Eagle woke the next day from another nightmare. These terrible dreams had become more common since the first one, and they became increasingly vivid and realistic as well. At certain moments in the nightmares, Eagle may receive a stab or jab from out of nowhere. Every one of those hits felt real, and in the morning, when Eagle woke up, he would still feel the pain. But what really got to Eagle were the lingering voices of his mother and sister.

Eagle sat up in his bed and rubbed out his eyes. These nightmares didn’t grant him the luxury of getting much sleep. Every morning that he woke up from a nightmare, he would feel like crap for the rest of the day. He gave his neck a quick crack, but didn’t move from his spot in bed.

“Sleep well Eagle?” He looked to his right to see Ruby standing next to his bed. He immediately looked away and shook his head violently. Then, pain shot through Eagle’s head. But, he had gotten used to this. Seeing the apparitions of his mother and sister had become a basic happening after the nightmares, and Eagle had surprisingly gotten used to it. However, that didn’t mean he liked it, or that it left him unharmed mentally.

“Go away…” Eagle said. When he looked again, Ruby was gone. Eagle let out a sigh and got out of bed. He stepped out of his room and into the living room of his apartment. It was a spacious apartment, with enough space to house about ten ponies at once. Everything Eagle could need was there. But, he and Sharp Side were sticking to their plan to “renovate” the apartment later on. However, it would need to wait.

Eagle made himself breakfast and turned the TV on to the news. Low and behold, the news was filled with the buzz of the previous night’s events.

“Late last night, at an old, abandoned mansion, multiple explosions erupted out of nowhere, engulfing the entire building, and the surrounding property, in flames and smoke. When all the smoke cleared, nothing was left of the mansion. Manehattan Guard investigation has led to the discovery that the mansion was being used as a hideout for the nefarious mare cult known as the Blood Sisters. Authorities believe that the destruction of the mansion, and the cult itself, are to be the actions of the Assassin. No confirmation has been given yet, but the Guard have assured the public that they shall continue to investigate.”

As the story continued, Eagle took a deep breath in and let out a soft smile.

“Serves those bastards right,” he said to himself. Finishing his breakfast up rather quickly, Eagle watched the news for a little while longer. After that, he got up, threw his dishes in the sink, and headed into his room. He activated a secret panel that hid his Assassin gear. He prepped himself up and turned on his mic.

“Hey, Sharp Side, you up yet buddy?” Eagle called to his friend. Eagle’s response came as a soft snoring sound. Eagle rolled his eyes and set out from a secret hatch he and Sharp Side had built in the roof.

Arriving at Sharp Side’s, Eagle found his friend still asleep at his computer. Eagle walked over to his sleeping friend and tapped his head.

“Hey, Sharp Side, wake up!” Eagle said, continuing to poke Sharp Side. The sleepy Unicorn woke from his slumber with an unsatisfied groan.

“Not cool Eagle, not cool,” he said, rubbing his eyes.

“Sorry, but I want to get started already.” Sharp Side looked over to his clock to see it was only noon.

“Dude, it’s not even two yet. I thought that was our minimum time to start missions,” Sharp Side whined.

“Well this mission is a little different,” Eagle responded. “I stopped by my place before I came here. My dad wasn’t home, which leads me to believe he may be with the Dark Flames right now. I need to get to Ponyville, and more specifically, the Everfree Forest.” Sharp Side stood up and gave his back a stretch.

“Alright, fine.” Sharp Side started to scan over Eagle he was checking over his gear. Sharp Side could tell something was wrong.

“Another nightmare?” he asked.

“It’s getting that obvious huh?” Eagle asked.

“Sorry, it’s just hard not to notice it. I don’t like seeing you this way Eagle. You’re my friend, and it’s killing me that I can’t do anything about it,” Sharp Side said.

“Hey, you’re doing enough by helping me out with everything. Besides, I’ve got Dash for moral support,” Eagle joked.

“And I’m what, chopped liver?” Sharp Side replied. The two shared a quick laugh before getting back to business.

“Don’t worry about me Sharp Side. I’ll be fine. Now, I’ve gotta get going. I’ll be in touch.” With that, Eagle turned back and headed out into the skies. Sharp Side shrugged to himself and sat back down at his desk.

Eagle stood at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. Now he could tell why nopony ever went in there. It amazed him even more to know that there was a zebra that lived in there. At least, that’s what Rainbow Dash had told him.

“Having second thoughts?” Sharp Side called to his friend.

“Hardly. But, I’ll have to be careful in there for sure. I can already tell that I won’t be having fun in there,” Eagle replied. After a moment of preparation, Eagle started to make his way through the dark, dank forest.

From the moment he stepped into the forest, Eagle felt like everything around him was out of touch with Equestria. Everything felt strange and weird, and none of it felt right. Every step Eagle took felt weird. The ground was mostly muddy from what Eagle could tell, and there were barely and trails to pick up on. The plant life was unlike anything Eagle had ever seen. From the look of it, Eagle could tell that some of these plants were even alive.

And what made matters worse was that Eagle had only been complaining to himself about the environment. He hadn’t even met any of the dangerous creatures of the forest yet. Eagle knew well enough what dangers lurked around in the darkness of the forest, but he only hoped he wouldn’t have to meet any of them. But, even if he did, he was more than well equipped to fight them off. And, if worst came to worst, he could just fly away, or use his environment to parkour his way through all of the trees.

Wandering around for about 45 minutes left Sharp Side bored out of his mind. Eagle Eye was analyzing every little detail in the environment on the other hoof.

“Dude, you’ve been searching for almost one whole hour now. I’m telling you, there’s nothing in there,” Sharp Side called.

“And I already told you before that I’m not leaving until I find something,” Eagle responded. Sharp Side sighed to himself and left Eagle to his tracking. However, as Eagle continued his mission, the overwhelming sense of pointlessness in the mission became more apparent. As the mission timer that Sharp Side had reached the one hour and thirty minute mark, Eagle stopped in his tracks and sighed.

“Damnit,” Eagle said.

“I’m sorry Eagle,” Sharp Side called. “Maybe we could continue looking around in the city. Or, I’ve got news that says the Dark Flames attacked somewhere in Hoofington. We could maybe get something out of that,” Sharp Side said, trying to cheer up his friend.

“No I’m fine. Maybe I’ll just pay Dash a visit while I’m in the area,” Eagle replied. He slowly turned around, taking one last scan of the area, before giving up and walking away. But, suddenly, Eagle heard a crack from a distance. He quickly braced himself and got low to the ground. He quickly scanned the area to find what caused the noise. It seemed to originate from an area of less foliage. Eagle made his way to the patch of open earth to find a snapped twig.

“Gettin paranoid huh?” Sharp Side joked.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry,” Eagle said, turning again to walk away. When he turned around, he was met with a foul stench. He tried to fan away the smell, but it continued to come towards him. Then, Eagle saw a pair of green eyes coming from the bushes. Out from the bushes erupted a Timberwolf. Following it came two more.

“Buck,” Eagle said promptly. Just as he said that, one of the Timberwolves pounced towards him. Eagle was quick enough to dodge the attack and buck the Timberwolf in the head, sending it to the ground. The other two advanced on Eagle, but he was quick enough to slice them down with his hidden blades. They tried to get up, but Eagle immediately began to tear off pieces of wood with his hookblades. The first Timberwolf, however, caught Eagle off guard, and sent him flying into a nearby tree.

“Eagle, you alright?” Sharp Side called. Eagle groggily got back to his hooves.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Eagle replied. That blow left him a little winded. But, before he charged back into the fray, he noticed a small marking on the tree. It looked like a small arrow. But, Eagle had little time to examine it, as the Timberwolf charged at him again. Eagle ducked under the attack and used his wing blades to stab the Timberwolf in its skull. The wooden beast fell to the floor, but the other two were now back up and ready to go again.

Eagle flew over them with the Avenger at the ready. He fired off six rounds, three for each Timberwolf. The Timberwolves were sent back to the floor, but quickly regained themselves as Eagle landed on the ground. He threw his rifle back over his back and stood ready with his blades.

As one Timberwolf charged, Eagle used his hookblade to gain leverage on the beast and flip over it. He then pounced towards the other Timberwolf and drove his hidden blade through its wooden throat. The beast gagged for a bit, but quickly clawed Eagle off, sending him to the floor. Before Eagle could get back up, he was pinned by the Timberwolf. He ducked his head to the side to avoid having it chomped off.

“Get off!” Eagle shouted. He drove his hidden blades into the gut of the Timberwolf and sent it flying to the ground. As it hit the ground, it broke into individual pieces of wood. As Eagle quickly got back up, one of the other Timberwolves charged towards him. Eagle sidestepped the beast, grabbed it with his hookblade, pulled it back to the floor, and stomped its skull in. After that, the Timberwolf broke apart like the other one. Eagle glared at the final Timberwolf, sending fear through the wooden beast’s body. It ran off quickly before any more damage could be done.

With the threat eliminated, Eagle dusted himself off and kicked a few of the wood pieces aside. He walked back over to the tree he had seen before. He started to examine the marking, which most definitely was an arrow.

“Where is it pointing to?” Sharp Side asked.

“I have no idea, but it certainly isn’t a coincidence that this is here. It has to lead to something,” Eagle replied. He lined up the arrow with a clear path that seemed to lead to nowhere in particular. Eagle simply shrugged and decided to follow the path. He followed it for about twenty minutes until he came upon a wall of trees. There was no way through or around it. It was a dead end.

“No… no this can’t be it,” Eagle said.

“Eagle, it’s a wall of freakin trees. There’s nothing here,” Sharp Side responded. Eagle felt his anger rising up now.

“This can’t be it!” Eagle shouted, running towards the wall of trees, ready to punch a hole through one of the trees. To Eagle’s surprise, not just his hoof, but his whole body went straight through. He fell to the ground on the other side of the wall. He looked behind him in surprise.

“What the buck?” Sharp Side asked. “Eagle, you alright?”

“Yeah… just confused.” He got back up and ran his hoof across the trees. His hoof simply passed through.

“It’s an image projector. Somepony in the forest is trying to hide something. I bet one thousand bits that we know who it is,” Sharp Side said. Eagle turned around and started to see lights. Moving through a bit of foliage, he soon came upon something he never would have expected, even for the Dark Flames of Heaven.

The headquarters of the Dark Flames of Heaven stood to be at least three hundred stories tall. And that was just the tallest building. The entirety of the complex had to take up at least one thousand acres land. There were thousands of soldiers, stationed at every point of the complex. In the air, hundreds of air ships, along with a massive mothership, hovered over the complex. Everything that Eagle saw couldn’t have been hidden so easily. He was amazed at how well the Dark Flames had managed to hide it all.

“If the Dark Flames of Heaven have this much space for their headquarters and an air fleet like that, then that means two things. One, that their numbers must have grown significantly over the recent months, and two, that their planning something big,” Sharp Side informed Eagle.

“Really? I never would have guessed,” Eagle replied sarcastically.

“Eagle, this is serious.”

“I know Sharp Side. This is, indeed, serious… just a lot more serious than we originally thought,” Eagle said. He watched from behind his cover as hundreds of soldiers wandered the headquarter grounds. Some were attending target practice, while others patrolled the area. A few were standing around and chatting about, while others were listening to their commanders. Eagle tried to look up to the tallest structure of the complex. He pulled out his rifle and zoomed in on the scope.

“Can you see anything up there?” Sharp Side asked.

“Yeah…” Standing on a platform, high above the complex, was Eagle’s father. Fire Streak stood from atop the grand complex in his armor, with his helmet removed however. He oversaw everything that went on, and nothing got past his eyes. He turned around suddenly. Eagle guessed that he was talking to a soldier. Eagle threw his rifle over his back and started to back away from the complex and back into the forest.

Passing through the wall of trees again, Eagle walked with his head lowered and his heart heavy.

“Eagle?” Sharp Side called. “What are we gonna do?”

“I… I don’t know. When we started this, I thought I would be able to take them all on. But, after seeing this… there’s no way. We can’t do this.”

“What’s the big deal? You can stealth your way through just about anything. All you need to do is get to the top of the complex and finish your father off for good.”

“Sharp Side, it’s not just my father we need to deal with. We need to destroy the Dark Flames of Heaven entirely, and I’m pretty sure we don’t have the fire, and ponypower to do that,” Eagle said, hating every word of it. Sharp Side let out a sigh. Then, a thought crossed his mind.

“Well, maybe we don’t have that kind of power, but I think we might know somepony who does,” Sharp Side said. Eagle couldn’t think of anypony that they knew with that kind of power.

“Who?” he asked.

“Princess Celestia,” Sharp Side answered.

“What?! Are you insane?! How are we supposed to get Princess Celestia to help?!” Eagle asked, completely baffled by Sharp Side’s idea.

“Hey, even she has to admit that the Dark Flames of Heaven are a threat that needs to be ended,” Sharp Side said. Eagle nodded his head to himself. “The only thing we have that she doesn’t is where to find them… well, that, and all of our equipment,” Sharp Side added.

“True… maybe this’ll work after all. But even still, how do we get to her. I don’t think she just takes visits from very well-known killers such as myself.”

“Well, all we have to do is sneak you into Canterlot. And, seeing as though she’s the Princess, we should assume that secrecy will get you nowhere. You can sneak in there with your gear, but when the time comes, you should reveal yourself to her. She deserves to know who Equestria’s savior will be,” Sharp Side said. Eagle smiled to himself under his mask and nodded.

“You know… this all might actually work. Not only is Celestia all-powerful, but she has at her disposal the strongest military force in Equestria. Nopony messes with the Equestrian Guard,” Eagle replied.

“Exactly. I think we finally have a way to take down the Dark Flames of Heaven my friend. But, first things first. We need to be able to find this place again. That’s why I gave you those trackers just in case before you left. You need to place four of them around the general area of the complex. That might take you a while though,” Sharp Side informed.

“Whatever. If it helps us take these bastards down, it’ll be worth it.” At that, Eagle pulled out one of the trackers and placed it on a nearby tree. He would need at least three more in a circular area around the complex.

It took him about a half hour, but Eagle finished placing the necessary trackers around the complex. With that finished, Sharp Side was able to draw up coordinates of the exact location of the complex. With the location locked, Eagle was finally able to exit the forest. He had seen enough of that place for one day.

Upon exiting the forest, he looked out at Ponyville to see that there was still some time left in the day. He wanted to pay a visit to Rainbow Dash.

“Hey, I’ll be home in a few hours. I’m gonna go hang out with Dash,” Eagle called to Sharp Side.

“Alright, but don’t stay overnight. When you get back, we gotta start mapping out a plan to infiltrate Canterlot Castle,” Sharp Side replied.

“Got it. I’ll see you later,” Eagle said.

“Later.” With that, Eagle took off towards Cloudsdale. Upon arriving in the cloud city, he snuck his way through to Rainbow Dash’s house. Looking into her room through her window, he found her sleeping soundly.

“You always find a time to sleep, don’t you Dash?” Eagle thought to himself. He carefully opened up the window and stepped inside. He quietly removed all of his gear and placed it neatly in the corner of Rainbow’s room. He then kneeled down next to Rainbow’s bed and looked at her. He smiled as he watched her sleep, yet couldn’t escape the feeling of his actions being the slightest bit creepy. He ultimately decided to poke her nose.

“Wha… huh?” she said upon waking up.

“Hey you,” Eagle said. Rainbow jumped a little, but quickly calmed down when she realized it was Eagle.

“Don’t scare me like that!” she said, lightly punching his shoulder.

“You, scared? I didn’t think that was possible,” Eagle joked.

“Very funny. Get in here,” Rainbow said, beckoning Eagle to join her in bed. He got in and snuggled up with her.

“I can’t stay overnight tonight. Sharp Side and I have some work to do.”

“Ooh, what is it this time?” Rainbow Dash asked in excitement.

“Well… we found the headquarters of the Dark Flames of Heaven,” Eagle informed her.

“Really?! So, are you gonna finally pound those losers into the dirt?!” Rainbow asked with joy.

“Well… not exactly. The complex is huge, and I can’t do it alone. So, Sharp Side and I figured we would enlist the aid of Princess Celestia and the Equestrian Guard.” Rainbow looked at him with a surprised look.

“Wow… it must be pretty bad,” she said.

“You have no idea,” Eagle replied.

“Well, you can deal with that later. Right now, I just want to be with you,” Rainbow said, resting her head on his chest.

“I’m right here Dash,” Eagle replied, wrapping his wings around her. She did the same to him, and slowly, she started to move her hoof down to his nether regions. Eagle felt a light tap on his stallionhood and looked down into Rainbow’s lustful eyes.

“Please?” she asked.

“You got any condoms?”

“No, but I don’t want you to use one. Please? It won’t hurt, and we’ve done it before like this,” Rainbow begged. Eagle sighed and smiled at her. In a kinky kind of way, he loved to see her like this.

“Alright then Dash, let’s do it.” A sexy smile ran across Rainbow’s face as she threw her lips onto Eagle’s. Before anything got too serious, Eagle reached over to close the blinds of the window for a little more privacy.

Author's Notes:

The end is near my friends! Soon, the final battle shall commence!

If you want to imagine the DFoH headquarters as being much more complex, go right ahead. I figure if I went into too much detail, I would be writing exposition. Just think of a huge complex with lots of high tech stuff. It works.

And on another note, at the beginning of the chapter, we see how Eagle is sloooooowly losing his sanity. That's all I'll say on the matter.