Canterlot, despite the impressive name and how much Cadence had built it up, disappointed Slade. The buildings and roads were made from marble, but the city itself could hardly be called grand. The ponies in the city were what disappointed Slade the most, however. They all acted like members of high class that he had dealt with in the past. Snobby, stuck up, and glared at the man in orange and black armor as he passed with the rest of Cadence’s group. They glared at him. He glared back. They all looked to the ground.

“Do you have to scare the citizens?” Cadence asked Slade with a disapproving look.

“It is safest for them if they know how dangerous I am right from the start. That way, none of them will try anything…foolish,” Slade said calmly. “Besides, I am not just instilling fear in the hearts of these ponies. I am also scanning the crowd for any sign of a being that might be out to get you or your family.”

“You really think that an evil force would be hiding in the city where the two most powerful beings in the world live?” Cadence asked with a smirk.

“Chrysalis,” Deathstroke shot back in reply. The smirk fell from Cadence’s face. “But yes, I fully expect them to be somewhere in this city waiting for you. They failed to kill you at the Crystal Empire. They failed to kill you on the way here. This will be the last chance to kill you before you reach Celestia and Luna, adding your power to theirs.”

“How do you know of Chrysalis?” Cadence asked after a moment. “I never mentioned her and neither did anypony else on the train.”

“There is much I know,” Slade replied. Cadence narrowed her eyes at his response, but instead of pressing the matter further she fell back and walked alongside Shining Armor.

“I still can’t believe that you’re willing to trust this guy,” Shining whispered to his wife.

“Trust him? Dear, I don’t trust him in the slightest,” Cadence replied in a stern tone. “He’s a mercenary, which means he’s done some terrible things in his life. But you saw what he did to those spiders. Hardly even broke a sweat. So I’d rather have him on my payroll and fighting for me than on somepony else’s and trying to kill me.”

“The Royal Guard should be protecting you and Flurry. Not some human merc that we know nothing about,” Shining Armor grumbled. Cadence smiled softly at him before wrapping a wing around his shoulder, pulling herself closer.

“You are here protecting me. You always have. And I wouldn’t want anypony else at my side,” Cadence said lovingly. “But they’ve made two attempts on our lives. And they tried to take Flurry. And to protect my daughter I will use whatever means I have to. Even if it’s hiring somepony like Slade.”

Shining Armor narrowed his eyes and tried to think of a way to respond to that, but after a moment he shook his head and leaned into his wife. “I guess that’s why you’re the ruler of the Crystal Empire. You make the hard decisions. But just promise me that you’ll-“

BANG!

Cadence and Shining Armor both leapt as the gunshot tore across the air, getting the ponies around the group to shriek in fear. Cadence’s eyes immediately fell on Deathstroke, who was aiming a pistol up at a building. She opened her mouth to prepare to yell at him, but right before she could a creature of horror slammed into the ground at the base of the building, blood leaking from a bullet hole in its leg.

The beasts flesh looked like it was made of melted wax, complete with holes and a rotting odor. The face of the beast was twisted and cruel, with beady black eyes that were filled with pain and malice. It bled green and had an aura of magic around it that made Cadence nauseous. It had four arms and two legs that thrashed in pain, but then it laid eyes on the princess and its mind seemed to focus.

“Get back!” Shining roared as he placed himself between the monster and his wife.

In the blink of an eye Deathstroke was on the beast, kicking it in the side of the head to roll it over, where he pressed his pistol underneath of its chin. The creature howled and hurled a fist towards Slade, but in a flash of motion his blade cleaved through the creature’s arm and severed it from its body.

“Every time you try that all you will be doing is losing limbs,” Deathstroke whispered to the creature in a dangerous voice. The beast snarled at him in reply, but when it made no further movements Deathstroke assumed that he got his point across. “So, princess, is this one of those forces that has been hunting you?”

“No, that’s a Lurker,” Cadence explained while keeping her distance. “There monsters created when a spell of resurrection goes horrible awry. Doomed to a half-life of eternal suffering and anguish, all they can do is seek out the one responsible for their pain and try to end them.”

“And the reason it is after you is because…”

“I was about to get to that. However, due to being undead they have very weak wills and are easily swayed, both by words and magical force,” Cadence continued. “If a pony were to tell a Lurker that they could help it avenge its death, it would follow them without hesitation. Or if their magic is strong enough, the can simply manipulate it into doing their bidding. Either way, it is a tragic life for such a creature.”

“So since you weren’t the one to kill this guy when he was alive, that means this Lurker is being manipulated into attacking you,” Shining Armor slowly caught on, getting Deathstroke to roll his eye under his mask. “The question is…how is it being manipulated. Any ideas?”

“I have one,” Deathstroke replied before he pulled the trigger on his pistol. Caence and Shining both let out a yelp as the bullet tore through the Lurkers skull and blasted its head to mushy pieces. Shining retched at the sight and smell of the now headless Lurker, while Cadence stared in horror at the beheaded creature.

“Slade…what-“

“First, it was undead, meaning it was already dead. I freed it from a life of suffering,” Slade said coldly before the princess could start. “Second, I need you to use your magic to try and sense if there is any magic leaving the area.”

Cadence was still shaken by what she just saw, but she forced her emotions down before closing her eyes and concentrating. After a moment, she let out a gasp and her eyes snapped back open. “I can sense a strange and unfamiliar magic leaving the body. And it is heading towards the south of the city!”

“Then that is where your would be assassin is hiding. I’ll be back!” Deathstroke yelled before he took off at a full sprint towards the southern part of the city.

“SLADE!” Cadence roared. Slade stopped just long enough to look back at her. “Bring him in alive.”

Deathstroke’s eye narrowed from under his helmet, yet instead of answering he turned and took off towards where the assassin was. Both Cadence and Shining Armor watched him go. “Think he’ll be okay?” Shining asked his wife.

“He’s cut down metal spiders and just decapitated a Lurker while making it look easy. He’ll be fine.”

“I was talking about the guy he was going after.”

“Alrighty Deadpool, those are all of my friends!” Pinkie exclaimed as the two of them left Fluttershy’s cottage. Deadpool had numerous venomous snakes hanging from his body and his abdomen was healing from a particularly nasty wound from where a bear had tried to rip him in two. “But wow, I’ve never seen Fluttershy get so angry or use so many swear words before! And when that bear she keeps hurled you through the front door…”

“Yep, I have that effect on people. They see what I got and they get angry that they don’t got it. Honestly Pinkie, I can’t believe all of your friends are just so jealous of me,” Deadpool replied as he unclipped the last snake, which was biting his neck. “So let’s recap. You introduced me to Rainbow Dash and, after trying to figure out if the rainbow mane was a statement or not, she kicked the shit out of me.”

“Uh-huh. Then there was Rarity, who, upon hearing that you were looking for that special somepony, hurled herself at you and begged you to whisk her away to paradise,” Pinkie continued on. “You then threw her into the trash and set fire to the boutique for good measure.”

“Pinkie, there’s hot crazy desperate and then there’s psycho crazy desperate. And your friend Rarity was the latter category,” Wade explained. “And while I may be desperate myself, I am not going to settle down with some psycho. Deadpool don’t date no psychos.”

“Really?”

“F-no. I just don’t want to limit myself before I see what the rest of this magical world has to offer me!” Deadpool shouted with glee. “And then I make one tiny comment to Fluttershy about how much better that little rabbit of hers would be in a stew and she flips out and sends her bear after me.”

“Yep. That was wild.”

“Sure was. Now come on, best friend a reino. Didn’t you say that you worked in some kind of house made out of gingerbread and candy?”

“Yeah I do! It’s called Sugar Cube Corners and it has all of the candy, cake and goodies that a person could want!” Pinkie exclaimed.”

“Do you think it has chimichangas?”

“It will when we’re done with it! Come on, let’s get going!”

“Why do that? We’re already there!” Deadpool said as he pointed up, getting Pinkie to look over and see that, indeed, they were both standing in front of Sugar Cube corners.

“Wow, we were just leaving Fluttershy’s cottage. When did we get here?”

“Who gives a fuck?! Let’s go inside!”

Deadpool kicked open the door to the store and leapt inside, immediately turning every eye in the place towards him. The cakes both stood behind the counter, looking at Deadpool with disbelief in their eyes. The patrons closest to the door had to shield their eyes from the bright, and very form fitting, spandex that the sun reflected off of. A pair of foals sat in a small crib on the counter next to their parents, eyes going wide with interest when they saw the merc.

“Hello fine ponies of this sweet store. I am Deadpool. And I am here to feast,” Deadpool said before he vaulted over the heads of all of the patrons before landing ass down in a seat near the counter, where he took a fork in one hand and a knife in the other. “I will not ask for a menu. I will not ask for a drink. All I ask is that you bring me sweets and keep feeding me until I explode. And I will explode.”

“Hiya, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” Pinkie said as she walked behind the counter, tying on an apron around her waist and a bandana around her head.

“Pinkie, who is this yahoo and why is he here?” Mr. Cake whispered to Pinkie.

“That’s Deadpool. He’s a friend of mine,” Pinkie said as she began to gather up plates of sweets. “He’s a little…eccentric, but I think he’s a nice guy deep down.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Mrs. Cake replied with a glance at Deadpool, who was now banging his fists on the able while chanting, “SWEET SWEET SWEETS”. Pinkie balanced three plates filled with treats on each arm before she skated over to Deadpool’s table and lined them all out for him.

“Here you go, Wade! It’s a little bit of everything we’ve got, so make sure to try them all!” Pinkie said with a smile. Deadpool’s eyes widened under the mask before he scooped up a chunk of the sweets into his arms, where he began to inhale them all down his throat.

“Um, don’t you think you should take the mask off? I don’t know how you’re eating through it, but it certainly can’t taste that good,” Mr. Cake suggested.

“First rule of being Deadpool, Cake pony, is that…all ladies are welcome. But the second rule of being Deadpool is that the mask never. Comes. Off,” Deadpool said in a very serious tone. However, since his mouth was filled with food, all the ponies heard was muffled grumbling. The Cakes and Pinkie watched Deadpool eat, with the Cakes being horrified at the display while Pinkie smiled the entire time.

Then Deadpool’s eyes glanced towards the counter where the two foals were sitting and his eyes came to a halt on the one with the horn. Because the foal with the horn had teleported out of her foal pen and was now walking across the counter towards a stovetop. A stovetop that Deadpool saw still had flames flickering on it.

“Cookie of Salvation!” Deadpool yelled as he leapt out of his seat and hurled a cookie towards the kitchen, getting the Cakes to duck as the cookie sailed overhead like a buzzsaw. The cookie bounced off the wall, then bounced off the counter right in front of where the foal was walking, gaining her attention. The cookie bounced once more off of the stove controls, turning it off, before it came to a rest inside of the foal pen. The foal’s horn glowed and a moment later she teleported back inside her pen, gnawing on the cookie.

“Why did you throw that cookie across the room like a ninja star?” Mr. Cake asked as he rose back up and glanced back at the kitchen, only to find nothing out of the ordinary.

“To save a life,” Deadpool said as he looked to the side, with a beam of light coming down from a window on the second floor to make him look divine.

“Okay, I think we’ve tolerated you long enough. Please get out of our store and…have a nice day,” Mrs. Cake said through a tired smile.

“Fine! I know when I’m not wanted!” Deadpool sobbed as he rose to his feet, before asking in a normal voice. “Do you guys think that you can put all of that in a to go box for me?”

“No.”

“Then I shall be gone!” Deadpool wailed as he rushed from the store, sobbing as he did so. But he had barely made it ten steps out the door before he ran headfirst into somepony. He bounced off of them and hit the ground with a swear, before shaking his head and looking up.

Two alicorns stood before him. One was as white as the snow with a mane the color of dreams. While the other was like a midnight sky and had a mane that resembled a galaxy. Both of them looked down at Deadpool with curious, and also annoyed, eyes.

“So you are Deadpool. The one responsible to making Twilight send me over a hundred letters in the last hour,” Celestia said in a calm voice, but one that held faint traces of anger. “And in her letters she says that you bothered her, mentally scared her and then tried to burn her home down. What do you have to say about that?”

“I only have one thing to say right now…your sister is hotter," Wade said to Celestia.

"Knew it," Luna smirked.