“YOU WHAT!?”

We were all back at Le Duck’s base and I was the unlucky soul to tell Le Duck about what had happened ten minutes ago.

“Uhh… ya Le duck, Pinkie did…fire a… nuclear… type… missile filled with Plutonium at Volcanous’s tank,” I responded to Le Duck trying to make the story sound less guilty, he just shook his head in absolute disappointment.

“YOU SHOULD HAVE SEEN IT! IT WAS HUGE!” Pinkie ecstatically shouted as she bounced around Le Duck.

“IT WAS THE MOST AWESOMEST THING I’VE EVER SEEN!” Rainbow commented while flailing her arms to demonstrate just how awesome it was.

“I think it was the most DUMMEST thing I’ve ever seen. Pinkie I really think you should think through your bomb plans before you nearly blow up a country,” Applejack said disappointingly to Pinkie Pie who was still excited that a mushroom cloud could reach 2km into the sky.

“Why? What do you mean?” Pinkie looked puzzled as if she’d done something wrong.

“Well for starters, there’s a three mile hole right outside of Gerpony and don’t let me get started on the fallout—,” Applejack started to lecture Pinkie until she was interrupted by Rainbow Dash.

“I LOVE THAT GAME!”

As soon as Rainbow Dash interrupted the rest of the ponies interrupted as well.

Mareio and Ponigi were confused for they never saw a “mushroom cloud”, who then asked Twilight what a mushroom cloud was, who was in the middle of writing a letter to the princess and had spilled ink all over Rarity ruining her assassin outfit who then yelled out loudly scaring Fluttershy under a desk who has already developed a fear towards explosions and nuclear devices.

Ace was on Le Duck’s shoulder laughing maniacally at the scene before us.

Just stay calm… everything will be fine…

Spike came over to me and tugged my shirt, “Shadow can you read over all these documents to see if I made any spelling errors? Thanks!”

He handed me about 40 pages of size 5 font writing. My eye twitched.

Le Duck noticed and muttered, “Oh no…”

Documents? … DOCUMENTS!?

“QUUUIIIIIEEEEEEETTTTTTT!!!!!!” I yelled at the top of my voice while shredding in half all 40 pages of documents together with my bare hoofs.

Everyone immediately stopped for a second….... then they continued to argue.

I walked over to Pinkie’s rucksack and I pull out a P.U.K.E grenade.

“OK EVERYPONY!” I shouted in a demonic voice and brought my hoof to the pin ready to pull.

“SHADOW STOP! We’ll stop arguing, JUST DON’T PULL THE PIN!” everypony shouted.

“TOO LATE!” I pulled the pin.

“NO! NOT AGAIN!” Spike shouted trying to hide behind somepony before the grenade activates.

“…”

“…”

Nothing.

I chucked the grenade behind me, “Good now that I’ve got your attention with the grenade decoy, we can focus on our next steps… back home.”

Everybody let out a sigh of relief.

“But how are we’a supposed to get’a back home? The mushroom is crashed,” Mareio said to me not fearing my bombing attempt from before.

“Well then I suppose you want to look outside Gerpony then Mareio,” Le Duck said heading for the escalator to the ground floor.

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

“SHE’S ALIVE!” Mareio and Ponigi jumped for joy.

The colossal red mushroom blimp was restored; it looked even shinier than it did before the accident. Mareio then realised what needed to happen, he looked to Ponigi and he nodded.

In a split second they were hugging together and crying out loudly from both tears of joy as well as sorrow.

It’s so sad… after all this time they meet again and for a few days they need to part ways.
They are a classic example of Ponitalian family values.

“I guess this is where we also say goodbye,” Le Duck put a hoof on my shoulder.

I turned around and gave him a hug, “For now, at least.”

After our farewells we all boarded the mushroom blimp (Rainbow and Rarity needed to separate Mareio and Ponigi from each other using force as well as words of comfort).

Mareio put his hooves on the steering wheel and shouted, “LET’S A GO!”

The mushroom flew up into the sky and a second later the engine underneath it activated as it shot us across Gerpony’s sky.

I looked over the edge to Gerpony and saw a mass celebration, the town was being re-painted, revamped and everyone was enjoying life. Some soldiers had even joined the party and helped move the underground carnival to the top of Gerpony.

I guess everyone was a victim. I’m glad to see an example of what good the assassins can do.

I turned my gaze to the nuclear impact site which was a giant crater.

Wow, I haven’t properly killed a target in a while, first Je Suis died before I could give him the last rites and Volcanous… well he’s the most toughest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen.

I have a feeling that none of my targets are just going to simply die.

I continued to watched at the crater and saw something move.

… No… it can’t be.

I looked back again and saw nothing; sweat was dripping down from my face.

It must be my imagination, not even Volcanous can survive a nuclear strike!

Laughing quietly to myself about Volcanous’s “survival” I slumped into my desk which was still intact since the crash and I begin to write my letter to the princess.

Dear Princess Celestia:

Our mission to Gerpony was a success even though there might be some media speculation about certain events that have happened… such as a nuclear strike.

That would be Pinkie Pie’s idea.

Aside from that I have discovered that the armies Volcanous had used were not his true intent, but a “sample” as he said.

I will continue to investigate Project Purify and keep the rest of the assassins as safe as possible.

-Shadow-mark

I rolled up the paper and I walk over to Twilight who was also writing her letter to the princess. Before alerting her to my letter I peeked at her writing.

Dear Princess Celestia:

I’ve learned that friendship can make anyone stronger but I’ve encountered a pony that completely relied upon himself and his ruthlessness to win, he was tough but not as tough as a nuclear missile (Shadow will fill you in about it).
I also find that Shadow is experiencing slight trauma and revenge issues that may have originated from repressed memor----

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Twilight stopped writing and turned to see me staring at her paper, she had a very angry look on her face.

Pinkie noticed us and said, “OOOO CAN I STARE TOO!?”

I quickly recovered my status by handing her the letter, “I’m sorry, I didn’t want to disturb your letter to the Princess. I know just how important it is to get the format right.”

Twilight grasped the letter from my hoof, “Well at least you didn’t see any spoilers.”

*Hmph* she walked across the observation deck to the stairs leading below deck to finish her letter in peace and without anyone staring at it… except for Pinkie who followed her and continued to stare.

I thought hardly about the state Twilight said I was in as I walked for my desk, but I somehow ended up bumping into Applejack who was busy practicing on a training dummy.

*OOF*

We both fell to the floor and Applejack said annoyingly, “HAY! Watch where ya’ll goin!”

“Oh Applejack! Mi dispiace, I’m sorry,” I apologized as I helped her up.

“You know Shadow you’ve been acting a mighty different lately. Is there something wrong?”

“No nothing…” I lied.

Applejack studied my face knowing that I was lying, “We’ll I’m sure you just need sum rest, you practically been to two counties in the past week alone! You’ve got your ribs cracked by that Volcanous fella and your legs been broken for who knows how long!”

“Ya… I guess it is the stress, I’ll try to relax when we get back to Ponyville,” I promised her as I walked to the downstairs level and head towards my room.

That…. As well as the guilt…

I laid down on my double-sized bed still in my assassins robes and took a nap, hoping that the nightmares would stay away.

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

NO! FATHER, MOTHER, FREE-RUNNER!

The corpses of my family were spiked on top of the wall of the Assassin’s Headquarters. Their blood washed down the windows and stained the glass red.

A dark menacing figure on top of the roof was laughing maniacally as darkness started to form around me, the blood of my family encased inside the swirling vortex.

“ARG! BALTHAZAR!”

“You killed everyone I’ve held dear!”

“AND I SHALL KILL EVERYONE ELSE!” Laughed the shadow Balthazar as he held out the Apple and lifted it towards my face.

I saw the images of my assassins… my friends inside the orb; Le Duck, Mareio and Ace were also in there, Ponyville appeared next, then all of Equestria.

Balthazar shattered the Apple in his hoof and I heard the agonizing screams of pain of my friends surrounding me.

"WHY!?"

"I THOUGHT YOU WOULD PROTECT US!"

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!"

A figure that I’ve seen to many times forms around Balthazar, it was Dave who looked as he always did in his accounting outfit came into the swirling vortex clapping his hoofs together.

“How does it feel knowing that all of this was your fault?” Dave sneered at me.

He teleported to my side in a poof of black magic, “Shadow… all of this” he said pointing to the burning buildings of the Assassin’s Headquarters then the scene changed to all of Ponyville, “Is your fault…”

“NO! I will stop this… I will stop Balthazar.”

Dave sighed, “Oh dear oh dear… Don't go over your head. Looks like I have a meeting to catch.” He pulled out his
pen-blade.

“Wakey Wakey Shadow…” he sneered at me a shadowy smile appeared on his face.

Dave stabbed me in the chest.

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

I woke up covered in sweat, my breath was rushed and I felt dizzy.

Celestia… not another nightmare…
Is it really all my fault?

Maybe when I kill Balthazar I’ll have the answers.

Putting my thoughts behind me I climbed out of my bed and headed for the observation deck, it was night and I could only see Dr. Mareio piloting the mushroom while Ace flew in a large arc in the mushroom’s bubbled force field.

I approached from behind him and he heard my hoofsteps, “Ah Shadow! Nice’a time for a flight, no?”

“Yes Mareio… the night does look wonderful,” I replied to him as I turned my gaze upwards and saw Luna’s moon and the stars.

“You know I’va been up there.”

I quickly turned my head back to Mareio and shockingly said, “Really!? Celestia banished you to the moon!?”

“Oh no no no no no… I mean UP’A THERE!” he said pointing his hoof directly upwards to a dark patch of space surrounded by stars.

“Space?”

He nodded his head and I face hoofed

Oh Mareio… you and your stories…

As I went away from Mareio and explored the observation deck at night I noticed a book labeled “Seals” on Twilight’s desk.
I went over to it and flipped through the pages examining every detail about the seals and their locations.

After what felt like hours my trail of thought was interrupted when a purple unicorn went *AHEM* in front of the desk I was sitting in.

I closed the book and I saw Twilight with an angry scowl on her face, “Oh hey Twilight…” then I noticed the sun pointing down from the middle of the sky, “Wow its noon… WAIT WHAT!?”

I sputtered out of the desk and I fell to the floor I felt that I had a cramp in my leg from sitting for six hours.

Twilight helping me to my hooves and before she could antagonize me about sitting in her desk I quickly said, “I think there’s a seal on the way back to Ponyville!”

“What!?”

“Ya see… there’s a Templar castle on the extreme far outskirts of Ponyville and this newspaper you found and put into the book said a group of ponies found a strange artifact and brought it there. It must be a seal!”

I was ecstatic and jumped around like Pinkie while Twilight looked confused. The rest of the ponies joined in and Pinkie was bouncing alongside me.

“Hey everypony! I forgot that I bought a funny magazine from Gerpony!” Pinkie shouted as she enthusiastically pulled out a magazine with a blank white cover.

We all looked into it and we were all disgusted (except for Pinkie who was laughing).

“What is that?”

“Oh it’s going into her eye!”

“EW how much stallions are on top of her!?”

“Uh… I think I’m going to be sick…”

Mareio came over and said, “HELLO! What are all’a you reading?”

I took the magazine from Pinkie and I blankly looked at Mareio, “Mareio… get back to the wheel.”

“OKIE-DOKIE!”

“Pinkie you don’t know what this is, but it’s very wrong… It’s called a ClopMag.” I said to Pinkie.

“A ClopMag? What’s that?” said Pinkie who was too pure to understand.

“You don’t wanna know,” I shredded the magazine with my hidden blade and threw the pieces over the edge of the mushroom.

A piece however didn’t fly over the edge and had landed on Spike’s eyes just as he came up from below deck.

“Hey guys what’s… *Whack* huh? AAAAHHHHHHH! MY EYES!”

Twilight and Fluttershy ran over to Spike to help him recover from the emotionally scarring moment of his life.
While they were distracted I looked over the edge and I saw the Templar castle a few thousand feet below the mushroom blimp.

I turned to the rest of the ponies and I said, “Ok I’m going to go to that castle down there, anyone else want to join me?”

Rainbow Dash dashed towards my right side, “YES! I`ve been waiting to do something awesome since Pinkie`s nuke explosion!”

“Great! So Applejack make sure the mushroom doesn’t go on fire. BYE!”

I jumped off the mushroom headfirst and I fell towards the castle, I saw Rainbow Dash next to me a few seconds later.

“Ok Shadow, what’s your plan to get rid of the Templars at the castle?”

“Well seeing that we’re falling down thousands of feet with no cover, no stealth and that the sun is completely shining meaning we lose the element of darkness I guess that means we just beat the crap out of everyone.” I smiled to her.

Dash’s eyes lit up and she said excitingly, “AWESOME! Ok I’m going to do something completely cool, don’t blink!

Rainbow zoomed straight down towards the castle and a cone formed around her. I saw some terrified faces on the ground as I knew what was about to happen.

*BOOOOM*

A colourful rainbow mushroom cloud appeared over the castle with many Templars flying through the air.

Huh… a Sonic Rain-nuke… last time I saw that was when the Observer
found that Templar Spy in the guild… poor bastard.

I landed on a guard to cushion my fall and I saw that the entire place was leveled except for some of the main stone towers.

Rainbow came up from the dust and she said to me while coughing, “What did you think?”

“Awesome.”

With the outside clear of enemies we entered the main tower and saw two flights of stairs.

“I’ll go down you clear the top.” I said to Rainbow Dash, she nodded and I descended into the basement of the castle.

The moment I stepped into the basement I was absolutely amazed.

“HOLY ****”

There was an enormous topaz coloured dragon chained to some kind of dragon trapping device. The jailer of the dragon turned his head around as he heard my shout.

“Away with you Assassin, I do not wish to fight you.” the jailer said to me as I menacingly stepped over to him.

“Me neither…” I pulled out my blade.

*STAB*

The jailer fell with a wound through his skull.
I went over to the dragon that had tears forming in his eyes and looked absolutely sad, lonely and afraid.

“Aww… poor guy…” I petted the dragon on the head.

“SHADOW SHADOW!” Rainbow Dash appeared at the doorway to the stairs.

“The captain has the seal he’s getting away he’s…. HOLY SHIT!” she shouted noticing me petting the trapped dragon.

“Don’t worry Rainbow… he won’t get far…” I looked at the dragon’s eyes with a devilish grin forming across my face.

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

“THIS IS AWESOME!”

Rainbow Dash and I were flying our topaz friend outside of the evergreen forest chasing the Templar Captain with the seal the castle was completely destroyed as soon as I released the trapped Templar victim.

I CAN’T WAIT TO TELL LE DUCK!

Our dragon dived onto the captain and grabbed him with his talons.

“AAAAHHHHHHHH! NO DON’T EAT ME!” the captain shouted as the dragon hauling him high above the ground of Equestria.

“Then give me the seal, NOW!” I shouted at him from my seat on the dragon.

“Here, HERE TAKE IT! JUST LET ME GO!” the captain handed me the seal and an evil look appeared on my face.

“As you wish…”

The dragon let go and the Templar captain fell through the sky. A moment later I saw him flying behind us, he was a Pegasus.

“OH NO YOU DON’T!” I shouted at the Templar as I threw a knife into his wing sticking it together with his body and he fell to the ground.

“HA!” Rainbow laughed.

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

After everything calmed down we were sailing through the skies directly towards Ponyville on our kick-ass topaz beast.

I then noticed Rainbow Dash looking at me with big cute eyes, I shook my head,
“Rainbow… we can’t keep him…”

“AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW WHY!?” Rainbow shouted disappointingly as she crossed her arms.

“I know… but he’s a dragon he needs to be free… don’t ch’ya Sparky.” I petted the dragon and he roared in reply.

Sparky the topaz dragon flew us over a hill and on the horizon I could see the Assassin’s home.. my home...

My home…Ponyville…

It’s great to be back!