you sometime tomorrow, maybe" he said as he drank the last of his wine, and quickly walked out of the room, leaving them all very confused.
"Well that was weird, what suddenly got into him?" Rainbow asked confused, Twilight looked at all of them, "I'm not sure, but let's just enjoy the party, maybe we'll catch up with him later" she said as they all made their way to the door, and rejoined the party.
(Later that night, house)
A young stallion walked through the hall of his house; he had just returned home from a long day of work, he had gotten many orders for various types of jewelry, for the big party, which was being hosted by PonyVille's newest residence, he ran the local jewelry shop, in town, as he walked through the house, he heard a female voice call from the bedroom, "sweetie, you coming to bed?" he heard the voice ask, it was his wife, "yeah, be right there" he said as he walked into the room, and saw his wife reading a book, while lying in bed, she looked up at him and smiled as he got into the bed next to her, kissing her on the cheek, "you know, I was thinking, maybe we should have gone to this party, help welcome the new resident, I feel as if were the only two ponies in town, who didn't go" she said putting the book down and turning to him.
He smiled at her, and kissed her on the lips, "nonsense, we don't need to be at a party to have a goodtime, all I need is you, besides, the doctor said you need to relax as much as possible" he said placing a hoof on her stomach, she smiled and placed a hoof over his, they turned to each other, and smiled, they slowly leaned in for a kiss, when suddenly, they heard a sound from the kitchen, it sounded like a glass breaking, "did you hear that?" she asked, he looked at the door, "yeah, must have put a glass to close to the edge, I'll get it" he said climbing out of bed, and making his way into the hall, "be careful" she said fear evident in her voice, he gave her a reassuring smile, as he made his way into their kitchen.
The room was completely dark, he simply switched on the ceiling light, the kitchen and parts of the living room became filled with light, he looked around, and saw exactly what he thought, a glass had fallen off the counter and broken on the floor, "what is it?" he heard his wife ask from the room, "nothing dear, just a glass that fell from the counter, I'll take care of it" he said picking up a broom, and sweeping the floor, free of glass, making sure not to step on any of it, after he finished he threw it away and looked up at the cabinet, "could have sworn I closed you earlier" he said to himself, as he closed the glass cabinet, just as he did, he looked up at his reflection, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw something move, it looked like the shape of a pony.
He turned around just in time, to see a pony dressed in a black cloak jump at him, he jumped out of the way, barely missing the knife in one hoof, "honey, are you okay?!" he heard his wife call in a panic, as he heard movement coming down the hall, "no, stay in the room, lock the door!" he shouted as he faced the attacker, his face was mostly covered, so he couldn't make any details out, the attacker charged forward, faster than anticipated, and he jumped to the side, the blade of the knife cut into his shoulder, making him cry out in pain, he successfully dodged to the side, but his wounded shoulder failed and he fell to the ground, trying to pick himself up, the attacker beat him to it, picking him up by the throat, and slamming him, head first into the wall, with enough force to break his skull.
He could feel his vision blur, as the attacker picked him up again, he desperately tried to reach for something, and only grabbed a glass, he brought it and smashed it against the assailant's head, the attacker didn't even cry out in pain, instead he just threw him across the room again, landing on his cut shoulder, he cried out, he looked up to see the attacker coming at him, knife at the ready, he tried to stand up, he raised his hoof up, and tried to punch him, but the attacker caught his hoof, and using his free hoof, brought the knife straight into his chest, the pony's eyes widened, as the assailant too off his hood, revealing his face, all he could see was a unicorns horn, the attacker pushed him to the ground, as the door to the room opened, the attacker hid next to the hall entrance as his wife came into the kitchen.
She looked at him and gasped, "Sweet Celestia! What-" she was about to say, but stopped when the attacker grabbed her from behind, placing the knife around her neck, pony did his best to try and stand up, but his bleeding wound, drained his energy, he fell to the floor again, he raised his hoof up, "please, don't hurt her, please…" he tried saying, but failed, the assailant merely smiled and in an instant, pushed the knife against her throat, and in one swift move, cut the blade along her throat, her eyes went wide, as blood spilled freely from the cut, he pushed her body to the floor, and turned to the stallion, he was on the brink of death, he walked up to him, and turned him over on to his back and looked at him, he looked as if he was trying to speak, the pony just put his hood on, and brought out his knife, placing it on his neck, and roughly cutting, the stallion's eyes went wide, as blood sprayed from the wound, even splashing into the attackers face, who simply stood up, and watched as the blood poured from the wound, he smiled as the stallion ceased to move, yet his eyes fixed on him, he wiped the blood from his face on a rag from the counter, and made his way to the door, opening it and walking through, very quietly closing it behind him.
A/N: yeah…like I said, it could get graphic, but you were warned, anyway, it just got interesting, who was that masked assailant, and why is he here, all questions will be answered in time, hope you all enjoyed, and see you next time, peace.