Author's Notes:

Another chapter, another fuckton of words. I have little to say now, but if you have any questions, feel free to ask away in the comments or whatever.

As always, leave a thumb, show some support or hatred, do whatever it is you do.

Stay Cool, Kids.

Edit: You do the hokey pokey

I had no idea what to do with my day, and it already seemed like it was going to be a long one. After my little revelation last night, sleep eluded me and my stomach twisted itself into knots, raveling and wrapping itself into neat little bows that filled me with the desire to do anything else but lay down. On the bright side, I used the carpentry tools I had bought some time ago to make a passable deck chair. It wasn’t exactly pretty and it may have been a bit lopsided, but it was nothing a well placed shim couldn’t fix. Working in the dark had been pretty annoying since my porch light wasn’t the best, although it still worked well enough to let me get the job done.

The Sun was rising by the time I had gotten the worst of the rough stuff off of the wood and I hadn’t slept a wink all night. Lupa was still over at Fluttershy’s, but I didn’t really want to deal with either of them at the moment. In fact, I really didn’t want to deal with anyone. I knew that my day would be even longer if I didn’t go do something, but there was nothing I wanted to do, no one I wanted, and the one thing I needed to get off of my chest at the time was something I couldn’t take to any of the girls due to me not trusting them enough to keep it quiet. Well, that was a bit bit untrue. I trusted Rarity and Fluttershy to do right by me, but I knew they would pressure me into revealing my feelings about Applejack, and it just wasn’t something I wanted to deal with.

I sat down in my newly made chair and watched the sun rise. I would have enjoyed it more if my heart wasn’t so divided, but I made the most of it by getting started on a different project. I began by checking to make sure that my knives were in their respective sheaths and packing a few days worth of food and water. I had no real idea how to make a bow, but there was no doubt in my mind that I could find something worthwhile in the Everfree, so I went to the forest’s entrance near Fluttershy’s house and started what would hopefully be a short journey.

Four hours later, I had the haunch of some goat looking thing in my satchel and a few thick branches dragging along behind me, tied to my waist by a rope. I had surfaced from the Whitetail Woods right next to my house, so I didn’t have far to walk, which I was extremely glad for. I didn’t want to stroll through town with the cloying scent of blood stuck to me, and I really didn’t want to explain just what I was going to do with the leg in my bag, so it was pretty convenient. Once I got home, I cut the branches down a bit and shoved them in my shed to dry out before collecting some deadfall from the nearby forest to make a little log cabin style campfire. I still had the massive pyre that I had built a month ago, which reminded me that I needed to get my little party put together again.

Facepalming, I deconstructed my unlit fire, grabbed a shovel from the shed, dug out a small hole, and lined the small pit with broad leaves that I had brought from the Everfree. After putting the meat that I had poorly skinned in the pit, I covered it with a few more of the large leaves and reconstructed my fire. Before I headed inside to get clean, I lit the fire to get the cooking process started. I had no clue if the meat would be okay, but I remembered seeing something similar in a documentary that followed the lives of various indigenous peoples, so I had some hope that I would have my protein for the future sorted out. My telekinesis was really coming in handy when it came to killing shit.

Post shower, life was looking up. I still had that awful feeling in my stomach, but I had some stuff to do now, so keeping busy would help deal with that. I pulled out the sapling that I had cut down and inspected it for any imperfections, but it was a fucking tree and I don’t know shit about them, so it looked fine to me. I browsed through the four other types of wood I had brought with me, but none of them struck me like the sapling. There was something about it that told me it was made of better stuff than the others, but it really just looked like wood and bark to me. I trusted my gut and started whittling away at it, but it was slow going, though I was glad for it. The monotony of the task really helped pass the time, and after a few hours, I had a rather respectable shaft, ripe and ready for whacking. I used a rasp to flatten out the tips and looked over my handiwork, checking for straightness and any notches in the wood that were too large. Finding it to be straight enough, I grabbed another piece of sandpaper from my quickly diminishing supply and worked on getting the surface smooth, progressively moving down to finer grits until I was was sure I would have to buff it to get it any smoother. I hadn’t planned on making a staff, but it just seemed like a good use for the wood, and it also meant I had a walking stick I could carve things into for shits and giggles.

I decided to keep practicing my whittling with smaller pieces of wood and, as it turns out, I’m not complete shit at it. I had a decent looking cartoon face carved into the stick I was working on and wanted to see how far this would take me. I picked up another piece of softwood and delved into the wonderful world of woodworking. By the time the sun set, I made a goofy looking dog with two legs that were shorter than the others. I set it down on my coffee table and figured that I would give it to Celestia as a sweet gesture, so I wrote out a quick note, tied it to the figurine and sent it via dragonfire. I was mildly surprised to find that I could send things other than paper and food, but it was a good thing to know in case I ever wanted to carve a penis and send it to her in the middle of Day Court. That would be a good prank.

I cleaned up the mess I’d made and collected all the wood shavings, sawdust, and scrap wood, putting it on my bonfire so I could get it out of the way. Now that I was starting to get bored, I went into town and looked for the Lock Pad. When I got there, Onyx’s clerk at the counter was the same dim fellow who had locked himself in the closet the one time. He told me that Onyx was in the back where he usually resided when he wasn’t installing locks or picking them for people. I thanked the fellow as I started heading deeper into familiar territory and caught the guy I was looking for at the door, just as he was about to take his lunch break. I mentioned that I needed to talk to him and borrow some of his wisdom, and he welcomed me to join him. Actually, he said something along the lines of ‘Then shut up and let’s get on with it’, but it's the same difference.

Once we got settled down on a bench at the park, he cracked open his lunchbox and I started talking. “So I’m having girl problems, right-”

“S’whatcha get for taking on so many at once. I have two mares I see regularly, and neither are ready to make a real commitment.” Onyx grumbled before taking a bite of his sandwich.

“Mate, that’s not even the problem here.”

He chewed for a moment. “So what is the problem?”

“I’m pretty sure I’ve fallen for one of my friends with benefits, who also just happens to be my best friend.”

“Yup, you bucked yourself there, kiddo. If you really want my advice, then here it is: Wait. Wait a week or two and see how you feel. Think about why you feel the way you do about him or her, I don’t judge, and decide for yourself whether or not to tell them once you’re certain. Nothing good will come of trying to keep it between you and someone who’s close to them, so you’re already making some decent choices when it comes to who you talk to this with.”

“I know you’re not close to her, but how do you know?”

“It’s one of the Elements of Harmony, right?”

“Yeah?”

“The only one I ever talked to was Twilight, and I think I scared her off well enough that she won’t come back with more questions. From what I know of you, she ain’t your type.”

“She’s really not, but I’m still dating her for some odd reason. Maybe I just need to learn to be a worse person and start scaring more people off.”

“It only ever works well when you’re as big as me, Knuckle, or Macintosh. You’re a little on the short side to pull it off, but you do have those predator teeth you like to flash at ponies.”

“It’s just how I smile, man! I didn’t pick my teeth, they just kinda came with being human, and there’s nothing anyone could say to dissuade me of their uses.”

“Gotta admit, I wanted to ask how meat tasted when I first saw ‘em, but it’s impolite to ask that around most non-ponies.”

I shot Onyx a bleak look. “As much as you take the piss with me, you’re worried about coming off as impolite?”

Onyx shrugged. “Just around other ponies. I have to keep up appearances to keep my business alive, but in reality? I’m just an old ex guard that’s seen more than my fair share, and in doing that, I got a lot of questions that I’d like answered. So what does meat taste like?”

“I have a few samples at home if you want to try it for yourself. After I spent some time in the Everfree, I went back to the roots of my kind and started hunting, though my methods couldn’t be much further from what my ancestors used.”

“You know what? I haven’t taken a real day off since I retired from the Night Guard-”

“Wait, you were a Night Guard?”

“Yeah? What of it?”

“Most Night Guards I see are either grey or dark grey, and the variation is only because of different lighting.”

“They use magic to change your coat when you join the ranks. I swear to Celestia, if I hear so much as a peep about a pink Night Guard…” He shot me a black glare.

I gulped. “Not from me, you won’t. I like my bones unbroken, thank you very much.”

“Knew you had a good head on your shoulders. I’m gonna go let Knuckle Duster know he’s gotta get out of my shop or into Tartarus.”

“I’m pretty sure you don’t know where my house is.”

“Everypony knows where you live around here, Max.”

I shivered. “That’s fucking creepy.”

He shrugged. “It’s what you get when you live in a small town full of gossips.”

“I might move my house, if anything then just to get off of people’s radar. Seriously, I think I’m going to be ill.”

“Save it for later and let’s get moving. I want to see what the deal is about eating living things.”

“For starters, you don’t eat them alive.”

“Shut up, smart ass.”

A passing donkey glanced over and huffed. I wasn’t even aware that donkeys existed here, nor that there were any in Ponyville. I traded a look with Onyx and he rolled his eyes, leading the way back to his shop where he told Knuckle to fuck off, and after that, we were on our way back to my place so he could finally get some meat in his mouth.

The trip back home was quick enough, but the important part is that some jet black pony with a red mane was walking toward my house. The color scheme was familiar since I hadn’t seen many jet black ponies, well, ever and I vaguely remembered meeting someone who was. It suddenly clicked and a smile broke out across my face. I hurried Onyx along and we slowly started gaining on him, though we caught him at my house anyways. Crimson had heard us approach and waved, so I waved back and explained who he was to Onyx, but he didn’t appear to be listening. Instead, he picked up his pace and went to go hulk over my friend.

“What the hay are you doing here.” Onyx rumbled in a lethal voice.

“Here to visit a friend,” Crimson responded cooly, “wasn’t expecting to see a familiar face.”

“Yeah, I bet you weren’t.”

I looked between them, and while Onyx’s tone was overtly hostile, I couldn't get anything from their postures that would tell me if they were about to scrap, so I sat back and waited.

Crimson coughed a couple times and looked over to me. “I see you’ve met my old mentor, Daisy Carni-” He ducked suddenly and Onyx’s fist occupied the air where his face had once been.

“I taught you not to call me that years ago, you ungrateful shit head!” Onyx snarled.

“Old habits die hard, old monster!” Crimson answered with a grin.

I mimicked Crimson and went over to pat Onyx’s shoulder. “Now now, ladies, let’s not mess up my house over who’s prettier, okay? Onyx, you are, just for the record.”

He grimaced and took a swing at me this time, but I had been expecting it, so I tried to dodge to the side, only to find that I couldn’t move my feet. Onyx’s swing came through and his massive hand planted itself on my chest with a resounding slap, the sound echoing comically despite how much it had stung at the moment.

Crimson chuckled from behind me, releasing his bullshit magic, and Onyx copied him in front of me. “Oi! You cheeky bastards can’t team up!” I argued.

“Whatever you say kiddo.” Onyx grunted. “It’s good to see you again, little monster.” He said, turning towards Crimson.

“I’m not little any more, old monster, and you would do well to remember that unless you want to ruin Max’s lawn.”

I waved a hand in the air. “Yeah, catch up all you want. Just don’t break my shit and we’ll be cool.” I rubbed a hand over my still smarting chest.

They both chuckled at that and I rose up from my bent over position. I lead them inside and went to grab a bottle of something that burns, but I remembered that I no longer kept much in the way of alcohol in the house. Well, barring the wine… With an evil grin, I fetched a pitcher, filled it with water, grabbed three glasses and went for the wine. Crimson gave me an odd look when I came back with a wine bottle and water, but he continued catching up with his old mentor while I did my running about. After I found my shot glass, I returned and started filling glasses with water, then pouring half a shot into each.

“Skimping on us pretty hard, aren’t you?” Onyx chuckled.

I grinned and gestured for them to take a sip, and when they did, their faces screwed up hilariously. “Trust me to keep the good stuff. From what I’ve been told, this wine is about a thousand years old.”

“Where the hay did you find something like that?” Crimson asked.

“Spent a month in the Everfree and found some dope shit.” I shrugged. “Onyx, if you ever need a battle axe for any reason, I have one.”

“No thanks, I still have my old one, and I keep it in usable condition.” He traded a look with Crimson and they spoke in unison. “A dull weapon is a decoration. A sharp weapon is a tool.”

I shook my head and they had a chuckle. “I’m guessing that’s some old guard adage?”

“It is. It’s also one of the things I had to beat into Crimson so he would look after his sword.” Onyx grumbled.

“Shut up, old monster! The way I took care of it before was fine, and you know it!”

“You made the blade as sharp as a damned razor! How the hay did you expect it to keep an edge like that!?”

“By taking care of it, duh!” Crimson responded.

I sipped my watered down wine. “Not to break up the happy reunion, but it’s been awhile since we’ve seen each other, Crimson. What brings you to my little slice of Hell?”

“What? A guy can’t just come and drop in on a friend to see how he’s been?” Crimson asked innocently.

“Sure they can, but not when it’s been as long as it has. I thought you forgot about me.”

Onyx rolled his eyes. “Crimson ain’t one for keeping in touch.”

Crimson blushed (somehow) and scratched at his face. “I meant to write you, but I just got so caught up-”

“In chasing ugly stallions so you could get your rocks off. I know what you’ve been up to, you lecherous slacker.” Onyx winked.

Crimsons blush grew. “Just because they’re high society stallions doesn’t mean they’re ugly; you just hate the upper crust style of dress.”

“They look like they’ve been put in a bucket of last night’s leftovers and thrown to the pigs.” Onyx scoffed.

They bickered back and forth for a while longer, and I quickly got bored, though adding another shot of wine to my glass helped with that. “So are you two just going to bitch and moan all night, or are we going to bring out the meat and figure out why my one time partner is here?”

“Meat?” Crimson asked with an odd look crossing his face.

“Partner?” Onyx asked at the same time. “I thought you were more of a ladies stallion.”

“I’m not gay. Crimson and I worked a job in Gryphonia not too long ago, but I haven’t seen him since.” I explained.

“Ah. Then if he’s here, it’s nothing for my ears, even if I was the guy who preceded him.” Onyx casually commented.

“Wait, you were an Operative too?” I asked, shocked.

“He was, and he was the best in his generation.” Crimson expounded. “My mentor here was so good, he went on more black operations than any other pony in history, and he even had a ninety one percent success rate!” Crimson smiled in pride.

“That was a long time ago, Crimson, and you know that.” Onyx responded softly.

“Yeah, I’m sensing a sad story and I don’t think this is the time to get into it. Lemme grab you a care package and I’ll see you some other time, okay?” I said to Onyx.

I grabbed some newspaper that I never read and wrapped a few slices of dried meat in it before handing off to Onyx. We agreed to meet for a proper beer at the bar in town later tonight, press ganging Crimson into joining us. Once he was gone, I sat down across from Crimson and we got started on business.

“So I’m sure you heard about another job in Gryphonia, haven’t you?” Crimson asked in a low voice.

“I think so, but as I’ve said earlier, I spent a month in the Everfree, so a lot of things are foggy.”

“Right. The job this time is harder than the last one, and as you probably guessed, it’s in Gryphonia.”

“Wait, this isn’t the assassination that Celestia forbade me from doing, is it?” I asked, astonished.

Crimson slowly nodded. “Princess Luna told me that Princess Celestia put a cease to any actions that would carry you into the line of fire, which is the main reason we haven’t seen each other in so long. I’ve been picking up the missions that are supposed to be yours due to Princess Celestia’s unwillingness to let you get hurt.”

I clicked my tongue. “Dammit, I’m sorry mate, but I can’t really go against her unless I want to risk losing her, you know?”

“What do you mean by that? I thought you were just one of Celestia’s favorites since you were a one of a kind.”

“I really hope that’s not the case since I’m dating her.” I responded drily.

Crimson coughed a couple times. “Moving on now. Princess Luna took the assassination on the Gryphonian King, but she couldn't get close enough to him to carry it through. She tried poison, magic, direct assault, indirect assault, bribery, and all manners of things that would make you cringe, but none of them got her close enough. The one time she had a chance, Queen Elfriede ratted her out and her cover was nearly blown, so in order to prevent the war that would ensue, she pulled back. Now, Princess Luna has sent me to ask for your help.” Crimson set his jaw and leaned forward. “What do you say?”

“Look, mate, as much as I want to help, I love Celestia way more. Going behind her back to handle a situation that she specifically told me not to sounds like a slap in her face.”

“I know love is a powerful thing, Max, I really do, but we don’t have another option here. Things are getting tense up north, and they’re getting worse by the day. Ponies are already dying because of Celestia’s actions.” And she didn't tell me? Mate, how are you okay with this?

“...Then there’s little I can say against that. I understand too well what lives are worth for me to sit back and do nothing. When do we leave?”

“As soon as possible. I can have a message sent to Onyx if you want to explain our absence.”

“I’ll do it. I need to pick up Lupa before we go anyways, so give me some time to get my notes written out. We’ll go as soon as Lupa gets here.”

“Lupa’s your wolf, right? I’m sure you’ll be glad to have her when you’re in Gryphonia.”

“Wait, I’m going in solo?” I asked.

Crimson nodded slowly and I rubbed my face. “Not the first time. I’ll make it through, though I wish I’d at least have you to back me up.”

“I’d happily go with you, but if I could go, I’d be the one doing it anyway. The reason you’re the only one who can do anything is because you’re the only one who isn’t in the roster. Trust me when I say that it’s been bleak for our fellow operatives, knowing that we can’t get back into Gryphonia.”

“I’m sure it has since that means you can’t get paid.” I smirked.

“We take jobs outside of Gryphonia, I assure you. It just so happens that you’ve been unlucky enough to keep getting stuck there.”

“Yeah, it’s just great. Next thing you’ll tell me is that you’ll be going to some tropical island while I freeze my arse off.”

Crimson just shrugged and smiled. “You cheeky fuck!” I exclaimed.

“Calm down, I’ll only be in the South for a while, and there really aren’t many islands near where I’m going. I’m just glad it’s somewhere warm and full of Ponies for once.” He sighed.

“I can understand that.” I rose and started getting things together. I packed my satchel full of clothes and food and kept my knives on me. I also grabbed my favorite jacket since I was sure that the autumn in Gryphonia was far worse than the one in Ponyville, so I collected that along with my scarf and some gloves before I started jotting down two notes. One was to Onyx to let him know that we weren’t going to be able to have that drink, and the other was to ask Fluttershy to send Lupa my way. Once that was said and done, Crimson and I sipped our drinks in silence while I thought about random things, like how the captain of Celestia’s guard was probably Twilight’s brother. It had occurred to me some time ago, soon after I realized that it had been Twilight’s parent’s house that I had broken into, but it did make me wonder why Twilight never brought the guy up. One would think that having a relative in the service is something to be proud of, but I guess that’s just not how Twilight rolls.

About thirty minutes after I’d sent my notes, Lupa and Fluttershy were at my door and I had some explaining to do. I told Fluttershy the bare minimum, citing that it was something that Luna needed me to do and that it was something I couldn’t talk about. Fluttershy, of course, was not happy about that in the slightest since I had effectively told her nothing, but there was precious little I could do to rectify that. I told her that myself. We bickered back and forth for about ten minutes, which got to be tedious after answering the same questions with the same answers time after time. Eventually, I told Fluttershy that I was expecting to be gone for a week, and that at the very least, she knew that I was leaving this time. Her anger abated when she saw Crimson, and her face turned the same color as his hair when he introduced himself. I might have been a little jealous if I didn’t know that Crimson was gay. Fluttershy was pretty amusing, however, because she couldn’t get a word out of her mouth without stuttering. After I sent her off, Crimson, Lupa, and I went to the train station and started toward a town called ‘Sadsdale’. It sounded like a fun place to me.

The train ride was boring, though Lupa was happy to bounce around the car, looking out the windows and bothering anyone she got close to. I eventually corralled her back to my side, but even then, all she did was clamber over me to get a good view of the scenery passing by. Chuckling, Crimson and I did the same, though I lost interest pretty quickly. I generally prefer to walk through my scenery, thank you very much.

We arrived in Sadsdale soon enough, but the town was… Well, it was sad. The streets were made of the same stone that decorated most of the houses, and it gave the entire area a very grey feeling. I felt my anxiety lessen once we arrived, but it was replaced by a bone deep chill that lingered uncomfortably, but Crimson assured me that it was just the way Sadsdale worked. He explained that Sadsdale was a cursed town, doomed to always be under the weather, and I was inclined to believe him. The Sun was only beginning to set, and in the mopey little town, you could barely tell because the skies were so overcast. Between the grey, withered buildings and the dry, brown grass, there wasn’t even a note of color among in the town, even among the ponies who seemed to be made entirely of black, white, and grey. It was a jarring transition, coming from a town as colorful as Ponyville. The way the two little towns juxtaposed with each other, it was such a contrast that I stopped trying to make sense of it after a few minutes of being there.

Apparently, the Transportation Station we were heading to was on the other side of town which made for one hell of a walk. To say it was agonizingly boring would be a hideous understatement. Everything looked the same, even the people! Faces and places just blurred together, and if it wasn't for Crimson’s path finding spell, I rather doubt that we would have gotten to our first destination any time soon. We got through Boresville and greeted the Night Guard that was running the Teleportation Station, and by the looks of it, the guy was actually pretty happy to see us. He went from leaning against the wall with his eyes half closed to being quite the spritely, helpful fellow. Pretty good service if you ask me.

“Before I send you off to Hooverton, I need to give you this.” Crimson said as he handed me a slim, drab looking envelope.

“If it’s that important, why not just give it to me earlier?” I asked, waving it.

“Because it was pertinent that you get it here and now, according to Princess Luna. Speaking of, the address where you’ll be briefed is in there, as well as who will be briefing you.” Crimson took a deep breath. “Not much else to say. Just keep one eye open and stay safe. I might not keep in touch, but I do care about my friends.”

“Thanks mate, but you gotta show you care some time.” I grinned and patted his shoulder. “I’ll be alright. I’ve done crazier shit for worse reasons.”

“I really have a hard time believing that, Max. Have you really thought about your mission?” He asked.

“Nope, and that’s why I’m agreeing to do it. I know this is probably the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, but if I can save lives doing it, then it’s a worthy task and that’s all I need on my mind.”

Crimson was silent for a minute. “That’s so stupid, but I’ve seen you at work. You’ve got a good head on your shoulders and some pretty quick thinking, so here’s hoping.” He extended a hand and I shook it. “The best of luck.”

“Same to you, friend.”

Crimson stood back and the Night Guard stepped forward, leading me over to the teleportation runes. Lupa yawned and trotted behind me lazily, probably just waiting for the mission to start, and I was with her. The anxiety I had been feeling came back and my stomach did back flips, most likely trying to get me to turn back, go home, and save my miserable ass from jumping straight into the fire, but I still gave the nameless Night Guard the nod, and in a moment, I was looking at a familiar face from Canterlot.

Velvet Breeze stood in front of me with a clipboard and a slight frown on her face. She hadn’t looked up, but it was still odd to think of her doing anything other than smile. When she looked up, that frown deepened and her eyes narrowed.

“Max?” She asked cautiously.

“Yeah. Hullo Velvet.” I offered her a weak smile.

“I have no orders for you, so I’m guessing you already have them. If that’s the case, please exit the Teleportation Station and carry on with your business.” She said flatly.

“...Right. Will do.”

I left with Lupa en tow, opening the envelope I had been given while in Sadsdale while trying to push Velvet out of my mind. After asking around for a bit, I eventually found the address listed, though the name that was with it didn’t ring any bells. I didn’t think I’d ever heard of a ‘Starshine Nebula’ but I was hopeful that it would be Luna in disguise. Upon knocking on the door at the meeting place, however, I was quickly pulled inside and a bright white mare with pitch black hair and oddly large glasses was straddling me in moments. The woman held a finger to my mouth and slowly got up to look out of the blinds, gesturing for me to get up once the coast was clear.

Starshine smoothed out her dress and tugged at the sleeves of her sweater. “S-Sorry about that, but you never know who’s watching.” She cast a furtive glance toward the window and drew her curtains over them.

“...Yeah. Light green isn’t your best color, by the way.” I commented slyly.

She looked down at her white sweater and black dress. “I’m not wearing any light green.” Someone's forgetful.

“Are you sure about that? Actually, nevermind, I don’t care that much. Are you Starshine?”

“Please, call me Nebula.” She said meekly.

“Nebula then. You’re the one briefing me?”

She smiled a bit when I called her Nebula, but her face became more serious after that. “Yes, I’ll be giving you your information. Do you want the full mission specs or an abridged version?”

“All the important details. Not trying to get killed for not knowing some things.”

“The smart survive.” Nebula said with a grim smile. “We’ll start with the basics: The mission is in Otterwa, in King Adolf’s castle. You’ll be staying in the nearby town of Geflugelt, and you’ll be making your move from there. The King isn’t known to keep a rigorous schedule, so your best times will be at night or at dawn, when the guards change. However you want to complete the mission is fine, but you must confirm that you have actually slain the king, and for that, we need a piece of him.”

“...That’s pretty brutal.”

“It’s the nature of the job.” She shrugged.

“How tall are the outer walls?” I asked.

“The outermost walls are about six meters high, and the castle’s own walls are about one hundred and six meters at their tallest point.”

“What are the walls made of?”

“The outer walls were made from slabs of rough cut stone, and the inner walls are made from cobblestone and mortar.”

“Not bad. What do we know about guard rotations?”

“Princess Luna drew us a map, it’s in the dossier I’m giving you.”

“Great news. Lookout positions?”

“There’s a reason Princess Luna was able to get into the Castle so many times. There aren’t many lookouts on the outer walls, but ever since she failed, there have been more. There are still blind spots that you can use, as well as the castle sewer and laundry system.”

“Both of those sound like I’ll need plenty of luck to use them, so I think I’ll pass. How do they want his death to look? Am I going to be equipped with poison?”

Nebula raised her index finger and rushed off further into her house. I looked around a bit, but saw nothing of note besides a little statuette that looked a bit like a standard alien, oddly enough. She returned before I could inspect it in depth and she had three small vials in one hand, a pouch to hold them, and a large manilla envelope in the other. She handed the pouch to me and started with the red vial.

“This one here is called ‘The Red Menace’. I cooked it up myself!” She grinned. “It’ll cause intense hallucinations in its victims and once they die in their visions, they die in real life!” You're way too happy about that.

“...Sounds like a bad way to go.”

“It really is! All the mice I tested it on came back to haunt me and I had to get an exorcist, but I don’t think he got them all.” She scratched her chin. “Eh, whatever. Here.” She handed the vial to me and I put it in the pouch.

“Now this blue one,” She held it up. “Is supposed to put the victim into an unbreakable sleep. Eventually, they wither away and die, but it’s long and slow. It’s basically starving someone to death.” Nebula pursed her lips.

“Better than The Red Menace. What’s it called?”

“I didn’t make it, so I didn’t name it.” She shrugged and handed that one off to me. “The last one,” She held up the vial full of white stuff, “Is a little notorious. One drop, and you can wipe out a hamlet. It’s called ‘White Death’ but if you use it, you really should keep in mind that you might have some collateral damage.”

“...Did you make it?”

She looked away shiftily. “...Maybe.”

“How do you know what it does?” I asked slowly.

“Do you really want that question answered? The Princess asked for it, I made it. That’s all there is to it” She hissed.

“Which Princess?”

“Do you want it or not?”

“Not just no, but Hell no I’m not going to use something that might up my body count. I really don’t want to kill the King dude as is, but I don’t really have much of a choice.”

“That’s right. When it comes to the Princesses, nopony does.” She muttered darkly.

“I thought the ponies loved their eternal rulers?”

“Most, not all. If you’re working for them, you should have heard about me.”

“I have not heard of you, actually.”

“Seriously?”

“Celestia tries to keep me away from this line of work, in most cases.”

“I can understand why if you’re really her favorite like the rumors say.”

“Yeah, those rumors are probably true. I’m guessing you have a reputation for being some genocidal mad scientist type in the Dark Ops circles?”

“It takes all the drama out of a moment when you say it like that.” She huffed.

“It sure does.” I strapped on the pouch and looked at her. “Is there anything else I need to know, or can I get a headstart on travelling?”

“Yes, actually. We have friends in King Adolf’s staff that will help you get to where you’re going, but you can’t let them get caught. Equestria values it’s agents very highly, and any loss of life due to negligence is severely punished.”

“Yet Equestria uses poisons that can kill hundreds of people?”

“...Shut up and get to the border. You have a long walk ahead of you.” Nebula adjusted her glasses and turned her back to me.

With a grin, I left Lupa’s side and slid my arms around Nebula. “Don’t be that way, love,” I whispered in her ear, leaning into my 'accent'. “Can’t always be so… sensitive, now can we?” I nibbled on her ear and she jolted away.

I struggled to wipe the grin off of my face. “I-I-I I have to go do research!” She said quickly before making her exit. It was too easy.

“That was completely unnecessary.” Lupa huffed.

“But it was funny, was it not?”

Lupa snorted and lead the way out of the house. The Sun had been setting in Sadsdale, and here it was no different. With only a few hours of daylight left, Lupa and I asked around to see if there was an inn nearby. As it turns out, the inn was placed near the Teleportation station which just so happened to be clear across town, and since Hooverton was significantly larger than Ponyville, Farrier, or Sadsdale, that was a bit of a walk. Once Lupa and I arrived at the only inn in town, we were told that they didn’t allow pets, unless of course, the owner was willing to pay a fee. I tried to argue that Lupa could understand everything that he’d just said, but he just gave me an odd look and Lupa just laughed at me like the bitch she be.

I paid the extra fee and we walked up four flights of stairs to get to our room. Luckily, they had a dumbwaiter and a magical walkie talkie, so I was about to order food for Lupa and I. The food sucked, but it kept my stomach full, so I can’t really complain, though I can complain about the state of their mattress, which was complete bullshit. I swear, the pad I’d had at the Castle in the Everfree was softer.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next morning was a rough one. I was more than a little sore from the shitty brick I had been given to sleep on, but I still needed to get my journey underway. I spent a good fifteen minutes sitting on the side of the bed, contemplating what the shit had brought me to this level of retardation, but I cleared my head and got a move on before I could psyche myself out. I had a king to slay, after all.

The walk there was boring as shit, I didn’t meet anyone interesting, and the border guards were pricks, so I’ll skip all that noise. Lupa and I had some interesting talks about sexuality, life and death, and how I was practically forced into being with Celestia due to my position and first impression. The last one was an interesting one, but I won’t go into detail about it since it was long and boring, so deal with it. Especially if you’re not me or Celestia. Actually, if you’re not either of us, fucking kill yourself. You’d be doing the world a favor.

That aside, after two days journey, we arrived in Otterwa. The city itself was about as large as Canterlot, but the effect it had was so completely different. Tall brown spires dotted the city and the castle loomed menacingly over the town, its massive stone walls seemingly warding off any possible assailants. It was quite the sight to behold, and I was quickly realizing just how in over my head I was. A former petty thief was here, in the capital city of a foreign nation, to assassinate a king and set his wife up as his successor.

This was some serious RPG style bullshit.

Lupa and I made our way into the heart of the city in fits and spurts, trying to secure food and lodging for the night. We avoided back alleys at all times and stayed out in the open, making sure not to trust anyone that offered to take us somewhere themselves. Eventually, some grizzled old guard pointed us in the direction we wanted to go and we nabbed a room and some meat for the night. Lupa was grateful for the meal and I was grateful to have somewhere relatively safe to sleep, though I still kept my knife under the pillow.

Morning came and I got out out into the city and into the alleys. I had avoided them while entering the city because I wasn’t looking for that kind of trouble, but I had a feeling that I would find someone willing to answer some questions around there. I picked up a follower during my search though, and they were very bad at their craft. For one, they stayed way too close, and then they just made too much noise. I eventually turned a corner and ambushed them, spinning my tail around and slamming them into the wall next to me. My follower let out a loud squawk, but since I had them pinned against a wall with a knife against their throat, there was precious little they could do.

“Who are you and why are you tailing me?” I snarled in their face. I couldn’t tell if it was male or female.

“M-My name is Flint! You just looked weird! Don’t kill me, please, I-I have a sick sister!” Flint sputtered, terrified. Now that I had a chance to examine him, he seemed to quite a few years younger than me, if his generally gangly appearance was anything to go by. The crackling in his voice also clued me in, but I generally try not to let that play a part in any first impressions. After all, it wasn’t something anyone could control, and being a victim of puberty was just a fact of life.

“You should have thought of your sister before trying to follow me. Who sent you?”

“No one, I swear! I was just passing the time!”

“Right. You have ten seconds to tell me the truth before I start chopping pieces off of you.”

That got him properly motivated. “G-Godrick sent me! I don’t know him personally, but he pays me to follow interesting people, so that’s what I do! It’s all I do, I don’t get paid enough to die!”

His voice rang true, so I eased up. “Where can I find this ‘Godrick’ guy? I have a few questions for him.”

“I-I don’t know!” Flint clenched his hands.

“Thinking about decking me, aren’t you?” Flint gulped. “Yeah, don’t do that, it’ll get you killed until you die to death. Tell me where I can find your boss, and I’ll make sure your name doesn’t come up in conversation. If I have to find him myself, I’m selling you out so he can deal with you.”

He gulped again and gave me an address. Of course I didn’t believe him, so when he ran off, I had Lupa follow his scent and we tracked him down to an old, run down apartment that seemed like it was a haven for all sorts of unsavory types. The squat red brick structure had obviously seen better years, and the citizens of Otterwa may have passed by it, but even after an hour of watching the building, I noticed that no one actually looked at the thing, which made me more than a little nervous. If I wanted my information, I was going to have to go in with only Lupa as back up, and I had no idea what I was dealing with. After staking the place out for about thirty more minutes, I didn’t see anyone come out or go into the building, so I took a meandering path and approached the building from the alleyway behind it.

Behind the building was where the party resided. There were a few dozen Gryphons milling about, all carrying boxes of various sizes or weapons that looked pretty harmful if you found yourself on the wrong side of them. The Gryphons themselves were clearly cut from a different cloth that the ones I had seen on the streets, and I could see that I was going to have my hands full if things went south. It was in the way they walked; the way that the armed ones carried themselves that told me I was well and truly back to square one, dealing with the writhing underground of crime once again. For some odd reason, my heart skipped a beat and confidence sparked in my heart. This was where I clawed my way to a decent part of the food chain, a familiar enemy that I’d taken down before. This wasn’t Equestria with its minute niceties that restricted me from being who I was. No, this little alley behind a ramshackle tenement was analogous to where I had began my life as a thief, and it was here that I could be the me that I was before coming to Equestria.

I strolled down the alley with some swagger to maintain face and to give me the impression of someone who knew exactly what they wanted. I got a few cursory glances, but none of the freight haulers paid me much attention. The armed guards, on the other hand, kept an eye on me as I approached my destination. I paused at the back door to speak with one of the Gryphons guarding it.

“I’m looking for someone,” I said bluntly, “fellow named Godrick.”

The two burly Gryphons traded a look before they burst out laughing. “Yeah, no.” The one on the right said. “I don’t think our boss is looking to deal with any hosers like you right now. Why don’t you go grab some mead and see if he can make some time for you?”

“That sounds like something I’d rather be doing, but I rather need to speak with him. You two loyal henchmen wouldn’t take a bribe, now would you?” I tossed them a fifty bit coin each and they traded another look.

The one on the left spoke this time. “I wouldn’t go around flashing Equestrian gold around here, buddy. Brings all sorts of trouble.”

“Might make ya some friends, might make you some enemies.” The one on the right added.

“Let’s hope it just made me a couple friends then, yeah?” I replied calmly.

They the one on the right stared at me and his companion went inside. I took that as my cue to wait, so I had a staring contest with the fellow who stayed behind. He totally blinked first, in case anyone is keeping track, and I let him know, though he was confused. The guy shrugged and continued staring at me, which was awkward, but I’ve slowly grown a bit of a tolerance to awkward moments, seeing as how I spend so much time in them. Maybe I was becoming more shameless? Soon enough, the guy returned and gestured with his head for me to follow him in. I thought things were going far too easily, but I held the slightest hope that criminal elements in Gryphonia were incompetent and that they would give me what I needed.

The inside of the building was more like a factory than the apartment I had taken it for. I t reminded me of old pictures of the assembly lines in Detroit after the automotive boom. Rubble lined the walls, the eerie lighting casting queer shadows over what few surfaces it covered. There were more armed guards supervising dudes with boxes , and it seemed to be quite the well oiled machine, moving boxes in and out without so much as a misstep. To my left, there was a Gryphon opening a crate of some kind, and inside, there were several very long and very sharp looking spears, primed and ready for action.

My dumb arse had hunted down and bribed my way into seeing an arms dealer.

I’d only ever dealt with one before, and Slick Sagiano was a right prick at any given moment. I remembered the fellow as being a complete greaseball in every sense of the word, and that was why I had pulled multiple jobs on him for various clients over the years. You only get to short me once before you earn yourself a place on the menu. Of course, crossing Sagiano had had its repercussions, but they were manageable since the guy was an idiot anyway, only possessing any real kind of power because of his brother’s fearsome ways. I had no way of knowing if Godrick was Slick or Savage, but I was hoping that he would have the connections I was looking for. If I knew crime bosses at all, they often had their hands in multiple cookie jars, and I was willing to bet that Godrick was one fat cat, if his operation said anything about the scale of his efforts.

The grunt lead me up a staircase and to an office at the top of the building, and once we arrived, he knocked three times in a peculiar pattern before the clear sound of multiple locks being disengaged could be heard. Once the final and loudest lock had been dealt with, the door swung open to reveal a hulking mass of feathers and fur. Honestly, the guy looked like Lupa could be his lap dog. Needless to say, my bravery took a hit and I was tempted to call everything off and just go back to Equestria, but I’ve always been one to follow through, even in the shittiest of times.

“Is that the guy?” A mid twenties sounding voice called out from behind the behemoth.

“Yeah. Can you make Tiny standby?” The grunt yelled back.

“Tiny!” The guy in the room shouted. “Get out of the way!”

Tiny moved and the grunt grabbed my arm, leading me into the office. At a desk on the far side of the room, there was a youngish looking Gryphon with two scars that ran parallel across his face, clicking his talons together in anticipation. Tiny had moved to stand beside him, and the size comparison was nearly humorous, even the the Gryphon, who I assumed was Godrick, was about my size.

“So you’re the guy flashin’ bits around, huh?” Godrick monotoned. “You obviously aren’t from around here, so I’ll tell you now that it ain’t a good idea. The only reason you’re in here is because my little buddy Flint said you might be looking for me, and I think you followed him here, yeah?”

“I sure did.” I responded evenly.

“Yeah, you didn’t go to the place he told you, now did you?”

“Nope. I knew it was fake.”

“Which tells me you’re a pretty smart guy. Something that just doesn’t make sense to me, however, is why this smart guy is looking for me when he ain’t from here. Maybe you’d care to elaborate? How do you know about me?”

“Honestly?” I chuckled. “I learned your name from the kid. I figured that if you’re powerful enough to have interesting characters followed for the hell of it, you might have the connections to get me where I need to go.”

“I knew that runt would never be able to keep his mouth shut.” Godrick muttered darkly. “Whatever. I’ll hear you out since you went through all this trouble just to track me down, then. What do you want?” Godrick sat back in his seat and crossed his arms.

“I need a way out of the city in four days time. Nice and quiet, no questions asked, as close to Hildegarten as you can get me.” I said.

“Hildegarten? That’s a long ways away.” Godrick smirked. “That’ll cost ya plenty.”

“But you can get me there?”

“No shit, I can get anyone anywhere in this country! The only thing is that I want five hundred. Up front, no tricky business, you hear me?”

“I’ll give you half up front, but I want to know that you’ll actually do it.”

“Well that’s just too bad. You should have thought about that before you tracked me down, and now that you’re kinda stuck,” Godrick grinned evilly and spread his talons in front of him. “I just want you to empty your pockets.”

I stood very still and concentrated as Lupa lowered herself to the floor, preparing to lunge at the grunt next to us. I focused my efforts and my tendril began to take form.

“You see, the problem with that is that I don’t want to give you my shit, and you’re not going to take it from me. I’ll give you half up front, and half when I’m in Hildegarten.”

“Buddy, you don’t really have much of a choice here.” Godrick chuckled. “Tiny, shake him down and-”

I swung my wrecking ball and Tiny’s head exploded into a fine red mist. Godrick blinked a couple times and started wiping his henchman’s blood off of his face while is other colleague just stood in shock. I placed a hand on Lupa’s back to keep her from taking out the grunt, staring hard at Godrick.

“I have a few choices, now don’t I? I could finish the job and kill everyone in this room, or I could leave with what I came for, and we could have ourselves a merry little agreement. What do you say, Godrick; will I have to hunt you down a second time?” I asked coldly.

“...It’ll get done. Four days time. Meet ‘em at the Worried Wasp, name’s Frieda.” Godrick said cautiously.

I walked over and set four fifty bit coins down on his desk, followed by another two. “For your business and for your loss.” I turned and stared at the grunt who had lead me in and he moved toward the door and lead me back out, jumping at most of the sudden, loud noises that were going on within the building. I was guessing that the guy was terrified since I had just made his buddy’s head turn into jelly and gristle, but that was no reason to be so cold. I myself was feeling a bit queasy, but I ate my feelings of regret to fuel my desire to get this over with.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The next day, I picked up three more tails while out and about, gathering information. I lost each of them with a well practiced ease, but I was sure that there would be more as I kept digging. In seedy bars and worn down saloons, I made my inquiries and doled out bits to build a decent web of information. By my second day there, I had a half-assed network of bums and prostitutes tipping me off in one way or the other to interesting happenings in the castle. I kept my operations to a low profile, but I still garnered interest from my efforts and had to switch inns twice. The place that I was staying at now was on the outskirts of town, around the back of the castle where things got awfully slimy real quick. While I was collecting information for the day, I ran into someone on the street who pointed me in the direction of an old crone. The person themselves had been nondescript in every way, and when thinking about them, I can only remember that they looked like the average Gryphon.

I followed my newly begotten lead late into my third day, heading down winding alleys and streets to find the hovel that held the crone I was supposed to speak with. Lupa aided me in my search by sniffing around, but without a sample or really knowing what she was looking for, there wasn’t much that could give us a solid lead. Still, after an hour or two of searching, we found a broken down house that should have been, by all rights, condemned and destroyed long ago. I stood on the crumbling stoop and knocked on the door, softly at first, then hard once my knocks went unanswered. Eventually, a nearly featherless, withered old woman came to the door.

“I heard you the first time, you know.” She groaned.

“Sorry, but I wondered if you were even here.” I shrugged. “Are you the one they call ‘Soothsayer’?”

“Bitch, I might be.”

I blinked. “Well okay then. I was told that you could ‘aid me in my journey’ or something.”

“I probably can. I’m a talented old lady, you know.” She cackled harshly. “Come in, boy. We got a lot to talk about and not enough time to do it.” The old lady disappeared back into her ramshackle… Hut? I would call it a hut, I suppose.

Following her in, candles lit most of the hazardous hut, so I didn’t have any issues there, but the smell that resided within was heavy and thick, making one’s head spin. It was definitely herbal in nature, but it wasn’t something that I was familiar with, so I couldn’t identify it, but I knew that there was far too much of it in such an enclosed space. My bitching aside, the old lady was very hospitable, bringing me a cup of some oddly flavoured tea that burned in just the right way going down. I had learned that the Gryphons were certainly fond of their alcohol, and whiskey in particular through mingling with the locals. Of course, if anything worth recording had been mentioned, I would have done so, but it was mostly just trading stories like so many of my other interactions, which was exactly what I was expecting to happen with my host.

We sat down on cushions around the remnants of a fireplace and sipped our tea. Shortly after finishing my tea, my host took my cup from me and dumped the regs on the saucer that had come with it. She poked and prodded at the leaves for a moment, making ‘hmm’ noises as she did. I always thought that reading tea leaves was on of the dumber bits of divination, but in a land chock full of magic, my disbelief was suspended.

“Hmm…” My host scratched her chin. “You’re here for some very nefarious reasons, if I’m reading these correctly. Why you trippin’?” She asked.

“...It’s only nefarious if you consider it so. What else was in your little reading?” I asked, skipping the unimportant bit.

“Well, besides the fact that you’re more than likely going to die while trying to complete your mission, not much to be completely honest.” She shrugged. “I hope you succeed with whatever you’re doing, you seem like a nice enough young man, after all, but I rather doubt that the path you’re on will bring any sort of happiness to you. Should you live through your current endeavor, there is only tragedy ahead of you.”

“That’s not foreboding in the slightest. If I manage to live, what am I looking at?”

The crone took another look at the dregs. “Well, I see loss of some sort, enmity, and pain. I wish I could tell you more, but the sign of imminent death is taking up a lot of your space, home slice.” Why do you talk like some Chav half the time?

“So even if I don’t die, I’m looking at a sucky life?” I sighed. “I already knew that much.”

“Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, playa! I haven’t even told you that there’s a light at the end of the tunnel!”

“Oh really?”

“Yes. After years of turmoil, you will eventually be some manner of happy. If you don’t die within the next three days.”

“Oh happy day,” I sarcastically commented. “I can’t believe I’ll eventually be not sad if I don’t die from doing stupid shit.”

“It is what it is, boy.”

“Yeah, I figured. Never caught your name, by the way”

She cackled again. “No offense, but I don’t think I want my name known by a kingslayer, even if he is as cute as you.”

“...How did you know?”

“Don’t worry about it, Max. It’s a tricky magic, but it’s more real than any that those pathetic little ponies use.”

“Wait, what do you mean by that?”

“I mean that there’s pony magic, and then there’s the good stuff! I wouldn’t be too concerned with it now, though. It’s not really in your best interest.”

“Right.”

The silence stretched on until the crone spoke again. “I’ll give you a hint, if you care to ask.”

“I’m listening.”

Her tone turned dark. “Go through the kitchen, it’ll be the easiest and most direct route.”

“If you know I’m going after your King, why are you helping me?” I asked, confused.

“Because Adolf is no King to my people.” She began bitterly. “For years, Adolf has been slowly turning this country into Tartarus, letting my once beautiful nation crumble like this old house.” She spat on the floor. “We have more thugs in the streets than ever, more crime bosses divvying up territory like they’re slicing up pie than you can count, and people just don’t trust each other like they used to. I’ve heard more tales of rape and murder than these old ears care to hear, and if Queen Elfriede had her way, we wouldn’t be so focused on trying to go to war with those foolish ponies! History has proven that the ponies aren’t as easy a target as we think they are, but I’ve read our books and learned from my elders in my time: Equestria is a sleeping dragon that we should not be poking. If Adolf must lose his life for my countrymen to see that, then I say deal with him as you see fit.”

“That makes my conscience rest a bit more easily, knowing that he’s run his country into the ground.”

She tsked. “Paying attention would have told you that. Now that I’ve ranted, I suppose you’ll be taking your leave?”

“I’ve always had an ear for an old lady with a lot on her heart.” I offered.

“This old lady has gotten the worst of it out. Take it easy, Max.”

“...Yeah, take it easy.” I stood and prepared to leave, but couldn’t help myself. “If you don’t mind me asking, how do you know my name?”

“N**** please.”

“...Right.”

Lupa and I took our leave from there and started the long walk back to our inn, though she was just as confused about the encounter as I was. Neither of us could make much sense of what the old lady’s words about differences in magic was, but if it meant that I could possess my own, I have to admit, I was more than a little interested. Still, once I voiced my opinions to Lupa, she shot them down stating that I would lose my sense of self if I in particular had magic. I couldn’t help but agree, due to my general leanings toward being a prick. It didn’t matter much anyways: I wasn’t going to go actively looking for something so easily corrupted if I had a choice. I may have been interested, but caution was one of the main reasons I was able to be a thief as long as I was.

We got to the inn after midnight, so we weren’t able to get dinner, but an empty stomach was the least of our worries. Tomorrow night was the deadline that I had given myself. I would end the King’s life, and hopefully keep my own.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The morning started and ended shittily. Lupa and I were rudely booted from our room during the wee hours of noon, making sure that we didn’t have a base for our operations later in the night, though the issue was rectified after a few hours of barhopping. Most of them were throwing out customers who’d outstayed their welcome at this point in the morning, and the early drinkers were still petering in. The drinking culture was strong in Gryphonia, and for once, I was grateful to have a bunch of loose lipped fools babble away, filling the space with a dull, undulating tone.

Since I was in a bar, I ordered a beer because that’s what you’re supposed to do, no I don’t have a problem, and a couple of hearty slabs of whatever meat they had. With breakfast sorted, I ran over my plan in my head, and it was rather straightforward. Enter through the kitchens in the back of the castle after scaling the outside wall, dodge guard patrols until I got to the fourth level of the far west tower, probably kill some guards, put a knife in the King’s heart while he’s napping and get the fuck out of dodge. When I thought about it like that, it had all seemed so simple, and that was generally how I liked to keep my plans if there were unknown elements. Between the mapping of the guard patrols that I had been given by Luna and a few patterns there within, I wondered how Luna failed in the first place and how anyone expected me to do this when one of the damn near almighty princesses couldn’t do it.

Shaking my head, I downed my beer and spent a few hours inwardly complaining, and then outwardly complaining once I got a few more in me. Of course, I stopped drinking at a decent time so I wasn’t exactly intoxicated, but I was feeling it regardless. However, my nerves were steady and the liquid courage had done its part. If I could keep my head together, then I could get in and out without any issues, so I paid the tab that I had accumulated through the day and departed the bar around six thirty; three hours before the guards rotated. I took that time to make a circuit around the castle’s outer walls for the umpteenth fucking time, but I saw nothing new. My best bet was still in the same spot, and the sky was rapidly darkening. The time to move was closing in quickly and I needed to get into position.

Through stakeouts and bribery, I learned that the zone with the thirteenth tower was the one that was almost never actually guarded. In fact, I had learned through some sneaky eavesdropping that the guards took that specific shift as a break since they were never actually slated to get any real off time, so if you wanted to make a quiet entrance, that spot was your best bet. I loitered around the area, dipping into a shop every now and again to give myself the general presence of a lazy shopper rather than a lurking cutthroat.

Once the last of the heavy traffic petered out, I saw something quite surprising: I wasn’t the only one scaling the wall to get into the castle. In fact, there were four other people with my idea and each of them patiently waited their turn before entry, and each of them were unceremoniously thrown back over the side. The thirteenth tower was a bust, but I had a smelly backup plan.

Now, my sense of smell got a lot better while I was in the Everfree, and for the most part, it was a good thing, but ever since coming to Gryphonia, I noticed that it was starting be much less of a boon. In the town sewers, there was no doubt that it was a complete negative. I voided my stomach’s contents more than a few times and so did Lupa, but since we were down there, we had a job to do. I had remembered every turn in the map that Nebula had given me in the dossier from my entry point to the castle, and thankfully, there were only a couple, though I did have to count the side tunnels to know exactly where I was at, and I was doubly grateful for the walkway that meant that I wouldn’t have to trudge through… sludge to get to my destination.

But my God, the fucking smell.

Breathing through my mouth made it no better, so I tried to get my mind off of it, focusing on getting Lupa and I to where we were going.

“This has to be the single stupidest thing you’ve ever done.” Lupa growled.

“It’s only stupid if you look at it that way. This is actually an ingenious way of getting into the castle. You just hate it because it's dark and smelly.”

“It reminds me of bears, but at least they don’t smell this bad. Next time, I pick the mission.”

“Hopefully there won’t be a next time. Hell, there shouldn’t have been a ‘this time’, and I need to make sure we’re clear on not telling Celestia. If I catch flak for saving her country from a goddamn war I‘m going to be very cross with both of you.”

“She won’t hear a word from me,” Lupa chuckled, “the bitch can’t even understand me!”

“You’ve sold me out before. Remember when we raided Twilight’s parent’s house? You totally threw me under the bus on that.”

“I don’t know what that means, but you deserved it. Pure foolishness was the only thing in your head when you did that.”

“It was pure foolishness that I probably could have gotten away with! You got me sent back to Ponyville!”

“Hmm. That’s a curious hypothesis.” Lupa commented lightly.

“Hypothesis!? It’s the truth you fucking mutt! I’ve dealt with a lot of shit because of your actions, and I demand recompense!”

“Shut up, will you? Just because we’re underground doesn’t mean we’re inaudible.”

I simmered down. “Fair enough, but my point still stands.”

“I’ll give you plenty of ‘pupper kisses’ whenever we get home, then. If we get home.”

“...You said you would never talk about that.”

“It was just so cute, I couldn’t help myself!” Lupa looked up at me, wagging her tail. “It’s rare that I see that side of you.”

“And to think you’ll never see it again.” I replied.

“You’re just mad because you’re cute.”

“I’m handsome, dammit! Girls and pretty boys are cute. I? I am a man! See this beard? That’s some man shit!”

“...You’re a cute little fool, yes you are.”

“Shut up, Lupa, we’re almost there.” I drily responded.

“We have nine tunnels left to pass, so we’ve got at least fifteen more minutes of walking.”

“And I’ve got about fifteen seconds left of patience.”

“I’ll be sure to spend that time wisely.” Lupa chuckled.

“Please don’t.”

She respected my wishes (for once) and we walked on in peace for the last clip. Once we saw the ladder leading to the surface, I noticed that there was water sluicing down from the manhole cover, so I hung back for a moment before climbing it, just in case those fluids were something I didn’t want to touch. After five minutes of waiting, the water wasn’t stopping, so I assumed that it was clear to ascend. Lupa had a harder time than I did with the ladder, but she still managed to stay right up my arse, unfortunately.

With a nose in my bum and a rusty ladder supporting me, I pushed against the cover and found that it was actually surprisingly light, far less heavy than the other one I had lifted. I clambered out of the sewer and found myself in what appeared to be a communal bath of some sort. I had never made use of the one in Canterlot because it just seemed weird to me, but luckily, there were no patrons at this hour. I scooted the cover the rest of the way off of the hole and Lupa joined me topside. I left the cover slightly misaligned just in case I needed to make a quick escape, but decided against it at the last moment, hoping that I would have enough time to make my exit through where I had came from.

I scanned the bath house before carrying on, my eyes sweeping over white tile of every kind, and over the large steaming body of water that was the main bath. I was standing in the shower stalls currently, but I needed to hurry up and get out of the open. I hunkered down to a familiar stance and snuck my way through the bathing area, happy that it was empty. Consulting my mental map, I left the bathing area and tried to find the kitchen, the place where I had origianlly made my plans.

Now, to say that the castle was massive would be an understatement, and to say that it felt anything like the one in Canterlot would just be flat out wrong. Instead of the clean marble that adorned the walls of Celestia’s castle, the architecture of the Gryphonian structure was far more Victorian-esque. It reminded me of a cathedral in a way that sent chills down my spine, but I wasn’t about to let a hostile environment stall me. I cast a couple glances down either side of the hall leading to the bath and saw a guard patrol closing in quickly. They appeared to work in pairs and were heavily armored, though from what I could see, they appeared quite bored with their task, despite Luna’s failed attempts on Adolf’s life.

The guards passed at a lazy gait, and I hid behind a particularly large potted plant. Lupa, with her size, chose an erect stature of armor that loomed over most other decorations, standing straight up to keep herself in cover. I held my breath as they passed, not wanting to give either of them a chance to spot me.

Luck was not on my side. Just as they cleared Lupa’s hiding space, she did the stupidest, most retarded fucking thing that she could have done. She sneezed. In fairness, one cannot control a sneeze without opposable thumbs, but I would have appreciated it far more if she had not done exactly that. The guards turned on their heels and scanned the area for the source of the noise, and they found Lupa all too quickly. Just as I was preparing to cleave their heads from their shoulders, Lupa began whimpering and tucked her tail between her legs, backing up as far into the wall as she possibly could. The guards traded a look and one of them went over to her with a hand outstretched.

“C’mon now, ya mangy mutt. Don’t know how you got in here, but we can’t let ya bleed on the carpet-”

I swung my tendril, the tip formed into a flat round shape, and the guard stopped moving, his head slowly sliding off of his neck like it was a shitty anime or something. His buddy drew breath and prepared to shout, but Lupa was on him in the blink of an eye, ripping off his helmet and most of his face in one go. With the poor sod’s beak in her mouth, Lupa tossed her head and flung the beak in my direction before she ripped the bastard’s throat out.

It was a quick and brutal affair, and now we had to stow the bodies in our former hiding places. Once they were firmly stuck in the shadows, I continued making my way into the kitchens. I redoubled my focus on the mission in order to choke down the guilt I was feeling after needlessly ending two more lives, but that was exactly what I had signed up for when I agreed to do this and I had understood it both times I had been offered the chance. Still, one’s expectations often pale in comparison to the reality they face, and I was getting a good heaping of that lesson again. My stomach was quite unsettled, though it was a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. Who’s ever heard of a hero with a tummy ache?

After dodging two more patrols, we finally found the kitchens, but were unable to enter due to some twenty four hour staff that were toiling the night away, cleaning up and preparing for tomorrow’s meals. I consulted my mental map yet again and hoped that this was the entrance to the kitchen that I had been hoping for and turned around, stalking out into the castle proper once more. Between Lupa’s ears and my own, we were able to avoid being caught outright, though her damned tail caught more vases than you would ever believe. As I’m writing, Lupa would like to make it known that it was the fault of the vases for being too poorly balanced, but I’m more curious as to how she can read my writing. When I asked her about that, she told me to worry about something more important, but I digress.

After catching more pottery than I had in my entire life, we had made it to the correct side of the castle, but were discovered by an unlucky maid. Before she could scream for help, I ran over and clamped her beak shut with my hand, hoping that I wouldn’t have to kill her.

“I’m not here to hurt you, so don’t scream.” I stared into her eyes.

She nodded. “Alright. I’m going to let you go, but if you scream, I will have to kill you. I really don’t want to, but I will, okay?”

Her eyes widened further and she nodded rapidly.

“Good.” I slowly eased my hand off of her beak and she stood completely still.

“Now, I want you to forget that you ever saw me, okay? You never stopped, you were just passing through and saw nothing, right?”

“...A-Are you here…” She shook her head. “Why are you here?”

“For reasons that will benefit our great nation.” I replied evenly, hoping to give her the impression of a sly rebel, come for a regime change.

“...Are you here for The Great Bastard?” She whispered.

“I am.”

She lifted a hand to a bruise on her face, just below her eye. “I-I can help you!”

“Are you one of Luna’s ‘friends’?”

She nodded again. “I’m Broomhilda, I helped her the last time when she almost got caught.”

“Then let's hope you’re not bad luck. Can you help me get to the fourth level of the far west tower?”

“T-That’s not the right place! Y-You’re looking for the fifth level of the northern tower, That’s where the King really stays. I-I can take you there!”

“Alright, let’s be quick about it then. You go on, I’ll follow you from the shadows. If you run into a guard, just make something plausible up, won’t you?”

“I won’t let you down! Es lebe der Widerstand!”

I had no fucking clue what that meant. “Es lebe der Widerstand, sister. Let’s get a move on.”

Broomhilda took the lead with Lupa and I ducking in the shadows, hard pressed to keep up with her. There had been no glimmer in Broomhilda’s eye, no subtle twitch in her face or alteration to her voice that would lead me to believe that she wasn't on my side, but every time we had to hold tight while a patrol was passing, my heart hammered for fear of her selling us out. After the third patrol, however, I was starting to understand just how much King Adolf was failing as a leader. I had seen brawls start over the mere mention of his name in town, but his loyalists were far outnumbered by those against him, and those brawls almost always ended with the loyalists on the floor. The people of Gryphonia were pissed, and even members of the castle staff, those who were supposed to be most loyal to the crown, were fed up with the turmoil that Adolf had brought.

It was kind of an odd contrast to another famous Adolf, if you think about it.

I saved the thought for another time and kept my eyes on Broomhilda’s tail. Now that I write it down, it sounds awfully dirty, but I was literally watching her cat tail for signs of a patrol so I would have time to hide. If it flicked to the right, I had a few moments, but if it flicked to the left, I had to make a split second leap, something that I learned the hard way after nearly getting spotted again. We were making good headway until a patrol stopped Broomhilda about three quarters into our ascent to the northernmost tower. I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, but the conversation slowly grew louder and my acute hearing was able to pick up once they rose past the whispers that they had been using. The lead guard was telling her that she had no reason to be in this part of the castle at such and hour, and I happened to agree, but Broomhilda was doing me a favor. I needed to do her one in turn.

Creeping closer, I slid in and out of cover until I saw the guard rear back and prepare to strike Broomhilda. I formed my tendril into one large spike and sent it through the air like a bullet, catching the poor fucker dead in the face. His partner and Broomhilda stood in shock, but before either of them could move, I had laced my tendril around the guard’s neck and rapidly tightened it. Sadly for him, I was in no position to extend any kind of mercy, so I dragged him back to where I was hiding, increasing the pressure as they got closer. I heard a loud snap and my target fell totally limp, but I approached with the Warbling Blade and drove it home into the base of his skull, through his jaw, just in case a broken neck wasn’t good enough. Broomhilda stood and stared at me in shock.

“We’re wasting moonlight, love. Let’s keep moving.” I said quickly.

“Y-You killed them…”

“The resistance has drawn blood before, Broomhilda." I covered smoothly. "This isn’t the first, nor will it be the last time blood is spilt for peace, so make your own with it for now. We have a task that needs to be completed.”

She gulped down air before losing her dinner in a nearby vase. I was happy to give her the time, seeing as how I was feeling much the same at the moment, but thankfully my dinner had already been pried from me by something equally disgusting in a different way. Once she had finished ridding her stomach of it’s contents, I clapped a hand down on her shoulder.

“First time?” I asked softly.

“Y-Yeah…”

“Hey, at least you didn’t kill them, I did. Don’t you go feeling guilty for my actions, because it won’t get you anywhere and I guarantee that you’ll find the answers you’re looking for, but right now, I’ve got two bodies to hide and we need to get a move on.” Luckily, the carpets were already blood red, so the addition of some extra colorant wasn’t an issue, but finding a place for the bodies was. Broomhilda pointed us to a room that was used for passing dignitaries that just so happened to be empty at the moment, so between myself and Lupa, we dragged the remains in there and kept on toward our goal.

I agreed to meet Broomhilda in a specific room after half an hour so that she could get me out of the castle, and I told her to leave once an hour and a half was up. Leaving her behind, Lupa and I entered the final stretch, the last two flights of stairs before we would meet the King. I steeled my nerves and cast a quick glance at Lupa who seemed more bored than anything, but I couldn’t risk the noise to ask her what was going through her mind.

After I finally ascended the last few steps of the tower, I had a long, straight, bare corridor ahead of me, and at the far side of it were six guards stood abreast. They formed a literal wall between me and my goal, so in order to get close, I was going to have to be tricky. I thought hard, trying to find a way around them so I wouldn’t have to add more bodies to my conscience, but I found nothing. I even tried devoting more of my precious time to the issue, but all I could come up with was slaying them. There were twenty meters at least between me and the guards, and nothing to hide behind. I brought my helpful little murder tentacle back into existence and prepared to… I dunno, slap it on a wall or something since they were out of my range.

Lupa sensed my hesitation and yawned before trotting out into view like she owned the fucking place. For as much as I bitch about my bitch, she’s got some fucking stones on her, and some brains too, by the look of it. All of the guards, save for one, had began approaching her, most likely trying to catch her, but one remained behind. Lupa cantered toward them slowly at first, but she too had picked up on the problem guard and suddenly raced toward him, leaping over his head when she got near enough. I’d never seen Lupa move so smoothly, so gracefully, and it was quite the spectacle to behold once she began rounding up the guards like cattle. She had all six chasing her around in silence, or rather, as much silence as six full suits of armor can provide. Eventually, they got wise and three took to the air while the remaining three stayed on the ground. Lupa was doing a Hell of a job, luring them toward me, and it wouldn’t take much longer for them to get within range of me, and once they were, I launched an assault of my own.

The bottom three were my main priority, so I used my psychic tentacle to free them from the weighty meat balls that were their heads, and once they clattered to the floor, their buddies dropped down and went to inspect the damage, never even suspecting that a second strike might come. The other half of the guards joined their friends and I was nearly halfway done with my little mission, though now I would have to sneak into the room itself and hope that neither of the royals had awoken at such an inopportune moment. Lupa doubled back and joined me as I walked to the doors ahead with baited breath. This whole night had been full of slip ups, but this was one instance where I couldn’t let my guard down, so I adopted my usual form and skulked expediently toward the door.

I took a deep breath and cracked it open, barely allowing the light to filter in before I swiftly entered, leaving Lupa outside to stand watch. Creeping in slowly, I could hear the even breathing of two separate individuals, and looking around, I saw that the Victorian architecture carried into their decorations as well, which gave the place an overall drab quality. Shaking the joys of architectural bullshit from my mind, I crept closer to the right side of the bed since it was more common for dudes to sleep there back home according to some random googling I had done one day. I chose incorrectly and had to go to the other side, seeing a much more masculine face this time.

You put your best knife in, you pull your best knife out, you put your best knife in, and you shake it all about. You do the hokey pokey and you turn yourself around. That’s what it’s all about.

With the job done, I rose to leave, but I noticed a sudden change in breathing on the other side of the bed. With a yawn and a stretch, I could see the limber form of Queen Elfriede rise above the covers and look around. I hunkered down below the bed and waited to hear her return to her place beside a dead man, but all I could hear was the rustling of the sheets.

And then I heard a gasp.

“Adolf?” Elfriede whispered softly. I poked my head above the bed to see her shaking his shoulder. “Adolf?” She asked again, louder this time. It was afterwards that she noticed something. “Adolf? Get up you lazy fool, I think something’s wrong!”

She shook her husband more vigorously, but there was nothing I could do. I had to leave the Queen alive, or the entire operation would have been for nothing, and I needed to get the hell out of there. I crept on all fours toward the door, but a sudden weight on my back stopped any further movement.

“You… YOU.” Queen Elfriede spoke severely. “Why are you here?” I felt her claws reach around my neck and part skin, causing drops of blood to spill from the affected area. This was it. This is where I died.

My thoughts were racing, but my mouth opened and words that I had no control over spilled out. “I’m here for you, Your Highness! I’m here to give you your rightful place!”

“You… Adolf is dead, and it was by your hand, wasn’t it?” The steel in her voice was unmistakeable.

“Yes, Your Majesty, it was my doing, but I did it for our people, for our nation! King Adolf was running our once beautiful nation into the ground!”

“You fool! Do you even comprehend how difficult it is to run a damned country!? You honestly think that slaying my husband will change anything!?” Her grip tightened and more blood fell.

“Yes, Your Majesty, of course! With you and your wisdom leading our proud nation, we will rise again and rival Equestria, just as we did before! Your ways are not like that of King Adolf’s: Your judgement is known by your people, our people, to be just and fair, unlike your husband’s totalitarian grip. We hope that you will prove to be more capable than your husband once was! Even during his golden age!”

“...A filthy rebel has managed to infiltrate the castle, get past who knows how many guards, and slay the King of his own nation. Have you no pride for Gryphonia? Did you not support us through the good times and the worst?” Elfriede asked solemnly.

“I have always loved my country, Your Majesty, and I would even give my life for it. If I can make this sacrifice for the good of our people, I can die knowing that I’ve aided our nation as it deserves,” My voice cracked and my emotions swirled around like a typhoon, whisking different feeling to the forefront of my mind before replacing them with another. Fear, anger, pride, hatred, love, regret, guilt, shame, happiness, and sadness all stayed their course for a few fleeting moments, then gave way to one of its brethren. I didn’t want to die like this, at the hands of a freshly made widow for a country that I held no loyalty to, for a woman who possibly could never love me back, for a peace that I would have had regardless. I did, however, find that I had a foundation in the house of cards that was suddenly toppling down on me: If I were to die here, then I would save so many, prevent so many families from hardship, stall the war between Equestria and Gryphonia, and most importantly, my life would have had true meaning. So many people die for nothing, but here I was, giving my life for people I didn’t know in a land that I wasn’t from, and the oddest sensation washed over me.

Peace. With this final act, I had already done so much for Celestia and her citizens, for my friends and their families. Maybe dying here wouldn’t be such a bad thing. My voice choked with emotion, I spoke again.

“Your Majesty, I beg of you; be the leader your people know you to be. Guide Gryphonia into the light once more, and lead us to the victory that has evaded us for so long! War with Equestria will bring nothing but pain to our people, but I pray that your wisdom will find the best way to handle the situation. Once you have slain me here, once I pass on to the next life, please know that my heart will always belong to Gryphonia, and that I will cheer for you when you raise our country to its former glory.”

“...You’ve slain the King of your nation, yet you proclaim that you love it so dearly.” Elfriede spoke, her throat tight. “I will admit that Adolf may have not made the best decisions, but his view of the world was… Grim. How can you kill a man for that?”

“I did not kill King Adolf because he made bad decisions, Your Majesty. I killed him because he was killing our people!”

“He was not!” She roared. “Adolf was a good man! Yes he was harsh, yes he was brutal at times, but he loved this country as much as you do-”

“No, he did not.” I hissed back at her. “Your husband is the one who placed Hedard in power, was he not?”

“No, I placed Hedard in his position.” She snarled back.

“...What?” I already knew that she had, but I had to keep up the act. “Then you’re the reason my brother is dead…”

“What are you talking about?” The Queen sneered. “Hedard is one of my most noble vassals!”

“Hedard raped my brother and made me watch. Hedard killed my brother in the most disgusting and vile way, and I’ve just put his patron in power.” I said airily, as if dazed.

“...Is that the reason you’ve come? Because your family was hurt by one of my vassals?” She whispered.

I shook my head which made her claws rub unpleasantly in my open wounds. “No, your majesty. I came because nobles abusing their power is a story that many of our citizens share, and it’s not just nobles. Those with wealth have been crushing the people for years.” I was completely talking out of my arse, and had been for the entire conversation, but I was beginning to feel the faintest glimmer of hope.

“...What is your name, rebel?” Elfriede asked.

“My name is Kaid, Your Majesty.”

The Queen was silent for moments that dragged on into hours. “...What do you want from me, Kaid? What do you think I should do as a leader?” She asked softly.

“I make no presumptions, Your Majesty, it is not my place to tell you what to do.”

“Humor me.” She said icily.

“...I think that you should review those closest to you. Hire a spy to infiltrate and gain their trust, then use that spy to, well, spy on them. Once you’ve rooted out the evil nearest to you, start looking into the judicial system and do the same, but in a different manner. Perhaps you might know of someone discreet enough to collect evidence so you can weed out your opposition there, and then you can move on to the constabulary-”

“Slow down.” She commanded. “What did you just say? The last word?”

“...Constabulary?”

“That’s a Briddish word, isn’t it? You’re not even from Gryphonia, are you?” She roared.

“No, Your Highness, I come from a small town in Bridleland, but Gryphonia is the only home I’ve ever known! I was not born here, but I love this country like a native!”

Her breathing calmed down and her grip on my neck loosened. After a few moments of silence, I felt the knee in my back let up and heard the Queen step away.

“Rise.” She ordered quietly.

I rose slowly and felt my neck. I was bleeding alright, but it didn’t seem to severe. Due to my healing factor, however, I felt the intense desire to scratch at it, but I knew that would end just about as well as it sounded, so I stood and patiently waited for the Queen to make a circuit around the room. One by one, she lit candles that began to illuminate the chamber until she made a full circle. Once she was done, she walked over to her bed and inspected her husband’s corpse. From there, I could see that she was older in appearance than Celestia, around forty or so years old, if my time in Gryphonia had given me any indication of a Gryphon’s age. She was tall for a woman, just about my height, though I knew from experience that Gryphons were lighter than I was, but even with that knowledge, I had a hard time believing it. Elfriede looked like a lean, muscled hunter that had dulled it's claws by idling for too long; She retained her lethal grace, but lacked the fire. Examining her more closely, I saw that she had a pair of black feathers under each eye and quite the figure for someone who had been about to kill me all of five minutes ago.

“Your Majesty…”

“Even if your plan had gone off without a hitch, I still would have awoken to this. How do you plan to repay this debt?” She inquired evely.

“I thought that I was going to be paying with my life, but I will gladly accept any punishment, Your Majesty-”

“Stop! Stop calling me that.” Queen Elfriede hissed. “‘Your Majesty this’, ‘Your Majesty that’!” She mocked.

“...What shall I call you then?” I asked tentatively.

“You’ll call me by my name, as a Kingslayer should.” She said.

“Yes, Your- er, Elfriede.”

“That’s more suitable.” She paced around the bed, touching each of the four posters as she passed them in her seemingly endless loop. “By all rights, I should kill you, but I know that this is the death you seek. No, I believe your punishment requires creativity, and if you’re the man you seem to be, you’ll deal with it until I say so. Is this true?”

“Yes, Elfriede. I accept your punishment, whatever it may be.”

“Hmm. We’ll see about that.” Elfriede stopped by Adolf’s side of the bed and stroekd his face. “You know, I can’t really say I ever loved him. As much as I would try to defend him, Adolf was a real bastard. The only reason he kept power so long was because of fear, and now that he’s gone, I… I don’t really know. I’m angry that you killed my husband, but I’m happy that I’m free from him. I’m sad that he’s dead, but at the same time, I couldn’t be more elated. Do you know what this feels like?” She asked, turning her head towards me.

“It sounds an awful lot like a first kill.”

“And in some ways, it is one. Adolf’s is not the first cadaver I’ve seen, and I know his won’t be the last, but it’s jarring. I’ve lived my life with him for twenty years now, and it’s been wrought with pain. I’ve been on the receiving end of his fist more times than I would like to count, but I’d like to think that I’ve weathered through my trials, now. I suppose I should thank you for bringing an end to them, even if you’re not one of my kinsmen.”

“...I didn’t know that he would lash out at those he was close to.”

“He didn’t, but that’s because the few he kept close are the few that will present the biggest challenge to me.” She began pacing again. “How do you think I should weed out the nobles that would be against me?”

“If I may be so forward-”

“You just killed my husband. You’ve been plenty forward.” She rolled her eyes.

“...If I may continue to do so, then.”

“You may.”

“...What if you used me to slay your opponents?” It made sense, after all. If Adolf had been the one pushing for war, and his closest vassals were advocating his efforts, then it would serve Equestria well overall to get rid of them and cement Elfriede’s rule as Queen.

“That is… Not a bad idea, actually. If you were able to bypass my own security, I’m sure one such as you will have little trouble dispatching my opposition. That will be the first part of your penance for killing your King. You will slay my greatest opponents.”

“Then I await your orders, my Queen.”