//------------------------------// // Welcome to France // Story: Assassin's Creed: Friendship is Sacred // by iDeltaVelocity //------------------------------// Assassin’s Creed: Friendship is Sacred Chapter 2: “Welcome to France” Am I near an ocean? That was the first thing on Twilight’s mind as she eventually regained consciousness. She awoke to the calm, serine sound of water openly swaying in the air. Her entire body ached from what happened. The last thing she remembered was the Element of Magic going out of control from whatever happened to it. She was still trying to determine what made it go berserk in the first place. The soft clang of metal hitting the ground reached her eyes. The Element of Magic rolled into her field of vision before finally coming to a stop. Twilight reached her hand out and grabbed it. “Wait! Hands! Where are my hooves?” Twilight was in full panic mode now. A thousand questions ran through her mind as she wondered what happened with the Element—and where it had brought, and what it had done to her. She checked herself over, seeing that she wasn’t a unicorn anymore but a tall, hairless primate without a tail. What were they called again? Humans? Bipedal creatures; she knew that much about them. The only part of her that still had fur was the top of her head. She attempted to stand, though she was staggering the most of time. They felt like jelly; it was a very uncomfortable feeling, and she felt back on her butt when trying to balance. Spike makes this look so easy. Okay, just take your time, Twilight, and try to stand up slowly. She attempted to stand again, cringing when some of the bones in her legs cracked. It was going better the second time. She used the wall for support to keep her from falling again. So far, so good. Just a little more. “Twilight? What happened to you? And to us?” That sounded like Rainbow Dash. She twisted her body around to look behind her and saw five more humans, and immediately recognised the one with rainbow-coloured hair. The clothes they had were the same colour as their coats when they were ponies and heavily resembled the ones worn during the pre-Nightmare Moon era. “Where in tarnation are we?” asked Applejack. She was the only one not having a tough time as compared to the others, thanks to all that time and hard work she’d put in at the farm. Twilight struggled to turn herself around, using the wall for support. It was hard to accurately determine what was happening to them. The first thing they realised was that an unknown magic had forcibly taken control of the Element, and then they’d found themselves here in a totally different body and species. They looked around to get a grip off their surroundings. On one end of the alley was what looked like a pier of some sorts, with several large ships stationary in the water; the other end led to the sound of a large crowd. Was it ponies? They doubted that they were Canterlot since it was day time. They had to be in Saddle Arabia, or at least somewhere else in the world. “Wanna take a chance?” Rainbow asked the five of them. They did not have much of a choice going for them. They headed for the source of the noise, the Element of Magic in Twilight’s hand, and when they finally emerged from the alley, they were greeted not greeted to the sight of ponies, but instead by more humans. There was a huge crowd of them walking across the street in front of them. “I don’t think we’re in Equestria,” said Fluttershy. She was frightened by this new world, filled with a species that she had never seen before. Were they friendly, or were mean? They were too nervous to find out. Rarity, on the other hand, seemed vaguely impressed, not by the humans, but by the buildings that surrounded the area. Many of them had beautiful pictures on the sides, painted with such precise accuracy that they almost looked realistic. “Oh my… Whoever did this must have a magnificent taste for design.” “Why thank you, madam,” said a voice. Nearby, a human stood wearing an artist’s hat and holding a roll of paper in his hands. “It is always a pleasure to meet someone who appreciates my work.” “Well I must say, you certainly have a special gift for painting,” said Rarity. The artist flashed a smile. “Well I must admit that I did not paint all of this on my own. I have a team with me, but each and every design came from my own mind. And you, madame, look like a canvas painted beautifully—” “Okay, we get the idea. It was nice meeting you, really, but we have to go. We’ll see you around!” With that, Twilight pulled Rarity away as the six of them moved through the crowd of humans, eventually finding someplace within the area where they could talk amongst themselves privately. Rarity glanced at her friends with a look of distaste. “That was rude.” “Sorry, Rarity, but we need to find out where the Element brought us to before we can do anything else.” “Twilight’s right,” said Applejack. “For all we know, we could have ended up in some freaky parallel universe or something. Ah jus’ don’t think it’s safe converging with anypony or anythin’ till we have a grip on the situation first.” Rarity crossed her arms. “I suppose you two are right. But where do you suppose we look to find out where we are?” “We could check that map over there,” said Pinkie Pie. She was pointing towards a large piece of paper nailed to the side of a building with the words, “Carde de Paris,” written across the top in bold letters. Despite the unknown language, they could still definitely tell it was a map. A circle with a star inside was placed on one section of the map, which indicated their current location. Twilight thought it was a start for them, but then she saw the words written throughout the rest of the map. She sighed. “I can’t read any of this,” she said, “It’s going to be difficult getting around if we don’t know where we’re going.” “Well we haven’t tried ask’n somepony,” said Applejack, “There has to be a lot of people here nice enough to give us directions.” Rainbow Dash turned her gaze to the pink-haired pony-turned-human standing next to her. “What do you think we should do, Fluttershy? You haven’t said a word since we got here.” Fluttershy averted her eyes to the ground. She never did like being the decision maker. “Well, I don’t know if we should ask. We don’t really know much about them. What if they’re dangerous?” “They can’t be that dangerous, darling,” said Rarity. She looked around, noticing the many humans casually going about their days. “I’m sure there is somepony we can talk to, like that artist.” Twilight rolled her eyes. Not that Rarity finding love was a bad thing; it was just the thought of interspecies relations that sounded a tad strange to her. Continuing through the streets, they searched out for anyone who could help them with their dilemma. Twilight kept a tight grip on the Element, making sure not to let go. The last thing she wanted to do was lose it. The streets were crowded, and it made movement through the large amounts of people difficult. They’d almost gotten separated multiple times, only barely able to stay close with each other. They asked plenty of people around, though the answers they received were not understandable. They kept asking if they were ‘English,’ whatever that was. After a half-hour of searching, they took a break. They found that barely anyone here was too willing to help a group of six “suspicious-looking” strangers with directions. Pinkie Pie backed up and took a seat on a bench. “I’m tired. Can we get something to eat?” Applejack shrugged, uncertain of an answer. “I don’t know about that, Pinkie. We don’t even know what type of currency this place uses. Get’n food ‘round these parts is gonna be mighty difficult.” The girls sighed. They were getting nowhere. “So what should we do now?” asked Rainbow Dash. No pony was sure how to respond to that. After spending Celestia knows how long in this strange new world, they found that their choices were very limited, almost to the point that virtually every one of their actions were restricted on the basis that it would be doomed to fail. Perhaps there was someone who spoke their language and could give them some assistance. In their mulling, they noticed a group of humans walking towards them. They were not like the others; they were equipped with silver armour with blue uniforms worn underneath. They seemed like the Royal Guardsmen for this country. They approached Twilight. “Can we help you?” the former unicorn asked. She immediately regretted talking when one of them unsheathed a sword. “We’ll be taking that-” he pointed to the Element of Magic with his sword, “-with us, if you don’t mind.” Twilight and her friends stepped back. She tightened her grip on the artifact. Why would they want it? “No way!” “You can’t have this?” Rainbow snapped at them, “There’s no way!” In reality, she was scared. Seeing these guys threatening her and friends with weapons was way too much for her. The guard laughed at her response. “Oh we can’t? Then I guess we’ll have to slice your hand off for it. “Camaradas, les tuer!” They charged at them. The girls turned and ran as the guards began to give chase. People in the area made way for the girls, allowing them new passage through the streets. Yells and insults were thrown at them in an unknown language. Rainbow Dash longed for her wings so that she could fly and buck every last guard in sight. Without her wings, she felt useless, as did Twilight and Rarity without their magic and Pinkie Pie without her party cannon. Applejack could have possibly given them a chance to fight back if it weren’t for their weapons. “Hand over the treasure!” Twilight heard one of them shout. They must have been referring to the Element in her hand. But why would they need it? Seeing as she couldn’t use magic in her new body, it was obvious that this world lacked one of any kind, so there was no reason for them to have it, not to mention it being the most powerful artifact known to all of Equestria. It was just far too valuable to let it be taken away. The girls hoped to lose the guards in the crowd; Rarity could have sworn that more had joined in on the chase. They had a difficult time trying to escape, though in the process they did managed to lose at least three of them. They came across another alley and took the chance to hide. They pressed themselves against the wall as the guards ran by. Thanks to the amount of people, they didn’t seem them. It gave the girls the opportunity to catch their breaths. “What do we do now?” asked Fluttershy. Twilight tried to think of a useful solution, but couldn’t. “I don’t know.” “They seem to really want that Element, Twi,” said Applejack. “We can’t let them have it.” “I know we can’t. It’s just strange, is all.” Applejack couldn’t see why’d want it, and she had a hunch that artifacts like it didn’t exist in this world—at least not that she knew off. They called it a treasure, which meant that they had probably heard of it, somehow. “I say we should try to leave the city.” Rainbow looked at her. “How? We don’t even know where to go.” “There they are!” At the other end of the alley, a guard stood, pointing his sword at them. “I found them!” The girls continued to run as the chase resumed, now pursued by a seemingly larger number. Fluttershy tripped; she flipped over onto her back to see one of the guards closing in on her. She inched herself away as he crept closer, a knife drawn in his hand. He lifted it in the air and she closed her eyes. Five seconds passed, then ten, then fifteen, and they had not yet met her end. She opened one eye to see another man, this one dressed in white robes and armed with an entire arsenal of weaponry around his body, standing with his back turned to her. The guard that’d been chasing her looked at the sky with pain clearly visible on his face. The knife dropped from his hand. He slumped to the ground, and the man in white ropes withdrew what looked by a wrist blade covered in blood from his chest. “Assassin! Rip him to pieces!” At those words, the Assassin unsheathed a sword and leapt at the guards. The girls watched as he easily outmaneuvered and dispatched each and every one of them. Blood was spilled with each swing cutting through into raw flesh; his wrist blade pierced into their armour, thrusting into their bodies for a quick kill. He dodged, ducked, jumped, and strafed, and one by one his enemies fell to the ground until the last one stood—the leader of the pack. He had a spear pointed at the Assassin, though it was obvious he didn’t seem afraid since he could kill from a distance. Nevertheless, the Assassin proved too much. For each thrust and swing, he missed and became ever more frustrated. Another thrust, and the Assassin grabbed hold of the weapon. He pulled the lead guard in, throwing a fist towards his face before kneeing him in the gut, and forcing him to let go of his weapon. Finally, he moved behind the guard and ran the spear through his back, ending his life. Throwing the spear to the ground, the Assassin hurried over to the girls. He looked at them innocently with green eyes, the rest of his face hidden behind a half-face mask. “If you want to escape here alive,” he said in an accented voice, “then you’ll follow me.” He hurried into a nearby alley, stopping to motion them to follow. “Hurry!” The girls weren’t sure if they could trust him, after what they’d just witnessed. He killed an entire group of armed guards by himself! And now he wanted the six of them to follow him to Celestia knows where. Voices from other humans echoed throughout the area. They sounded like more guards, which meant they would end up dead if they were seen. Having no option, they followed the Assassin, knowing he probably had more knowledge of the city and where he was going than they did. This man was quick. He moved like a Jaguar stalking its prey through large grass, easily making his way through the maze-like alley around him. It made it difficult for the six former ponies to follow, but it was a surprise to them that they managed to keep sight of him for this long. Soon they were out of the alley, reaching what had to be a marketplace. The Assassin checked to see if it clear before motioning them to follow him to the right. “Wait just a minute, mister!” Rainbow Dash said, visibly exhausted. She didn’t like the fact that she was this tired, seeing as the pegasus could fly from Ponyville to Canterlot and back again without breaking a sweat. “We want answers. Just who are you?” The Assassin turned around and replied, “My name is Benoit D’aramitz, and you six are in grave danger.” “It’s a little too late to tell us that, don’t you think?” Applejack said. It was obvious that they were in danger after what had just happened. “Jus’ what the hay is go’n here? Who were those guys and why exactly were they chase’n us?” “I promise that I will explain everything you want to know once we return to the Bureau, but right now we must keep our pace before the Templars are able to find us. They have informants placed throughout the city, so standing in the open isn’t such a good idea.” That was the last thing he said before continuing. The girls followed before he was able to get far. The last thing they wanted in this situation was to lose their only guide through the city. Gabriel had cleared the area, leaving only a small number of witnesses to give him and the other guards details on what happened. With the several dead guards laid out in front of him, he saw that the Assassins were making their move. He was told of two more attacks reported in southern Paris, though with of it, he could tell that they were somewhat disorganised. Maybe he could capitalise on this chance to move the second artifact discreetly, so that he wouldn’t have to worry about the Assassins ambushing him. “And where did you see him run off to?” he asked a civilian. “He and those girls ran into that alley,” she confessed, “He was hellbent on trying to get them to safety.” “I can understand why. Now, get out of here.” He motioned the citizen to leave and called a guard over. Gabriel spoke to him low and monotonously: “Tell the others, now is our chance to move it. Not a moment too late.” “Are you sure?” “Yes, I’m sure! We may not receive another chance. And hopefully, with this, I’ll be able to convince the King to bolster security across France. The Assassins need to be dealt with as soon as possible.” The guard nodded and did as ordered, leaving the crime scene. Gabriel took a peek into his pouch. The Apple was still pulsating. There was no denying it: Those girls had Elements of Eden, and he had to act quickly if he wanted to keep the Assassins from using their power.