“AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

I woke up covered in sweat in my bed back at the Assassin’s Hideout.

Crap! Not another nightmare! Okay Dave where are you!?

I looked around the night-dark room with my hidden blade drawn and realized I was the only one here. Lying back down on the bed I gave a sigh of relief.

It’s okay, he’s not here…
Dave didn’t tell Balthazar where we are…. yet…

I don’t care if Dave says he’ll keep our promise, I don’t trust him and neither do the rest of the assassins.

A tear rolled down my cheek with the last thought I had before I went to sleep.

I don’t want Ponyville to end up like Ponitaly.
I don’t want it to be my fault… again.

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

This time the sun was shining in my face when I next woke up from my rough sleep.
I reached over for my clothes and my second hidden blade (I always sleep with one) and put the clothing over my grey body.

There were some glass shards imbedded into my outfit from yesterday’s chase with WingBlade along with a couple of slash marks and a small tear in my right shoulder.

Guess I’ll get Rartiy to fix these for me later.

I took some of the glass shards out and placed them upon my mahogany desk, also on the magnificent wood laid a blank scroll and a quill with ink. I knew immediately that I still had to update the Princess on what the assassins are doing.
I took a seat in my chair, picked up the quill in my right hoof and began writing.

Dear Princess Celestia,

We were able to chase WingBlade out of Ponyville and killed her at Manehatten before she revealed our location and identities to Balthazar.

Though we should celebrate, we cannot because while she didn’t give anypony that information the other Templar Dave (though I’m confused if he really is a Templar), or rather their accountant, had knew long before we chased WingBlade our identities, hideout and even what we were going to do and with that information he says he wasn’t going to do anything with it, which I consider a lie and if he does… let’s just hope that ordeal won’t happen again.

Right now I don’t consider any moles or treachery within the Assassin Order, but this pony Dave is… different. I recommend to you Princess that you keep a close eye on Dave as I’m sure his plan to “Balance” Equestia is the same plan the Templars want to do, I am of course referring to “Project Purify” which we still are trying to find what information we can.

Currently Balthazar still has control of the Apple and I’m positive that Dave would know about it as well as he is armed with both powers and cunning intellect.

Though I know that you can’t aid us (being your political position and all) can you at least do a search for Dave? He disappears into portals and can use magic that I would never dream of and if we were to take him on, we would need more information if it is to be successful.

Again, thank you if you can we’ll continue to search here in Ponyville.

-Shadow-mark

I placed the quill back in the ink can and rolled the scroll up with my two hooves.

I’m sure that the rest of the assassins would come around here throughout the day; I’d better write a note for Twilight to get Spike to send this.

With my scroll firmly rolled neatly I reached back over to the quill and just as I was taking it out of the ink the can rolled over and poured thick black ink all over my scroll and my desk.

My eye twitched, but then I thought of a better idea.
I wiped any ink from the quill and placed the now dry quill over the desk. I wrote through the ink so it left noticeable letters in the mess.

“To Twilight, send letter to Celestia and also know how to clean ink off a desk?”

With a slight smile I left my message in the ink and walked over to the ladder towards the roof.

While Ace was still snoozing on the rooftop I took a leap of faith from the roof-tower and then went to a random location in Ponyville.

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

Though there was a bright shining sun overlooking Ponyville it was still relatively early in the morning and Ponyville was just waking up to a brand new day.

Considering yesterday those two Canterlot ponies were brutally murdered.
Hopefully nobody saw us when we were chasing after WingBlade.
Hmm… I wonder.

I started making my way towards the spot where WingBlade had killed the unicorns.
Upon arriving I noticed some police tape surrounding chalked outlines of two figures and a pony I didn’t get a good at who then left the scene.

Ignoring the bystander that just left, I went under the tape and examined the murder scene closely. The spots on the ground where the outlines of the deceased laid were still stained with blood.

I still can’t believe that some ponies can just do this.
But… am I no different? I don’t kill my targets like this but still I kill…
Is there any morality in that?

I then noticed a quick blur running towards an alley; it looked like the same pony I saw before.
I took at least two steps towards the alley before…

“HELLO SHADOW!”

“AHHH!” I turned around and saw the happy goofy looking Dr. Mareio, with a sigh of relief I said to him, “Damnit Mareio… you shouldn’t sneak up on me like that.”

“So how was’a your trip? Did you get WingBlade and save Equestria from evil?” Mareio whispered in a heroic voice.

“And you’a forgot me…” Mareio said with a sad ominous frown.

“Um… well… you see…” I stuttered until Mareio changed from his frown to a happy laughing smile.

“I’ma just joking Shadow, ho ho ho!” he laughed as he placed a hoof around my shoulder and we began to walk.

While we were talking about yesterday’s events I looked back to the alley and saw that the pony was gone.

Strange…

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

“I WAS A HERO!” Mareio shouted at the top of his voice waking up the rest of the town.

“…at least until they saw my bill,” he sheepishly smiled.

“Really how much was it?” I asked cautiously.

“Ah Shadow, a doctor never reveals client information with another. But I will say to you that it was SO MUCH that I gave them a discount!” he shook his hoof and held up a weird electronic device.

“What is it?”

“IT’SA MY PONY-BOI!”

Oh damn… video games, I never had one and I never will want one.
The moment your hooked BAM! Templars take over.

Mareio started to dance randomly and was attracting a crowd around us who awed in joy to see such a funny thing so early in the morning.
Taking this as my cue I weaved through the crowd until I had gotten to a bench that was rather far from where Mareio and the bystanders were.

Might as well see what I missed from yesterday, maybe I can even find clues for certain things.

I pricked my ears open and closed my eyes shut as I listened to the many voices of the morning Ponyvillians.

*Static*

*Static*

“…and I said that’s not my hoof.”

“OH YOU SLY PONY!”

I switched to a different part of Ponyville and focused my hearing there.

“Did you hear? Two ponies from Canterlot were murdered, right in front of my house!”

“Wow that’s shameful… where was the Shadow of Ponyville this time? Or even Mare-do-well?”

“You don’t think that the Shadow would have…. done it… would you?”

“I don’t know anymore, we are living in strange times indeed…”

“…”

“Hello Shadow I know you can hear me…” said an all-too familiar voice.

Dave.

I snapped myself back to reality and started gasping in shock; a pony who sat next to me on the bench reached over to my hyperventilating body and tried to help me.

“Are you okay?” the brown stallion said to me.

I righted myself back up and stood from the bench, “Umm… yes thank you.”

I immediately stood from the bench and looked over to where Mareio was dancing; he was still being ambushed and adored by his fans.

Damnit Mareio! I need to find someone so we can go after Dave…. I know, Rarity!

I started to sprint towards the Carousel Boutique but didn’t notice the dark figure watching me from the rooftops.

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

*KNOCK*

*KNOCK*

“RARITY!” I shouted through the door.

A clatter of sounds came from behind the door and it opened revealing a distraught alabaster unicorn.

“WHAT!? WHAT IS IT!? ….Oh it’s you Shadow come in come in!” Rarity answered as she dragged me inside her house.

I looked everywhere around her house and saw that everything was cluttered smashed and destroyed, it looked like a hurricane had hit the inside of Rarity’s house. I turned to her and saw that her mane was frizzled and it looked like she had just recently gotten out of bed.

“Um... Rarity… everything alright?” I asked her.

“Oh whatever do you mean Shadow? Of course everything is alright but look at you! Those cuts and sears on your outfit are simply off-putting your natural physique,” she pointed over to the holes in my outfit.

“Ah yes Rarity, I wanted to ask you about that but before I…”

She put a hoof to my mouth and said, “Say no more I’ll fix your fashion problem even if it’s the last thing I do!”

With Dave running around… it probably is…

-------Half an Hour Later---------------

“So Rarity now that you’re almost finished can I ask you why your house looks so trashed?” I said while I relaxed on a couch.

“It was inspiration, now wait… just one… more… THERE!” she held up my fixed armor with her magic into the air and it appeared radiant in the glow.

I quickly put my armor back on and went over to a mirror, “It looks good Rarity, it looks… looks...”

“What Shadow? What’s wrong with it?” she came over to the mirror and saw me shaking.

“Shadow?”

I looked at the mirror to where Rarity had just come to the mirror and on the reflection I saw Dave’s cheery face that looked like he was right behind me and he was pulling out his pen-blade.

“LOOK OUT!” I shouted to Rarity as I turned around and shot a throwing knife behind me.

“AIE!” Rarity screamed in shock.

The knife was wedged into the wall with no sign of Dave anywhere to be seen.

“WHAT WAS THAT SHADOW!?” Rarity very unladylike shouted at me.

“I…I thought… ARG!” I took the knife from the wall and stored it in my knife belt.

With a sigh I turned back to the shocked Rarity, “I thought Dave was here in Ponyville., I saw his reflection in the mirror.”

“Dave? You mean that pony yesterday who knew all about us?” she asked me, I nodded in reply.

Immediately her horn lit up a beautiful light blue and a few seconds later she stopped, “I used a scan spell and I can’t find Dave anywhere. Maybe we should get you back to the hideout.”

“That might be a good idea Rarity. It must be the stress again,” I said as we left her house and trotted towards the hideout.

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

“SHADOW! DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO WASH INK!?”

We were back at the hideout and the first thing that hit me was a washcloth thrown by an annoyed purple unicorn. The second thing she threw at me was Spike.

“YOUR MESS YOUR WORK!” Twilight angrily said to us and we just nodded our heads.

We went over to my desk and began to scrub the dry black ink from the mahogany.

“Shadow, why did you leave ink all over your desk and the scroll?” Spike said as he helped me wipe a corner.

“I wanted to troll Twilight and see if she would actually clean my desk,” I joked.

“HAH! That is funny!” Spike laughed.

I looked over my shoulder and saw Twilight was confused as why Spike was laughing.

“IT’S NOTHING, REALLY TWILIGHT!” I shouted over the room and then muffled my laughs.

As we were washing my table the rest of the Mane 6 showed up and we all exchanged pleasant hellos and good mornings.
I looked back at my table and saw that the ink was turning red; I frantically started to scrub the ink which now turned into the colour of blood.

I scrubbed harder and harder trying to remove the ink as fast as I could.
I stopped and looked at the bloody mess, there were letters written within the bloody ink.

“Scared Shadow?” they read.

What? How can Dave do this? This doesn’t make any sense!?

“… shadow”

“Shadow…”

“SHADOW!”

I looked up and saw my friends and Spike with worried looks on their faces, I looked back down at the table and saw that most of the ink was gone and the rest that was there was left was black as any normal ink would be.

A hoof landed on my shoulder and I saw it was Applejack’s, “Are you okay sugarcube?”

“I… I... don’t know, this whole thing with Dave and…. and I see him everywhere but he isn’t there… I don’t want him to tell Balthazar where we are… I don’t know why he’s doing all these mind-games! I just…. I just… don’t want to lose anypony else,” I admitted with my head down, I was on the verge of tears but I wanted to appear brave.

“Dave? That stallion that killed WingBlade? You think he’s here?” Twilight asked me, this time Rarity nodded.

“Why didn’t you tell us sooner, this is a serious problem!?” Fluttershy said.

“You made me wash the desk and…” I dropped the washcloth as I looked back at the desk.

They all turned their heads to the desk and gasped.
The desk was completely clean and the only thing on top of it was a sealed envelope and one of that Pony-boi’s I seen Mareio use.

I nervously picked up the electronic device and clicked the start button; an image appeared on the screen. It was a picture of Dave.

“HELLO SHADOW! Sorry for messing with your head today, but it was essential for the last phase of my plan,” the electronic Dave smiled at us.

“What is it Dave? What do you want!?” I shouted at the screen.

“And Shadow, this is a pre-recorded message so shouting would get you nowhere,” he waved his pixilated head back and forth.

“Now then, in the envelope I placed a few necessary things for you to find this,” he held up a round object which I recognized as a seal.

A Seal? How would he know about something like that? Things aren’t adding up.

“Also know that I’ll be waiting for you there and maybe I’ll tell you a bit more about my plan…” he looks over at a clock on his hoof, “You better hurry Shadow, I got a lot of work to do… and so do you…” the pixilated Dave left the screen.

We all were in shock from his minor scare speech, but Rainbow Dash quickly ran for the letter and opened it up, the contents included: a map, compass, and a small note.

Rainbow took the note and read aloud, “Also that Pony-boi is a bomb….you got 5 minutes.”

“A BOMB!?” we all shouted.

“WEEEEEEEEEEE!!” Pinkie shouted as she took the Pony-boi and started to hug it.

“Pinkie stop being a Pyro and get rid of the bomb!” I shouted to her.

“OKIE DOKIE LOKIE!” she tossed the Pony-boi into the hands of Spike.

“AAH!” he tossed the Pony-boi into the air.

“CATCH IT!” we all shouted as it fell towards the ground.

Applejack quickly caught it and asked in confusion, “Uh… where do I put this?”

“Give it to me I’ll get it out in a dash!” Rainbow flew a little too fast into Applejack and the bomb was knocked from her hooves and fell into the middle of the room.

Immediately everypony except for me jumped towards it and began fighting for it.
Ace from the falcon entrance to the roof flew down and landed on my shoulder, he saw the scene and began to laugh.

“EVERYPONY STOP!”

Everyone immediately stopped, except for Ace who was still laughing at the whole situation.

I went over to their pretzel tangled bodies and took the bomb which was grasped in Pinkie’s hoof, the Pony-boi began to beep violently and I quickly threw it towards the clock window shattering the glass as the bomb started to fall.

*BOOM*

A searing fireball engulfed on the outside of the clock tower and I was pushed back from the window and tumbled over to the other side of the hideout.

Dazed I looked at what I grasped in my hooves before the blast happened, the map to the 4th seal.

The map to Dave.