> The Descendants
>  by Gherkin
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue: An Old Enemy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Books, like friends, should be few and well chosen. Like friends, too, we should return to them again and again for, like true friends, they will never fail us - never cease to instruct - never cloy. ~ Charles Caleb Colton



Canterlot Castle, Equestria
15th May 1002 C.R. (Celestia’s Reign)
11:47 PM


Equestria’s princess of the night stood on her balcony, gazing through her telescope at the stars above. Her moon shone high in the night sky, illuminating the city below. The sky was clear; it was the perfect night for stargazing. 

Studying the many constellations of the night had become Princess Luna’s favourite new hobby. She was not as politically savvy as her older sister, and preferred not to make major appearances at formal events. Celestia, however, attended almost everything, from local coffee shop openings to prestigious balls and operas. Luna shook her head and smirked. It’s like she soaks up all the attention, she thought.

Passing the view of her telescope over the surface of the moon, Luna’s head began to ache painfully. Worried, but intrigued, she adjusted the zoom of her scope, focusing on the area of space around the moon. Barely visible in its shadow was, at first glance, what appeared to be an unusually bright star. Zooming in further, Luna inspected the strange object even closer. Her confused expression soon turned to disbelief, then horror.

“No...” she whispered to herself, “It can’t be...” She stepped away from the telescope, staring up at her moon with her naked eye. Hastily stepping back inside, she headed in the direction of her sister’s room.

She trotted briskly down the castle’s hallways, not wanting to make a scene of herself. Guards and butlers gave confused looks as she barged past, not paying them any attention. Quickly reaching the double doors of Celestia’s private quarters, she knocked and entered. Her sister was sitting at a desk at the far end of the room, writing a letter, no doubt intended for her protégée. Hearing the doors close, she set down her quill and turned around.

“Luna!” she greeted her younger sister happily, “Is there something I can help you with?”

“Sister, it’s-they’re...” Luna stuttered, struggling to get the words out, “They’re back.”

Celestia’s happy mood diminished as a concerned look spread across her face. “Who? Who’s back?”

Luna looked at her sister, pure fear in her eyes. A tear trickled down her face. “The Ones Who Came Before.”

Celestia’s eyes quickly changed to a look of fear that matched her sister’s. “No. No, that’s not possible.” She dashed over to her own telescope, gazing up at the same spot her sister had. She walked solemnly over to her bed, sitting on it with a defeated expression on her face. “I didn’t think it would come to this...”

Luna stared questioningly at her. “Come to what?”

Celestia looked up, staring her sister in the eye. “My contingency.” She moved back to the desk, quickly dipping her quill in a pot of ink and starting to write another letter. 

“Contingency? Wait, you knew something like this would happen?”

“I didn’t know for sure, but I planned in case it did.” Celestia said, not taking her eyes off the scroll. “We need the Elements of Harmony.”

Luna scolded her sister. “You know the Elements of Harmony are not powerful enough for something like this!”

Her sister kept writing. “Don’t worry, I have another card to play.”


***



Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville, Equestria
The following morning...


“Uh, we’re out of quills again, Twilight.”

Twilight Sparkle sighed, pacing around the floor of her library. She turned to her scaled assistant.  “Again? Ugh, I’m not going to have enough time to write my letter to the princess!” She trotted towards the door of the library. “I’ll have to go get some more.”

“Don’t bother.” Spike hopped down the stairs. “Quill & Sofa’s out of stock. Again.” He sighed. “Unless you have some sudden urge to buy a sofa, there’s no point.”

She groaned and walked back inside. “What am I going to do?” she moaned. “How am I going to write my weekly letter to the princess?”

“Please don’t start this again...”

The unicorn slumped over onto her bed. “What am I going to do?” she repeated, staring at the floor. Only once had she been tardy for the princess, and, well, everyone in Ponyville knew how bad that had turned out. No one liked to talk about it, that’s for sure. She sat up, hearing a familiar belching noise.

“Uh, Twilight, you might not need to worry after all.” Spike held up a parchment scroll, sealed with the royal insignia. 

Twilight looked at him, confused. “Why would the princess send me a letter?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe you should try reading it first.”

Using her magic, Twilight levitated the scroll towards her, unraveling it. Clearing her throat, she began to read:

“My faithful student, Twilight Sparkle,

I trust you and your friends are doing well in Ponyville. However, now is not the time for pleasantries. An urgent situation has arose here in Canterlot, and I need you all to travel here, post haste. Gather your friends at the library; transport will arrive for you at precisely 3:00pm. I will explain further when you arrive.

Princess Celestia.”

Twilight looked over to her assistant. Like her, he was speechless.


***



Four hours later...


Twilight read Princess Celestia’s letter out to her friends again. None of them could make heads or tails of what it meant, but, like real friends, they all stopped what they were doing and packed their things when Twilight told them that she needed help.

Now they were gathered around the library, waiting for the royal carriage to pick them up. Needless to say, they all had many questions, none of which Twilight could properly answer.

“What’s this whole thing about, anyway?”

“I don’t know, Rainbow,” Twilight replied.

“Why does the princess need us for something in Canterlot?”

“I don’t know, Fluttershy.” Twilight was more agitated this time. This was starting to wear thin.

“What are we going to have to eat there?” Pinkie Pie, of course. Everyone turned to stare at her. “What? I’m hungry.”

“Look guys!” Twilight snapped, “I really don’t know any more than you do about this! So could you all please stop with the questions?” She sat back on her haunches, head in her hooves.

“We’re mighty sorry Twilight,” Applejack said soothingly, “It’s just that the princess has never been this vague with us before. It’s kinda like she’s hiding something.”

The lavender unicorn sighed. “Yeah, maybe you’re right. Besides, she did say she’d explain more to us once we got there.”

They all perked their ears up at the sound of the clocktower in the distance. Three o’clock. As if on cue, two pegasus guards hauling a royal carriage landed neatly in front of them. They didn’t utter a single word, only motioning for the six friends to get in. 

“Good afternoon, sirs.” Twilight nodded to them as she hopped in. They nodded in return, even giving her a brief glimpse of a smile, before checking to see if everyone was in. Satisfied, they took to the skies once more.

While her friends started to chat, Twilight closed her eyes. It was going to be a long journey, and something told her that she was going to need the rest in the morning.

“Hey, Twilight, I need to talk to you.” It was Pinkie Pie. No chance of rest after all. 

Twilight didn’t open her eyes. “What is it, Pinkie Pie?”

“My Pinkie Sense!” she responded, shoving her hoof in her friend’s face. Twilight yelped and slid back.

“What about it, Pinkie?” Twilight asked, rubbing her nose.

“Well, my hoof has been itching all day, and you know what that means!” She beamed, looking at Twilight.

Twilight sighed. “OK, pretend for a minute that I don’t know what that means and just tell me.”

Pinkie’s eyes lit up. “Ooh, I love pretending games! OK then.” She took a deep breath. Twilight braced herself. Pinkie was a good friend really, but she was talkative more than anything. “When my hoof starts to itch then that means something really strange is about to happen and I think that it has something to do with what the princess wants us for!” She stopped suddenly, and sat there with a gleeful smile on her face.

Twilight nodded. “Maybe. But I guess we’ll just have to find out, won’t we?” Pinkie nodded. Twilight slouched back down and closed her eyes.

“Hey!” Pinkie again.

“What?”

“Now it’s your turn, silly! I thought we were playing a pretending game!”

The lavender unicorn sighed. This was going to be a long journey.



***



Princess Celestia's private quarters,
Meanwhile...


"Are you sure this is a good idea, sister?"

Princess Celestia grunted, charging a difficult spell only she could perform. "It's the only choice we have. These four warriors, combined with the Elements of Harmony, will be powerful enough to defeat... them."

"But why these four specific men? They appear to be completely unrelated, most of them having lived hundreds of years apart!" Princess Luna sat next to her, hurriedly writing up equations to help her sister. She groaned, and set the quill down.

Celestia sighed. "Because, Luna, they are like us. Descendants of their planet's First Civilization. They have a special strand of DNA. Only about one in four million are so lucky.” 

Luna thought hard, putting the pieces together. "How can you be sure that they will help you?" She sorted through countless scrolls and papers. “From what I’ve studied of their world, they haven’t developed the technology to put someone on their closest planet, let alone anything to learn or know anything about alternate dimensions.”

Celestia gritted her teeth. "Well, they won't have a choice." Her horn glowed brightly. Releasing the spell's charge, she watched as the whole room was engulfed in light.



***



Canterlot Castle, Equestria
The following morning...


The main hall of Canterlot Castle was as beautiful and bedazzling as ever. There wasn’t a thing out of place, and it looked like Princess Celestia had everything cleaned for Twilight’s arrival. They had arrived late the night before, and had quickly settled into their rooms and got some sleep. Naturally, Twilight didn’t get much; her thoughts were too wrapped up in what kind of business the princess needed them all for.

Now they were about to have breakfast with royalty. Rarity almost fainted with delight at the prospect. Celestia had promised to explain everything over some food, however, for some reason, Twilight shared Applejack’s suspicion that she was probably going to keep some details from them. There was something that didn’t feel right about the whole situation.

Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were already sat at the table, along with, to Twilight’s surprise, Shining Armor and his new wife, Cadance. Twilight trotted over to her brother, embracing him tightly before taking a seat next to him.

“So, how was the honeymoon?” Twilight asked, attempting to start a conversation.

He smiled distantly, as if remembering a pleasant memory. “It was good. Las Pegasus is excellent this time of year.” Twilight smiled. Everyone sat down and began to eat.

“Good morning, everypony.” Princess Celestia cleared her throat as most of her guests finished. “I trust you are all well. But there is something we all need to discuss.” She hung her head. “Equestria is on the brink of disaster.”

Twilight nearly choked on her egg. What? 

Celestia continued. "This may sound preposterous, but our fair land is soon to be invaded from creatures beyond the stars." A wave of shock and disbelief rippled around the table. The utter seriousness that adorned Celestia's face soon banished any doubtful thoughts. This was serious.

"But first, I must introduce you to four new ponies. Four new warriors who will help us combat this extraterrestrial threat." As soon as she stopped speaking, the double doors were thrown open to reveal four stallions, the likes of whom Twilight had never seen before.

What is going on here? 


***



10:23PM
The previous night...
 

He ran, not even bothering to look back, through the moonlit streets of the city. Ignoring the cries from the guards behind him, the hooded stallion just ran as fast as his new legs could carry him. Noticing a getaway route, he ducked quickly into a secluded alleyway.

He paused to catch a breath. "Mio dio..." he murmured, "What is going on here?" He spoke with a thick accent. Perking his ears up at the clattering of armour not far behind, he turned around and gripped his hoof on the windowsill in front of him. After a few unsuccessful tries, he began to slowly scale the face of the building.

Every single inch was a struggle. Unable to cope putting his new body through such rigorous testing, the stallion barely managed to clamber onto the roof of the building. Panting, he listened to the murmurs of the guards below.

"Where did he go?"

"He must have vanished into thin air..."

"Don't be ridiculous, he must have gone this way."

Watching them from above, he sat quietly as they galloped down the alleyway and out of sight. Breathing a sigh of relief, he got up and wandered to the edge of the building, taking in the sights of the city before him. What did they call this place? Canterlot, that was it. He smiled. Like the old Arthurian legends of Camelot his mother used to tell to him before bedtime, all those years ago.

The city was built into a mountain, and, from where he stood, he could see almost every inch of the sprawling metropolis that spread out down the mountainside. He shook his head, trying to get his thoughts straight. His brain was not used to working these strange, different limbs. He steadied his breath, trying to think straight. OK, where and when was I born? He thought for a second. Firenze, Italia, 1459 A.D. That was good. He began to feel the symptoms of a raging headache.

And my name? What is my name? He breathed in slowly, tapping his forehead. 

My name is Ezio Auditore da Firenze. 

Glancing over the side of the building, he smirked. He closed his eyes for a moment, positioning himself near the edge of the tall building. He breathed in deeply...

...and leapt into the open abyss.



ROGER CRAIG SMITH
NOLAN NORTH
ERIC LADIN
ROB WIETHOFF




THE DESCENDANTS


> Chapter 1: Principesse e Castelli
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Our dead are never dead to us, until we have forgotten them. ~ George Eliot



The Vault, Capella Sistina, Rome, Italy
28th December 1499
01:35PM


What kind of sorcery is this?

Ezio Auditore stood in awe, listening to the goddess in front of him as she delivered her message. A message to a phantom, no doubt, because it certainly wasn't directed towards him.

"It is done. The message is delivered," the goddess, Minerva, spoke, addressing something, or someone, behind Ezio, "We are gone now from this world. All of us. We can do no more. The rest is up to you, Desmond."

Ezio didn't understand. "What? Who is Desmond?"

Minerva suddenly turned to face him. "Be silent, O Prophet!" she snapped in an unusually harsh tone. Returning to her previously calm and collected manner, the goddess straightened slowly. "We have a message for you as well."

The assassin stepped back. "A message? From who?"

Minerva approached him. Ezio tried to move, but his limbs did not respond. "Our distant relatives, from far beyond the stars." She reached out and grabbed his hand. Blinded by a sudden light, he opened his mouth to scream, but no sound escaped.

An ear-splitting screech filled the room, and suddenly the Vault was empty.

A blinding light filled Ezio’s eyes. “Argh, cazzo!” he grunted.

Wait, I can move again.

The assassin's eyes fluttered open tentatively. There was no proper way to describe where he was. Nothing but a white landscape surrounded him. It was as if he'd fallen into one of Leonardo's canvases. He was, quite literally, nowhere.

“What is this rifiuti?” he murmured, looking around, although there wasn't much to look at. A strange shape was beginning to form, not too far from him. Intrigued, he approached it cautiously. Upon closer inspection, Ezio found that it was, to put it bluntly, an expanding ball of white fur. He was about to reach out and touch it when it expanded again suddenly, taking the shape of something that seemed equine in nature.

“Greetings, Signore Auditore,” it spoke suddenly. It was definitely female, judging by it’s voice.

“How do you know my name?” Ezio asked, trying to keep his composure. Studying the creature, he found that it resembled a horse. It was snow white in colour, with a multi-coloured mane, large wings sprouting from it's back and a horn atop it’s forehead. A strange symbol was etched upon each flank and it appeared to be wearing a crown of sorts.

"I have my ways," the female equine said slyly, bearing a mischievous smile. "I assume Minerva sent you?"

"Yes, how do you know about her?"

"I suppose you could say that we are distant relatives," she said, her smile losing it's mischievous nature and becoming warm and caring, "Besides, where are my manners? My name is Princess Celestia." She held out a front hoof.

"Ezio Auditore da Firenze." He took her hoof in his hand and shook it. "But I suppose you already knew that." She nodded. “Forgive me if I sound forward, but who are you?”

She cleared her throat. “I am the ruler of a land called Equestria, in an alternate universe to yours,” she told him, a regal tone to her voice, “I make sure that all of my little ponies live in peace and harmony.”

Ponies. A land of ponies. I don’t like where this is going.

“And I’m assuming you need me for something there?”

Her face turned grim. “Yes. You see, my land is in terrible danger.”

“Danger? From what?”

“To put it simply, my universe’s equivalent of Minerva’s people. Except, instead of trying to prevent a global disaster, like in your world, they are the disaster.”

Ezio listened intently. “What do you mean?”

“Long, long ago, when I was just a filly, there was a war, between the ponies and... them,” she explained, “You see, my sister and I are two of the few... how should I put it, crossbreeds, between ponies and the First Civilization.”

Ezio nodded, and motioned for her to continue.

“We defeated them using the power of six artifacts known as the Elements of Harmony and managed to exile them to the outer reaches of space. But now, they’re back. My world has not known war for a very long time, Ezio, and we are simply not powerful enough to stop them this time.”

Ezio though for a second. "Tell me more of these 'Elements of Harmony'."

Celestia cleared her throat. "We found them while hiding from the First Civilization during the war, and harnessed their power to defeat them. Now their power lies solely in the hearts of six very special ponies, but I fear that their power alone will not be enough this time."

The Master Assassin sighed. “And I suppose this is where I come in?”

She nodded. “You’re special, Ezio. You are one of four people throughout the history of your world that have enormous amounts of First Civilization DNA.”

Ezio gave her a confused look.

She chuckled. “Oh, right. To put it bluntly, you and these other three men carry some of the most superhuman qualities that belonged to your First Civilization ancestors.”

“Like my talent?”

“Yes, Eagle Vision is a trait your share with them.” She held out her hoof again. “I know this is forward, but time is precious, doubly so these days.” She looked him straight in the eye. “Will you help us, Messer Auditore?”

Ezio thought for a moment, avoiding her gaze. “Sì, but I don’t want to stay. After it is over, I wish to return to Italia.”

“Of course. After all, you must begin the liberazione,” she said with a smile. Before he could ask what she meant, a familiar light blinded him, and he fell into the all too familiar embrace of unconsciousness.


***



The ancient city of Shambhala, Tibet
August 13th, 2009 A.D.
5:34PM


The whole place was crumbling to pieces around them. It was a broken paradise. So much for the tree of life, Nathan Drake thought, as he confronted his wounded enemy. "Lazarevic!" he called out, his M4 trained on the clearly injured war criminal, who had fallen to his knees.

"You think I am a monster," Zoran Lazarevic spat, ignoring the pain that bled through his body, "but you are no different from me, Drake." Nate stared into his cold, soulless eyes as he continued. "How many men have you killed?" he asked, "How many, just today?"

Nate approached him quickly, the sights of his gun aligned perfectly with the Russian's forehead.

"That's it boy," Lazarevic hissed, "No compassion. No mercy." He threw open his arms, staring straight at his adversary. Nate hesitated. "DO IT!" he screamed.

Drake thought for a second, before lowering his gun. "No," he said simply.

Lazarevic smiled and chuckled. "You don't have the will."

"Maybe not." Nate pointed at something behind his enemy. "But they do."

Confused, Lazarevic followed Nathan's gaze. Swarming towards him were the Guardians of Shambhala. Grotesque, purple monsters that were twisted and deformed by drinking the sap from the tree of life. With a terrifying roar, they leapt onto the intruder, picking him up and beating him into the ground mercilessly. Without thinking twice, Nate scrambled out of the pit he was in and back into the crumbling city above.

Climbing onto the bridge that led to the city's gates, he watched in horror as it started to break away around him. "Holy shit..." Horrified, he started to sprint towards the exit, leaping over gaps in the already collapsing bridge as he went. "Why does this always happen to me?" he cried hysterically.

Finally nearing the end of the bridge, he leapt over one more open chasm before noticing his two friends, Chloe Frazer and the seriously injured Elena Fisher sitting by the staircase out of the city.

Chloe noticed him running towards them. "Nate?"

"Chloe? Thank god!"

She smiled. "Nate!" There was a sudden tremor that almost knocked her over. "Whoa, Jesus!"

Nate's eyes widened in horror as he saw one of the city's guardians slowly stand up behind her. "Run!" he screamed.

"What?"

"Behind you!"

"Huh?"

"Look out!"

Chloe turned around, but too late. The Guardian grabbed her, but another sudden tremor knocked all three of them off their feet and sent them sliding towards the chasm below. Unphased, the Guardian tried to attack Chloe.

"Shit!" Nathan pulled out his handgun and unloaded the clip into the monster, startling it. Chloe took the brief window of opportunity and kicked it straight in the jaw, sending it flying off the edge.

Nate breathed a quick sigh of relief, which was quickly replaced by a gasp of fear as he realized he was too late to stop himself from tumbling over the edge as well. "No, no, no!" He tried to twist around a grab the edge, but to no avail. He fell into the abyss screaming.

Chloe reached the edge in time to see her friend plummet to his certain doom. "Nate, no!" He disappeared from sight.

Nate twisted and writhed as he fell. Spinning around to face the ground, he closed his eyes as he saw the rapidly approaching ground. He braced himself for impact.

But it never came.

There was a flash of light, and he blacked out. As he slipped into unconsciousness, he heard a soft, regal voice.

“Don’t worry Nathan, everything’s going to be alright...”


***



Beecher’s Hope, West Elizabeth, USA
July 17th 1911 A.D.
4:09PM


Peace. That’s all he wanted. Peace, and to start a new life with his family. Unfortunately, thanks to the US Government, John Marston wasn’t going to get either. Leaving the bullet-riddled body of his friend, Uncle, he sprinted towards the barn on his family’s ranch. There was a respite of gunfire. They must be repositioning, he thought.

Hurrying inside, he saw his wife, Abigail, and son, Jack, huddled in the corner. “Come on,” he said to them, motioning for them to come closer, “Now listen.” He looked at his son. “Jack.” He looked across to his wife and saw the pain in her eyes. She knew it was goodbye. “Darling. Get on this horse.” He patted the chestnut-coloured beast that stood in the middle of the barn. “Get out of here. Go find a place to hide.”

“You’re coming with us, Pa,” Jack told him as he climbed on.

“I’ll catch up.” John didn’t want to lie, but he just couldn’t tell them. It would take a miracle for him to get out of this alive. “You keep riding and don’t look back,” he ordered his son, “And don’t be worrying about me, you hear? Now get going!”

“You stay out of trouble, John.” Abigail struggled to hold back her tears.

“Ain’t no trouble Abigail,” he assured her, “Ain’t no trouble.” She leaned down and kissed him. “I love you,” he told his wife.

“I love you.”

“Now go.” He slapped the rear of the horse. “Get!” Startled, the beast reared and galloped out of the decaying barn. Breathing slowly, John watched them go.

Silence. Well, I guess this is it. Walking towards the door, he edged it open slowly. As he expected, about half the US Army had their guns trained on him. Closing his eyes, John stepped back inside again. He took a deep breath, threw open the barn doors, and strolled outside.

I ain’t gonna take this lying down. Drawing his revolver, time seemed to slow down as John blew out the brains of the six soldiers unfortunate enough to be standing at the front of the group. It was futile, however, as every single soldier opened fire on the exposed gunman.

John Marston fell to his knees, struggling to breathe. As his world started to turn black, he saw his betrayer, Edgar Ross, take out a cigar and light it. Losing his struggle with death, John fell backwards, life drained from his body.

As John lay dying on the grass of his ranch, he heard a soft voice talk to him, seemingly from nowhere.

“Hello John. Don’t worry, you’re going to be fine...”


***



New Marais, Louisiana, USA
August 20th, 2009
3:44 PM


The fisherman sat on the old, worn-down jetty, watching the world go by. The last few days in this city had been crazy. Well, crazier than usual. A giant monster rampaging through the city. A beam of light shooting through the sky. Hundreds of people dropping dead for seemingly no reason at all.

But it was all worth it. Because, for all those who died, millions were going to live. The plague that had been taking many of New Marais’ citizens and somehow been cured. He was grateful; he was suffering the final stages of The Plague when it all happened. Now he was fine. As healthy as ever.

He turned his head, noticing a slightly overweight man haul a coffin into a boat on the other side of the dock, helped by a few other men. The fisherman sighed. The greatest sacrifice of all had been him. The Electric Man. Cole MacGrath. People had started calling him “The Patron Saint of New Marais”, and rightfully so. He had transformed this city from an empty shell to the bustling party city it used to be in just over a couple of weeks.

Zeke Dunbar nodded at the fisherman who was smiling at him from across the water. Thanking the members of the now redundant Militia, he pushed down the throttle and set off into the open Louisiana waters.

Storm clouds were brewing over the rough sea. Brilliant, Zeke thought, just what I need. Sighing, he pulled out his journal, writing the last few sentences of his latest entry.

“People keep talking as if humans and conduits are completely different. But that’s bullshit. Because they’re ain’t nobody with more humanity than Cole MacGrath.”

Satisfied, he put his journal back in his bag. A loud rumble tore across the sky. Thunder. Just great.

Suddenly, there was an ear-shattering clap of thunder and a flash of light that nearly tipped the boat right over. Shit. Struck by lightning, just perfect. Getting up, he staggered over to the coffin in the middle of the boat. There were scorch marks. Lightning must’ve been attracted to his electrical charges, or something. Heaving off the lid, he almost fell over in shock.

Cole’s body was gone. As if it had been erased from existence.

“What the fuck?”


***



Canterlot Castle, Equestria
16th May, 1002 C.R.
9:34PM


Ezio slowly stirred into consciousness. Uh, where am I? He looked around. He appeared to be in some sort of guest room. There was a chest of drawers and a wardrobe, and a neatly made bed that he was snugly tucked into, but not much else. Laid upon the chest of drawers were his signature Assassin robes. But from where he lay, they looked much too small for him. But that could only mean...

“Oh, merda...”

He slowly looked down at his body, dreading what he would see. Sure enough, instead of the bipedal form the assassin had become accustomed to, he was now fully equine in nature. “No, no, no, this isn’t happening...” He rolled over and off the bed, landing in a heap on the floor. It took a few tries, but he slowly managed to stand on all four of his hooves.

From where he was stood, he could examine the rest of his body. He had a gray coat and black mane, which was styled in the same way as it had always been. Glancing back at his flank, Ezio noticed that the Assassin insignia seemed to be permanently branded there. No wings or horn, he noted.

Inch by inch, he managed to make his way over to the chest of drawers and slip on his robes. After a few paces around the room, Ezio got the hang of walking in his new form. Everything seemed to come naturally, as if he’d known how to do it all his life. Sighing, he opened the door and stepped into the corridor.

Further down the hall stood a guard, who had immediately noticed Ezio leave his room. “Oh, good evening sir, I see you’re finally awake.” Ignoring him, the assassin tried to make his way past him, but the guard blocked his path. “Sorry pal, you can’t leave your room until breakfast tomorrow morning. Princess’ orders.”

Ezio eyed the stallion for a moment. He didn’t look particularly strong or muscular. He looked more like the type of idiot who was all talk. His youthful run-ins with the youngest member of the de' Pazzi family sprung to mind. “Get out of my way, stronzo.” He tried to push past him.

With surprising force, the guard stopped him again. “Come on sir. Please return to your room.”

I’ve had enough of this crap. I didn’t sign up to be turned into something out of a children’s story. Without warning, Ezio grabbed the guard and threw him violently against the wall, knocking him out. Grabbing his sword, he quickly made his way down the corridor and through the next door...

...to be met by about a dozen or so guards. One stallion in particular stood out from the rest. He must be the captain. The Master Assassin readied his sword in defence as the blue maned unicorn stepped forward.

“Hey, how did you get out of your room? None of you were supposed to wake up until tomorrow morning.” Ezio didn’t respond. The stallion sighed. “Come on buddy, I don’t want to fight you.”

“Tough luck.” Raising his sword, Ezio tried to barge past the Royal Guard Captain, but to no avail. The stallion was more adept with the sword than he was, and it took all of Ezio’s skills just to hold his own. Strangely, none of the other guards were getting involved in the fight. Must think they might miss a swing and kill their commander, he thought. Noticing an opening, Ezio dodged the stallion’s heavy swing and kicked the inside of his knee, knocking him off his feet. He was about to deliver the knockout blow when he heard a gut wrenching scream.

“Shining Armor, no!”

Ezio turned to see the source of the noise: a bright pink alicorn who had just entered the room. Seizing the opportunity, the stallion leapt up and knocked the blade out of Ezio’s hoof. Seeing the guards gather around him menacingly, the assassin did the only thing he could.

He ran.


***



The next morning...


The guards in this world weren’t stupid, he’d give them that. They had immediately noticed the bale of hay next to them suspiciously shudder violently, and in no time at all they had Ezio out of there and on his way back to the castle. To his surprise, and relief, they didn’t throw him in some sort of dungeon. Instead they put him back in his room and politely asked him not to behave like that again. Wow, they really are friendly here.

Now he was standing in the lobby of the castle with three other stallions. One leant against the wall, occasionally taking off his old hat and dusting it off before putting it back on his head. The second constantly fiddled with some sort of ring that was hung around his neck by a lanyard, and the last one somehow made some sort of electrical charge jump between his hooves.

According to the princess, they were supposed to make some sort of dramatic entrance. Probably her way of having fun in this grim situation. He listened to her speak to the ponies she was having breakfast with. Snobby aristocrats who wouldn’t give a shit about them, no doubt.

The doors were suddenly thrown open. Must be our cue, he thought. Taking a deep breath, he stepped through the threshold into the hall beyond.

> Chapter 2: Exodus in Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Any change, even a change for the better, is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomforts. ~ Arnold Bennett



Canterlot Castle, Equestria
17th May, 1002 C.R.
10:08AM


It felt like forever since Nathan Drake had eaten a proper breakfast. The chefs at the castle had whipped up what, to him at least, was an English fry-up. It was completely devoid of meat, but he supposed that was because he was stuffing his face at a table surrounded by colourful, talking horses.

He didn't really understand what was going on or where he was. Princess Celestia had tried to bring him up to speed with her world, but it was all still hazy. All he knew is that her world was in danger and he was part of a select few that could help them. It seemed Celestia had saved his life, so he guessed he owed her something. Hell, she’d even give him wings! He had to admit, that was pretty cool.

"Wait a minute!" The mare with the rainbow coloured mane was talking. "You're saying these stallions aren't really stallions at all? They're not even really ponies?!"

The lavender unicorn next to her sighed. "Yes, Rainbow, that's what the princess has been trying to explain." A rainbow coloured pony called Rainbow? Yeah, that's real imaginative.

"What, so what are they, spies or something?" Rainbow clearly hadn't taken a grasp on the sudden turn of events. Drake smiled. Well, this is gonna be just swell.

Princess Celestia cleared her throat. "I will explain everything properly after we have eaten, but for now, gentlecolts, why don't you introduce yourselves?" She nodded at the stallion with the shaven head who seemed to be more interested in making lightning arc between his hooves than eating the food in front of him.

"Oh, uh, hey," he said, rather sheepishly. Nate didn't blame him, this was all too weird for him as well. "I'm Cole. Cole McGrath."

Celestia nodded and waved her hoof, silently asking him to continue. Everyone else on the table was listening intently.

"Well, I'm twenty six years old, I come from Empire City, USA, and I'm a walking, talking electrical conductor." He turned to the princess. "Wait, how should I handle this? Was that okay?"

"A bit too formal. This is breakfast, not a job interview," she whispered.

He nodded, and turned back to the rest of them. "Oh, and I should be dead, but thanks to your princess here, it looks like I've been given a second chance." He turned back to his eggs and picked a piece up with his fork, gazing at it for a second before popping it in his mouth.

Fluttershy, you had been quiet throughout the whole conversation, suddenly piped up. "Um, excuse me, but what do you mean you should be dead?"

Cole sighed and reluctantly started to tell the tale of the events leading to his arrival. New Marais, the Beast, the RFI. Sacrificing every conduit in the world, including himself, to save humanity. By the time he'd finished talking, everyone had been put off their food slightly.

"That's so... sad," Twilight said, solemnly. "How could anypony expect you to make a decision like that?"

"I don't know," Cole replied, staring at the table, "But I'd rather not talk about it, thanks."

The table fell quiet for a few moments, before everyone turned expectantly to Nate.

"Why is it always me who has to break the silence?" he groaned, "I guess explosions, bullets and angry mercenaries aren't the only things to follow me wherever I go. No, awkward conversations have to as well."

Rainbow Dash suppressed a giggle, despite his little outburst. "You haven't even been in an awkward conversation until you've talked with this mare." She motioned to Twilight, who scowled at her. "Believe me, I've had experience."

"Hey, I'm not awkward!"

"You were pretty awkward that one time I took you to a bar with Pinkie and Applejack, and that one stallion tried to chat you up." She snorted and giggled. "You thought he was actually talking about studying!"

Twilight blushed and cleared her throat, whispering to the cyan pegasus, "I thought were agreed to never mention that again."

Drake smiled and chuckled. "Trust me, I've seen worse." He held out a hoof towards Dash from across the table. "I'm Nate. Nathan Drake."

Dash smirked and slapped her hoof against his. "Rainbow Dash. Nice to meet ya."

"The pleasure was all mine."

Shining Armor, having just finished his breakfast, suddenly cleared his throat and spoke up. "What about you, Mr. Mysterious Hooded Stallion?" He glared at Ezio, who, like the other three, didn't have much of an appetite. "Y'know, I don't think I caught your name while you were holding a sword to my throat." He made sure to add extra emphasis on the last few words.

"Wait, he what?" For the second time in one morning, Twilight nearly choked on her breakfast. Swallowing quickly, she proceeded to stare daggers at the Auditore. "Okay, mister, I think you've got some explaining to do!"

Ezio sighed. "For the record, I never held my sword to your throat. I never planned to harm any of you. I was panicked and confused. Call it a side effect of waking up in a strange new world with a completely different body."

"Be that as it may," Twilight told him, "but let me make one thing clear. Nopony, and I mean nopony, hurts my big brother. Got it?"

"Sí, you have my word."

Twilight leaned back slightly, reclining in her chair. "Just who are you, anyway?" Her voice still carried an air of distrust.

The assassin smiled warmly. "Ezio Auditore da Firenze. And if you're wondering about the hood, I am an assassino." There was no reason to hide his past from any of them. "I protect the innocent from those that would seek to harm and manipulate them. It is part of my creed, and is something I am sworn to live by."

Applejack, listening intently, turned to the princesses. "Hold up a sec. How come some foreign soundin' words are poppin' up when he's speaking? It sounds like he comes from Prance, or somewhere like that."

"I can answer that," Luna cut in, "You see, Mr. Auditore here is from a country in his world that speaks a different language to the Equestrian we're all used to. So, my sister and I took the liberty of casting a translator spell, so that whenever he speaks the minds of anypony within earshot automatically translates whatever he said into Equestrian, and vice versa. However, as you can see, it's not perfect, and some words still slip through."

“Wait a minute, are you saying you kill for a living?” Twilight asked him.

Ezio sighed. It wasn’t going to be easy, trying to justify his lifestyle to them. “Yes, but only those who deserve it.”

“How can you say that?” Everyone in the room turned to stare at Fluttershy, who seemed to be getting angry. “That’s horrible! What gives you the right to decide whether somepony lives or dies?”

“The people I kill are wretches. Mostly politicians who abuse their position to gain wealth and oppress the people in order to do so. Besides, the bastardi killed most of my family, just to prove a point.” Everyone looked away awkwardly, as if they were silently paying their condolences for the troubled stallion’s loss.

“Killin’ ain’t a lifestyle you want to choose.” A unicorn, his face hidden beneath the brim of a cowboy hat, spoke up from the far end of the table. “Sometimes, you just have to do it, to survive.” He looked away again. “Or to save the people you love.” He looked back up, his hazelnut eyes scanning the ponies around the table. “I ain’t sayin’ it’s justified, but sometimes, you just don’t have a choice.”

John Marston smiled slightly. It was all a bit ironic. I’ve been riding horses nearly all my life, and now I am one. Kinda funny, from a certain perspective. Still, I’m here now, with these three other guys, so I guess there’s no point in getting on bad terms with the ponies who saved my life.

The rest of the breakfast went along relatively smoothly. The four men finished their introductions and got into conversations, mostly about their world, with the different ponies around the table. Rarity positively swooned at the thought of the flamboyant fashion style that Ezio was accustomed to living in Renaissance Italy, while Rainbow Dash listened in awe as Nate boastfully told stories of his globe-trotting adventures.

Applejack and Fluttershy had started talking with the ex-gunslinger, Marston. The cowpony found him easily relatable, with them both being farm folk, while Fluttershy was interested in the animals that John had come across during his travels, of which there were many.

Twilight, however, just sat there, talking idly with her brother and her sister-in-law. She should have been excited; living proof of alternate dimensions and alien worlds, she should have been asking them all sorts of questions. But, for reasons she just couldn't put her hoof on, she didn't quite trust them. There was just something a little strange about them. Well, aside from the obvious.

"Hey." A gruff voice slapped Twilight out of her thoughts. She looked up and saw the earth pony with the shaven head. He had a backpack slung around one shoulder with a strange metal rod strapped to it.

"Oh, um, hi," she replied, forcing a weak smile, "Can I help you?"

He chuckled and sat down. "No, I just came over here to get away from Pinks over there." He pointed to Pinkie Pie, who was amusing herself by staring at Drake's ring, seemingly in awe of the ancient artifact. "She started to call me 'Cole-y Woley'. She give everyone pet names?"

Twilight laughed a little. "Sometimes. Just a little word from the wise, don't try to understand her, you'll go mad trying. And when she starts speaking at a million miles per hour, just nod when she pauses for breath."

Cole nodded. "So, what's the plan? I assume us four weren't brought from a different dimension just to share breakfast with you guys."

"I'm not sure," she told him, "I know about as much as you do. All I know is that the princesses are going to talk to your four and my friends privately once the breakfast is over."

“Okay.” He sighed and looked back at the lavender mare. “I still don’t get it. Why did your princess drag us here to deal with your problem?” She glared at him slightly. “Sorry, I didn’t want to seem insensitive.”

“I’m not sure, Mr. MacGrath. She mentioned something about you four being ‘special’, but I’m not sure what she meant.”

He groaned. “Sure. Oh, and call me Cole.”

They stayed silent for a few moments as everyone else chatted around them, before Twilight spoke up again.

“Hey, Cole?”

“Yeah?”

“What’s it like?” she asked. “I mean, where you’re from?”

He chuckled. “Nowhere near as friendly, for a start. I heard about that little stunt that Mr. Auditore pulled off last night. Let me tell you, if he’d have tried something like that in the time period I’m from, he’d have been killed before he had time to react.”

There was silence again.

“Have you ever killed somepony, Cole?” Twilight asked, stuttering slightly.

“Yeah,” he admitted, “I think all four of us have killed at some point. But never in cold blood.”

Twilight took a moment to think about what he said, before asking another question.

“How did you get those special powers?”

Cole smirked. I guess the legend of ‘The Electric Man’ still lives on.


***


“An armory?”

Marston didn’t quite understand. After the breakfast, Celestia and Luna had taken them all to a basement in the castle, where according to her they were going to be learning about Equestrian weapons. John wasn’t so sure. The ponies didn’t look like the type to carry any serious firepower, aside from the average sword or spear. The concept of a room full of firearms seemed ludicrous.

“We don’t even know what we’re fighting,” Drake spoke up, having broken away from his private conversation with Rainbow Dash. The two seemed to have taken a liking to one another. John wasn’t surprised; from what he’d heard, they both shared a similar love of living on the edge.

“You need to know how to operate a weapon before you point it at somepony, correct?” Princess Luna shot back wryly, a smug expression on her face.

“Geez, I know how to shoot a gun, it’s not too hard,” he grumbled.

“I think you’ll find it’s a very different experience when you don’t have any fingers, Mr. Drake,” Luna told him, her smile still bearing the same mischievous edge. “However, I’m sure you’ll figure it out just fine.”

They had reached a large iron door that read “Warning: Keep Out. Trespassers will be prosecuted.” John smirked slightly at the redundancy of it. It’s wasn’t like anyone else was going to be allowed this deep into the castle anyway.

Princess Celestia leaned over, as gracefully as ever, and slotted her horn into a small hole next to the door. With a small click, the door swung open.

“Horn recognition spell,” she explained, “Anypony who is granted clearance has it cast upon them. Only works for unicorns though.” Well, obviously.

He stepped inside behind the others, and marveled at the sight before him. Rows upon rows of various weapons were stacked neatly. Everything from swords and spears to high caliber handguns adorned the walls. John noticed that there was a lack of rifles or the sort, as there was only one rack dedicated to the long guns. It made sense. Ponies didn’t exactly have the right anatomy to operate them, unless they could reliably stand on their rear legs.

Meanwhile, Drake was the happiest he’d been in quite a while. “Oh yeah!” he exclaimed excitedly, “Candy store for adults!”

The six girls were looking around the room in a combination of confusion and shock. “Princess Celestia...” Twilight stammered, “What are these things?”

“Ancient technology,” she explained, “They left it behind when they fled the first time. Now we can use it to fight them now they’re returning.”

“What do you mean, who?”

Guess they haven’t been filled in yet, John thought, eyeing a rather powerful looking revolver hanging on the wall nearby.

Princess Celestia laughed slightly and blushed. “Oh yes, I forgot to tell you.” She explained to them what she had told the four men before they had come to her world. She did it briefly, and left more questions than answers.

Suddenly, a dark grey unicorn in a white labcoat came galloping through the door, gasping for breath. “Sorry I’m late, princess,” he stammered, hastily pushing his glasses up the bridge of his snout. “I got caught up in paperwork and lost track of the time.”

Celestia smirked mischievously. “Don’t worry, Doctor Load, you’re just in time to demonstrate the correct usage of our weapons to our guests here.”

“Not me,” Cole piped up, “It’s probably a good idea that I don’t get too close to those things.”

The sun goddess nodded as the unicorn levitated a simple nine millimeter handgun over towards him. “Well, I assume you’re all familiar with basic firearms, yes?”

All of them nodded except for Ezio, who tapped the hidden-blade hoof brace on his left foreleg. “Not really, but I suppose I have my own variant. Besides, I find it’s quieter to get up close.”

“Well,” the doctor continued, “Unlike your previous, um, ‘human’ firearms, First Civilization firearms can be operated in three ways, only two of which are available to non-unicorns.” He levitated the gun for them to inspect closer. It mostly resembled any old firearms that they’d been accustomed to, however the trigger ran down the whole handle of the gun, so that a pony’s hoof could easily slip inside and squeeze it.

“Number one: simply take the firearm in one of your front hooves, aim it and pull the trigger.” He did so. The girls recoiled quickly, but all the emanated from the gun was a small click. “Don’t worry, it’s not loaded.” He chuckled.

“The second is to do the same, but to put the firearm in your mouth and pull with your tongue. There are no benefits either way, so it all comes down to personal preference.”

The group nodded, listening intently. Even the group of six friends was vaguely interested; they’d never seen something like this before. Doctor Load beamed. He enjoyed having his ‘audience’ hanging on every word.

“And finally, a unicorn may use a simple levitation spell to aim and fire.” He demonstrated by floating the weapon around the room. “An obvious tactical advantage, as it allows the owner to protect themselves without exposing themselves to return fire.”

John wasn’t amazed by the technology, but it interested him all the same. Whatever they were going to be up against obviously left behind all their equipment for the ponies to scavenge and re-create. They must have been in a real quick hurry to leave. Ezio, meanwhile, looked slightly bored, as if he considered the whole concept of indiscreet ranged firepower to be foolish and silly. Typical of all them cloak n’ dagger types, I suppose.

Doctor Lock n’ Load ended the demonstration by showing off the assortment of rifles and shotguns on the far wall. Apparently, they were only operable by unicorns. However, according to Princess Celestia, ponies during the war developed a type of ‘battle saddle’ that meant that the long range arms could be operated by earth ponies and pegasi as well. Unfortunately, the plans and schematics were lost, buried beneath tonnes of rubble and debris in an old wartime shelter.

Now it was their turn to try the weapons for themselves. Nate seemed excited. John, admittedly, was intrigued as to the finer details of the weapons he would be using, and wasted no time in stepping up to the shooting range to try out his newfound magic. He glanced over at Nate, who had a handgun in his right front hoof. Much to his surprise, the cocky young man was a crack shot. Every single target went down with one or two bullets.

John smiled. Two gunmen, a sixteenth century assassin, and a guy that shoots electricity outta his hooves? Whoever we’re going up against, they ain’t got a chance in hell.
> Chapter 3: Boys Will Be Boys
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Be not afraid of greatness: some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. ~ William Shakespeare



Canterlot Castle, Equestria
18th May 1002 C.R.
9:34AM


Cole MacGrath trotted up and down the length of his luxury suite in Canterlot Castle, undeniably bored out of his mind. After enjoying the small breakfast of toast and oats (the latter of which he had suspiciously gained a sudden affinity for) that was waiting for him after he woke up, he had slipped on his white t-shirt and sat in his room, watching the world go by.

He stopped pacing and looked out the window into the courtyard below, thinking of something to do. He saw the pegasus stallion, Drake, hovering a few feet above the ground talking to Rainbow Dash. Obviously he was trying to get the hang of flying.

The air in his room was starting to get a bit stuffy, so he opened the window and cantered over to a bookshelf on the other side of his bed, looking for something informative. Picking out a rather large hardback (Equestrian History: From Starswirl to Celestia), he awkwardly took it between his teeth and went back over to the bed, turning on a radio along the way. As he sat down to read, an upbeat and cheerful tune, reminiscent of Earth's music style circa 1950, started to play.

"Oo-ah, oo-ah, why do colts fall in love?" The young stallion on the radio sang cheerfully. The song was catchy, and Cole found himself humming along as he read about the background of the strange new land he had found himself in. He started from the beginning. The first page was titled: The Dawn of Equestria: Hearth’s Warming Eve. Intrigued, he read through the story of how Equestria had been founded, hanging on every word. It wasn’t until there was a light knock on his door did he pull himself away from the tale.

“Yeah, come in,” he called out. The door burst open, accompanied with the sudden sound of party horns as a certain pink pony bounded into the room through a sea of confetti and streamers.

“Hi Coley Woley!” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, bouncing up to the surprised conduit. “How’s my favourite ex-human today?”

“Um, I’m fine, thanks, Pinkie,” he said awkwardly, not able to match the party pony’s infallible enthusiasm. “What brings you up here?”

“Well I came to see if anything was wrong, because everyone else is outside talking and having fun,” Pinkie said, her innocent smile never once wavering, “But you were up here all on your lonesome, and everypony knows it’s not fun to be alone, so I came up here to keep you company!” She beamed.

MacGrath chuckled. “Thanks, Pinks. Glad to know someone’s looking out for me.” He hopped to his hooves and put the book back in its place. “I guess we should go and see what everyb-” he stopped himself, “everypony is up to, shall we?” He smiled. Huh. Can’t remember the last time I did that. It felt good. Surprisingly good.

The mare grinned and nodded. “Okie dokie lokie!” She bounced after Cole, who had slipped on his backpack and slotted the Amp into its place. "Ooh..." she whispered, gazing at the metal rod, "What's this thing?"

"It's called the Amp. It was made for me a while back by... a friend."

"What do you use it for?"

"I, uh, use it to smack people across the face," he admitted simply. The pink mare frowned. "Hey, it came with the territory." He flicked off the radio just as the song came to a close, and trotted out of the room.

"So," Pinkie said, her voice slightly less excited and more intrigued, "What's it really like, where you're from? Like, how does everyhuman act?"

Cole shrugged, which was surprisingly difficult in his new body. "To be honest, Pinks, most people are only ever out for themselves. Friendship is still a prominent aspect of our world, but nothing really seems to revolve around it like it does here."

"What about you, Coley? What were you like?"

He shrugged again. "I suppose I was just trying to do the right thing. After I got my powers, I decided it was no good using them for my own personal gain, when something so powerful could benefit so many people in need." He let a jolt of electricity flow through one of his front hooves, to emphasize his point.

The party pony tapped him on the shoulder playfully. “Well, that’s good to hear! No one likes a big old meanie-pants, especially if they can make electricity shoot out of their hooves!” Cole smiled warmly, thankful for the mare’s company. She giggled and gave him a quick hug, which elicited an awkward but nonetheless positive reaction from the surprised conduit.

“Um, thanks for that, Pinkie,” he said awkwardly as she hopped off of him. By now they had reached the courtyard, and he could see his fellow ‘ex-humans’ scattered around, talking to various ponies. He spotted Ezio speaking with Twilight over by a large marble fountain. His hood did not cover his face, so Cole could finally properly see the sixteenth century assassin. His snout was covered in a well-groomed beard, and his jet black mane tied back in a short ponytail. Ha, how ironic.

Marston and Applejack were chatting nearby. As he and Pinkie trotted past, Cole started to eavesdrop on their conversation.

“So, y’all reckon you can beat me in a hoof wrestle, Mr. Marston?” Applejack asked, challenging the unicorn stallion.

“Well now, I don’t mean to brag,” John began, smirking, “But I ain’t never met someone I can’t beat.”

Applejack chuckled. “Well then, it looks like you just met your match, partner.” She stared him down, a confident smile on her face.

“Hold on,” Cole whispered to Pinkie as they began their duel, “I wanna watch this.”

She stopped and turned to match his gaze. “Ooh, a hoof wrestle!” She pulled out a bag of popcorn from seemingly nowhere. “This is gonna be great!”

Cole chuckled, watching the two duelists try to best each other, neither of them getting the upper hoof. “So, who’s your money on?”

“Hmm, good question,” Pinkie said between mouthfuls of popcorn, “I’m not sure. I mean, Johnny looks like a strong stallion, but Applejack has never been defeated in a hoof wrestle, not even by Rainbow Dash! And Rainbow Dash is one of the fastest and strongest ponies I know!”

They returned their attention to Marston and Applejack, who were still putting all of their effort trying to best the other.

“Heh, you’re pretty good, I’ll give ya that!” The country mare grunted, still desperately trying to overpower the stallion, who still wore a smug smile despite putting all of his strength into the fight.

“So, I've “met my match”, huh?” he replied, slowly overpowering the tired farmpony.

“Yeah, well...” Applejack tried to say something in return, but found herself putting all of her effort into vainly trying to balance out the wrestle, which had quickly turned in John’s favour. She grunted, trying to force her hoof away from the table, but to no avail. Her muscles gave out, and John’s hoof slammed hers into the table.

“Woah...” Pinkie stared, amazed. She pulled her jaw off the floor (quite literally, much to Cole’s confusion) and trotted over to John. “Oh my gosh Johnny that was a-maz-ing! Did you know that you’re the first ever pony to beat Applejack in a hoof wrestle?” she exclaimed at what seemed like the speed of light. “You were incredible!”

Cole grinned slightly and approached Applejack, who was holding her forehoof in slight pain. “Hey, you okay?”

She shook her head and looked up at him. She smiled with humility. “Nah, I’m fine. Just a little bruise is all.” She looked over at Marston, who was still being hounded by Pinkie Pie. “We really had it goin’ there, didn’t we?”

“You can say that again,” Cole agreed, “That guy’s stronger than he looks.”

"I'll say," she muttered, before turning back to him, "So how are y'all this morning, Mister..."

"MacGrath," he said, finishing her sentence, "But please, call me Cole. And I'm good, thanks for asking. Better than I thought I'd be doing when I woke up as a damn pony, anyway. Um, no offense."

"None taken." She dusted herself off and sat down on a nearby bench. He joined her. "I can understand how difficult it must be getting used to a new body, if the way you described your old one is anything to go by."

"To be honest, it's not too bad," he admitted, "It was like all the basics, like walking and eating, were already pre-programmed into my head. Probably the doing of your princesses, but it's not like I'm complaining."

A light brown blur shot past them just as Pinkie and Marston trotted over, followed closely by a ecstatic Rainbow Dash.

"Did you see that?" she exclaimed, "I taught Nathan how to fly! Heh, looks like he's a natural!"

The cocky pegasus glided over towards them. "Mornin' fellas!" he called out, nodding towards John and Cole, "Beautiful weather we're having, huh?"

"Yeah," Cole called back, "But I wouldn't bet on it staying that way, knowing that you have the power to change it."

Drake paused. “Wait, I can do what?”

“Guess you forgot to mention that part, huh?” the conduit asked Rainbow Dash.

She sighed. “Yeah, I thought it would be for the best. The weather teams are on a tight schedule, we can’t have some random pegasus go screwing it up.”

“I would never do such a thing!” Nate scoffed, “At least, not more than once...” he added quietly.

By that point, Ezio and Twilight had trotted over to join them. “Good morning everypony,” Twilight greeted them, yawning. They all said hello in return. “Has anypony seen Fluttershy or Rarity?”

“Princess Celestia let Fluttershy feed the animals in the royal garden,” Rainbow Dash told her, “But Rarity? I have no idea.”

“You know how that girl loves her beauty sleep,” Applejack said, arching her back to stretch her bones, “She’ll be down soon. Like, in a couple of hours.” They all chuckled.

“‘TIS A FINE MORNING, MY LITTLE PONIES!” came a sudden booming voice from above them. Looking above, they saw the outline of Princess Luna as she came gliding down towards them, a mischievous smile upon her face.

“Well,” Ezio muttered, uncovering his ears, “That’s one way to make an entrance.”

"You can say that again," Drake agreed as the princess of the night touched down in from of them.

"Good morning, Princess Luna," Twilight spoke gracefully, bowing with her friends.

Luna giggled. "Please, Twilight Sparkle, there is no need for such formalities. I mean, do I look like my sister?"

"Ha ha, that was a good one, princess..." the purple unicorn murmured, visibly embarrassed. Rainbow Dash failed to suppress a snigger.

Princess Luna turned her attention to the four stallions before her. "Good morning, gentlecolts," she said happily, "I trust you are all well?"

"Yes, ma'am," John told her as the rest nodded their heads, "I think we're all just about used to all of this by now."

"That's good to hear," the alicorn said, taking on a less formal voice than before, "However, if any of you are a little bored, I may have a proposition for you."

Nathan checked over his shoulders and saw that his fellow stallions all bore the intrigued expressions he did. "We're listening."

"As you may or may not be aware, I have a personal legion of Royal Guards," Luna explained, "Naturally, they must be capable of the highest forms of physical performance in the line of duty, so frequent training and exercise is crucial."

The four of them nodded, listening intently.

"To do this," Luna continued, "We hold regular fights down in the barracks. Simple brawls, to keep the soldiers in shape. Of course, when they heard there were some new warriors in the castle..."

"They want to fight us, I'm assuming." Ezio finished the goddess' sentence for her. She nodded.

"All in the name of sport, of course."

They mulled this over for a moment, before Nate shrugged. “Sure, why not?” he said, “It’s not like there’s much else to do, until tomorrow at least.” The rest spoke in agreement.

“Very well.” Luna turned to Twilight and her friends. “Feel free to come along if you would like, my little ponies, but it you’d rather not, you are free to spend time in the city.”

Twilight nodded. “Thank you princess, but I think we’ll leave the boys to their, uh, ‘fun’.”

“As you wish.” The princess turned around a walked back towards the main door leading out of the courtyard, motioning for the four stallions to follow. She lead them through the double doors and down a few flights of stairs. The lower they descended, the more they could make out the cheers and shouts of the princess’ guards, who obviously had a fight going on already.

Soon enough, they reached a lone metal door, with a sign reading “Barracks” nailed above it. The ruckus caused by the cheering audience was at almost a deafening level by now, but, of course, they were all used to much worse. Luna pushed open the door, which gave a slightly audible creak, and led them through.

Beyond the door was a large, dimly lit room, with only a single light in the middle. The sole light source hung above a large ring, where two winged guards were busy brawling. As they trotted closer to the circle of ponies around the two contestants, the four of them were able to make out more of their features. Instead of regular pegasus wings, Luna’s guards seemed to have wings that resembled those of bats. Their eyes were distinctly more reptilian in nature as well.

The fight between the two guards was quickly drawing to a close. The smaller of the two was quickly becoming tired, having taken a few hard punches. The larger one noticed this and suddenly lunged, throwing his opponent off guard. He was swiftly picked up in the burly stallions front hooves and thrown back onto the ground with an audible crack. The small guard laid there, panting for breath, before the sound of a bell ringing signaled the end of the match. A cheer went up from one side of the audience as bags of money were passed between guards.

Luna smirked. “Well, that wasn’t too entertaining, why don’t we give them a real challenge?” She stepped forward, inhaling deeply. “ATTEN-TION!”

All of the guards suddenly stopped talking and stood up straight, waiting for orders.

“At ease,” Luna ordered. The guards relaxed a little. “Now, I understand a few of you have heard about some newcomers in the castle. Four stallions. I have also heard that some of you wish to have a friendly match with these stallions.”

A murmur of excitement rippled through the crowd.

“Well,” Luna continued, “I have good news! The four stallions you wish to compete against are with me right now, and have agreed to your challenge!” As she said this, she stepped aside to reveal Nate, John, Ezio and Cole to the guards.

One of the night guards stepped forward. He wore a slightly different set of armour to the others, to distinguish his superior rank. He bowed before Luna. “Thank you, princess.”

Luna nodded. “You may take it from here, Captain.”

The Captain stood up again. “Good morning, gentlecolts,” he said, taking one of each of their front hooves and shaking it firmly. “My name is Captain Shadow. I understand you wish to participate in a little, uh, friendly fight?”

Cole nodded. “Yes sir.”

“Well, that’s just great, ‘cause my men have been real excited to meet you.” He looked over each of the ‘ex-humans’, sizing them up. “Now the princess tells me that you four are ‘extraordinary’. Now I don’t know exactly what she meant by that, but I guess it means you all can take a little more punishment than most stallions are used to.”

“Yeah, sure,” Nate said, suspicious of where the Captain was going.

“So here’s my proposal. The four of you get in that arena, and I throw a couple of squads of mine at you. You beat ‘em, I throw in some more. Sound good?”

“Wait a minute, a couple of squads? How many ponies is that?” Drake asked.

“About eight,” Shadow answered simply.

“Eight versus four?” Ezio spoke up. “You could have at least made it fair.”

Shadow chuckled. “What’s the matter, too much for you to handle?”

Ezio smirked. “I meant fair for them.”

Captain Shadow’s eyes widened a little, before he chuckled and smiled. “Confident, eh? Okay then, get in there.” The four of them trotted past into the arena, except for Cole, who was stopped by that Captain. “One condition, pal. That little doohickey of yours.” He pointed at Cole’s Amp. “That stays outside the arena. Hoof to hoof only.”

Cole shrugged. “Sure.” He unclipped his courier bag and let it fall to the floor.

The four of them congregated in the middle of the ring as Captain Shadow picked out his fighters. “So, a plan of action?” Ezio suggested.

“Yeah,” Nate told him, “Try not to get beat up too bad.”

“An excellent idea,” the assassin deadpanned.

“Look,” John butted in, “Here’s the plan. Just hold your own, and don’t get yourself into something you can’t get out of. Play it safe, and we should be fine.”

“Yeah,” Cole agreed, “And one last thing. Don’t mess them up too much.” He gave a confident smile.

“Very well,” Ezio agreed, “Insieme per la vittoria.”

By then the eight challengers had entered the arena and were warming themselves up. The pseudo-leader, a muscular guard with an over-confident smirk on his face, approached the four allies. He didn’t look particularly smart, and it amazed Nate that someone so dimwitted could have made it into the Night Guard.  “So,” he started, trying to sound as intimidating as possible, “You four are the ‘extraordinary’ stallions Princess Luna was telling us about?” He laughed. “I’ve dealt with tougher tougher Diamond Dogs than I have the likes of you! And Diamond Dogs are, like, really bad fighters!” he added unnecessarily.

“Yeah, kinda got the gist of that, thanks pal,” Nate called out.

“That’s a shame,” Cole muttered to himself, “I liked that album.”

“Enough chit-chat,” shouted a female guard next to the leader, “Let’s do this!” She nodded to a stallion on the edge of the arena, who nodded back and yanked on a length of rope. The bell rung and the fight was on.

While the rest of his allies leapt into the fray, Ezio hanged back, waiting for the cocky stallion who had more teeth than brain cells to come to him. As the assassin expected, the leader charged towards him clumsily. He parried the stallion’s wild swing before grasping his right front hoof in a tight lock and repeatedly punching the stallion in the gut. After a chain of about four strikes, the assassin released his grip on the stallion’s hoof and delivered a powerful right hook that sent him sprawling across the floor.

Undeterred, the burly guard stood back up and swung again. Ezio ducked under his wide hoof and sent another powerful punch into his opponent's chest, before slamming his hoof into the guard’s windpipe. The stallion, gasping for breath, attempted one last clumsy swing, but was thwarted as Ezio delivered a skull-cracking headbutt followed by a knee to the forehead. The leader of the eight guards went down for the count. The mare that was beside him suddenly lunged at the assassin, only to be stopped as Ezio slammed his hoof into her face, snapped her front hoof backwards with a bone-shattering crack, and tripped her over, sending her flying to the ground. She didn’t get back up.

Meanwhile, Cole MacGrath was trying his best not to unleash the full potential of his powers on his would-be assailants, and was instead content to easily outclass them in simple fisticuffs. Two rather average looking guards kept coming at him, but every time he dodged their calculated swings and returned with his own powerful hooks. After a particularly nasty punch, one of the guards went flying into John, who was just finished with a troublesome stallion who continuously parried the gunslinger’s attacks. Marston threw the guard to the ground and, before he could get back up, drove his his back right hoof onto the stallion’s face, knocking him out cold.

Satisfied, John turned his attention to the guard that had just been flung his way. He looked injured, and was struggling to get to his hooves. Better put him out of his misery. He slammed his hoof into the side of the stallion’s jaw, sending him to the ground unconscious.

Nate, on the other hand (or more appropriately, hoof) was not having quite such an easy time with his attackers. He was barely managing to dodge their frequent attacks, as there were about four coming at him at once. Luckily, he was soon joined by the rest of his allies, evening out the score.

One of the guards spun on his hooves and sent an immensely powerful buck in Drake’s direction. When he didn’t feel it connect, he turned his head in confusion and was welcomed by the sight of the fortune hunter, who had one leg wrapped around his, sending a knockout punch. He flinched and tried to dodge, but to no avail. He was sent to the floor in a bloody mess.

The final three guards, all of which were stallions, looked up at the four of them fearfully. Their morale had dropped to an all-time low at the sight of their teammates being brutally knocked out (quite literally) of the competition. Mustering up some courage, they tried to attack, only to be easily blocked or dodged and sent sprawling to the floor. Deciding enough was enough, they stayed down, and the bell was rung. A large cheer went up from the crowd as more bets were passed around.

“COME ON!” Captain Shadow screamed, quite visibly upset and angry that his best fighters had been so easily defeated. “I NEED MORE FIGHTERS! WHO VOLUNTEERS?”

Drake looked to the fuming Captain, then to the crowd. They were all looking around nervously, glancing first to each other, then the Captain, then to the four stallions that stood proudly in the middle of the arena.

“Raise your hoof if you wish to fight against our challengers,” Captain Shadow announced, calming down slightly.

All hooves remained planted firmly on the ground.
> Chapter 4: Political Realities in Appleloosa
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The trust of the innocent is a liar's greatest tool. ~ Stephen King



San Palomino Desert, Equestria
20th May 1002 C.R.
11:14AM


The interior of the train car was stiflingly hot under the unrelenting rays of the desert sun, which, combined with the heat from the nearby engine, made for a rather uncomfortable riding experience. Not only was the heat unbearable, but the sound of the train roaring down the track was deafening. Plus, the train car smelt pungent, as if it hadn't been cleaned in years. It wasn’t the kind of transport you would expect from royalty, but, unfortunately, the main royal carriage was being used on more 'important' business.

The train was taking the group of newfound allies to a frontier town known as Appleloosa. According to Princess Celestia, the town was the perfect place for the first part of her plan to be put in motion: a Hearts and Minds campaign. It would be easier to gain the support of Equestria's citizens in the upcoming battle (a battle against whom, they weren't sure) if the general population were already friendly enough with their 'heroes', as the princess had put it. It all sounded very cliché, but at that moment, none of them knew what to think.

Twilight and her friends had travelled back to Ponyville. The events of the past few days had taken their toll on the six friends, and they needed to properly rest. Meanwhile, the four stallions were travelling to Appleloosa, ready to ‘make some friends’.

“So...” Nate began, turning to Cole, “Where you from?”

Cole chuckled. Not too great at small talk, huh? “Empire City,” he answered simply, “Used to work as a bicycle courier, ‘till the whole place got blasted to shit. Guess you heard about that on the news or something.”

Nate nodded grimly. “Yeah, I heard about it.” He sat up, arching his back and sighing in relief as he heard his bones crack. “Funny, I got a cousin who used to live in Empire City. Bartender, I think.”

“Geez, um, I’m sorry.”

Nate smiled. “Don’t worry, he’d moved upstate to New York when it happened.” He thought for a second. “Y’know, I don’t know why the terrorists attacked Empire City instead of somewhere bigger like New York, but whatever.”

“Um, yeah, terrorists,” Cole muttered, looking away.

“Anyway,” Nate continued, “Desmond, I think his name was.”

Ezio perked his ears up. “Did you say... Desmond?”

Nate looked at the Italian, confused. “Yeah. My cousin, Desmond. Why?”

The assassin shook his head and leaned back again. “Trust me, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Yeah, and if someone told me I was going to be sitting in a boiling hot train car in a land of magical talking ponies after being brought back from the dead about two days ago, I wouldn’t have believed them either,” Cole said, “But here we are. So try me.”

Ezio nodded. “Good point, I suppose. I may as well start from the beginning, then.”

Throughout the rest of the long train ride, Ezio told the three stallions his life story. His carefree days as a teenager in Florence, spending time with the beautiful Christina Vespucci, his family’s betrayal, becoming an assassin, his run-ins with the Pazzi family, and his long-running feud with Rodrigo Borgia. Just as he had finished detailing his experiences in the Vault below the Vatican, the train pulled into the station.

“End of the line!” A conductor announced as the stepped out into the sunlight, “Welcome to Appleloosa, gentlecolts.” With that, he trotted back towards the engine.

The four of them glanced around. The place was typical of a Western frontier town. There were only a handful of buildings, and the streets were mostly empty, as everypony was inside, hidden away from the sweltering heat.

“Well,” Nate began, “Where do we start?”

John started out of the station, trotting down the main road. “Well I don’t know about you, but I’m getting something to drink. C’mon, I think the saloon’s this way.” The rest of them nodded in agreement, and started to follow.

As they walked through the town, Cole couldn’t help notice that everyone was watching them, either out of fear or suspicion. Maybe a bit of both. He didn’t blame them. Apart from John, none of them really looked the part for this kind of town.

They soon reached the front door of the saloon. “The Salt Block...” Ezio noted, staring up at the sign above the door.

Nate chuckled. “Is it just me, or is this place one big living, breathing pun?” Ezio and John laughed slightly in agreement, while Cole just stared at him.

“What?” he said, “I don’t get it.”

Ezio smirked. “You haven’t had much experience with horses, have you?”

“Hell, where I come from, you should be surprised that I’ve even seen one.” He hopped up the wooden steps to the door. “Empire City never was big on horse racing.”

Taking the lead, John pushed through the door with confidence. Contrary to his expectations, they weren’t met with angry or suspicious glares. Instead, a few of the saloon’s patrons looked up and smiled, a few even greeting them as they made their way to the bar.

The bartender, a light grey earth pony with a bushy moustache, looked up from the shot glasses he was cleaning. “Why, good day, gentlecolts,” he greeted them, “What’s your poison, salt or liquor?”

John hopped up onto a barstool. “Uh, I’ll just take whatever’s on tap, please.”

“Alrighty, that’ll be four bits, sir.”

Marston reached back into his saddlebags and pulled out a bag of money that the princess had supplied them each with. He carefully picked out four coins and dropped them onto the counter. “Thanks, mister.”

The rest of them sat down and ordered their own drinks. Ezio, disappointed with the lackluster choice of wine, was the first to speak up. “So, how do you all propose we go about this?”

Cole shrugged. “I don’t know. Help people out I guess. Always worked for me.”

"Yeah, but it doesn’t look like a lot of people around here are in need of any help,” Drake said.

“Hold your horses,” John interrupted, “We ain’t been here five minutes, we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. We should just wait here for a while, see what happens.” The rest nodded in agreement.

The sound of the saloon’s swinging doors being thrust open drew their attention away from their drinks. Swaggering into the building were a group of stallions, all of whom probably didn’t understand the definition of ‘hygiene’. Ezio could smell them from the bar, and visibly covered his nose in disgust. The apparent leader, a tough looking stallion who sported a jet black longcoat and matching stetson, called out across the room. “Hey Apple! I thought I done told you never to come in here!”

A beige coloured colt who was slouched down at the far end of the bar rolled his eyes and sighed. He tipped back his cowboy hat and called out, “Lay off will ya, Mad Dog? I already paid what my family owes ya.”

The leader of the gang, Mad Dog, stormed across the room. “Now listen here, you little runt!” Despite being much shorter than the burly stallion, the colt at the end of the bar never broke eye contact with him. “You ain’t done payin’ ‘till I say you’re done payin’, you understand?”

The beige stallion smirked. “Oh, I understand all right. I understand that you’re nothing but a two-bit thief, robbin’ the decent folk of this town!” His eye narrowed. “You should be ashamed of yourself, mister.”

The older stallion stepped back, bursting with rage. “What did you say about me?” he hissed. “What the fuck did you just say about me, you little shit?”

“Hey!” John shouted out, “Back off, and leave him alone!”

Mad Dog’s attention left the stallion and turned towards the group. “Oh, and just who are you supposed to be?”

“Just a concerned citizen.” John stepped off the barstool and stared the thug down. “Now get out of here before one of us does something we’ll regret.”

The thug and his cronies started to laugh. “Hey, fellas, looky here! This little runt thinks highly of himself, don’t he? I can’t even remember the last time I saw one of you unicorn types.” He advanced towards John menacingly. “What’s your name, boy?”

“Marston,” John answered simply.

Mad Dog failed to suppress a snort. “Marston? What kinda stupid name is that?” He flicked the underside of Marston’s hat. “Who do you think you are anyway, some kinda cowb-” His sentence was cut short as John landed a powerful right hook on the stallion’s jaw, sending him sprawling back against the bar.

“Like I said,” John told him threateningly, “Just a concerned citizen.”

“Get these fools, fellas!” Mad Dog shouted to his cronies, still struggling to pick himself up. The five stallions crowded near the door advanced towards them menacingly.

Time to try out my new party trick, John thought, focusing his mind into his horn, using the magic that Twilight had taught to him over the past few days. It was just a simple levitation spell, but it was enough for him to pick up the biggest member of the group and send him tumbling into his friends. He would have done it again, but using magic was mentally draining, and he found himself unable to focus.

Drake, taken off guard by the sudden attack, tried to repel the brute coming towards him with a wild swing. However, the angry stallion dodged it and counterattacked, slamming the pegasus' head down hard onto the bar. Stunned and confused, he could do nothing as he was picked up and violently thrown through the front window of the saloon.

There was an almighty crash as Nate smashed through the thin glass and landed in a heap of the dusty road outside. Struggling to his hooves, he instinctively went for his gun that would have sat in it's holster, but he remembered that Celestia had forbid them to take firearms beyond the range, at least until "the time was right", as she put it.

The fight was already in full swing as the pegasus stumbled back inside. MacGrath leapt in front of him, picking up a small gang member and throwing him to the floor. Nate could tell, through the look in his eyes, that he wanted to unleash his powers upon the idiots, but that was a bad idea. It would most likely frighten and alienate the citizens of the frontier town, something they certainly did not want to do.

Before the injured gang member could get back up, Cole picked him up and threw him through the swing doors of the saloon, sending him sprawling into the street. “Yeah, and stay out!” he shouted after him, as the wounded stallion got up and sprinted away. With that, he went to help John and Ezio, who were brawling with Mad Dog.

By that time, most of Mad Dog’s friends had come to their senses and fled the scene, leaving only the gang’s leader against four angry stallions. He was a pretty decent fighter, Nate gave him that, but he was no match as the four of them overpowered him. With a brutal right hook, John knocked him back onto the bar. Before he could react, the gunslinger had pulled out a length of rope and was restraining him.

The doors to the Salt Block burst open, and a light brown earth pony entered, his sheriff badge glinting in the reflected sunlight. “Okay, okay, break it up!” he called out, his voice slightly muffled by his bushy black moustache, “What’s going on here, Apple?” he asked the light golden colt who had been the object of Mad Dog’s anger in the first place.

“Mad Dog came up in here again, demanding money,” he told the sheriff, “Luckily, I had these fine stallions helping me out.” He nodded towards John, who did likewise.

“Ain’t nothin’” Marston said modestly, “Just doing my bit to help out around here.”

“Well, you don’t see too many ponies like you around here anymore.” The golden stallion took his hoof and shook it. “Braeburn Apple. It’s a pleasure to meet ya, Mr. Marston.”

“Likewise.”

The sheriff, who introduced himself as ‘Silverstar’, walked up towards the bound Mad Dog, grinning smugly. “Well, well, well, if it ain’t the infamous Mad Dog. Not so high and mighty now, are ya pal?”

“Piss off,” the brute muttered as he was picked up and hauled away.

“Well, I gotta thank ya for sticking up for me back there,” Braeburn told the four of them as they dusted themselves off, “That darn bully has been terrorising the folks of this town for months. Now he’ll be locked up, and his cronies ain’t gonna do nothin’ without their leader.”

“Ah, it was nothin’” Drake told him, wincing in pain as he pulled out a few shards of broken glass that had cut his legs. “Always happy to help,” he grunted through gritted teeth.

“You alright?” Braeburn asked the pegasus as he sat down and ordered another drink. “That was a nasty crash back there.”

“Yeah, well, I’ve been better,” Nate admitted as the bartender poured a shot of whiskey. He downed it immediately and ordered another.

“Y’know,” Cole started, trotting towards the injured fortune hunter, “There are better painkillers than alcohol. Come on, let’s get you looked at.”

Braeburn smiled. “Well, lucky for y’all my ma’s a nurse. Resident town doctor, in fact. Her clinic’s just down the road.” He pushed open the doors to the saloon. “Come on, follow me.”

Upon closer inspection, Drake realised he was more seriously injured than he first thought. Many shards of broken glass had torn up his chest and wings, and he couldn’t walk properly without wincing as more shattered pieces of the window dug further into his hooves. Straining, he took to the air, hovering slightly above the ground. His wings had not taken the full force of the impact like the rest of his body had, so he could fly above the heads of his friends with minimal pain.

The stallion Braeburn took the lead down the main road, leading them towards a relatively large wooden shack next to the town’s clocktower. A large sign above the front door read “Remedy Apple’s Medicinal Supplies”. Trotting up the porch, Braeburn held open the door for the injured pegasus as he glided through.

The air inside the clinic was surprisingly cool, however the distinct smell of sweat and body odour made the five stallions visibly cringe as they entered. There was a small fan humming in the corner of the dimly lit room, on a table littered with old, used magazines. A few ill ponies sat on chairs, waiting for their appointment. Noticing the injured pegasus enter, some of them uttered a weak greeting.

“Hold on,” Braeburn told Nate, leaning against the reception desk. “We’ll get you fixed up right quick.” He tapped his hoof down on the bell. A small ding echoed around the room.

A young mare, no older than eighteen, came trotting through a small archway behind the desk. “Hi Brae,” she called out, “What can I do you for?”

“Hey Strawberry.” Braeburn greeted her by tipping his hat, supporting Nate with one of his front hooves. “Is my ma in?”

“Yeah, she sure is. I’ll get her for you.” She turned her attention to Drake as he groaned in pain. “Whoa, you look pretty shaken up. Wait, let me guess. Fight down at the Salt Block?”

Nate chuckled. “You heard about that, huh?”

She nodded. “Word gets round town pretty quickly here in Appleloosa.” She held out a hoof. Drake shook it. “Strawberry Smiles. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Nate smiled. “The pleasure was all mine.” He stopped. “Wait, Strawberry? With a name like that, shouldn’t you be like, a baker or something?”

Strawberry chuckled and looked away. “Both my parents are pastry chefs. But me, I’ve always been more interested in helping ponies in need.”

Braeburn cleared his throat. “Uh, you two done?”

The mare blushed and hid her face slightly beneath her cream coloured stetson. “Oh, yeah. One sec.” She disappeared quickly through the doorway.

A few moments later, a middle aged mare appeared through a door to the right of them, beckoning for them all to come in. Her red hair was frazzled and her light yellow coat had lost some of its colour. She looked tired and overworked. Nevertheless, she helped Braeburn haul Drake into the hallway and into a small room, where she lay him down on a small bed.

“Good afternoon, Braeburn,” she said politely to her son.

“Hey ma,” he replied.

“So, who do we have here?” she asked him, looking over to the pegasus.

“There was a fight down at the saloon,” the beige stallion explained, “Mad Dog and his gang trying to rob us again. Luckily, these fine gentlecolts here overpowered him, and now he’s locked away, but not before one of his cronies could throw Mister Drake though the saloon’s window.”

Remedy winced. “I’m assuming some sharp cuts, and glass lodged inside him, then?”

“You betcha.”

Braeburn’s mother thought this over for a second. “Well, that shouldn’t be too hard to take care of.” She glanced over at the injured pegasus again. “However, I think he should stay overnight. He may have a concussion or something similar that we don’t know about yet.”

“No, I’m fine,” Nate protested, sitting up. “Just get this glass out of me and I’ll be on my way.”

Remedy shook her head. “No, I think it’s best you stay here. Better safe than sorry, I always say.”

Cole chuckled. “Well, looks like you have your accommodation set up,” he joked, “Which is more than can be said for the rest of us.”

Braeburn smiled warmly. “Well, you’re new in town, and since you’ve got no place to stay, I guess you can stay with me for a while.” John tried to protest, but he wouldn’t hear any of it. “I guess I owe you for getting me out of that little predicament earlier.”

Remedy Apple cleared her throat. “Sorry to interrupt, but if I’m going to help your friend, I will need to see him alone.” She ushered Braeburn, John, Cole and Ezio from the room. “Now run along. Brae, maybe you can give them a tour of the town?”

“Yeah, okay ma,” Braeburn answered. “C’mon fellas, there’s plenty to see here.” He grinned. “And there’s nothing I like more than making people feel at home in APPLELOOSA!” he cried, rearing on his hind legs.

The three ‘ex-humans’ stared at him. “Well, that’s certainly enthusiastic,” Ezio said, trying to think of a way to compliment the excited stallion as he lead them out of the clinic.

“Yeah,” Cole told them, chuckling, “This is gonna be fun.”
> Chapter 5: Making Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Friendship... is not something you learn in school. But if you haven't learned the meaning of friendship, you really haven't learned anything. ~ Muhammad Ali



Appleloosa, Equestria
20th May 1002 C.R.
02:46PM


The Electric Stallion chuckled, following his ecstatic new friend as he happily showed him every part of his town, from the Wild (and mild) West dances to the horse-drawn horse-drawn carriages. Cole smiled. Back when he was a kid it seemed as though there was nothing more he wanted than to be a gunslinger in the west. Now he was there (or some sort of equivalent, anyway) and all he or his friends could think about was how they were going to pay for the damage done to the local saloon.

“Well, I think that’s about it,” Braeburn announced, arriving back at The Salt Block. “So, what do y’all think?”

John, Cole, and Ezio thought for a moment, trying to think of the best thing to say. They were not able to match Braeburn's level of enthusiasm, which had made the past half an hour or so rather awkward.

"You have a very nice town here, Signore Apple," Ezio finally said simply, smiling.

"Yeah," John agreed, "Nice and homely, without any of the noise of the big cities." The gunslinger could have sworn he saw the stallion blush slightly.

"Well, fellas, you're too kind." He grinned and started down the road, leading them back to his farmhouse. "I hope you'll forgive my enthusiasm. I guess that 'cause my family's one of the few who founded Appleloosa, it holds a special place in my heart."

Ezio tapped him on the shoulder. "I know the feeling. Being the person to turn a place from a dilapidated wreck to a bustling village gives a great sense of pride and accomplishment."

Cole nodded, wiping sweat from the desert sun off his forehead. "Heh, don't I know it." He trotted slightly faster to match the beige stallion's pace. "Hey, listen."

Braeburn turned his head and nodded, motioning for him to continue.

"We're new in town," MacGrath told him, "And we don't think it's right for us to accept all of this generosity without doing something in return. So, is there anything we can do to help out around here?"

"You don't have be so modest, we're doing just fine by ourselves," Braeburn explained, "But if y'all insist, I guess I could do with some extra hooves down on the farm."

"Yeah, that'd be great." Cole nodded and returned to Ezio and John.

"You could have worded that one better," John said, snickering. "I mean, 'we don't think it's right to accept all this generosity'? I know you were trying to be modest and all, but that just takes the cake."

"Yeah, sorry about that," Cole apologized, "Never was too good with words."

“So, we’re going to be spending the rest of the day doing manual labour,” Ezio began, joining them. “We should count ourselves lucky that Mr. Drake isn’t around, we’d never hear the end of it.” They all chuckled.

By now they had left the main town and were approaching an expansive apple orchard, that seemed to go on for as far as the eye could see. Hell, and here I was thinking my farm was too big, John thought to himself.

As they drew closer to the farmhouse, the three of them began to make out a large stallion on the front porch snoozing in an old chair, his hat shielding his eyes from the harsh brightness of the sun.

"Aw, dangit, he's asleep again," they heard Braeburn mutter. "Pa?" he called out, "Hey Pa, wake up! I got some ponies I want you to meet!"

Startled by the sudden noise, the older stallion jerked awake, and promptly fell out of his chair. Cole failed to suppress a small snigger.

"What?" Braeburn's father called out. "What did you say, boy?"

The beige colt sighed in annoyance. "I said that there's some ponies I'd like you to meet." He motioned to Ezio, John and Cole, who nodded in acknowledgment. "They helped me with a little predicament down at the saloon."

The larger stallion looked down upon the three of them, as if he was sizing them up. "Yeah, I heard about that business down at the Salt Block." He stepped down from the porch and held out a hoof to John, who took it. "Well, I'm mighty thankful for you helping out my son, Mister..."

"Marston," the gunslinger told him, trying to discreetly break free of the stallion's iron grip.

"Marston?" Braeburn's father finally let his hoof go. "Huh. Can't say that's what I'd have called you, but if that's your name, that's your name. Anyway, I'm Baldwin. Baldwin Apple."

"Drake was right," Cole muttered to himself, "Just a living, breathing pun."

Baldwin shook both Cole's and Ezio's hooves, before stepping back up onto the porch. "Come on in, fellas. It's awfully hot out here. I'll get us something to drink."

They happily obliged, following the stallion inside. As they entered the relatively large farmhouse, they were relieved to find that it was adequately air-conditioned. The place was simple, with a fairly large living room, a stocked kitchen, and a few bedrooms. Baldwin disappeared through the doorway to the kitchen, while the rest of them made themselves at home.

"We don't have to do much work in the orchard today," Braeburn said finally, breaking the silence. "Just a few trees have apples ready for buckin'."

He turned to Ezio. "So where are you from, Mister? You don't sound like you're from round these parts, that's for sure."

The assassin started to speak, before being interrupted by Cole. "He's from, uh, Prance," the conduit told him, smiling nervously. "Moved to Equestria a few years back, didn't you Ezio?"

"Sì," Ezio answered simply, "I, um, felt like travelling the world."

Braeburn chuckled. "Prance, eh? I guessed as much, what with that accent and all."

It was at that moment when his father re-entered the room, carrying tray of cider glasses. "Here we are boys," he said, setting it down. "Drink up, Braeburn, you still got that last portion of orchard to harvest."

"Don't worry about it, Pa," the colt replied, taking a swig of cider. "My new friends have offered to help me out for a bit."

"New friends?" Cole whispered into Ezio's ear as the assassin took a sip of his drink. "Well, this is easier than I thought."

"No shit?" Baldwin chuckled heartily. "Well I hope you're up to it, fellas, 'cause it ain't no easy job."

Marston tipped his hat back. "I'm sure we'll manage. Besides, I've been working my own farm for nearly ten years now."

Baldwin took another sip of his drink. "Really? Might come visit sometime."

John nodded, before taking a sip himself. "Yeah, good luck with that," he muttered.

They continued to idly chat for about another half an hour, speaking of various things relating to the town. The three ‘ex-humans’ listened in intently. After all, it was better to get to know the people if they expected their help. After that, Braeburn led them out into the fields, where he showed them how to harvest the apples. It was quite simple, really. Just a swift buck to the base of the tree usually dislodged most of the fruit. It was easy enough, and, in almost no time at all, they had finished and were hauling them back to the barn, next to the farmhouse. By the time they had done that, the sun had almost set.

“Well, that just about does it,” Braeburn announced. “Now let’s go see if we can’t find someplace for y’all to sleep. It’s the least I can do for all the help you’ve given me today.”

“Hey, no problem,” Cole told him. “We’re always happy to help, right?” The other two nodded in agreement.

Apple chuckled. “Honestly, y’all are too modest.” He trotted up onto the front porch, pushing the door open. “Come on inside, it’ll be cold out soon.” They obliged and followed him inside, ready to rest after a long day.

A Wild West town, bar fight, and meeting a ton of new people in one day? Cole thought, Huh, and I thought this was going to be hard.


***


He slowly came to, wincing in pain as he felt blood ooze out of a wound in his head. Every nerve in his broken body screamed in agony, begging him to stop, but he slowly sat up. The distinct smell of smoke flooded his nostrils as he looked around the room, searching for his weapon.

“Shit,” he muttered, coughing up even more blood, “Whole damn place is gonna burn to the ground.”

They had come sooner than expected. With the ‘friend making campaign’ taking up most of their business, they hardly had enough time to rush back to Canterlot and take up arms when they arrived. This town had been their first attack, and they had just managed to defend it, but only barely. They had pushed them back to a nearby farm, but they had laid an ambush. Now, his friends were nowhere to be found, he was slowly bleeding out, and he was going to burn to a crisp if he didn’t get out fast.

His eyes fell upon the weapon; a battered and bruised nine millimeter handgun. He scrambled towards it, grunting in pain. “Must have a few broken ribs,” he said through gritted teeth.

An ear-splitting scream slapped him out of his internal thoughts, and willed him to ignore the pain. He scrambled to the window, and looked outside. What he saw only made his heart sink.

There they were. His new friends. And they had them held at gunpoint. They were only innocent girls, they didn’t deserve to get caught up in any of this. He propped himself up on the windowsill and took aim at their captors. There was an air-splitting bang as he opened fire, dropping all four of the invaders below in a matter of seconds. Unfortunately, the feat had drained all of his energy, and he collapsed again, gasping for breath.

The door of the room suddenly burst open, revealing a hallway of flames beyond. One of the invaders charged in raising it’s weapon. A smirk seemed to form on it’s twisted face.

“You thought you could stop us?” it sneered. “How pathetic.”

He closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable to come. He cringed as he recognised the sound of the weapon charging. There was a blast of energy, and then nothing.


***


“Shit!” Nathan Drake jerked awake, sweat pouring down his face. He shook his head, trying to get a bearing of his surroundings. He was on an old bed, inside Remedy Apple’s clinic. What a nightmare, he thought to himself, Don’t worry, it was just a dream.

He squinted his eyes, looking outside the window towards the town. The sun was just rising over the desert plains, and a few ponies were busy setting up their stores. Apart from that, though, Appleloosa was silent, most of it’s residents still fast asleep.

Tentatively, he got off the bed and stood up. He was still in pain, but it was much better than the day before. Instead of an agonizing pain, a dull ache shot through his equine body. Sighing with relief, he walked over to the door and pushed it open, looking outside. Remedy was already busy cleaning up the waiting room, dusting shelves and sorting the pile of old, discarded magazines. “Morning,” he called out to her.

The older mare turned around, surprised to see him. “Oh, Mr. Drake, you’re awake,” she said, slightly startled. “I wasn’t expecting you to be up yet. How are you feeling?”

“Much better, thanks,” he replied, stretching. “You got any coffee around here?”

“There’s a small kitchen just off from the reception,” she informed him. “I’ll make you one, if you’d like.”

The pegasus shook his head. “No, you look like you’ve got your hooves full here. I’ll be fine.” She nodded and returned to cleaning. Following her instructions, he trotted through the reception to a cramped kitchen. He picked up the old kettle and set it on the stove, waiting for it to boil. His head was aching slightly. Probably because of that screwed up dream, he thought. Now that he came to think of it, he couldn’t figure out why he had a nightmare like that. He never usually had dreams like that, and the fact that involved the six Elements of Harmony only worried him more. However, as the kettle boiled, he decided not to ponder on it too much.

He picked up a mug, dumped in a pile of instant coffee, and poured the water and milk, before mixing it together. He took a sip, and recoiled slightly in disgust. Jesus, this tastes bad. Still, it was better than nothing, so he quickly drank it down, the scalding liquid burning the back of his throat. Setting the mug down, he walked back into the reception to find that Strawberry Smiles had already arrived for her shift.

“Mornin’ mister,” she said to him cheerily. “You feelin’ any better?”

“I’m good, thanks,” he replied, smiling. “How about you?”

“I’m just fine, thank you,” she told him, going through a clipboard of medical records.

Nate noticed her downtrodden expression. “Gonna be a long day?” he asked.

The mare nodded. “You bet. Mrs. Apple’s got about fifteen ponies seeing her today. That’s more than we had all of last week! I don’t know why so many ponies are getting so sick all of a sudden.”

Drake shrugged. “Maybe it’s just that time of year,” he said.

Strawberry sighed. “Yeah, maybe.” She gave a little wave as Nate trotted towards the door. “See you later.”

Nate nodded back to her. “Bye.” He smiled and stepped out of the clinic into the harsh morning sun. Right, better go meet up with the others, at Braeburn’s place. He set off down the main road at a brisk pace, smiling and greeting passers-by as he went.

Who knows? he thought, Maybe today will be a quiet day.
> Chapter 6: Medical Mysteries
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Generosity is giving more than you can, and pride is taking less than you need. ~ Khalil Gibran



Canterlot Castle, Equestria
20th May 1002 C.R.
08:30 PM


Goddess of the sun, Princess Celestia, sat in her private study, quietly going over some of her notes and journals from years gone by. The day was drawing to a close, but no news had come back from Appleloosa concerning their new guests. Sighing, she levitated a particular sheet of paper from the pile, reading it to herself softly.

"We had a few new initiates into my School for Gifted Unicorns today. One exceptionally talented young filly caught my eye; the youngest member of the Sparkle family. Her raw magical talent surprised me, for I have not seen such power demonstrated for a very long time. I accepted her into the academy, and am also considering taking her in as my personal student."

She smiled, remembering the event. She always had a small notion in the back of her mind that Twilight would have some sort of connection to the Nightmare Moon prophecy and the Elements of Harmony, and she was glad that she was right. However, now she had more important matters to deal with. She floated the old journal entry back into its place, and opened up a small filing cabinet, before levitating four files onto the desk.

There was a small knock on the door. The white alicorn turned around to see her younger sister enter the room, magically floating two mugs alongside her. “Good evening, sister.” Luna greeted her sibling. “I made us both some tea.”

“Thank you, Luna,” Celestia replied softly, enveloping the second mug with her own magical aura and floating it to her lips. It was still scalding, so she set it down on the desk, before returning to her business. Her sister, however, was curious.

“So, what are you up to, Tia?” the night princess asked, trotting over behind her.

“Just going over some files,” Celestia told her, quickly trying to levitate the four files she had brought out previously back into the filing cabinet. Unfortunately for her, Luna took them from her with her own magic before she had the chance.

There was a short silence as the younger alicorn read through the file. “Celestia... what is this?” She finally asked, uncertainty in her voice, before reading aloud. “‘Drake, 2009, Male. Inherently lucky, as well as proficient with an assortment of weapons.’ Do you have files on all four of the humans?”

The sun goddess looked away, before slowly nodding.

Her sister proceeded to look through the file cabinet, pulling out a few random files and reading through them. “And how many more humans have you been keeping tabs on? To see if they are worthy of our cause?” She floated a number of articles in front of her, reading from all of them. “Jensen, 2027. Kenway, 1773. Denton, 2052. MacTavish, 2016. Phelps, 1947. Mills, 2008." She turned to her sister in anger. “How many more, sister? How many more humans have you been keeping tabs on, watching over their lives, to see if they can help us?”

Celestia looked back to her younger sister, who bore an expression not of anger, but of disappointment. “However many are in that filing cabinet. I’ve... lost count.”

The goddess of the night thought for a moment. "So, how long? How long have you been observing these exceptional humans? You obviously knew the situation we find ourselves in now was coming."

"I have cast the spell to view their universe periodically over the last few decades. After all, it's obviously very draining."

There was another few moments of silence as they both dwelled on the situation. Luna was the first to break it. “You really don’t think we can do this by ourselves, do you? Even with the Elements of Harmony?”

Celestia shook her head. “No. They have become too powerful. Even now, as they float in space miles above us, they are still watching, and waiting. They know about the Elements. I can only hope they haven’t found out about the humans.”

The princess of the night sighed. “And only those four can help?”

“They’re the only ones with the highest amount of First Civilization genes. The ones you mentioned before have it, some more than others, but it is not as concentrated.”

Princess Luna nodded in agreement. "I see your reasoning for this, sister. You only want to make sure our little ponies will be safe. But what if they discover this? It is likely to make them wary of us."

Celestia stood up, putting the files back in the filing cabinet. "Well, we'll just have to make sure that doesn't happen, won't we, little sister?" Smiling, she made her way towards the door. "Now, I think it's best we call it a night."

Luna nodded. "Of course." She trotted past her older sister. "Goodnight, Tia."

"Goodnight, Luna." Celestia smiled warmly at the night goddess, before turning off the light.


***



Appleloosa,
The following morning...


Still reeling from the aftertaste of the foul coffee in his mouth, Nathan Drake trotted down the main street of Appleloosa. A harsh wind blew through the town, picking up sand and throwing it in all directions. Squinting, Nate covered his snout with his blue and white patterned scarf, sighing with relief as sand stopped clogging up his nostrils and finding its way into his mouth. The long piece of fabric was actually quite useful, and Drake made a mental note to pick one up sometime when he got back to his own world. If he ever got back to his own world.

He was making his way towards Braeburn Apple’s farm, where his newfound friends had apparently stayed the night. Just as he reached the borders of the town, however, he realized he had absolutely no idea where that was. Groaning, he turned around and walked back towards the saloon.

Reaching the Salt Block, he stepped past two working ponies trying to install a new window on the building’s front facade and made his way inside. The place was next to deserted, with only a few lonely stallions slumped in the darker corners of the room, kept company by a dozen or so empty bottles.

The bartender noticed the fortune hunter as he trotted towards the bar. “Morning, mister!” he greeted him cheerily. “What can I do you for?”

“Uh, do you know where Braeburn’s farm is?” Nate asked, moving his scarf away from his mouth.

“Sure do, mister. Just over the ridge on the far north side of town. There’s a path leading through there. You can’t miss it,” the bartender answered, his voice muffled through his bushy moustache. “You sure you don’t want anything to drink?”

Nate chuckled. “No, I’m fine, thanks. Slow day, huh?”

The bartender smiled, turning his attention to cleaning his shot glasses. “Yeah, I suppose. It’s still early though, and I reckon by midday this place will be full of thirsty ponies lookin’ to escape the heat.”

Drake nodded, turning to leave. “Yeah, well, you have a nice day.”

“You too mister. See y’all around.” Nate trotted towards the door, before the bartender addressed him again. "Actually, come to think of it, I do need a favour doing, if it ain't too much trouble. It won't take long."

Drake checked the watch on his left forehoof, before nodding. "Sure, I got some spare time."

The bartender ushered him closer. "I just got a bar tab that I need collecting."

"Bar tab? Alright, who from?"

"Stallion, goes by the name of 'Salty'. You see him, and it should be obvious why," the earth pony explained. "He owes me fifty bits, and hangs around near the general store. Get it for me, and I'll make it worth you while."

Drake nodded. "Okay, you got it.

Yawning, Nathan stepped back out into the sandstorm, pushing his scarf back up against his snout. The storm had calmed down a little, but the pegasus could still only see a few feet in front of him. “Great,” he muttered grumpily, before trudging north through the town, squinting to keep sand out of his eyes. There was nopony to be seen, and with good reason. Nate had seen his fair share of deserts and sandstorms in his time, but this one was harsher than any he had ever seen. It was a challenge just to make his way north through town towards the goods store.

Once he arrived, he stepped up onto the porch to see a dark brown aging earth pony snoozing on the ground, his eyes shielded by a withered old straw hat.

"Excuse me?" Nate called out. "Salty?"

The older stallion jerked awake and glanced around, before looking up at Nate. There were large bags under his eyes, and he look famished. Judging by the abundance of discarded wrappers and bottles around him, as well as a sodden mattress to the side of the store, he obviously didn't have a place to stay. "Wha... Who are you? What can I do for you, sonny?"

Nate couldn't help but feel slightly pitiful for the downtrodden stallion. "Uh, the owner of the Salt Block sent me. Something about a bar tab?"

Salty's face dropped. "Aw, it's those fifty bits that I owe him, ain't it? I only have twenty, but take it anyway." He started to fumble through a dusty saddlebag next to him.

Quickly, Drake dived into his own, pulling out two bags of money. He had split all of his coins into bags of fifty each, to make sorting easier. "No, don't worry about it," he said, thrusting the bags into the elderly stallion's hooves. "I'll take care of it. Take these, and put them to good use." He trotted away, leaving Salty speechless.

The bartender looked up and smiled when the pegasus re-entered the saloon. "Hello, mister!" he exclaimed. "Did you get the money?"

"Here," Drake told him, dropping another bag of his own bits on the bar. "Consider his debt paid." He went to leave, before turning around to address the owner again. "Oh, and a word of advice. Next time he comes in here, consider offering him somewhere to stay instead of another damn drink." With that, he trotted back out into the street.

Checking his watch, he found that it was about ten in the morning. Deciding that enough time had passed for his friends to be awake and out of bed, he started to make his way to the large ridge north of town, beyond which lay the Apple family orchard. There was a small path that cut through a canyon that, according to a dilapidated old sign, lead to the farm. The trail was long and dusty, however the tight enclosed canyon meant that the pegasus was protected from the harshness of the sandstorm. Well, at least most of it. A few rogue grains of sand still managed to find their way into Nate’s eyes, much to his annoyance.

The path seemed to go on forever, but, finally, he emerged from the canyon trail to the view of a sprawling valley, which housed a large apple orchard. The sandstorm had passed over by now, so it was truly a sight to behold, but Drake had his eyes set on a small farmhouse that lay not too far down the path from him. The sun was now firmly hanging far above the dry wastes, casting down an unforgiving heat over the desert. As he made his way down the small path, he found himself sweating and in desperate need of something to drink. Heh, maybe should’ve taken up that bartender’s offer after all, he thought to himself.

Drake had reached the door of the farmhouse and was about to knock when he heard somepony call out to him. “Hey, Nate!” He turned around to find Marston, along with Braeburn and the rest of his friends, calling out to him from the edge of the orchard. He nodded to them and flew over.

"Mornin'," Marston greeted him when they had all grouped together. "You feeling any better, partner?"

"As right as rain," Drake told the unicorn, before turning to Braeburn. "Your mom sure knows what she's doing." He turned to admire the fields that surrounded them. "I don't think I've ever seen a family so passionate about their work."

Braeburn seemed to blush slightly at the compliment. "Aw, shucks, Mr. Drake. I'm sure everyone in your family is just as invested in their lives as much as we are."

Nate's face fell slightly, but was soon masked with a weak smile. "Uh, yeah. Sure," he said, clearing his throat. “So,” he announced, swiftly moving onto another subject. “Apples, huh?”

Marston chuckled. “Yep. Braeburn here’s been showing us the ropes of his farm. I gotta say, it’s been helpin’ me with ideas for my farm back home.”

Drake nodded. “Any work need doing today then?”

“Actually, no,” Braeburn told him. “Today’s the day off.”

Ezio stepped in next to the pegasus. “In fact, we were about to go into town to see how you were doing.”

Nate smiled. “Well, it’s nice to know you all care about me so,” he said jokingly. “C’mon, let’s head up there anyway. I could use the exercise.”

“Couldn’t we all,” Cole agreed, slapping him on the shoulder.

It didn’t take too long for the five stallions to make their way back into Appleloosa. They mostly passed the time by idly chatting. Braeburn was still blissfully unaware of his new friends’ origins, and they thought it would probably be best that it stayed that way. After all, what he didn’t know wouldn’t kill him.

By the time they arrived in town, the sandstorm had fully passed, and ponies were now trotting around, going about their daily business. It was nearing midday, so the harsh sun was mercilessly shining down upon the five stallions.

“So, have we actually go a plan, or what?” Cole asked, stopping in the shade of a store’s porch.

“Well, I was gonna go visit my ma,” Braeburn told him, taking over his hat and wiping sweat from his brow. “See if there’s anything I can help her with.”

MacGrath chuckled. “Can’t keep the work spirit down, huh?”

John cleared his throat. “Well, I don’t know about you, but I think I’m gonna pass the time with a few games of horseshoes.” He nodded towards the back of the store, where a few stallions were passing around bets. “Anyone care to join me?”

Nate nodded. “Yeah, sure.”

Ezio joined him as well. “Va bene. I’ve been getting a bit out of practice.”

‘Then it’s settled,” Cole announced. “Come on Braeburn, let’s go help your mom. I know a thing or two about healing people,” he said as they started towards Remedy’s clinic.

The cowpony looked surprised. “Forgive me if this sounds a bit forward, Cole,” he said to the conduit, “but I didn’t pin you as a stallion of medicine.”

Cole shrugged. “Eh, it’s not medicine. Let’s just say I have a little spark.” He smiled at his own little joke.

Remedy Apple’s clinic was empty as the two stallions stepped inside; only a few ponies were waiting for their appointments. A small overhead fan was desperately trying to keep the room cool, but ultimately failed. The waiting room was almost as hot and stifling as it was outside, and MacGrath soon found himself wanting something to drink.

Strawberry Smiles was still at the reception desk, and smiled when she looked up and saw the two of them enter. “Hey there, Brae,” she greeted him cheerfully. “And a fine hello to you too, mister...”

“MacGrath. Call me Cole.”

“Well, hello, Cole.” Strawberry smiled at him, before turning back to Braeburn. “So, what brings you here?”

Braeburn shrugged. “Just coming to see if my ma needs any help is all.”

The chocolate-coloured mare gestured to the room behind him. “Look around. There ain’t much to help with. Remedy’s got a few more patients to see, but other than that, it’s been a quiet day.”

The beige stallion looked crestfallen. “Shucks, really? Huh, guess we’re gonna have to find something else to do, Cole.”

MacGrath chuckled. “Come on, let’s go relax for a bit. Y’know, it’s not gonna kill you.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Braeburn agreed, laughing. “Come on then.”

They were about to step back outside when they heard somepony shouting. It was a stallion, and his voice was getting increasingly louder. The two of them only just had time to step out of the way before a purple earth pony came crashing through the door, screaming his head off.

“Help!” the stallion screamed, blood dripping from a large wound on his head. “Monsters! Monsters in the desert!” He was obviously delusional. He was bleeding from multiple wounds on his body, and his coat was covered in dust and dirt. He tried to say something more, but ended up clutching his chest and falling to the ground.

By then, most of town had gathered around the clinic, including John, Ezio and Drake. Hearing all the commotion, Braeburn’s mother came rushing out of her office. “What’s going on in here?” she shouted, before noticing the stallion on the floor.

The doctor galloped over to him, feeling for a pulse on his neck. Her expression changed from one of confusion to worry, and she moved her hoof to his chest, holding it there for a few seconds. “Crap,” she muttered. “He’s gone into cardiac arrest. Everypony, get back, I need some space!”

Cole stepped in beside her. “Let me help,” he said soothingly, before rubbing his front hooves together. They sparked with electricity, and he gently lowered them to the stallion chest. The purple pony jerked as a jolt of energy was sent through his body, before slumping back again. Remedy checked his pulse once more.

“Heart rate is steady. Breathing’s normal,” she muttered to herself. “He’s fine.” She stood up and turned to Cole. “How did you do that?”

“I guess it’s just my little party trick,” he answered, moving away from the unconscious stallion, and back towards his friends.

“Well,” Ezio muttered to fortune hunter and gunslinger, who were equally intrigued by the situation unfolding before them. “Someone’s got some explaining to do when they wake up.”

“What do you think he was talking about?” Nate wondered. “‘Monsters in the desert’? He’s insane, right?”

Marston shrugged. “I ain’t so sure. But I guess we’ll find out.”
> Chapter 7: It's a Revolution, I Suppose
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


If our hopes are betrayed, if we are forced to resist the invasion of our soil, and to defend our threatened homes, this duty, however hard it may be, will find us armed and resolved upon the greatest sacrifices. ~ King Albert II of Belgium



Appleloosa, Equestria
21st May 1002 C.R.
1:54PM


The mood and atmosphere inside Remedy Apple’s Medicinal Supplies was quiet and somber. The purple stallion that had come crashing through the door about an hour ago was still unconscious, and had been tucked into a bed in Remedy’s office. Most of the crowd had dispersed and gone back to their usual activities. The four ‘ex-humans’, however, still sat in the waiting room, waiting for answers.

They all looked up as Braeburn and his mother re-entered the room, the latter looking more tired and overworked than ever. She sighed, and turned to the group. “Does anyone want a cup of coffee?”

Cole raised his hoof, still engrossed in a magazine, titled New Equestrian Technology. Nate suppressed a laugh, causing the conduit to look up. “What?” he asked.

“Oh, nothing,” Drake replied, feigning innocence. “Enjoy your coffee.” He smirked as MacGrath shrugged and returned to reading.

While his mother went into the kitchen to make some coffee, Braeburn trotted over to Cole. “Uh, Mr. MacGrath, can I ask you something?” he asked, sitting down next to the earth pony.

Cole sighed. I can see where this is going, he thought. Closing the magazine and putting it down, he turned to the beige farmpony. “Sure, what is it?”

Braeburn looked concerned. “Well, let me start by saying thank you for saving that poor stallion’s life, but...” He trailed off, looking away.

“Let me guess. How did I do it?” The conduit finished his friend’s sentence for him.

Braeburn nodded. “Half the town saw what you did, and I’d be lying if I said they weren’t a bit wary. I mean, you had electricity coming out of your darn hooves!” He sounded halfway between concerned and awed.

MacGrath sighed wearily and looked away. “Look, Braeburn, we’re friends now, right? I’m not gonna lie to you.” He lifted one of his forehooves up, making it crackle with idle electricity. Braeburn recoiled slightly. “See, I have... powers,” Cole explained, trying to think of a way to describe it whilst not revealing too much. “After a near fatal accident, I woke up and I just had them. I don’t know what to say.”

Braeburn eyed him for a second, deciding what to think, before looking away again. “I just don’t know what to think, Cole. But y’all seem like decent fellas, so I trust you’ll do what’s best for this town.” He stood up as Remedy came back into the room, carrying a tray of mugs. Her son picked up one and took a sip. “Thanks, ma,” he said, smiling.

The older mare picked up another one of the mugs and handed it to Cole. “Here you go, Mr. MacGrath. It’s not the best, but it’s all we have.”

“No, don’t worry, it’s fine.” The conduit nodded and smiled. “How’s our friend doing?”

Remedy set down the tray on the table, before picking up her own mug and turning back to Cole. “You mean that stallion? He’s alright. I did some tests, checked for any abnormalities in his bloodstream, but they came up negative. The gash in his head was bad though; he lost a lot of blood.”

MacGrath shrugged. “Well, I guess we’ll have to ask him what that whole fiasco was about when he wakes up.”

The doctor moaned. “Yes, I suppose you’re right. Just when I thought I was going to have a quiet day...” She glanced up at the clock, before groaning again. “And it’s still only just half over.” Taking a large swig of her coffee, she trotted back across the room to the exit to check on her patient, reeling as the scalding liquid hit the back of her throat.

Cole stretched back and yawned. “You know those kind of days that just drag on, even when you want them to end?” he said to no one in particular. “Yeah, this is one of those days.” He lifted his mug to his mouth and took a sip. Tasting the disgusting liquid, he spluttered and almost spat it out.

Nate looked up and chuckled. “I warned you,” he told the conduit, a smug smile on his face.

Cole set the mug down and looked at the fortune hunter. “Yeah, ha ha, very funny.” He returned to the dusty couch he had been sitting on and lay down, closing his eyes. “Well,” he murmured. “Looks like our friend isn’t going to be waking up for a while, so I think I’m gonna get some well need shut-eye.”

The conduit stretched and settled down, sighing in comfort. He was about to doze off into sleep when he heard the familiar sound of approaching hooves. He opened one eye, and saw Remedy holding up the purple stallion they had seen before. He still looked tired and injured, but, compared to earlier, he was perfectly fine.

It was Marston who was the first to speak up. “Oh, nice of you to join us,” the gunslinger called out to the earth pony, who gave a sheepish smile. “Feelin’ alright?”

The stallion coughed slightly, still clinging to Remedy. “Yeah, I’m okay, I guess.”

John smiled. “Good. Now maybe you can explain that whole business back there.”

Remedy guided the weak stallion towards the couch and set him down, between Ezio and her son. He relaxed, grunting slightly, before looking back up at Marston. “Yeah, about that... Sorry for all the fuss.”

“Don’t worry, it’s nothing,” Remedy reassured him, smiling warmly. “But please, tell these stallions what you saw.”

The earth pony looked towards Marston. “Well, let me introduce myself first. My name’s Iron Hoof; I run the local blacksmith,” he explained. “I was out in the desert, looking for something I lost the last time I was out there, when all of a sudden these... things got the jump on me.” He shuddered, remembering the event.

Ezio motioned for him to go on. “Please, continue.”

“I ain’t never seen nothing like them. They was like the royal princesses, except they looked... wrong. Like they were ponies, but something else, at the same time.”

“Wait,” Cole interrupted him, “Are you saying they were alicorns? Like, wings and a horn alicorn?”

Iron Hoof nodded. “They looked like ‘em. But they were thinner, and their eyes were just the single colour. No irises.” He sighed, looking away. “I’m sorry, but I can’t remember much else. It all happened so fast.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it pal.” Drake smiled, putting a hoof on the blacksmith’s shoulder. “Just tell us where it happened.”

Iron sniffed and looked at the fortune hunter. “Just north of town, about a mile out. It happened a little way off from the trail.” He stood up. “Come on, I’ll show you the way.”

Braeburn stopped him, settling him down. “No can do, sir. You need to stay here and rest.” He turned to Ezio and the rest. “Come on, let’s go talk to Sheriff Silverstar, see if he can’t help us.”

Ezio nodded. “Va bene. Oh, and Iron Hoof?” He turned to the blacksmith. “Just stay here. Get some rest, capito?” He nodded to the injured stallion and lead the group back out into the mid-afternoon sun. Many of the townsponies had returned to their jobs, and so the street was mostly empty.

Braeburn trotted past the assassin. “Come on, let’s go see the sheriff. His office is this way.” He lead them all about halfway down the main street, to a large building with the words “Sheriff’s Office” emblazoned on a sign above the doorway. The stallion they had seen apprehend Mad Dog the day before was lounging outside, chewing on a piece of tobacco.

Silverstar saw the group of stallions approach. “Howdy there, Braeburn!” he called out, spitting out his tobacco. “What can I do you for?”

Braeburn smiled and greeted the sheriff in return. “Howdy, sheriff. I was just wondering if I could ask a favour.”

Silverstar hopped off his chair and stood up to face the apple farmer. “Go on, I’m listening.”

“Well, you know that stallion who came crashing into my ma’s office about an hour ago?” Braeburn asked. The sheriff nodded and motioned for him to continue. “Well, according to him, he saw something strange about a mile north outside a town. And by something strange, I mean something that may threaten the safety of our town.”

Sheriff Silverstar’s eyes seemed to widen at the last part of Braeburn’s sentence. “Safety of our town, you say? Well, we better get on it.” He turned around and poked his head through the door of his office. “Hey, Sure Shot!” he called out.

A younger voice came from the inside of the building. “Uh, yeah, sheriff?”

“Get your flank out here right now, we got business to attend to!”

A few moments later, a small, lanky stallion came dashing out of Silverstar’s office. He was a dark brown, blonde-maned earth pony, and looked no older than eighteen. Upon seeing Braeburn, he gave a goofy smile. “Well, howdy Braeburn!” he said cheerfully.

Braeburn chuckled. “Hey, Sure Shot.”

Nate rolled his eyes and stepped forward. “Sorry to interrupt, but this is kind of important.” He started to trot towards the north edge of town. “So let’s not waste any time, okay?” The rest of the group nodded and followed the pegasus. Many ponies watched in curiosity from the safety of their homes as the group of seven stallions made their way outside of town, down the dusty trail that lead into the seemingly never-ending expanse of desert.

“So, who’s this kid?” John asked Braeburn quietly, nodding towards Sure Shot.

“Oh, Sure Shot? He’s Silverstar’s deputy. Figured he’d be right for the job after he got his cutie mark, about three years ago when the town was founded.” Braeburn informed him.

“Really? And how’d he do that?”

“Colt’s got a fine eye. He was taking part in a rodeo competition, and when the target shooting event came up, he got all of them without a hitch.”

Marston paused. “Wait, target shooting?”

“Well, yeah. We test how accurate your buck is.” The farmpony gave a small buck with his left hind leg for emphasis. “You gotta buck the apples into the targets.”

The gunslinger raised an eyebrow. “Right...”

They were well out into the desert now, and the sheriff and deputy were beginning to get curious. “So, what’s this all about anyway, sheriff?” Sure Shot asked.

“That stallion that made a ruckus down at Remedy’s office says there’s something out here,” Silverstar explained. “And it might be dangerous, so keep an eye out.”

“There.” Cole pointed towards something in the distance, and everypony squinted to get a look. It appeared to be a wrecked stagecoach, with a few small fires still burning around it. “That might be what we’re looking for,” the conduit told the rest of the group. They all increased their pace, cantering the last few hundred meters to the suspicious wreckage.

They soon arrived, however they didn’t seem to be much to see. Sheriff Silverstar, however, was undeterred. “Let’s have look, shall we?” he muttered, hopping up onto the broken wagon. It was almost completely decimated, with pieces of broken timber scattered around the surrounding area.

“Wait a minute,” Braeburn murmured, noticing something strange on a stray piece of wood. “These are scorch marks,” he noted, examining the blackened area of timber. “This weren’t no accident, unless our friendly neighbourhood blacksmith has a habit of carrying a couple pounds of dynamite around with him.”

“Hold up a sec.” John trotted over to the apple farmer and took a look. After a few seconds, his face turned grim, and he looked up to address the rest of the group. “He’s right. Keep an eye out. Whatever, or whoever, did this might still be here.”

"Shit." Nate hopped up onto the wagon next to Silverstar, scanning the horizon around them. The only things to be seen were a few lone mesas dotted about the landscape, and the small frontier town behind them. Unsatisfied, Drake hopped back down to the ground again. He turned to MacGrath, who had one hoof pressed to his temple. He looked like he was in intense thought. "Hey, Cole, you alright?"

"Yeah, fine," the conduit grunted, still focusing. "If I focus hard enough, I can detect a living being's natural energy." He grunted, before opening his eyes and looking at the rest of the group in horror.

Time seemed to slow down as Cole screamed at the others in warning, before diving out of the way. Uncloaking around them were four alicorn-like creatures, like Iron Hoof described. In sheer panic, everyone tried to leap out of the trap, but to little avail. The creature’s horns lit up, and sent them all flying backwards into the burning wreckage.

Cole regained his composure immediately, throwing bolts of electricity at their attackers in an attempt to draw their attention. Thankfully, it worked, as the alicorn-like creatures turned their focus to the conduit. MacGrath smiled. There may have been more of them, but he knew he had the upper hand. “Come on then, you freaks!” he shouted, noticing, out of the corner of his eye, his friends managing to pick themselves up. Wait, it was all of them, right? Cole shook the doubt from his mind, like a dog shakes water out of its fur, and focused on his assailants, who were swiftly advancing towards him.

Four versus one. Cole smirked. Too easy. With the element of surprise, he formed a pillar of ice directly beneath him, launching him into the air. As he flew towards the creatures, he focused on placing his shots correctly. His perception of time slowed down as he aimed his bolts of energy, perfectly striking each of the attackers directly in the head. It didn’t kill them outright, but then again he hadn’t expected it to; he had seen his fair share of people that could shrug off a head shock or two.

What he hadn’t expected was for one of the alicorns to propel itself into the air, tackling him to the ground in mid-flight. Both of them crashed hard, sliding along the desert sand for a few feet before coming to a stop. The beast on top of him growled, and its horn started to glow with energy. Cole didn’t give it the chance, managing to kick it off before it could finish its spell.

Keeping his distance from the attackers in order to come up with another plan of action, Cole smiled with relief when Ezio, John and Drake joined him by his side. “These things came out of nowhere,” he told them.

“Oh really?” Nate asked sarcastically, visibly showing signs of breaking under pressure. “Any other keen observations for us?”

“Fermalo!” Ezio barked at them. “We haven’t got time for this; we need to focus!” He flicked his hoof, smiling slightly as the familiar blade extended from his bracer. “I still have my blades. If you can distract them enough for me to get in close, I can finish them off.”

“I’m on it,” John announced, before galloping around the side of the creatures. “Hey, you big, ugly, sons of bitches! Come and get me!”

It seemed to work, for the most part. One of the alicorn creatures broke off from the rest of the group, charging towards the gunslinger. Without a moment of hesitation, Ezio sprinted towards it to catch it mid-charge. It’ll never see it coming, he thought, smirking. Just as the assassin was about to leap onto his prey, it noticed him and turned around in an attempt to block him. It proved ultimately futile, however, as Ezio knocked the alicorn to the ground and plunged his hidden blade deep into it’s neck. It struggled for a few seconds, before going limp.

“Requiescat in pace,” he murmured to the dying creature respectfully, before hopping back up to face the other three. Drake and MacGrath had them distracted, with the conduit firing barrage after barrage of electricity at two, while the fortune hunter dodged a few melee attacks from the other. Quickly forming a plan, Ezio turned to John. “Cole looks like he has everything handled,” he informed him. “We’d better go give Nathan some help.”

Marston nodded without a word, and quickly made a bee-line towards the dark grey alicorn creature, whose brutal attacks Nate was desperately trying to avoid. Swiftly, John leaped into the air, crashing down hard onto the alicorn’s back with a satisfying crunch. It yelped in pain, and turned around to face its new assailant. Marston jumped off towards Nate, landing next to him cleanly and whirling around to face his opponent once more. “You okay?” he asked the pegasus.

“Yeah. Thanks for the help though.”

Their conversation was cut short as an unfamiliar voice cut through the air. “You ponies, so ignorant.” It was the alicorn they were facing, taunting them. “You know nothing of our kind. Soon, you will all perish, along with every other miserable life force in this la-”

John and Drake hopped back in surprise as the alicorn was pushed to the ground, the Master Assassin shoving both of his hidden blades into the back of its neck. It gave a short squeak of pain, before resigning to its fate.

The final two alicorns, who were struggling to fight the enraged conduit that dueled with them, noticed the death of their companions. With what looked like fear across their faces, they disappeared into the sky, just as quickly as they had arrived, with no trace whatsoever.

“Ah, crap,” Cole muttered, clutching his side. “One of the bastards got a kick in.”

“So,” John said, staring up at the sky. “Is that what we’re up against?”

Ezio nodded. “Must be. They didn’t seem too smart though.”

“Maybe they’re part of a hive mind,” Nate suggested. “They seemed like some sort of scouting party though.”

“Hey!” They all turned around to see Braeburn calling out to them. “Get over here! We need some help!”

Cole’s heart seemed to drop to the bottom of his stomach as his doubts resurfaced. They all galloped over to the remains of the stagecoach, and the conduit’s heart froze when his suspicions were confirmed.

Lying amidst the wreckage was a heavily wounded Sure Shot, who had been impaled by one of the wheel axles from the wagon. Blood poured from his mouth, and he seemed to be fighting just to stay conscious. “Shit,” MacGrath murmured, looking away. “Fuck!”

“Is he going to be okay?” Nate asked Braeburn. The farmpony looked up at him quietly, before shaking his head solemnly.

Sheriff Silverstar was knelt over the wounded body of his deputy, holding the colt’s hoof. “Come on, Shotty,” he was saying. “Stay with us. You’re going to be okay.”

“Please, sheriff,” Sure Shot cried, looking up at his elder with tear stained eyes. “I’m scared.”

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Silverstar tried his best to soothe the injured stallion, but to no avail. After another few painful moments, Sure Shot took his last breath, and his body fell limp.

No one dared interrupt the sheriff as he wept silently over the body of his fallen comrade. Braeburn and John put their hats to their chests in a sign of respect, while Ezio lowered his hood in a similar sentiment.

“Is this what it’s going to be like?” John whispered to his four friends. “This revolution the princess is planning, how many ponies are going to die?”

“I don’t know,” Nate murmured, still watching helplessly as Silverstar cried over his deputy’s body. “But I know one thing.”

“Oh yeah? What’s that?” Cole asked him.

“Princess Celestia has got a lot to answer for.”
> Chapter 8: The Morning After
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm. - Winston Churchill



Appleloosa, Equestria
21st May C.R.
9:51PM


It had been no longer than a few hours since the tragic events that took place in the desert that surrounded Appleloosa, yet Nathan Drake already found himself staring at the bottom of a glass, feeling sorry for himself. He lazily looked to his right to see Sheriff Silverstar, surrounded by a few bottles of liquor, and still downing another. He glanced around the interior of the saloon to see all of his friends, with similar somber expressions upon their faces.

Today had been terrible. Just terrible, or, as Marston had put it, "An absolute fucking mess." Silverstar had not taken the death of his deputy well, and so it had been up to Braeburn to deliver the bad news to his family. Naturally, they couldn't believe it either. The farmer was still with them, trying his best to console the grieving family as they tried to come to terms with what had happened.

None of the four 'ex-humans' were strangers to the pain and suffering of losing a loved one. For Nate, it was the suicide of his mother when he was a child, leading to his father abandoning him. Ezio's family had been condemned to the gallows after being falsely accused of treason, while Cole's girlfriend, Trish, was cruelly taken from him in a horrible test of morality. However, John might have had it the worst, having the deal with the loss of his daughter to tuberculosis. Yet, no matter how many times it happened, the death of someone they knew was never easy to deal with, even if they'd only known them for a few hours.

Nate supposed that it was a good thing. Death was a serious matter, so he guessed being affected by it meant that they all still clung to a semblance of humanity and morality. Drake remembered the first time he had taken a life. It was in South America, and he was only eighteen. Even though his assailant was a pirate, Nate was haunted for days by the sight of the man's cold, lifeless eyes, staring out into nothingness.

After the rush of the moment had passed on, he had expressed his regret to his best friend, Victor Sullivan. The older man had smiled warmly and said, "Good. Keep hold of that, kid. Sometimes, you have to end a life. But never do so lightly."

The fortune hunter was snapped out of his voice by the sound of a voice in front of him. “Another round, mister?” He looked up to see the bartender and owner of the saloon looking at him, holding a bottle of whiskey in his mouth.

Nate glanced down at his empty shot glass, before looking back up at the stallion. “Yeah, screw it.” He clumsily threw a few bits on the counter as his glass was filled again. He downed it quickly, coughing as the liquor burned his throat, before turning around to see Cole, slumped over a table surrounded with about a dozen bottles of beer. Noticing him, the conduit got up and trotted over to the bar, still perfectly sober.

“Jesus,” Nate commented, “How many?” he asked MacGrath.

Cole shrugged. “I don’t know. About twelve.”

“Not drunk?”

Cole smirked. “No. Don’t know why, but something about my powers altered my blood stream. Unless you leave me alone in the middle of a brewery, I’m not getting pissed any time soon.” He paused for a second, before squirming uncomfortably on his stool. “On the other hand, I think I need a piss right about now.”

Nate laughed, probably a bit louder than he should have. “Then get going. I’m not gonna clean it up if you wet yourself.” The fortune hunter could have sworn he saw MacGrath blush with embarrassment, making him laugh even harder.

Marston looked up from the other side of the bar and called out to them. “Hey Nate! Had a bit too much, have we?”

Drake rolled his eyes. “Ah, shut up, I’m fine!”

John hopped off his stool and trotted towards the exit. “Y’know, today’s been a long day.” He turned to Ezio, who was sitting in the corner of the room. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I need some shut-eye.” Pushing open the swinging doors, he bid them all farewell, then left.

Ezio stood up and walked over to Cole, who was still talking to Nate. “Marston was right,” the assassin told them. “We should all get some dormire.”

Cole nodded. “Yeah, okay.” He hopped off the bar stool. “Let’s go. Good night, Nate.”

“Yeah, yeah, see ya,” Drake slurred, before downing another shot of liquor. He wobbled slightly, almost falling off his stool. “I don’t need you guys anyway,” he muttered, slamming his hoof down on the bar to call for another drink.

The bartender trotted over to him. “You sure, mister? You look a touch drunk.”

“I’m fine!” Nate insisted, thrusting his money at the stallion. He shrugged, pulling the bottle from underneath the bar and filling Drake’s glass. The pegasus was about to drink it when he heard someone clear their throat from beside him. He turned his head to see Strawberry Smiles sitting next to him.

“Oh, hey,” he said, blinking a few times in an effort to focus. “How you doing, Strawberry?”

“I’m fine,” the earth pony mare answered. Judging by the smell of her breath, Nate could tell that she’d had a few drinks herself.

“Sorry about Sure Shot,” Nate told her mournfully. “I should have done more to save him.”

Strawberry tipped her stetson back. “It’s okay, Mr. Drake. I’m sure you did all you could.” She smiled and took a rather large swig from her bottle of beer. “Didn’t really know the colt, but he seemed nice enough.”

There was an awkward silence as they both tried to think of something to say. Glancing up at the clock, Nate groaned. "Shit. Nine o clock," he muttered. "The others were right, I better get going. It'll take forever to get back to Braeburn's."

Strawberry turned around to face him as he went to leave. "Aw, leaving already?" She pouted. "Come on, Nate, just one more drink."

Drake paused for a second, considering her offer, before shaking his head. "Sorry, but if I leave it any later then who knows what I'll bump into on the way back."

Strawberry looked up to the pegasus, putting on her best puppy dog eyes. "Not even one?" She held out a bottle of beer, beckoning for him to come over. "Besides, if it gets too late you could always stop at mine for the night."

Drake took a few seconds to consider, before shrugging. "Sure, why not?" He held out his bottle to hers. "What could possibly go wrong?"


***



Ponyville, Equestria
The following morning...


“Come on, Twilight. You’ve hardly slept or eaten in days!”

Spike the baby dragon stood at the foot of the stairs inside the Golden Oaks library, calling out to the lavender unicorn in her room at the top.

“You need to come out!” he shouted. “Look, I know you’re curious about all this, but you know this isn’t good for you!”

There was a brief moment of silence, before a loud crash. “Fine!” came an agitated voice. Soon enough, Twilight Sparkle at the top of the stairs. She looked a mess. Her mane and tail was out of place, and large bags under her eyes indicated that she had been putting off sleeping for a few days.

Her assistant handed her a hairbrush as she trotted down towards him, which she took with her magic. “Alright Spike, so maybe I’m being a little obsessed,” she admitted, running the brush through her unkempt mane. “What are we going to do, then?”

“Rarity invited us both to breakfast this morning,” Spike informed her. “Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie are going to be there too. Come on, it’ll do you some good.”

The studious unicorn sighed. “Yeah, you’re right.” She brushed her tail one last time before setting the brush back down on a dresser. “Okay then, let’s get going.” She turned around, flashing a small smile, before setting off outside the door. Spike pushed his chest out proudly, before quickly following after her.

The brightness of the mid-morning sun near blinded Twilight as she left her library, causing her to shield her eyes. “Wow, maybe I was inside a bit too long,” she murmured.

“Maybe?” her assistant commented sarcastically, walking past her. “Come on, if we don’t get going to Carousel Boutique soon, we’ll be late.”

Twilight nodded, setting off on a brisk canter towards the town centre. It was almost ten o’clock, so many of the townsponies were out in force, be it spending some quality free time or going about their daily businesses. Being as friendly as usual, many ponies waved to the pair as they made their way through Ponyville, which managed to put a genuine smile on the otherwise extremely tired unicorn’s face.

“So,” Twilight began. “Heard anything from Canterlot recently?”

Spike rolled his eyes. “Oh, come off it, Twilight!” he told her. “I’m sure the princesses have everything handled. Besides, if I had, you would know already!”

Twilight cringed at the dragon’s outburst. “Yeah... I guess you’re right, Spike. I’m sure we’ll find out soon enough anyway. No need to get worked up about it.”

He smiled. “Exactly.”

By now they had just reached Rarity’s boutique. Seeing the two of them approach from her window, the fashionista graciously opened the door for them before they could get a chance to knock. “Good morning,” she said to them, smiling. “Oh, and thank you Spike, for getting Twilight out of her little rut.”

The librarian glared at her friend. “What do you mean, rut?”

Rarity ushered them both in. “Sorry Twilight, but we hadn’t heard from you for days and, well, we both know what you’re like.” She lead them through the front of her shop and into the dining room, where Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy were already seated. “Now, how do you like your eggs, Twilight?” Rarity asked.

“Uh, sunny side up,” her friend answered, before greeting the party pony and pegasus.

Rarity nodded. “And you, Spike?”

“The same.”

“Perfect,” the unicorn exclaimed. “I’ll be back in a jiffy.” With that, she trotted over to the kitchen.

Spike and Twilight both found themselves a seat as Pinkie and Fluttershy said hello. “So, Twilight, heard anything from the princesses?” The pink pony asked immediately.

Twilight shook her head. “Not yet, but I imagine it won’t be too long until we get some news. Besides, I’m sure those four are handling themselves just fine, anyway.”

“I hope they haven’t got into any trouble,” Fluttershy mused.

“It’s just Appleloosa,” Pinkie Pie told her. “What are they gonna do, make enemies with an apple tree?”

“I don’t know Pinkie, they look like the type of guys who know how to cause trouble,” Twilight commented. “I’m sure it wouldn’t take too much effort.”

“They only went there to make friends,” Pinkie Pie said. “It’s not like they were looking to upset anyone.”

“Look, Pinkie, I don’t really want to talk about it,” Twilight said to her friend. “I need to focus my mind on other things right now anyway.”

Five plates levitated past them and settled down on the table, closely followed by Rarity. “Here you go girls, I hope they’re to your satisfaction.”

“They’re perfect, thank you.” Fluttershy told her, smiling warmly.

Boy, these look great, Spike thought, licking his lips. Piercing a piece of egg with his fork, he was about to pop it in his mouth when he suddenly felt bloated. “Oh, I don’t feel so good,” he groaned.

“What’s wrong Spike?” Twilight asked. “Are you okay?”

The dragon opened his mouth to speak, but instead emitted a loud belching noise, which was closely followed by a magical piece of parchment. It hovered in the air for a second, before dropping down onto the table.

“A letter from the princess? What could it be about?” The lavender unicorn wondered. Using her magic, she picked it up and floated it over to her, unraveling it along the way.

“What does it say?” Pinkie Pie hopped off her chair and cantered around the table to get a closer look.

“‘I hope I’m not interrupting anything’.” Twilight read aloud, a perplexed look upon her face. “What?”

At that moment, the doorbell rang. “Oh, who could that be?” Rarity trotted out of the room to answer it. There were a few brief moments of silence, before the rest of them were alert by a sudden gasp from the next room. Shortly after, the regal figure of Princess Celestia stepped into the room.

“Good morning, my little ponies,” she said warmly. “I see you got my letter.”

Twilight chuckled nervously. “Uh, yeah, we sure did.”

The princess nodded, a coy smile upon her face. “Just a little joke of mine,” she admitted. “However, I do have news for you, and I thought I should deliver it to you in person.”

“Of course,” Twilight said. “What is it, princess?”

“As you are all aware, the four descendants are due back in Canterlot from Appleloosa today. Their next stop, however, is Ponyville,” Celestia informed them. “I was hoping some of your friends could accommodate them.”

The five of them nodded. “It would be a pleasure, princess,” Rarity told her.

“Good.” The princess stepped aside to reveal a unicorn stallion, clad in a black pinstriped suit and red tie. “I would also like to introduce my personal advisor, Orion Gazer.”

“Good morning, ladies,” he greeted. He spoke with a soft accent, one that, if they had been here, the humans probably would have associated with upper-class English society.

Twilight’s face lit up. “Orion? Like the constellation?”

The stallion smiled and chuckled slightly. “Yes, Miss Sparkle. It’s just a name, though. Aside from being her majesty’s advisor, I also work at the Canterlot Observatory. I majored in astrology, after all.”

The lavender mare’s grin only seemed to widen. “So did I! I mean, I would have, if I wasn’t here, studying friendship, but I almost finished my course at the academy.” She only stopped rambling on when Spike silently put a claw to her mouth.

"Not like you really need to, right Twi?" Spike said.

Orion raised a single eyebrow, but remained smiling. “Well, I will also be staying in Ponyville for few days to make sure our guests are comfortable.”

Celestia nodded. “Indeed. I have set up Orion to stay at a local hotel for the week. I trust it will be to his satisfaction.” She smiled at them, a warm, radiant glow seemingly emanating from her. “Well, I really must be going. I have important issues to attend to in Canterlot.” The sun princess started to trot out of the room. “Goodbye, my little ponies!”

There were a few short moments of silence after her departure, before Orion turned to Twilight. “So, you enjoy stargazing, Miss Sparkle?”

The studious unicorn grinned. “Do I ever!”

“Then we have much to talk about.”


***



Appleloosa, Equestria
Around the same time...


Intruding rays of sunlight pierced through the window of the bedroom, causing Nathan Drake’s eyelids to lazily flutter open. He stared at the ceiling for a second, but reeled as he was hit by a sudden pain in his forehead. Great, I’m hungover, he thought to himself. “Shit, how much did I have?”

Deciding it was the best remedy, he turned over and tried to drift off back to sleep. He was about to roll over again to get comfortable when something grunted beside him.

Wait, what was that?

Dreading what he might find, he slowly turned towards the sound of the noise to find none other than Strawberry Smiles lying next to him, snoring peacefully.

Oh no, I didn’t. He cringed at the thought. For Christ’s sake, tell me I didn’t. That is SO wrong!

His ears perked up at the sound of approaching hoofsteps. Oh shit! Shit! he thought. This isn’t good! He turned to Strawberry and shook her. “Wake up! C’mon, Strawberry!”

The mare beside him groaned. “Just five more minutes, dad.”

“Dad?!” Nate was having trouble comprehending the sudden situation that was unfolding before him.

Strawberry groaned again and turned her head to face him, before gasping. “Wha... Drake?” Her eyes went wide. “Oh Celestia, we didn’t!”

“I don’t know! Probably!” Nate hissed, clumsily stumbling out of bed and throwing on his clothes, all the while listening out for the hoofsteps from another part of the house. “Look, I’m sorry, okay, but I really need to get out of here! Someone’s coming!”

Strawberry seemed to go pale. “Oh shit, that’ll be my dad. I was supposed to help him out with something this morning!”

“Your dad!?” Nate felt like he was going to faint. “Ah, crap!”

The mare shuffled out of bed and over to the window, budging it open. “Quick, hop out the window,” she told the pegasus. “I can hear him coming!”

Drake didn’t need to be told twice. Whispering her thanks, he clambered outside as quietly as he could, before leaning back against the outer wall of the house. He cringed as he heard Strawberry’s bedroom door creak open.

“Good morning, Strawberry!” came a cheerful elderly voice from inside. “Rise and shine!”

“Heh, morning dad,” Strawberry replied. Through the tone of her voice, Nate could tell she was nervous. Deciding that hanging around wasn’t the best idea, he picked himself up quietly and made his way toward the centre of Appleloosa, periodically checking over his shoulder to see if anyone had noticed him. Thankfully, no one had.

Trotting towards the train station, he saw his friends standing outside. Braeburn looked up and, seeing him approaching, smiled. “Well, howdy Nate!” he called out. “Where ya been? We’ve been looking for you everywhere!”

Drake chuckled nervously. “I, uh, stayed at a friend’s for the night.”

The farmpony before him raised an eyebrow, but didn’t question him. “Well, your train back to Canterlot’s gonna be leaving soon. Marston told me all about it.”

“Wait, he told you everything?” Nate really didn’t want to have to explain how he and the rest of them were entirely different beings from another universe to the stallion, especially while hungover.

“Well, he didn’t need to, really. After what happened yesterday, I got a letter from Princess Celestia. Told me all about them things up there,” he pointed towards the sky, before continuing his explanation, “and how you four are the trained stallions that are gonna help defend us.” He put a hoof on the pegasus’ shoulder, looking him deep in the eye. “Look, I don’t know what they are, or when they’re gonna come, but I just want you to know the entire town of Appleloosa has got your backs, I swear.”

Nate nodded respectfully. “Thanks, Braeburn. You’re a good friend.”

The beige colt chuckled. “It’s what I’m here for. Now get going, y’all got a train to catch.”

Drake smiled at him before rejoining the others, who were boarding the train. “Hey, John,” he whispered to the gunslinger.

“Yeah?”

“He doesn’t know who we actually are, does he?”

The unicorn shook his head. “Don’t think so. I sure as hell didn’t tell him.”

“Good. We can’t be sure how anyone would react if they actually knew.”

By now the four of them had reached their own private car and had sat down. “Sì, but the six girls seemed to take it pretty well,” Ezio commented.

“Yeah, but they were the bearers of the Elements of Harmony,” Cole spoke up. “It’s safe to say they’ve seen their fair share of strange things in their lifetime.”

“Yeah, maybe.” Nate yawned and stretched back, cradling Francis’ ring in one hoof. “We shouldn’t dwell on it, though. We’ve got a long ride ahead of us, and we’ve got business to attend to in Canterlot when we arrive.”

They all nodded in agreement, and made themselves comfortable in the decidedly uncomfortable seats. Turns out, the main royal carriage was still being used in other business, so they had been relegated to the backup yet again. It was still hot as all hell.

There were a few moments of silence as the train pulled out of the station, trundling slowly along the tracks, before Cole spoke up.

“Man, to think I owe my life to a bunch of talking horses.” He chuckled at the absurdity of it all. “One second, I’m saving all of humanity, the next I’m saving a race of magical ponies.” He laughed again, and the others joined in. “But you know what? I think I kinda like it here.”
> Chapter 9: The Boys are Back in Town
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


The greatest deception men suffer is from their own opinions. - Leonardo da Vinci

Canterlot Castle, Equestria
22nd May 1002 C.R.
6:04PM


The cooler temperature and climate in the mountain city of Canterlot proved a welcome relief for Cole MacGrath as he, along with Nathan, John, and Ezio, stepped off the sweltering train from Appleloosa. The ride had taken up most of the day, however they were expected back at the castle. Good thing too, he thought to himself, I think we need to have a little talk with the princesses.

The terrible business in the San Palomino Desert had brought into question just how prepared they, along with the rest of Equestria, were going to be in the upcoming battles. Cole silently wished there was some sort of set date that the invaders were going to, well, invade. It was hard sleeping at night knowing that, at any moment, they could come down and blow them all to kingdom come.

He glanced around at the crowded street as the four of them made their way towards the castle. The city’s ponies were out in force, either dining with friends or shopping for things they likely didn’t need. Either way, it didn’t matter to Cole. The crowds were just getting in the way anyway. Luckily though, the street they were on lead almost directly to the main steps at the castle gates, so they didn’t have far to walk.

“So, what are we gonna do?” Nate appeared beside the conduit, trying to keep the same pace despite the force of the crowd.

“Well,” Cole began. “We’re going to walk in and ask her how much she really knows about all this shit.”

“Nice and subtle. I like it." Drake chuckled slightly, before clearing his throat. "Were you suspicious the first time around too?”

MacGrath nodded. “I had my doubts about her. She did seem like she was hiding something.”

Ezio trotted in between them. “Sì, but that begs the question: why? Why would she hide things from us if we’re supposed to be helping them?”

Nathan sighed. “I don’t know, pal. I don’t know.”

The crowd was beginning to swell. It seemed that half of Canterlot was out in force, taking advantage of sales in the stores or eating dinner with friends. The four of them could barely push through the masses of ponies without getting bogged down. In the midst of it all, a hooded mare clumsily bumped into Drake, almost sending him tumbling to the floor. “Hey!” he called out. “Watch it!” When the mare didn’t respond and kept walking, Nathan grew suspicious. Feeling inside his saddlebag, he noticed his coin sack was missing.

“Son of a... I’ll be right back,” he hastily told his friends before quickly setting off after her. “Stop!”

The cloaked mare ignored him, galloping away at full speed through the crowded street. Blocking out the confused cries of his friends, Nate unfurled his wings and took to the sky, smirking as he gained the advantage. The mare noticed his move and quickly darted into a back alley. Drake banked sharply and almost crashed into the wall, his forward momentum betraying him.

“Ah, shit,” he cursed, noticing the abundance of signs, washing lines and other obstacles that stood in his way high above the ground. With no other choice, he dropped to the ground and set off after the mare again. After she had pulled that little move, he had lost his ground, and now he fought to keep up with the unusually fast mare. I think she was a unicorn. Maybe some sort of speed enchantment spell? he wondered. God knows.

Nate could feel beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead as he sprinted after the thief. She was always one step ahead of him, ducking into small alleyways cutting through busy streets. Drake could feel himself becoming increasingly fatigued as he fought to keep his pace. Losing focus, he toppled through a pile of trash cans,going sprawling to the floor. The mare noticed this and, with a smug grin on her face, gave him a cocky wink before setting off again.

Groaning, Nate hauled himself to his hooves. “You’re not getting away that easily!”

The two of them soon reached a solid brick wall, with two paths leading to either side. Without hesitating, the unicorn mare ducked into the path leading to the right. Drake smiled, noticing a sign that read ‘dead end’. Gotcha now, you thieving bitch. He turned the corner to be met by a dark blue hoof, smashing into his face. The painfully large force of the blow knocked Nate off his feet and sent him crashing onto his back. The fortune hunter could barely register what had happened before he fell unconscious.

Smirking, Nathan’s assailant charged up a communication spell. The magic was not too complex, which was good, because it was no secret that she wasn’t too good at spell-casting. Well, it was no secret anymore, at least. The mare heard a soft male voice enter her head as the unicorn she was contacting cast the same spell.

Is it done? the voice asked simply.

“Yes,” she answered. “I’ve got him.”


***



An hour later...


Nathan Drake slowly awoke to the painful sound of his ears ringing. Instinctively, they folded back against his head as he opened his eyes. He was in a small, cramped room, from what he could make out. The only source of light came from a single lightbulb hanging above his head. It produced a dull glow that made seeing anything beyond a few feet next to impossible. The only sound came from a corner of the room, where a water pipe was leaking drops onto the floor. The repeated sound alone was enough to drive anyone crazy.

Worried, he tried to stand up, but found he was tied to the chair in which he sat. Oh, crap, he thought. This can’t be good. Starting to panic, he strained on the ropes that bound him, desperately trying to break free, but it was no use. He was utterly trapped.

“Shit,” he muttered to himself. “What now?”

Even in a completely new world, Drake still seemed to find himself stumbling from one catastrophe to the other. He shouldn’t have felt surprised about it anymore. Schäfer was right. Everything I touch does turn to shit.

His thoughts were cut short as a door on the far side of the room flung open, revealing a suited unicorn stallion. He smiled and chuckled for a second, before stepping through the threshold and kicking the door shut behind him.

“Good evening, Mr. Drake,” he said politely, with a soft accent. “I hope you’ve been comfortable.”

“Get the hell away from me,” Nate growled. “Before I strangle you with that tie of yours.”

The stallion chuckled again slightly, raising a hoof to straighten the maroon tie that complimented his jet black suit. “Now, Mr. Drake, I don’t think you’re in any position to start making threats.”

Nate rolled his eyes. Here we go. “Fine. Let’s start again. Who the hell are you?”

The unicorn circled around Drake slowly in an effort to make himself as intimidating as possible. “That’s not important. What is important though, is what I need from you.”

“Really?” Nate scoffed. “You need something from me, so naturally the best course of action is to kidnap me? Yeah, that’s a great way to get me on your good side.”

The unicorn turned to face the pegasus, bearing a sinister smile the likes of which Nate had seen too many times before. “Oh, we won’t be needing your consent for this, Mr. Drake. The wonders of magic are more than enough, am I right?” His horn lit up, illuminating the room with a shade of light blue, to emphasize his statement.

Drake sighed. “Of course. Magic, magic, magic. It’s all I ever hear about these days.” He paused as something in his head clicked. “Wait a minute, how the hell do you know my name?”

The stallion brushed dust off of his suit nonchalantly. “Well, let’s just say that you know a lot of confidential things when you’re in the position I am, Mr. Drake.” His horn lit up again, and he started to advance towards the fortune hunter.

Crap. There’s no way out of this. “What about the girl?” he asked, in an effort to distract his kidnapper.

Nate’s attempt to buy himself some time did not pay off,as the stallion continued to bear down on him. “Oh, her?” he said dismissively. “Some mare we pulled off the street. Used to be a showpony, or something. It doesn’t matter. We paid what we owed her, and now she’s on her way. None of us will likely ever see her again.”

Drake struggled in his binds as the unicorn’s spell continued to charge. By that point, the light coming from the tip of the kidnapper’s horn was near-blinding. Nate squinted and looked away, desperately trying to break free somehow, but it was no use. There was an even larger flash of light, and, all of a sudden, the pegasus felt calm, as if all of his worries had just flown away. He sat there, motionless and speechless, for a few moments, before the suited unicorn finally spoke.

“How do you feel, Drake?”

“I feel completely normal,” Nate said in an eerily monotone voice, bearing no emotion whatsoever. “What I am going to do?”

The unicorn chuckled darkly. “Well, it’s quite simple, my friend.” He stepped back away from the fortune hunter, satisfied that his spell was successful. “You’re going to kill the princesses of Equestria.”

“I am going to kill the princesses of Equestria,” Drake repeated flatly.

The stallion smiled. “Perfect.” In an instant, Nathan was free of the ropes that bound him to the chair. “You’d best be off then. Remember though, you must only do the deed when the time is right.”

“How will I know?”

“You needn’t worry about the details,” the unicorn told him. “Now hurry along.” Drake went to leave, but stopped when the unicorn cleared his throat. “Oh yes, I almost forgot.” He pulled a sack of coins from his suit pocket and chucked them towards the chestnut-coloured stallion. “Here’s you money back.”


***



Canterlot Castle
Two hours later...


“Well, ain’t this just grand?”

Ezio and Cole looked up at Marston, glaring. “Yeah, we get it John,” the conduit said. “He’s been missing for an hour now. He’ll show up soon, I bet.”

“You said the same thing half an hour ago.”

Ezio sighed. “Will you both shut up? He’s probably just... lost, or something.”

MacGrath rolled his eyes. “Of course, because it’s so hard to miss the giant castle that towers above the whole city.” Groaning, he slouched over onto a bench and started to generate electricity from his hooves to entertain himself. It wasn’t very successful, though.

Soon enough, their boredom was soon interrupted by an approaching Royal Guard. "Good evening, gentlecolts," he said to them. "Princess Celestia wishes to inform you that you are perfectly welcome to come in and return to your rooms."

"It is fine, my friend," Ezio told him. "We're just waiting for Drake."

"Very well. However, should you change your minds, just head on in. Also, the kitchen will be staffed until midnight, should you get hungry."

"Yeah, yeah, thanks," MacGrath grunted impatiently as the guard trotted away. All he really wanted to do now was sleep, but a dirty old bench in the middle of the city didn't seem to be an ideal location. Instead, he attempted to start conversation with his friends.

"So, Ezio, how many sessions of therapy do you think ol' Shiny needed after what you did to him?" he asked, smirking.

"Very funny," the assassin replied. "Like I said before, I never actually held a sword to his throat." Looking over to the conduit, he started to grin. "Besides, I bet you weren't exactly happy when you woke up with four legs either."

Cole nodded. "True. Luckily for the guards, though, there were no sharp objects in my room."

"Not like you would have needed any," Marston spoke up.

"No, I bet he wouldn't." The three of them looked up, recognizing the new voice. Sure enough, there was Nate, standing there as if nothing had happened at all. "Miss me, fellas?"

"Something like that," Ezio commented. "What took you so long?"

Drake shrugged. "I don't know. Got sidetracked I guess. Canterlot's a very beautiful city. Better still..." He pulled out his sack of bits proudly. "I got my money back."

"Well, good for you," John told him, not entirely impressed. "You catch whoever did it?"

The pegasus shook his head. "No. Doesn't really matter though. She just dropped them and kept on running, I think. I can't really remember."

Cole eyed Nathan suspiciously. There was something off about his explanation, but he couldn't put his hoof on it. Either way, by now all of them were too tired to care. "Come on then," the conduit announced. "I think we could all use some shut-eye."

"What are we gonna do about Princess Celestia?" Nate asked as they made their way into the castle foyer.

"Screw it. We'll talk to her tomorrow after breakfast," MacGrath told him. "It's not like she's going anywhere."

Drake nodded and yawned. "Yeah, I suppose you're right."

"Better to face the task feeling awake and refreshed, right?" Ezio spoke as they neared their rooms. "Goodnight, everyone."

The four of them soon parted ways, after wishing each other goodnight. Nathan, in particular, felt exhausted, barely finding the strength to pull himself into his room and into bed. It's been a long day, he thought to himself. God knows what tomorrow's gonna be like.


***


"You must hurry, there isn't much time!"

Nate and his friends heeded the guard's advice, quickly gathering their weapons and sprinting after him. This was it. Judgement day. The Ones Who Came Before were finally here, and Princess Celestia had called an emergency meeting. There was no time to lose.

The myriad of hallways and corridors beneath and inside the castle seemed to go on forever, and the four of them couldn’t shake the feeling that they were quickly running out of time. Increasing their pace, they rounded the last few corners into the main hall, where the two regal sisters of Equestria stood, grave looks upon both of their faces.

“Finally,” Luna, the night princess, exclaimed. “You’re here. Time is short, and we haven’t got much of it to waste explaining.”

“What do we have to do?” Cole asked.

“There’s a carriage waiting outside,” the older sister, Celestia, explained. “It will take you all to Ponyville. We fear that there is where they shall strike first.” She turned away, staring outside at the rapidly approaching star in the sky, before gazing down upon the small town at the bottom of the mountain. “You all know how important Ponyville is, especially what, or, more appropriately, who, is there.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Ezio breathed, realizing. “They’re going after them.”

Celestia nodded solemnly. “Yes. We have every reason to believe that they will try to attack our most valuable assets first. You must guard them at any and all cost.”

“Don’t worry,” Marston reassured them. “You have our word.”

“Then go,” Princess Celestia told them. “And above all, be safe, my little ponies.”

They all turned to leave, except for Nathan. He stood there for a second, clutching his head. After the princess had finished speaking, something had clicked inside his mind.

MacGrath noticed this, and turned to face him. “Nate, you alright? Come on, we have to go.”

Nate couldn’t hear him. There was an intense and excruciating ringing in his ears that he couldn’t dispel. He struggled for a second, before becoming suddenly calm. The ringing in his ears was gone, replaced with a solitary voice.

“You are going to kill the princesses of Equestria.”

Silently but quickly, Nate whipped his handgun out of its holster and aimed it squarely at Celestia’s head. She didn’t move, or respond in any way. She only stared him down.

“Ah,” she murmured. “I see what has happened here.”

Drake hesitated for a second, trying with all his might to resist the magic that had programmed his brain, but to no avail.

A lone gunshot echoed through Canterlot Castle.


***


Nathan Drake jerked awake. He glanced around, breathing deeply, trying to calm himself down. He was tucked into his bed in Canterlot Castle, safe and sound. Shit, he thought to himself. Another nightmare? Must be going crazy.

He looked outside. The sun was rising above the valley below the city, signalling the start of a new day. Glad to know Celestia doesn’t slack off, at least, the pegasus thought, clambering out of bed. Breakfast’s probably going on right about now. I’d best get down there.

Wiping sleep from his eyes, Drake threw on his clothes and scarf, before staring at his ring. Or, rather, Sir Francis’ ring. He remembered the day he got it vividly. That night in Cartagena, the same night he met his best friend, all those years ago. Smiling fondly at the memory, he read the inscription aloud. “Sic Parvis Magna. Greatness from small beginnings.” He chuckled and slipped the lanyard around his neck. “Look how great I’ve become now.”

Focusing his mind on the day ahead, he stepped out of his room into the corridor beyond, before trotting towards the stairs to the dining hall. As he made his way there, he took time to admire the interior decorations of the centuries old castle. Many paintings and photos adorned the walls, each detailing the two princesses at some point in their lives. He stopped to inspect one in particular, which depicted Princess Celestia talking to a group of pilgrims, motioning to the empty valley below them. Must be the founding of Ponyville, Nate concluded.

Drawing himself away from the image, he continued to make his way downstairs. It didn’t take too long, as he didn’t stop to admire any of the decorations again. He reached the large doors to the dining hall and, taking a deep breath, threw them open.

A heated discussion was already taking place over breakfast as the pegasus made his way inside. I must be late to the party, he thought jokingly. Smiling, he sat down near the head of the table, popping a slice of toast in his mouth as the spectacle unfolded.

“All I’m saying,” Cole was telling the princesses, frustration clear in his voice, “is that we should have more freedom with our abilities. Those things back in Appleloosa damn nearly killed us.”

“We understand your concerns, Mr. MacGrath,” Luna said soothingly, “but it just wouldn’t do to bear openly worn weapons when walking around town. It is likely to make ponies nervous.”

‘Isn’t it a small price to pay?” the conduit protested. “What if one of those things comes back down again and we can’t stop it.”

“I’m sorry Cole, I thought you could generate electricity from your hooves,” Princess Celestia said in a slightly condescending tone, not taking her eyes from the morning’s newspaper.

MacGrath seemed fit to burst in rage. “You can’t expect to drop everything on my shoulders!”

Nate looked over to Ezio as they continued to argue. The hooded stallion was looking through some papers, but he couldn’t make out what they said. Judging by his suspicious reaction, however, he could deduce that it wasn’t good.

“I think we have more concerning matters right now, mi amici,” the assassin spoke up, dropping the files onto the table. “Specifically, why they have been spying on us for most of our lives!”

The rest of them stopped what they were doing to look over at the angered stallion. Princess Celestia's demeanor quickly changed from bored to anxious, while her sister merely shook her head.

“How did you get those?” Celestia asked quietly.

“I’m an assassin, I’m fairly sure sneaking around is part of my job description.” Ezio glared at them both. “The better question, however, is how did you get these? This information? These pictures?” He held one up of him cradling a dying woman in his arms. “Mio amore, Christina. I was the only one there when she died.”

“It was the same spell that brought you all here,” Luna answered softly. “We are able to view your memories. That’s how we knew when you were going to be in the Vault, with Minerva.”

The Master Assassin’s scowl didn’t falter. “It doesn’t feel right, knowing that beings like you can just view my memories whenever you please. Curse this confounded magic,” he muttered under his breath.

Princess Celestia smirked. “Oh, I think you’ll find magic isn’t entirely necessary when viewing an ancestor’s memories. How do you think Minerva was talking to Desmond?”

Ezio froze up. He stared at her for a second, before sighing. “Sì, you are right, I suppose. Still, I little privacy would be nice.”

The two sisters chuckled. “Oh, don’t worry, your secrets are safe with us.” They giggled harder as a blush broke out across Ezio’s face.

Drake, who had been silent for the whole encounter, crossed his front legs and smiled, chewing on a piece of fruit. While he wasn’t exactly overjoyed at the prospect of the princesses being able to view his memories, he had to accept that it was out of his control. Besides, it wasn’t like they were the type to misuse their power. Anyway, they had to focus on the day ahead. Their train to Ponyville was leaving soon, and there was much to be done.
> Chapter 10: This is Ponyville, Equestria
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Make new friends, but keep the old; those are silver, these are gold. ~ Joseph Parry

Outskirts of Canterlot, Equestria,
23rd May 1002 C.R.
1:23 PM


Another train ride. As if the four of them hadn’t sat through enough of them over the past few days. Unfortunately, duty couldn’t afford them the luxury of settling down and relaxing in one spot, so Ezio, John, Nate and Cole were already leaving Canterlot, speeding down the mountain tracks towards the small town of Ponyville.

Thankfully, the royal carriage had finally returned from whatever ‘important business’ it had been on, so the boys could at least find some luxury in the clean and royal train car. There was even a fully-stocked bar and fridge. Seeing as the ride was going to take up most of their afternoon, Nate figured he may as well crack open a beer. Or two. 

“So, what’s the plan once we get there?” Cole wondered as Drake sat down, a pile of food in his hooves. 

“The princess said to meet Twilight,” Nate slurred, a candy bar halfway into his mouth. “She’ll probably be waiting for us at the train station, or something.” He took a moment to bite down on the confectionery, savouring the sweet taste in his mouth before swallowing it. “Besides, can’t we relax for a bit when we get there? It feels like we’ve done nothing but work the past few days.”

“You saw what happened to us back in Appleloosa,” Ezio protested. “We can’t afford to waste time. We need all the help we can get.”

Marston, who, for the entirety of the journey, had been staring out of the window, suddenly spoke up. “I have to admit, Ezio’s right. We don’t know when those things are gonna be coming back, so we need to be ready. Besides, they’ll be plenty of time for relaxing when this is all over.”

“It’ll be fine,” Nate told them, rolling his eyes. “Just one day off couldn’t hurt, right?”

MacGrath furrowed his brow. “I don’t know, Drake. I mean, those things could come back at any time. We can’t waste what little of it we have.”

Nathan swallowed the last of his candy bar and sat up, throwing away the wrapper. “Come on guys. Don’t you think you’re all overreacting just a little bit?”

The three of them shook their head, serious looks upon each of their faces.

“It’s time to start taking this seriously, Drake,” Ezio told the pegasus. “Too much is at stake here.”

Drake shrugged. “Whatever. Trust me, everything will be just fine. Besides, we’ve got the Elements of Harmony backing us up, don’t we?”

John nodded. “Yeah, but the princesses said that they weren’t gonna be enough.”

“Hence why we’re on this mission in the first place,” Cole added.

Nate sighed, and turned to look out of the window at the small town below them. It was just a speck in the distance now, but he had a feeling that they would be there sooner than they knew it. "Yeah, I guess you guys are right," he admitted. "Maybe I was being a little cocky."

Ezio chuckled. "Maybe?"

Drake shut him a glare. "Alright, wiseass. I was being a bit cocky."

The assassin laughed again and went to say something, but paused. He looked past Drake and out of the window, noticing something on the horizon.

"Ezio? You okay?" Drake turned to follow his gaze and looked out if the window, squinting to try and spot what the assassin had seen. "What is it?"

"Merda," Ezio murmured, his eyes widening in terror. "Everyone down, now!"

The words had no sooner left his mouth when all hell broke loose inside the carriage. All of the windows exploded in a shower of broken glass, and the metal that held the roof up screeched as the car was impacted from all sides.

"And the bitch says it's dangerous to not have a gun!" Nate screamed over the deafening noise. "Shit! What the hell's going on?"

Pushing himself off the floor, Cole craned his neck to get a better look at his attackers. Laying eyes on them, his fears were confirmed. "Oh crap. It's the same things from Appleloosa!" he cried out to the rest of them.

"Goddamnit!" Marston shouted, crawling along the floor to cover. "I've had just about enough of you things!"

"Haven't we all?" Nate shouted back, following him. "Cole! What are they up to?"

MacGrath squinted. He couldn't see his attackers in the air; the sun was blinding him. "I don't know!" Another blast nearly shook the train off the rails. "I think they're just shooting at us!"

"They're shooting at us with magic? Perfect!" Drake cried hysterically. "Shoot back then!"

"Without a clean shot, it'd just be a waste of power!" the conduit called back, his front hooves crackling with electricity. "Is there anything in the back that can help us?"

John, daring to peek his head above the ruined bar, started to scan the room as more bursts of magic rocked the train. "I think there might be some weapons to your left!" he called out to Cole.

"Come and get them then!" Ezio shouted. "Hurry, I'll cover you!" He pointed his front left hoof to the sky and, noticing Marston and Drake bolting from cover, slammed his other hoof onto a button on the side of his bracer. There was a loud bang as his hidden gun went off, and a pained shriek echoed out from above.

"You got one, Ezio!" Cole, who had pulled himself onto the roof of the train, told him. "There's three more of them!"

Meanwhile, Nate and John had reached a small closet on the far side of the room. The pegasus fortune hunter wasted no time in throwing it open, eager to find what was inside.

"Spears and crossbows?" He was disappointed that there wasn't some more heavy firepower, but it was better than nothing.

"You know how to use one of these?" John asked him, levitating one into his friend's hooves.

"I've had a bit of experience," Drake told him as they both hunkered down behind cover, blasts of magic exploding all around them. "Just point and shoot, like any other gun. You gotta compensate for the bolt's slower travel speed, though!"

"Gotcha," Marston acknowledged, levitating a weapon of his own. He stood up and, aiming squarely down the sights, fired off a shot. Even over the deafening sound of wind and twisted metal, he made out the pained cry of one of the creatures as it plummeted to its doom.

"Looks like I got my eye back!" He laughed, caught up in the excitement of the situation, and crouched back down again to reload.

Nate, impressed with the gunslinger's incredible aiming skills, stood up to take a shot of his own. The bolt shot into the air but, disappointingly, went wide of it's target. "Crap," he muttered to himself as one of the creatures fired a burst of energy towards him. It barely missed him as he ducked behind an overturned piece of furniture.

Realizing that the four of them had enough firepower to hold them off at range, one of the creatures suddenly dived into the interior of the carriage. It made a beeline for Drake, but stopped, studying him for a split-second. Instead, it changed course and barreled towards Ezio.

"Shit!" Thinking quickly, Nathan pulled a spear from the closet and threw it towards the rapidly moving monster. It impaled the creature through the wing, bringing it to a halt inches from the vulnerable assassin. Muttering a word of respect, Ezio plunged his hidden blade into the creature's neck before it could react.

Noticing that all of its comrades had fallen, the final creature attempted some sort of kamikaze attack on the train, barreling towards it with its horn glowing with power. With little time to react, Marston decided to go on instinct. Time seemed to slow down for him as he stood up and fired a shot towards the rapidly descending creature. He followed the bolt as it soared through the air towards it, and smiled as it impaled it right between the eyes.

The monster faltered for a second, its life rapidly draining, before giving up. Its lifeless body plummeted downwards, slamming into the side of the mountain as the train continued, its occupants mostly unharmed, to its destination.

The four of them were speechless for a few moments as they regained their breath, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Finally, Cole spoke up.

“What the hell was that?”

They all looked at each other for a second, unsure of what to say, before Nate replied.

“I guess that was the welcoming party.”


***


Finally, the train ride from hell had come to an end. The battered locomotive blew its whistle, signalling its arrival into Ponyville station. The four friends wasted no time in getting out of what could have been their metal tomb and out into the fresh air. They stood on the platform for a moment, getting their bearings, before deciding to look for Twilight. Sure enough, at the other end of the platform, there she was, along with three little fillies, each clad in a dark maroon cape.

“Buon pomeriggio,” Ezio called out to them as they approached. “It’s good to see you, Twilight.” He smiled, despite what he had just been through, and turned his attention to the three fillies hiding behind her, watching him with awe. “And who do we have the pleasure of meeting here?”

“Hey, Ezio.” The unicorn stepped aside to reveal the fillies behind her. “This is Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. They’ve been excited to meet you ever since Pinkie Pie happened to mention that you four were coming.”

“Great, kids,” Drake murmured to himself. Cole gave him a light punch in the shoulder.

“Have they?” Ezio continued, ignoring him. “Well, sorry to say, but we’re not that exciting.”

"Not exciting?" The orange pegasus fully suddenly piped up. "You sure look exciting! I mean, you have a sword, and an awesome hood, and you're all muddied up and dirty. You look like you've just come out of a warzone!"

Ezio looked down at himself and to his comrades, and realised that they were all messy and dirty after the train ride. "I suppose that wouldn't be too far from the truth," he muttered to himself. "Va bene, maybe we are a little exciting," he told the three girls. "And I'm sure we'll find lots of exciting things to do, but right now, Twilight and us have to get down to business."

"He's right, girls," Twilight said to them. "Run along, we'll find you later."

Their faces dropped. "Okay, Twilight." They started to trot off. Twilight watched them go, before turning back to the four stallions.

"Geez, you guys look like you've been through Tartarus. What happened?"

"Track maintenance," Drake lied quickly. "Uh, the driver braked pretty quickly, so we were thrown about a bit."

Christ, is that the best you can do? Cole thought to himself.

Twilight raised an eyebrow, obviously not buying Drake's excuse, but she decided not to press any further. They all had business to get down to. "Alright then. Well, now that you're here I suppose I should explain things." She turned around and started to lead them out from the station. "You'll each be staying with a different pony," she explained. "The princess said you are to help out with their jobs and tasks, and meet more ponies as you do so. Hopefully that way, you can forge some more friendships."

"Okay," Drake muttered. "Where are we staying, then?"

"Well, for a start, you'll be staying with Rainbow," the unicorn told him. "I think she specifically asked for you in particular," she added, earning an embarrassed blush from the pegasus. "We're going to meet my friends now though, so I'll let them explain."

"Looks like somebody's got a fan," Marston commented, a smug grin upon his face.

"Ha ha, very funny," Drake replied.

"Thanks, pal."

Twilight rolled her eyes. Boys were the same anywhere, she supposed. Chuckling, she led the four of them across the town square towards a restaurant, where the rest of her friends were seated. They noticed her, and waved.

"Hello, girls." The unicorn greeted her friends with a bright smile. "They're here."

"Hey, Coley Woley!" Pinkie Pie quite literally bounced out of her seat to say hello. "How was your trip to Appleloosa?"

MacGrath gave her a small smile. "It was, uh, something, Pinks. Really something."

"Well, that's just great! I bet it was fun, meeting everyone down there!" The pink mare beamed at him. 

"I'm sure y'all have plenty of stories to tell, don't you, fellas?" Applejack chimed in.

"Ah, nothin' too interesting, I'm afraid," Marston told them modestly, taking a seat along with the rest of them. "Made some friends, including a rather... excitable stallion named Braeburn."

The farm mare across from him chuckled and tipped back her hat. "I shoulda figured you'd run into my cousin. Can't help but get excited when there's new folk to show around town, can he?"

So they're cousins? How did I not pick up on that sooner? "I guess not, Miss Applejack," John said, as a waiter trotted past them, levitating a plate of salad in front of each of them.

"I didn't quite know what you'd want to eat," Rarity informed them. "So I took the liberty of buying us all daisy salads."

"It's fine, madonna," Ezio reassured the dressmaker. "I think our diets have adjusted by now."

"Perfect. Still, I hope you find Twilight's cooking just as delectable. You are staying with her for the next few days, after all." She gave her friend a playful smile.

"My cooking's fine, Rarity," Twilight told her, rolling her eyes again.

Swallowing a bite of his salad, Drake leaned forward. "Okay, well, while we're on the subject, who's staying with who?"

"You'll be hanging with me, Nate," Rainbow Dash announced, grinning with pride. "I've already got so many awesome things planned!"

"Yeah, I found that out already," Nate replied, unsure of how to react to the pegasus' excited demeanor. Everything seemed to be moving along so quickly. They were being ferried from one town to the next, with only the objective of 'make some friends' to guide them. Nathan felt like some sort of pawn in Celestia's plan, and it sure wasn't a good feeling.

He was snapped out of his worried thoughts by Applejack's southern drawl. "Well, since he already told me he's a farming stallion, I reckon Mr. Marston'll be staying with me. We could always use more help down on the acres."

John shrugged and looked over at her. "I guess I'll help any way I can. I gotta warn you though, I've only been doing it a few years. I ain't no expert in farming business."

"Don't be so modest," the earth pony insisted. "I'm sure you'll be just fine."

"So, where does that leave me?" Cole asked, tentatively forking a piece of daisy into his mouth. Surprisingly, it didn't taste too bad. Must be my new equine taste buds, he figured. Pinkie Pie looked over a flashed her typical excited grin at him, and the realization dawned. "Of course," he muttered.

"It's gonna be great!" the party pony exclaimed, about to burst into one of her trademark overexcited rants. "I've got to show you around Ponyville! You can come to Sugarcube Corner, meet Mr. and Mrs. Cake, play with the foals... oh, this is gonna be so much fun!"

Cole chuckled and smiled, despite the growing feeling that the next few days were going to be immensely tiring for him. "I'm sure it will be, Pinks."

The ten of them finished off their meals relatively quickly, making small conversation as they did so. They didn't talk about anything too important; it was mostly just the four ex-humans asking questions about the town, and what there was to do. Soon enough, the four of them split up, going off with their respective new roommates. Finishing her salad, Twilight trotted over to Ezio.

"Come on," she said to him. "Before we go back to my library, there's someone I think you should meet."

"Who?" the assassin wondered, looking up at her.

"His name is Orion," she explained as they started to walk away from the restaurant. "He's a personal advisor to Princess Celestia, so he should hopefully know more about what's going on. I'm not stupid, I know something attacked you on the train ride here."

"Honestly, I didn't think it would be too hard to figure out."

"I make sure to notice all the details," the unicorn explained, puffing out her chest with pride. "Anyway, come on, let's get moving. He's staying in a hotel on the other side of town, and I'd like to talk to him as soon as possible."

"Sì, let's get going then," he agreed, trotting behind her. Maybe we'll get some answers from this stallion instead. Hopefully.


> Chapter 11: Work to Make It Work
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Nothing will work unless you do. ~ Maya Angelou 



Ponyville, Equestria,
24th May 1002 C.R.
9:32AM


"God, this is so cool!"

Rainbow Dash watched with benign amusement as her 'student', as she liked to put it, rocketed through the sky, barreling into the clouds and laughing with child-like delight when they dispersed. Dash hasn't seen Drake as happy as this before, but she had a sneaking suspicion that, on the inside, the stallion was no more mature than an average schoolcolt. Giggling slightly, she decided to join him as he continued to demolish the rain clouds that had formed around Ponyville during the night.

It was the morning after Nate and his friends had arrived in town, and, as always, work was the first order of business. Dash had ordered the rest of the weather team where to go, before setting off towards a slightly less cloudy part of the morning sky so that Drake could squeeze in a little practice. So far he had been doing good, effortlessly clearing the skies better than most new weather ponies she had seen. Dash guessed he just liked to destroy stuff, or something.

"Looks like we're almost done here!" she called out to Nate as he bucked a cloud, which spiraled away. "Good job!"

"Thanks, you're not so bad yourself!" Nate called back, smirking.

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Yeah, very funny, smart guy. We're just getting warmed up here."

"You call that warming up?" Drake chortled. "I can hardly feel my blood pumping!"

"I guess that's just 'cause you're not getting shot at!" Dash shot back, grinning. She liked Nate. He was always joking, but shared her adventurous attitude and, as the last few minutes had proven, her love for flying. "Come on," she told him. "This area of the sky is done, so let's see how the rest of the weather crew is doing."

"Alright, I'm game," he agreed, his checkered scarf flapping in the breeze. Nodding, Rainbow Dash led him back towards Ponyville at a steady, leisurely pace. The sun had fully risen by now, so Drake could bask in it's morning glow as he watched the ponies that ran market stalls set up, placing their wares on display, among other things. In the distance, he could make out the other weather ponies, who Dash had introduced as Flitter, Cloudchaser, and Thunderlane, finish clearing the clouds near Sugarcube Corner.

As they both approached, Dash bolted forward to greet her team, while Drake trailed behind. When he reached them, he heard Rainbow compliment the three on their work, before the attention shifted to him. 

"Anyway, Drake here is a natural," Dash explained to them. "Managed to clear the skies near Sweet Apple Acres in about twenty seconds, give or take. Not bad for a beginner."

"Wow, that is pretty good," Thunderlane commented. "Nice job."

"Ah, it was nothing," Drake replied modestly. "Anyway, what's the plan now?"

"Well, it looks like everypony's done, right?" Dash looked towards the rest of her weather team, who nodded. "Then it looks like we got the rest of the day to ourselves, Nate. We can do whatever we like!"

"See ya later, Rainbow Dash!" Cloudchaser called out as they went to leave. "And good work with the weather this morning, Drake."

Rainbow waved them off, before turning back to him. "Alright then, Nate. What do you wanna do?"

"I dunno." Drake shrugged, looking around at the town beneath the two of them. "Maybe we should go see how Applejack and Marston are doing. Maybe they might need some help."

"You want to do more work?" Dash scoffed. "Alright then, I'll race you there."

Nate chuckled. "Oh, you are so on."

She smirked at him. "Fine. On the count of three..."

Nathan tensed as she began to count. As soon as the final word left her mouth, he was off, flapping his wings as fast as he could. He could feel the wind rippling through his hair, futilely trying to hold him back as he rocketed through the sky. He felt on top of the world. Flying gave him an adrenaline rush that simply couldn't be matched by any other activity. For a moment, he was almost sad at the thought of returning to his old human body once this was all over. Certain that he was winning, he opened his eyes to see Rainbow Dash already quite a way ahead of him.

Aw, come on, he thought, pushing himself harder, trying to keep up. He felt as if he had closed the gap a little, but it ultimately amounted to nothing as she held her steady lead. Still, he wasn't going to give up so easily. He dipped slightly, hoping to let the extra momentum increase his speed enough to pass his would-be opponent. For a brief moment, it seemed to work, as he steadily closed the distance between himself and Dash. Unfortunately, she sped up even more, and left him behind. They had practically arrived at Sweet Apple Acres by now anyway, so, in a huff of frustration, Drake admitted defeat.

Dash turned around to face him after they landed near the barn, bearing the same smug smile that she always did. "Not quite fast enough, eh Nate?" she chuckled. "It's okay. The important thing is, you tried."

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up."  Nate rolled his eyes. "Anyway, where do you reckon Applejack and Marston are?"

Dash thought for a second, scanning the apple fields around them. "I think I heard her mention something about the north fields yesterday. Let's start there."

"Alright then," Nate said, taking to the air. "Shouldn't be too hard, right?"

"Nah," Dash agreed as she began to fly northward. "Just listen out for the loud cracks. I swear, when she's applebucking, everyone on the farm knows it."

"Huh." Shrugging, Nate quickly following her.


***


"Ah, questa è la vita."

Ezio Auditore sighed contently, sleepily staring at the ceiling. It had been a while since he had been given a chance to lie in, and now he had one, he was going to relish every single moment of it. He was lying peacefully on a surprisingly comfortable 'sofa bed', as Twilight had put it, in her guest room. It was a remarkably simple yet useful invention. A seat that unfolded into a bed, it was genius. I bet Leonardo would love to hear about it, he thought to himself.

The afternoon of the previous day had been rather eventful, to say the least. After lunch, Twilight had led him to another part of town to meet Orion, Celestia's personal advisor. To be honest, he wasn't quite sure what to make of the sharply dressed unicorn. He seemed friendly enough, but he had a small feeling that something was off. Either way, there were more important things to worry about right now. 

After that he and Twilight spent the rest of the day tending to the library. A few ponies came in every once in a while, usually looking for some sort of guide book. Meanwhile, he had used the time to read up on some of Equestria's geography and history, hoping to find some information that might prove useful. Unfortunately, there was nothing that could help. He should have known that a dusty old history book wouldn't have any information about an ancient precursor race that was banished to the stars anyway. Resigned, he had eaten some supper, and hauled himself upstairs and into bed.

A small knock at the bedroom door caused the assassin to look up. Wiping sleep from his eyes, he called out, "Come in."

The door opened to reveal Twilight, magically levitating a tray of food. "Good morning, Ezio," she greeted him cheerfully. "Spike made breakfast, so I thought I'd bring yours up."

The thought of food made Ezio's stomach rumble. Looks like I'm hungrier than I think. "Grazie, Twilight," he said, sitting up as she placed the tray on his lap. He stared at the food on the plate for a second, before cautiously looking up at Twilight. "Forgive me if I sound rude, but these are?"

"Pancakes," she answered simply. "They don't have pancakes where you come from?" She shrugged and pointed to the mug next to the plate. "And I made coffee. Milk and one sugar, I hope it's to your liking."

"Caffè?" He took a sip of the hot beverage. It certainly tasted a lot less bitter than the last time he had tried it. "It is wonderful, Twilight. Thank you." He nodded and smiled at her as she left the room, leaving him to eat. Hearing his stomach rumble once again, Ezio picked up the fork on the tray, skewered a small piece of the pancake, and tentatively popped it into his mouth. To his surprise, it actually tasted quite good. Thankful to be given such an appetizing breakfast, he continued to eat.


***


There was no doubt about it. Cole MacGrath probably knew almost every pony in Ponyville by now.

Pinkie Pie had spent the entire afternoon after lunch leading him around the quaint town, giving him the ten-dollar tour, so to speak. From what he saw, it seemed that she made an effort to remember everything about everyone in town, and she wasn't afraid to share any of that information with him. In about an hour he had learned the birthdays of about twenty ponies, how many parties Pinkie had thrown for birthdays in the last month, the names of every market stall owner in town, and what the town's schoolteacher as going to be teaching that week.

In an hour.

Needless to say, keeping up with his hyperactive friend was hard work, but she was so innocent and happy that everyone in town couldn't help but love her, even if she went too far at times. Some might say that she was the heart and soul of Ponyville, and, honestly, they wouldn't be wrong. Many dreaded to imagine a Ponyville without a Pinkie Pie to brighten up their days.

Right now she was taking him to Sweet Apple Acres, eager to introduce him to the rest of the Apple Family. It was a bright sunny morning, and as Cole stretched his neck, basking in the warmth of the sun, he could swear he could see Nate and Rainbow Dash flying towards the farm as well. Probably going to see how Applejack's doing, he figured.

They soon arrived at the farm, and were greeted by Applejack's older brother, Big Macintosh. Even with his powers, Cole was sure that he didn't want to get on the burly stallion's bad side. Still, he was friendly, if soft spoken. He and Pinkie introduced Cole to Applejack's grandmother and little sister, who were, unsurprisingly, just a friendly as everyone else. After the pleasantries, Big Mac directed the two of them to the north field, where he mentioned Applejack was doing her work, and could use the help.

"How long has this place been running?" Cole asked Pinkie as they both trotted through the expansive orchard.

"Oh, almost a hundred years, I think," she answered. "Ever since Granny Smith was just a teenager."

"Impressive," Cole commented, before something clicked in his head. "Wait, just how old is she?"

Pinkie stopped for a second. "Huh. I'm not sure, actually. Pretty old when you think about it though, right?"

"Right."

Their conversation was cut short by the sound of a loud crack not too far away. "Oh, that's Applejack," Pinkie exclaimed, trotting slightly faster. "Let's go see if she needs help!"

As they cantered closer to the source of the noise, the two of them began to hear voices. Finally, they reached a clearing, where Applejack, John, and Rainbow Dash were gathered around Drake, who was lying on the floor.

"What's going on?" Cole wondered in confusion.

Dash was barely managing to stop herself from laughing. "Nate just tried his hoof at applebucking. Turns out, he's not too great."

Drake groaned in pain. "Think I sprained my leg. And, to top it off, I get hit in the head by a bunch of damn apples."

"Great job, Nathan," Marston commented, bucking a tree behind him. It shook, and its contents fell near perfectly into the baskets beneath.

"Looks like you've got the whole thing down, John," Cole told him.

Applejack grinned. "You bet. Why, I'd say he's a natural."

Drake groaned again. "Okay everyone, we've said hello. Can we get back to work now. There can't be too much left to do."

Applejack glanced into the sky, checking the sun's position. "Actually, I think we've still got a few more hours left to go."

There was a prolonged moment of silence.

"Ah, crap."
> Chapter 12: Cider and Friends
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Good times don’t last long sometimes ~ Levon Helm

Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, Equestria
24th May 1002 C.R.
12:06PM


"Goddamnit, how do you do this?"

Applejack looked over her shoulder and groaned. Her usual workload had been severely lessened for today, thanks to the help of her friends and guests, of which she was incredibly grateful for. Unfortunately, one such guest apparently couldn't quite grasp the delicate art of apple bucking.

"Are y'all still having trouble over there, Nate?" she called out to the pegasus behind her, who snorted in frustration. "Lemme guess, your leg giving you trouble?"

"It ain't exactly helping!" Nate moaned. When Princess Celestia told them that they would need to make friends with the ponies in order to make allies, he didn't expect for it to involve picking fruit. Maybe the loyalty of the Apple Family was worth it, but right now he was just too annoyed to care. "How can you kick an apple tree and expect them all to just fall out?"

Applejack sighed and shook her head. "If you're having problems, just rear up and give her a good shake. Should get those apples out in no time."

Heeding her advice, Nate reared on his hind legs and grasped his front hooves around the tree, giving it a firm shake. To his surprise, it worked, to a degree. Most of the tree's contents fell from their branches, conveniently landing inside all of the baskets placed beneath.

"Don't need to take a breath there, do ya, partner?" Applejack joked, chuckling slightly as Nate hopped down, satisfied with his work. "Apple bucking is tiring work, after all."

"No, do you?" Nate snapped back, with a more hostile tone than he meant. Applejack stopped chuckling, and looked over at him, a concerned look on her face.

"You okay, Nate?" she asked, simply yet honestly. "What's up?"

"Maybe it's the leg," he pondered. "Or maybe it's because I don't think what I'm doing here is gonna help when ancient space aliens start invading properly." He glared at the floor, averting her gaze. There were a few moments of awkward silence, the only sounds being that of the others continuing their work.

"If you ask me, I think it's the leg," Applejack told him flatly. "Look, sugarcube, you're just nervous, and I understand. Don't worry, what you're doing here is a great help, and the Apple Family always looks out for a friend."

"So we help you out with your chores, and you, in turn, risk your lives to help us later on?" Drake joked, giving the mare a slight smirk.

"Well it ain't like we were just gonna roll over and take it anyway," she told him, before crouching and bucking another tree. "Besides, y'all told us just exactly what was coming, and we all know what you four can do. I think, with you and the rest of our friends, we'll do just fine."

Nate's smile faltered, but only slightly and for a brief second. Honestly, he didn't quite share her bright, defiant enthusiasm. "Yeah, I'm sure we will," he managed to say quietly, rearing up and shaking another tree. Applejack looked at him solemnly for a moment, before getting back to work.

"Stand back, I'm gonna try something," the both of them heard a gruff voice call. They looked over their shoulders to see Cole, who, after making sure everypony was a relatively safe distance away, reared onto his hind legs before slamming his hooves into the ground. The earth shook, and a small electrical explosion emanated from the point of impact. The trees shuddered violently, dropping all of their contents to the ground.

“Boy howdy!” Applejack exclaimed. “Nice work, Cole! I can’t believe none of us thought of that sooner!” She trotted over to him as he circled the tree, collecting any apples that had fallen stray from the baskets. “Them powers of yours sure are useful!”

“Yeah, thanks,” Cole said to her, moving towards another group of trees. “Everything going okay with you and Nate?”

She glanced back at the pegasus, who was keeping himself busy by shaking down another tree. “Yeah, I think he’s fine. Seems a bit on edge though.”

“That’s understandable,” he replied, taking the opportunity to get some rest. “Anyone else would be freaking out like crazy. Looks like he’s taking most of it in his stride, honestly.”

"Believe me, I think it's taking it's toll," Applejack commented, before sighing. "Poor fella, getting all worked up over this. Say, you know anything about what he did back in your world, Cole?"

"Not much," he answered, shrugging. "He mentioned something about finding some sort of lost treasure, but, honestly, I wasn't paying much attention."

"Fortune hunter, huh? I might have guessed." Applejack glanced over her shoulder again to look at Drake. "I s'pose he seems like the type." She continued to talk as she made her way towards another tree, getting ready to buck it. "Either way, I reckon y'all need to take a load off, to help you relax. And I mean all of you," she added, looking towards MacGrath.

"Me?" Cole scoffed. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."

"Trust me, Cole, I know when somepony's hiding something. You'll say that now, but you'll feel it later on." She grunted as she gave the tree behind her a powerful buck. "Listen, me and the girls were gonna have a night out later. Just some drinks, you know? I don't s'pose the four of y'all would like to join us?"

Cole eyed her for a moment, an eyebrow raised. "Ah, sure, why not?" he relented. "I'll probably need a drink later anyway, and it'll be good to catch up with Ezio, see what he's been up to."

Applejack smiled warmly. "Well, that's great. It's a date then!"

"Oh, is it?" he asked playfully, smirking.

She chuckled, rolling her eyes. "Boy, I guess I trotted right into that one, didn't I? You know what I meant." 

Cole laughed and nodded. “Yeah, okay. Don’t think we have much left to anyway, do we?”

“You’re right there. We’re almost done for today.” Applejack sighed and wiped her brow. “Sure works up a sweat, don’t it?”

“For some, maybe.” The conduit glanced to his right, where Pinkie Pie was busy shaking down another tree. “Pinkie hasn’t even stopped to take a breath for the last hour or two.”

The farmer giggled slightly. “Well, she’s just being Pinkie Pie, isn’t she? Nothing new there.”

“You should have seen here yesterday. She didn’t stop all day.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.”

Applejack stared at her pink friend for a moment, before turning back to Cole. “Come on, let’s get this finished up, shall we? Then we’ll be able to properly relax.”


***

Golden Oaks Library, Ponyville
Meanwhile...


“Va bene, there you go.” Ezio Auditore smiled and nodded, carefully writing the name of the mare in front of him on a scroll. She grinned and thanked him, before exiting the library. Ezio sighed, sinking back into his chair, just as Twilight appeared from behind a bookshelf.

“Thanks, Ezio, you’re being a great help!” She beamed at him, trotting closer. “Though I wish people didn’t knock every time they wanted to borrow a book. This is a public library, after all.”

“It’s your house and home as well,” he noted. “For all they know, you might not want to be disturbed.”

“Hence why I have the ‘open’ sign out front.” The mare rolled her eyes and smirked. “Oh well.”

“Any news?” the assassin asked, reaching for his mug and taking a sip of coffee. This stuff is quite good when you get used to it, he thought to himself.

"Unfortunately, no," she answered. "Not from the princess, and not from Orion either. Still, you're doing a great job here, and you're getting to know some more ponies."

Ezio sighed. No leads or answers, yet again. "Well, every little bit helps, I suppose."

Twilight went to go and tend to some other business, but stopped mid-turn and looked back at him. "Oh, I almost forgot! There is one thing."

"Yes?" He sat up straight in his seat.

"Me and the girls are going out for some drinks tonight," she told him. Ezio's expectant demeanour vanished near instantly, and he slouched back in his chair. "From what I hear, John, Cole and Nate are going too. Would you like to come as well?"

The assassin shrugged and smiled. "Eh, why not? It'll help to unwind anyway."

She beamed at him again, and her horn lighted up, levitating a scroll towards her. “Great! I’ll send word to Applejack that you’re coming along as well.” She used her magic to scribble down a note on the scroll, before giving it to Spike. “Spike, can you send this to Applejack?”

“Right away!” the baby dragon exclaimed, giving a mock salute before sending the scroll away in a puff of magic fire.

Twilight looked back to Ezio and smiled. “Looks like tonight’s going to be fun, right Ezio?”

“Drinks and friends,” he said, “We’ll have un grande momento.”


***

Ponyville Town Centre
Later that evening...



The rest of the day passed relatively uneventfully. After the apple harvest, everypony down at Sweet Apple Acres had no more work to do, so they simply passed the time by talking and even a bit of friendly competition. Namely, a game of horseshoes. It seemed that Marston was an absolute natural, easily getting ringers every round and even beating Applejack, who accepted her defeat gracefully.

Marston himself had to admit that he had grown to like the humble family. They were almost like the MacFarlanes, in a way. They looked out for each other, but they were still kind and helpful to strangers. He had to admire them for that. He had, surprisingly, managed to get into a conversation with the oldest sibling of the family, Big Macintosh, who, despite his quiet and humble demeanor, was interesting to talk with. 

Now all ten of them were trotting through evening Ponyville, the setting sun providing ample lighting for them to easily make their way through town. Most major stores and market stalls had already closed for the day, but restaurants, bars, and other establishments were getting prepared for the evening rush. It was a Friday, after all, so there were going to be more patrons than usual, as everypony were going to be relaxing after a long week of work.

“Here we are!” Applejack announced, stopping in front of a brightly lit building.

“Flashy place,” Drake commented, staring up at the storefront. “So we’re eating here?”

“You betcha!” the farm mare exclaimed. “Why, the grub here is hoof-lickin’ good!”

“Did she really just say that?” Cole whispered into Nate’s ear. The pegasus looked at him and shrugged. The conduit just shook his head and chuckled. “You never know, we might be running into a pony version of Colonel Sanderson next.”

“Funny,” Nathan replied jokingly, lightly punching Cole in the shoulder as they stepped inside the restaurant.

The bright and lively atmosphere hit them as soon as they entered. The place was full of happy and cheerful ponies, talking, eating, drinking, and even dancing to a tune that a group of musicians were playing on the other side of the room. This wasn’t some seedy low-life bar like the kinds that Nathan or John had seen, far from it. This was one classy place. 

“First round’s on me!” Pinkie Pie suddenly shouted as they found a table. “Cider for everypony, same as usual, right?” She bounced up and down as the rest of them nodded, before hopping off towards the bar. “I’ll order some food, too!” she called back to them.

“Fancy place,” Marston commented once everyone had settled down. “Nice and relaxing in here though.” He sighed in contentment, slouching back in his seat and tipping his hat back. “What are we all having to eat? That cider’s gotta be washing something down now, ain’t it?”

“I thought we could all share a few bowls of different foods,” Twilight suggested. “Like hay fries, salad, stuff like that.”

“That sounds good,” Ezio told her.

“Indeed,” Rarity, who had been sitting next to him, added. “I must say, I feel absolutely famished. I don’t think I've eaten since this morning. It seems I've been caught up with work and simply forgotten.”

“Speaking of which,” Cole spoke up as Pinkie returned with the drinks. “What has everyone else been up to today?”

“I heard you, John and Nathan helped Applejack up at Sweet Apple Acres along with Pinkie and Dash,” Fluttershy said to him. “How was that?”

“It was pretty fun, actually,” Cole told her. “More so than I expected.”

“Oh yeah, ton of fun,” Nate scoffed. “Y’know, with me spraining my leg and everything.” Cole shot him a look. “Calm down, I’m just kidding around.”

“You sprained your leg?” Fluttershy’s expression suddenly changed from interested to concerned. “Oh, is it alright?”

Nate chuckled and smiled. “Don’t worry Flutters, it’s fine. Tried to kick a tree a bit too hard, that’s all.” He chuckled again and stretched his forelegs, before picking up his cider and taking a gulp. “You know, this whole place takes me back.” Jesus, I’m starting to sound like Sully. “I already told you three about my cousin Desmond, the bartender up in New York, right?”

The three of them nodded, while the girls listened in intently. 

“Yeah, he was real popular up at that bar. The Bad Weather, I think the place was called.” He took another sip, reminiscing. “I used to go there with Sully a lot of the time when I was up there. Always ordered Desmond’s speciality. The Shirley Templar, he called it. Not sure why, but, anyway, it was a regular Shirley Temple mixed with some gin.” He smiled at the memory. “Yeah, they were good times. He sure could pour a drink, that’s for sure.”

“Did you two ever talk much?” Ezio asked.

Drake shrugged. “Eh, a bit. Didn’t even know he was my cousin ‘till he told me. From what I heard, his family was pretty secretive.”

“So, we reminiscing about the old days now, or something?” Cole chuckled and took a sip of his drink as the rest of them listened in. “Yeah, me and my friend Zeke used to hang around places like these all the time, before the blast at least.”

“Zeke? I don’t think you’ve mentioned him,” Pinkie said to him.

“No, I haven’t,” he replied. “He was a good guy. Hell, he was like a brother to me.” He smiled and took another swig of cider. Half as long, twice as bright. “We were always messing around, getting into trouble, stuff like that. Most of the time I’d be sitting at the bar while he tried some of his homebrew pickup lines on some of the girls there.”

“They never worked, did they?” Rainbow Dash guessed.

He tipped his glass towards her. “Damn right they didn’t. Didn’t phase him though. He always said something about how they ‘didn’t appreciate him for who he was’.”

Their conversation was cut short by a unicorn stallion, the waiter, arriving at their table, along with multiple bowls of food levitating inside his magical aura. “There you are, everypony,” he said in a charming and upbeat tone. “Is there anything else you need tonight?”

“No, thank you.” Twilight and the rest of her friends politely waved him away before resuming the conversation. They continued to talk, mostly about “the good old days”, as Drake put it. They all shared experiences, good times and bad, in an effort to get to know each other a little better. The six mares, while sometimes telling short stories of their own, mostly listened to the stallions tell tales about their previous lives back in their own world. The six of them were fascinated, Twilight especially, by the amount of things the four of them had all seen and done. Ezio told stories of Venezia, the city of love, while Drake recounted ancient historical myths and legends that he had come across in his travels.

“You know,” Rarity spoke up, just as Nathan finished another of his stories. “I’m starting to feel a bit light-headed.” She turned to look at Pinkie Pie. “This is just regular cider, isn’t it dear?”

Pinkie gulped and giggled nervously. “I think so. I mean, I just asked for cider. The stallion at the bar could have accidentally poured us hard cider.”

The unicorn glared at her friend momentarily, before relinquishing. “Oh, let’s not worry about it, shall we? No harm in letting yourself go every once in awhile, is there?”

“Here’s to that,” John agreed, raising his glass. 

“Sì,” Ezio held his cider up as well. “In fact, I propose a toast. To good friends, old and new.”

“To friends,” the rest of them chorused, before downing whatever remained in their glasses. They smiled and laughed merrily, before the musicians in the corner of the room started to play a different tune.

"Nice piece," Ezio commented, tapping his hoof to the beat. "Reminds me of Firenze."

"It is rather catchy, isn't it?" Rarity added. "Makes you feel like getting up and dancing along." She paused for a second and stared at the stallion across from her for a second, contemplating. Loosen up a bit, Rarity, she thought to herself. You're allowed to have some fun, you know. She held out her hoof to him. "Speaking of which, would you, Signore Auditore?"

Ezio stared at her for a moment, trying his best not to let his dumbfounded expression show. "Just a dance, right?"

She nodded. "Just a dance."

He paused for a second, before smiling gracefully. "Why not? We came here to have fun, after all."

The pearly white mare tried, but failed, to suppress a flustered, and slightly tipsy, giggle as he took her hoof and stepped into the middle of the room, where a number of other couples were already dancing. They looked into each other's eyes for a moment, taking up the proper position, before nodding to each other and beginning. Ezio led swiftly, guiding her as they twirled and twisted. Rarity laughed as they went, undoubtedly a bit drunk, but having fun nonetheless. Ezio chuckled and smiled as well, guiding her as the music went on in the background. Other patrons were took note of their performance, and began to clap as it went on.

Meanwhile, the assassin just smiled and thought to himself. I don't think I've had this much fun in a long time.

Unfortunately, fate would have it that the fun didn't last very long.

Time seemed to slow down as their dance was interrupted by a large crashing sound, and the front window of the restuarant shattering into pieces. Ezio threw himself on top of Rarity instinctively, protecting her from any potential harm. Ponies screamed and ran as the room began to burst into flames. The assassin couldn't tell what was going on, but one thing was for certain: the night had been ruined.

Groaning and getting to his hooves, he began to see the full extent of the damage. The entire frontage of the building was gone, completely. Smoke blinded his vision and filled his lungs, and he couldn't tell where the rest of his friends were. This was no accident, there was no doubt of that.

"Oh, merda."
> Chapter 13: Stand and Fight
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


There was never a good war, or a bad peace. ~ Benjamin Franklin



Ponyville, Equestria
24th May 1002 C.R.
7:34PM


Smoke and ash clouded his vision, seeping its way into his eyes and down into his lungs. Pain shot throughout his body in the form of deep cuts and gashes, debris having torn through his clothes and skin. Even with the painful ringing that plagued his hearing, Ezio could still make out the terrified screams and whimpers of ponies as they ran away, some of them horribly injured.

“Christ!” he heard Marston shout as he clambered to his hooves, pulling the shaken Rarity along with him. “It’s more of them fucking things!” Ezio turned to see what he was pointing at and saw more of the alicorn creatures out in the street. He counted at least five, flying around and firing blasts of magic at the fleeing ponies. A full on public attack, he thought to himself. But that means... oh no, they can’t. It’s too soon!

"We need to get out of here, now!" he called to them, stumbling towards Marston. "Is everyone alright?"

There was no reply for a few seconds, before he heard Cole's voice. "Yeah, we're fine," he said, coughing as the smoke continued to fill the room. To Ezio's amazement, the conduit had managed to form an electrical shield around the rest of his friends, protecting them from the blast and the debris that came along with it.

"Come on!" Ezio shouted as they got to their hooves wearily. "We need to go! There should be a back entrance." He turned and started towards the bar, which was ablaze. "Quickly!"

Dazed and confused, all ten of them sprinted past the bar and into the back rooms. Thankfully, they were mostly unharmed, and there was a door to an alleyway that was fortunately unlocked.

"Come on, get moving!" Marston bellowed, holding the door open for the rest of them. "This whole place is burning to the ground!" He cried out in shock as a plank of wood fell from the ceiling, nearly crushing them all. Terrified, they all frantically scrambled out of the door and into a back alley.

“Alright,” Twilight said, panting. “Let’s catch a breather.” She stared up at the burning building, her ears folding back as she heard the screams of the ponies on the other side.

“What in the hay is going on?” Applejack exclaimed. “Are these what you guys have been fightin’?”

“Yeah,” Cole replied, wiping ash from his face. “They’ve never been this bold before though.”

“What are we going to do? We can’t just sit here and-” Rainbow Dash stopped as she noticed Drake to her side, clutching his head. “Hey, Nate, you okay?”

Nate didn't respond, instead he grunted in pain, tumbling onto his haunches, head still in his hooves.

"Nate!" Dash shouted, grabbing him. "What's wrong? Snap out of it!"

Her raised voice seemed to knock him out of his stupor. “Ugh...” He grunted, before looking up. “No, I’m fine. We need to go.”

The rest of the group looked at him, concerned, but the sound of a large explosion reminded them that there were larger problems at that moment. “Come on, we need to move!” Twilight shouted, beginning to gallop towards the end of the alleyway. “We’ll become sitting ducks if we stay here any longer!”

The ten of them ran, dodging falling debris and fire as they went. Fear and adrenaline kept them moving, even as their muscles ached. They were about to reach the end of the alley when they were cut off by a black-suited unicorn.

"Orion!" Twilight cried, bringing herself to a halt in front of everyone else. "What's going on?"

"They're all here!" he shouted, trying to make himself heard over the deafening noise around them. "The princesses have ordered me to bring these four back to Canterlot!"

"What? Why?" Drake asked, keeping an eye on the sky above. One of those things could swoop down at any second. "Are we finally arming up?"

"You could say that." Orion flinched as the front of a nearby building exploded in a shower of glass and timber. "Come on, we need to go, now!"

"What on earth are we supposed to do?" Rarity shouted, a horrified expression across her face.

"Come on y'all," Applejack announced. "Let's get the Elements of Harmony and hole up at the farm, it's easily defendable. We should be able to hold out until you guess get back and we can make ourselves a proper plan." She turned to the four of them, who had crowded around Orion as he charged a teleport spell. "Now hurry on back, ya hear?"

"Gotcha." Marston nodded, before they all disappeared in a flash of light.


***


"Ah, shit." Shaking his head, Drake climbed to his hooves, trying to overcome his dizziness. "Never gets any easier, does it?"

"Sir." He looked up to see a unicorn guard talking to Orion. They were in the secret castle armory they had visited before. "Thank Celestia you're here."

"What's the situation, soldier?" Orion asked, clearly winded after the complex spell he had just performed.

"The princesses have called an emergency meeting," the guard explained. "We're to gather the weapons we need and meet them in the main hall."

Orion nodded, but didn't say a word.

"You heard the man," Ezio announced. "Grab whatever you need." 

"Right. Let's do this." John hauled himself up and dusted himself off. He looked over to the rest of them and nodded, before turning to the variety of weapons that lay before them. "What was it you said before, Drake?"

"Candy store for adults," the pegasus replied, smirking and grabbing a handgun from the rack, slotting it into his holster.

"Yeah, that sounds about right." Marston paused for a moment before grabbing a six-shot revolver and a repeater rifle. "Best to go with something I'm familiar with, I reckon," he muttered to himself, sliding the revolver into his holster and slinging the rifle over his back.

"We all ready?" Cole said to them, standing by the door. "We ain't got much time."

"Va bene," Ezio replied, loading a bolt into a crossbow that he had taken. "We should move."

Without warning, the room shook violently, and a deep rumble could be heard coming from somewhere outside. "Yes, we should get moving," Orion agreed, motioning for the guard to open the door to let them out.

The castle walls continued to shake as they ran from the armory. The corridors seemed to go on forever, and Drake was beginning to feel dizzy and disorientated. "Come on Nate, snap out of it," he growled under his breath.

"We must hurry, there isn't much time!" he heard the guard call out. For some reason, the whole situation felt very familiar to him, but he didn't have time to think about why. The guard kept a brisk pace, leading them through the myriad of hallways towards the main hall. Thankfully, he knew where he was going, and soon enough they were bursting through the large double doors to come face-to-face with the two rulers of Equestria, grave looks upon their faces.

“Finally,” Princess Luna exclaimed. “You’re here. Time is short, and we haven’t got much of it to waste explaining.”

“What do we have to do?” Cole asked, flinching as a large explosion shook the castle walls.

“There’s a carriage outside,” Celestia explained. “It will take you all to Ponyville.”

“Wait, a carriage?” Cole groaned. “Can’t you just teleport us there?”

“My sister and I need to stay here and reserve our magical strength for the upcoming battle,” Luna told him, stepping forward. “No doubt they shall soon advance upon Canterlot.”

Celestia turned to look out of the window. She stared at the dark, overbearing ship in the sky. A few short weeks ago it might has well have been any other star. “You all know how important Ponyville is,” she continued, looking down upon the small town, which was mostly ablaze. “Especially what, or, more appropriately, who is there.”

“The Elements of Harmony,” Ezio whispered, realising. “They’re going after them.”

The princess nodded solemnly. “Yes. We have every reason to believe that they will try to attack our most valuable assets first, You must guard them at any and all costs.”

“Guess we know why they blew up the restaurant then,” MacGrath muttered.

“Don’t worry,” Marston reassured them. “You have our word.”

“Then go,” Celestia told them. “And, above all, be safe, my little ponies.”

My little ponies.

Nate stopped. All of a sudden, a deafening ringing filled his hearing, blocking out all else. He cried out and clutched his head as he felt his limbs moving of their own accord. He saw Cole and the rest of them looking at him, worried. The conduit said something to him, but he couldn’t hear. The ringing was at a completely unbearable level, but suddenly it stopped, replaced by a soothing voice. 

Orion Gazer’s voice.

“You are going to kill the princesses of Equestria.”

He looked over at the unicorn, who simply wore a slight smirk upon his face, unnoticed by everyone else in the room. Nate tried to fight it, but his will was not strong enough. He felt his hoof swiftly reach down into his holster and draw his gun, bringing it up at aim at Celestia’s head. Her sister’s horn flared up with magic immediately, but the snow white alicorn simply stood there, staring him down.

“Ah,” she murmured quietly. “I see what’s happened here.”

Drake tried to resist, to fight against the magic that had reprogrammed his brain, but it was no use. His hoof squeezed gently against the trigger.

The loud crack of a gunshot echoed around the hall, and Drake winced as his gun flew from his hoof and went sliding across the floor. Confused, he turned to see John, who quickly moved towards him and beat him across the head with the butt of his gun.

“Jesus Christ, Drake!” he shouted as the pegasus fell to the floor. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

His head throbbing, Drake managed to mutter. “Orion...”

Every set of eyes in the room turned to look at the suited unicorn, who stood there, frozen. His horn lit up, no doubt charging some sort of teleport spell, but was countered by Celestia as she stepped towards him.

“I’m disappointed, Orion,” she scolded, anger all but written across her face. “Why would you do this?”

Orion stared her down for a second, before smirking. “You really think all of us are still up there?” he nodded to the ship floating in the sky. “We’re smarter than that, and you know it.”

The princess kept her icy stare. “Take him away,” she said simply, motioning to the guards behind her. They moved immediately, restraining Orion with magic and hauling him across the room.

“It’s still hopeless,” he called out to them. “You can fight all you want, but you will still all die.”

The two princesses watches him as he was taken away, before turning their attention back to the stallions in front of them. "Nathan," Celestia said softly. "I'm sorry."

"No, it's fine," he said to her, rubbing his head as he picked his gun up from the floor. "Hell, I should be the one apologising to you, having just shoved a gun in your face."

She just smiled at him. "It was not you, it was Orion. His will, not yours." She sighed and hung her head. "I had always had a suspicion that somepony within the castle was a spy. I just didn't expect for it to be him." She looked towards the door where he had been dragged through. "I knew him since he was just a small colt. Have they really been planning all of this for so long?"

Princess Luna put a hoof on her shoulder. "It is alright, sister. None of us could have known." She turned to address the four of them. "Now hurry. Get to Ponyville, and protect your friends. The carriage is waiting outside."

None of them needed to be told twice. They turned around and bolted towards the door, making sure all of their weapons were fully loaded as they did so. They sprinted out of the hall and out into the courtyard, where a pegasus-drawn carriage was waiting.

"Make haste!" one of the guards barked at them. "We've no time to lose!"

"Jesus," Cole muttered to himself as they clambered inside and the carriage took to the sky. The city below them was under siege. The same creatures that had attacked them before were down there, along with smaller creatures similar to regular ponies, wielding deadly energy weapons.

The guards pulling them wasted no time, diving towards Ponyville at a heart-pumping speed. The small town grew closer and closer, as did the huge ship floating above it.

"Get us down to Sweet Apple Acres!" Ezio called out to them, making himself heard over the wind. "That's where the Elements are holding out!"

The guards acknowledged him and banked to the left, heading towards the sprawling orchards on the outside of town. Most of its apple trees were ablaze, and large, smoking craters were dotted about the fields. Nate couldn't help but feel sorry for the Apple Family. Their life's work was being completely torn apart, and there was nothing they could do about it. He only hoped that they could rebuild once this was all over.

They looked towards the farmhouse, which was encased in a large purple bubble of sorts. No doubt it was Twilight's doing, in an effort to protect herself and her friends. Let's hope they notice us and let us in before we get torn to pieces out there, Drake thought.

A cry of pain brought their attention back to the carriage. Looking forward, they saw with horror that both of the guards pulling them had been hit by stray blasts of magic, or bolts of energy. Either way, it didn't matter. The guards were most likely dead, and now the four of them were plummeting towards the ground, to a seemingly similar fate.

"Cazzo!" Ezio screamed, clinging to the inside of the carriage as they fell. "Everybody, hold on!"

"Ah, crap!" Nate desperately searched for an alternative way out, but there wasn't one. They weren't headed for a body of water, he couldn't just slip on a parachute and leap to safety. The only thing he could do was hang on and pray as the carriage crashed hard into ground.


***



Appleloosa
Meanwhile...


"Come on, son, cheer up!"

Braeburn looked over to his father, who was happily drinking yet another bottle of cider. Granted, it was cider that he had made and sold to the Salt Block, but that didn't give him free reign to drink all of it. Braeburn just rolled his eyes and tipped back his hat.

"I'm fine, pa," he responded simply.

"Ya look so glum," Baldwin observed. "What did ya do with the real Braeburn? The one who's always happy as can be?"

"I guess he's off sick today," he said softly, getting off his stool and stepping away from the bar. "Listen, I'm just gonna go for a walk, alright? Get myself some fresh air."

Baldwin looked at him, concern in his eyes. "You sure-"

His son cut him off. "I said I'm fine, pa. Just need a lil' fresh air is all."

The older stallion sighed and relented. "Alright then, Brae. I'll be in here if you need me."

"Yeah." Lowering the brim of his hat, Braeburn pushed open the doors to the saloon and stepped outside. The evening air was pleasantly warm, thanks, in part, to a soft, cool breeze that swept through the town. As he set off down the street, he sighed. Everything was so peaceful, though he didn't know how long it would all last. 

The few ponies who were still outside greeted him as he passed, and he smiled softly in return. Being one of the ponies that helped build Appleloosa, it was no surprise that everybody knew him on a first name basis. Most ponies knew almost everypony in town anyway, but Braeburn's family was held in somewhat high regard. 

He had reached the ridge on the far side of town, the same ridge where the buffalo had made their assault on Appleloosa about a year ago. Their village was just on the other side of the ridge, and he contemplated going down to say hello. I haven't been in a while, he thought. I'll bet Little Strongheart would be happy to see me. A small blush appeared on his cheeks at the thought. He smiled and chuckled slightly, climbing the steep part up the top of the ridge.

He soon reached the top, panting as he did so. It was a hard and steep climb, but relaxing nonetheless. The air was usually clearer up here, but, for some reason, Braeburn could smell smoke. Something was burning. Curious, he trotted to the other side of the ridge. Maybe they're making campfires bigger than usual now, or something, he mused. He reached the edge, but what he saw made him stop in horror.

The tribe's village was burning. Creatures, like those he had seen before, were swooping down on the buffalo below. Braeburn could hear some of them screaming as they were incinerated in the flames. "Oh no," he murmured. He would have run down to help, but he suspected that it was already too late. Instead, he turned and started to run home, intending to warn the town.

A cry from below made him stop. "Help!" He turned back towards the burning village. It had come from somewhere along the path down. He started down it, and sure enough, one of the monsters was attacking a small buffalo.

"Little Strongheart?" he called out, running towards her.

"Get off of me!" she grunted at her attacker, not hearing him. It seemed to be a different breed than the rest. It was smaller, and wingless. It shrieked and tried to strike her, but she held it away.

"Hey!" Braeburn shouted, reaching them and pulling the creature off. "She said get off!" Before it could react, he threw a punch across its face, before pushing it away and kicking off the side of the cliff. It shrieked in terror as it plummeted, before smashing into the rocks below.

"Little Strongheart!" Braeburn turned his attention back to her. She was still lying on the ground panting, and bleeding from multiple wounds on her body. "My goodness, you're hurt."

"It's nothing," she said, trying to brush it off. She winced as Braeburn pulled her to her hooves. "I was on my way to warn you when that thing jumped me."

"Can ya walk?" he asked tentatively, still supporting her with his hooves. She took a feeble step, before looking up at him and shaking her head.

"C'mon then," he said, hoisting her into his back. "I'll get you to my ma and we'll warn the town."

She wrapped her hooves around his torso. "I'm sorry, Braeburn," she murmured as he started to gallop back towards Appleloosa. "I should have been faster."

"Ya'll ain't got nothin' to be sorry about, Strongheart," he said soothingly. "We're all gonna be fine, don't you worry."

Even with the injured buffalo on his back, he quickly reached the edges of town. Turning back to face the ridge, he saw some of the creatures that had been attacking Little Strongheart's tribe barrelling towards them. Wasting no time, he ran towards the Salt Block and burst through the door. Thankfully, his mother was inside.

"Braeburn?" Remedy looked up as he entered. She noticed his friend on his back and gasped. "What's going on?"

"I ain't got time to properly explain," he told her, lifting Little Strongheart gently into a table. "She's hurt, and I need you to take care of her. Something real bad's about to happen."

He turned to Baldwin and Sheriff Silverstar, who had been chatting before his sudden entrance. "Sheriff, the creatures who attacked us out in the desert a few days back are here, in large numbers. They just tore right through the buffalo's village on the other side of the ridge." He noticed a large metal crate sitting on the bar next to them. I swear I didn't see that just before. "Where'd this box come from?"

His father and the sheriff looked at it, confused. "It weren't here a moment ago," Silverstar said. "What's inside?"

Braeburn raised an eyebrow. Was this some sort of trick from the invaders? There was no way of knowing for sure. "Well, only one way to find out," he muttered, lifting open the lid.

Inside were a large number of metal objects, varied in size. They had long barrels and a hoof-sized trigger. Some kinda weapon, maybe? There was a note sitting on top of them all, which he picked up and began to read aloud.

"Dear Braeburn,

They are coming. Hopefully, there are enough firearms here for you to arm your whole town. They are rather simple to use: simply point, and shoot. Oh, and do try not to damage them. I would like them back.

Princess Celestia.

P.S. Your new friends say hello."

The silence following was cut short by a large explosion. They were out of time. "Alright, everypony grab one!" Braeburn announced, throwing the weapons to the bar's patrons. "Remember: just point and shoot!" 

He handed one to both his father and Sheriff Silverstar. "Looks like apple pies ain't gonna cut it this time, huh?" he joked, smiling slightly. The sheriff chuckled and nodded, before galloping outside. His father nodded as well, before embracing his son. 

"Be careful, Braeburn," he warned.

"You too, pa."

Baldwin released him before stepping towards his wife and pulling her into a similar embrace. Braeburn watched them for a second, before looking into the crate once more. One weapon remained. It was a sleek, brass bolt-action rifle with wooden furnishings. Picking it up in his hooves, the stallion reared back onto his hind legs, looking down the sights. "Yeah, this'll work."

He slung it over his shoulder, before stepping towards Remedy and Little Strongheart. "She okay?" he asked his mother.

"Brae, I told you I'm fine." The buffalo looked up at him and smiled warmly. Her wounds had been bandaged, and the bleeding had stopped.

"She'll be alright," Remedy said. "Still, she's sitting this fight out."

Braeburn smiled, but winced as a large explosion rocked the building. "I gotta go ma," he told her.

She pulled him into a hug. "Be safe, Braeburn. I don't want to be having to patch you up."

He looked over at Strongheart, who smiled. "Go get 'em, Brae," she said encouragingly, winking at him. He smiled warmly, before turning towards the door.

Alright, let's do this. Taking a deep breath, Braeburn threw open the saloon doors and stepped out into the war zone beyond.

> Chapter 14: The Time's Come
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Bravery is the capacity to perform properly even when scared half to death. ~ Omar N. Bradley



Sweet Apple Acres, Ponyville, Equestria
24th May 1002 C.R.
9:56PM


Shit. Am I dead?

No, can’t be. There’s no way being dead hurts this goddamn much.

His eyes fluttered open slowly, and he was surprised to find himself lying on a dusty old sofa. He sat up, flinching slightly as a light pain shot through his side, and looked around the room.

“Nate, thank Celestia, you’re awake.” A familiar southern drawl caught his attention, and he turned his head to see Applejack trotting towards him. “You crash landed right outside Twilight’s shield, so she opened a hole and let you all in.”

Drake put a hoof to his head, rubbing it softly, before getting up onto his hooves. “Damn... everyone else okay?”

She nodded, and he breathed a sigh of relief. “Yeah. John’s upstairs with my brother, using one of them ‘rifle’ thingies,” she told him. “Whole box of them magically appeared right here on my coffee table, courtesy of the princess, of course. They’ve been picking some of those monsters off ever since we hauled you inside. Mighty useful, that spell of Twi’s. We can shoot out but they can’t shoot in.”

He nodded as he trotted to the window and looked up into the sky. Through the purple haze of Twilight’s shield, he could see the giant ship looming above Ponyville, covering almost the entire town. We need to get up there, he thought to himself. Finish this once and for all. “And how’s everyone else doing?” he asked, turning back to the country mare.

“We’re okay, for the time being,” she answered. “Cole’s out front fighting some of ‘em, along with Rainbow Dash. Ezio and Pinkie are downstairs making sure Granny Smith and Apple Bloom are safe, and Rarity and Fluttershy are with Twi in the other room.” She looked back towards the kitchen. “She ain’t doin’ too well right now, Nate. “I don’t know how long she’s gonna be able to keep this spell of her’s up. And if it goes down...” She trailed off and looked away.

“We need to take the fight to them,” Drake murmured, still staring at the ship in the sky. “That’s the only way the end this.”

Applejack trotted over to him and followed his gaze. “You’re saying you need to go up there? Darn, Nate, I don’t know about that. I reckon that’s stupidly dangerous, and you know it.”

“You got any better ideas?” he asked, turning back to her. “‘Cause if you do, I’m all ears. But sitting here waiting for them to break through isn’t going to do anything other than get us all killed.” She looked away, her ears folding down against her head. “I’m sorry, but that’s pretty much the only option we have.”

“You’ll all be going to your darn deaths!” she shouted, tears forming in her eyes as she looked outside, watching her life’s work consumed in the fires of the war zone beyond.

“I know,” Drake whispered quietly, gently putting a hoof on her shoulder and drawing her into a hug. “But we’re not just gonna sit on our asses ‘till we die. Now, do you have any idea of how we’re going to get up there? I mean, I could just fly up right now, but it’s a stupid idea enough without being alone.”

Applejack sighed, and thought for a moment. “I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not, but not all of them have wings,” she spoke up. “Guess they must be the basic frontline soldiers, or something.” She waved a hoof, ushering him over to the window. “Look out here,” she said, pointing. “The wingless ones get dropped down here in some sort of carriage, only it ain’t being pulled by anypony, see?”

Nate took note of one of the so-called ‘carriages’ just outside of the barrier. “Yeah. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

She nodded. “If you can manage to commandeer one of them fancy carriages...”

“...we could fly it right up there and find a way to take them out.” Drake smirked. “What do you think?”

She chuckled and raised an eyebrow. “I think you’re completely crazy,” she answered. “Though probably just crazy enough to pull it off.”

He chuckled. “Looks like you’ve gotten to know me well, then.”

The farm mare smiled slightly. “Heh, I guess so.” She stood up and started to make her way towards the kitchen. “If that’s the plan, then you four better get to it. But first, we need to clear a the farm of those things.”

Drake nodded, and followed her into the kitchen. “Yeah, of course.” 

Sitting at the kitchen table was Twilight, her horn glowing bright with her magic. She looked barely conscious, a fact that was making Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity, on either side of her, look concerned.

“You doin’ okay, Twi?” Applejack asked softly as Nathan followed her inside.

She looked up slowly, and nodded weakly. “Yeah... I’m... I’m okay.”

Her friend smiled warmly. “Don’t you worry ‘bout a thing, you hear? We’re almost through this.” She turned to Drake. “If I were you, I’d head upstairs to give John and Big Mac a helping hoof. I’m gonna stay here with Twi and the girls, okay?”

He nodded determinedly. “Gotcha.” Taking a breath, he turned and trotted briskly towards the stairs. Heh, maybe we’ll get through this after all, he thought, as he began to climb.

He had almost reached the top when the whole house was shaken, nearly knocking him down the stairs. His ears perked at the sound of a pained yelp from downstairs.

“Shit!” He heard a familiar voice at the end of the upstairs hallway. “Some of those bastards got through!”

“Marston!” Drake called out, galloping towards him and Big Macintosh, both of whom were looking through the scopes of their respective weapons. “What happened?”

“Nate, glad to see you’re with us again!” the gunslinger called back. “After that explosion outside, Twilight’s shield dropped for a second. Let some of those things in, but it’s back up now.”

“Explosion? What blew up?”

John smirked and tipped his hat back. “I may have shot something important on one of their flying thingies. Blew that thing clean out of the sky.”

“Eeyup,” Big Macintosh commented. “But now we got a number of them things giving your friends down there some trouble.”

Marston peeked out of the window and looked at Cole and Dash fighting outside. “Damn, you’re right. Let’s give them some cover.”

“Eeyup.” Lining up a shot, Big Mac pulled the trigger.

*click*

"Goddamnit it, are you out?" Marston asked. Big Macintosh nodded in reply. "Shit, I ran out just now, and we ain't got no more ammo. Looks like we're gonna have to get down there." A yelp from below caught their attention.

"Rainbow Dash!" Nate shouted as the pegasus mare was tackled out of the sky by one of her attackers. "Shit, where's Cole?"

"Round the other side of the house, I think," Big Macintosh answered.

"Oh, fuck," John moaned. "I can't get a clear shot from here."

"We gotta do something!" Nate cried.

"Shit, I got an idea," Marston told them both, stepping away from the window. "Get out of the way."

"Marston, what the hell are you doing?" Nate asked him.

"Something fucking crazy." He looked towards Big Mac. "Sorry about the window, buddy." Before either of them could respond, he galloped forward and leapt through the half open window, drawing his revolver in the process.

Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he crashed through the window pane. Shards of broken glass surrounded him while he fell towards the ground. Aiming down the sights of his gun, Marston squeezed the trigger four times, dropping four of the invaders, including the one pinning Rainbow Dash, with near-perfect accuracy before crashing into the dirt in a heap.

“Jesus Christ!” Drake shouted, looking down as Marston picked himself up off the ground. “A little warning next time would be nice!”

“I said sorry, didn’t I?” John shouted back, helping Rainbow Dash move the now lifeless body of one of the monsters off of her. He jumped as he heard a high-pitched shriek. Looking to the sky, he saw one of the winged beasts, heavily injured, heading straight for the window he had just dived out of. “Oh, shit, look out!”

“Oh, crap!” Nate dived out of the way just in time as the monster crashed through the window, bouncing down the wooden hallway before coming to a halt at the opposite side. “Big Macintosh, go downstairs and help Twilight,” he told the burly red stallion. “Get her into the front room, I don’t think the floorboards up here are gonna hold the weight of this thing.”

“Eeyup.” With a nod, Big Mac picked himself up and galloped down the stairs, keeping a wary eye on the injured creature on the far side of the hallway. Nate watched him go, before looking towards the alicorn-esque creature as well. Groaning, he picked himself up and made his way towards it.

“Why?” he asked, noticing that it was still conscious. “Why are you doing this? What’s the point?”

“You ungrateful, ignorant little ponies,” the ‘alicorn’ spat. “I’m not surprised your wonderful princesses didn’t tell you.” It’s voice was distorted, and dripped with sarcasm. “We created you, raised you, but that wasn’t good enough. No, the traitors had to go and breed with you lowly creatures, and next thing you know, those crossbreeds Celestia and Luna use those damn elements to exile us!”

“But why come back?” Nate drew his gun and aimed it square at it’s head. “Why stay hidden for thousands of years only for you to come back now?”

“Biding our time,” it replied, before coughing up blood. “A millennium of peace has made you ponies weak. You all know nothing of war. We’re here to reclaim what is rightfully ours, and nopony is going to stop us this time."

“This world isn’t yours,” Drake told him defiantly, weapon still trained on the creature. “Not anymore.”

“Perhaps not.” It smirked, coughing again. “However, neither you or I shall live to see if you are correct.”

“What the hell are you talking about?” A high-pitched beeping noise made the pegasus’ ears perk up. Oh shit. Realizing the alien’s plan, he turned to gallop away, screaming, “Out! Everyone get out, now!”

There was a blinding flash of light, a deafening roar, and then darkness.


***



Appleloosa
Meanwhile...


“Braeburn, one on your right!”

“I see it, sheriff!” Aiming down the sight of his rifle, Braeburn squeezed the trigger. The monster circling the small town cried out in pain, and dropped towards the ground. Satisfied, the farm pony chambered another round and took aim once again. He had gotten used to the strange weapon relatively quickly, and had little quarrel over killing the creatures attacking the frontier town. Ain’t nothin’ but varmints that need to be put down, he thought to himself.

For a bunch of frontier folk that had never even seen one of these rifle thingies before, I’d say we’re doing alright for ourselves. The Appleloosans, while outgunned, appeared to outnumber their invaders, and had, thankfully, sustained relatively minor casualties. Braeburn deduced that the invasion force was spread thin, attacking towns like his all over Equestria. I only hope that they’re all doin’ as well as we are.

“Braeburn, get on inside!” Sheriff Silverstar’s voice shouted out from the porch of his office on the other side of the main street. “There’s a whole load of ‘em comin’ and we need to hunker down! Get over here, I got ya covered.”

“I read ya loud and clear, sheriff!” Picking up his rifle with his mouth, Braeburn waited for the sheriff of Appleloosa to open fire, before breaking out into a gallop across the war-torn street. Bullets and bursts of magic alike whizzed past his ears and impacted the ground around him, sending up blinding clouds of dust. Undeterred, he bounded up the steps to the sheriff’s office and crashed through the doors, rapidly taking cover behind an overturned table. 

“Ya alright?” Silverstar asked, crouching down next to him.

Braeburn nodded, wiping sweat from his brow and tipping his dusty hat back. “Yeah, I’m fine. Few cuts and bruises, but nothin' to worry about. You seen my pa?”

“He’s holdin’ out from the roof of the Salt Block,” the sheriff informed him. “Don’t you worry none, you of all ponies should know Baldwin’s one tough son of a bitch.”

The farm pony chuckled. “Heh, you ain’t wrong there, that’s for sure. You doing alright?” 

"I'm about the same as you, boy. Bit shaken up, but nothin' to go cryin' to your ma about."

A deafening explosion outside the front of the office made Braeburn wince, and Sheriff Silverstar stood up to shoot down one of the wingless monsters that had run up onto his porch. 

“Darn things,” he muttered, chambering another round. “At least we’re doin’ better than I thought we would.”

“What, you think they underestimated us or something?” Braeburn asked, chuckling slightly.

“Heh, maybe. Or maybe this is just the first wave." Silverstar grimaced, and ducked back behind the table once more. "For the love of Celestia, I hope that ain't the case. First they kill my deputy, then they attack my town? Heck, all of Equestria?" He peeked out and aimed his gun, firing at a group of aliens in the street. One fell while the rest scattered, diving behind cover of their own. "Nopony asked for any of this."

"I hear you there, sheriff," Braeburn agreed, before leaning out to take a few shots of his own. One got lucky, and caught one of the monsters clean in the head, killing it instantly. "I reckon them four stallions that were with us are trying their darn best to put a stop to all this, though. I'd bet my life on it."

"I hope, for everypony's sake, that you're right, boy." Silverstar crouched behind the table again. A stray bolt of energy flew over his head, blowing the hat off of his head before it rapidly turned to ash. 

"Darn it!" he cursed. "That was my favourite hat." He growled and turned to Braeburn. "Stick with me, Braeburn. We're gonna take down as many of these things as is physically possible."

Braeburn smirked. "Sounds like a mighty fine plan to me, sheriff."

Silverstar nodded, a determined look on his face. Taking a deep breath, they both leaned over the table to open fire once again.


***



Sweet Apple Acres
5 minutes later...


He slowly came to, wincing in pain as he felt blood ooze out of a wound in his head. Oh, for Christ’s sake, not again. Every nerve in his broken body screamed in agony, begging him to stop, but he slowly sat up. He tried to extend his wings, but winced as pain shot through them. Damn it, they must be broken. The distinct smell of smoke flooded his nostrils as he looked around the room, searching for his weapon.

“Shit,” Drake muttered, coughing up even more blood, “Whole damn place is gonna burn to the ground.”

Nearly pulverized twice in under an hour, he thought. Heh, must be a new record. He tried to call out, but only coughed as smoke invaded his already dry lungs. Now, his friends were nowhere to be found, he was slowly bleeding out, and he was going to burn to a crisp if he didn't get out fast.

His eyes fell upon his weapon; a battered and bruised nine millimeter handgun. He scrambled towards it, grunting in pain. “Must have a few broken ribs,” he said to himself through gritted teeth.

An ear-splitting scream slapped him out of his internal thoughts, and willed him to ignore the pain. He quickly scooped up the gun and  scrambled to the window, looking outside. What he saw only made his heart sink.

There they were. His new friends. And they had them held at gunpoint. He could see Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity and Twilight Sparkle being hauled out of the burning wreckage. AJ and Dash tried to put up a fight, but were ultimately powerless against their invaders. They’re only innocent girls, they didn’t deserve to get caught up in any of this. Despite the agonising pain, Nate propped himself up on the windowsill and took aim at their captors. There was an air-splitting bang as he opened fire, dropping all of the invaders he could see below in a matter of seconds before they could react. After all, they weren’t expecting survivors on the top floor. Unfortunately, the feat had drained all of his energy, and he collapsed again, gasping for breath.

The door of the room suddenly burst open, revealing a hallway of flames beyond and blasting the room with an unbearable heat. One of the invaders charged in, raising it’s weapon. It glanced around the room, before it’s eyes fell upon the broken pegasus. A smirk seemed to form on it’s twisted face.

“You thought you could even hope to stop us?” it sneered, advancing towards him. “How pathetic.”

Drake closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable to come. “Come on, you big ugly bastard,” he muttered weakly. “Do it.” He cringed as he recognised the sound of the weapon charging. There was a blast of energy, and then nothing.

Wait. I’m not dead.

He could still hear the crackling of the flames as they consumed the old farmhouse.  He could still hear the cries and whimpers of his friends outside.

How?

He tentatively opened his eyes just in time to see the lifeless body of the creature collapse to the floor in a heap. Drake stared at it for a second, catching his breath, before looking up at the pony behind it.

“Pinkie?”

Pinkie Pie stood there, weapon still raised, staring at the dead body of the alien she had just killed. She didn't respond, and only trembled slightly as she looked down at the monster's unmoving corpse.

"Pinkie Pie," Nate repeated, warily getting up onto his hooves and making his way over to her. "You okay?"

"I... I killed him," she murmured softly, finally dropping the energy weapon she had been holding.

"I know," he said to her softly, pulling her into a gentle hug. She buried her face into his chest, looking away from the alien's body. "For what it's worth, thank you. You saved my life." She looked up at him and smiled weakly, and he smiled back. "Is everyone else okay?"

She nodded. "I think so. Ezio was moving AJ's family up from the basement with Big Mac and Spike when we heard the shots. Guessed that was you."

"Sure was." He told her, before a call from outside caught their attention.

"Nate? Pinkie? If you can hear me, come to the window!"

"That's Applejack," Pinkie observed. "She's okay!" Smiling happily once again, she trotted towards the window. Looking out, the both of them could see a cart of hay that Big Macintosh had hauled underneath the window.

"Are they all gone?" Drake asked, calling out to them.

"Yeah, me and John finished 'em off, for now at least," Cole explained.

"Yeah, but they're the least of your worries right now!" Applejack shouted. "The whole place is gonna come down, ya need to jump!"

"Jump? You must be crazy!" Nate shouted back.

"Oh, man up, Drake," Ezio taunted from below. "You act as if you've never jumped from a building into a pile of hay before."

"Come on, Nate." Pinkie climbed up onto the windowsill. "It's not hard, see?" Smiling back at him, she leaped off into the cart, surfacing a moment later, giggling.

Well, shit, I guess I've jumped off a cliff more than once before. This can't be as bad as that. Taking a breath, and taking one last glance back at the burning room behind him, he climbed up onto the windowsill and jumped. "Oh crap!"

"Not so hard, is it, eh?" Nate grabbed Ezio's hoof as the assassin helped him climb out of the wooden cart. 

"Yeah, yeah." Nate rolled his eyes and brushed himself off, before stepping away from the farmhouse, which was rapidly burning to the ground. "Shit, sorry about your house, AJ."

"It's okay, Nate," she said softly. "We've rebuilt it plenty of times before, I'm sure we can manage again when it's all over."

"So, what's the plan?" Cole asked, stepping forward.

"You guys need to find somewhere safe." Nate pointed at the Apple family and their friends. "Meanwhile, we...” He pointed his hoof upwards. “...are going up there."

"I coulda guessed as much," John commented, looking up at the overbearing ship in the sky. "How do you propose we get up there?"

"We use one of those," Nate told them, pointing towards one of the transports that had dropped off the aliens.

Cole chuckled. "Okay then. Let's just hope whoever's at the wheel actually gets us up there and doesn't crash us into the ground again. I've had enough of that for one day."

“I hear you there,” the pegasus agreed, before turning back to Twilight and her friends. “Will you be okay?”

Twilight nodded, having regained some of her strength. Noticing Drake's wounds and obvious pain, her horn lit up gently, and Nate felt the broken bones in his body began to heal themselves. It wasn't perfect, but it was better than before.

“Yeah, we’ll be okay," she told them. "Applejack has a barn in the fields not too far from here that we can use to hide in while you’re doing...” she trailed off and looked up at the sky. “While you’re doing whatever in the world you’re gonna do up there. Just promise us one thing. Come back alive.”

Drake smirked and nodded. “We’ll do our best.” Waving one final goodbye, the four of them turned and started to gallop towards the alien craft.
> Chapter 15: The Final Assault
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


It is not enough to say we must not wage war. It is necessary to love peace and sacrifice for it. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr



High above Ponyville, Equestria
24th May 1002 C.R.
10:43PM


“Well shit, now I know we aren’t gonna go crashing to our fiery dooms, I think we might actually have a chance.”

Nathan Drake chuckled. “I can’t believe you didn’t have faith in me before, Cole! I know how to fly a plane, and this is the same thing. Sorta.” 

They had commandeered one of the abandoned shuttles left behind at Sweet Apple Acres, and were now rapidly approaching the huge, overbearing First Civilization ship that dominated the skies above Ponyville. Not your typical flying saucer, huh? Cole thought to himself as they approached. The ship was an unusual shape, with giant protruding spires dotted around the exterior. 

“Madre di dio,” Ezio muttered, mouth agape as he stared at the monstrosity. “Where the hell are we going to land this thing?”

“Over there,” Drake announced, pointing a hoof to an opening in the hull of the ship as they flew towards it. “Looks like some sort of hangar, or landing bay.” 

“Drake, are you sure that’s a good idea?” MacGrath asked, stepping towards him. “‘Out of the frying pan’ comes to mind.” Ezio shot him a quizzical look. “It’s an expression, okay?” he explained, waving a hoof and rolling his eyes. Goddamn, I keep forgetting he’s the type of guy you usually read about in school history books.

“Don’t worry, I got this,” Nate assured him, waving him off. 

“Do we even know exactly how we’re going to stop all of this?” Marston wondered. “Looks like this thing’s one tough son of a bitch to take down.”

“Come on, it can’t be too hard, right?” The pegasus pulled at the controls, gently steering the shuttle towards his destination. “We just get in, find the control room, and flip whatever kind of self-destruct switch or button they have in there. Simple.”

“So let me get this straight. You’re planning this whole assault on the basis that this giant-ass ship,” Cole pointed outside towards it as they rapidly approached, “is a giant damn cliché?”

“Hey, hasn’t everything else been one so far?” Nate reasoned. “I mean, come on, Appleloosa? Canterlot?"

“Well, yeah, I guess you got a point there,” Cole admitted. “Still, have you even thought about how much resistance we’re gonna be facing?”

“Come on, we'll be fine. We handled them back there perfectly well, didn’t we?”

“Yeah, sure we did, but you did get blown up,” John reminded him.

“After we crash landed horribly,” added Ezio.

Nate rolled his eyes and smirked arrogantly. “Like any of those were our fault anyway,” he scoffed. "Trust me, so long as we move quick and keep cool, we'll do okay."

"If you say so, hotshot," MacGrath said to him. "Just try not to crash land inside this hangar, alright?"

"I'll try my hardest, sparky," the pegasus replied. "No promises though."

"Wait, did you seriously just call me 'sparky'?"

"Uh huh." Drake smirked again, but his expression quickly became more serious as he guided the shuttle on it's final approach. "Alright guys, here we go. Moment of truth."

He cringed as he heard the radio built into the cabin of the shuttle burst into life, playing nothing but static for a moment before a deep, disembodied voice came through. "Shuttle B-42C, you are on final approach to land. State your intention."

Everyone looked at Nate as he hesitantly switched on his headset. "Um, we've sustained heavy damage," he spoke, trying his best to mask his accent and higher pitched voice. "Coming in for repair."

There was a brief moment of silence, before the voice came through again. "Repeat, B-42C? You seem to be breaking up, and we can't recognise your vocal tone."

"Ah, crap," Nate muttered, before speaking into the headset again. "Shuttle has sustained heavy damage. Communications are fried. Coming in for repair."

Silence again. Nate looked back at the three of his friends, who wore concerned expressions similar to his. The radio sprang to life again. "Very well. Proceed to land," came the voice, before shutting off again.

"Ha ha," Nate chuckled, throwing away the headset and looking back again. "What did I tell ya, it worked!" He looked forwards as he brought the shuttle into the landing bay, and saw a large squad of wingless aliens, all armed, rushing towards where he planned to land. "Oh, shit."

“Simple, huh?” Cole murmured sarcastically.

“Ah, damn it, hold on!” Drake shouted, before pushing a lever forward. The shuttle shot forwards, barreling towards the group of aliens on a collision course. They noticed his intent, but far too late, as the ship crashed into them in a shower of shrapnel and twisted metal.

“Per l'amor di dio, Drake! You’re fucking crazy!" Ezio shouted, drowned out by the screech of twisting metal. Groaning, he desperately gripped onto a guardrail as the shuttle bounced across the hangar and slammed violently into the far wall, finally coming to a stop. 

Peering out the window, Nate saw that he had managed to wipe out all but a few of the group that had come to ‘greet’ them. The rest were confused and disorganised, obviously lacking their commanding officer. Still watching, the pegasus saw one shout something into an earpiece, before looking up at the crashed shuttle. Drake ducked down quickly and turned to the rest of his friends.

“Sorry about that,” he said, flapping his wings to make sure they weren’t broken again. “Everyone okay?”

“I’m okay,” Marston said, while Cole nodded next to him, catching his breath. “A little warning next time would be nice.”

“Sì, I’m fine,” Ezio told him, finally releasing his grip on the guardrail and muttering to himself, “Sto diventando troppo vecchio per queste stronzate."

Nate took a quick peek outside again, before turning back to them. “Heads up, guys. There’s still a few of them left, and they’re on their way over here.”

“How many are out there?” Cole asked, unsheathing the Amp from it’s holster on his backpack.

“Four or five, I think. Bowled most of them over back there.”

“God, again with the puns?”

“Be quiet, I have a plan,” announced Ezio. “Find somewhere to hide, and we will ambush them. “We’re more or less evenly matched. These aren’t like the winged ones, they’re just grunts.”

They nodded in agreement, and all hid to the side of the cabin door. Outside, they could hear the aliens banging on the hull.

“It’s sealed! You, get this door open!”

“I acknowledge.” There was a quiet thud as something was planted on the shuttle door. “Breaching!”

They all ducked as the shuttle door blew open, sending smoke and pieces of shrapnel everywhere. Immediately, the group barged their way inside. They looked around, as one shouted, “Clear!” Turning to the cabin, they began to approach.

“Everyone ready?” Nate whispered quietly, looking around. His friends nodded. “Okay then, let’s do it.”

A few seconds later, the first of the squad entered the cabin. Reacting immediately, Drake reached round, grabbing it and slamming it’s head into the wall, knocking it out instantly. Before the rest could react, the other three acted, leaping out from their hiding places and towards the squad. Ezio leapt onto one, jamming his hidden blade into it’s neck before it could put up a fight, while Cole slid underneath another, knocking it into the air before batting it away with his Amp. John hit the last with a brutal right hook, before shoving it’s head back into the wall. It slumped to the floor, unmoving.

“Well, that was easy,” Drake muttered, brushing himself off. 

Looking towards him, Ezio replied. “Maybe, but there will be more on the way, surely. We should get moving.”

“Hold on a sec, we don’t even know where we’re going,” Cole interrupted, trotting back into the cabin. “Give me a minute, maybe there’s schematics or something on the on-board computer here.” He pressed a few buttons on the console and a monitor sprung to life, displaying the schematics for the shuttle they were in, albeit in a much better condition. “No, that’s not what we want,” he murmured, pressing a few different buttons. The image on the screen changed to that of a layout the alien mothership.

“Hmm.” MacGrath studied the screen for a few moments, while his friends looked over his shoulder. “Here we go.” He pointed a hoof at a small line on the screen. “Looks like a pretty open ventilation shaft. Should take us right up to the bridge.”

“Ventilation shaft? Really?” Nate moaned as they made their way out of the shuttle and into the hangar bay. “You gotta be kidding me.”

Marston rolled his eyes. “I ain’t fond of the idea either, but you ain’t hearing me complain about it. Besides, it’s a hell of a lot easier than trying to take on every one of those damn things on our way up there, ain’t it?”

Cole led them swiftly across towards the opposite side of the hangar. “Here we go,” he announced, using the Amp to pry the grate from the vent itself. “Doesn’t look too bad, does it?” The vent was of moderate size, and was certainly able to fit the four of them, so long as they crouched down. In the distance, they could hear shouting and alarms blazing, so they hurried inside. 

“Everyone okay?” Ezio asked from the front of the group, glancing backwards as Cole slid the grate back over the vent opening. “We should hurry, I’d rather not be stuck in here for long.”

“Yeah, ‘specially since the only thing I can smell in here is your goddamn tail, Marston,” Cole complained, as they began to crawl. “Seriously, when did you last wash that thing?”

“Do you really think, with all this runnin' around we've doing, that I’ve had time to wash my damn tail?” the gunslinger rebutted. “Shit, I’m still getting used to having a tail in the first place.”

"Will you all shut up!" Ezio hissed, glaring back at them as he shuffled forwards. "They're bound to be looking for us back there right now, and I don't need you two arguing drawing attention to us!"

They all went silent as they heard one of the aliens shouting back in the hangar bay. "They're not in here!” Another brief silence. "I’m telling you, they’re nowhere to be found! We’ve searched the entire hangar!” The four of them held their breath as they waited for the alien to continue once more. “Perform a scan for unidentified life forms in every room and corridor of this ship. They can't have gotten far."

"We should move," Ezio muttered, trying his best to shuffle forward at a faster pace without making too much noise. “Let’s hope that scan of theirs doesn’t cover the air vents.” They remained in silence for a few minutes as they continued onwards, the only sound breaking the silence being their hushed breathing and the light clip of their hooves on the floor of the vent.

It was Nate who broke the extended silence. A smirk on his face, he murmured aloud, "Huh, now I know what a TV dinner feels like."

"Oh, for the love of Christ," Cole groaned, closing his eyes and raising a hoof to his face. "I swear to God..."

"How long is this vent supposed to be anyway, MacGrath?" John asked quietly, distracting the conduit from his annoyance.

"Shouldn't be too far now," Cole answered. "This opens up into a larger chamber, where there'll be a ladder we can climb up to get to the bridge." He looked up and past Marston. "You see any light yet, Ezio?" he called out.

"Not yet," the assassin whispered back to him. "Though there is a slight curve up ahead. I might see it then."

MacGrath nodded. "Yeah, there's a curve just before, I remember. We're getting close." He breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "Should be smooth sailing from here on in."

"Watch yourself," Marston warned jokingly. "You're starting to sound awfully like Drake."

"Jesus, give me a break," Nate complained, eliciting a light chuckle from the gunslinger.

"It's a bit of a tight squeeze," Ezio told them as they reached the curve in the vent. "Just a warning."

Drake coughed and inched forward behind the assassin. "Shit, can't be any worse than it already is."

"We really need to teach you something about tempting fate," Cole thought aloud, to the pegasus' chagrin.

Finally, with relieved sighs and stretched legs, they emerged into the large, vertical chamber. Looking upwards, Cole noted that they had a very long way to climb, even by his standards. John and Ezio followed his gaze, and soon groaned at the sight they saw. Sighing, the three of them made their way towards a nearby ladder and began to climb.

“Heh, yeah, you guys have fun with that,” Nate taunted, flashing a cocky grin and flapping his wings. He took to the air, casually floating beside the three stallions as they slowly began to ascend. “So, you guys having fun over there?”

“Can it, Drake,” Cole warned the pegasus, glaring over his shoulder as he climbed. “Or I’ll zap you out of the air in an instant.” He grunted, gripping a front hoof onto the next rung of the ladder.

“How far up do we gotta go anyway?” Marston asked, panting for breath. “I ain’t used to this kind of thing. Shit, you fellas don’t even need a ladder.” Slipping slightly, he cursed as his signature hat fell from his head. Thankfully, Nate swooped down and caught it in his hooves. Smirking, the pegasus put it on his head and floated back up towards him.

“Goddamnit, you better give that back when we get out of here,” the gunslinger warned threateningly.

“We’re near the front of the ship, I think,” MacGrath informed him. “The bridge shouldn’t be too far up. We just get up there, take out anyone unfortunate enough to be there, activate a self-destruct-”

“And if there is no self-destruct?” Marston interrupted.

“Then we just set a crash course for somewhere rural, away from any towns,” Cole answered. “Then, we run like hell back to an escape pod or something, and get the hell off this thing.”

“There are so many things that could go wrong with this,” grumbled Ezio, hauling himself upwards on the ladder.

They fell silent once again, pulling themselves up the ladder while a bored Nate effortlessly followed them in the air. This was soon interrupted, however, by a deep rumbling that came from somewhere above.

“Uh, what is that?” Ezio asked tentatively, casting a quick glance upwards.

“I haven’t the faintest idea,” Drake murmured, squinting as he craned his neck. His heart sank as he noticed something descending towards them. Suddenly, it dawned on him. Oh, you have got to be kidding me.

“Cole, how the hell did you not realise this was an elevator shaft?!”

“What?” MacGrath followed Drake’s gaze. “Oh, come on, you’re shittin’ me.” He pulled himself upwards once again, pointing towards an alcove just above them. “Nate, that’s the way out of here! Get it open! The rest of you, hurry the hell up!”

“On it!” With a mock salute, Nathan promptly flew up to the doors in the alcove and wedged them open. Thankfully, they did so without much hassle. The three of them hastily climbed into the alcove and dusted themselves off just as the elevator shot past them. Shooting a glare towards the pegasus, Marston slapped him on the back of the head lightly before retrieving his hat.

Peeking round the corner, Ezio spied a solitary guard, one of the winged ‘alicorn’ creatures, stationed outside what must have been the door to the bridge. Turning back to his comrades, he raised a hoof to his lips to signal silence, and ordered them to get behind him. Once they had obliged, he whistled loudly. 

Down the hallway, the guard looked up, hearing the unknown noise. Deciding to investigate, it turned and started to walk towards its source, which seemed to be the door to the elevator. It had almost reached it when a hooded stallion darted round the corner, covering its muzzle with a hoof while jamming something into its chest before it could get a chance to react. Life rapidly draining away, the creature could do nothing as they stallion dragged him around the corner and, having checked to make sure that the elevator was no longer above them, dropped its body down into the shaft.

“Was that the only guard?” Nate asked as they quietly but swiftly made their way down the hallway towards the door of the bridge.

Ezio nodded silently as the took cover on either side of the door. Turning to them, he said, in a hushed voice, “Alright, here’s the plan. Marston and I will handle any of them on our side of the room. Nate, Cole, you handle any on your side. Once they’re all dead, we’ll figure out a way to bring this figlio di puttana down to the ground.”

“We got you,” Nate acknowledged, before looking at Cole, whose hoof was alright crackling with electricity. The pegasus nodded towards the door. “Open it.”

There was a loud pop, and sparks flew everywhere, as the doors to the bridge slid open. Wasting no time mounting their assault, the four stallions charged in, guns at the ready. They counted about six or seven inside, including what looked to be the captain, wheeling around to face the commotion that they had caused. Heh, must have all the security somewhere else, Cole thought. No doubt still looking for us. In an instant, Nate and John had already gunned down four of the monsters, showering the command console with bullets in the process. Meanwhile, Ezio leapt onto another and stabbed him, subsequently, throwing a small knife at another one across the room. That left the captain, who could propelled into the air with a shockwave before smashing it into a wall with his Amp.

“Take that, you son of a bitch,” Cole muttered, as John put a bullet in its head to put it down for good. Before they could celebrate, however, the entire ship started to shake and rumble. Alarms began to blare, and a mechanized voice come through over the intercom.

“Alert. Alert. Commanding officer has been terminated. Repeat. Commanding officer KIA. Activating self-destruct protocol.”

“Oh, well that was easy,” Drake commented, smiling. “We better get out of here, quick.” 

“No, wait a second,” Cole called out to him as he began to turn around.

“What? What is it?” Come on, we gotta go!”

“Just shut up and read this, will you?” the conduit shouted, beckoning Drake towards the screen he was looking at. “Ship estimated to detonate at force of five hundred thousand kilotons!”

“Oh shit,” Nate breathed, going pale slightly. “That... that’d be a fucking nuclear holocaust.” He went paler as another realisation dawned on him. “One of us is gonna have to stay behind, get this thing away from the ground.”

“Right.” Cole took a deep breath, before turning around quickly, pushing the three of them back with a shockwave and throwing up an electrical shield. “And since you fried the console, someone’s gonna have to stick around to give it some juice.”

“Cole!” Ezio screamed. “What the fuck are you doing?”

“Saving the ponies we’ve been fighting for the whole time! Doing what we came here to do!” he called out, before turning his back to them. “Now go! I need to get this thing as far up as soon as possible! Please, for the love of God, run!”

They stayed there for a brief moment, pleading looks on their faces, before realising he had made his choice. They bid their last farewells, before turning tail and running for their lives. Sighing solemnly, MacGrath jammed the doors shut before gripping the console with his hooves, sparking with electricity. He thought of Twilight and her friends, desperately surviving in the warzone below. He thought of his newfound allies, desperately running for their lives through the armada of, no doubt panicked, alien creatures. Most of all, though, he thought of Zeke, Kuo, Trish, and all the others that he had left behind, but who he hoped would meet again.

Goodbye.


***



Appleloosa
Ten minutes later...


“Darn it, there’s too many of ‘em!” Braeburn shouted, ducking behind a wooden cart just as a dozen bolts of magic came flying his way, impacting the cart and sending dozens of sharp splinters into the air.

“Guess I was right, huh?” Sheriff Silverstar said grimly, taking cover next to him. “Guess it was just the first wave.”

The beige cowpony gripped onto his hat as the hordes of monsters advanced on their exposed position. He didn’t want to admit it, but this could be it. The end. The town had fought valiantly, and to the last mare and stallion, but they had been, slowly but surely, overrun. He clenched his eyes shut as the monsters shrieked once again, barreling towards him. Oh, sweet Celestia, this is it!

Braeburn's eyes jerked open as a flash of light flashed across the sky. Almost immediately, all of the invading monsters stopped and dropped dead. Nothing but mindless husks, he thought. Connected to some sorta hive mind in their ship, I'll bet. Looking upwards, he saw a giant fireball, high above the clouds, and, in that moment, he knew they had won.

"Are... are they dead?" Silverstar asked tentatively, peering over the overturned cart. 

"Yeah," Braeburn answered, breathing a sigh of relief as he stared up at the exploding ship. "I think we beat 'em."

> Epilogue: Fade Away
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A silent melody
A surface memory
A sound symphony
Became a part of me

A sudden shift between
A different frequency
My hand has spread the sea
It’s like there’s a god in me



***



Canterlot Castle, Canterlot, Equestria
2nd June 1002 C.R.
1:05PM


A grim expression upon her face, Princess Celestia watched as the small crowd of ponies slowly began to disperse down below. They had won; beaten back the First Civilization army, for good this time. However, they weren’t without their fair share of losses, one of the most significant of which had just been paid his respects in the courtyard below.

Though not many knew him personally, or even knew him at all, he was now recognised as the stallion who helped saved Equestria from disaster. Seeing as she did not have the power to return life to him in his own world (a detail she had already informed one of his friends of), she had hoped that he could live a happy, peaceful life here in her kingdom. Instead, he had chosen to sacrifice himself so that the rest of her little ponies could have the same opportunity. A noble action, though no less tragic. 

The princess’ eyes followed a group of three stallions as they split off from the crowd and ascended the castle steps. Nathan, John, and Ezio. Cole MacGrath’s friends. They’ve served us admirably, she thought. It’s about time I repaid them.

She remained there in silence, lost in her own thoughts, before a quiet knock on her chamber doors a few minutes later brought her back to reality. “Come in,” she announced softly, turning to face her visitors. As expected, the three stallions she had seen moments ago entered. “Good evening, gentlecolts.”

The nodded and returned the greeting as she continued to speak. “I wish to thank you all sincerely for what you have done for me, and for Equestria. No doubt you all wish to return home. Very well, I won’t keep you.” She turned to Marston. “John, I’m sorry, but you know I don’t have the power to bring you back in your own world. I’m sorry.”

He nodded solemnly, tipping back his signature hat. “I understand, princess.”

“If it’s any consolation, I can grant you anything within my power. Money, a place to live, anything you like,” Celestia offered.

He paused for a second, contemplating. “I think... I think I want a farm," he decided. "Somewhere quiet, where I can just live in peace. It's high time I retired from all this adventuring for good."

"That's wonderful to hear," Princess Celestia complimented, beaming at him. "I can provide you with land and the materials you need to build with."

Marston nodded humbly. "Thank you kindly, ma'am."

She smiled warmly. "If I were you, I'd speak with Applejack. Her family is almost done repairing the damage to Sweet Apple Acres, so I'm sure she'd love to help you out."

John nodded and smiled once more as the princess turned to the other two stallions. "Nathan, Ezio, are you ready?"

"I think so," Nate informed her. "Though I am gonna miss these wings."

The princess chuckled slightly. "I'll be returning you to the places you left, at almost the exact moment. There shouldn't be any problems."

"Except one," Drake interrupted. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't I falling to my death?"

"A slight misstep, no doubt caused by my meddling. Don't worry, I'll make sure it doesn't happen this time. You'll be fine," she assured him, her horn already lighting up as her spell began to charge.

"Well, goodbye John," Ezio said, turning to him. "It was a hell of a ride, wasn't it?"

"Heh, it sure was," the gunslinger agreed, chuckling slightly. "Take care of yourself, both of you."

"Likewise," replied Nate.

"Farewell, the both of you," Celestia said softly, as the two stallions were engulfed in a bright light. Lowering the brim of his hat, Marston looked away. When he looked back, both Nathan Drake and Ezio Auditore had disappeared.


***



Ancient city of Shambhala, Tibet
13th August 2009 A.D.
5:37PM


Falling. Or more appropriately, sliding.

Shit, am I back? I think I'm back! Drake thought as he watched his friend, Chloe Frazer, kick one of the guardians of Shambhala off of her. The monster shrieked, and stumbled back into the chasm below.

Oh shit, the chasm.

"No, no, no, not again!" he screamed, twisting round and grabbing onto the ruins of the ancient bridge just as he slipped off the edge. The gun he didn’t even realise he was holding tumbled past him, falling into the ravine below. Groaning, he tried to grab a better hold of the ledge, but struggled to keep grip.

Goddamnit, those wings would sure come in useful right now, he thought as he started to slip.

Cursing, he lost his grip and began to fall, but was luckily caught by Chloe, who was leaning over the edge. “Got you!” she shouted, heaving him upwards. “Come on!”

“That’s it,” Drake muttered, grabbing hold of the ledge once more. “Come on.” Grunting and panting, he hauled himself up onto his feet as Chloe let go of him and began to run.

“Let’s go!” she called back as he caught his breath.

The ancient and fabled city still crumbling around them, they both began to run towards the exit. Shit, Elena! Drake thought as he saw the broken, battered, and barely conscious body of Elena Fisher lying at the foot of the stairs.

Wasting no time, they both ran to her and pulled her to her feet. “Come on, we gotta get her out of here!” Nate told Chloe, wrapping Elena’s arm around his shoulder for support as his friend did the same. “Up we go,” he said as they dragged her to her feet. 

"Come on, sunshine," Chloe murmured, starting to run up the stairs that led back to the monastery above. 

The buildings around them continued to crumble and fall apart as they climbed, the volatile sap from the Tree of Life exploding violently across the entire city. 

"My God, what the hell did you do back there?" Chloe asked, looking back at the destroyed city behind them as it fell to pieces.

"Oh, you know." Drake shrugged and glanced back at her. "Saved the world." Heh, maybe more than one. Wasting no more time, the two of them started to run once again.


***



The Vault, Capella Sistina, Rome, Italy
28th December 1499 A.D.
1:35PM


“It is done. The message is delivered. We are gone now from this world. All of us. We can do no more. The rest is up to you, Desmond.”

“What? Who is Desmond?” Ezio Auditore da Firenze felt himself say, before he realised just where he was. Wait. I’m back. Back in the Vault. “I don’t understand,” he continued to say, looking up at the projection of Minerva as it started to fade away. “Please, wait! I have so many questions!” He tried to reach out to her, but the projection vanished.

That... was certainly an experience, if nothing else, he thought to himself, checking to see if he was indeed back in his regular form. He was still wearing the light, but near-indestructible Armor of Altaïr. Looking down to his side, he saw his weapons, the Sword of Altaïr and the Notched Cinquedea, hanging from his belt. Even his trusty hidden blades were still sheathed beneath the bracers on his arms. Smiling slightly, he turned around and went to exit the strange vault, ready to continue his mission and life as an Assassin.


***



Bad Weather Nightclub, Brooklyn, New York City
21st August 2012 A.D.
8:47PM


“Kid, how many times do I have to tell you? I hate this kind of place.”

Nate Drake chuckled and looked towards his friend and mentor, Victor Sullivan. “Come on, Sully. Lighten up, let yourself go a bit. You should be right at home here!” He gestured to the bar they were sitting at, then at the dance floor in the middle of the room. “You can relax, get a drink, and enjoy the great view of all the girls about half your age.”

Sully scoffed and took a swig of his beer. “Yeah, well, I’d be having a better time if I could hear myself think in this goddamn place.”

“Well, I’m only here too ‘cause I’m paying my dear old cousin a visit. Speaking of which...” He slammed his fist on the bar. “Another drink over here, oh cousin of mine!”

“Jesus Christ, Nate, you didn’t even know who the hell I was ‘till a few years back.” The bartender, a young man dressed in a white hooded jacket, slid another bottle of beer his way.

“And vice versa, remember, Desmond?” Drake called back, popping off the lid to the bottle and taking a swig. “You know, it’s almost creepy how alike we sound. You ever noticed that?” Desmond rolled his eyes and turned away, but stopped when he saw Sullivan pull a cigar from his pocket and go to light it up.

“Hey,” he called out to him. “Sorry pal, you can’t light up in here. You know the rules.”

Sully stopped, and put the cigar back in his pocket. “Yeah, I remember.” He turned to Nate. “I’m gonna step outside for a smoke. Get out of this racket.”

Nate nodded and watched him go, grumbling something about “bullshit techno music” as he went, before turning back to the bar. He took another sip of his beer, and thought about where he would go next. He was finally happily married to Elena, for good this time. He looked at the ring on his finger, then went to fiddle with Francis’ ring around his neck before realizing it wasn’t there anymore. Buried under mountains of sand in the middle of the desert. Right. 

He was snapped out of his thoughts when a young girl, no younger than twenty-one, sat on the vacant barstool next to him. “Hello, Nate,” she said, as he turned to look at her.

Rose-coloured eyes. Technicolour hair. An unmistakable confident smirk. No way, that can’t be... “Rainbow Dash?” he murmured, not believing his eyes.

“In the flesh,” she replied, taking the bottle of beer from his hands and taking a swig. Recoiling against the bitter taste, she hastily swallowed and handed it back to him. 

“Not quite cider, huh?” he said to her, smirking at the disgusted expression on her face. “What are you doing here anyway, Dash?”

“Princess Celestia wanted to see how you were doing,” she answered simply, as Nate called for a bottle of cider.

“She can do that anyway,” he retorted, raising an eyebrow and handing her the bottle that Desmond slid his way.

Dash rolled her eyes and smiled. “Oh, okay. I wanted to see how you were doing. That, and Twilight thought it would be a good idea to learn more about this world if we experienced it first hand.” 

Drake nodded and took a swig of his beer. “Is that so?” He turned around with his back to the bar to face the dance floor. “Then let me be the first to introduce you to one of the most popular nocturnal hangouts in our world: the nightclub. People come here to drink and dance until they pass out and can’t remember anything about what happened the next morning.”

“If that’s true, then what are you doing here?”

“Paying my cousin a visit,” Nate replied innocently. Desmond looked up and gave a little wave before getting back to his order. “I’m not exactly one for dancing.”

She failed to suppress a snicker. “Heh, I’d like to see you give it a try.”

“I’m sure you would, but it ain’t gonna happen.” he assured, rolling his eyes. "Besides, I bet you a million bucks that you're no better than I am."

She paused, then shrugged. "Yeah, to be honest, you're probably right. Especially not like this," she said, looking down at her unfamiliar form. "In the air I can be as gracious as I want. When I'm like this? Not so much." She took another swig of her cider as they both turned back to face the bar. "Still, judging by the state of you now, you're one for drinking, I'm guessing."

Nate looked down at the bottle in his hand, then back up to her. “Heh, sometimes. Who doesn’t mind a drink every now and again?” He smiled, and held up his bottle. “You know what? How about a toast?” 

She nodded and raised her bottle to his. “A toast to who, exactly?”

“To good friends,” he said.

“To good friends.” They both nodded, and took a drink.


***



Florence, Italy
30th November 1524
1:04PM


The looming shadow, cast by the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, across the courtyard provided the citizens of Florence with much needed shelter from the midday sun. It was a beautiful day, and crowds of people flooded the streets, either going shopping, getting something to eat, or simply enjoying a relaxing walk around the city. Among them all was a small family, led by a middle-aged woman. She led her child through the busy streets, while supporting her husband as he clutched at his chest.

“You should have stayed home,” she told him as he sat down on a nearby bench, coughing slightly. 

“I am home,” he replied, smiling up at her. 

She smiled back, before leaning down and kissing him on the cheek. “We will be right over here,” she informed him, pointing to a market stall on the other side of the courtyard. He nodded, and watched as his daughter took her hand and dragged her away, smiling. Ezio’s smile widened as his daughter, Flavia, turned and waved at him. He waved back, just as a younger man sat down next to him.

“I hate this damn city,” the young man complained, turning his nose up as he looked across the courtyard. “I wish I was in Roma,” he continued, looking towards Ezio. “I hear the woman are...” He paused for a second and smiled. “Like ripe sangiovese on the vine, you know? Not like here, Firenze.” He spat on the ground to emphasise his distaste. 

“I don’t think Firenze is your problem,” Ezio murmured, looking away.

“Prego?” the man said, raising an eyebrow. Ezio went to respond, but found himself gasping for breath. The man took his hand firmly, and looked him in the eye.

“Coraggio vecchio,” he told the older man, staring into his eyes. Ezio stared back, still gasping for breath, as the young man nodded slowly, a small smile on his face. “Get some rest, huh?” He gave Ezio a small tap on the shoulder before standing up and walking away. 

Clutching at his chest and gasping for breath, the former assassin glared at the man as he walked away, before being distracted as a young woman occupied the spot that he had just left vacant. Even in his current pain, Ezio could swear that he had seen her before. The purple eyes, and that purple hair with a pink stripe. He looked up at her, and smiled warmly.

Twilight Sparkle looked back, tears welling in her eyes, as she took both of his hands in hers. “Thank you, Ezio,” she whispered, smiling. “Thank you for everything.” Then, without another word, she stood up and walked away. Ezio stared at the spot where she had been sitting for a few moments, before looking up to see where she had gone. No matter where he looked, she was nowhere to be found. 

Closing his eyes softly, Ezio Auditore took one final look towards his wife, Sofia, and his daughter. They were both looking at some pottery the owner of the stall had to offer. Smiling one last time, he leaned back and closed his eyes.


***



Beecher’s Hope, Equestria
11th April 1003 C.R.
6:05PM


“Well, I certainly like what you’ve done with the place.”

John Marston smiled, tipping back his hat as the orange mare approached. “Well, thank you kindly, Applejack. Couldn’t have done it without your help, of course.” He trotted down from the porch of his new farmhouse and gazed around at the land that surrounded it. Land that was all his, to do with whatever he pleased.

“Shucks, it the least we could do,” Applejack replied modestly, blushing slightly. “Seein’ how you and your friends saved my farm and all, I find it only fitting that we help start yours. Speakin’ of which...” She looked out at the vast fields around them. “What are you gonna do with your farm anyway?”

“I think I might just tend to livestock,” he told her. “Chickens, cattle, that sort of thing. They’ll all have plenty of space to roam around.” Chuckling, he looked over at her. “Don’t you worry none, I ain’t lookin’ to steal any of your apple business. I think I just want to settle down, live off the fat of the land.”

“Sounds like as good a plan as any, I reckon,” she said to him as they walked back over to his farmhouse. “You’ve certainly done more than enough to earn it, that’s for sure. Though I gotta ask: why’d you name it ‘Beecher’s Hope’?”

He stopped and paused for a moment. “It’s... a personal thing,” he replied, looking up at her. 

“I see. Well then, what have you been up to recently? Other than setting everything up, of course.”

“Well, I visited Cole’s grave the other day,” he said solemnly. “Seems like it’s only respectful, you know?”

“Do ya miss him?” asked AJ, stopping to look at him.

“I guess.” He sighed, and looked up at the setting sun. “He was a good guy, that’s for sure.”

Applejack nodded. “That he was. A good friend too. Not just to us and you, but almost certainly to the people he knew from his world.”

Staring up at the sky, Marston murmured, “Yeah, he was a good friend.” He pondered for a moment, thinking about everything he had been through. Riding in a gang, saving his family, being killed, and then resurrected as a pony. He thought of all the friends he had made in the brief time he had been in this strange new world. I don’t think I would have missed this for the world. Thankful, he looked back to Applejack and smiled warmly, before inviting her inside, ready to begin his new life.


THE END