Me and Cheerlie arrived at the schoolhouse a while after we said goodbye to Dr. Mareio.
I looked up into the sky and saw that the sun had already set and replaced by the moon.

Damn all that time and I still didn’t get to do any running…

I dropped the books I was carrying by Cheerlie and she did the same.

“Thank you Shadow, I wasn’t sure I would have carried all these books by myself,” Cheerlie thanked me.

I did a slight bow, “Cheerlie, it was my pleasure to help you in need.”

She blushed a little bit and petted her mane which looked adorable.

I think she is falling for me.
But…. am I falling for her?

“Um… Shadow? I was wondering… if you’d like to…” she stuttered.

Oh no, I think she’s going to ask me out.
If I had gotten Balthazar before then things would work, but… I can’t let her be caught up in a war that she has no part in.
Course it is just a harmless date, what harm would come of that?

“Shadow?”

Ponitaly was destroyed along with everypony I’ve ever loved.
No, I can’t do this to her.
Flora died because of me and I don’t think I would…

“SHADOW!” Cheerlie shouted into my ear.

“AHH! WHAT!?”

“You just kind of zoned out for a second, I asked you if you could come by the schoolhouse someday and teach the students more about the various cultures you’ve experienced.”

Oh great it’s not a date!
Still… she hasn’t found out my secret and by keeping it secret it would do her more good.

“Ah, sure I’d love to teach the children about the places I’ve been too!” I excitingly said.

“Great! And thank you Shadow from before…” she reached out with her hooves and hugged me.

“Like I said, it was my pleasure.”

I departed from the school and went straight back to the centre of Ponyville, the nightlife was beginning to open all around and ponies began to enjoy the dim evening.

Knowing that I would be able to hide myself better in the dark, I walked to a nearby alley and started climbing towards the rooftop. I was about halfway up when I noticed a perfectly good ladder two feet from me.
I shrugged my shoulders and ascended towards the roofs of Ponyville.

I looked ahead of me and saw that most of the houses were tightly packed, I started to rub my hooves together and made sure my hood stayed on properly.

Let’s do some Free-Running…

In the memory of my brother I sprinted towards the edge of the roof and leaped towards the opposite building and landed firmly on the other side. I looked up and saw a rope line attached from a tall building to a much shorter building across the street. I scaled the building and observed the rope.

I heard that down south the Assassins would use these to get around the city 20% faster.

I gripped the rope and began to shimmy down the line. The rope burned into my grey hooves every time I moved down.

*Creak*

I looked behind me and saw that the line was about to give away.

Merda!

Ignoring the searing rope burns I pushed myself faster and faster to get across. Suddenly the line snapped and I plummeted to the ground below me.

Fortunately the ground below me was in fact the small building. I nodded my head from my accomplishment and continued running across Ponyville.

------45 minutes later--------

THIS FEELS GREAT!

I dashed from rooftop to rooftop enjoying the wind rushing through my hood. I was near a little outcropped house as I jumped from its chimney to the top of a building that gave a great view of Ponyville.
I sat down and enjoyed the view as I regained my breath.

Ponyville is truly amazing…
I’m glad that I fell out from the sky that day…

I then heard hoofsteps, I quickly got up and turned around to only be tackled by an orange blur.

“HA! GOT’CHA VARMIT!”

I looked up and I saw Applejack wearing her assassin robe, she had pinned me by all fours and we were on the rooftop… alone.

“Oh Applejack, I thought even you would have resisted my charms… it seems I was wrong…” I said rather seductively to Applejack.

“SHADOW!?” she leaped off of me realising how sexually explicit this was.

I had a seductive look and my face and Applejack was blushing immensely, “I…I couldn’t see… I thought you was a…”

“Relax Applejack, I’m just teasing you.” I said as I brushed the roof dust from my clothes.

“Anyways, why are you up here Applejack?”

“I could ask you the very same thing, I heard from Derpy an hour ago hollering about “The Shadow of Ponyville” or something running around Ponyville. Did you see anypony like that?”

I face hoofed, “Applejack… are you serious?”

“Uh ya, why?”

I took a deep breath, “Okay Applejack, what did you say about what the Shadow of Ponyville was doing?”

“Running around Ponyville, probably doing bad things.”

Quite the Opposite in fact.

“Who did you find running around the rooftops?”

“You…”

“And finally what is my name?”

“Why your Shadow-mark sugarcu-- Oh….” She face hoofed.

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

I explained to her how I rescued Derpy from the group of bandits and how I economically improved the town.

“But you still STOLE from em!” she argued.

“Those Canterlot ponies weren’t doing anything with it and they certainly didn’t like the town. I thought that with a ‘small’ contribution Ponyville would benefit from their tourism.”

“Small? YOU TOOK EVERY DARN BIT THEY HAD!”

“Then Ponyville benefited even more!” I contradicted her, she just turned around from me.

I put an arm on Applejack’s shoulder, “Applejack… you need to understand that what we’re doing is helping Ponyville. I never stolen from anypony that that needed those bits, and every bit I take I give back to the ponies that NEED it.”

“Looks like you’ve still got sum left,” she pointed to my pouch of leftover bits.

I threw the pouch to her, “Fine then you can go invest these, just remember with a store you need to be… persuasive, make friends with them and they will probably give you a discount or something useful.”

“Another lesson from Le Duck?” she asked me.

“Number 11.” I grinned.

We dropped down to the streets of Ponyville and began walking trying to find good store to invest in. In the meantime Applejack asked me questions about Le Duck.

“How long did you know him?”

“He was there right after my family… ya and basically from that up to now, except for those 2 years that I thought he was dead.”

“Ouch, I understand why ya’ll head-butted him back in Gerpony, speaking about Gerpony how’s the city?” she asked me.

“I’ll need to check back with Mareio on that later…”

“Also why did Le Duck call himself the Red Fox?” she asked me to continue the conversation.

“I think it was his alias after Balthazar destroyed the Assassin`s Headquarters. What`s worse is that I think it came from one of his subliminal Assassin books.” I shuddered from the thoughts about the explicit books.

“Hey Shadow, do you think this one’s any good?” she asked me as we arrived at a local bank.

“Banks are good; they might let us get some steady income for the Assassins.” I said as we entered the bank.

It was small and there were only 3 bank tellers, I noticed Dr. Mareio was on the one in the far right.

“What would you like to withdraw?”

“MUSHROOMS!”

“How many?”

“ALL OF THEM!” the doctor demanded.

We got to a teller and Applejack began investing, “Ah hi! We would like to…”

*SLAM*

“NOBODY MOVE THIS IS A ROBBERY!” shouted an angry voice from the front of the bank.

We turned around and saw 4 ponies wearing ski masks and knives burst through the doors.
Applejack turned her head to me and I silently told her protect the citizens. I advanced my way towards the knife-wielding robbers and before I knew it I was surrounded by all of them.

“Oh look who we have here! A pony who wants to play hero, let’s shown him what we do to troublemakers,” a robber said pulling his knife out towards me.

He lunged and I immediately grabbed his arm and twisted it, he dropped the knife from the agonizing pain. A robber ran behind me with intent to stab, I shoved the robber I hurt out of the way and dropped a smoke bomb. The area around the robbers became engulfed in smoke.

“Hey! Where did he… AAAHHHH!”

The smoke cleared and only three robbers were seen in the bank.

“Hey man, where did Charley go?” the injured robber nervously asked.

“THERE!” the robber pointed to the pony I knocked out and hung from the wall.

They approached the wall and didn’t notice me hiding above the room on a wooden beam.
I snuck around behind them as they tried getting their friend down.

“How did… NOOO!” a robber shouted as I whisked him away to the ceiling.

“Not again! We need to find him and take him down!”

As soon as the robber on the ground finished speaking I attached a rope to the unconscious robber and threw him over the beam.

“Where oh where is… AAH!” a robber shouted as the body of his friend dangled from the ceiling with a rope tied around his back.

As he cut him down the other robber ran to rejoin with his ally, he wasn’t fast enough.

*POW*

The robber heard the thud of his friend and noticed he was the last one standing. I panic he ran towards the group of people Applejack was protecting and took a mare as a hostage.

“SHOW YOURSELF, OR ELSE THIS MARE’S GONNA DIE!” he barred his knife across her throat.

“Gladly,” I whispered from behind him as I grabbed his arm and hoof-locked him.

He dropped the knife and the hostage and turned his body towards me with fear in his eyes as he views me in my menacing hood.

“What are you?”

I grabbed him with one hoof and held the other in a fist.

“I’m the Shadow.”

*KER-HOOF*

As the last robber fell unconscious on the bank floor applause erupted from the group of patrons and bank tellers.

Sure I’ve exposed myself, but at least no pony will recognize me.

“HOORAY FOR THE SHADOW OF PONYVILLE!” everypony cheered.

Applejack came over to me and quietly said, “That was amazing Shadow, the way you moved around the room and took out all those thieves was… wow.”

“You should see how Le Duck would have done it, or better yet the Observer. Anyways you should go invest the money, I bet with this we’ll get even more benefits.”

Just as I was about to leave I remembered something, “Applejack? Do you need any help at the farm? I need to know that our work doesn’t interfere with your daily lives.”

“Sure Shadow, come by bright an early and we’ll get you to work!” she cheerfully said.

And with that I fled the scene as the ponies showered me with praise.

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

I still had some energy so I climbed to the top of the clock tower where I met a sleeping eagle.

Aw… Ace looks like such an angel when he sleeps...

Without wanting to wake him I crept to the ladder and descended below to the Assassin chamber. I rolled into my bed only taking my hood off my head and slept the rest of the night.

---------In the Morning------------------

I woke up to beautiful sounds of chirping birds telling that they day has started.

Then they stopped, I looked out the window and saw Ace dive bombing a couple of birds for his breakfast. I dismissed his intent on a murderous diet and collected myself off the bed. I looked outside and saw the sun had just risen.

Applejack should probably be awake right now…

As I collected my things and tidied myself up I noticed a package of papers on the desk, on the top there laid a card. I picked it up and read it, “WingBlade and Dave. Status: Nothing yet!” on the back was a mushroom stamp.
I placed the card back down on the documents.

Damn still no leads…
I wonder, maybe if I be a little less discreet they would come out of hiding and try to attack me.

I pondered the idea in my head for a while but then I found a major contradiction.

They wouldn’t just attack me they would attack the rest of the Assassins as well as Ponyville.

Perhaps I should stay a bit incognito with the whole “Shadow of Ponyville” fiasco.

After all, it’s only a matter of time…

I climbed to the roof of the clock tower and spread my wings; a minor pain came from my damaged right wing reminding myself that I can’t fly, ever. I plunge my body over the edge and glide across a great distance to Applejack’s farm.

A few minutes later I landed on a lumpy mass of hill, the same hill I first saw and the one that I had hallucinations with. I walked a bit from the hill and saw a small body print indented in the ground next to the hill.

Wow… it has been a while.

I turned to the hill and shouted, “Why you no catch me before!?”

The hill stayed disinterestedly silent.

I ignored my crazy outburst and made my way to Applejack’s farm.

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

“WELL HOWDY SHADOW!” Applejack shouted from across a row of trees as I went near the red farmhouse.

I waved to her and quickly ran up next to her, “Alright Applejack I’m here, what do you want me to do?”

“Well you can start by helpin us buck them apple trees,” she pointed to the mass orchard.

“ALL OF THEM!?” I shouted surprisingly.

“Nah, not all of em just the south field over there, come I’ll show ya,” she said leading the way.

We got to the south field and Applejack wanted to see if I could buck a tree properly.

“No problem,” I said getting my back hoofs ready.

*KICK*

The tree only wobbled a bit and no apples dropped.

“Try again!” Applejack encouraged me.

*BUCK*

The tree shacked a little bit more but alas only one apple fell out.

“Time for some Ponitalian street bucking!” I said tensing my back legs.

*KER-KICK*

The tree violently shacked and all the apples fell out this time.

“Alright Shadow you did it! Now I need to work over there, I’ll check back on you in an hour or so,” she said as she trotted down the row of apple trees.

For the next couple of minutes I continued bucking every apple tree with my signature kick, trouble it my kicks are usually centred on ponies and trees are denser. After one more tree I bucked, I laid my back on the trunk to catch my strength back.

As I relaxed I saw a big red pony bucking a few apple trees near me, it was Applejack’s brother Big Mac.

“Hey Big Mac! You on apple bucking duty?” I shouted across to him.

“Eeyup.”

“Do you think I bucked more trees than Applejack today?”

“Nope.”

Ok time for something different than a yes or no question...

“Big Mac, how would you rate the economy of Ponyville considering the long-term effects of a diminishing market gap influx on a marginal cost outtake considering that the Princess hires subordinates to calculate monthly gross revenue at a ratio of current assets not equalling to their owner’s equity?”

“….”

“….”

“…I win,” I smugly said.

After my brief rest I bucked a few more trees and then Applejack arrived with Big Mac, “Shadow you’ve done well for today, but now the reason why you here…”

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

This tree is HUGE!

I was standing at the base of an abnormally large apple tree in the middle of the orchard.

“Shadow meet Steve the Stubborn, he’s been here for generations but for some reason whenever we try to buck his apples off he just doesn’t give. I tried doing it and so did Big Mac but whatever we did was worthless.”

“And you think I can buck Steve?” I asked and she nodded.

“Well alright then…” I said getting my back hoofs ready.

“Steve you ain’t so stubborn,” I said to myself trying to gain myself morale.

*KER-KICK*

The tree didn’t budge, I was speechless.

“See told you he’s a stubborn one,” Applejack implied.

This is going to need drastic measures…

I ran to the tree and started punching it repeatedly with my front hooves.

“Ah, Shadow? That’s not gonna work.”

“IT’S GOING TO WORK!” I shouted with rage building up within me.

After striking the tree countless times I noticed a dark red aura start to form around me, it didn’t look as powerful as the time my desk got broken or when my 60 page report was burned by Spike, but it still gave me strength.

“LET’S TRY THIS ONE MORE TIME!” I shouted with a slight demonic voice as I rushed back from the tree and sprinted with all my might and my hoof clenched in a fist.

*KER-HOOF*

A small explosion of air erupted from the tree and sent Applejack’s hat flying; the stubborn apple tree had a large gash from my impact.
I looked up at an apple on Steve’s branches and it still didn’t fall.

“OH COME ON!” I shouted in denial.

*Fump*

The apple landed in a basket.

A large grin appeared on my face, until the crack in the tree started to spread and Steve fell uprooting himself from the earth never to be stubborn to anypony else ever again.
Big Mac went over to the destroyed tree and picked up an apple, he looked at it and a manly tear dropped onto the apple.

“Uh Shadow? Maybe you should help some other ponies for a while…” Applejack quietly whispered in my ear.

“Got’cha, also sorry about Steve,” I said to her as I tried to get out from the orchard as fast as possible before Big Mac goes on a hunting spree.

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

Whew… I think I’m far enough. Where am I anyway?

I turned around and saw a giant gingerbread house in the middle of Ponyville, Sugarcube corner.

Well I might as well help Pinkie considering she did make those bombs for us and destroyed Volcanous.

I entered the pastry and biscuit shop and was greeted by two little baby ponies.

“Aw aren’t you two just the cutest!” I bent over to them and rubbed their heads.

The babies smiled and laughed at me.

I guess nopony is resistant to the Ponitalian charm…

“HEY SHADOW!” shouted a voice right behind me.

“AAH! PINKIE!?” I turned around to see the pink pony staring directly at me.

“Yes that’s me! So what are you doing here Shadow? I know that you have a bunch of icky work to do, OH I KNOW! YOU WANT A PARTY RIGHT!?”

“Ah no Pinkie, I was just wondering if you needed help with anything. I’m trying to kill time as finding WingBlade or Dave is a near impossibility,” I said.

“NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE! You just need to hope, and hope and hope and hope and POW! Enough about work, time to get BAKING!”

“Baking? Pinkie I’m a terrible cook,” I admitted remembering a time me and Mareio baked George the Eternal.

There was pancake batter everywhere and the roof was gone!
Oh, those were the good times…

“Don’t worry, we’re making CUPCAKES! It’ll be easy and FUN!” she bounced to the kitchen.

“Alright but I’ve warned you…”

---------10 minutes later---------------

“Ok what about this batch?” I said handing a tray of burnt cupcakes to Pinkie who began to gobble them up.

“OOH! Even better than the last one!” she said with a mouthful of ruined cupcakes.

I took a piece of the cupcake and examined it, “Pinkie the last one was green and the one before spontaneously combusted.”

“So?”

Just then Dr. Mareio crashed through the wall of the kitchen, “Shadow… are you BAKING!?”

“Uh you see Mareio we were just…”

“WITHOUT A ME!?” he quickly jumped towards the oven and began mixing batter.

Oh no, this is why we never allowed Mareio to be in a different kitchen than his mushroom one.

“Mareio what are you… No you wouldn’t, YOU COULDN’T!”

“I A HAVE!”

“Do what?” Pinkie asked us.

“Let’s just say Mareio is trying to make something called George the Eternal and we can’t stop him…”

“George sounds FUN, why is he eternal?”

“It’s a part of Dr. Mareio’s mind, whenever there’s a chance to make baked goods he goes crazy for some reason and tries to make the largest thing he can possibly make, George. I was there the last time and I even helped him…”

“HE IS ALMOST DONE!” shouted Mareio as he loaded up the oven.

Celestia save us all…

-----5 minutes later-------------

*SPLOOSH*

The entire gingerbread house was filled with cake batter; it seeped through the windows and the doorway. Me, Pinkie Pie, Dr. Mareio and the toddlers were flung outside onto the street as we marveled at the sight before us.

“GEORGE THE ETERNAL IS ETERNAL!” Mareio shouted with triumph.

At least he didn’t put in the Life Mushroom this time…

“So now what?” I asked them.

“WE EAT IT!” they both shouted.

They turned to the streets and shouted, “HEY EVERYPONY, FREE PANCAKES!”

A mass of ponies rushed from across town to savor the fine crusine that is George the Eternal. With the large crowd blocking the gingerbread house I ungooped myself and headed towards Twilight’s tree house.

I’m sure a calm, logical pony like Twilight will give me something less suicidal to do.

I knocked on the door of the tree house and the door creaked open, it was unlocked.

“Uh Twilight? Anyone?” I shouted into the house.

“I’m over here Shadow!” I heard Twilight’s voice and so I entered the house.

Wow… what the hell is all of this?

Books that were supposed to be on the shelves were instead all laid out on the floor, in fact there was no floor I was standing on a pile of books. The pile beneath me began to shift and then a purple scaly hand shot out from the pile of books.

“Spike?” I reached the hand and pulled out a pale baby dragon.

“Light! I’M SAVED!” shouted Spike as he ran outside for fresh air.

I continued down a hall until I saw Twilight reading a book on a podium.

“Hey Twilight, what’s with the books?”

“Oh those? I was just studying a bit on Templar and Assasin history, also I’ve been trying to find anything about WingBlade or Dave, but so far nothing,” she said sadly.

“Also Shadow, the Princess would like to see you one day and deliver a report to her in person.”

Just then a crazy sadistic thought went in my head.

“Twilight, remember the giant bat thing we used for Je Suis? I was wondering if there could be a modification,” I asked.

“What do you have in mind?”

“A cannon…”

Twilight burst out laughing and dropped her book; I saw the cover was the same cover that Le Duck’s book had. I quickly snatch the book away and tuck it into my robe pocket to save Twilight from subliminal explication.

Once Twilight recovered she asked me, “Are you serious? Maybe we should find WingBlade or Dave first and then worry about your cannon project.”

“Alright then, I see you don’t need any help from me so I’ll just be going now…” I said as I headed towards a nearby window.

The window got a purple light around it and it shut, “Shadow, would you like to help tidy all these books with Spike?” Twilight said with a smile.

“Okay Twilight… also sorry in advance,” I said.

“Sorry for wha--?”

*CRASH*

I jumped through the window smashing the glass around me as I landed outside, I sprinted as fast as possible away from Twilight’s magic range.

“SHADOW!” shouted Twilight from her house.

Damn I am so screwed today…

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

After running for what seemed like an hour I arrived at Rarity’s shop, the Carousal Boutique.
I headed towards the door and knocked.

Please don’t let it be outfitting, please don’t let it be outfitting…

Rarity opened the door and a smile appeared on her face as she pulled me inside, “OH SHADOW! WHAT A SURPRISE! COME IN! MAKE YOURSELF AT HOME!”

“Uh Rarity do you want some help?” I offered.

“Oh Shadow, there is absolutely nothing I could hide from you. You see I’m having a bit of a… fashion block. I just can’t think of any new designs. I need something MODERN, something EXOTIC, something that is… you.” she said pointing to my clothes.

“I would like to give you some ideas Rarity, really I would but I have no idea about fashion sense. I know a lot about charm and passion but asides from that I don’t…”

“THAT’S IT! PASSION! CHARM! Those two elements were what was missing from design, now if I can get a…”

*AIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE*

Me and Rarity tensed up from the loud shriek, I instantly recognized the shriek belonging to Fluttershy’s voice. Without waiting I jumped through a window display, breaking the glass once more and ran towards the direction of the scream.

I arrived to where Fluttershy had screamed I saw her trying to help Rainbow Dash who was unconscious and had bleeding slash wounds coming from her wings.

“Fluttershy what happened?” I asked her just as Rarity caught up to us.

“Rainbow Dash!” she worryingly said.

“Shadow… there was this… frightening green Pegasus wearing a darker green hood.”

Realization hit my face.

“Fluttershy, what were her wings like?”

“They were silvery and metallic… she used her wings to cut through Rainbow Dash like this,” she looked back towards Rainbow.

I heaved the unconscious Rainbow onto my back, “Come on we need to get to the hospital quickly, before she hurts anymore ponies!”

“She?” Rarity and Fluttershy asked.

“WingBlade… she's here and she found us…”