The assassins song.
Chapter one:The melody of the gallows.
Two near silent hoof falls were placed upon the roof top. It was an horrific sight. The whole scene was just depressing; the overcast sky gave the town square an emotionless feel. Add that to the lack of town noises, the bustling crowds, the running and laughter of young colts and fillies, no merchants shouting out there offers of the wares they were selling. The fact that there was little more than the odd hushed sentence here and there, gave an overwhelming sense of emptiness to the ponies and griffons on the street. Even the buildings seemed more, gloomy. They just seemed more grey and dead, as though even they were saddened by today's events. Recently tension had been rising between Equestria and the griffon kingdom, not for the first time the threat of war had been made and this time the griffons were claiming to be serious. Of course nopony took them seriously; Celestia sent an ambassador over there to smooth things over and make relations hospitable once again, alongside saving around fifty pony's lives. However. There were two things wrong with the upcoming parley; one: the supposed ambassador, a cream furred, scarlet mane and tailed stallion by the name of 'Slick talker', was about as interested in over sea's affairs as an owl was interested in the daytime, instead the stallion who was supposed to be cementing relations between the two countries was more interested in lining his coin purse. The second problem was that the griffons were not likely to step out of this particular conflict easily. It was a widely known fact (or un-widely known depending who you asked) that the griffons had, had their eyes on the famous land of pony's for a long time now, and that they were waiting for the smallest of sparks to light the powder keg. And they were about to get it.
Sixty-four ponies. All accused and found guilty of crimes a foal could see they were innocent of committing were about to be strung from the gallows. Sixty-four innocent lives about to be taken all for some twisted show of power against an ambassador who couldn't care less, as long as the bribe went through without hiccup, perhaps the best part of the rather grand event however, was that all these ponies were to be publicly executed. With a small crowd of maybe one-hundred and fifty ponies and a further two-hundred griffons were crowded into the tow square of the griffon kingdom capital and the pony/griffon officials kept from the elements by some covered balcony, ten ponies walked towards the nooses.
The shady figure atop the roof watching the events, with no emotion on his features, stood patiently. His plan was simple, about as simple as the deed to be done, about as simple as his line of work. About as simple as taking a life, because after all, that's what assassins do, isn't it? The plan was not without its faults of course, the main one being the attack on the killers morals, as this particular plan required some necessary evil. He had to let the first group of prisoners die. This was to cause uproar amongst the ponies in the crowd, who were mostly there to see their loved one's back home. The assassin grunted at the irony.
"These griffons want to set off a powder keg, go through with this and they will" the stallion thought to himself. The griffons plan was to use this outrage to stir up the nobles and royalty of equestria, pushing them to war, but in the meantime the ponies of the crowd would run riot at the event, most likely pulling down half the city in anger before being contained. The ponies, even though they were smaller and had less physical strength than the griffons would be fuelled by adrenalin and fury, and that was a force to be reckoned with. The assassin mused the idea of the crowd doing his job for him, with the crowd turning on Slick and ripping him limb from limb. Unlikely, a crowd with that much rage would not be able to vent their anger in one direction and would likely just disperse around the town. He was pulled out of his thoughts when the first group of 'criminals' were brought forward, nopony bought it, if only because it's difficult to believe that ponies are capable of any actions outside the law when there below the age of ten. A few gasps ran through the crowd as the foal, an earth pony colt with a sky blue coat and a white mane, trotted up to the centre platform of the gallows. The assassin grunted as he watched him get levitated onto a small crate. He looked so calm, like he didn't care his life was about to come to an end, the murderer looked on with admiration at the colts resolve.
Then out of nowhere, like a sudden cold, soothing wind on a hot and dry day, the colt's voice swept through the now silent crowd.
"On those dark, weary days and those cold, windy nights pray the assassin will watch over your plight" the colt sung masterfully, his voice slightly high pitched and the tempo perfect. The assassin should know, as he was very familiar with the song. This was the assassin's song, a song sung by mare's to their foals when they when they were scared and needed to know somepony was watching from the shadows, making sure they were safe. The colt stopped his song, however, perhaps from embarrassment, perhaps a loss of courage.
"With blood on his hooves and death in his heart the assassin will watch over, from the end till the start" the song was picked up by a navy-blue fur and midnight blue mane and tail stallion, his voice deeper and more masculine than the colt though he kept the same tempo as the foal. The stallion looked over to the colt before they sung the chorus in duet.
"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall" a mare with a deep purple fur, and a light grey mane joined into the tune, her voice adding a softer and somewhat more pleasant tone, the kind that would be expected from a mother singing a lullaby to their children, to the song as they continued their melody.
"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall
The assassin will watch over all good colts and mares always listening to there ever hopeful prayers
He will always watch over the weak and the poor should you ever cross him he'll give you what for" the unseen watcher grinned at this line, he had always felt it lightened the tone with the juvenile choice of words when compared to the rest of the lyrics. The rest of the damned, stood upon the gallows joined the song, which had been created to sooth those in times of darkness. It was certainly been tested in that respect.
"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will always stand tall" the joining voices added layers to the song, some better at singing than others, though throughout the song the colt could still be heard.
"The assassin will be there, so silent and still watching and waiting, for the moment until
Those who have wronged you will fall to his blade and never will he rest till the debt has been paid" the rest of those waiting to be hanging from nooses joined with the final rendition of the chorus, and the effect was…extraordinary… to say the least, as the poem of hope came to a close with a massive symphony of those doomed for the rope singing with enough force to knock Celestia herself to her rear.
"With blood on his blade, and shrouded in night the assassin will be there, with his ever silent might. From dawn until dusk and from winter till fall year after year he will-"and then all too suddenly the lever was pulled and all those lives, those innocent lives were extinguished. Along with the song. Along with the life of a certain corrupt ambassador.
It all happened as planned; the stallions gave a roar of fury, the mares a gasp of horror, the ambassador a grunt of amusement and the assassin; not even a snarl. He leapt from the roof, as graceful as a Pegasus in the sky as he was on the ground; he landed straight on a guard griffon, slamming his fore-hooves into its throat, not killing it but definitely putting down for the count. As fast as a black flash of lightning he launched onto the ambassador, throwing him to his back before slamming his right fore-hoof into another griffon's beak, and breaking the beast's jaw. The assassin looked down at the target, the predator to his prey, the hunter to the hunted. The living to the soon to be dead.
"He will always stand tall" the assassin finished in honour of the dead. He drew his blade allowing the doomed pony see his terrified eyes in its reflection, before he rammed it into his jugular vein as the blood gushed across his features and weapon. The last thought to cross the mind of the pony chocking on his own blood was: "was it truly this easy to kill me?" The assassin grinned at the look of disbelief on the face of his mark. It amused him greatly when his targets where like this, thinking them untouchable before an assassin or killer, such as the one who held a blade through his neck, managed to kill them.
"Rather easy though, for somepony who was meant to be holding the peace between Equestria and the griffon kingdom together" the murderous pony observed, looking around himself with a frown on his face that would be more suitable on a pony who had just heard a strange noise before shrugging it off as nothing. This was exactly what this was to the pony. Nothing. Just another day in the office, as far as he as concerned, the main difference hear being that there were several angry looking griffons around him that probably had a thirst for blood that could only be clenched by the vital funds of one particular equine. Said pony jumped over the stone railings of the balcony and into the rioting crowds before the guards caption could even think to say "attack".
The assassin's plan to use the crowd to cover his escape worked well, too well, as the crowds had done what he had predicted and more. Several griffons lay on the ground holding wounds, while the ponies around him fought tooth and hoof to retrieve their loved ones, who were either galloping for their lives or being mourned by their families. The assassin's eyes lingered for a moment at the sight of the dead colt. He made his way down an alleyway, the shadows covering his escape and walked away from the violence and towards the ferries to and from Equestria. Like nothing had happened at all.
A/N: So yeah, first fanfic. Review, spread the word, tell me what I did good and bad oooor don't. Either way thanks for reading.
Productive faffer out.
