//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 // Story: Assassins Creed: Harmony // by caveman0803 //------------------------------// One Month Later Bunsen Burner was sitting in the living room of his finished house reading a book on advanced mechanics. He set the book down and looked around his home. It was a spacious living room with a coffee table in the middle of two sofas and an armchair at the head of it. He walked through a doorway into the kitchen to start a pot of water for tea. He was pulling out the tea leaves when he heard the bell ring. He left his kitchen and went through the door leading to his shop. When he walked to the front counter he saw a familiar purple unicorn standing there holding something in her magical aura. “Morning Twilight. What can I do for you today?” Bunsen asked. “Morning Bunsen. I need you to fix something for me.” Twilight said. “Looks like a projector. Let me take a look.” Bunsen replied. Bunsen used his green aura to take the projector from Twilight. “Whats seems to be the issue?” “Nothing to major.” Twilight said. “I think the bulb might be burnt out.” “Alright i’ll take a quick look.” Bunsen said “When do you need it back?” “Well me and the girls are gonna get together tonight, so i’d like it back before then.” Twilight said. “Sure. Give me a few minutes and i’ll be right back out.” Bunsen said. He went into the door leading to his right where is work desk was located so he could fix the projector. He set the projector down on his desk and used his magic to twist out the bulb. He looked above his desk, opened a drawer to his right, searched through the drawer to find the right light bulb and placed it in the device. Deciding to be extra cautious he decided to check the power supply. He opened up a door on the back of the projector to reveal a crystal that was going dim. Noticing this Bunsen used to his magic on the crystal and it began to glow brighter. With a smile he then closed the door. He grabbed the Projector and walked back into the front of the store to give Twilight back her projector. “There you are Twilight. I replaced the bulb just like you asked.” Bunsen explained “Also, the power crystal was almost empty, so I took the liberty of powering it up for you.” “Thanks Bunsen. How much do I owe you?” she asked “Well since it was a simple job, I’d say, 5 bits.” Bunsen said. “Sounds fair.” replied Twilight She traded over the bits for the projector and bid Bunsen farewell. Just as Bunsen was about to head back into his living room, the bell rang again. He looked towards the door and saw a yellow pegasus mare with a pink mane walk in. “Um...hello....I was told you could help me with something.” the mare whispered. “Of course ma’am.” Bunsen replied. “How can I help you?” She walked up to the front counter glancing around nervously. “Umm...well I need someone to fix a bookshelf for me.” She said “I’d ask my friend Applejack, but she’s busy and I don’t want to bother her.” Bunsen chuckled at the mares shyness. He knew another pony that could be that shy and it amused him. “Thats fine ma’am.” Bunsen replied. “When would you like me to come by and fix it?” This startled the poor mare because she wasn’t expecting him to say yes. “Umm will tomorrow be ok?” she asked “I have to go to my friends house tonight and I have errands I need to run today.” “Of course.” Bunsen replied “If I may ask though. Your name is Fluttershy, correct?” “Yes it is. How’d you know?” Fluttershy asked. “Twilight told me about all her friends, so I have an idea of what you all look like and I remember your names.” Bunsen explained. “Don’t worry about paying me for this service; since it’s such a simple job, it’s really not necessary.” “Are you sure? I can pay whatever you ask.” Fluttershy argued. “Don’t worry Fluttershy. Just think of this as a favor for a friend.” Bunsen said “Yea, Twilight is a great friend.” Fluttershy said. “She is indeed, but I meant you Fluttershy.” Bunsen said Fluttershy stood there with a look of surprise on her face. “You really consider me a friend?” she asked. “Of course. I have no reason to think otherwise and I have a talent for judging character.” Bunsen explained. “Plus, i’ve seen you around town and i’ve seen your kindness in action.” “Thank you so much. I’m sorry I forgot your name.” Fluttershy said “No problem Fluttershy. My name is Professor Bunsen Burner, but you can just call me Bunsen.” He said. Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you Bunsen. Have a good day.” She turned around and walked out through the door. Bunsen smiled and was going to walk through the doorway into his home when he noticed something in the corner of his eye. He turned his head and saw nothing. “Strange, I thought I saw somepony watching us.” Bunsen thought to himself. “Maybe I should walk around and see if there is anything strange going on.” He was about to walk through the front door when he heard a whistling. Realization struck him and he smacked his hoof to his face. “Crap, I forgot about the teapot again.” He said. Than he went into his kitchen to turn off the water. Afterwards he left his shop, turning his sign saying “Be Back Later”. (Later that night) Twilight was laying on a couch reading a book when she heard a knock on the door. She opened it to reveal the energetic pink party pony everypony knew, and loved, as Pinkie Pie. She was bouncing in place with her trademark grin on her face. Pinkie bounced into the library right into the kitchen to begin baking the various snacks that she had planned. She followed Pinkie into the kitchen to see what the party mare had planned. She saw that Pinkie was simultaneously mixing 3 bowls at once. Realizing her friend more than likely didn’t need any help, she decided to head back to her couch. However, before she could get to her couch she heard a loud banging on her door. She opened the door to reveal a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. “Damn it Rainbow Dash. I thought I told you to knock like a normal pony.” Twilight scolded. “Yea, Yea, whatever Twi. Did you get the projector fixed or what?” Rainbow questioned. Twilight sighed. Knowing her friend, she knew Rainbow had a very short attention span. “Yes Rainbow, I took it to Bunsen Burner and he replaced the bulb and recharged the power crystal.” Twilight said. “So we’ll be good for quite a while.” “Bunsen Burner? Isn’t that the guy who moved here about a month ago?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Yes, he opened up the repair shop here in town.” Twilight said. “Sounds cool.” Rainbow said “Yeap!” Pinkie said Pinkie’s sudden appearance caught Twilight and Rainbow Dash off guard and the two of them fell backwards. “Damn it, Pinkie! I thought I told you not to do that.” Twilight scolded. “Sorry Twilight.” Pinkie giggled. “I couldn’t resist.” Twilight and Rainbow picked themselves off of the floor and began dusting themselves off. “You know Pinkie, i’m surprised you haven’t thrown him a welcome party yet.” Rainbow pointed out. “Well, I was going to but something told me that it wouldn’t be a good idea right away.” Pinkie explained “So I decided to wait until after I get to know him to see when I can throw a party. However he seems to be able to avoid me whenever I try to talk to him.” Rainbow and Twilight were genuinely surprised. “Seriously?” Rainbow asked “There’s a pony who can avoid being caught by Pinkie Pie?” “I know, I was surprised too.” Pinkie said. “Well, have you tried, oh I don’t know, walking through the front door and talking to him?” Twilight asked sarcastically. “I never thought of that.” Pinkie said. “I’ll have to try that.” Twilight proceeded to smack her face with her hoof. She heard another knocking on her door, so she went to answer it. On the other side of the door was Rarity, Fluttershy, and Applejack. “Hey girls, you got here just in time.” Pinkie said “The goodies just got done and now we can start the movie.” (Two movies later) Fluttershy yawned and looked at the time. Realizing how late it was, she decided to head home. “Girls I have to head home now. I need to wake up early, so I can feed the animals.” said Fluttershy. “Are you sure about that Fluttershy?” Twilight asked. “It’s raining pretty hard.” As Twilight said that, she pointed out the window. It was indeed raining pretty hard, but Fluttershy knew that if she didn’t get enough sleep, she would end up falling asleep while feeding the animals. Again. “No, I need to get home.” Fluttershy insisted. “Thank you for offering Twilight.” “I need to get going too Twilight.” Pinkie said. “So I can walk Fluttershy to her house if it’ll make you feel better.” “Alright Pinkie. Well we’ll see you two tomorrow then.” Twilight said. “Bye.” Said Rarity, Rainbow, and Applejack. After leaving the library, Pinkie and Fluttershy began heading in the direction of Fluttershy’s cottage. When they got close to the edge of town, they noticed a group of ponies standing in their way. “Excuse me!” Pinkie yelled, so she could be heard over the rain. “Could you move please?” The pony in the middle, who they realized was holding a sword, spoke to them. “Sorry, but you need to come with us.” the stallion said. When he spoke Pinkie got a feeling in her gut saying to stay away from this pony. “Sorry, but I don’t think thats such a good idea.” Pinkie said while her and Fluttershy began backing away. “That wasn’t a request.” said the same stallion. Realizing that they were in trouble they began running back towards the library. When the library came into view, three more mystery ponies landed on the ground to block them from their destination. Seeing this, Pinkie pushed Fluttershy into a different direction. She decided that it would be safer if her and Fluttershy head towards Sugarcube Corner. As they were running, Fluttershy saw that the other ponies were quickly catching up to them, so she used her wing to get Pinkie’s attention, so she could point this out. Pinkie nodded her head and began running faster. Pinkie and Fluttershy realized that Sugarcube corner was also out of the picture, when they saw the mystery ponies were going to cut them off. They decided to run in the direction of the town market to see if there was a way to lose them. Before they could make it to the town market, they were once again cut off and forced into an alleyway. Unfortunately, the alleway lead to a dead end. Pinkie and Fluttershy turned around to escape, but they were blocked off by a larger group of ponies. One pony walked in front of the group and began talking. “Sorry ladies, but the fun stops here..” The stallion said. “We were told to bring you back in one piece, but they never said we couldn’t rough you up a bit.” He and two other ponies walked towards them with maces raised. Fluttershy and Pinkie hugged each other and closed their eyes. They waited for the inevitable to happen, but it never came. Pinkie and Fluttershy opened their eyes to see something completely different than what was there before. In front of them were the three ponies that were coming towards them previously, but they were laying on the ground in a pool of blood. In front of their bodies was a fourth pony facing the larger group, while the latter were staring at the newcomer with anger. The newcomer began to speak. “Templars are not welcome here.” He said “I suggest you leave, before I do to you what I did to your friends.” Fluttershy looked closely at the new arrival and gasped. “Bunsen Burner?” Fluttershy questioned. Pinkie Pie looked at Bunsen with a questionable expression. Thats when he began talking to them. “Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy. Stay behind me and don’t move.” Bunsen commanded. They both nodded and watched. “Get out of our way Assassin.” The lead Templar commanded. “We were told to bring the element bearers to HQ and there’s no way you can stop all of us.” “You’d be surprised what I can handle Templar.” Bunsen said calmly This angered the Templar. “Kill the Assassin!” He ordered. The group of Templars charged at Bunsen, hoping that their numbers would overwhelm him. However Bunsen just stood there waiting for his chance. When they passed a certain point, Bunsen began his assault. He turned around and bucked the first templar with his back hoof. When he pulled away a blade came out of the templars chest. Two more templars were already on him with blades raised. Bunsen easily parried the attack with the hidden blades hiding in the sleeves of his labcoat. After parrying the attack he quickly and efficiently sliced the throats of the two attackers. Fluttershy and Pinkie watched as the towns newest resident, easily took down the group of ponies that were chasing them. He easily blocked most of their attacks but as the group continued to assault him they realized that his movements began to slow down and the “Templars” were getting in more and more strikes on him. Bunsen was standing in front of Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie as he stared down the last remaining templars. Out of the 20 that attacked only 3 remained. Bunsen had taken quite the beating himself having received a few dozen cuts and a black eye. The remaining templars decided that Bunsen had had enough and decided that they’d finish him off. They charged at him to deliver a final blow to the wounded Assassin. Seeing the arrogance in their eyes Bunsen decided to wait. Once they were within hooves reach, Bunsen struck. He grabbed a sword with his magic and, with a quick swing, decapitated the remaining Templars. Bunsen dropped the sword and began walking towards Fluttershy and Pinkie, so he could check up on them. “Are you two alright?” Bunsen asked “Yea, we’re alright.” Pinkie said. “What happened? Who were those ponies and why were they after us?” “I understand you have a lot of questions but those are going to have to wait.” Bunsen said. “You two need to head home. I already check on your other friends and I put up a barrier that’ll last until the sun rises.” “Ok.” They both said. Bunsen turned around to head home, but was quickly deterred when he fell against against the wall. “Damn. I lost more blood than I thought.” He scolded himself. He began walking but lost the strength in his legs again. Before he could hit the ground he was caught by another strong body which belonged to a yellow pegasus. “Sorry Bunsen, but no matter how much I want to go home, I can’t in good conscience let you go home by yourself after what you did for us.” Fluttershy said. “But” Bunsen began “No buts.” Pinkie said “What kind of pony lets another pony go home by themselves in the state that you’re in?” Realizing that he couldn’t get out of it, he decided to just let the mares help him. They walked back towards Bunsen’s shop and went into his house. When they got into Bunsen’s living room he told them to have a seat so he could make them tea. When he came out of the kitchen he was carrying a tray with 3 empty teacups and a pot of tea. Then he went to a cabinet and pulled out a jar, which he set on the table, and three towels, two of which were given to Pinkie and Fluttershy. They then proceeded to dry themselves off. After pouring his guests tea, and drying himself thoroughly, he then opened the jar and applied the cream to all the cuts on his body. After he was done, Fluttershy decided to ask the question that had been bothering her. “Umm Bunsen, if it’s not to much of a bother, I was wondering. Why did they call you an Assassin?” Fluttershy asked. “Do you really kill ponies for money?” Bunsen sighed. “Yes and No.” he said. “I was an assassin, but not in the traditional sense of the word.” “What do you mean?” Pinkie asked “I belonged to an organization known as the Brotherhood of Assassins. Our goal was to stop the Templars from furthering their plans at any cost.” He explained. “What are their plans?” Fluttershy asked “They wanted to make a perfect world in their image.” Bunsen said “They want to promote purpose, order and control, essentially taking away any free will that a pony has.” “Oh my goodness.” Fluttershy said. “Thats awful.” Bunsen nodded his head and took a sip of his tea. “I agree thats why I became a part of the brotherhood.” “How would they take our free will away?” Pinkie asked “Think of it this way.” Bunsen began “How would you feel if another pony could tell you when, where, how, and who you could throw parties for and then told you how many ponies could come and what food you served.” “I guess i’d hate it.” Pinkie said. “Exactly. Thats why the Assassins exist.” Bunsen said “Earlier you said you WERE an Assassin and not that you ARE an Assassin.” Pinkie observed. “What did you mean by that?” Bunsen sighed. “It was a mission gone wrong. I was told to assassinate a templar who was posing as an assassin. I ended up getting bad information and killed one of my brothers thinking he was the double agent. I told our leaders that it was a mistake and that the informant had turned on us but they refused to believe me and thus sentenced me into exile.” Bunsen explained “They took away my blades and my reason for living. I had dedicated my whole life to the brotherhood and after that I had nothing. So I packed up what I could carry and left.” Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy looked at Bunsen with sympathy in their eyes. “Where did you go?” Pinkie asked “The only thing I could do. I traveled Equestria.” Bunsen explained. “I was content on traveling alone, keeping to myself and not bothering a soul. That is of course until I met Nightwish.” “Thats your daughter, right?” Pinkie asked Bunsen nodded his head. “I didn’t know you have a daughter.” Fluttershy said. “Yeap. Her name is Nightwish and she’s a thestral.” Bunsen explained. “I had been traveling for about year when I happened upon a town called Clydesdale. It was a small town about 500 miles west of Ponyville. I was passing through when I noticed a small filly walking past me with a bundle over her shoulder. Now normally I wouldn’t have bothered with it, but something told me that I needed to interfere. So i caught up to her and questioned why she had a pack and she was leaving to go out of town. She told me that I wouldn’t understand and continued to walk past me. So I decided to “up the ante” a bit and used my magic to lift her up and sit her on a bench then had a chat with her. She told me that the other orphans would make fun of her and the adults neglected her. So I decided to adopt the filly and she joined me on my trip.” After his explanation Bunsen, Pinkie, and Fluttershy took a drink of their tea. After a few silent minutes, Pinkie decided to restart the conversation. “So can you tell us about the Brother a bit?” Pinkie asked. “I can.” Bunsen said. “The Brotherhood of Assassins have been around for as long as Celestia has been in power. See the Assassins believe in ensuring the survival of freedom, as it allows for the progression of new ideas and the growth of individuality whereas the Templars sought to save Ponykind from itself by controlling free will.” “Wow, I wish I could join the Assassins.” Pinkie said “I would love to be able to protect a ponies right to have whatever kind of party a pony would want.” “And to be able to protect the ones that we love.” Fluttershy said “You mean like a certain purple unicorn?” Bunsen said. Fluttershy spit out the tea she had just drank and gave Bunsen a shocked expression. Bunsen chuckled at her expression and took a drink of his tea. “Fluttershy, I am a highly trained Assassin who can see and hear things that a normal pony would overlook, so based on that it was quite easy to notice the way you act towards her compared to your other friends. Not only that but I saw the way your eyes sparkle when she was mentioned early this morning.” Bunsen explained. Once Fluttershy realized that somepony had found out about her secret crush her cheeks began to blush furiously. They each finished their tea and Bunsen sent the dishes into the kitchen. Noticing how late it was he decided to get his guests a couple blankets and a few pillows. However, before he could finish this errand, he heard the bell chime in his shop. He decided to investigate by opening the door to the shop. However what was waiting for him was the last thing, or pony, he ever expected to see again. “Mentor?!”