Falling.

I’m a Pegasus that can’t fly, wonderful…

Well, Since I’ve got about a few thousand more feet of air left before I die on this moonlit night, I might as well tell you a bit about myself and the order I’m from.

You see… history is not as it appears to be, there are different forces at work behind the curtains, pulling strings in the background, altering Equestria's way of life without one ever knowing why.

Before I go any further, I’ll tell you about my appearance. I am a much lighter-grey stallion wearing darker grey hooded robes wrapped in brown leather with a black mane and grey highlights within my tail.
Also I’m not completely gray and dull, no way! I’m not that bland… my red eyes pierce through my hood and if you don't feel the least bit intimidated then congratulations, you'll get a swift kick in the knee if you stand in my way.

I have a mass addiction to explore cities at a fast pace without anyone seeing me, like a "Shadow". Probably the only other colt that shares my passion perhaps even more would have been my brother, Free-runner.

A tear shed my eye as I remembered him.

Anyways I’m sure a history-oriented person such as yourself would know all about Equestria. You’ve probably heard about the successful noble banking family in Ponitaly who saved lives from accounting stress and audits.

No?

Maybe you heard about how that family all died in a fire in their own house? Again no? OR have you heard about the son of that family who SURVIVED and saw what REALLY HAPPENED? That it was a conspiracy that ended without anypony knowing the truth of what happened? I doubt it, because you see my family was dead long before the fire.
They were murdered and I saw who did it.

I was that stallion. I witnessed the death of my family. I will be the one to avenge them.

What really happened was my entire family: father, mother, and my brother Free-runner were all dead with slash marks on their throats, my father was the only one that lived long enough for me to see one last time and who could have done this?

The Templars.

I always thought they were a myth just like everyone else, but now I saw that this secret organization is bent on ruling all ponykind and if we don’t submit to them, we die. Simple as that.

We however want to protect the freewill of all ponies who live in Equestria. Princess Celestia knows off our presence and understands the sacrifices for the greater good of not one but all ponies. We will stop tyranny and corruption, to bring freewill back to Equestria's ponies.

We are Assassins.

I am Shadow Mark. And I am an Assassin.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

That would have sounded better if I wasn’t an inexperienced killer with about 6 minutes left of air-time and a Pegasus with a useless wing. (Not to mention this would be the only time I would speak like this, seriously who pretends to talk to an audience while they're helplessly falling through the sky? Guess I would *sigh*.)

I know what you are thinking. A Pegasus that can’t fly, what’s up with that?

Let me explain by going back a few years. You see, our order is gone. That’s right no Assassins no blades no mentor no headquarters, completely wiped from the history books. It was the Templars, but it got worse. We were betrayed and the badass head of the secret organization arrived, Balthazar. Everything was decimated, almost no one lived, I'm the only one that I know escaped. It might have just been the headquarters but what was worse was what happened after.

Ponitaly was sieged.

It was pure chaos, buildings fell and fires reigned as ponies died. Ponitaly was wiped off the map, with too many casualties to name.

I... I've lost someone, one that... *Sigh* .... I'm so sorry. It was my fault.
Everything that's happened, I blame myself. My body is burdened and my mind is in guilt, but it is also filled with vengance. For the one I truly blame for causing all of this, one that I would hunt to the ends of Equestria to stick a knife in him.

Balthazar.

Everything the Templars do is organized by this guy, real son of a bitch. He’s the high duke of Equestria with almost as much power and influence as Celestia herself, he is the leader of the most powerful secret organization in the world, as of now. But I didn’t care about that, the only thing that mattered to me was that he murdered my family. I would pledge my life to find him, and rid the world of this monster.

After the extermination of our order in Ponitaly, any assassin seen would be immediately put down, we were hunted down for we could only run, and I’m still running, for years now. To avenge my fallen brothers and our cause I flew to where Balthazar has always been, always observing Equestria from his lavish throne. I’m talking about his lead dirigible dubbed,

“The Extervenator”, a powerhouse of a zepplin and one that was incredibly well fortified.

Finding it was tricky as it was always moving thousands of feet in the air, so it was nearly impossible to track.
But not impossible for me, in an unlikely turn of events I had gotten the info on where he was, I didn't care about who gave it to me. I cared about ending this after so long without any form of justice.

The moment I stepped on the deck I was captured, I tried fighting but ended up getting slashed and impaled by a few arrows. I was brought before a bulking light-blue stallion with his dark-blood-brown coloured mane and a black star on his rump to symbolized corrupted power. Balthazar. “Hey Balthazar love what you’ve done with the place, though I haven't been in here before nice to see the Templars put their money into a furnace,” I joked. He only smiled sinisterly back to me as he took out a glowing yellow round object from his sleeve, I instantly knew I has screwed.

Balthazar slipped unproffessionally for one with such standing and dropped the orb. It bounced across wall to wall, it rolled across the floor with him chasing after it and shouting curses as he tried to use his unicorn magic to contain it until it stopped in a nearby corner.
Clumsy fool. I saw that both guards were dumbfounded and one even slapped his head.

I would have taken that moment to dispatch the 2 guards beside me, but had I known that my hidden blade needed repairs, it simply broke when I was first caught. It explains why I am severely wounded.

After 5 minutes of fumbling to pick up the ball Balthazar held it in his hand as it glowed even brighter, I knew it was powerful for I had originally found it.

A Piece of Harmony… The Apple.

Unleashing power from the apple Balthazar permanently broke my wing by sending the Apple's energy through my nerves crippling my flying ability and sending me over the edge of his dirigible into the darkness of the night sky. The last words I heard from him were, “Adios Compadre!” Balthazar can speak 13 languages fluently, when I read that in his bio even I was shocked.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And that’s where I am right now as I can see the clearing below me of … apple trees?

The Apple.

I realize now what was about to happen. “AHH CRAP! I’M GOING TO DIE!” as I shouted down. Just then I had a thought about my wing.

Wait, an idea! This might save me... or make me die more painfully. *GULP*

I pulled my broken wing out and just before my body would go “splat”, *PHOOMP* My wings spread open with more pain coming from my right as I slowly glided down until my hooves touched earth.

“I can’t fly but at least I can glide,” I chuckled weakly. Then searing pain overtook my body as I collapsed. I forgot about the G-forces and the fact I have Templar arrows in my body and a noticeable stab wound in my side. I was starting to lose blood.

Falling unconscious, I swear I heard a yell just now. As I start to close my eyes there is only one thing I can think about. The only thing stuck in my head for half of my life, the only thing that can bring me redemption.

REVENGE.

Author's Note: I highly recommend reading past the first chapter and onwards, to get more of a feel to the story as this served more as a prologue in sort to get you the reader, more acquainted with the background of Templars and Assassins in Equestria and Shadow's physical aspects and inner thought opinions.