Placing his hoof on the doorknob, the assassin could practically hear the swift intake of air as the, presumably, large group of ponies inside prepare to bombard him with whatever they plan to bombard him with, though as he turns his hoof the orange mare besides him stalls his efforts.

"Blood Moon, ah gotta know; jus' what did ya'll mean by 'did yew take it to heart'?" The assassin turns to Applejack and lowers his hoof from the door.Once again, he can practically hear the ponies inside exhale and he could swear he heard Pinkie Pie say 'darn it' before somepony shushed her.

"Applejack, tell me just what it was that taught you that lesson."

"Tryin' to do the whole applebuckin' harvest mahself" she supplies, earning a grunt from the dark stallion.

"Huh, Applejack tryin' to harvest the whole of Sweet Apple Acres...out of sheer pride I presume?" Applejack looks away sheepishly. "Why am I not surprised" he wonders aloud, a smirk on his face. "Anyway, from what I can tell, asking for help with physical stuff is the kind of thing your pride can handle, you know your limits. But can you swallow your pride enough to talk about what troubles you on the inside as well as on the out? Remember that you can always talk to your friends about that sort of thing, as I said, you don't have to face it alone."

"Ah-ah know that…"

"Then why am I the only one you've talked to about it?" The mare got mildly annoyed at his accusation, subsequently she got more aggressive; her teeth gritted and eyes narrowed.

"Ah don't have to explain mahself to yew" she almost shouted, apparently forgetting that they were having this talk just outside a building full of ponies.

"Really, then why do I have to do the same for you?" If Applejack was wearing armour, that would have been the chink in it as her resolve slowly crumbled and her will to argue vanished as he posed the question.

"Darn, how'd ya'll git so good at this" she asked, her head hanging in defeat. Blood Moon simply laughed.

"Raising two fillies, then protecting two teens and finally acting as an advisor to two generals, tends to give one a bit of experience in the art of arguments" he answers "now if, you don't mind, I am rather curious as to why you didn't actually tell anypony about the way you felt about your parents." Once again, the mare looks away, this time in shame rather than embarrassment.

"Ah…ah jus' didn't think nopony would understand 's all." This elected another laugh from Blood Moon.

"Are you kidding? Rainbowdash is as much an orphan as you are, hay, so is Scootaloo. Actually, now that I think about it, from what I know, out of the nine of you, that's three without parents. That's… pretty bad." His comment was crude but nonetheless correct. Applejack raised a hoof to her chin, she'd never noticed before. "Anyway, enough of all the sadness, you've got her and you've got-" He didn't allow himself to finish the sentence. To tell Applejack that she had him was...somewhat troublesome in the assassin’s mind. He only really told somepony with bonds of blood or love that they could always depend on him, no matter what. Outside his head, AJ had spoke.

"Yes?" Applejack pressed his pause with a look of hope on her face. Blood Moon steadied himself. Using this phrase brought back a lot of memories, not one of them did he really want to relive.

"And you have me. Don't you forget that." He wasn't sure what the response to that would be, his instinct told him that he would have two small, filly legs wrapped around him before the filly went off to find their sister. What he got instead were the powerful legs of the shapely Applejack wrapped around him and her southern drawl in his ear.

"Thanks sugarcube, it's good tah know that ah got somepony to talk to." Returning the embrace with a small grin, Blood Moon responded.

"What, you didn't have anypony to begin with" the stallion asked, referring to the Elements of Harmony.

"Well, what ah mean is, it's nice to have a stallion around who can listen yah know" she gave a small chuckle. "All the other stallions in Ponyville are ok but they're only afta one thing, if ya know what ah mean…" the country mare disengaged the hug and took a few steps back. "Ah guess, ah'm jus' glad to have somepony who don’t mind lookin’ afta m-" Applejack stopped herself, eyes wide and looking down in disbelief in herself.

'Look afta me? Where'd that come from, ah don't need somepony lookin’ afta me. Do ah? NO, no ah don't need somepony, ah don't need some random pony ah jus' met to treat me like a filly. Ah don't need some stallion who treats me good, gives a hoot and makes me feel safe at all. No, no ah do not. Not at all.'

She looked up at Blood moon, who had noticed her sudden silence and was looking at her with a raised eyebrow.
"W-what ah was sayin' was, i-it's nice to have friendly stallion around." The confidence in her voice left much to be desired. Blood moon had his suspicions and acted on them with little to no pause for thought.

"Tell me, Applejack, what was your relationship like with your dad?" The applebucker frowned in confusion, woundering why he was going down this line of questionin. Steadying herself, and preparing her mind to look out for any traps in the assassin’s words, she took a short breath before she replied.

"Ah loved mah daddy, an' he loved me" she turned her gaze up "not that it's any o' your business."

"Do you miss him?"

"Of cause ah do, what kinda filly don't miss her pappy" she asked, a little defensively. Blood Moon cocked his head to the side.

"So, who fills that particular role now?" Applejack gave no answer; instead she locked her jaw and tried to fight back the tears that threatened to spill.

"D-darn it Blood Moon, why'd yew have to go askin' all o' them question?"

"Simply trying to get you to see reason" he shrugged.

"What'd yew mean 'see reason'? If ya'll are tryin' to git me all blubbery now, don't bother. I'm a might tougher than your average filly."

"Well, that explains why you practically broke down when you almost said 'look after me’ then" he remarked, voice dripping with sarcasm. "I commend you for not lying but bending the truth is not much better." This pushed Applejack over the edge, what with him insulting her honesty.

"That's enough Blood Moon, I've had it with all o' this; tryin' to get me all sad n' vulnerable by askin' about mah pappy! It's cowardly ya hear, jus'-jus' plain cowardly, goin' afta what ah care about most, so ya'll can get a rise outa' me!"

"What's cowardly Applejack" the assassin almost snarled "addressing things nopony else will, talking about the sort of things that, not even you, will openly discuss. Actually giving a damn!"

"Shut up Blood Moon, jus' shut up ya hear! Ya'll are goin' too far!"

"Why? Because only stallions much older than yourself, who can protect you, know what you're going through, and have been going through for most of your life, and could give two buck's about you because of it can look out for you, can approach these subjects?”

"EXACTLY" she roared, caught up in her anger, in a very non-Applejack like manner, before she could realise what she had said. Blood Moon, on the other hoof, simply sat back on his flank and watched as Applejack trotted right into his trap.

"So what part of that, am I not? I'm not young, that much we've established; I have no problem looking after anypony, just as long as their pride doesn't get in the way; I've lost pretty much everypony close to me; AND, I care about anypony who's worth it. Applejack, you are an excellent mare; talented, honest and dependable. You are most definitely worth my time and atten-" His sentence was cut off when Applejack wrapped her hooves around him again, in a soft and gentle embrace once again. She had tears running down her face but the assassin could feel a small smile on her face.

"D-darn it Blood Moon, jus' how did ya'll git so good at making ponies cry." The assassin had to laugh at that one.

"They aren't tears, just a release of emotions. They're nothing to feel bad about. Just let them flow, to be honest; those who can cry are stronger than those who cannot. It shows they still feel." He felt her pull in a bit harder.

"T-thanks Blood Moon, it's nice to know ah got somepony to talk to. An…an' ah'm sorry for
what ah said." The stallion grunted.

"Don't worry about it, I've had worse. A lot worse, I'm talkin' what you just said, coming from two fillies and said in the Canterlot voice." Applejack gave an amused grunt of her own. "Now come on, we can't keep Twilight waiting" he told her as he released the mare from the hug and moved his hoof back the doorknob. Putting his hoof on and turning, he could once again hear the collective intake of air as the group of ponies, who had undoubtedly heard his and Applejack's 'discussion'. Pushing the door open he heard what could only be described as the traditional Canterlot voice, turned to eleven.

"SURPRISE!"

Blood Moon stood in the doorway of the library, the air around him being blown around him violently by the force of all the voices while the assassin remained a stoic and still rock of calm in the sea of chaos that surrounded him. As he stood there, a pink blur rushed towards him from the crowds.

"Wereyasuprised?Wereya?Wereya?Wereya?Huhhuhhuhhuhhuh?IrealisedyouwerenewtoPonyvilleandiwaslikeGAAAAAASPwhenIrememberedthatIhadn'tthrownyoua'WelcometoPonyvilleparty'soIknewIhadtogetonereadyforyouand-heeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeey. How come you're not surprised by the huge 'SURPRISE' Mooney?"

"For starters, it would take much more than" he took a quick head count "forty ponies shouting 'surprise', to shock, scare or actually surprise me." The pink mare looked to be upset by the fact she hadn't been able to surprise him, sitting on her flank with her lower lip wobbling. The ex-foalsitter leaned in with a small grin on his face, moving until there was barely an inch between them before saying "pickaxe." The reaction was immediate; she lit up and fell on her back, holding her sides as she laughed hard. Blood Moon looked on with a smile on his face. "Oh and by the way, 'Mooney'?"

"Yeah! 'Blood Moon’ is such a… sad name, so I decided to give you a nickname Moooooney. Anyway, I like to give all my friends nicknames." 'Mooney' had to physically restrain himself from face-hoofing. He had always taken pride in his name, it was nothing if not fitting, but was no stranger to nicknames; the Hunter, Cloak and Dagger, Black Hood and, as Luna and Celestia used to call him, uncle Blood Moon or 'Uncle Blood/Moon' for an easier time on the tongue. But 'Mooney' was maybe just a bit too…foalish, for the assassin’s tastes, that said Pinkie Pie was not the most mature of mares, so he figured he'd just let it slide. Before he could reply, however, Pinkie Pie had leapt up into the air, turned while airborne in a rather marvellous display of 'screw physics' and trotted back into the crowd while shouting "LETS GET THIS PARTY STARTED!"

The assassin put a small grin on his face at Pinkie's antics as he trotted into the crowds, keeping his head down and hood up as he went. He was stopped by nopony, thankfully, as he made his way to an isolated corner to watch the goings-on from a distance. The mares and stallions mingled, small groups forming, while others helped themselves to the food available or just danced to the music being played. It appeared that nopony wanted to mingle with the newest member of their community, everypony either sending weary smiles, uneasy glances or ignoring him completely. The Hunter looked around the room, casting faces, colours and cutie marks to his memory banks.

The Elements of Harmony were gathered in a corner, listening to something Applejack was saying. One guess as to what it was. Sand Stalker, whose appearance almost surprised the assassin, was sat with them, close enough to be within earshot, but far enough away to go unnoticed. Besides the mares the fillies sat, sister to sister.

Along with the ponies he knew personally, there was the teacher he’d met earlier, a mare who seemed to enjoy the adult’s punch a little too much, a yellow stallion and blue mare who were running the confectionary table. Beyond them, there was an assortment of other random coloured ponies gathered in the library.

Blood Moon’s gaze turned to the mare behind the music booth; she had stark white fur and an electric blue mane, her eyes covered by a pair of shades. Her horn glowed blue as the dub-step music was spun on the record players masterfully by the deck-jockey. The pony noticed the assassin watching her, putting the music on a loop she made her way over. Apparently she was more adventurous than the other ponies gathered here.

"Like the beats" she asked over said music. The assassin shrugged in response.

"I always preferred rock or classic. Maybe blues if I'm in the right mood." The mare looked halfway between insulted and interested.

"Classic and rock huh, let me guess, you like the old stuff?" The assassin gave a grunt at her choice of words.

‘Kid, you don't even know the half of it’ he thought with a smirk on his face.

"Sure, who doesn't; Hooves and roses, Iron mareden, AC-DC (Anti Celestia Discord Children), Black saddle. All of them classics and you can't beat the classics."

"Yeah, well DJ PON-3 is strictly tecno." The assassin raised an eyebrow.

"PON-3? Vinyl scratch?" She lit at the mention of her name.

"Yeah" she went quiet and appeared to be in thought "do I know you?"

"Probably not, but I've heard of you." This was a half lie; it appeared that she couldn't remember that time they'd both woken up on the roof of the Canterlot palace with little memory of what had happened last night, booze in the air and the pair of them smelling of sex. That had been a weird, but somewhat pleasurable day.

"Well duh, it only makes sense that you've heard of the best DJ in Equestria" she replied with no small amount of pride. What she did next took Blood Moon by surprise. "Especially since we're already very well 'acquainted'. I was wondering if I'd ever see you again" she whispered as she leaned in, dangerously close, speaking in a low and seductive tone right in to his ear as her left hoof caressed his chest and strayed south on him. "It's good to see you Black Hood" she told him, the last two words punctuated in a way that made Blood Moon wish he were not in the middle of a party and instead in a room furnished with nothing but a bed. Or back on the roof in Canterlot, either worked for him. What she had called him sealed the deal though; 'Black Hood' was the pet name she'd given him when they'd met in Canterlot, on one of the assassin's R and R periods, when they'd…gotten to know each other.

"So, you can remember that little misadventure" he asked, a smile on his face that screamed 'you're damn straight you remember that night'.

"You kiddin' me? It doesn't matter how much we drank that night, I don't think certain parts of my anatomy would let me would let me." If the assassin had been drinking something he would likely have choked on it.

"You always were a little minx, Vinyl" he said with a laugh.

"And you were always a smooth talker."

"Well, you would know about my, silver tongue wouldn't you?" The mare's white fur did nothing to hide the blush that kissed her cheeks as she remembered one of the few things that she had retained from that night.

"You always knew how to make a mare blush too, didn't you Black Hood" she told him as she sat down next to him. It amused Blood Moon that it was only the mare that sat next to him that knew this; his training as an assassin had been more than just how to use a blade and stick to the shadows, it had also taught him how to talk his way in and out of any situation. A side-effect of this was that he knew how to talk to mares better than most others, and that was made evident through his constant flirting with most of the mares he came across. Yet another side-effect, this one caused by the lack of female interaction for the first thousand years of his life. He caught sight of movement out of the corner of his eye and noticed Vinyl moving her hoof so she could move his hood, caught in the act, she froze. He smirked as he guessed her intentions.

"I'll show you mine if you show me yours." Vinyl smiled in return, her hoof continued on its journey as Blood Moon made similar motions; she pulled his hood off and he removed her glasses, the set of blood red eyes on the pair of them revealed. This was one of the more personal reasons that the assassin felt he held the DJ closer to heart than any other mare he had ever met; the duo's eye colour was rare, even amongst a race of ponies that resembled a rainbow when you had at least four of them in a room, blood red irises were not common and held a sort of 'avoid this pony' reputation. As it turned out, Vinyl had the same problems, this being what drove her to wearing shades most of the time, and the assassin was also fairly sure that it had been him complimenting her eyes that had earned him a night with her. As he looked into her eyes he saw what he had saw about fourteen months back; the sheer optimism and foalish look on life, she had a very cheerful imagination to boot, this being what had inspired her to start with the energetic and fast music she made. He broke the eye contact first and put his eyes over the crowds again.

"So how's Octavia" he asks nonchalantly. The mare's eyes widened as she heard the name of her marefriend.

"Oh, she's fine" the white furred mare pouted "off in Canterlot for some big-wig get together." Blood Moon looks over at her.

"And how are the both of you doing?" When he'd met Vinyl she had just started dating Octavia, though it seemed that the relationship would be short lived, had the assassin not offered his council.

"Well we don't act as edgy or cold around each other now, y'know don't argue as much, if at all" she adopted a look the assassin knew all too well "and, well let's just say, we're getting along MUCH better now." A sly grin works its way across the stallion's face.

"I don't know, may need some proof of that" he told her, acting as if he knew she wasn't telling the whole truth. Vinyl smacked his head playfully.

"Black Hood, some mares have decency y'know!"

"Well I know Tavi does but I don't know about you." Another smack, harder but still playful, before she leaned in and spoke seductively into his ear.

"Well, me and her do owe you our continued relationship to you." He felt her grin. "I'm sure you could convince her though" she whispered, her tongue 'accidentally' brushing his ear.

"Hey there Blood moon, what are you whispering about?" Ditzy. She had a façade of pleasantries about her but the assassin could see the hostility hid behind it.

"Nothing really, just me and an old friend remembering old tim-MHHHPPPF!" He was cut off by Ditzy planting a kiss on his lips. Maybe the words: 'plant' and 'lips' were the wrong words, maybe 'slammed' and 'face' would be more accurate… yeah 'Ditzy slammed a kiss on his face' is much more accurate. The assassin felt the mare's tongue demand entry into his mouth, his subconscious screamed at him, telling him something was wrong, his instincts practically hitting him with a bat in order to get him to stop, but unfortunately the assassin was in the middle of being kissed, rather roughly, by his marefriend so he was rather caught up in kissing her back. The embrace lasted around forty-five seconds, the conversations that were going on around them slowly lulling and dying, most eyes in the room being turned to the making-out pair and all ears attuning to the faint moans coming from Ditzy doo. She disengaged the kiss first, a trail of saliva connecting their tongues, as she leaned back her eyes locked on his, something…strange in them. It suddenly dawned on Blood Moon that the whole room had gone quiet, looks of awkwardness and 'not bad' expressions on the stallion's faces, and desire and/or jealousy on the mares. Besides them Vinyl sat with her mouth slightly agape, still taking in what she had just seen. Ditzy looked over at the DJ.

"Hey Vinyl." Her voice was calm and pleasant but there was still that… strange something, in her eyes.

"H-h-hi Der-uh Ditzy. I take it you and Blood Moon know each other?"

'Nice observational skills there, Vinyl' the stallion thought.

"Yeah, me and him started dating awhile back." Vinyl turned her head to him slowly, eyes narrowed.

"So 'dating' huh?"

"Yeah, few days now" the stallion explains calmly.

"When'd you meet?"

"Few days ago" Ditzy tells her, either oblivious to the current situation or doing a good job at maintaining a ruse and pulling apart one of his only friendships…which just happened to be with a mare… and Ditzy was his marefriend…some marefriends were known to be… It suddenly clicked in his head.

'Oh, colt.'

"Isn't that a little… sudden?" Both Blood Moon and Vinyl knew the DJ had made a good point, but Ditzy seemed to either be oblivious to it or didn't care.

"Say Vinyl, aren't you busy?" Ditzy made little effort to hide her hostility this time. The assassin knew the DJ would likely stand up for herself, but he felt the need to defuse this situation before it got out of hoof. Throwing a sideways look at her that spoke his thoughts, she went along with him.

"Yeah, gotta get back to the, y'know, the beats" she muttered, heading back to her booth. Ditzy had an undeniable look of satisfaction about her as she watched the mare back down at Blood Moon's advice.

"What was that all about?"

"What, a mare needs a reason to kiss her stallion now?" Blood Moon saw right through the tissue-thin story, and always one to face his problems head-on, he pushed the point.

"Depends on what is going through the mare's head at the time." The mare narrowed her eyes in a way Blood Moon had never seen before.

"I'm gonna ignore that" she told him before trotting away. The assassin couldn't help but silently snarl at her as she went. Shaking his head and pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind. As the thoughts left for his subconscious he felt his stomach rumble, reminding him that he hadn't eaten for…

"Four…five…damn, when was the last time I ate?" Getting back on his hooves he made his way over to the table of foodstuffs. "Celestia's mane…" was all the age old assassin could say when he saw the spread; he knew that all the attending ponies had been to the table at least once, himself not included, but the fact that he still had pretty much the whole original selection to choose from rather impressed him with the baker’s skills. Muffins, cupcakes, apple fritters, apple pies, ice-cream, apples, a rather grand cake and many other apple related treats sat on the table were spread across the table in a practical, but stylish selection. Giving an indifferent shrug, he filled a plate of his own, moving slowly down the table until he knocked into somepony. Looking over a candyfloss scented mane was mere inches from his face. He knew that mane.

"Hiya Mooney, enjoyin' the party?" Blood Moon looked around, his eyes lingering on Vinyl, who nodded his way before going back to her music, before he watched Ditzy doo put a sleepy looking Dinky under her wind.

"It has its up and downs" he answered. He watched Pinkie lean her hoof on the table, old habits forcing him to eye the knife that had been used to cut the cake before shaking the idea away.

'Too much time in Germaney' he thought.

As he looked up he saw the pink pony's sad looking face…no, wait it was happy…both? Either way, it looked like a pretty creepy mix of the two.

"Hey, my daddy said that about my first party." The assassin frowned when he thought he saw the mare's eye twitch and her hoof move a little further to the blade. "At first he liked it but at the end he was just as grumpy as always" she leaned in, prompting any sane stallion to lean back, though Blood Moon didn't count himself as fully sane in that respect "are you gonna get all grumpy after?" Once again, that look in her eye that told the assassin she was about to burst into tears.

"No, I'm havin' fun."

"Then why aren't you smiling" she asked before he could continue, the question catching him off guard.

"Well, I guess you could say smiling isn't really my thing. I smirk, grin and grunt amusedly, but I don't give out and out smiles all that much." Her hoof moved closer to that knife again.

"My daddy was a lot like that too, he didn't smile much either." There were now six inches between her hoof and the knife.

"Why do you keep going about your dad when you talk to me Pinkie?" Five inches.

"Because, you remind me of him so much silly-billy."

"How do I remind you of him?"

"Because you act grumpy all the time, I said already!"

"I'm an immortal assassin, I pretty sure you father isn't an immortal assassin" his face slackened slightly "is he?" Pinkie giggled.

"No, we all worked on a rock farm; me, my two sisters Inkie and Blinkie, my mom and my dad." Four inches.

"But I can't remind you of him that much, I mean, I'm pretty sure he's nothing like me." Pinkie looked up in thought.

"No I guess he wasn't." Three.

"Wasn't? Wait, Pinkie, is your dad still alive?" Her face took on a look of sadness, but her mannerisms didn't.

"Nope, they all died one night when I was still young; Timberwolves got them. They never did find the bodies." There was something…off, about the way she said the last sentence. It also dawned on the assassin her hoof was only two inches away from the knife. Blood Moon's instincts kick in, telling him something was up.

"Pinkie pie…Timberwolves don't nest near rock farms, they need trees to properly raise their pups. I don't think your family could have been killed by them." One inch away.

"Huh, nopony else figured that out." Her hoof was hovering over the handle of the weapon now and the assassin focused his magic on his own blade, his eyes narrowing.

"Pinkie…" A blade flashed, a tear was heard and a scream rang out through the library. Pinkie had just tried to stab Blood Moon but it was caught in the Robus-weave of his vest, though he knew he would be dead if he hadn't been wearing it. Rarity had apparently seen the act and had promptly shrieked. Said assassin stood there, eyes narrowed as he looked at Pinkie Pie; her mane and tail had gone completely straight, her eyes were unnaturally wide and her pupils were as small as pin-pricks and her smile was just wrong on so many levels. Blood Moon backed up, quick as a flash, drawing his sword as he went. Before he could say anything the mare darted forwards, her weapon slashing at his throat; the blow was deflected by the assassin, sparks flying as the two weapons met, she used the deflected attack to her advantage, attempting to drive the knife into his neck again and it would have worked had he not swayed out of line of the attack, slamming his hoof into her leg in an attempt to disarm her but she had a death-grip on the thing she was using to kill him, backing up and putting distance between them he tried to get through to her. First though, he had to find out just what in the everlasting buck was going on here.

"Pinkie pie" she slashed again and he dodged back, retaliating with his own swipe which was caught on Pinkie's weapon, locking the blades, giving the assassin a chance to talk. It suddenly dawned on him that they had attracted a crowd, which had formed a semicircle around them. "Pinkie, what's wrong with you?" She responded by pushing on the blades, causing the assassin to push back to keep the assassin to push back so he could keep the lull in the battle so he could talk.

"That's not Pinkie" a voice in the crowd called out. Blood Moon glanced left and saw the rest of the Elements of Harmony with fearful expressions on their faces. The speaker had been Twilight.

"What do you mean that's not Pinkie Pie?"

"That's Pinkamena!" The blade-lock disengaged and the pair of pony dualists stepped back.
"She's a separate personality that was developed when she got her cutie mark, it's her when she's not happy or-" a sudden advance by Pinkie cut her off, the insane version of the party filly lunging for Blood Moon, who rolled onto his back, planted his rear-hooves on her stomach and threw her over him.

"Not thinking straight, yeah I got that much" the assassin called over. Both ponies back on their hooves they went at it again; Pinkie swiped and the assassin blocked, more sparks flying off the weapons, Blood Moon swung his short-sword viciously at the mare's knife, opening her defense, before spinning and bucking her in the chest. "Pinkamena, get out of Pinkie's head!"

"That won't work. When Pinkamena comes out, she won't go until Pinkie Pie is happy again" Twilight explains. The pink mare attacks again, two slices aimed at the dark stallion's neck, both parried and another ducked under and countered by the stallion smacking the hilt of the weapon into her muzzle, dazing her. It was a one sided fight, Blood Moon had been doing this his whole life, all's Pinkie had was her reactions, hoof speed and adrenalin fueled instincts, no real training or anything. Blood Moon's problem came in the form of not wanting to hurt the mare and that he was dealing with insanity here, and there is no way to predict what insanity will do.

"Hey Pinkie, a stallion trots into a bar. He says 'ouch'."

‘Ba dum, tiss…’

"THAT JOKE WAS AWFUL AND COMPLETELY INAPPROPRIATE FOR THE SITUATION IN WHICH IT WAS DELIVERED" Pinkamena roars, slashing down and across in quick succession, both strikes blocked by the assassin who had just told his wit to go sit in the corner.

"So how in the buck does this work then" the assassin demanded, his temper rising.

"We need to suppress Pinkamena; this is the side of her without laughter or her sanity, we need to get her to embrace them again." The mare goes to stab Blood Moon, who swerves out of the way, grabs her extended hoof and throws her away from him.

"Well this town does have a furniture and quill store, so there's bound to be a 'Laughter and sanity R us' somewhere or another!"

"No! We need somepony to get through to her."

"Rainbowdash managed to git through to her las' time" Applejack comments as she looks for said mare.

"She's not exactly fighting fit right now" Sand Stalker tells them. The still sane mane six look to where the voice came from, seeing the old Pegasus with his wing over the quaking form of RD. Twilight and co go over to her.

"What happened?" Fluttershy puts a hoof to her fore-head to check her temperature.

"I dunno, it started when Pinkie…" he trails off and looks over to the pink mare lash out Blood Moon again. "When she started acting strange, Rainbow said something about a nightmare and just broke down, ever since she's been saying something about 'cupcakes' every now and then." Every one of the mares gave a confused 'Huh?'

"Well one of us is gonna have ta try 'n git through ta her." In response Fluttershy feinted, Rarity almost peed herself and Twilight gulped.

"Alright, I'll try" Twilight told her, her resolve present but flimsy at best. Trotting over to the two fighters, watching as Pinkie made a sideways slice at Blood Moon, who blocked, held her weapon in another blade lock and tried another disarm by turning her weapon in a wide arc before she managed to slip out. "Pinkie, I know you can hear me! I want you to calm down" Pinkamena stopped her attacks to whip her head over to Twilight "it's me, Twilight Sparkle, your friend. Don't you remember all we've been through?" Pinkie was still panting, her once demonic smile replaced by an upside down version of the same expression, but the simple words seemed to be getting through to her. That was until Pinkie threw her knife at her. Twilight screamed, the room gasped and time froze. The whole room made a move to not look, turning their heads, closing their eyes or covering them with their hooves. But something was missing: they all expected to hear a dull 'thud' as Twilight's lifeless body fell to the floor. Instead, when the all looked up they saw that Twilight hadn't been touched by the flying blade, it hadn't even come close; it was instead embedded in the dark stallion's silver-grey fur, the metal of the weapon decorated by the blood that seeped from the wound. The weapon had entered just above the stomach, the hilt buried in his body, and his vital fluids wept around it. Nopony quite knew what happened, one second the weapon had been flying at Twilight, then a grey blur and then Blood Moon had come out of nowhere with a knife in his side. As he stood there a low, pain filled groan escaped his throat.

"Owwwwwwww" was the only thing he said. The whole room had gone awfully quiet. The assassin turned his head to Pinkie, his horn glowed as a shadow tendril shot from the ground and pinned her, holding her by her legs, making use of her sudden lull in offence and lack of weaponry, before he galloped over to her, despite the knife lodged in him and grabbed her by the waist and teleported away, though rather than a flash of light, he and the mare faded away into shadow black smoke; an effect shadow magic had on other types of magic was that it always came out darker.

The two appeared outside, in the night air, illuminated by Luna's moon casting a silver sheen over everything. Pinkie and Blood moon tumbled out of his teleportation, rolling and falling over one another, all the time the blade in the assassin's side was being knocked about.

The assassin got up first, Pinkie lying on her side, as he attempted to dislodge the dagger in his side; reaching back with his right hoof he gripped the handle, electing a hiss of pain from him, he tightened his grip and took a deep breath before ripping it out of himself. A breathless and silent growl escaped him as he plunged the bloodied blade into the ground. He set about healing himself; his horn lit up, albeit weakly, as the unicorn magic set about healing the wound, tugging the split tissue back together before it burned any infections away. The spell the went about its most painful phase, not that the rest had been pleasant; the torn skin tissue began to heal proper, the middle most split and damaged skin began to sizzle and burn as it joined together, a small flow of smoke rising from the wound and the smell of burnt flesh polluting the air. The assassin gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut as the tears of pain pushed through, the blood was still getting through the wound but it was as healed as it was going to get with magic. That was the problem with healing with magic; the split in the skin would only be rejoined at the middle, the upper and lower parts of the gap would still be open and blood could still get through. Sitting on his flank, he pulled one of the syringes out of his pouches and stabbed it into his right fore-leg and depressed the plunger, the complex mix of herbs and chemicals working its way through him, killing the pain of his partly fixed hole almost instantly. Blood Moon really wished that the powerful painkiller didn’t screw with his magical focus so much as he couldn’t heal while he was under its effect. It would make healing himself a much more pleasant an experience.

Replacing the now empty syringe and taking out a roll of bandages, he then took to wrapping them around his body, laying them over his injury and overlapping them numerous times until he was satisfied the blood had stopped spewing from him. Pressing on the area once or twice, finding it still tender, he stood and rolled his neck before trotting over to Pinkie Pie; he held his sword out as he made his way over, weary of any surprise attacks. As he got closer he noticed how she seemed to be shaking.

'Well, she's laughing or crying. Taking all bets…'

As he got closer, he noticed how the mare seemed to be sobbing to herself. He narrowed his eyes; he didn't want her to be hurt, physically or mentally, but he didn't want her jumping up, pulling his eyes out and putting them in a muffin or something. He stopped, stood over her, sword held over her, pointed down in a manner that told anypony he would draw blood if anything happened here that he didn't like. Hesitantly, he put his hoof on her shoulder. Nothing. Eyes darting left and right, keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary, he pulled her onto her back. All bets were off. Her mane and tail may have been ridged still but he could tell by the way she was weeping into her hooves like a foal that she had snapped out of it. Sheathing his sword immediately, he leaned down and put his head down to her.

"Pinkie" no response, just more sobs "Pinkie Pie, are you all right?"

"She didn't hurt you, did she?" The question caught him off guard.

'She didn't hurt me? She knows about Pinkamena? Strange…'

"No, I'm fine. I'm more concerned about you. You weren't yourself, what happened to you." She tried to gather herself, failing as she fell back into sobs again.

"I'm sorry, but wh-when I started talking about my dad, and you said that he couldn't have been killed by timber wolves, she didn't like the idea of somepony figuring out what happened." Blood Moon lowered his head, he didn't like where this was going. He picked her up with his magic, placing her on his back, and trotting into an alleyway, away from prying eyes. Sitting her down at one side of the alley, he sat at the other, looking straight at her still crying form.

"Pinkie Pie, what happened?"

"I-it started when I first got my cutie mark. Before that, I was always miserable, my sisters didn't bully me but they didn't treat me as family, just another filly that they didn't want to know. When I first saw that rainbow, I was filled with joy and I wanted to share it with my family, and I did. I threw my first party for them" she smiled weakly at the memory "they liked it at first" the smiled faded away to depression once again "but after a while, my dad decided he didn't like all the colors and went about tearing it all apart" she began to well up again "then he said that he didn't want any more parties so he went right to the source" her voice got higher pitched as she got to the end as tears started to fall from her eyes once more. Then things took a darker turn. "So he tried to get rid of me, and all the depression came back, came back as something different , came back as…as" she couldn't get the words out as she burst into tears in earnest. The dark stallion's foalsitting skills kicked in as he opened his fore-legs to hold the pink mare, the action commanded by his subconscious, and Pinkie's sobbing form fell right into his embrace.

"Came back in the form of murder" he finished, hoping he was wrong. His hopes were dashed when he felt Pinkie nod and heard a muffled 'mm hmm'. He gave a defeated sigh. "What did you do Pinkie?" She looks up with fear and confusion in her eyes. Blood Moon returns the look with a smirk. "From one killer to another, Pinkie I'm in no place to judge you, and if I were I still wouldn't." The pink mare gave a grateful smile but soon went back to crying into his shoulder.

"I don't really remember much, one moment I was backing up to the wall, the next I woke up in a room with my family, but they weren't moving and there was blood all over the room and-and" she went back to crying, the assassin stroking her mane and shushing her. From what he could tell, Pinkamena and Pinkie Pie were not the same pony; Pinkamena was her negativity.

'Bad emotions don't just go away. They are embraced or rejected and trying to stay happy all the time won't ever work out well. This mare is proof enough of that.'

He suddenly noticed that Pinkie had quieted down; she'd cried herself to sleep. He grunted as he got up, putting her back on his back and making his way to…

"Damn, where would an ecstatic, pink party thrower live Mooney" the assassin asked himself.

"I live in Sugarcube corner" Pinkie Pie replied from his back sleepily. He smiled slightly.

"Thanks." The journey continued in silence, only Pinkie's sniffles breaking the silence. The assassin soon found himself at the bakery that looked to be made from gingerbread, Pinkie gave him a key she had been keeping…somewhere, and Blood Moon unlocked the door with it, closing it again as he went inside. The inside of the shop was still, silent and covered in shadow and silver from the moon. The assassin and party thrower riding him went upstairs, finding the mare's room was easy, given 'Pinkie's room' was on a sign that was attached to a pink door decorated with blue and yellow balloons.

'Subtle.'

Trotting through the door, opened with his magic, and put her down on the bed. He looked over her as she breathed calmly but judging by the way her back legs were kicking out she was having nightmares, he found himself hoping Luna would be there to guide her through her troubles. He turned to go but felt a hoof on his back, calling his attention, turning around he found Pinkie Pie's half lidded eyes upon him.

"Don't go please." The assassin took a breath; he knew he couldn't go, knew he couldn't leave her by herself when he knew he could help her, be there for her. It sometimes surprised even him just how comforting just having somepony standing by you could be.

"As long as you're in shadow, you'll always be safe." Pinkie smiled a bit.

"Pretty words" she said sleepily. The assassin couldn't help but crack a smile at that one.

"Hey, you smiled" was the last thing she said before she fell asleep.

Twilight stood stock still, she wasn't quite sure what happened, by the time she had figured out what had happened it was already over; Pinkie had thrown her knife but Blood Moon had intercepted it, then they'd both vanished. After she gathered her thoughts she turned to the crowd.

"Ok everypony, I think that marks an end to this party. You can all go back to your homes and we'll try and sort this out and try and find out what happened to Pinkie" she told them all in a voice that said she wasn't sure what had happened with her and Blood Moon and didn't really want to find out. In response, everypony in the library promptly left, Vinyl packed up her music and did the same, while Twilight's friends remained. She looked to where Rainbowdash had been and found that Sand Stalker was still sat with a wing over her.

"Is she ok?" Sand stalker looked up at the mare who had asked the question, Twilight, before looking back at the mare under his wing.

"She seems to be settling but it looks like she isn't getting up anytime soon" he told her "I'm going to try and get her home." Twilight nodded, by the looks of the cyan furred mare, getting her back to her bed was the best thing he could do. She felt a nudging on her leg and looked down to see Scootaloo with a worried look on her face.

"What's up with her?" The older Pegasus spared her a glance before he looked back to the mare beneath his wing.

"Nothing, she's just…sleepy, she'll be ok tomorrow" the Arabian answered for her. He stood up and motioned for Twilight to put Rainbowdash on his back, and after she had lifted her on with her magic, he bade her farewell and left with a mare on his back.

Trotting through the night in Ponyville all depended on where you were; sticking to the more open areas would keep you alive, but meandering into a back street would likely end with your guts on the floor. As he continued to trot through the small town he felt a stirring on his back.

"N-no…Pinkie…not my wings…CUPCAKES!" She blurted the words out as she leapt into the air and stayed there breathing heavily still half in her dream.

"Dash, calm down. It's safe, Pinkie ain't hear." The mare looked around, unsure of what was going on.

"Wait, what, where am I" she demands.

"A little ways away from your place, I was carrying you there after you passed out." Dash seemed to fall into shame and embarrassment.

"Uhhh” she groaned “I feinted? Please tell me nopony saw." The merc shrugged.

“Your friends saw you, so did the kid that hangs out with you." Rainbowdash face-hoofed.

"You mean Scoots saw me?" Another shrug.

"Yeah but she seemed more concerned than anything" he supplies.

"R-really, I thought that…that…"

"Since she looked up to you, you felt you had to look tough in front of her." He finished the sentence in confidence but in reality he was flying blind here, comforting mares and foals was, from what he had seen and heard, Blood Moon's department but Rainbowdash's dad was his friend and he'd been asked to look after her by her parents, so if stumbling around in the dark was all he had when he was looking out for her, then so be it.

"Why do you even care" she asked as she flew on "I don't even know you."

"You really mean that, don't you Dash?" The mare gave a nod in reply. They had both taken to the air, Rainbow a little shakily, and made their way to the rainbow mare's home, or maybe 'home' was an understatement, it was more like a cloud castle, rainbow falls cascading down in a majestic manner and podiums holding up other segments of the cloud that made up the place. It was an obvious replica of the architecture of Cloudsdale. The pair landed just outside the door, Sand Stalker still looking over Rainbowdash's home with an appreciative eye. "Not bad" he mutters. Looking back at the mare he nodded his goodbye, moving to the lip of the 'cloud-porch' and prepared to jump off. "You ever remember your dad saying anything about 'ol' uncle sand'?" There was recognition in her face, to which the merc grinned and motioned his head in his own direction "sand and shade." He went on to leap off the home of a stunned Rainbowdash.

"Sand and shade, uncle Sand" she muttered, before her eyes widened in recognition, she remembered her dad saying something about a Pegasus who had helped look after her when her dad had been away doing…whatever he did when he was gone. "Uncle Sand" she called after his plummeting form, her expression saddened; she hadn't been able to thank him.