Rift in Harmony

by KayRed_Bronynexgen

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Boba Fett walked into the castle, not bothering, to take his armor off, not bothering to even take his helmet off, and certainly not bothering to look at the many amazing sights and colors of Canterlot.

[He is a defiant one], the princess thought to herself.

The bounty hunter returned to Celestia's castle by evening, just as the sun was beginning to set, and Luna's moon began to rise. He entered the castle's throne room, where the princess will most likely be. Of the many grand rooms in the castle, the throne room has to be the grandest, with stained glass depicting various events from Equestrian history covering the walls, and giant pillars and columns standing tall to support the ceiling. The centerpiece of the room was, of course, the throne. It was made of solid gold and inset with only the most perfect gemstones, and in it sat Princess Celestia, looking on at a male unicorn pony in boredom as he talks of building a new railway.

"So, this railway will not only, in the long run, cut costs for the kingdom. It will also make the trip between Las Haygas and Fillydelphia much shorter and quicker. This would allow the military to also send soldiers quicker to Fillydelphia to stop the upris-"

"Mand'alor Fett! I expect from you returning that there was no problem with your...," the princess paused for a moment, while cutting off the unicorn from his ramblings, to find the right word, "...errand?"

"None at all," Fett replied, quick and to the point.

"I'm sorry sir, but Her Majesty and I were in the middle of a very important conversation. Would you kindly leave and wait your tu-," a loud crack filled the room and the unicorn was cut off a second time, but not by words. His body was facing Boba, but his head was facing Princess Celestia.

"I'm sorry sir, but you bore me," she retorted, with a sinister smile and allowed him to drop on the floor. "Take him away before he starts to stink!" she commanded of the guards.

"Right away Your Majesty," replied the pegasi guards in unison as they dragged the body for disposal.

"So tell me the details. I'd love to know how my political adversaries died," Celestia said with a seductive and evil voice, the kind that inspires the deepest fear in the most fearless of hearts.

"He was true to his cause until death. And he called you a cunt," Boba replied, sparing the details of the four guards and Fancy Pants' friend.

Celestia’s smile faded, "I expected as much. Resilient to the very end, but he didn't have to say rude things about me! I'm sorry for keeping you, Mand'alor Fett. You may leave."

At the end of the sentence, the bounty hunter turned and left the court, with the murder of the unicorn still fresh in his mind.

[He doesn't talk much. I like that,] thought Princess Celestia as he was leaving.

The two renegades and the Assassin walked off towards a predetermined area, where they would be teleported back. Pinkie did most of the talking.

"We should throw a party for our new friend here! I mean, it would just be right, right? We brought you from halfway across the universe and centuries in the past to help us! At least that's what old Clockwork said. He's always talking about impossible things like time travel and..." Pinkie continued talking all the way, through Ponyville, across the meadow, and to the outskirts of the Everfree forest, where the "transport" was waiting.

"Where is our... transportation?" asked Ezio, pausing to take time to look around.

"Right here in 3, 2, 1!" Pinkie counted down, and a bright flash of light, akin to the portal that opened for Ezio, but not nearly as loud or as destructive, blinded the Assassin.

Derpy flapped her wings happily and smiled at Ezio before going though the portal. Pinkie skipped in close behind, an even bigger smile on her face. [Even in this chaos and war, these people still have it in then to smile and be happy. My people at home could learn from them. If on-] Pinkie interrupted his thoughts as she popped her head through the still open portal.

"What are you waiting for slowpoke? Everpony is waiting!" with those words, she retracted her head like some sort of jack-in-the-box.

Ezio started foward with his right foot, and shielded his eyes with his hand as he stepped through the portal. He went through, but on the other side, he didn't see what he was expecting. No Pinkie Pie, jumping around and celebrating his arrival. No Leonhardt and Clockwork Wise bickering over scientific matters in a corner. No Princess Luna waiting for information on the rescue. What he saw instead was the forest.

"Mister?" Came Derpy's voice through the portal, just as it closed shut, and trapping Ezio in Ponyville.

"The light came from over here sir. It was just there a minute ago," came a voice in the darkness.

"Well, you better hope that there's something there Private, or so help me Celestia I will kick you straight to the moon!" came a gruffer, and more menacing second voice, followed by a few others agreeing with what Ezio reasoned to be the leader.

[There are at least four of them, I certainly can take four, but not without attracting attention from the other guards. I better hide] Ezio thought, and found a hiding place behind a towering oak tree.

"Sir, I swear there was a bright fla-"

"You're lucky you weren't here 15 years ago! If you were, I would have beaten you to a bloody pulp! Do you understand me!" the leader shouted at the lesser guard, spittle flew out of his mouth, and his face turned red with fury. "You wasted my time and energy for- wait. Are these footprints?"

A flash of silver and one of the guards has his throat cut open. Blood spurts on the other two, and Ezio jumps on them, revealing his hidden blade and the hook blade and drove them both through the two guards' skulls. As Ezio struggles to remove the hook blade from one of the dead bodies, the leader takes out his alien pistol, and fires three beams of pure energy, but each shot goes wild.

Fearful that he might be struck by one of them, Ezio takes a chance. He outstretches his right hand, cocks his wrist back, letting his vambraces shine in the light of Luna's moon, and fires. A loud bang from the explosion that takes place within the gun, that pushes a musket ball out of the barrel of Ezio's hidden gun and slams into the head of the guards, emenates through the outskirts of the forest.

"Over there! Terrorist!" shouted a pegasus, who flew up and pointed a gloved hand towards the hooded figure of Ezio.

All hell broke loose. With a curse sung in Italian, Ezio turned tail, and fled into the Everfree forest.
_______

"What happened? Where's Ezio?" asked Clockwork with a confused look dominating his usually serene face. "What did you do Leonhardt?"

"I... really have no idea what happened there. I opened the portal, everyone else got in just fine. Did Ezio decide not to go through?" Leonhardt asked Pinkie Pie.

The four ponies had just returned from the portal exit and now sat in a metal warehouse with a smooth stone floor, built into the canyon the base was located in, hidden in the shadow of a cliff at the far reaches of the Everfree forest. The lights 20 feet above buzzed with life and the walls were lined with all sorts of tools, both alien and from Equestria. On the far side of the warehouse, stood a giant unfinished metal skeleton of what looked to be a bird with its beak pointing toward the door, which was just as tall as the ceiling itself.

"I saw him follow us, but I think he was left behind. Oh no, Celestia's guards might have seen it and that means Ezio is in trouble! We have to help him, we have to go back. Please can you take us back," Pinkie looked on at the two scientists with begging eyes, and grabbed Leonhardt's shoulders.

"It's impossible, the por-" Leonhardt tried expect explain, but was cut off.

"Plllleee!" the pink earth pony continued eyes incredibly huge.

"The portal's only-"

"eeeeeaaaaaasssssseee!"

"One way! Theportal'sonlyoneway!" Leonhardt quickly blurted out the reason before the pink earth pony could continue.

"I could get him," a certain cross-eyed pegasus suggested.

"No. Sorry, but we almost lost you once today, and you're too valuable to us for this. For all we know, he could already be dead or worse," said the aged inventor in his soft voice that he still managed to keep firm and commanding. “Besides, your husband would kill us if we sent you out again.”

"We're sorry, but there's nothing we can do," replied the younger inventor with moist eyes. "But, the Apples probably can help!”

Pinkies eyes widened, “oh, oh, oh, I’ll give her a call right now…where’s the phone?”
________

Beams of light lit up the forest and slammed into the undergrowth, bursting into flames. Ezio sprinted through the forest, lit only by fire and the brief flashes of light coming from the guards' blasters.

"Don't let the bucker get away!" a pegasus clad in modified Storm Trooper armor tried to continue the chase, but the rest of his entourage stayed behind. "What in Celestia's name are you all doing? After him!"

"That there is Apple Family propuhty. We don' go no furthah suh," said a unicorn in the gold stroken stark white uniform of Celestia's army. “He is thar…”

The Assassin noticed their hesitation, and came to a sudden halt to listen.

"Fine. Leave the Apple Family to deal with him."

The six or so uniformed guards, and the other one in the armor that belonged in a museum, left the area, leaving Ezio to wonder who this Apple Family was, and why they would cause seven trained killers to turn back.

"Don' turn aroun', an' put your 'ands up," came a voice from behind Ezio. It had a strange dialect, but he had seen so many strange things in one day alone, he barely took notice of it. "Tha's better. Turn around real slow like, an' if Ah see you reaching fo' anythin', Ah shoot. Understand?" the strange voice talked was very shaky, and sounded high pitched, as if it was coming from just a child.

"What is your name little girl and what brings you into this war?" sung Ezio in a soft voice as he turned around to face the source of the voice.

"Ah was sent tah look for you by-" the little redheaded, pony girl with yellow tinted skin, in overalls, holding an alien blaster, was cut off by a frantic voice yelling through the apple trees.

"Applebloom! We were worried sick abou' you! Thank the stars you're okay!" another pony girl, this time with orange skin and coarse, blond hair, that reminded Ezio of the color of wheat, ready to be picked, rushed out of the brambles, and embraced the little girl against her, forcing the little girl to drop the alien weapon. The older girl looked up and asked about Ezio. "Who's this fella?"

"He's the guy the guards were chasin' after, an' someone from the Resistance called an' asked fo' us tah help. An' you don' need to treat me like Ah'm only a li'l filly anymore! Ah'm almost' twelve!" the little girl, Applebloom, pouted to her big sister.

"Applebloom, please. Le's jus' get you an' this man home," the older one replied and turned to Ezio. "Who are you anyway?"

Not sure if he should trust these two, Ezio replied, "Alonso Alvisio da Venezia. You have a very nice orchard," the Italian replied in the musical accent that can win over the most mistrusting of hearts. "What is your name?"

"Applejack, an' Ah thank ya fo' the nice words," the older one, Applejack, forced a smile.

"And you must be Applebloom, what a nice name," the Assassin lowered himself to look into Applebloom's eyes.

"Thank ya Mister Venezia!"

"No, Venezia is the city where I come from. Call me Alonso," Ezio corrected, still musically accented

"Come on Alonso, le's get ya back," Applejack started off down torwards the barn.
__________

The two farmers and Ezio returned to their house, Applejack scolding Applebloom the entire way. They walked into a big, red painted home, and sat down in the living room. The living room had a green circular carpet in front of the television, and a big beige couch with a smaller one to it's right and turned 90 degrees.

"So what can Ah do for ya, Ezio?" said Applejack, turning to face the man.

Ezio furrowed his brow, "How did you know my name?"

"The Resistance called tah tell me abou' you. An' that my sister here picked up the phone an' tried tah talk like me!" Applejack turned to face Applebloom, who was looking down.

"Ah was jus'-"

"-Tryin' tah get yerself killed!" Applejack's face grew red for a moment, and her body tensed, but she breathed in, relaxed her muscles and regained her composure. The orange earth pony turned to Ezio to speak, "Yah gonna have tah stay here tonight. Then we set out in the mornin'. Ah'll go call Luna, she'd want tah know her newest soldier is alright. Applebloom, go show Ezio his room," Applejack walked off towards the phone and dialed a number.

"What's wrong mister, never seen a phone befo'e?" asked Applebloom.

"What is a phone?" asked Ezio.

"Wow! I though' yah looked ol' timey, but I never though' ya were actually from the past!" Applebloom answered in surprise while leading the Assassin up the stairs to one of the many guest rooms.

"We are actually in the future too?"

"Well, tha's what tha' ol' Clockwork fella said. Well, he's ain't really old, he had an accident a few months back."

"What happened?"

"He was tryin' tah make a magical battery, but it exploded in his face, and aged him 45 years or so."

"Leonardo must be in paradise conversing with those two."

"Here's your room Ezio," Applebloom replied and opened a door to a small cozy room with a small bed against one wall, a full length mirror on a closet door, and a writing desk against another wall.

"Thank you Applebloom.” Ezio looked at the older pony “Please, allow me to repay you somehow"
“T’aint nothing required of ya’ll sugarcube,” Said Applejack. “We’re gonna have’ta wait ‘while t’go back. Patrols are gonna be crawl’n all over forest.”