Chapter 5:

A foreboding silence hung in the air as Luna and her protégé walked towards the castle interior. Once they entered through the large double doors of mahogany, they made a turn around a corner and made sure there was nopony around.

“Ready?” the princess queried.

Hunter nodded in response.

“Remember, I won’t be there to help you, I’ve got to make sure I’m not around or there’s bound to be suspicion.”

“I know, I’ll be fine.”

“One more thing, this may be the last time we meet. I can’t exactly be seen with my sister’s assassin.”

Hunter nodded again; the princess could’ve sworn she saw a glimmer of a tear in his eye. The two stood in silence for a few moments before Hunter spoke up.

“It’s time, I’m ready.”

Luna smiled at him and said “I know you are, now go do what you were destined to do.”

Hunter turned and galloped off in the direction of the throne room…

Celestia sat on her throne, her multi-colored mane flowing in the non-existent wind. The window behind her took up the entire wall; it was a painted-glass mural of her raising the sun. The river ran lazily beneath her perch, delivering water to her followers.

She had an early start, an early, boring start. The rest of the day was set to follow suit, but she had some time to herself before her next engagement. She suddenly heard what sounded like a scuffle outside the throne room doors, but it was quiet. Almost unnoticeable. It quickly ended, but just as she was about to return to her thoughts, the doors opened slowly.

Standing in the doorway was a young, black, earth pony stallion with a crimson mane. He stepped forward, allowing the alicorn a brief glimpse at her unconscious guards, but they were quickly obscured as their assailant closed the doors.

The princess stood up nonchalantly and spoke, “What brings you here my faithful subject?”

“Faithful? Not me. I know how you really are; I was there during the war. The way you ruthlessly slaughtered your own people in pursuit of your sister was immoral. Then, I find out that in the absence of your sibling, you rewrite the stories to paint her as the villain.” The look on Hunter’s face was of sheer rage. “You were supposed to care about everypony, but instead you’d leave them for dead. Well, this is one pony that you should have finished off.”

As the last sentence passed his lips, Hunter drew his blade. “You I won’t be so kind as to give you another chance.”

“You really expect me to remember you? All of my subjects mean nothing to me! I would kill them all, one-by-one, without a second thought if it would bring me more power.” The princess’ mouth drew out into an evil smirk as her horn began to glow, “Why not start with you?”

They both charged at each other, aiming for the throat. Just as they were about to meet, Celestia teleported behind him and unleashed a blast of energy. Hunter turned himself sideways, causing him to skid to a stop. He deftly raised his blade into the path of the attack, which deflected off the metal and into the ceiling. Hunter quickly dove towards his opponent, rolling in midair to land on his back. His momentum carried him under the princess, still stunned that her attack was deflected, where he used his hind legs to send her skyward.

The princess quickly snapped back to reality though, slowing her fall with her wings. As she landed, her eyes and horn began to glow a brilliant white. The energy was unleashed in a blinding flash of light that enveloped the room; Hunter tried to shield his eyes but was too late. He couldn’t see anything, just as the alicorn had planned. She teleported again, avoiding the sound caused by hoof and wing beats.

Hunter had only experienced the feeling once before, but he remembered it. It was the feeling of energy gathering. This time, it was behind him. He jumped to his left just as the princess reappeared, lunging towards him horn-first. He kicked at where he’d been a split-second before, striking his foe just behind her shoulder. The blow did nothing but anger the goddess.

She turned towards him and threw a left hook, just what he’d expected. The stallion ducked and countered with a right-hoofed uppercut to the jaw. The princess was stunned, giving Hunter’s vision enough time to recover.

By this time, the two had made quite a ruckus. They could both hear guards coming from both sides of the castle. Celestia quickly launched a spell at the doors. “Don’t want any interruptions, do we now?” She said, the same evil smirk retaking its position on her face.

She threw another punch with her left fore-hoof, Hunter ducked again, but this time brought his blade up. The metal sliced through the flesh of Celestia’s leg, leaving a red, liquid trail. The sun princess reeled back in pain, giving a slight shriek. Her expression quickly returned to its eerie calm though, as her horn glowed. The same glow wrapped around her new wound, causing it to fade away.

She charged once again, letting fly a flurry of hooves. Hunter dodged every one, while attempting to land his own blows. Both of them dodged and struck for several seconds before the princess won out, landing a spin kick across the stallion’s face. His body flew and hit the ground hard, causing him to drop his weapon. He began to reach for it, only to find extreme pain. He looked up and saw the princess with a hoof on his wrist. She gave her wicked grin and pressed down with all her might, the resounding crunch sent shivers through even her spine.

Hunter clenched his teeth, refusing to scream even as every nerve in his wrist did. He knew he needed to think of something. Quickly. His knife was out of reach and he was down to one good fore-leg, not to mention the fact that he was still pinned.

“You know,” The princess’ voice broke Hunter’s concentration. “I haven’t had this much fun in centuries. The only way this could be more fun is if I killed you with your own weapon.” She picked up his blade in her mouth and grinned wider than ever before, she looked completely psychotic now. Her grin only widened as she leaned closer to Hunter, bringing the blade to his neck. “Any last words?” She asked, making sure to make it sound as cliché as possible.

Hunter gave his own smirk and said, “Never drop your guard.”

The princess’ eyes widened as her victim punched her in the inner elbow, causing her to pull away the knife. She tried to pull away her whole body, but a hoof wrapped around her neck. The knife went flying as she began panicking.

Hunter put everything he had into the head-butt, hitting at the base of the princess’ horn. The tremendous force not only knocked her back, but broke her horn off. Dazed, she fell onto her back. Hunter jumped up, ignoring the pain in his wrist, and dove for the horn. He grabbed it between his hoofs, stood up, and drove it into the alicorn’s chest. Her body gave a jolt as blood began seeping from the wound. Soon, the blood was also coming from her mouth. She was unable to speak, only mumbling and gurgling through the crimson puddle in her mouth.

“You’re right, it is fun.” Hunter’s words trailed off, echoing in her mind as her eyes glossed over and she entered eternal darkness that not even her sun could brighten.

As Hunter stood over his victim, he noticed that banging at the doors. He could hear several guards throwing themselves against them in an attempt to save their ruler. The victor didn’t know how much longer the spell would last and didn’t want to find out; he walked over to his knife and hurled it into the large window. The crash certainly got the guards’ attention, causing more crashing from the doorway. Little did they know, the assassin was already gone, drifting away from Canterlot at a steady rate.

Many years had passed since that day, and Hunter sat in his living room with his mare. He’d just told her everything, that it had been him that killed the beloved Sun Princess. He trusted this mare; she was the only pony he’d ever told. He wasn’t sure what to expect from her. He just knew that she deserved to know the truth.

She was flabbergasted; words failed her as she broke down. Tears stained her cheeks as she ran out the door. Hunter decided it was better not to follow her; she needed to come to grips with it in her own.

Hunter waited for hours, watching the moon of their princess rise and begin its fall before succumbing to sleep. When he awoke, he found a note on his bedside table.

I’m sorry, but I can’t live with somepony that’s lived a life like yours. I can’t begin to comprehend the maelstrom of emotions that are going through your head, and I don’t want to. It’s too much for me, but I hope that someday you’ll find a mare that can understand what you’ve been through.

“So that’s it.” Hunter said to himself. She had been the only good thing he’d ever had. He should’ve known that she couldn’t possibly understand. Nopony could. He was a murderer, it was his destiny. What did he have left? He’d completely the one job assigned to him, and had nothing to show for it but pain. His life was one of sadness and loneliness.

He crumpled up the letter and began to pace back and forth. Is this all I’m meant for? He wondered. Have I just been Fate’s pawn? I have, I’ve been nothing but a pawn my whole life. Luna used me, and I thought it was of my own accord. I never wanted to kill anypony, I just wanted to ease the pain.

He climbed the ornate railing that ran around the balcony outside his bedroom. My whole purpose was to be used by others, and now that I’ve served that purpose, I’ve got nothing. I’m alone forever in a sea of emotions that nopony can comprehend, not even me. I just want to know why it was me. Why was I chosen to do this? I could’ve lived a happy life, grown up normal. I would have never had to worry about death, let alone deal it out.

Nopony will ever understand. That thought ran through his mind, again and again, as he took a single step forward and claimed one final life...

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And there you have it. I hope you all enjoyed the fic, please let me know if you did. If not, let me know 1why. I don't know if I'll ever write another fic, but I do have one in the planning stages. Let me know if you're interested. Thanks again and have a nice day