“MAREIO! Can you drive slower I think Pinkie is going to puke!”

We were tumbling in a mushroom van which smelled of medication and sanitisation smells one would experience at a hospital. A doctor floored the vehicle on the bumpy road with a cheery expression on his face, while a pink coloured passenger started to turn green.

“There is no time! Gerpony’s gates are just past this border checkpoint!” shouted the doctor over his shoulder to the rest of us.

“Shadow… I don’t feel so good…” sickly said Pinkie as I held her head across my lap trying to keep the motion sickness from affecting her.

“Shh Pinkie… we’re almost there…” comforted Fluttershy while patting Pinkie’s forehead.

The movement of the truck halted to a stop.

“Mareio, why are we stopping?” asked Applejack.

“BORDER GUARDS!”

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

Two ponies wearing dark green outfits fitted with a small hat of the same colour approached the window of the van. One peered inside our van and looked cautiously.

For his perspective we must look like mushroom junkies trying to smuggle contraband into Gerpony. This is a great disguise for our true intentions but I need to think of something while they’re distracted.

Think…

“WHATZ DIE HAVE IN DIE VAN! SPRECH!” shouted the Gerponian border guard in an unbelievably heavy accent.

Think, THINK! …. GOT IT!

I silently motioned to Rarity to copy what I was about to do.

“OH THANK YOU SIRS! Our friend here is very sick; we need to save her before passes out into a sleep that she’ll never wake up from!” I pleaded with a high pitched voice in distress trying to annoy the guards as best I could.

Thank you Ponitalian acting classes!

Rarity noticed what I was doing and joined in, “Please, only you brave guards can save our friend!”

“It would mean SO MUCH TO ME!” pleaded Rarity giving the guards big round cute eyes which seemed to have worked.

“FRITZ HELP DIE LADY!” shouted the border guard to the other border guard.

The guard went around the van and opened the back doors. We hauled the green Pinkie out of the van and carefully moved her to the border outpost building. The guards entered first, I gave a nod to Rarity and we went in after with a sick Pinkie over our shoulders.

*SLAP*

*POW*

*UUURRRRRRPPPP*

We exited the outpost followed by a vibrant jumping Pinkie Pie.

“WEEE! Carsickness was fun let’s do it again— OOOOOOHHHHH! I GOT AN IDEA!” shouted Pinkie as she charged into the van at a lightning speed.

Confused I and Rarity entered the back of the van and closed the door. As soon as I did Mareio floored the van once more.
I saw Pinkie fumbling with a miniature version of her FUN nuke.

The day she discovers Plutonium is the day we’re screwed…

Ignoring Pinkie’s science project I looked around the van. Surprisingly the back of a mushroom containment vehicle was roomier than I expected. In total eight ponies, a dragon, and an eagle somehow managed to fit in a van stockpiled with mushrooms of varying sizes and colours.

After driving for a few more minutes and admiring the countryside Mareio stopped the van just slightly out of view from the city gates of Gerpony right behind a giant bush. We peered through the window and saw the entrance was heavily guarded by six Gerponian soldiers all carrying swords.

“I don’t think we can get through these guys as easily as we did back at the border outpost,” whispered Rarity trying not to alert the guards who were 15 feet from our window.

“IT’S DONE!” cheerfully shouted Pinkie as she held up a miniature version of her FUN nuke as a grenade.

“SSHHHH!” we all hushed her but it was too late, the soldiers noticed our van hidden behind the bushes and started to approach us with swords drawn.

Pinkie went ballistic and threw the mini-nuke grenade right in front of a guard.

“DON’T LOOK AT IT!” she urgently shouted while covering all of us from the view of her grenade.

Except for Spike.

“Whoa… the colours are so… uhhhh…” Spike was looking straight at the grenade and his face had turned completely green.

A second later he vomited on the dashboard and passed out.

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

We waited a minute before we knew the grenade’s effects have worn out. I opened the back of the van and we all came out except for Twilight and Dr. Mareio who had to nurse Spike back to health.
I went to where the grenade had landed. Six green-paled guards were unconscious with a smell of bile and waste emitting from their mouths.

“Pinkie? What the hell was that!?” I asked wondering how I can over-exploit this useful bomb.

“We’ll you know how I had a FUN Nuke right? And when I was really really sick from riding in that mushroom van, I realised just how distracted I was, then I went OOH when I found out I can get other ponies to do the same!
Just attach some fun blinking lights and a disco ball and you get a P.U.K.E!” said Pinkie who was eagerly bouncing up and down from the success of her bomb.

“P.U.K.E?” asked Applejack who was completely confused on what Pinkie was talking about.

“Puke… Puke… AHA! It’s an anagram: Ponies UpchucK Everywhere!” I answered using my collective intuition and the fact that I’ve seen the results of one of these bombs.

“YAY! You win! Now Gerpony awaits us!” cheered Pinkie as she bounced towards the gates.

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

Wow… this place is so…

Sad.

What I saw shocked me as well as the other assassins. Gerpony was nothing like the books I’ve read about it. I heard it was supposed to be a fun happy city, with chocolate rivers pouring down the streets and the smells of market fresh produce and baked goods.

Instead what I saw was the most miserable spot in the world. Broken glass and trash littered the streets, the houses were broken-down and grey and they appeared to be slouching over. Cracks filled the road and clouds overhanged the city which didn’t allow Celestia's sun to shine through leaving the city feeling… empty.

Empty?

“Where are all the ponies?” asked Applejack with a worried face.

No city should be empty like this… wait what’s that smell?

*Sniff*

Death…

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

We kept on walking until we heard an angry ruckus coming from the centre of the city.
We ran as fast as we could so we can see the ponies that were supposed to be seen on the streets.
The closer we got the stronger the scent of blood and decay filled my snout.

We arrived at a place that feature a great gallows stand and it was surrounded by many ponies, maybe even the entire population. On the stand however I saw a bulky red figure shouting at a white coloured unicorn and the stage was surrounded by many Gerponian soldiers.

I motioned the group to split up and blend within the crowd. I pushed my way through until I could get to listening distance. I looked up and saw who the bulky figure was. It was a red stallion with a brown coloured mane with a full-line beard. He was wearing a blood splattered blacksmith outfit and was carrying a finely crafted iron blacksmith hammer.

He let out a menacing hearty laugh.

Volcanous…

“YOU THING! HORRIBLE TRAITOR! DIE SHNEIDER!” shouted Volcanous to the white unicorn who had his horn broken in half and was covered in his own blood.

He kicked the unicorn and the unicorn shouted out in pain, “Why! I’ve done nothing wrong!”

The unicorn coughed up blood and Volcanous raised his arms to the citizens, “Why?......WHY!? It IST not my fault I’m here, IT’S YOURS!” he gave a blow to the unicorn’s leg using his hammer. It cracked and bent the other way, the unicorn screamed in pain.

“RED FOX? Oh we knoz about him… And you’re die REBEL!” shouted Volcanous to the defenseless unicorn.

“It’s true I serve the Red Fox, but I believe that he can bring this tyranny of yours down!” backlashed the white unicorn.

The unicorn turned to the audience and shouted as loud as he can, “GOOD GERPONIANS! STAY STRONG, WE WILL HAVE OUR FREEDOM AGAIN! WE WILL----“

*CLANG*

Volcanous brought his hammer down upon the unicorns head with full force before he finished his speech. The unicorn fell down never to move again, his head squished into the stage as blood splattered on Volcanous and the front row.

“THIS IS WHAT WE DO TO TRAITORS!” Vulcanous pulled the hammer from the unicorn’s head and brought it down upon it again.

I closed my eyes not wanting to see what would happen next.

*CLANG*

The blood splattered more so onto Volcanous as his face was now drenched in specks of the unicorns blood. He had a sinister smile when he took his hammer out from the non-recognizable unicorn and showed the crowd his blood-stained hammer and the unicorn’s exposed skull.

“NO, FRED!” shouted a distressed purple earth pony from the front row as she charged towards the stage she was caught by a guard.

Volcanous looked at her with an unmerciful smile.

“Kill her…” he said to the guards before leaving the stage.

The soldier nodded and a sword came out from the mare’s chest, he pulled it out and the mare dropped to the ground.

These monsters! THESE PONIES ARE INNOCIENT! I need to stop him… I need..

A shout erupted from the crowd as many ponies wearing green armbands and held swords jumped into the soldiers’ area and violently attacked them. The citizens of Gerpony fled from the fear they witnessed as fighting broke loose.

A distraction....

Show-time, let’s get this shit started.

I cracked my hooves.

I ran towards the front of the stage where the first protester was fighting against a much larger soldier.
I pulled out my hidden blade and charged into the soldier who was about to kill the first arm-band pony, I stabbed him in his chest twice and helped the “rebel” to his feet.

“You’a fight for us?” said the stallion who had a giant brown mustache and brown mane, green fur, and had a Ponitalian accent.

I nodded as I picked up the sword the soldier had dropped and went towards another soldier.

As for the other assassins: Applejack had already taken down two soldiers while Rainbow Dash and Pinkie went behind the stage to prevent any soldiers from fleeing also for Ace to lure some soldiers in their direction . Rarity, who was completely disgusted by what just happened, stabbed the pony that killed the purple mare. Fluttershy had found a bow dropped by one of the rebels and took a few shots at the soldiers.

1..2...…6 guards were down when Fluttershy needed to reload.

I snapped a soldier’s arm and flipped him to the ground while stabbing him in the neck. Two soldiers approached me with their swords drawn thinking I couldn’t handle them at the same time.

How could they ever be so wrong….

I pulled out my second hidden blade and jumped on both of them digging my blades into their skulls. I immediately rolled to a soldier and thrust his own sword arm into his back after I slashed a solder in the face with my second blade while spinning I stuck my final blade combo into the chest of the third soldier.

The fighting stopped as all the soldiers now lay dead with their bodies and bodies of the rebels covering the streets.
Cheers erupted from the crowd as the rest of my assassins formed around me with Ace landing on my wing.

The Ponitalian rebel I helped came over to me and bowed solemnly, “We’A thank you kind warriors of the shadow, without your help we…”

“PONIGI!” shouted an all too familiar doctor’s voice.

No way…

I turned around and saw Dr. Mareio running quickly towards us with Twilight behind him holding Spike on her back.

“Mareio? …. MAREIO!” shouted the green pony as he ran towards Mareio in open arms.

They hugged each other and they cried tears of joy.

I think they know each other.

While they were having their “moment” I asked Twilight about Spike, “So… how is he?”

“He’ll be fine, that’s just what bright colours would do to scramble up a brain!”

“FIRST IT’S SO SAD, THEN IT’S SO HAPPY!” cried Pinkie who gushed tears from seeing these two ponies being reunited.

After the heart-filled tears and the hugs were exchanged I went over to Mareio and Ponigi.

“I’m assuming you know each other?” I asked them.

“YES! For you see we are…” Ponigi answered breaking off into a dramatic pause.

In unison they shouted, “THE MUSHROOM BROS!”

“Mushroom bros?” wondered Rainbow Dash.

“YES! For you see Ponigi here is my contact for the Red Fox… ISIN’T THAT SUPER!” said Mareio who was overly enthusiastic.

“SI! Now I’m sure you all want to meet the Red Fox… LET’S A GO!” shouted Ponigi leading the way through the city.

As if one wasn’t enough… sheesh

We walked for an hour with Mareio and Ponigi telling stories of the good old school days until we stopped at a bar with a Ponitalian name.

“Nessun volpe per voi? What’s that?” curiously asked Twilight.

“It means, No Fox for you in Ponitalian. Clever how the Gerponian soldiers don’t know anything about a destroyed culture.” I translated, not realising I mentioned Ponitaly’s destruction out loud.

“Ponitaly… SHE’S DEAD!?” shouted Ponigi.

I sadly nodded my head and Ponigi burst out in tears as Mareio comforted him with a hug.

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

A minute later and Ponigi was feeling better… almost too better.

“OH WELL! Let’s see the Red Fox now, YAHOO!”

We entered the bar and saw it was empty except for a senior grey coloured bartender smoking a cigar while washing a cup.

“Hey, what’s up!” said Ponigi to the disgruntled barkeep.

“I was wondering where everyone left to.” He replied still washing the cup.

Ponigi was walking towards a closet and put his hoof on the handle when the bartender smashed his glass cup on the table. We were all startled including Fluttershy who hid behind Rainbow Dash.

“HEY! What was that for?” said an annoyed Rainbow who flew over in front of the bartender’s face.

“Any new personal needs to sign his or her name in the book, no if’s ands or buts.” He grumpily said while pulling out a giant brown book and a pencil from under the serving table.

I went over to the book and wrote a fake name.
The bartender slammed the book together with my hoof still stuck inside.

“OOOOUUUCCCCHHHHH!" I shouted out in pain as I took my hoof out of the book.

The bartender was shaking his head back and forth, “Now I know your name aint “Bob”.”

I grabbed the pencil again and tried to write my name in the book. The bartender took his cigar out and pushed it into my hoof.

“OWWW! WWWHHHYYY!”

“Tsk tsk, only I get to write in this book. Now then your names…” he said grabbing the pencil and spinning the book around to him.

“Shadow-mark, Mareio, Ace, Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and… Rainbow Dash.” He said out loud writing down our names in the book grinning devilishly at Rainbow when he ended with her name.

“How… how did you?” asked Applejack.

“Easy, they don’t call me Name-writer for nothing.” He said showing us his cutie mark of a quill writing in ink.

“Now go on through!” he motioned to Ponigi to open the closet door.

In the closet was a ladder leading down to what I thought was the basement.

I was never so wrong.

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

A huge brightly lit bustling carnival was under this depressing shit-hole of a town.

“WHAT! NO WONDER EVERYTHING IS SO SAD ABOVE. THE PARTY’S DOWN HERE! WAHOOOOO!” Pinkie ecstatically shouted before running into the crowds of the townspeople.

“I would have never believed it…” astonished Applejack.

“Wow everything looks quite fabulous!” Rarity commented.

“IS THAT A FERRIS WHEEL!?” shouted Rainbow Dash.

“Oh… there is so much noise…” distressed Fluttershy.

“How I don’t even…” said Twilight.

*ScreeO*

“MAMA MIA!” shouted Mareio.

“Euuuuhhhhhhh,” groaned Spike who was still nauseous.

It is unbelievable. But I need to know where the Red Fox is…

I saw banners of a red fox sprawled across the underground carnival and at the end of it was a bigger one than the rest.

So clichéd…

I ran out ahead onto the carnival streets and in a moment I vanished from the other ponies’ sights. Every pony I passed by on my way to the Red Fox looked cheery and happy, but….

I know they are feeling hatred and sadness inside…

I cut threw a quartet into a back alley and I’ve ended up about half-way from my destination.

Who knew there was a city this big hidden under a city?

The sights and smells of freshly baked bread and 5-pound chocolate bars were pleasing to enjoy but I needed to focus. Ignoring the bustle of the streets below, I took to the rooftops and free-runned my way to a platform overlooking the city below. I tried to climb over the railing but I was exhausted from running a city length non-stop.

“Here, let me help you.” A chestnut coloured hoof grabbed mine and hauled me over the edge of the railing and onto the platform.

“Thanks.” I said looking to see who helped me.

It was a chestnut coloured Pegasus wearing a dark faded orange hooded robe, he had a goatee and his left eye was scarred giving the Pegasus a menacing blind eye. He smiled at me.

Who is he?

The rest of the assassins showed up a minute later. Mareio noticed the stallion in front of me and waved to him. The stallion slightly nodded to Mareio.

“Well, Shadow you see me before you, I am the Red Fox.” He bowed.

“Do I know you from somewhere?” I bluntly asked.

He looked shocked, “Really? You don’t remember who I am?”

He looks so familiar… why can’t I remember who he his!
I KNOW HIM!

“Here maybe this can help jog your memory, Shadow.” He said handing me a charred book.

I flipped over the pages until I could read something legible.

Edzeo put his hidden blade into the Maiden’s Tower control mechanism. He twisted carefully not wanting the lock to break under the strength of his blade. A moment later and the floodgates of the Maiden’s Tower opened drenching all the soldiers with…

“AAH! YOU SICK PERV!” I shouted throwing the book on the ground.

Then my mind snapped.

No… it can’t be… he’s dead.
Against 15 soldiers not even the Observer could have…

My thoughts ebbed away from me and I looked at the smiling chestnut stallion and I saw the assassin insignia on the end of his faded robe.

I looked straight at him with tears forming in my eyes.

“Le…Le Duck?”

He nodded.