//------------------------------// // Prologue: An Old Enemy // Story: The Descendants // by Gherkin //------------------------------// 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