The purple mare hid behind the shelter of a buildings corner, leading into an alleyway soaked in inky blackness. Her breathing was heavy, yet began to calm as footsteps dimmed and died out in the night. She let out a breath she had held to give way to the quiet that would confirm her safety. The native was such a strange creature, like something designed, drawn by some vivid imagination and made real. Her purple coat was simply divine, neatly kept and bearing a healthy shine, as did her long mane that was kept in check half way down its glistening, green length by a blue hairband. Her arms were thin and delicate, ending in almost angelically gentle hands. Her neck was a mix of being Gaian and swan-like, slightly longer than that of the aliens and swept back slightly making her appear very regal in posture. She had a full feature, plump bust, firm but healthy waist and wide hips that led to thick legs with hoofed feet. The appearance of the natives was almost ridiculous to the aliens, for how could a creature evolve to become so visually pleasing, the calming appearance of the Equestrians spreading unease and distrust through the UTF ranks.

The mare peered around the corner once to check the alien soldiers had moved onward before taking to a sprint, zipping away into the dimly lit night, probably headed back to the safety of her home. Unknown to the frightened mare, she had been watched the entire time.

A specter, an unseen force slithered from the shadows and took up a position where the girl had once been. His vision was intruded with welcome by a bright red reticule, a circular cross-hair with a small dot at its' center. The reticle scanned left to right, his tactical visor stored within his dark red goggles throwing highlight lines across the edges of every structure he looked at, his motion radar tracking the once-seen mare that now just escaped the scanners range, her small orange dot racing beyond the circular limits of the display. The unseen soldier advanced through Canterlot square and towards the palace grounds.

His target was due to be staying nearer the palace, in one of the guest mansion rooms in a bid to remain safe. Perhaps she felt the nearer the princesses she was the safer she would be. The thought made the soldier grin, for he would be more than delighted to prove her how flawed such a plan was. There was no wall high enough, no fortress secure enough and no distance great enough to halt the Reaper. The living ghost twisted his frame to face his destination before swiftly darting off, unseen by the local guards posted on nearby rooftops.

--------------------------------

Another servant trotted down the decorated corridor, this one carrying a dinner tray littered with the remnants of a meal, finely crafted plates and bowls carrying only tiny shreds of hay and lettuce leaf. The shadowy figure cloaked in what the natives considered an invisibility spell, slowed his breathing a fraction to re-frame from being possibly heard by the small stallion. The ghost was disgusted at the sight of a member of a society used for such trivial and pointless tasks, like some mindless drone. He growled to himself, unwittingly drawing the attention of the servant. The stallion snapped his head to the side, his ears twitching slightly from side to side trying to catch the ominous noise once more. After about twenty seconds the stallion slowly backed away, and although he eventually left, the assassin knew he was convinced he had heard something. The shadow cursed to himself for being clumsy, but he remained unidentified, and that was all that counted.

He swiveled and took to a light jog, treading carefully as to not give away any more audible giveaways. The orange display that coated his vision revealed to him that his target was not twenty feet from his position, giving him reason to remove his suppressed pistol from his thigh mounted mag-plate. He activated the weapon, a tiny whine squealing from within the pistol as the energy coils charged up. He slowed before finally reaching what appeared to be a bedroom door. It was a bright, ivory white decorated with a fine gold, gold that could be used for better purpose that a trivial decoration. This fucker just had to fucking die.

He opened the door as slowly and quietly as he could, thankfully the door was well kept and barely made a whisper of noise as it crept open. The shadow slid inside before closing the door behind him. He immediately heard a voice, a thick voice full of false character, like they were on stage or something. He crept forward, slowly, towards her.

-----------------------------------

"It's simply a disaster. A disaster!" Sapphire Shore announced to the strange gadget at the side of her head.

"No of course not....No.....Well no one saw me at the exchange, but you know those freaky things are always watching everypony! I swear, it's only a matter of time before one of those freaks come 'a' knockin' on my door!"

Sapphire made a sharp one-eighty turn as something creaked behind her, a small metallic shriek coming from the gathering of items she had arranged as part of her move. Her eyes darted about trying to find what had alerted her, trying to catch sight of some alien device that she was convinced would soon visit her for reasons not in her favor.

The mirror. It was just the mirror.

Sapphire relaxed slightly and returned her attention back to the alien phone and the worried contact she was talking to.

"No honey I'm fine, just a little spooked by all this.......No, it was just two sacks of bits, but mostly books and such......Exactly, I thought her majesty would want most of them for safe keeping.......Oh I'm sorry honey, haven't got an eye on that yet. I'm sure it's out there somewhere, I mean, no way the pastes' have gotten their mitts on it yet. I'll keep an eye out, I promise."

A sudden sound caused Sapphire to flinch and grow anxious again.

"L-look sweety, I better get going. I'll get packed up and meet you in two days.....yes, Friday.......I'll meet you in Ponyville at 8pm then.....Ok, that's perfect. Sensational, see you then."

Sapphire fumbled for a second, struggling to remember which flashing picture to press to turn off the device.

"Ugh, why would those pasty things even give me this stupid gizmo?" Sapphire asked herself under her breath.

"So we can always see you."

A deafening noise rang through the air as Sapphires vision flashed a hot white, her head snapping back all of a sudden. Her neck went limp, as if she'd grown unspeakably tired all of a sudden. Something warm flared up in her throat and begun to spread down her body. Her head fell forward and towards her chest, presenting her the sight of a dark red fluid gushing down her chest and between her cleavage. Her pearly-white stage dress was developing ugly red stains wherever the fluid struck and soaked in. Her body grew numb, lifeless and beyond her control, leading her knees to fold and her arms to fall to her side. On her knees she saw her tights also being assaulted by the angry crimson fluid, soon followed by the rug on which she knelt.

Her vision began to blur and sway as if her eyes were turning to water. A breath she felt she had held for a day and a half escaped her lungs in a drawn out cough, throwing more crimson before her in the form of tiny ruby speckles that hit the floor in a gory shower. Sapphire grew so very tired, so tired so quickly, and began to let her care that something was terribly wrong slip away. She fell to the floor in a very ungraceful way only to flop lazily onto her back. Her vision continued to close the curtains on the reality around her until something began to tear its way into sight, shifting light around its dark frame until it completely shed its disguise to be seen as the creature it truly was.

Sapphires eyes regained focus, she began to panic, the fear injecting her with several seconds of extra life. Her face shifted from it's spaced out state to an expression of cold fear. The dark, alien assassin loomed over her, it's existence radiating a terrible coldness, presenting only a vacuum in which all good things were drawn to and utterly extinguished. It's eyes were not its own, but instead sinister, ever-judging lenses that burnt with a sharp red light, seeming to reflect a simple, primal desire to murder that it held under it's layers of chilling darkness. It simply stood over the helpless mare it had just shot, it's hellish weapon still gripped within its hand, a black item with a box-like frame that extended into a long cylinder. Although Sapphire had little to go on in reading the creatures expression, she could tell how it hated her, it despised what she had stood for and what she was holding on to.

Sapphire had never hated anypony before, in fact she took a great pride in expressing a very radiant and buoyant personality that had always seemed to reflect into others. She had always enjoyed being happy and seeing others happy around her. But what did such childish things mean to these pasty murderers, these interlopers from the sky. Happiness had been debunked with the idea of technology, healthcare and a stupid tax system. Ponies had forgotten what it was to be happy, they had learnt to grow resentfull, to express hate and how to seize power.

Now Sapphire knew what it was to hate.

She hated them.

All of them.

She hoped her contact would not wait for her, and would find a way to bring back the Equestria she had loved. The Equestria everypony had loved. There just had to be a way. They've got to find a way.

Sapphire found her sight begin to escape her once more, and the pain of hatred began to flow from her mind. But not quickly enough. She tried to speak, but her throat was no longer at her command, it pained her to even open her mouth. She decided to finish this in the best way she could, it was far from fair, but it was something.

Some day, someone bigger and scarier than you will find you. They'll push you around, hurt you and tell you what to do...

Sapphire thought with every corner of her mind, she stretched the thought as wide and as loud as she could.

...You will loose everything that you knew, everything that made you feel safe. They'll kill your friends and burn your homes, they'll write your laws and they'll teach your children to forget their history, they'll turn your science to junk and they'll make you feel like children. And when it's all done, when you're on your knees wondering where it all went, you'll remember us. You'll remember all of us and know how we felt.

A tear fell from her eye, falling down her cheek and down from her face with a ghostly grace.

Damn you. Damn you for what you've done to us.

The world grew dark.

-------------------------------------------------------

Another economic usurper bites the dust.

Oxide gave a huff of amusement at how well he'd finished the mission. Gave the stupid lady just enough time to think about what she was before she bled out. Not that it mattered, wasn't like she was in a 'better place' or anything. It was kind of funny how the girl had hoarded all this worthless junk; dresses, jewelry, trinkets and such. And she had thought to take it all with her in her 'escape'? How pitiful.

Oxide grew tired of thinking about all this and gave a deep yawn to insult the situation ever more. Not that he cared.

The assassin turned and casually walked out the way he had entered.

-----------------------------------------------------------

"And what, the bitch just lay there crying?" Asked Bandit as he slid the last two rounds into his revolver.

"Yep, probably realized she'd wasted her life on pointless crap rather than actually making something of herself." Oxide replied in a huff.

"Command, we're done here. Send us a VTOL beyond the city limits and we'll meet it there in twenty." Frostbite droned over the radio in his headset.

"Anyone else see you?" Bandit asked.

"Nah, just Shores. Can't imagine she'll be speaking any time soon though."

Bandit chuckled, his balaclava distorting his voice into a synthetic rasp.

"Shoulda' tapped some shoulders on the way out. Easier to drop these fuckers when they're good and scared shitless."

"Language, please." Piped up Archer, drawing his attention away from his sniper rifles scope as he scanned the city.

"Freedom of speech, dickhead." Murmured Oxide.

Archer gave a sigh before standing up to wander over to the edge of the rooftop. He knelt and brought his rifle up again to peer down upon the streets.

"How was your visit to that Hoity idiot?" Inquired Oxide to Bandit who gave his revolver a quick twirl before clicking it in place upon his leg mounted magnetic plate.

"Heh, had a good hour of chasing him around that mansion before he started screaming at shadows. He was fun." Bandit replied with satisfaction.

"So the reason we have been up here waiting for fucking ages is that you wanted to play with your prey? Nice, thanks a fucking lot for wasting our time." Oxide said, his fists shaking with agitation.

"Hey, I wanted to get our point across; Steal from the people, and I put a bullet in your gut," Bandit shrugged, "How was Fleur, Frostbite?"

"Bitch tried to stab me with a letter opener. Didn't do her much good. Funny how she still looked pretty with a hole in her head." Droned the squad leader in a deadpan manner.

"Hah, a letter opener?!" Bandit started cracking up with laughter along with Oxide.

"These fuckers are so stupid. Like they could hurt us." Oxide said with a sneer.

"Kinda cool being on an op were you're practically invisible. Red Storm is gonna go be wrapped up by the end of the week at this rate." Added Bandit.

"Celestia's still pacing in her room. I guess she'll fold in the next couple days." Archer announced as he kept his scope fixed upon a window of the royal palace.

"I wish I could just kill that bitch." Oxide said with poison in his words.

"Hey, it'll be fun watching the people she's dictated for a fucking millennia tear her apart. That's when we know our work is done here. These people get to finally make technological progress and are free from the rule of some silly little princess." said Frostbite.

"And they can put and end to this dumb-ass fairy-tale society they've been stuck in. Oh, Oxide, you heard about our 'Best seller'?" Asked the sniper.

"Fuck yeah! Half the people who bought it demanded a refund? What a joke. Not my fault these people have a problem with the truth. They should thank me for putting that rebel out of her misery."

"I can't say I blame them, we did publish her last book detailing her death. But hey, can't say it wasn't effective at subduing a portion of the population." Archer replied.

"Huh, those Daring Do books where dumb anyway, we made a fucking masterpiece compared to her usual shit." Oxide growled, crossing his arms.

"Sent a copy to Rainbow Dashs' house via a drone. Wonder if she enjoyed it?" Frostbite asked himself, gaining a chorus of laughs from Oxide and Bandit.

The squad had taken much pride in their work on Epona. Perhaps it was because it was the way the planet gave a person the feeling of being slightly detached from reality, perhaps it was also because every operation had been so easy. But among every assassination and every intervention, Reaper Squad had taken a great amount of joy in completing Daring Dos' last ever book; the one where they kill her. It did a wonderful job of shaking the fog of fantasy from the natives minds, along with discouraging anyone who felt they could attempt any heroics against the UTF.

"Came damn close to clipping her wings a while back. Maybe I'll get another chance if she ever decides to show her face again." Bandit said with a grin.

"It was effective enough. The Elements are destroyed and there bearers are so broken I doubt they'll leave their own homes." Said Frostbite.

"Well, all but one." Added Archer.

"Oh right, Miss 'Can't Take a Hint' herself. Fucking redneck bitch." Growled Bandit.

"Why haven't we been ordered to take her out? Surely she's in the top five on our hit-list?" Asked Archer.

"She was, but it seems Dragovichs' hound wants to sink his teeth into something. He's been given charge of all Ponyvilles armed forces, and has Applejack on his to-do list." Frostbite replied, wandering over the rooftop to look over to Ponyville.

"Guess some people just want all the fun to themselves." Huffed Oxide.

"Dunno about you guys, but I'm having plenty fun." Shrugged Bandit who leaned back against a chimney.

"I fail to see how." Murmured Archer.

"Hey, not my fault I don't feel guilty when I see someones head explode. It's not as though I like having my condition, but I'm sure as fuck not going to let it get to me. Might as well enjoy myself when I can." Bandit ranted, tensing up.

"Exactly, might as well have fun taking out the trash." Oxide added.

Being a part of the 23rd meant having a mental deficiency condition known as 23-PC, an imbalance of the chemical makeup of the Prefrontal Cortex. It afflicted the individual with the inability to feel guilt, remorse or any kind and would lead to eventual psychotic behavior without proper conditioning. But rather than subdue they afflicted, the UTF saw a very promising use for a people that could feel no remorse. Nearly every 23-PC patient had chosen to join the 23rd subdivision of the military, leading to a total of 100 members so far. Each was an assassin of high caliber, equipped with state of the art tech that kept them unseen and well protected, armed with powerful weapons. Yet there was something unruly and hostile that lingered within the members of the 23rd, making them highly unfitting for any operation outside of killing someone. Public appearance was unheard of outside crowd control, and converse with outsiders was isolated to intense interrogation.

This behavior reflected across the UTF military in a milder way, but every many members had pretty hot blood. Police brutality, excessive force and overkill was commonplace. It was essentially an army of brawlers with a fat ego, and it was exactly what the UTF needed. It kept people in there place, discouraged rebellion and held respect through fear firmly in the minds of citizens. Yet, Equestria wasn't exactly comfortable with this approach.

"If you ask me, I can see why that girl is pissed. Most of her family are dead." Archer piped up.

"That's why no one asked you. We've given her plenty of chances to stop bitching about that crap. Plus, her family brought it on herself, Appleoosa got exactly what it deserved." Countered Bandit.

"It was the most efficient way to subdue the population. Just so happens that the only way to do that was to kill off the population." Frostbite stated.

"Doesn't matter now, it's just about securing assets in the loyal cities and salvaging what we can from the digressive ones. Who's next on the list?" Asked Archer.

Frostbite typed on his wrist computer in a quick series of rattling taps.

"Looks like we're down to pay everyone's favorite girls a visit. Mission is to collect vital info at a meeting they are holding in two days. Then the next day we take the first one out, then another one every day after. Says it doesn't matter which one we take out first, as long as we leave the redneck for Lambert. Any takers?"

"I vote we put Dash out of her misery." Said Bandit.

"I dunno, that pink one seems to know when trouble's about, I say we start with her so our cover doesn't get blown." Oxide added.

"I second Dash....about time she rested up." Said Archer.

"Plus we may not see her outside her house if we wait. I vote we follow her out the meeting point and take her out somewhere quiet." Frostbite said as he dropped his wrist computer away from him.

"It's decided then?" Bandit perked up.

"I really hate the pink one." Deadpanned Oxide.

"Fine, we'll do Dash and then Pinkie the day after. Happy now?" Frostbite asked in frustration.

"I'm not unhappy" Shrugged Oxide.

A small speck of light grew in size and began to trail off to the side of Canterlot. As it grew close against the night sky the members of Reaper squad could make out the avian shape of a VTOL that descended to land beyond Canterlots borders.

"Ride's here. Reaper squad, move out."

The assassins turned and took off towards the ship, their cloaking devices engulfing their bodies and turning them to ghosts once again.