> Elements of Eden > by Jaysong _ the _ brony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > The end of an era > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The end of an era. That's all that was going through Altair's mind as he walked in the library.The end of an era. As he walked through the hallway, Altair contemplated on his life. When his father died. The incident in Jerusalem. When he killed Al Mualim. His exile from the order. When he killed Abbas. When the mongols invaded.The end of an era. As he walked into the hall, Altair went to the back of the room and pressed the Assassin symbol on the wall, opening the secret compartment. When it opened, Altair grabbed from his robe, the Apple of Eden. As Altair gazed at the ancient weapon, he remembered what the Apple had shown him. All those schematics and plans. When Altair closed the vault, he soon felt a wave of fatigue over him. He suddenly felt the need to sit down. Just for a couple of minutes, Altair thought to himself as he sat down into the chair. Altair then pulled out of his robe, his masyaf key. As he looked at the keys differing lines, he wondered who the Assassin would be that walked into this room and claimed the Apple. Altair then smiled to himself as his world was slowly enveloped by darkness. > A Second Chance > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Altair was confused at where he is.is this really the afterlife? Not as glamorous as I thought. His thoughts were cut short when he noticed something in the darkness. At first, Altair couldn't make out what it was, but as it got closer, he could see some notable features. The creature was of a gargantuan height, standing 2 or 3 feet higher than Altair. It was wearing a deathly black robes, and had a massive scythe in his right hand. He had a deathly pale color skin, but what got Altair the most was his eyes: his cruel, lifeless eyes. They were pitch black, and devoid of any feelings or mercy. And he spoke with a chilling, skin numbing voice. "I am the embodiment of death, misery, and betrayal" he said. "Who are you?" "I am Altair Ibn A'halad, master Assassin, and bearer of the Apple of Eden. " "Hmmmmm," death said as he stood there, contemplating the name. "By the looks of things, you've been given a second chance at life," death said, looking Altair dead in the eyes, confirming that this isn't a joke. "Well, by all means, I'll take the offer, " Altair said, obvious excitement in his voice. A second chance at life! Altair almost couldn't believe it. Personally, he thought that he was to wicked to even be offered a second chance. "Well good, " said death, as he started the ritual. Death started to swing the scythe around and around his head, and then he pointed the scythe at the darkness, and a portal opened, a beacon of light in the pitch darkness. "This will be the world that you are sent to," death said as he pointed at the portal. Altair then looked at the portal, and almost couldn't believe what he saw. He saw 6 strange technicolor ponies galloping and playing together. "You've got to be kidding me, " Altair said as he examined the portal, a look of utter disgust on his face. "This is your only chance for a new life, " said death. "Either that or wander in this desolate landscape for the rest of eternity. " Altair carefully laid out his options: he could either take the second chance at life, or be damned for eternity. The choice was obvious. "I'll take the new life. " Well then, " death said, pointing at the portal." In you go." Altair took a quick minute to breathe, before jumping into the portal . . . After finishing all of her errands, twilight sparkle took a minute to breathe. She had been working the entire day, signing documents, buying fresh supplies, and writing a letter to Celestia about getting a stunt site for rainbow dash. I could really use some r&r right about now, she thought as she settled in, about to curl up into a good book, when she heard it. It was barely audible at first, but then it became almost defeaning "What on earth is that ruckus, " said twilight as she went out of the library to investigate. What she saw was almost unbelievable. What she saw was a gray- white blur, racing through the skies. "DEEEEAAAAAAAATTTTTTTHHHHHHH!!" Yelled the blur as it raced and crashed into twilight's room. > Welcome to Equestria > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Altair woke up with pain everywhere in his body. "Uhhhhhhhhh, my head, " he said, clutching his head with his hand, to find that it isn't a hand. It's a hoof. Altair looks at what used to be his hand, then screams at the top of his lungs, then passes out yet again. . . . When he woke up for the second time that day, Altair found himself surrounded by 6 multicolored ponies. "Oh mah Celestia, are you alright sir?" Said one of the ponies. She appeared to be a orange colored ponie, with a physique that proves that she's a hard worker. She also had freckles, greenish eyes, and wearing some sort of headwear. There appeared to be a mark on her flank that consisted of three apples. "Give him some space applejack, " said the pony next to her, a cyan colored pony. This one had a rainbow colored mane and tail, violet eyes,wings, and the mark on HER flank was a cloud with a rainbow colored lighting bolt protruding out of it. "Ah know 'bout givin ponies space rainbow," said the one called applejack." Ah was just wonderin if he's alright. " "Girls, girls, quit fighting," said one of the ponies, a pure white one, with a horn protruding out of it's forehead. "He's probably hurt." "No, no," said Altair, slowly rising out of the bed. "I'm fine." "Wow, so you CAN talk," said one of the ponies, a pink pony. "At first I thought that you couldn't talk, and I thought, 'awwwwww, poor guy,' but then you started talking, and I thought 'yaaaaaay!' So now I have to start planning a 'welcome to ponyville' party, because I've never seen you before, and I know everypony in ponyville, so that means-" As she was saying this all in one breath, a resounding "PINKIE!" Across the room was enough to silence the hyperactive pony. "Ok, yeesh, tough crowd, " said the pony named pinkie as she walked away from Altair. As she did so, one of the ponies, a lavender pony, came up to speak to the stranger. Altair was immediately captured by her beauty. She was a lavender pony, with a mane and tail that were colored different shades of purple, beautiful violet eyes, and the mark on her flank was a six pointed star, surrounded by 5 other stars, and had both wings and a horn. Altair admired her so much, that he almost didn't hear her question. "Um, excuse me sir, but who are you, and what are you doing here? " With a bow, he answered, "I am Altair Ibn A'halad, son of Umar Ibn A'halad, grandmaster of the Assassin brotherhood. He said, then lifted up and kissed her hoof. The pony then blushed, then getting her feelings under control, answered, "I am princess twilight sparkle, protector of ponyville, and the element of magic." Altair then bowed again, and looking around the room, said "Who are your friends? " "Oh, my apologies, " twilight said as she led Altair around the room. "This is Rarity, " she said, pointing at the white pony. "Well hello there, " said rarity in a friendly tone. "And over here is rainbow dash, " twilight said as she pointed to the cyan pegasus he noticed earlier. "What's up," said the mare as she waved at Altair. He gladly returned the wave, before continuing introductions. "And nd over here is applejack," twilight said to Altair, hinting at the orange pony. "Well howdy there, " applejack said offering a hoof to the new comer. Altair took it, before being shown to the next pony in line. "And I'm pinkie pie! I'm the party pony here in ponyville. " said the pink mare in front of him. He showed a quick nod of his head before the next pony. "And finally, we have Fluttershy," said twilight, pointing to the mare in front of him. He didn't remember this pony before. Fluttershy was a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail, blue eyes, and on her flank was three butterflies. "Just one quick question, " said Altair. "What are those marks on your flanks? " "Oh, you mean our cutie marks," said twilight. "Well, they show a pony's special talent, like my cutie mark represents my ability with magic," twilight said, pointing to her flank. "Honestly, I'm surprised that you don't know what a cutie mark is. I mean, you have one too, said the lavender mare, hinting to my flank. I then turn to see the Assassin symbol on my flank. "Do you have a mirror, " Altair asked twilight. "Yeah, it's right in there," she said, pointing to what looked like a restroom. Altair then went inside, and was astonished at what he found. He was a light gray unicorn, with a black mane and tail, with brown eyes, and a gray horn on his forehead. Altair then came out of the bathroom to the other ponies. "Sorry, " he apologized. "Just needed to check something, so what can you tell me about where the hell I am? " "Oh, well it's quite simple, " said twilight, pulling out a large book.[iwell, it looks like it's going to be a long day, > A Bully and a Princess > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "OK, so let me get this straight: you prevented equestria from falling into eternal night, defeated the embodiment of chaos himself, helped save an entire EMPIRE, and defeated a crazy centaur all with the power of friendship?" It had been two days since Altair had arrived in equestria, and already he and twilight sparkle were the best of friends. They were on their way to sugarcube corner to get some lunch. They were trading adventures during their lives "Yep," said a smiling twilight. "Although it's not as cool as saving the entire planet just using your badassery." Altair smiled at this. Twilight reminded him of Maria. She was smart, beautiful, caring, and unafraid. But this frightened Altair also. Was he being unfaithful to Maria, falling for someone else? Altair hoped... "I SAID, OUT OF THE WAY LOSER!" Altair jumped at this sudden insult. He turned to find a scared Fluttershy cowering under the gaze of an agitated Griffin Twilight's friends knew all to well. "What are you, deaf?!" said Gilda as she glared daggers at the pony under her feet. "I... I'm... S-sorry... I d-didn't mean t-to," said a teary eyed Fluttershy as she tried to make herself as small as physically possible. "Well you should look where you're going you bucking RETARD!" Gilda procceded to slap the yellow pegasus before her. "p-please," said Fluttershy, bawling now. "I... I-i'm S S Sorry-" Gilda slapped Fluttershy before she could finished. "you're a despicable creature that shouldn't be on this planet!" Every word that the fuming griffin said made Altair angrier and angrier. When Gilda slapped Fluttershy for the third time, Altair lost it. Altair charged at the Griffin, yelling a battlecry that chilled the bones of everyone that heard it. When gilda turned, the sight before her made her stopped dead in her tracks. A strange Grey unicorn was walking toward her, with a look in his eyes that could rival even the stare. But the griffin was as stupid as she was brash. "What do you want, asswipe-" before gilda knew it, she was against a wall, the unicorn holding a strange dagger-gauntlet to her neck. "How. Dare. YOU." said the unicorn through gritted teeth. "Now see here -" that's as far as gilda got before she got a right hook to the jaw. "You know, I met someone just like you during my life," said the strange unicorn with a voice as cold as ice, but burned like the fires of Hades. "a person who took advantage of others." The unicorn then brought the blade up to Gilda's throat. "But he's now six feet under." He then pressed the blade to her chin, drawing blood. "Do you wish the same fate?" "Altair, wait, " he turned to find Twilight's hoof on his shoulder. "She's not worth it." Altair then turned to the despicable being before him. "Get out of my sight, " Altair said as he dropped the griffin like a bad sack of potatoes. Gilda then glared at him, and flew off as fast as her wings would let her. "I wasn't going to kill her you know, " said Altair as he turned to twilight, but instead found the biggest surprise of his life. Before him stood an alabaster white alicorn with a pastelle mane and a brilliance that rivaled the sun itself. "I don't believe we've met, " said princess Celestia as she smiled at Altair.