Twilight's eyes fluttered open. Something felt off.

She couldn't put her hoof on it, but something was definitely off about her surroundings; she groaned to herself as her eyes closed against the sunlight attacking them, loitering on them so the darkness couldn't get back to them. Her maw opened wide of its own accord as she yawned, hugging something to her body; she opened her eyes again, slower and more cautiously this time, and found that she was holding Scootaloo to her chest. She couldn't hold down the slight smile when she found the filly's own small smile on her face as she hugged the mare's chest back. The thoughts that crept into her head were of the inevitable; her conversation with Rainbowdash the other day resonated inside her head, the Pegasus's comment about Twilight mothering Scootaloo at the forefront of her mind. She wasn't sure how she felt about it; in her mind, adopting the filly with Blood Moon was one thing, but actually being a mother to her was quite another. How should she treat her, what exactly would it entail? It occurred to Twilight that this was one of those subjects in which there were endless amounts of books on, but none of which were truly helpful; from what she had read, motherhood was apparently natural for a mare, but the magenta mare just didn't see it, mainly because the only thing that was really natural to her was magic, everything else in her life she'd had to actively learn: trotting, speaking, making friends even, dancing and fighting, hay, she'd read a book called 'colt and marefriends, 101' before Rarity and Applejack had come by the day they'd been abducted.

Twilight felt Scootaloo stir, and looked down to find her snuggling further into her chest, her head nuzzling her in her sleep. Twilight felt a strange sensation in her chest, similar to her feelings towards Blood Moon but stemming from different roots. She had to admit it to herself; she defiantly felt differently towards the little filly after their small heart-to-heart the other day. But, even if she felt closer to the filly, she couldn't deny how scary the prospect was; yes, Blood Moon was an experienced, and technically a trained, father but she was still uncomfortable with the prospect. Hay, she was still only in her early twenties, she'd barely lived her life, and now she was expected to raise a filly? Confliction wasn't the right word; every time she'd try and convince herself she wasn't going to go through with it, she'd remember the filly clinging to her chest with the loving smile on her face. She really needed advice on this, maybe she could go to Celestia when this had all blow over or maybe her own mother. She couldn't help but smirk slightly when she thought of their reaction when she asked a question like that.

"Hey, mom, got any advice for raising a foal?" Twilight Velvet and Night Light's eyes snapped open and their jaws seemed to gain a few tonnes. Twilight's father's eye twitched slightly while her mother seemed to stop breathing. Velvet seemed fit to faint, while Night Light looked like he was about to kill whoever had it necessary for his daughter to ask such a question.

Twilight couldn't help but giggle and shudder simultaneously at the prospect of Blood Moon meeting her dad; Shining Armour got his protective nature from him, but if Shiny was protective then Night Light was capable of burning Equestria to its founding stone if it meant shielding his little Twily from the dangers of real life. He was likely to want to kill Blood Moon, but Blood Moon was very likely to stand up for himself: it wasn't a confrontation likely to end in smiles and clinking tankards of cider together.

Twilight was stirred from her thoughts when she felt Scootaloo stir against her chest again and looked down to find the Pegasus filly waking up; she blinked her eyes and yawned quietly, her maw going wide. Twilight almost suffered a heart attack from the cuteness. Scoots looked up at the mare holding her and smiled at her. Twilight suddenly didn't care about suddenly having foals or having to mother Scootaloo, and just pulled her further into her chest as she squeezed her. It was a remarkably satisfying feeling, hugging the filly, and Twilight was suddenly leaning towards taking her in despite her doubts; waking up to see a little face, truly happy to see you, was just too good a feeling to give up. Meanwhile, Scootaloo giggled into the mare's hold and nuzzled her chest.

"Morning Twilight" the filly greeted, her smile still on her face. Twilight giggled slightly and smiled back.

"Morning Scootaloo" Twilight replied. Scootaloo's smile went wider as she rested her head on Twilight's chest. Then their eyes snapped open as they realized something; they looked up over their bodies and looked around themselves. Fluttershy was still sleeping, spooning Twilight as it happens, but they were a pony down; where in Tartarus was Blood Moon? They got up quietly, Scootaloo gaining a purple glow as she was magicked quietly out of the bed by Twilight, while said mare did her best to move silently out of confines of her comfy bed and Fluttershy, doing her best to copy Blood Moon's movements. She'd have to ask him for lessons on moving quietly, it could be extremely useful. The two trotted quietly out of the room, both pausing and cringing as they stepped on a loose floorboard, sending a squeak through the quiet room but thankfully not waking anypony. One of Spike's snores seemed to have covered it. They both started trotting again, slower and more cautiously this time, before they made it outside the room. When they did, they were met with not quite what they were expecting: singing.

With confused looks on their faces, they approached the closed door to the bathroom, where the singing appeared to be coming from. They frowned and looked at each other as they each heard the words that were muffled slightly by the door and the shower that was blasting down on who could only be the assassin. The filly and mare glanced each other before Twilight put her hoof to the door and pushed it open. The words they heard were slow and slightly horse, but what really got them was the harmonica rift between each pause between the lyrics. The steam in the room coming from the shower drifted out of the bathroom when they opened the door, revealing Blood Moon in the shower, his mane and tail slick and sticking to his body, his fur following suit; he had shed his bandages and apparently his stitches too, and the sores had apparently taken sudden leave. His wounded side was clean of any and all boils, apparently having healed overnight and dissipated from his body. The only evidence of them ever being there was the faint scar left by Rarity's stitching, spanning right across his body, and the scarring left by the sores themselves, a row of small and ugly blots on his skin. He apparently hadn't noticed the two new souls in the bathroom and he continued to sing and play his in instrument. His voice was deep and slightly horse, his words slow and rhythmical.

"They gave me thirty years…" he played a few notes of his harmonica "an' ah did none…

Spent mah life on the run… with mah bottle of rum…

I outran the law… can't take it more…

Ah lived all mah life… at the edge of a knife…

But mah clock is tickin'… the plot thickenin'…

The walls are closin' in, and mah hair is growin' thin

No more" the harmonica came back, longer "no more…ah can't take it no more, no more, now
that mah life's become a bore…

Ah headed back to mah home… to live mah life alone…

The day that ah die… is feelin' close by…

But the day ah returned… is the day that ah learned…

You can't defy the law for a gig, for this is the story of Ronnie Biggs

Oh no more… no more… no more, no more, ah can't take it no more…" The assassin went into a short harmonica solo, his hooves moving the short metal instrument up and down his maw in a blur, the notes leading seamlessly to the next before he finished with a grand flourish. He still hadn't noticed the pair of ponies trot into the bathroom while he'd been singing and playing, and put his hoof on the tiled wall surrounding the bathtub, speaking quietly to himself as the harmonica faded away, burned instantly to nothingness by black fire.

"Rest in peace Biggs, you crazy bastard" he said to himself as he used his magic to turn the tap on the side of the wall off before stepping out; he took a deep, sighing breath, low and apparently sad, pausing for a second before his horn glowed as he magicked a towel over to him, drying himself off with it; throughout this, he still hadn't noticed his marefriend and daughter enter the room. He rubbed the towel all over his body, rough and fast to quickly dry himself before he ran it through his mane, leaving it messy and sticking out at odd angles, no doubt with no small amount of knots and split ends to it, not that he really cared. When he was finished with that, he looked up and jumped slightly when he saw the mare and filly. "Hey" he said, slightly awkward, as though caught doing something questionable.

"Hey" Twilight answered. Scootaloo just waved. "Up, I see" Twilight noted.

"Uhhh, yeah, I guess" the assassin answered. They stared at each other for a few seconds, a confused and slightly awkward Scootaloo looking between them, until Twilight lunged.

"Blood Moon" she cried as the magenta mare dived for her coltfriend, wrapping her hooves around his neck and kissing him for all her worth. Blood Moon's injuries were a apparently still a little sore, that fact making itself known to him when he growled into his mare's kiss and fell to his side. Twilight tried to get off of him, but he wouldn't let her; instead, he just held her down on top of him, engaging her in the most passionate 'I'm back, feelin' good' kiss he could.

Truth be told however, he was not in the best of conditions; for one, he was sore all over, for two, his deeply scared side stung whenever put too much weight on it and for three, his head felt like somepony had ordered the entirety of the Equestrian army to march through his skull. Despite this, he pushed the pain down and just kissed her back as heartily as he could; Blood Moon's hoof strayed dangerously close to Twilight's plot, the mare's own hoof darting down, slapping playfully and pulling it up again to less questionable places as she pulled back and grinned into his face.

"Naughty" she whispered.

"Can you blame me" he retorted, a grin of his own on his muzzle as he flashed his roguish grin. The mare gave a grin of her own, kissing around his nose.

"We've got company" she giggled, motioning her head back at the orange filly. Blood Moon kissed her a final time and hugged her tight before he nuzzled her a little, Twilight returning his sentiments. The assassin looked over Twilight to find Scootaloo, gagging with her maw wide open and pointing a hoof down her throat. Blood Moon smirked. "Get over here Scoots" he said, the filly cantering over to him as soon as he made the invite. She leapt onto the stallion, landing, thankfully, on the side that hadn't given way to the blade that had almost opened his lungs. The stallion, mare and filly all embraced at once, laying peacefully on the bathroom floor without a care in the world, the assassin glad to be back with his lover and daughter. When the assassin grunted in pain again, Blood Moon having shifted in a disagreeable way, Twilight and Scootaloo pulled back, the dark stallion not stopping them this time.

"Are you okay" the purple unicorn asked tenderly. Blood Moon nodded, still holding his side with a slightly annoyed look on his face. Twilight helped him up, letting him use her as a crutch as he stood while Scootaloo did her best to act as a crutch on the other side of him. Once he was stood up properly, they were guiding him out of the bathroom when the three ponies heard Blood Moon's name called.

"Twi, Blood Moon, where are yah" the southern drawl called through the cottage, concern lining the mare's voice.

"Twilight, Scootaloo, come out" a similarly southern yet younger drawl shouted.

"Applebloom" Scootaloo replied, looking left and right out of the doorway. Blood Moon and Twilight joined her before long, finding the orange and yellow filly outside the bathroom. Applebloom was rubbing tiredness from her eye, but Applejack looked a fresh as a daisy, her early morning starts to begin her chores apparently paying off.

"Mornin' Twi" AJ greeted before she turned her head to Blood Moon, her smile growing wider "well, look who's up" she noted, the assassin shooting her a small smirk.

"Morning' Applejack" the assassin greeted in return, nodding his head at the apple bucker. Applejack was surprised to find him so spry, but could tell by the way he was leaning on Twilight slightly that he was still sore, not that it really surprised her, given the wounds that he'd had. She moved to the side, letting him trot/hobble back into the bedroom and onto his, Twilight and Fluttershy's bed. After getting him there, Blood Moon dumped himself on the mattress, Fluttershy jolting awake.

"No, please don't whip me again master, I-wait, what" she asked both the figure in her dreams and the ponies in the room, half her mind still stuck in her dream. Blood Moon chuckled and rested on his back, his fore-hooves remaining on his chest. The butter yellow mare rubbed the sleep from her eyes to find the assassin before her, looking at her partly sleeping form with an amused grin on his face. "Blood Moon" she squealed as she moved in and kissed him heavily on the lips before pulling back and hugging him "you're alright, I'm mean, y-you are okay, aren't you?" Blood Moon chuckled, holding down the slight stinging in his side, and hugged her back.

"Yeah, I'm fine, I mean I've been better but I'm alive" he answered. Applejack, Twilight, Scootaloo and Applebloom were all watching with smiles on their faces, but when the assassin looked past them, he found that the other elements of harmony were still asleep, plus Sand Stalker and Sweetie-Belle. The assassin looked up at the bedpost to find a slumbering Phoenix; he reached up and fussed his chin until he awoke to find his master finally up. His eyes showed a smile and hopped down to him, padding around on the pillow his head was rested on, nuzzling his head with his own. Blood Moon smirked and returned his pet's gesture. Blood Moon looked to Dusk and scratched between his ears; the little critter seemed to enjoy the attention, and followed his hoof when he pulled back a little. Blinking his eyes open, he found the assassin and immediately scampered over to him; the little mouse sat on his nose before he seemed to activate 'doctor mode' and pulled his eyelid up for some reason, checking him all over. "Yes, I'm fine" the dark stallion told the mouse with a small laugh at the critter's concern, using his hoof to put him on his head. He picked up a small scrap of paper from one of the draws in the bedside table and screwed it up before he tossed it at Sand Stalker; the ex-soldier jolted awake before the assassin shouted "up stallion" in his best commando voice.

"Sir, yes sir" the Saddle Arabian answered automatically before he frowned "wait, what?" He looked over at the sound of a laughing pony, and found Blood Moon cackling like a mad-stallion. The merc growled slightly as he got up, before he trotted over to the assassin's resting place. "It's about damn time" he muttered as he approached "what took you?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"Eh, things" he answered. The assassin was well aware of the fact that everypony was forced to approach him and stand over his bedridden form; it wasn't something he enjoyed, but it was something he would have to endure for now; he knew that the 'dull stinging' was telling him that there was something deeper and very probably much more serious wrong inside of him, maybe internal bleeding or a broken rip agitating a lung or maybe a kidney. Sand Stalker, meanwhile, had looked back at Rainbowdash.

"Hey, Dash, look who's up" he called back to the sleeping weathermare. She snorted and stirred in her sleep, snoring slightly. "Dash" he called again, louder. She didn't wake up. With a disgruntled look on his face, he trotted over to her and poked her belly. "Dash, up" he told her sleeping form. She stirred again and turned over. "Rainbowdash." He tapped her on the head. The cyan blue mare grumbled and stirred again before she finally woke up.

"Hrm, wha…whas goin' on" she asked into the pillow.

"Get up" Sand Stalker repeated as he whipped the covers off her. The blue Pegasus grumbled and sat up, scratching her windswept mane.

"What" she demanded. The Pegasus nodded his head over at Blood Moon.

"Look who's up" he answered. RD looked over at him and smiled slightly.

"Oh, hey" she said before falling back to sleep gracelessly. Blood Moon smirked.

"It's good to see you too Dash" the assassin chimed back. Blood Moon decided that there was no point trying to wake up anypony else, given that Rarity struck him a s the sort that enjoyed her beauty sleep; Pinkie was just too cute to wake up, what with her happy little smiles and snores; Sweetie-Belle looked too comfy in the grip of her sister; and Rainbowdash didn't look like she was getting up today at all. During his thoughts, Twilight had hopped onto the bed beside her coltfriend and snuggled up to him a little. She looked over the side of the bed at Spike and nudged him a little.
"Spike" she cooed "you up?"

"Frremeged." Twilight giggled. "Dergbern" the sleeping dragon answered intelligibly. Twilight smiled again as she leaned up and looked back at Blood Moon.

"So, if you don't mind my asking, what happened to you" she asked as she leaned her head in
the crook of his neck. Blood Moon turned his head to her slightly.

"What do you mean?" Sand Stalker answered.

"When you were asleep some…strange things happened to you" he revealed. Blood Moon raised an eyebrow.

"Strange things" he repeated slowly "I had a temperature" he got a nod "sores" another nod "they were filled with some kind of puss" another. He seemed to be thinking about something.
"Did I respond to anything" he asked carefully, his head cocked slightly. Twilight answered this
time.

"Kinda…I mean, we put a bottle of…well, we don't really know what it was" she admitted "but you didn't seem to like it." Her horn glowed as she picked up the same bottle Zecora had left behind and floated it to Blood Moon. The assassin took it in his hooves and turned it around in them; he got a familiar vibe from it, and realised that he'd felt this feeling before: when he'd been dreaming last night, he'd felt a foreboding and 'hackles raising' sensation that had caused him to gallop for it in his dreams. This must have been the cause of it. Something occurred to him and he grunted.

"Did anypony burst any of them" he asked. Sand Stalker nodded.

"Yeah, that zebra, Zecora, she popped one or two to try and find out what they were" he informed. Blood Moon nodded and rested his head back on the pillow, a smirk on his lips.

"She didn't find out a thing, did she?" Twilight raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah…how'd you know?" The assassin simply grunted in further amusement as he shifted himself up the bed until he was sat on his flank.

"Because, Twilight, those sores were what remained of the anti-venom keeping the poison out of my system" he revealed. Twilight frowned, Sand Stalker's expression following her.

"You were poisoned" the mercenary asked. Blood Moon nodded.

"I was. From what I can guess, the guard that hit me must have been using a poisoned weapon.” The assassin looked down himself, looking at the scars left behind by the boils; he judged the shape and size of them, determining from them the strength and identifying the most likely candidate. “Looks like Nirnroot venom” running a hoof up and down his sore side absently. Sand Stalker frowned.

“Nirn venom? I could whip up a cue to that with the plants on the edge of the Everfree, hay, Twilight and Fluttershy probably could. Why go through all the trouble?” The assassin shrugged.

“At the time, the poison was too deep into my system to identify it properly. Rarity was the only one up at the time, and she doesn’t really have a background in medicine. Leaving to my immune system seemed like a good idea at the time anyway” the assassin shrugged. Sand Stalker just shook his head in disapproval.

“I’ve met kamikaze troops with better self-preservation instincts than you” he muttered. Blood Moon just chuckled.

"So, why did it smell so bad" Twilight asked from the side. Blood Moon glanced at her.

"And why did it explode" Sand Stalker added. Blood Moon glanced at him.

"Side effects" he answered simply. That answer satisfied nopony. He rolled his eyes. "To answer your question, you must know this; the reason my body does that is because of a spell that was placed upon me during my training, so long ago. However, at the time, like many other types of magic and spells, the spell wasn't well developed. Starswirl was yet to be born and the Alicorns kept a lot of their magic to themselves, so many spells went unrefined, and because of that, many spells of this magnitude had side effects, the side effects in this circumstance being that it's rather…combustible when mixed with…well, anything really and that said explosion is rather…well, the two of you did smell it" he trailed off. He'd smelt it once, a while back, and he had to admit; he hadn't eaten for two days straight.

"What about the temperature" Fluttershy chimed. Blood Moon shrugged.

"The same ends as the boils. Thanks to the puss, my immune system works overtime to be rid of it, but it can't so it tries harder to get rid of it, but because of the magic, it still can't, and the cycle just repeats; try to work, don't work, get hotter, try to work again, don't work again, get even hotter, and so forth" he answered before he looked around. "Anything else, Applejack, you've been quiet, Applebloom, Scoots?" The farm hoof smiled slightly.

"Nah thanks, partner. Imma havin' enough trouble wrappin' mah head around what tha' rest o' ya'll been talkin' 'bout" she replied good-naturedly.

"I wanna ask something" Scootaloo exclaimed, hopping besides her father. The assassin looked over to her with a grin.
"Yes, daughter dear?" He immediately wished he hadn't replied.

"What were you doing last night, to come back like that you must have been fighting off an Ursa-Major" she told him. Blood Moon, Twilight, Sand Stalker, Applejack and even Fluttershy flinched. Applebloom caught it, raising a confused eyebrow, but Scootaloo had her eyes closed as she hopped up and down on the bed and missed it.

"I'll…tell you later" he answered. Scootaloo went to answer his reluctance with insistence but was cut off when they heard a lady-like yawn from across the room.

"What time is it" the upper-class accent asked. Everypony gathered around and resting on Twilight's bed looked over to Applejack's to find Rarity and, subsequently, Sweetie-Belle rousing from their slumber.

"Mornin' Rare" Applejack greeted as she cantered hastily over to the bed to catch the white filly on the brink of falling out of the bed. The white mare looked up to find the orange one looking over her.

"Good morning Applejack, darling" she returned before she saw what she was clutching "oh, Sweetie-Belle, are you alright" she fussed as she helped her back onto the bed.

Whilst this was going on, Sand Stalker hoof-bumped Blood Moon and trotted away to give the dark stallion some room after telling him it was good to have him back before retiring to his chair. Fluttershy yawned and stretched before kissing Blood Moon again and making her way outside to tend her animal friends. Applejack elected to join her while Rainbowdash final woke up and went outside to stretch her wings.

"Stay low 'Dash, we gotta keep hidden" Sand Stalker called out. Rainbowdash waved a laid-back hoof.

"Yeah, yeah, I will" she unconvincingly reassured. Sand Stalker didn't buy it, and took off after her. RD pushed through the door, finding Celestia's bright and happy sun shining down on Fluttershy's cottage as well as the rest of Equestria. She took a deep breath through her muzzle, taking a deep whiff of the clear, countryside air as Sand Stalker came up beside her from behind. The cyan Pegasus looked back at him. "I said I'll keep low" she told him. The stallion snorted.

"Yeah, sure you will" he replied. Rainbowdash snorted back and trotted a little away from the small house, the Saddle Arabian following her. The mare stretched herself out, arching her back and pushing her fore-hooves out from the rest of her body as she spread her wings, Sand Stalker copying her; both Rainbow and Sand discreetly compared their wings to the other's, a subconscious reaction for any Pegasus. There was no real advantageous wingspan, those with larger wings had greater endurance and straight-line speed, but a Pegasus with small wings was much more nimble and faster around corners. Sand Stalker and Rainbowdash had similar wings sizes, the stallion's a little larger and more muscular than the mare's but both leaned towards a sensible mix between speed and agility. "We'll go a little ways into the Everfree and come back, okay" he suggested. Rainbowdash shrugged and took flight, not caring about their rout, her blue wings beating several times as she began to fly, Sand Stalker following soon after.

They flew over the deep green sea with speed, working the cramps out of their much beloved wing muscles. Rainbowdash seemed most glad for it, out of the pair of them, and preformed loops, barrel rolls and other assorted basic stunts to get the blood pumping. The merc watched her go in an impressed relaxation, his eyes watching her as his head stayed in place.
After a while, 'Dash began to get bored of not being able to practice any of her more advanced tricks and retired to just flying alongside Sand Stalker.

"So…um, Uncle Sand?" Said Pegasus looked over at her.

"Yeah?"

"What…what were they like?" The old stallion of course knew exactly who the mare was talking about, but feigned ignorance. He wasn't going to enjoy this conversation.

"Who?" RD made a 'duuh' face.

"You know who, my parents" she answered.

"Oh" he muttered. "Well, what do you want to know" he asked as he slowed down so he could speak to her properly.

"Just what they were like" she answered casually, crossing her fore-hooves as she slowed down with him "I never really knew them, so I wanna know what they were like" she told him. Sand Stalker saw the request as reasonable, but still didn't want to answer her; he'd had a long, long time to perfect his cover story, and perfect it he had, having been working on it ever since he’d discovered Rainbowdash had moved to Ponyville. But that didn't change the fact that he felt very uncomfortable with the prospect of discussing Rainbowdash's parents with her; his conversation with Blood Moon on the rooftop came to the front of his mind:

"Am I the only one on this roof who wants to tell her?"

In all honesty, he truly did, but he knew he couldn't; he owed it to Blazing Trails to keep his and his wife's existence a secret. He decided to try his best at answering the mare's questions.

"Well, they were good ponies, a lot like yourself in fact: they were loyal, headstrong" he smirked at his memories "fiercely competitive and true Pegasi, through and through." His mood took a downturn. "But…they didn't suffer fools, they were good to each other and their friends."

'They could be the most brutal of fighters but the most passionate of lovers.' He remembered hearing rumours about the two of them slaughtering a griffon assassination squad before going on to make love in the gore. The mercenary had a sneaking suspicion that that had been the day 'Dash had been conceived.

"They were strong ponies, looked after each other and others."

'They were loyal to their country and defended it with honour.'

"They stood by their friends and family" he looked at 'Dash "and they loved their daughter very much" he told her. Rainbowdash smiled slightly, glad to know that she knew her parents a little bit better now, but couldn't block the pain welling up in her chest. Sand Stalker caught her look and decided she didn't want to talk about this anymore. "Race you back?" The cyan mare's competitive nature ignited and so did a fire behind her eyes.

She didn't even stop to acknowledge his challenge; instead she just reeled back and shot forwards in a streak of rainbow. Sand Stalker grinned and took off after her, his mustard fur and black tail casting a faint streak of dark yellow and black stripes behind him; it wasn't as glamorous as RD's rainbow trail but he liked it, no matter what anypony said. The old merc quickly found himself neck and neck with 'Dash, and so did the weathermare. Her pride burned fiercely and told her to push harder; the mare narrowed her eyes against the wind rushing into her eyes, straightening her neck and body to increase her aerodynamic qualities, her wings beating harder and much more powerfully. Sand Stalker grinned at the challenge and followed suit, pumping his wings harder than he had in a long time. Rainbowdash's plan had been to leave him in her dust by now, but he was still lingering on her tail; her youth gave her the advantage over the old stallion, but he held his own against her well. The sprint was raising the stallion's heart rate like nothing had in years, adrenalin flowing through his veins like a tidal wave of power coursing through his body. He hadn't felt this kind of excitement in years.

And he was beginning to enjoy it.

The stallion's epiphany broke down a wall inside him, and he was hit by a powerful second wind. Rainbowdash could do nothing but watch as he began to pick up speed again and slowly, but surely, began to push past her. The mare growled slightly and ordered herself to pick up the pace; she hadn't a clue as to how he was doing this, he must be getting tired by now. She looked up at him to find him looking back at her, a grin on his face that would have matched Blood Moon's insanity perfectly. She frowned slightly at his expression for a second as he lunged up before he went into a steep dive into the Everfree's tree's branches; Rainbowdash gasped in panic, shock and amazement as he disappeared through the leaves of the trees. She swallowed and dived down after him, following the suddenly energetic fifty-five year old.

Rainbowdash found her adoptive uncle darting between, around, under and over tree branches, shrubbery and other assorted plant life. The Pegasus had to admit that she was astounded with the merc's agility and speed. His wingspan may have been wider than 'Dash's but he made up for it by pulling them into his body when passing through tight gaps, free-flying for short times before he opened his wings again and started flying once more. Rainbow kept after him, moving as fast as she could in the dense shrubbery. When he found a clear-ish patch he rolled over until he was flying on his back, his fore-hooves holding his head up as though lounging on the beach.

"Come on 'Dash, keep up" he goaded with a smirk on his face. Rainbowdash growled at him; she was not going to let him get away with that. She darted after him, her rainbow trail coming back, and made after him.

Sand Stalker gave a hoarse laugh in return and rolled back over, resuming his normal style of flight. Before him were a wall of thick branches, the wood and bark cracked and split in places, probably by more flying creatures not as agile as the mustard mercenary. He darted to one of the stronger branches and landed on it, leaping nimbly to another again before doing the same to another, jumping from tree to tree with the grace and skill of a twenty year old. Rainbowdash could only watch in awe, pride and slight jealousy as her elderly uncle suddenly became a ninja. Sand Stalker left the bulk of branches and leapt to the air again, flying once more. He hadn't felt like this in decades, not since his wife and child had died… he wished he hadn't thought about that. He shook the thoughts from his head and-

He got no further before he smacked into the tree.

Rainbowdash hadn't seen the whole thing, she'd heard it more than actually witnessed it. The only reason she'd known was because she'd heard a dull, wooden 'THUD' and an angry, deep, aged yelp of pain. She flew towards where she guessed it had come from and looked around; the mare was a little deterred by the sound of a growl in the distance, though she'd never admit it, but she didn't let it scare her away. She continued in her search and soon found a deep dent in one of the trees. Below it was a broken off branch, below that another and another below that and below that was a grumpy looking Pegasus mercenary, rubbing his head. Her eyes snapped open and she flew down to him.

"Uncle Sand" she exclaimed as she flew down to him "are you alright" she asked as she landed next to him. The mercenary looked up at the rainbow mane and tailed Pegasus, and for a second he saw his daughter looking over him. Then he blinked and Rainbowdash was back, the cyan blue fur washing over the white desert sand of his ten years old's fur, the multitude of colours that composed her signature rainbow mane flowing over the sky blue and white mane that had rested upon his daughter's head. It was lost on nopony who'd ever met her that she looked just like her father's homeland. Sand Stalker shook the memories from his head, not wishing to dwell on them now. He'd save that for his dreams tonight. He then realised that his adoptive niece had been speaking to him throughout his whole thought process. "-Okay Sand? You took a pretty hard knock just now" she pointed out. The stallion nodded and rubbed his head again. Rainbowdash helped him sit up, the merc resting on his flank and reaching up with his hoof, pulling off the beanie he kept there and tenderly touching around his head. He flinched slightly when he felt the sore bump on his head.

"Damn" he muttered, feeling the head wound. His time in the army had left him with a hard head, and a thick skull, both figuratively and literally. The way RD gasped when she saw his head revealed why.

"Woah" she breathed as she looked at his skull. She couldn't resist looking closer, the merc letting her get closer as she brushed his black and aged silver mane to the side. Most of his head was covered in a single stitch, his mane being cut across the old war wound.
Rainbowdash wasn't much of a doctor when it came to this sort of thing, but she knew he'd been lucky when he'd acquired this wound. It looked to have come very close to his brain.
"What…what happened to you?" The merc shrugged.

"I joined the military" he answered as he slipped that hat back over his head "getting hurt is sort of one of the occupational hazards" he answered. Rainbowdash frowned.

"Wait, they let you stay in the army with a wound like that?" The Pegasus didn't know much about the army, but she did know that such serious injuries tended to warrant an honourable discharge. Sand Stalker just smirked at her obliviousness.

"Maybe not in Equestria, but the Saddle Arabian military is very different to Celestia's forces" he answered. He spread his wings and took flight again, feeling it not a good idea to hang around in the middle of the Everfree. "Back in Saddle Arabia, the forces I belonged to consists of highly skilled warriors called 'Kinsmen.' When a stallion, or mare, joins the army, assuming they're of age, they will be grafted into the Kinsmen at a young age to be trained in the ways of the desert." 'Dash had joined him as he rose above the leaves and branches, hovering next to him as he finished. Sand Stalker stretched his back out and took to flying forwards once more, at a speed more suited to his age, and Rainbowdash followed after him.

"The ways of the desert" the weathermare repeated. Sand looked back at her.

"A little cheesy, I admit, but it's the best way of describing it" he retorted. Rainbowdash met him with eyes that continued to question him; she wasn't curious about the actual training, per se, that was Twilight's department, but she did want to know more about her uncle's past. "Put simply, we were given a year to learn; they didn't slow down for the weak, didn't give advanced work for the strong, everypony was given the same training, no matter your age, race or gender. It was the most intense twelve months of my life; they broke me, rebuilt me, broke me again before going on to break my broken form. After that, they didn't need to rebuild me; everypony in the squad, who was cut out for a place in the Kinsmen, had stopped breaking. We had now snapped. Four of us stopped giving in, stopped taking the abuse and the rigorous training; at the beginning of the training regime, we were told that any insubordination would be punished with a one on one fight with the 'encouragement' or one of the fully trained Kinsmen. Every one of us stood up to them, and the four of us fought like animals; we'd been repeatedly broken and didn't care about the combat training we'd received." He smirked at a memory. "I remember that one of us actually taking a bite out of one of them" he added "a real, big bite, like a mouthful out of the poor guy." He looked over at the mare and caught her slightly disturbed face and, not wanting to make her throw up a high speed, neglected to tell her it had actually been him that had been to be reduced to cabalism. "Anyway, when we fought them and mostly tore them apart through sheer, unbridled insanity after been broken down to our base instincts, we were approached by the Kinsmen's leader, Commander Dune, and told that we'd passed the test" he said with a slightly nostalgic hint to his voice. "After that, we were dropped into the desert." Rainbowdash looked at her Uncle with a distraught look on her face.

"So…after all that, they threw you into the desert" she said over the wind rushing past them. He nodded.

"Yeah, we were left there for eight months; our only orders were to survive. Only two of us succeeded" he said quietly. Rainbow felt a little sorry for him.

"Who was the other guy?" Sand Stalker shrugged.

"Never really knew him, just another stallion. He was assigned to a different platoon of Kinsmen than me. Anyway, after that the actual training started; the two of us were taught things we'd never forget: how to hide, survive, fight, kill, torture, infiltrate, sabotage but mostly, we were taught how to use our swords" he told her. "The scimitar, we were told, was to become our best friend. Our sword, our shield, our armour and our only still rock in an ever flowing sea of confusion. It was the only thing we could trust, and the only thing we could rely on. We learnt our lessons well" he told her. Rainbowdash watched him tell his tail with the kind of unbridled attention she normally reserved for the Daring Do novels, but couldn't do anything to show it; that kind of awe could only be expressed in the mind, so she just nodded and looked ahead of them.

"Hey, we're back" she noted as they came into view of Fluttershy's home. They decreased altitude until they had landed. They trotted towards the door, but as they were about to push through, Sand Stalker paused and stalled. Rainbowdash looked back. "What's up" she asked. Sand Stalker hesitated.
"Why don't you go on, I wanna…get some clean air, clear my lungs of the air from the Everfree, y'know." It was a flimsy excuse to sit outside with his memories, but Rainbowdash recognised this as one of those times where it was necessary. She smiled slightly.

"Yeah, sure, no problem" she told him, nudging his shoulder slightly. RD went inside to leave him to his thoughts. Inside, she found Blood Moon and Twilight sat at Fluttershy's chess board.

"Hey" Twilight said, her seat facing the door. Blood Moon turned in his seat to face her, nodding her way. Twilight caught the look on her face. "Hey, are you alright" she asked with concern. RD shrugged.

"Yeah, I'm fine" she answered "I'm just a little worried about Sand Stalker" she told them. Blood Moon frowned.

"Why?"

"Well, on the way back, we started talking a bit about my parents and his past…I think I upset him a little" she murmured. The assassin gave her a sympathetic look.

"Hey, don't blame yourself. He just needs some time to think" he reassured her. The dark stallion wasn't sure if he believed his own words; the mercenary was similar to him, in that they both had a lot of bad memories; the main difference between them was how they handled those memories: Blood Moon bottled up his emotions, only letting them out when he fought with passion. That said, those were rare times. Sand Stalker, however, seemed to slowly leak his temper out; he didn't blame him, from what he could tell he had a potentially lethal temper, not to mention a very short fuse. That was probably what he was doing now, sitting outside by himself to slowly relive his anger. Or maybe just his pain. Blood Moon wished his temper worked like that; while the mercenary could just work it out of his system with, what he could only supposed to be, mediation the assassin's was more…complicated. He got angry over many things, be it somepony annoying him deliberately, somepony trying to rip him off (be it the cherry sales-stallion or a client who liked to think they were clever) or just bringing up bad memories. The dark stallion's temper was the type that burned and bubbled beneath the surface; it reared its ugly head whenever the stallion got annoyed, creating a vicious cycle: get angry, work it out getting while getting angrier and so forth. It was only training and discipline that stopped him from snapping every time somepony shot a dirty look his way and going on a murder bender. The assassin was pulled from his thoughts when he heard Twilight say his name.

"-Blood Moon could help him out if he gets too bad" Twilight was saying. The assassin looked at his marefriend.

"Hmm?" Twilight put a flat, annoyed look on her face.
"I was saying you could see if Sand Stalker is alright if he starts getting too depressed" she told him. Blood Moon nodded.

"Oh… yeah, sure" he looked at the clock "if he's not back in say…I dunno, an hour, I'll go see how he is." Rainbowdash seemed relieved, smiling slightly.

"Thanks" she said, trotting over and hoof bumping him. "Hey, where's Fluttershy?"

"Outside" Twilight answered. The Pegasus thanked her and trotted outside, the magenta mare turning back to her game. "Come on, it's your move" she told him. Blood Moon looked back down at their game. Blood Moon was on the ropes; Twilight's king was in the corner, well-defended by her other pieces. Blood Moon's side of the board was looking much more damaged: he had four pawns left, a rook, a bishop and his king. Twilight's queen was after the assassin's rook and king, the rook apparently acting as a sort of bodyguard to the king after he'd sacrificed his queen to protect his it. It had been a noble sacrifice, and he'd promised the taken piece a good burial. His bishop had taken a bunch of Twilight's pieces from across the board but his pawns were mostly useless; two were blocked by Twilight's own white pawns, one was lingering at the side of the board, trapped, while one was Blood Moon's fall back that he moved further up the board when he had no available move.

"So, what were we talking about" he asked as he moved his spare pawn up the board again.

"*I* was scolding *you* for being so laidback when you woke up" she told him. After their loving rekindling, Twilight had turned on Blood Moon like a worried nanny, constantly fussing over the smallest of scratches. She'd spent the last hour telling him to act a little more considerate about everypony and getting hurt; to a lot of other ponies, it's likely they wouldn't see the sense in her words, but the assassin saw only affection; telling him that everypony was worried about his condition told him that he had ponies that cared about him and were waiting for him at home. It was at this point Blood Moon had to remind himself: he had a family again. He had a filly willing to wait up for him at night to come home, a mare who worried for him. He'd promised both himself and Twilight that he'd be more careful, so they needn't have to wake up to him in such a state.

"Yes, I was about to tell you that I'm sorry…for the fifth time" he replied as Twilight took the trapped pawn.

"Maybe so, but…" Blood Moon considered himself a good husband/coltfriend/partner/whatever you wanted to call it, but he was no fan of being lectured; as any stallion would be, the assassin was well versed in the art of 'zoning out' and did so to his much beloved Twilight as he planned his next move. It must have been all of five minutes before he came back, Twilight's voice slowly increasing in volume until he could hear her again. "…Know you probably don't like this, but it's only because I love you, and I don't want to see anything bad happen to you" she was telling him. Blood Moon looked up at her and smiled warmly.
"I know Twilight, and I love you too" he told her. Twilight gave a warm smile of her own.

"You didn't listen to a word I just said, did you?" Blood Moon kept his smile.

"Nope." Twilight's smile turned to a grin as she rolled her eyes. The assassin saw no other move and simply moved his pawn up the board again.

"About time" Twilight said as she moved her queen into a position to set up an offensive against Blood Moon's defending rook. Blood Moon moved the pawn up the board again and let her take it the rook. Twilight grinned. "Two more moves and we're at check" she told him. Blood Moon analysed the board and mentally confirmed her claim.

"I forget, what are we playing for again?" Twilight grinned and leaned in, whispering into his ear; the artist of the face drew a grin across his muzzle as she spoke. "You evil mare" he grinned as she leant back.

"And only me" she repeated, leaning her head on her hooves. The assassin's grin turned to a smirk.

"And if I win?" Twilight winked playfully and the assassin got the idea.

"Pity you're not going to win though" she told him with a sarcastically pitiful sigh. The assassin smirked again and moved his pawn up the board again, letting it hit the far side of the board. The magenta mare went to move her piece before she realised what he'd just done; Blood Moon picked up the black pawn with his magic and exchanged it for the taken queen. Twilight blinked at the sudden change.

"No."

Her king was blocked in by her own defences.

"Nonono."

There was no move she could make; the rules declared she had to make a move to defend her king, but there was nothing she could do: the angle Blood Moon's queen was coming from was flanking her defences, a pawn defending the king's immediate corner, but she hadn't bothered with a side line defence, assuming his lack of pieces could reach the blind spot. Her other defences were either unable to reach a defending spot or wouldn't change the course of the game, he'd take the defending piece and go on to check her again.

"NonononononoNO."

Her hoof went to the game again before pulling back, going in and pulling back again, the hesitant move repeating itself at least fifty times before she realised he'd beaten her with her own near-victory. She looked up at her coltfriend and found his face; the grin wasn't smug or condescending, simply one of pride and victory. She still wanted to rip it off his face though. The assassin moved his hoof in, very slowly, and his scuffed, calloused and rough dark grey hoof went to her white king and slowly, so agonisingly slowly, tipped her most important piece.

"Check…"The small 'clack' that sounded when the king hit the chess board might have well have been an explosion right inside Twilight's head. "…Mate."

"What-what-what…what happened?" Twilight had never lost a game of chess before, asides against Celestia that is, and her skill and winning streak in the game in Ponyville was a major source of pride for her. The loss in the game actually tempted a few slightly hurt tears in her eyes. Ever the sympathetic assassin, Blood Moon moved his face towards hers, slowly, and pushed his lips to hers. Twilight quickly melted into the kiss, the feeling of love washing over the feeling of defeat, but it ended when Blood Moon pulled back quickly.

"I beat you" he told her. Twilight's hurt came back a little.

"How" she demanded. Blood Moon smirked and lifted the pawn Twilight had neglected throughout the whole game until the end.

"With this little guy" he told her. Twilight blinked. "The pawn is the hoofsoldier in the war of chess. The rook is the merc, the soldier of fortune; he's good but has no worth. The bishop is the sniper; he sits in wait across the edge of the board before pouncing from afar. The knight is the cavalier; he leaps over the crowd and takes the other troops by surprise. The queen is the bodyguard, the most powerful piece but the one we most often sacrifice for the king. The king is the charge, our leader but most vulnerable piece. But one thing that almost everypony overlooks" he waved the pawn around in the air a little, bringing attention to it "is that this guy, can be exchange for the queen. He is the assassin." Twilight went to argue, but nothing came out. Blood Moon laughed slightly at her gaping maw. "Take what you did for example: you were after my king, focusing on your defence at first, making your king safe, and going on the attack second. You went after all of my stronger pieces, taking the rooks, bishops, knights and the queen. But what you looked over, was this single troop, stalking the battlefield" he placed the pawn back on the board "you looked over my assassin."

"But-but-but, I-I had you on the ropes, I was gonna beat you" she told him. Blood Moon laughed again.

"Dear Twilight, there is no such thing as 'winning' and 'losing' in war and battle. There is only won and lost, victory and defeat, no middle ground. While there is one pony standing on the field, there is still a chance of victory" he explained with a grin on her face. Twilight just pouted. The assassin chuckled, leaned across the chess board and poked her nose. "Boop" he grinned. Twilight frowned but giggled at the same time.

"What was that" she asked. He just chuckled again.

"Just something to cheer you up" he answered. Twilight shook her head and concentrated on the board, her horn glowing as the pieces did the same and put themselves in the correct positions.

"Play again?" The assassin shook his head.

"No thanks" he answered as he stood.

"Aww, please" she begged, her eyes growing to that of a puppy dog's. Blood Moon may have been immune to the effects of a mare, filly or colt's wide eyes (a stallion doing that tended to freak him out) but he could still appreciate the curtness, and was glad of one fact between the two: that they were dating. He moved in and kissed her adorable face, directly on the lips.
Twilight's eyes went from innocent and big to wide in slight shock but by no means disappointed. The assassin stood up as they kissed heartily, Twilight not letting him disengage as soon this time. Blood Moon pulled back slightly, kissing her cheeks and around her face, the mare giggling a little. He disengaged the kiss properly this time, Twilight licking his nose slightly as he did.

"Twilight, I've been around longer than your books have even a hope of going back. Chess is even older than me. I've played more games than years I've been alive; I can come up with over forty thousand strategies during the course of a game; that was just one of them. I'm not going to play you again, because I already know the outcome" he told her. Twilight frowned slightly.

"Are you saying I'm dumb" she asked. He smirked.

"No, just that you're not as smart as me" he answered. Twilight rolled her eyes again, pecking his nose as he turned away.

"Hey, Blood Moon" she started as she followed to him "I was wondering about something." He turned to her.

"What about?" She frowned as she spoke, more inquisitive than confused.

"About that song you were singing earlier…" Blood Moon smirked and sat on the empty couch.

"Oh, that" he muttered as he invited Twilight to sit with him. Instead of sitting next to him, she elected to sit on his lap, snuggling up to him. Blood Moon smiled at the feeling of cuddling with his marefriend and wrapped his hooves around her belly, kissing her neck lightly. Twilight couldn't quite believe just how romantic her coltfriend could be when they were just having a conversation. "Well, it was a song about an old friend of mine" he told her "Biggs, or 'Ronnie' Biggs as he liked to go by, was a robber." Twilight had soon frowned.

"What kind of name is 'Ronnie'?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"I honestly don't know; the only explanation he ever gave was that the name 'Biggs' wasn't very memorable, so he came up with a nickname everypony would remember." Blood Moon himself frowned. "He never did elaborate where he'd got it from" he mumbled to himself, Twilight still hearing him. "Anyway, he'd been a train robber about forty or so years ago, becoming a bit of a folk-hero and an urban legend in the process. Anyway, he helped take a mail train for two point three million bits in taxes, bank exchanges and a few other mailed payments and the such; his job was staging the getaway and helping find a train driver so they could get it to the unloading point. The robbery went well, relatively, and they got away, but the guards rather literally stumbled across them when they were counting the loot. They were quickly arrested and thrown in the dungeons before being put on trial. Celestia already knew they were guilty, even without all the evidence they had, and sentenced them to thirty years in the Canterlot prisons. Biggs escaped." Twilight was shocked; she knew that the Canterlot prisons were second only to the dungeons under Canterlot palace, so for somepony to escape was an incredible feat.

"How" she asked automatically. Blood Moon shrugged.

"It's really not that exciting, he himself told me that he wished for a more romantic tail; he made a ladder out of bits and pieces he could gather from the prison over around fourteen months until he could use it to escape. He'd managed to get a message to a few friends outside prior, and he landed right in the delivery carriage awaiting below. From there, he had false travel papers arranged with his cut and made his way to Prance. There, he had face altering operations and incantations used upon him to hide his identity while he sent word to his wife, who followed him to Prance to meet him there. Now both as fugitives, they lived on the move as wanted ponies for about thirty years until he fell ill and decided to come back to Equestria." Twilight nodded.

"So…what about the song?" Blood Moon shrugged.

"Just a little something I threw together in respect for him. It's not too hard to make basic rhymes like that when you concentrate" he explained.

"Wow…" Twilight started. She'd have said something like 'you don't seem the type' but she already knew better. "What happened to Biggs?"
"Like I said, he returned to Equestria; he was quickly detained and arrested again. I found out this morning that he died in prison." Twilight frowned.

"Again, how?" The assassin pulled out a small piece of parchment. It was a simple message, signed by somepony called 'Charmer'. It explained that he had died peacefully in his sleep, wishing that his old friend should know. "When did this get here" she asked as she took the message in her hooves.

"This morning; I found a pigeon tapping on the window in the bathroom" he told her.

"How did he find you" she asked as she continued to look over the message. The assassin shrugged.

"Tracking pigeons; they're remarkably skilled" he answered simply.

"Who's this Charmer" Twilight asked as she gave Blood Moon the message back. The assassin put the message away again.

"His wife, no doubt she'll be for the grave soon too" he said solemnly. Twilight could sense his thoughts and snuggled into him further.

"So, how did you meet" she asked in an effort to change the subject.

"I was the one who arranged the passport for him. A friend contacted me and told me a friend of his needed out of Equestria, so I went to another friend and had him falsify a few travel documents to get him out of Equestria. I was also the one who managed to smuggle him through a few checkpoints on the way to the docks too" he added "after that we stayed in contact, pen-pals y'know, knowing it was likely he'd have few friends back here to pass along any useful information." He took a long breath. "We were good friends; there was always room for one more at Biggs's place. I just hope Charmer and their kids don't take it too hard, I know I'll miss the mad bastard" he said fondly.

"I'm sorry" she said. Blood Moon shrugged.

"Don't be. Ronnie wasn't the first of my friends to die before I did" he looked down at his marefriend "and he won't be the last." The corners of Twilight's eyes went down as she nuzzled him, the dark stallion returning the favour. They sat together for a time before Twilight looked at the clock; it hadn't been very long, but she felt it prudent.

"Blood Moon, do you think you should go see how Sand Stalker is?" The assassin looked at the clock in return; it had been twenty minutes, not nearly as long as he'd said, but Rainbowdash's reaction had him a little worried. He shrugged.
"I guess so. I'm gonna go see how he is, I'll be back soon" he told her, kissing the top of her head and helping her up off of him so he could stand up. Before she'd risen, Twilight turned over on top of him and kissed him again, Blood Moon stroking her jaw slightly before they pulled back; Twilight followed him as he pulled away, her face a little disappointed.

"How'd you get so good at that" she asked quietly. The dark stallion chuckled.

"Success lies in preparation" he answered with a small grin, Twilight returning it as she pecked his cheek. Twilight turned to the stairs and trotted for them, swaying her flank a little more than strictly necessary, and left the assassin to his thoughts and small grin. Blood Moon turned to the door and trotted for it, pushing through it and looking around; he quickly saw Sand Stalker, and despite the fact that Celestia's sun was shining down on them happily, dark clouds lingered over the mercenary's head. Blood Moon went over to him and stood behind him. "Sand" he asked cautiously. The merc turned his head and the assassin saw the face of a stallion who had seen more than he wanted to in his lifetime, and was ready to forget.

"You've been through it, haven't you Moon?" Blood Moon raised an eyebrow at the mercenary's question.

"Through what?" The merc turned his head back slightly, glancing at the assassin, and offered the seat on the ground besides him. Blood Moon obliged at sat on the grass next to his friend.

"You've lost a wife and child before, haven't you" he elaborated. Blood Moon's head hung slightly lower as his own memories swept through his head.

"Indeed, I have" he replied quietly "it's not something ponies are truly capable of living through." Sand nodded.

"How did you cope?" Blood Moon glanced at him.

"I lived. I kept on living. I don't 'cope' Sand Stalker, I just live through it because there's nothing more I can do." He looked back at the house, where Twilight, Fluttershy and Scootaloo were. "I live on, 'till I can find somepony out there, somepony else to love. It's hard, and by no means helpful in the long run, but it's what I do" he looked at the merc "don't forget how to love, my friend" he said as he nudged his shoulder "that's the worst thing you can do" he told the mercenary. Sand Stalker didn't say anything for a long while.

"I remember a little while back when I thought you were still a kid" he muttered "still new to this town, nothing but a skilled assassin. Now look at us now; Sand Stalker, a simple Kinsmen, sat with Blood Moon, the assassin never to be seen, caught or killed" he said slightly whimsically. Blood Moon grunted slightly amusedly, but something the merc had said caught his attention.

"You're a Kinsmen?" Sand Stalker recognised it as a way to get his thoughts off of his lost family, but took it.

"I was a Kinsmen. I was discharged from their order, remember?" Blood Moon smirked.

"There's more to being Kinsmen than just a title, Sand. It's the training, the heart and the pony that makes the Kinsmen" he retorted. Sand Stalker raised an eyebrow at looked at Blood Moon.

"Wait, are you a..." he trailed off as the assassin looked over and grinned.

"I was trained for the first thousand years of my life, Sand, throughout that time I was trained in ways that would live on through the years and had been around for even longer. The ways of the desert, have been around for as long as the desert itself my friend." Sand Stalker was impressed, to say the least.

"I never thought you to be a Kinsmen, Moon" he told him. Blood Moon just smirked.

"And much more" he added. Sand Stalker raised an eyebrow.

"Then how come you got back here like you did before then?" The dark stallion shrugged.

"Because in almost every fight I've ever been in, I've been holding back" he answered "admittedly, it's another pride thing; nopony has ever forced me to resort to my full capabilities” he smirked a little cockily “not even Celestia and Nightmare Moon."

"Nightmare Moon" Sand Stalker repeated with a raised eyebrow.

"Yeah, who do you think distracted her long enough so that Celestia could get to the elements of harmony? I made sure I was hidden though, both because I didn't want Celestia trying to kill me at the time, and because I didn't want to be remembered in the story. It wouldn't have been easy to keep a low profile" he added.

"Interesting" he mumbled. Blood Moon knew Sand Stalker was becoming absorbed by memory and thought. Blood Moon stood, knowing that the merc was better now but neglecting to ask him, knowing it would defeat the purpose, and went to trot away, but turned right into Scootaloo. The filly smiled up at him, the assassin smiled back, but he could tell something was on her mind.

"Need to talk" he asked with a raised eyebrow, a small grin on his lips.

"If you can" she answered, having apparently heard some of Blood Moon and Sand Stalker's conversation. The assassin's answer was his horn sparking to life and lifting the little Pegasus onto his back with his magic. He trotted away from the merc, not wishing to have any kind of 'father-daughter' in front of the stallion. He took her to the same spot on the stream they'd sat on before when he'd first told her he'd 'adopt' her. They sat down, side by side, and watched the stream for a while.

"So" he began "what's up." Scootaloo seemed to be preparing herself for something, taking a deep breath through her muzzle and calming herself.

"Daddy" she began, looking up at him "why did you come home the way you did" she asked. Blood Moon swallowed lightly, but before he could answer, Scootaloo spoke again.
"And…can you not change the subject this time, please?" The dark stallion took a deep breath and considered his answer. He was about to answer her question with another lie, but she climbed up him slightly and put her hooves on his chest and stared into his eyes. "Please, tell me the truth" she said. Blood Moon sighed and hung his head. He couldn't keep up this lie, he hadn't told his daughter about his occupation, and if he were honest, he'd never planned on it. He took another breath.

"Very well Scootaloo" he began. "Do you know what the word 'assassin' means, Scoots...?"

Cadence and Luna had been talking for a long while now, the princess of the night mostly leading the conversation with the princess of love listened intently. Cadence had, inevitably, been a little disturbed by Luna's scent and stains at first, but had soon grown content, given her… duties as the Alicorn princess of love. Luna's description and stories about Blood Moon had Cadence both amazed and rather worried about meeting him, if she ever did that is; to Cadence, this Blood Moon sounded like a rather two sided pony. Not two faced, per say, but more an estranged pony, a deep, complex and very probably broken mind living inside an aged head.

At the moment, Luna was in the middle of one of many stories of his time watching over her and Celestia. She had a little trouble following it, given how much Luna was laughing at the memory, her words coming out too quick and between bouts of laughter, but from what she could tell, it had something to do with a bucket, a pickaxe, five goats, a bandit and five gallons of cider. Pulling Cadence out of her thoughts was Luna, howling in laughter again, her words slurred slightly by her mirth.

"And-and then he took the pickaxe, and he-and he HAHAA, he used it to-to" Luna's voice was lost to her laughter again, her legs wrapping around her barrel and holding her sides as she laughed heartily. Cadence couldn't hold down the small grin as she sat up and watched her aunt laugh again, finding her howling auntie funnier than the story itself.

"Y'know, this story might be easier to tell if you stopped laughing" she advised, her grin still present. Luna nodded in her laughter, but still couldn't stop. Cadence shook her head and watched her continue to express the humour she seemed to find in this story, something she'd probably never hear if she had to hear it from Luna. It took all of five minutes for Luna to calm down enough for them to talk properly again.

"S-sorry Cadence, but if you knew the story, you'd be laughing just as hard" she told her. Cadence gave a lopsided smile and huffed slightly.

"I doubt anypony could laugh as hard as you aunt Luna" she retorted as she stood up from the bed. "Now, I think it only prudent we get you cleaned up" she said, her words prompting Luna to look over herself and realise the state she'd been in for the past hours. She nodded her agreement and stood beside Cadence. It was then she realise just how sore her hips were, not to mention her for-hooves. She fell slightly, Cadence catching her as she fell, holding her up on her back.

"I, uhhh, may need some help" Luna said, giggling sheepishly at the awkwardness of their situation. Cadence gave a long winded sigh, but her slight grin didn't drop. She helped her tired aunt into her washroom, using her magic to lift and drop her into the bath tub. The shower head gained a sky blue glow as it was lifted from its stand, the taps doing the same, and soon Luna was being blasted by pleasantly cool water. The princess of the night sat on her flank, while Cadence moved the shower head around to get at the dirtier spots.

"Aunt Luna, may I ask you something" she asked as she moved the shower head around to get the love juices out of her mane.

"Of course" Luna answered, using her own magic to scrub a sponge over her body.

"After all this time, and how saddened you were when he left, how could you just…forgive him?" Luna chuckled slightly as she washed under her fore-leg.

"Cadence, you never really met your parents, did you?" The pink Alicorn shook her head.

"No, all's Celestia told me was that she found me in a village in the eastern territories. I'd been born an Alicorn but nopony knew, or wouldn't tell me, who my parents were. You, Celestia, Twilight and Shiny are the only family I've really had" she answered. Luna smiled slightly, but could sense Cadence's curiosity as to who her parents were again. It wasn't something she regularly expressed, but she still wondered.

"Well, it's because of that you've never had family leave you. You don't know what it's like to have somepony you loved, who loved you back, be with you all your life and suddenly leave. Especially somepony like Blood Moon; he's proud and stubborn, so when he does apologise with sincerity, you know he means it with all his heart. That… and he's strangely lovable when you get to know him, so I missed him when he was gone, and even though I hated him for leaving us, having an actual conversation with him made me realise how much I'd missed him" she explained. Cadence nodded slightly in understanding.
"You really do love him like a father, don't you" she murmured. Luna nodded.

"I still do. My father, your great uncle, was never home in mine and Celestia's youth. He and mother were always too busy conducting the war, off in the Everfree. Mother loved us dearly, like we were the only fillies in Equestria, but father…I sometimes felt he only saw us as a means to an end, heirs and just that, rather than actual daughters." Luna looked over at Cadence, finding her torn expression. Luna smirked. "So, how's that opinion coming along" she asked with a smile on her face. Cadence shook her head.

"I'm still not sure; some of the stories you told me were pretty dark, but others were so noble." She sighed. "I find myself wanting to meet him" she answered. Luna chuckled.

"Be careful what you wish for" she advised with a tune in her tone. Cadence smirked, aiming the shower head at Luna's face and blasting her with the water. Luna scrunched her muzzle as the water hit her, before she took the sponge she'd been using in her hoof and threw it at Cadence, hitting her square in the face with it. The squeegee ran slowly down her face, slapping onto the floor before her; the Alicorn's face was flat.

"We, are not amused" Cadence glared. Luna giggled as Cadence sprayed her again. In the end, neither stopped attacking each other with water or suds, Luna's bath/shower ending with the two of them having a water fight. As the two of had their fun, Celestia was busy being angry.

The solar princess stalked Canterlot palace like a python, her expression less than happy.
The way Cadence had left had her more than slightly enraged; she was muttering to herself about how her sister and niece were acting, treating her like the bad-guy, making her seem like the one who'd gone mad. She trotted down a random hallway, something in her head telling her to go this way. Her snarled lip and glare were attracting the attention of some of her staff and guards. The bulk of her guards had been treated to Celestia's perfect face and sultry manner this morning, and were rather confused by the change, no small amount of them sending concerned but weary glances her way. Celestia marched past a bunch more of her guards, staff and other assorted ponies until she realised why she'd come this way; she'd arrived at the kitchen. With a small shrug, Celestia pushed through the door and trotted right in. She meandered to a side-unit and sat at it with a sigh, resting her pouting face on the sideboard. Her sigh caught the attention of two of two earth ponies, the cooks, both of which Celestia knew well.

The first was a mare, her fur was the colour of a sponge cake, her body pleasantly plump and slightly shorter than the average pony; her mane and tail were reminiscent of cake frosting, it was two tone, a strawberry red and vanilla with what appeared to be rainbow coloured sprinkles scattered around on it; she had kind, cream eyes and a pretty face of round yet happy proportions; on her flank was a round, traditional cake, white frosting being spread over the top with red strawberries sitting around the edge of the pre-frosted cake. She had a protective nature, similar to Celestia's 'motherly' nature only it was more of a…'momma' nature. The mare's name was Frosting, or Frost for short.

Behind her was her mirror opposite; a stallion, around the same height as one of the royal guards but much thinner, his body grey with brown over his hooves, looking like he'd stepped into mud coming just below his knees; his mane and tail were grey and brown, two layers of grey sandwiching the brown, both were long and wavy, his tail clinging to one of his legs while his mane went low, draping over the left side of his neck; his face was thin and slightly bony, matching his thin physique, but in his maw hung an oak brown smoking pipe, faint smoke rising from it with every puff. In all honesty, nopony knew the name of this stallion, as he never spoke, instead he grunted in two different pitches; the higher pitch being his yes and the lower no. Nopony knew why he didn't speak, some say his chain smoking had killed his vocal cords, others that he'd never learned, many that he simply couldn't be bothered, but he'd apparently never spoken at all in his life, and it was because of this, everypony just called him 'Pipe'. On his flank, as one might expect, was a simple pipe with a puff of black smoke rising from it.
Despite the pair's near polar opposite attitudes and bodies, they had been happily married for a good fifteen years now, and working in Celestia's kitchens even longer.

"Hey there, honey" Frost greeted in her signature sassy voice. Anypony else would have been tossed into the dungeon for referring to Celestia as 'honey' but Tia and Frosting had an understanding; you give me cake and you can talk to me however the hay you like. Pipe just grunted.

"Afternoon Frost, Pipe." Pipe grunted again. Frost went to the fridge to grab a piece of cake for her favourite visitor, but faltered when she caught her face.

"Are you a'ight suga'? You seem a little down, baby" she commented as she took a plate of cheese cake to the solar princess. Tia looked down at the treat, the fact that cheese cake was one of her favourites not lost on her, and sighed again, resting her head on her hoof as she poked around it with the fork in her magical grip.

"Oh, Frosting, it's been quite the…trying day" she admitted. Frosting's eyes widened slightly, genuine concern shining through the expression. Pipe looked over, finding her beaten and tired face, and grunted.

"You wanna talk about it, hun?" Celestia smiled slightly as the taste of strawberry and frosting hit her tongue, the pleasantly cool dessert plopping nicely into her tummy.

"I suppose it wouldn't hurt" Tia conceded as she took another bite of her cake. Frost nodded her head.

"S'all ways nice to talk honey" she agreed. Pipe grunted. "So" Frost started as she leant on the side unit "what's got ch'ou all worked up, hun?" Celestia sighed again, the action conveying a clear message. "Don't worry baby, there's plenty more where that came from" she assured, gesturing at the half-eaten cake before Celestia. The princess of the day smiled slightly.

"Well…me and Luna have had a little falling out" she answered. Frosting chuckled slightly.

"Oh, honey. Tell me somethin' I don't know. You're and Moon-pie's" Frosting's pet name for Luna "woke me and Pipe up before dawn, and we done pooped, out after all-uh, never mind sweetie. Anyway, we were all woken up good 'n early thanks to that little spat. Jus' what was goin' on anyhow baby?" Celestia sighed heartily, glancing left and right with her eyes, before she resigned to tell them what happened. The…details may have been a little…detailed, but after all the princess of the day had discussed with Frosting and Pipe, she'd trust them with her life.

Apparently, they were a little unprepared though; Frosting's face had turned bright red while her lower jaw had gained a few tonnes, while Pipe had stopped stirring the mixture of cookie mix he'd been stirring, his pipe falling in with his shock. That said, beyond that he hadn't lost face. Frosting blinked a few times.

"Daaayum, girl" Frosting drawled. Pipe grunted as he picked his pipe up, cleaned it off and put it back in his maw. "Here's me thinkin' me an' Pipe could get freaky" she commented. Pipe grunted, a small smile on his face. "So, that's what ya'll was 'talkin' about" she said slowly. Pipe grunted with a nod. Celestia, meanwhile, had finished her cake and Frosting had brought her chocolate fudge cake; in the language of cakes (only slightly less popular than the language of flowers) fudge was the cake that helped deal with pain. As was cheese cake. As was upside down cake. As were all cakes, but chocolate fudge tasted best, so live with it. "Sounds to me like you done goofed, bambi" Frosting sighed. Celestia frowned pointedly at her.

"What?" Pipe turned his head; the minuscule movement told anypony who knew him to be careful; he was very protective of his wife and his life as a chief in the military hadn't all been spent whipping up five star dining with boot-laces and moss. He'd fought, fought well, during his time in the solar guard and wasn't afraid of Celestia, not if it meant protecting his beloved. Frosting, meanwhile, had crossed her fore-legs on the table-top, cocking her head at Celestia.

"You know what ah'm talkin' about" she replied. Celestia's frown turned to a glare as she stabbed the fork into the cake.

"I'm afraid I don't" she shot back. Frosting wasn't scared about Celestia losing her rag with her, she knew she liked her baking too much to do anything drastic, and pressed the point.

"You know what I'm sayin' hun." Frost pointed a limp hoof at Celestia. "You done bucked your own family, sister" she said with a slightly unappropriated grin on her face. Celestia's glare went back to a frown, a teased pout accompanying it.

"Well…that doesn't change the fact that she started it" she retorted. Frosting giggled, turning back to her husband.

"You hear that smokey bear" her pet name for Pipe "she done think that Moon-pie's getting' up on her." Pipe grunted. "Listen sunbeam; ah know, you're all bothered and hottin' up about this whole, 'Blood Moon' thang, but ch'a can't be takin' it out on your little sis" she told her. "You were done drunk and you'd drunk down that 'love potion' but it don't mean that it was lil' Luna that started it all." Celestia went to argue but faltered for a reason she couldn't pin down, biting her lip slightly. Frosting giggled at her silence. "Ya'll know y'know ah'm right. Y' can feel it, can't ya" she grinned, leaning over and putting a hoof over her heart "right here, right baby?" Celestia tried to disagree but couldn't, tried to think of an argument but couldn't, tried to tell herself Frosting was wrong but couldn't. Tried to tell herself that she'd done nothing wrong…but couldn't.

"I-you-I-but…dammit" she cursed. Frosting giggled. Pipe grunted.

"I got that a lot, back in the 'hood" she grinned. "Now, go give your little sis a lovin' an' make up, y'll feel better fo' it, believe me" she advised as she stood from the counter and went back to her baking. Celestia stood with her and rounded the table until they met, wrapping her forelegs around Frost's neck.

"Thanks Frosting, you always know what to say." Frosting smiled and returned the embrace.

"Momma know baby, momma know" she answered as they released. Frosting stepped back, watching Celestia quickly finish the cake she'd given her before going.

"You too Pipe" she called back. Pipe grunted. Celestia trotted back to her and Luna's quarters, careful to keep regal while passing anypony, and soon found her way to Luna's bedroom. She lingered outside, both planning what to say and to fully swallow her pride, but as she did so, she started to hear feint talking. Celestia could only suppose Cadence had stuck around to comfort Luna, but she could only wonder what they were talking about. Celestia took a breath to clear her mind before she raised her hoof and tapped the door lightly. The dull murmur of conversation faltered, and the sound of hoof on floorboard approached the door. The door opened to reveal Luna.

"Luna…"

Scootaloo's eyes were wide in fear. She took a step back, towards Fluttershy's cottage. She backed up another step. And another.
"Scootaloo" the dark stallion said quietly. In response, tears began to well up in the filly's eyes. Blood Moon took a step forwards. Scootaloo took a step back. "Scootaloo" the assassin said again. The Pegasus's maw opened to speak, but nothing came out; instead her lower jaw wobbled slightly below her upper jaw, the tears still tempting to flow.

"Y-you-you're an-" she took another step back "an assassin" she squeaked. Blood Moon nodded. Her eyes widened again in horror. She looked up at his towering form, his red eyes, his unnaturally dark mane, his scarred face and sharp horn. This stallion, who she'd loved so much, who she'd seen as a father, who she'd seen a family in. He was none of these things now, he was a killer, a stallion with blood on his hooves, death in his heart. He wasn't somepony who was there to protect you, he was a simple murderer.

"Scootaloo, I-"

"F-for fifteen…thousand years?" He nodded. "How many" she demanded. The assassin's eyes went to the ground.

"I-I'm not sure…I lost count at…" he trailed off.

"Tell me" she exclaimed. The assassin could see her grief turning to anger. He sighed once more.

"M-more than I'd care to count" he answered "as many times as my heart has beat, at least." Scootaloo's lip wobbled.

"Y-you're nothing but a murderer" she told him. Blood Moon took a step forwards.

"No, I-"

"A killer, a liar, you're an assassin" she screamed at him. Blood Moon had been accused of a lot over his life, insulted many times, but Scootaloo's words cut him particularly deep.

"Scootaloo, listen to me, please-"

"NO" she exploded "leave me alone" she shouted at him as she turned away from him. Blood Moon grabbed her around the barrel and stopped her from leaving.

"Scootaloo, would you please listen to-"

"NO" she screamed again "GET OFFA ME" she roared, twisting and turning in his grip. She managed to turn in his hooves until her chest was against his.

"SCOOTALOO, damnit, just liste-" the filly's hoof flashed as she struck him across the jaw, leaving a red mark.

"LET ME GO" she ordered as she squirmed from his grip and galloped for the cottage. There were no thoughts going through her mind, only fear. No other message was conveyed by her brain, nothing was said to the filly by her mind, nothing but one thing: run. She obeyed. Scootaloo galloped away from him and dashed quickly for the house. "RAINBOWDASH" she cried as she escaped the dark stallion, the stallion who now she hated, who now she didn't want to know, who was no longer her father. The stallion she never wanted to see again. She galloped for all her worth, her wings fluttering in a primal need for more speed, to escape the danger, and burst through the door; Fluttershy and Applejack had returned from feeding the critters, Pinkie Pie having joined them, and all three found Scootaloo burst through the door, tears streaming down her face. Applejack was about to speak when Scootaloo's sobbing form rushed by, galloping up the stairs, bursting through the door and finding Rainbowdash lounging on Fluttershy's bed, Rarity, Twilight and Spike with her. The mares in the room quickly spotted her, but the filly didn't care about anypony seeing her; she just galloped over to the cyan Pegasus and lunged for her, landing heavily on top of her and just sobbed into the confused Pegasus's chest, the bewildered mare holding her to her chest.

Outside, Blood Moon had watched her go his mouth open to say something and his hoof rose to stop her but nothing came out, his hoof slowly returned to the ground as he hung his head.

"Damn" he said quietly. He sat back on the ground and watched the water trickle by for a while. After what must have been half an hour of wallowing in self-pity, the assassin heard a voice call his name.

"Blood Moon" a familiar voice said. He turned to see his magenta marefriend, Hunter perched on her shoulder, approaching from the cottage, looking back at it as she trotted over to him, a worried look on her face. "What's wrong with Scootaloo" she asked as Hunter fluttered to his shoulder. The assassin looked back at the stream, Twilight sitting next to him.

"I told her what I do for a living" he revealed simply. The mare's own mood lowered when he said this, her head leaning on his shoulder and her legs wrapping his neck.

"Oh, Blood Moon. Oh, I'm sorry" she told him as she nuzzled his head slightly. The assassin's head hung lower as he thought about the repercussions of telling Scootaloo about his job; she likely hated him now, didn't want to know him anymore. He swallowed back his emotions when he realized that after such a short amount of time, his daughter didn't want to know him anymore.

"Don't be" he murmured "this is just…one of the things you get used to when you're an assassin" he said quietly he said as he rested his own head on Twi's. "It's just…it was so fast; one second we're a happy stallion and filly…the next…" His mood went from unhappy to downright depressed, both Hunter and Twilight sensing his mood as they both nuzzled him.

"You want me to go fetch Fluttershy" she asked. Blood Moon nodded.

"Please? I really need some…care and attention." Twilight nodded and stood, kissing his cheek before she left.

"Sure" she told him. He stayed silent for a while, the dark clouds gathering over him both figuratively and literally. He looked to the darkened sky and watched the grey clouds roll in to replace the clean, white ones that had been there but a second ago. The assassin's grief turned to anger and his look of anger became one of rage as he glared at the dark clouds.

"Damnit" he whispered "damnit" he muttered "dammit" he said "damnit" he growled "DAMN IT ALL" he roared to the skies as he sprang up, picked up a moderately huge rock and hurled it into the Everfree forest, flying far into the distance, in his anger. It was unknown to him that he'd just knocked out an aspiring explorer on the cusp of discovering the secret of the origins of Discord, but was eaten by a feral griffon guarding the place when the stone struck him and knocked him out.

Unawares to the historical breakthrough he'd just foiled, Blood Moon flopped back onto his front and glowered at nothingness in pure aggravation. Hunter had squawked in displeasure and flapped off of him momentarily before returning to his shoulder. The assassin looked up at his bird, finding the phoenix's glare looking back. Blood Moon's hoof went up to his head as he fussed him gently, mumbling out a small 'sorry.' He moved his hoof away from a slightly less annoyed bird's head and tucked his hooves beneath him, resting his head on one of his right fore-hoof. He didn't like being unhappy, nopony did, but his mental state gave him a tendency to dwell on the things that gave him such emotions, despite his efforts to steer clear of such ideas.

After a while, he heard the door to Fluttershy's cottage open and shut. He looked around and saw Twilight and 'Shy trotting towards him. Looking back at the stream, he didn't have to wait long to feel the pair of mares come to a stop either side of him, resting on their fronts next to him and nuzzling him between them, Hunter hopping off his shoulder and landing on the ground before him to give them room.

"Twilight told me what happened" Fluttershy said quietly as they continued to nuzzle him. Blood Moon didn't say anything as she rested her head on his and put a wing over his back. Twilight, meanwhile, had rested her head next to his as he put a hoof over her shoulder, pulling her into him. "I'm sorry Blood Moon, but I'm sure Scootaloo will come around…sooner or later" she finished quietly. Blood Moon didn't say anything in response; instead he just hummed his unconvinced agreement. Both mares felt for him, but understood that he didn't really want to talk right now, so they decided to just let him ride out his grief in their company until he was alright again.

The assassin appreciated their gesture, it felt good to be in, what might be called, a 'normal' relationship; he'd looked after them when they couldn't look after themselves, like when he'd rescued them from Hardhoof, and now they were here for him when he needed them most; when he was feeling lonely. He knew for a fact that most other ponies of his ilk would scoff at his current thoughts of a relationship that included emotional attachment and being there for one another, talking about their 'feeeeeling' but he didn't really care about their opinions; in fact, should they have said anything to him about it he'd probably just frown at them, say 'shut up' and hit them or something. Yeah, that would probably get the message across.
He didn't keep track of how long they lay there, everything dulled and became numb, everything but the mares comforting him and the water trickling along before him. Maybe it was half an hour, maybe the full sixty minutes. Perhaps two hours, perhaps three. The only thing that told him a significant amount of time had passed was that the sun had moved, Hunter had seemingly gotten bored and gone hunting while Twilight and Fluttershy seemed to have dozed off on him. He'd have done the same, only he still had Scootaloo on the mind; he just couldn't seem to get her off her mind.

'Damn stupid emotions, who needs them?'

After an amount of time had passed, Blood Moon heard the door open for as second time; he looked back to see Applejack, Feather Heart and Mayor Mare trot out. He nudged Twi and 'Shy awake, the mares blinking awake and yawning slightly as he stood up from beneath Fluttershy's wing. He hadn't bothered to wait for them to awake properly. He wasn't feeling very gentlecoltly right now. The orange mare trotter over to them quickly, glancing behind her slightly as she went.

"Hey, Blood Moon, what's goin' on with Scootaloo? Applebloom and Sweetie-Belle went up to her a while back but still haven't come down. What's goin' on?" Blood Moon lowered his head, grumbling something.

"It's complicated" Twilight said for him. The apple bucker nodded her understanding before she turned to the side slightly.

"Well, whatever the case, Miss Mayor and Feather Heart are here to see ya" she told them "might ah suggest we head inside before we start talkin' though? Ah think all the bad emotions flyin' around are puttin' a damper on the weather" she observed, looking to the grey clouds in the sky. The assassin murmured again and lead the way inside without saying a word, not greeting the mayor or Feather or even acknowledging their arrival. With a worried spring in their step, the mares followed the depressed stallion. They found him sat in the front room, a completely new demur having washed over him; he was no longer wallowing in his melancholy, now he was channelling his grief into his silent anger.
As she went to talk, Mayor Mare glanced behind her at the other mares in the room before she spoke to the master assassin turned weeping ex-father.

"Blood Moon, if this is a bad time, I can come back-"

"No, this is what I need, something to take my mind off of my sorrows" he told her. Every mare gulped slightly; there was absolutely no emotion in his voice, it was deep and endless, like a bottomless pit. A void. This voice made his normal manner of speaking sound like Pinkie's 'Smile' song. "I trust Feather has told you what I found out at Fancy's place" he continued. Mayor nodded.

"Yes, she did" she answered cautiously "and it seems this is your cue to make your move on the Goldhooves" she said. He nodded. "But not now" she told him. He looked up at her.

"And why not" he demanded. Mayor flinched; she didn't like this version of Blood Moon.

"Because…well look at you; moping around, completely cut up by whatever's happened. Fancy Pants will be nothing compared to this hit, and I'll need you in top condition if you're to do this properly" she told him. Blood Moon looked up at her again, then he stood up, then he narrowed his eyes and finally, he took a single step forwards. Everypony moved away from him as his glare turned to a snarl.

"I'm going to tell you" he took an eerie pause "one thing Mayor" he explained. He took another step forwards, but the tan furred mare was frozen to the spot in fear. "I…am in no better mood than right now, to kill somepony. That can be the Goldhooves, Celestia, Discord himself" there was another one of those pauses "or somepony in this very room, and I won't care a damn." He took another step forwards. "This contract is NOTHING compared to the things I've done" he told her harshly. He tapped her chest, felling her heavily beating heart as he did. "You'll remember that when you tell me what I want to know" he told her. Mayor would have nodded, but she was still scared stiff.

"Blood Moon…calm down" Twilight said as she approached cautiously. The assassin whipped his head to her.

"WHY THE BUCK SHOULD I" he roared "if you think, for one second, I'm the type to just settle down when I'm angry, you're dating the wrong stallion" he told her. Twilight recoiled at his words, back peddling a great distance, but she put on a brave face and trotted back up to him.

"I-I've never thought you were the wrong stallion" she told him. The dark stallion snarled.

"Well you should" he growled "the things I've done-"

"That's all in the past" she told him, cutting him off. His expression turned slightly savage.

"Not all of it" he hissed "that night, a Fancy's place? I bucked Fleur, for information no less, I didn't give a damn! There were so many other options I could have taken, but I didn't. The fastest and the easiest" he told her. Twilight's eyes were wide, small tears tempting.

"Y…you what?" Blood Moon leaned in menacingly.

"You. Heard. Me." Twilight swallowed heavily, both in fear and to hold back the floodgates.
"You wanna know something else?" Twilight would have said no, but she was too distraught and scared to do so. "Me and Rarity?" Said white mare's eyes widened.

"D-darling, now's really not-"

"We kissed. When I got back; my mind dead and my body broken, but I still had enough energy to cheat on you" he hissed. Fluttershy's and now Rarity's eyes now all had tears tempting, while tears really were running down Twilight's face now.

"W-why would you tell me something like that" she nearly wept. Blood Moon leaned in with a fearsome gaze, the likes of which she'd never seen before.

"Because. I, am an evil, blood thirsty, soul stealing, Tartarus bound, roofless, lying, cheating, murdering, thieving…Assassin. I deserve nothing but death" his snarl turned to a wolfish grin
"but I've already cheated that already."

Everypony was paralyzed; Twilight could now see the assassin behind the stallion, Rarity was now much less confused as to how his wounds had gotten on his body and the mayor and secretary could now see just who they'd gotten themselves involved with. And all of them were terrified at his threat of death. Blood Moon turned away from Twilight and looked to Mayor Mare.

"I don't care if you don't think I'm ready for this" his neck twitched "I don't give a damn about your opinion. Information. Now." Mayor nodded shakily, her breaths laced with fear and confusion as she reached back and took a wrapped up piece of blue paper from a saddlebag he hadn't noticed before and held it out to him. The assassin took it in his hoof and stashed it away. "The next time you'll see me, ponies WILL be dead" he looked between them all "and you'll probably never see me again" he told them. That was the last thing he said before he teleported from the room.

Twilight blinked once. She was broken, distraught.

Everypony was. There was no point trying to blink back tears, they were already flowing in abundance down her cheeks, though she couldn't sob; she was breathless, empty. Her heart was broken, her soul was split but her pain was internal, she kept it inside; she could feel it, the crushing sensation in her chest. She felt as though Blood Moon had just stabbed her. She looked around the room; Mayor Mare and Feather Heart looked like they were regretting going to Blood Moon with their problems, Applejack looked like somepony had just told her that her family had just burned to death, Fluttershy's face couldn't been seen behind her mane, but she could hear her weeping and Rarity…

Twilight didn't know what to think about Rarity anymore; she'd kissed her coltfriend and hadn't told her herself. She felt slightly betrayed, but she couldn't be angry at her; not only because of all they'd been through together, but because she felt she couldn't be fine with Fluttershy trying to give her coltfriend a blowjob but be angry at Rare for kissing him. The sound of hooves on stairs came from upstairs. Everypony looked over to the stairs, finding Pinkie and Rainbowdash trotting down, Scootaloo having apparently decided to linger upstairs, Applebloom, Sweetie-Belle and Spike staying with her.

"What's goin' on? We heard shouting upstairs" Rainbowdash said when she'd descended the stairs. The rainbow mane and tailed mare looked around and caught the petrified and distressed faces. "What happened? Where's Blood Moon, Twilight?" She trotted over to said mare and looked at her face. "Twi" she asked when she found the unicorn's tear-stained face and dead expression.

"AJ? Fluttershy" Pinkie Pie asked the orange and yellow mares. The pink pony trotted over to Rarity, whose eyes were locked on the spot Blood Moon had just teleported from, and waved her hoof in front of her. "I think they're broken" she commented. Rainbow sat down before Twilight and tapped her head a few times to awaken her.

"Twilight, are you okay?" The purple mare's lower lip wobbled a few times as the flood gates opened again, her face falling onto Rainbowdash's shoulder, weeping into her fur. To the rainbow and bubble-gum mare's surprise, everypony else did the same soon after; Rarity's dripping mascara dripping down her face gave away her tears, more sobs emitted from Fluttershy while Applejack let out a sharp breath, laced with sorrow as she did the same. Before the pair of confused mares knew it, everypony had broken down and was in tears. "Twilight" RD asked frantically, holding her by the shoulders, "what's the matter? Was it Blood Moon? What happened? What did he do?" Twilight took some time to push back her tears before she answered.

"He…he snapped. He just…snapped" she said shakily. Rainbow and Pinkie exchanged a glance.

"What do you mean? Who snapped?" Twilight blinked.

"B-Blood Moon… he-he" she broke down again and fell onto the Pegasus's shoulder
"Rainbow, I thought he was going to kill us" she wept. Rainbow glared.
"I knew it, I knew he was no good! Where is he, I'll kick his flank" she told them all, hitting one hoof into the other.

"No…Rainbowdash…I-I think it was because-"

"Who the hay cares why he did it, he still threatened to kill you all, and I'm not standing for that" she exclaimed. Twilight hung her head.

"Rainbow…it's because he told Scootaloo what he does" she said solemnly. RD raised an eyebrow.

"That he's an assassin?" She looked at the stairs. "So that's why Scoots was so…" she shook it away "no, it doesn't matter, who cares why?"

"Rainbowdash, you hadn't seen him…he was just…broken, a dead stallion trotting…I've never seen somepony look so defeated before" she said. Rainbowdash took her by the shoulders again.

"Twi, would you quit trying to defend him! It's obvious that unless everything's going his way, he's gonna snap like that. Twilight, he's NUTS!" Twilight looked around the room at her friends.

"W-what about the rest of you" she asked.

"Twi…ah'm with Rainbow on this one…that stallion just isn't…right in the head" Applejack murmured.

"I dare say…Rainbow's right" Rarity added. Fluttershy didn't say anything. There was silence for a time, a time where all of them were too busy processing what had just happened, what they'd just been thinking about. Blood Moon was capable of ending all of them without breaking a sweat; they'd all trusted him to keep his temper, to keep calm and not hurt them. They'd all trusted him, but now…they were no longer sure. There was a shift in the calm air, the elements of harmony looking over to where Mayor Mare and Feather Heart were sat and found them standing.

"W-we'll be going now" Mayor said quietly. The six of them nodded and offered no argument. The two of them moved swiftly for the door and left promptly, as though the assassin was still within the grounds. There was another silence. Everypony subconsciously sat in a circle, safety in numbers, and continued to retreat into their minds until they were ready to speak.

"W…what do we do" Fluttershy asked. Nopony could answer, because nopony knew the answer.

"Would he stay away from us, if we didn't want to see him anymore" Rainbowdash posed.

"Ah think we should tell Celestia" Applejack piped up. More suggestions as to what to do about Blood Moon were thrown about the room, some more extreme than others, until Twilight spoke up.

"I can't believe you all" she told them. Everypony looked at Twilight; her head was lowered and her mane was casting shadows over her face.

"Whatever do you mean, darling" Rarity asked. The purple unicorn looked up at her friend.

"After all he's done for us, after he saved our lives, after looking after us all…he loses it and you just turn your backs on him" she said, her voice empty.

"Twi, ya'll don't seem to get it; he threatened to kill all of us. You, me, Spike, the girls, everypony. What Rainbow said earlier is right, the stallion's nuts" Applejack said. Twilight's head snapped up, and there was a new fire behind her eyes.

"OF COURSE HE IS" she exploded, making her friends back peddle a little "he's fifteen thousand years old, he's been alone most of his life, he's well within his rights to be completely insane, and you're all getting on about him being a little out of it?"

"Twi-"

"I'm not finished" the magenta mare snapped at Rainbowdash "you of everypony should be most ashamed! I thought you'd be more loyal towards him" she shot at her.

"Why would I be loyal to that mad-stallion" shot back. A strand of Twilight's mane popped out of place.

"How can you have a problem with somepony being mad? Just look at me and Pinkie!" Said pink mare frowned at her.

"Heeey." Twilight gave an apologetic shrug.

"That don't change nutin'; we still can't trust him with all ah lives, not afta something like that" Applejack argued. "Twi, how can ya'll expect us to trust him now?"

"Because of everything he's done for us! Applejack, who got you to talk when nopony else seemed to care?"

"B-Blood Moon" the applebucker murmured.

"Pinkie, who was there when you needed somepony, somepony who would understand, the most?"

"Mooney" she answered.

"Fluttershy, need I say more?" The animal caretaker blushed a little. "Rarity, whose little sister would be that much farther away from her cutie mark without his guidance?" The seamstress didn't say anything. "And Rainbowdash, who was it that prompted you to forgive Sand Stalker?" Rainbow muttered something that sounded a little like 'Blood Moon.' "After all he's done for us, you'd just turn your backs on him? Ever since the battle, he's treated us like nothing less than princesses, like he'd treat Celestia and Luna." Everypony but Twilight hung their head in shame and thought, trying to come up with an argument or excuse. In the end, Rarity spoke up.

"But Twilight, you saw how he reacted when something didn't go his way, with that kind of attitude who can-"

"No, not when something didn't go his way, when he and Scootaloo fell out, when he felt his daughter had left him. Don't you understand? Blood Moon has no reason to live on his own, so he's always looking for one; we're his only reason to live because he needs somepony, something, worth living for, worth fighting for. And if that something, that pony, leaves him… he loses his will to live" she explained. Twilight voice dropped a few octaves. "How come I'm the only one who can see this?" Nopony had a response to that, nopony could dispute such a…heartfelt argument. Everypony hung their heads again, not even attempting to try and argue.

"But-but what about Fleur? H-he-he said he…y'know with her" Fluttershy said. Twilight hummed in agreement.

"Yeah…we'll have to talk to him about that" she said.

"Talk to him? Twi, ah think ya'll are bein' a bit too kind-hearted with him. He cheated on yew, ya'll shouldn't jus' let that go" she insisted. The purple mare nodded.

"I know, I'm not just letting it go, but…it's something we'll need to talk about" she answered. There was silence for a second.

"What about Rarity?" Rainbow's question rang through the air, everypony's eyes going to the weathermare then to the seamstress. Rarity looked between the all eyes locked onto her, swallowed and blushed slightly.

"Don't ya'll have anythang to say, Rare" Applejack asked pointedly. The white mare glanced at the applebucker.
"Y-yes. Twilight, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have kissed him and…there's no excuse for my actions. I'm sorry, you too Fluttershy, I know how you feel about him." She hung her head in shame. "I don't want this to pull us apart so…I-I'll…distance myself, so to speak, from Blood Moon. If he comes back." Twilight smiled slightly at her friend.

"It's alright Rarity. I can't be fine with Fluttershy kissing him but be mad at you, can I?" The white unicorn smiled back. Twilight's expression hardened slightly. "But I need to have some serious words with that stallion" she glared. Fluttershy, to everypony's amazement, followed suit and everypony promptly gulped; they'd rather get an ursa-major angry before Ponyville's resident animal caretaker. The tension dissipated some after the promise for retribution against Blood Moon, and everypony reclined to more comfortable spots around the room.

Twilight, however, stood and went for the door; she opened it to find Hunter perched on one of the trees outside. The bird of fire quickly spotted her and glided towards her, landing on her shoulder, seeing the mare as a way away from the annoying, chirping company of the other birds. Around four of them had already 'accidently' fallen off the branches. Twilight had taken a bit of a liking to Hunter; he reminded her a lot of Blood Moon. She scratched his head a little, trotted for the stairs, and climbed them.

As she ascended them, she began to hear the sounds of quiet conversation and the aftershock of tears. She went to Fluttershy's bedroom and pushed through the door; inside were Spike, Sweetie-Belle, Applebloom and a tearful looking Scootaloo. The Pegasus was wiping away lingering tears with her hoof as Spike tried to cheer her up, 'Bloom and Sweetie rubbing her back reassuringly.

"Hey, c'mon, it'll be alright. You've still got Rainbow and everypony" Spike said quietly.

"Don't forget us" the yellow filly added. Scootaloo smiled slightly, but tears still fell from her eyes.

"I know guys. And thanks for trying but…" her lip wobbled again as the tears came back before she pushed them down again "we were gonna be a family" she said quietly.

"Maybe you still can" Sweetie suggested. Scootaloo looked distraught.

"No we can't! He's an assassin, he kills for money! Why would anypony do that, why would I want to even know somepony like that" she asked them. None of them had an answer.

"But…you seemed so happy together" Spike said. The corners of the Pegasus filly's eyes went down.

"I know, but… I can't love a killer" she said. Nopony, or dragon, could argue with her.

"What about Twilight" Spike asked, prompting said mare to back out of the room a little.

"I…I don't know. I-if she still likes him, I don't know if I could live with her" she answered. Twilight felt her heart break a little.

"Why" Spike replied.

"Because I don't want to be related to somepony who kills for a living. I don't wanna be the daughter of a murderer."

"But…but he's not so bad" Spike and Sweetie-Belle said at once.

"I don't care if he isn't so bad! I don't love him no more, I don't even like him" she argued.
'Bloom and Sweetie exchanged a glance.

"You'd take Ponyville orphanage over Blood Moon?" Scoots hung her head.

"Yes…no…ye-…no, I'd take Blood Moon over the orphanage…but I wouldn't take an assassin over the orphanage" she answered. Spike raised an eyebrow, or at least, the dragon's scaly version of an eyebrow.

"So you're saying…he's not bad?"

"Yeah, but it doesn't matter how nice a pony he is. He's still a murderer" she answered. Spike hung his head, feeling slightly depressed; he knew from his own family problems that Scootaloo was better off with Blood Moon, but he didn't know which side to come down on: Scootaloo's argument of 'killing is bad' which was very true, or his and the other filly's argument of 'family is important.' He decided to try one last time.

"But…don't you think you'd be better off together?"

"No! He doesn't need me, and I don't need him" she told him. Twilight wanted so much to step in and argue, but knew she wouldn't be able to get through to her. Scootaloo was sure in her opinion, sure that she was right. Maybe she was, maybe having an assassin as a father, as a lover even, wasn't a good idea. She'd have to wait it out, and see where this went.

Wait. Wait and hope Equestria would live through the assassin's rage.

Luna waited. And waited. And waited some more. She and Cadence had gotten done with their shower/water fight and moved swiftly onto a small Killable Kombat tournament before Celestia had interrupted them. When Luna had answered the door, Celestia had said her name and just sort of…stopped, like the record was broken. The princess of the night waved her hoof in Celestia's, trying to bring her back to reality. The princess of the day didn't know what had happened to her; at first, following Frosting's advice had seemed simple at first: find Luna and tell her you're sorry. So how come, now that they were face to face, it suddenly seemed impossible.

'Come on, just say it you coward. Say it, I'm sorry. See, not so hard, c'mon!'

Celestia blinked.

"Lu-Luna. I-I-I'm…s…so-s…" Luna raised an eyebrow.

"Yes" she said at length, rotating her hoof. Celestia took a breath.

"Lu-Lu, I'm…so...so…" Luna narrowed her eyes, she knew exactly what this was, knew exactly what her sister was attempting to say. She put her muzzle into Celestia's.

"You can't say it, can you" she hissed "you just can't bring yourself to admit it, can you. Admit it, admit that you were wrong, admit it was you." Luna watched as her sister tried and failed to speak again, her maw opening and closing, trying and failing to form words. When she saw that she couldn't, Luna blasted air through her muzzle and snarled a lip slightly. "Leave me alone" Luna grumbled. She turned away and stepped back into her room.

"Luna" Celestia exclaimed, following her in. Luna snapped her head around.

"Save it Tia, I don't want to hear it" she told her sister as she turned back and continued to the seat she'd been sat on.

"Luna, be reasonable" Celestia pleaded. Luna turned back again.

"Be reasonable?" she stood up, squaring up to her sister. "How can you say that, how dare you say that after the way you treated me! If you wanna talk about being reasonable, talk to Blood Moon." Celestia glared at her sister.

"Do, not bring him up" she hissed. Luna rolled her eyes.

"Tell it to my flank, Tia" the princess of the night retorted, turning away once more and heading for the window. Celestia growled, a vein on her neck popping up slightly.

"You want me to say it, you want to hear it? Fine! Luna" she cantered after her sister, who was glaring out of aforementioned window, and spun her around "I'm sorry, with all my heart I am, I was wrong, more wrong than I've ever been before, more than I thought capable" she practically shouted into her sister's face. "There! You happy" she demanded. Luna continued to glare at her sister; she reached up with her fore-hoof and pushed her sister back a little. Cadence watched from her spot on the couch, peering timidly over the back of it, peeking over until only her eyes, her horn and the gold covered shoes holding her up could be seen. She had so hoped that the two of would talk this out, but this hadn't been what she'd had in mind.
She watched as the two of them continued to glare each other down, very possibly on the edge of coming to blows. That was, until, Luna threw her fore-legs around Tia's neck.
"That's all I wanted to hear" she answered. Celestia seemed taken off guard, her eye going slightly wide, before she reacted, returning the gesture by hugging her sister back. To say Cadence was relieved was an understatement; she'd been genuinely concerned that the two of them were about to start fighting or shouting again, but now they'd made up, or at least they seemed have. The pair of Alicorns held each other for a while, their embrace getting progressively tighter as time went on, Luna nuzzling her big sister's chest lovingly while Celestia ran her hoof through her night-sky mane, the silky texture remarkably soothing to her.
"Tia" Luna started.

"Yes" the solar princess replied. Luna nuzzled Tia's chest again, rubbing her head into her further.

"I…I wanna see Blood Moon again" she answered quietly. Celestia pulled back, her fore-legs remaining around the smaller mare's neck. She couldn't meet her eyes, resigning to looking at her muzzle instead. Celestia slowly swivelled her eyes up to Luna's, finding her conflicted and questioning gaze. She couldn't face her with the answer.

"Luna…you know we can't…we…I…" she looked into her sister's eyes again. To her slight shame, she broke, pulling her sister in again. "Lu-Lu, I wanna see him too" she answered. It should have been heart-warming, it should have been a spark of hope in the mass of dark clouds that was their relationship with Blood Moon, but it somehow didn't, it hurt them a little more than it should. The two of them wanted nothing more than to hug Blood Moon again; Luna wanted to see him in person, but Celestia just wanted to see him. There was a problem though, a chink in the armour, a flaw in the plan. They knew he would want to see them, but how could they approach him? Ten thousand years didn't go away in a few short days, so much pain didn't go away with a couple of hugs and a few nights missing each other. That kind of pain never truly went away.

There was a flash of light, and Blood Moon appeared in a dark, dank alleyway. Shadow and darkness reigned supreme here, no light could penetrate the unnaturally deep darkness, no hope could invade this almighty gloom. Blood Moon felt at home.

The assassin wasted no time trotting in forwards, kicking bags of trash out of the way, barging past a few homeless ponies and battering past an overturned trash can. The streets of Canterlot were bright, happy, most were well-guarded and populated. But the alleys and the backstreets were dark, quiet, sinister. After all, the criminals needed somewhere to ply their trade.

The assassin pushed past a few other ponies and assorted waste, his nose now home to no small amount of bad smells and his hooves were already stained with black slime and mud. He turned a corner and stepped onto an only slightly better looking side street. The cobblestone road the dark stallion now traversed was home to many ponies, almost all of which of questionable motives. Thugs, thieves, mercs and even a few fellow assassins used the alleyways and back streets to get around the city; some said that the rooftops were the thieves' highway, but Blood Moon saw the darker, more subtle alleyways as the railways; they didn't reach nearly as many places and weren't as fast but you were much less likely to be made by the guard's. That said, train robbers were all the more abundant. The dark stallion had been here all of three minutes, and he'd seen just as many muggings and thefts as he'd gone on his way. Blood Moon was in no mood to intervene, and as such, crime was allowed to fester once more. That said, for all the crime and corruption back here, there was also a small society, civilisation almost.

It was a theory Blood Moon had long harboured: a den of thieves and murderers starts in chaos, but given time, the strong will rise, the week will support them, and structure will grow. The infamous Thieves' guild was one such result of said theory of organised chaos; the brown leather hood clad highway-stallions, cat-burglars, pickpockets and other assorted robbers that silently roamed the streets of Canterlot, Manehatten and probably even Ponyville alike. Though it was here, the spaces between true society, where their power and influence was most prominent. Still, thanks to the current guild master, the back alleys were no longer simple cesspits where the undesirables and outlaws crossed cities, and this backstreet was no longer a place where criminal's simply came to rest, but instead was a semi-sort-of-successful bazaar. Small and slightly broken stalls offering dubious goods were sat along the walls of the wide alleyway, most owned and ran by stallions, and some mares, who looked like they'd seen much better days. Perhaps the saddest thing was that they hadn't.

No matter its condition or crime rate, Liar's Retreat would be home to many fugitives, outlaws, criminals, murderers and thieves than even Celestia herself knew. Blood Moon trotted past a few of the more permanent businesses; to his left sat an old wooden door, built into the basement of an old storehouse. The sign on the door read 'Ragged Flagon' but the assassin had never really paused to admire the sleepeasy of sorts that housed no small amount of bootleg cider, wine and other spirits, not to mention the drugs that flowed through the veins of most of the patrons. On his right was a pawn shop of sorts, where 'magical' trinkets of all sorts could be purchased and non-refunded. A little ways more into the street was a fence, a place that was frequented by no few sinister looking brown hooded ponies. Almost across from that was a smithy, a place called 'Sparks and Horseshoes' where pretty much all of the ponies went shopping for half-decent weapons and armour. As Liar's Retreat came to an end, more garbage was strewn around and less reputable shops and stalls were sat. When a tall, shadow covered wall met the ground, Blood Moon raised his hoof and put it to one of the bricks; he pushed against it and it gave way, sliding into the wall. The brick slid back, and another followed and another and another, until and pony wide and tall dent in the wall had formed before the bricks swung back as though on hinges, revealing a black, iron door. He stood before it, looking it up and down for a while before he banged his hoof upon it. There was a small pause before a sliding shutter at eye level opened to reveal a pair of eyes.

"While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping, As of someone rapping, rapping at my chamber door."

"Quoth the Raven, 'Nevermore'." The wrong line in the infamous poem, but easiest to remember, not to mention if somepony knew the poem, they were less likely to guess the answer to the password.

The figure behind the door's eyes had widened in recognition, remembering the assassin's voice. The pony put the shutter back into place, and the assassin's ears were met by the 'thunks' and 'clunks' as the locks, chains and other assorted defences were released. The door swung open to reveal a mountain; the stallion behind the door was of huge proportions.

The infamous door-stallion of the Shadow Weavers; his name was Brick. The name suited him. The enforcer, rather than assassin, wore a brown leather coat over his chest and back, the white shirt beneath opened slightly at the top to reveal chest hairs so masculine they had chest hairs of their own; his fur was beige, stained with dirt and sweat, while his mane and tail was dark green, a streak of lime running through it, both of which were also dirty and tangled. He'd had a simple youth, the son of a bricklayer and a mother who'd died giving birth to him, but after his father had died during an unfortunate accident, he'd been lost in the world. He'd stumbled across the Shadow Weavers when he'd helped out one of the more senior assassins, helping the mare take down a bunch of timber wolves to have attacked her. The mare, better accustomed to stealth than combat, had been grateful and had shown her gratitude by trying to mug him. After a short fight, the assassin's weapon had broken and Brick's legs were too wounded from his defence to try and fight. The assassin had then asked him to join. He'd taken up her offer and never looked back. The two were actually in a relationship now.

Brick looked Blood Moon up and down, his maw confused but his eyes held a glare.

"You've got a lotta nerve comin' back here" he growled. The dark stallion glared back.

"I've never been one to get scared off" he retorted. Brick snorted and took a single step out of the doorway. He moved slowly, very slowly, towards Blood Moon, his eyes narrowed at the stallion as his weapon, a great sword that sat on his back instead of the Shadow Weaver's standard katana, began to dimly glow.

He lunged.

And threw his fore-legs around the assassin.
"Blood Moon" Brick roared in delight as he bear hugged the killer "where in Tartarus have you been" he demanded as he reared up, coming close to crushing Blood Moon.

"I've…been around…Brick…would you let me-ack-go now?" The enforcer dropped him and backed up a little, a big grin on his face.

"Heh, sorry boss" he said, scratching the back of his neck. Blood Moon cocked his head.

"Who's home?" Brick shrugged and turned back into the hole in the wall, bidding the dark stallion enter.

"Eh, a few ponies. Few new recruits turned up a few days ago, said somethin’ about you sending them here, but they’re out on jobs. Anyway, I think everypony’ll be glad to see you though." Brick lead the way down into the hideout; black, brick walls lead down into a shadow covered abyss, the odd candle illuminating the stairway in a dim light. At the bottom of the stairs was another black door, this one made of thick oak wood; Brick pushed through and shouted into the room on the other side: "hey, look who turned up!" The assassins in the room, maybe fifteen of them, all turned to the doorway; when the assassin trotted through, four of them turned back to what they were doing, three nodded his way in greeting, five gave verbal greetings and waved, and three trotted up to him. Ember Spark, Falling Leaf and Candle Light.

"Hey, Blood Moon" Ember greets. The assassin nods her way, trotting past her. Ember follows him with her gaze, confusion in her expression.

"Boss, you okay" Leaf asks. He gets no answer. Candle looks at brick.

"Do you know what's up with him?" Brick shrugs.

"That's Blood for you rookie; ain't no point in trying to understand him" he replied before he turned back to the stairs and his post. Ember, however had been unsatisfied with the answer and trotted after Blood Moon; she followed after him, tracking him as he trotted to his personal quarters. She watched as he pushed through the door to his 'office' and close it behind him. Ember, now joined by Candle and Falling Leaf, trotted to the assassin's room in unison. Ember raised her hoof and pushed through the entrance.

The door opened to reveal Blood Moon, sat behind his desk, with his head held in his hooves and taking long, tired breaths. Blood Moon looked up and Ember swallowed lightly; the emotion in his eyes, or lack of, rather unnerved the hardened assassin as she gazed over him.

"Blood Moon, are you okay" Leaf asked from besides Ember.

"You look at this face" he pointed at his face, his mangled, ugly face of scars and wrinkles. It was world-weary and fatigued, wise around the eyes, experienced on the forehead and around the maw, broken at the muzzle and dead in the eyes themselves. There was a slice of flesh taken out of his ear and his mane cascaded over his forehead and around his horn, the tips reaching his eyes. He looked through the hairs at them, his glare diluted very slightly little by them. They could see the pain in his expression, the hurt. The anger. "And you tell me, if I look okay" he growled.