Ezio gets dropped on the outskirts of Ponyville with the Apple of Eden as a pony. This won’t end well.
After beating the Templars, the Apple of Eden explodes and takes Ezio to the outskirts of Ponyville, which is the front line where the Assassins and Templars fight regularly in a war for Luna and Celestia, respectively. He can’t catch a break, can he?
A collaboration with RCharge. Go check out their stuff!
EDIT: 27/02/20 I can’t believe it! This story got featured after six hours of existence! Thank you all so much!
EDIT: 13/04/20 Oh my god. This is amazing. It’s been featured again! Thank you everyone that reads this story!
EDIT: 17/09/20 It took all of ten seconds for this to get featured again. Wow, thank you everyone!
“Hey… Ezio? Is this thing on?” A white-robed Assassin member paused as he strolled down the main thoroughfare of Rome. “Ezio? I know you can hear me. Pick up the Apple.”
Giving a deep sigh that possibly could have been misconstrued for a muted scream, Ezio took a detour down a side alley as he tried not to arouse suspicion from the device that he carried on his person. Reaching into a pocket, he pulled out a golden sphere indented with grooves that ended in small round notches. An arched lens sat in a recessed dias on the front of the device.
Resting the sphere flat against his palm, the lens crackled to life as a second figure appeared in a hazed blue light. “About damn time you answered, Ezio. Had me worried there for a second. I know you’re currently en route to your destination, and yes… I realize that you probably were in a group of people when I called you. However… This isn’t a sightseeing tour. Your job here is important.”
The image panned out slightly to allow a map to flicker into focus. A bright red dot was stationed over what appeared to be a castle of some description. “You remember our friends the Borgias, right?”
A shudder ran down Ezio's spine as he remembered the day his family was executed in front of his eyes by a member of the Borgia family. As they spoke, Ezio's free hand balled into a tight fist. “I’m sure you do. I said it once, and I'll say it again; my condolences for your loss. Anyway… Our ‘little friend’ is at it again. Him and his band of Templar goons have gathered in his Castel to… discuss things.”
The display flickered and showed a few still-images of the interior of Castel San'Angelo. “You see… Rodrigo never learned his lesson from the last time you visited him. I’ll spare you the details. Just know that he’s up to his old ways again. You know what you gotta do now, right?"
The informant paused for a moment to collect his thoughts. "Hopefully you won’t have to use it… J-just be careful if you do, alright? Apples are never predictable. Don’t want you getting hurt out there. Ha… Here I am telling one of our best Assassins to be careful. Old habits really do die hard, don’t they, Ezio?”
As the feed cut off and the Apple returned to a dormant state, Ezio recalled his previous encounter with the fanatical leader of the Templars. "Heh. When I get my hands on that slimy snake, habits aren't the only thing that's going to 'die hard'." he remarked as he stuffed the Apple back into his pocket.
Climbing up a nearby gutter, Ezio flipped up and onto the rooftop. Leaping from roof to roof, he used them as a shortcut to the Castel.
Several moments later, Ezio landed on a rooftop right across from his destination. He reached into his cloak and pulled out a small crossbow he had tucked away inside.
Grabbing a bolt from a pouch, he tied the end of a thin coil of hemp rope just beneath the arrowhead. Quickly loading the bolt, he aimed the crossbow at a post on the ramparts of the castel and fired.
The bolt pierced the air, embedding itself in a wooden post as his aim held true. He then started shimmying along the rope hand-over-hand, with his legs wrapped around it for balance. Once he got to the edge, he quickly pulled the arrow out and wound the bolt back into his pack.
Ezio was about to vault over the low wall when footsteps brought him pause. A pair of Templars paced past his spot, glancing out to the cityscape below. Luckily for Ezio, they continued on and disappeared behind one of the walls. He took this moment to vault over the rampart and scuttled into a door just across the way. Once inside, he crouched low and peeked over the side of a railing.
Just below, Rodrigo had settled in the antechamber when Cesare, his brother and co-leader of the Templars, entered the room. “Ah, brother! So glad to see that you could make it on such short notice. We have much to discuss, you and I.”
“Indeed. Let me start off with this!” Ezio glanced over the railing just in time to see Cesare pull a dagger and stab Rodrigo in the throat, leaving him to bleed out on the floor. Ezio was gawking a bit too long; Cesare glanced up and noticed him. “Intruder! Seize him!” he barked as he ran further into the Castel.
Ezio leapt over the banister to pursue the retreating form of Cesare. However, to his dismay, a large amount of Templars were flooding the antechamber. With no options left, Ezio quickly took the Apple out of his pocket. He didn’t use it on this amount of people in one sitting before, however the situation left him little room for improv. He gripped it firmly in one hand and activated it.
As the power began to build inside of the Apple, it began to glow brighter and brighter. Ezio noticed this, but it was already too late; the heat emanating from the Apple was so great it forced him to drop it.
Upon hitting the ground, the Apple exploded. Ezio’s vision became flooded with a bright, searing white light. Screams echoed around him as the many Templars that were caught in the resulting blast sounded as if they were suffering the same fate.
Little did Ezio know of the extent of the blast. Nor did he realize how much power was expelled. He lost consciousness as the entire city of Rome vanished off of the face of the Earth.
After an indeterminate amount of time, Ezio’s mind began to catch up with the rest of his body. Slowly, he managed to open his eyes and immediately had to shield them with his arm. The first thoughts that ran through his mind was that he was dead.
The light was harsh and obstructed his vision. Birdsong filtered in through the angry buzzing in his ears. Leaves rustled in a warm breeze that lapped against his face. Eventually, his eyes acclimated to the light allowing Ezio to take in his surroundings.
The first thing he noticed was that he was in the middle of what appeared to be a meadow in a dense woodland area. Trees surrounded him on all sides, allowing a modest amount of light to filter down through the canopy. Birds flew overhead and animals frolicked on both sides of him. The next thing he noticed was that he was a lot closer to the ground than he was before.
“Well, shit. If I’m dead, then this is a stark contrast from where I figured I was heading…” he half-joked as he dusted himself off. Or, at least he would have if he could feel his hands.
“Huh. That’s strange. Did I lose my hands or some–” He stopped speaking when he looked down at his arms. He instantly noticed they had become rounded peach-colored limbs. At the tips where his hands were was replaced by a hoof.
He raised his arms to his face and rubbed them against it. “Oh thank god I can still feel these… Whatever these are.” he stated as he went to stand up. When he rose to his hooves, he instantly fell forward, burying his face in the grass, Eyes crossed, he noticed at that moment his enhanced range of vision.
From where he laid, he didn’t have to move his head to see behind him. That caused him to panic slightly; such a thing wouldn’t have been possible a few hours ago. It was at this time that he noticed his nose was broader and more rounded at the tip and his hair flipped over and into his eyes.
It took him a moment to acclimate, but he eventually managed to stand on all four limbs. He tried to stand straight up, but found that holding this stance was impossible for any length of time. “W-well… Now I can confirm this is more than likely a hallucination. Where am I exactly? This doesn’t look familiar at all to me… and now that I realized that I’m… whatever this is, I have two options. One, the Apple backfired and affected me as well. This is the most likely scenario, seeing as I turned into–”
He looked between his legs and saw a tail that draped behind him, as well as exactly what he expected. “–if my hunch is correct, it looks like a pony. Great. The boys will never let me live this one down. Anyway… Two, I… W-well, best not to dwell on the fact that I could be dead right now. Those kinds of thoughts wouldn’t really help me cope with my current situation...” Ezio mused as he drove the thought from his mind for the time being.
After regaining his bearings, Ezio started trotting. His motions were stiff and rigid, which ended up causing him to stumble and wobble from the abrupt change to his center of mass. As he made his way down the path, a deep growl could be heard from behind him along with the snapping of twigs. Pausing, he turned around just in time for a pair of timberwolves to leap out of the brush and onto the path. Silence hung heavy in the air before the timberwolves charged for Ezio, mouths slavering.
Quickly reaching into his robe, he tried to pull out his throwing knives from his pockets. However, due to the fact that his hands were now hooves, any attempts to get a good hold on them proved to be nearly impossible. It was at this time that what just happened dawned on him. He wasn’t able to grip any of his weapons, which rendered him basically defenseless.
Realizing this made Ezio’s eyes widen slightly. He decided at this point to reflexively reach for his Apple. When the Assassin started to fish in his pocket, he recalled his Apple hitting the stone floor of the Castel San'Angelo and mentally cursed himself for using it.
He did the next best thing he could think of at that moment: Run.
Galloping down the path, he ducked around trees and leapt over downed tree trunks. The timberwolves charged through the trees as they pursued him. Up ahead, he saw the path became blocked with rocks, yet a small hole was present; it looked big enough for him to crawl through.
Thinking quickly, he made a beeline for the hole as the timberwolves leapt at him from behind. Ezio managed to scramble into the opening as the sound of wood splintering could be heard not even a moment later.
Crawling out of the other side, Ezio could barely stand as his legs involuntarily shook from the encounter. They threatened to buckle under him at a moment’s notice. “H-hopefully that wasn’t meant to be the w-welcoming party...” he stammered as he continued down the path.
As Ezio arrived at the end of the path, the treeline opened up into rolling plains with copses of trees dotting the landscape. He noticed a cottage sitting alone on a small hill, with a quaint little arched bridge built over a river stream. Hearing growling from behind him, he quickly made a beeline for the cottage. In his haste, he nearly tripped over his hooves several times.
Two more timberwolves skulked out from the forest, apparently following his scent.
As he made it up to the door, he started banging on it in desperation, hoping that someone was home at the time.
After frantically hammering at the door for what seemed like an eternity but was probably about five seconds, the door opened from the inside to reveal a butter yellow pony with a soft, pink mane and wings. She seemed to shrink back in fear when she saw him, but her stare hardened and she, after seeing his robe, motioned for him to come inside.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you!" He parroted as he hurried inside. The butter yellow pegasus quietly closed the door behind him. "I thought that I was a goner for sure!"
"What happened? Are you okay?" She asked in a voice that barely registered over a whisper.
Ezio was about to explain when a low growl could be heard from outside. Ezio leapt a few inches into the air as he scrambled for the archway behind him. The sound of something scratching against the door soon followed. Fluttershy was about to look out of the window to see what was at her door, but a few moments later, the sounds stopped and everything fell silent again.
“I-i-is it gone?” Ezio poked his head out from the archway that led to Fluttershy’s kitchen as she nodded and gently gestured him over with a hoof. When he got closer, he expelled a breath he wasn’t aware he was holding. “Oh thank god.” he muttered as he stood in her foyer. Only now did he realize the numerous birdhouses and animal trees in the room, along with a few holes in the side paneling.
“Oh, I see you noticed all of the homes I put up for my animal friends!” She quietly clopped her forehooves together in delight. “You see, I’m a–”
Oh great… I had to stumble across this hallucination’s equivalent of a crazy cat lady. He toned out the pegasus in favor of his own thoughts as his mind drifted back to the animals that chased him in the woods. They looked like wolves, but when they hit the rocks he crawled under he could have sworn he heard the sound of wood splintering. He was about to continue this line of questioning when he realized the pegasus in front of him was still speaking.
“... and that’s why there’s so many birdhouses and animal decorations in here. Excuse me? Are you… okay?” Before she could reach out and touch him, Ezio simply nodded. “Y-yeah, I’m fine. The past half hour has been a… lot to take in, is all.” he remarked as he turned his head to give the room a cursory glance.
“Oh, I bet it has.” she mentioned idly. An awkward silence hung in the air for a few moments before she cleared her throat and spoke up. “Oh, I’m sorry! Here we are making casual conversation and I never asked you for your name! That wasn’t very nice of me…” she stated as she rubbed her forelegs together. “My name’s Fluttershy. What’s yours?”
“I’m…” Ezio paused as he mentally flailed in an attempt to come up with a name for himself.
Fluttershy smiled good-naturedly. “Oh, it’s okay if you don’t want to tell me your real name. I understand that the Brotherhood has to be very cloak-and-dagger at times, even literally, too,” she stage-whispered, as though they were being watched.
Ezio breathed a sigh of relief, then he let what she had said sink in. “Wait, you’re in the Brotherhood?!?”
Fluttershy just smiled again, and motioned with her hoof towards herself. “Follow me. We have a lot to discuss with the others.”
Ezio raised an eyebrow, but followed after Fluttershy towards a section of hallway that ended in a dead end. Pressing a hoof against a section of the wall, it slid away to reveal a staircase that she trotted down. Following after her, he was relieved to hear that he wasn’t the only Brotherhood member here. Maybe he’ll survive this hallucination with a sane mind after all.
Ezio was confused, to say the least. His day went right out the window from the get-go, when he woke up in a forest as a pony. Things just got weirder from there. He got chased by wooden wolves, met a fellow assassin who was very shy, and now he was walking underground to meet with other assassins in this crazy hallucination. Maybe the Apple got more than a little damaged when he dropped it.
As they walked, Fluttershy tried to strike up a conversation with Ezio. “Well… if you, um, won’t tell me your name… m-maybe you can tell me about where you came from?” she asked as the duo turned a corner.
“W-well… funny you should mention that. I…” Ezio paused to consider his options. Should he tell this random pony he just met that he came from another world entirely? Or that he used to be a human before waking up here?
He decided that he would get nowhere telling her the truth. Instead, he decided to take another route entirely: “... don’t remember much before coming here. I remember being part of some war but… that’s about it.” he explained, hoping that she wouldn’t ask for more details.
“Oh. Well then… you’d fit right in here, I think.” Ezio was silently relieved that she didn’t press for more details. He wasn’t even sure how he would explain it to her anyway. Up ahead, a simple wooden door came into view. Fluttershy knocked three times before doing two raps and finished by bucking her rear hooves against the door.
“Come in...” came a feminine voice from the other side. When she opened the door, Ezio was greeted by a round table with two other mares sitting at it. One of them was a pastel pink earth pony with an overly poofy mane and tail. She wore a blue colored robe with white stripes on the hood and pink gloves covering her hooves.
Seated at the head of the table was a purple unicorn at first glance, before Ezio noticed a pair of wing-shaped indents in the robe on her sides. She was wearing a simple black robe with a hood that came up to her horn. Her magenta and lavender streaked purple mane that draped out of the hood framed the upper portion of her face. At first glance, she appeared to be a Master Assassin, something that Ezio was at least familiar with.
“Fluttershy. What did I tell you about allowing bystanders into the bunker?” The purple alicorn asked, her expression stone cold and unreadable.
“N-not to because… because it will jeopardize our Creed?” Fluttershy asked as the alicorn nodded.
“That’s right. Now, you better have a–” Upon noticing Ezio’s robe, she raised an eyebrow, “–good reason for this. Oh! A fellow Assassin! Well, why didn’t you say so Fluttershy?”
“I-I was going to but–” Fluttershy tried to get a word in edgewise, but she was promptly brushed off by the alicorn with a wave of her hoof.
“Nevermind that now, you can explain yourself later. Come in! Come in... have a seat wherever you like.” she stated as Ezio hesitantly trotted further into the room.
As Ezio took a seat close to Fluttershy, seeing as he only knew her, Twilight whispered to Pinkie, “Keep an eye on him. He’s new in town, so he could be a Templar disguised as an Assassin.”
Pinkie gave a wide grin and started nodding furiously, while her mane gave what looked like a thumbs up. Twilight just rolled her eyes, but her lips held a good-natured smile. However, that smile soon faded and was replaced by a serious look as she rose from her seat.
“Now, with that out of the way… let’s get down to business.” she announced as her horn lit up and unfurled a canvas rollup that was attached to a standing poster board. Upon it was a diagram of Ponyville.
Ezio noticed that four of the buildings were marked with an ‘A’, a small hoofful with ‘T’, and one or two with a ‘?’. He also noticed many more were left unmarked.
He leaned in towards Fluttershy and tried to get her attention. Around her head, he noticed the pink earth pony giving him the stink eye, with one of her eyes undulating in its socket. He could have sworn it got slightly closer with each passing moment.
Deciding to ignore the absurdity of what he just saw, he returned his attention to Fluttershy. Lowering his voice so only she could hear him, he divided his attention between her and the alicorn standing near the diagram. “Think you could… catch me up to speed with what’s going on?” he muttered. Fluttershy was about to speak when the alicorn conjured a pointer that she held in her magic. She simply pointed at the alicorn, to which Ezio nodded and listened.
“Now, as you can see… this is a crude diagram of what Ponyville was like about a month ago–” Pausing for emphasis, she pulled a hidden string on the poster board and unfurled a second diagram.
This one had three buildings with ‘A’s, half of the rest were labeled ‘T’ and the remaining were labeled with a ‘?’. “–and this is Ponyville now. In a matter of three weeks, an influx of Templar members have been appearing in town. Many of the common ponies were quickly drawn in by the allure of protection and conformity. Up until a few days ago, we were actually four members strong. That was, until… Well, we don’t speak about her anymore. Especially after the progress that turncoat cost us.”
Ezio glanced at Fluttershy with a quizzical look, who gave him a look as if to say ‘We’ll discuss this later’. He nodded briefly before Twilight continued. “Therefore, we need to step up our efforts! We need to strike while the iron is hot! We need more ponies if we’re going to bring the fight to them!” With a sharp tug, the diagrams rolled themselves up neatly on the board. “Now… any ideas?” Pinkie’s hoof immediately shot up. “Any ideas that don't involve a party?” Pinkie’s hoof immediately lowered.
Ezio glanced at Fluttershy out of the corner of his eye, who gave him what looked like her equivalent of a ‘go on’ gesture, but only with her eyes. Emboldened by her look, Ezio coughed into his hoof to signal the other Assassins in the room.
“I have an idea. It involves what may only look like defacing Templar owned monuments and people, but actually will do a lot more, like defacing their public appearance. We tear down posters, bribe heralds, and assassinate officials to lower their political pull, and replace them with our posters, heralds, and officials to heighten our political pull.”
"Interesting. I mean, up until this point we haven't really been doing a public campaign... but I suppose we do need to be a little more… liberal with our efforts. Pinkie? Fluttershy? Your thoughts?"
"Okie dokie lokie! It's about time we threw some fun into the mix! I'll handle the posters!" Pinkie chirped as the tip of her mane was already holding onto a clipboard, with a few other follicles holding a pencil and scribbling ideas onto it.
"U-um… I'll take care of the heralds. If… that's alright with you that is." she decided as Twilight nodded.
"Take the new guy with you. He needs some practical experience out there. Keep an eye on him, though. We don't know what he's capable of. No offense, Mr… ?"
Ezio shuffled his hooves awkwardly, “Umm…” He really didn’t know if he could trust them. But if they were going to trust him, he had to trust them. “My name is Ezio. Ezio Auditore. And I’m not from around here…”
"... and that's how I ended up here." Ezio recalled while Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Twilight sat there and listened. As he finished, Twilight had a thoughtful expression on her face while Pinkie simply sat there and listened, completely enraptured by the tale. After a brief silence, Fluttershy was the first to speak.
"S-so, that whole story about you being in a war was…?" She began as Ezio nodded.
"The truth. Not a fabrication." He firmly stated as Twilight pulled Pinkie and Fluttershy into a huddle. Ezio could barely make out a hushed conversation between the three. After what felt like hours, but was probably only a few minutes, the three mares broke the huddle and faced Ezio again.
"While I don't completely believe you… some of those parts you described are just too ridiculous to make up." Twilight admitted at last. "Like I said, go with Fluttershy. You'll… appreciate it later, trust me. Just be careful out there, okay?"
Just be careful out there, okay? Twilight's words echoed in his head, and reminded him of an old associate he was on good terms with back home. He couldn't help but allow a small smirk that wound his lips upward.
“Okay, then. If we’ve discussed everything that’s important to our current situation, we can-“ Twilight was cut off just as she was about to adjourn the meeting by Pinkie frantically waving her hooves.
“WAAAIT! What if we see any Templars around? Do we strike?”
Twilight looked like she was about to silence Pinkie when she started, but when she finished, she looked thoughtful. “Avoid any standard Templars unless they get too close, and if you see our old friends, knock them out and bring them here for interrogation.”
Pinkie and Fluttershy nodded once, and walked out through different hallways to exit the meeting place. When she saw Ezio waiting behind, Twilight simply said, “Fluttershy will tell you everything you need to know. You’d better get out of here, before I lock up the place. Until next time, Ezio.”
Ezio nodded, and trotted out through the doorway that Fluttershy exited through. As he walked, he thought, Things just got a whole lot more interesting.
After exiting the Assassin’s bunker, Ezio’s body decided to notify him that he was tired by removing all sense of coordination in his limbs, therefore causing him to fall face first into a flower pot. Which, incidentally, contained a sample of cactus that, when touched, doubles in size. Needless to say, he was very, very tired, and very, very hurt.
Fluttershy quickly left the room to get the first aid kit that she had stowed away for situations just like this. Ezio was led to her couch as she popped the lid open and was preparing to dislodge the needles from his face. When she grabbed the tweezers, Ezio took this moment to speak up.
"Hey, uh… what was that back there about a turncoat? Also, who is ‘her’?" It was an innocent enough question. However, when Fluttershy’s face contorted into a slight grimace, it made Ezio wonder what exactly happened to make this a point of contention.
"Well… to fully understand what's going on, I need to tell you a bit of a story first." Fluttershy stated as she rubbed some alcohol on the tweezers. Afterward, she started gently plucking out the needles.
"You see, back when this was a small-scale event… we had four Assassins. Me, Pinkie, Twilight…" Fluttershy swallowed hard. She looked left and right before she leaned in closer to Ezio, "... and R-rainbow Dash." she stage-whispered, as if speaking her name out loud would draw ire from whoever heard it.
Ezio looked ready to ask something, but Fluttershy raised a hoof to forestall any objections. "We were a team. She always worked together with us. She was always the most loyal… until one day."
“What happened?” Ezio asked as Fluttershy’s head rolled back while she stared at the ceiling, reminiscing.
“It all started on a bright, summer day about two weeks ago…”
“That was… awesome!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed as she flew around the heads of Fluttershy and Pinkie. “Did you see how I smashed that pony’s head against the wall? Man, it felt so… liberating!” Pinkie let out a good-natured giggle as I just simply shook my head.
“Y-yes, we did, Rainbow. Don’t you think that was a little… over the top?” I remembered asking and Rainbow scoffing.
“No way! That slimy snake deserved everything he got! I just hope that they think twice before messing with us again!”
I remembered Rainbow stopping and glancing over a wither after she said that. “I think I hear somepony calling my name… you two go on ahead, I’ll catch up later.” Then, she just flew off.
Fluttershy snapped herself from her revelry when she remembered what she was doing. She started gently plucking the needles from Ezio’s face again. “After that day, something was… off about Rainbow. She didn’t exactly shy away from her duties, but she started asking some… odd questions.”
“Like… ?” Ezio prompted as he winced from a rather sudden pluck.
“Oh, well… she seemed to be fascinated about what we did with the dead bodies after we did a hit on somepony. She kept subtly asking if she would know of any of the bodies we, ahem, disposed of.”
“Huh. Yeah, you’re right, that is a rather odd question to ask right out of the blue, isn’t it?” Ezio agreed as Fluttershy gently nodded her head.
“When she didn’t get her information from just asking… she decided to be a bit more… liberal with her approach. One night, when everyone was asleep, Rainbow snuck out of her room. Now, I only heard about this through second-hoof accounts… and you know how things tend to become a bit overexaggerated when it passes from pony to pony… but I heard that she tried to sneak into the archives to get the information for herself.”
Ezio opened his mouth to speak, but no words came. He was so stunned he didn’t even realize that Fluttershy was finished removing the needles and was rubbing an ointment into his face. “But… guh… what...?” He managed to ask at last. “Why would she do that? What drove her to–” Ezio stopped speaking when Fluttershy gently pressed a hoof against his mouth.
“If you’d let me speak, I was getting to that part,” Fluttershy interjected. “One day, Twilight had enough. She learned that Rainbow was sneaking out at night and she decided to call a meeting. She wanted one of us to trail Rainbow and see what’s gotten over her. I was eventually told to do the job since she couldn’t trust Pinkie to be quiet.”
Fluttershy paused as she attempted to recall the events of that night. Her tone turned slightly sharper and more morose as she continued. “So, there I was following Rainbow around town. It was one of the rarer times when she was trying to be sneaky, thank Luna, so I could follow her on hoof. She ducked into an alleyway and glanced over a wither a few times to ensure that she wasn’t being followed. Eventually, I heard two voices coming from the alley. I stepped closer to hear the conversation a bit better.”
“So, what did you learn?” The voice I heard I was instantly able to recognize as Rarity, one of our friends who joined the Templars.
“Nothing!” I heard Rainbow snap back at her. Then, the distinct sound of hooves against cobblestone; she was probably pacing at that moment. “I tried to ask them about the bodies… but they didn’t tell me anything!” Her voice was dripping with venom; she must’ve been rather angry about something that related to the bodies. However, I had no clue what… and I still don’t to this day.
“You know that they quite possibly could have been the ones to commit the deed, yes? I have no idea why you would hang around with the likes of them.” I remembered Rarity’s voice sounded a bit haughty, as if she knew what she was talking about.
“Yeah, yeah… laugh it up Rares! You don’t care about the situation at hoof anyway. I’m going to go back and see if I can find her again. If not… I’ll return to where I rightfully belong...”
“The day after, Rainbow was nowhere to be found. When Twilight went down the passageway she had set up for her, she found it caved in about halfway up. After discovering this, Twilight decided that Rainbow was no longer a member and branded her a traitor." Fluttershy added as Ezio raised an eyebrow.
“So… what you’re saying is… we’re going to find this Rainbow character first, is that it?” Ezio asked as Fluttershy tensed and backed away from Ezio slightly.
“O-oh no, I couldn’t impose such a thing on you. That would be… not nice.” Fluttershy mused as a forehoof gently traced a circle on the wooden floorboards of her cottage. “H-however, since we are out there looking for heralds… and we were instructed to knock out any of our friends if we see them… I was just thinking tha–”
“So… what you’re saying is… you want to find this Rainbow character first, is that it?” Ezio interjected, correcting himself. Fluttershy let out a soft sigh of resentment before speaking again.
“I just… I want answers, you know? So many questions left unanswered, and the ones that are answerable just make more questions! The more I think about it the worse it becomes…” Fluttershy was subconsciously pacing back and forth, her wings fluffing out of sheer frustration, “a-and I just want some closure, you know what I mean? I just want to know what’s gotten into her and–”
Ezio took this moment to lift himself on unsteady hooves. When Fluttershy paced past him again, a hoof shot out and pressed itself against her mouth before she could continue. “Fluttershy. Relax. You’ve got to get yourself out of this rut. At this rate, the only thing you’re going to accomplish is making a hole in the floor.”
Fluttershy blinked twice and looked down. Sure enough, she saw scuff marks on the wooden floor from where she was pacing. “Tell you what. While we’re out bribing the heralds, we’ll take a slight detour to try and find Rainbow so we can get some answers. Nobody needs to know, and you can finally put all of this behind you. How’s that sound?” Ezio asked as he lowered her hoof and allowed her to speak again.
"That sounds good, I-I guess… if you wouldn't mind, that is..." Fluttershy decided as he simply nodded.
"I'm totally fine with that. Maybe afterwards we can actually get something done when this all gets settled." Ezio said as he tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, "For now… maybe we can get some sleep? I'm really tired… and we'd need to be up bright and early tomorrow. Sounds good to you?"
Fluttershy nodded as Ezio claimed the couch and fell asleep nearly instantly. After taking a moment to get a blanket to drape over him and a pillow for him to rest his head on, she made her way upstairs to get some rest as well.
Three weeks ago, prior to Ezio’s appearance in Equestria:
Rainbow Dash was approached by Twilight and asked to come to her castle. She said that she had something to show the cyan pegasus. Rainbow shrugged lightly, but eventually she agreed. After arriving at her castle, she followed Twilight inside. Rainbow was led through one of the innumerable chartreuse and gold-checkered doors of the Castle of Friendship as they navigated the identical halls. After a short walk, Rainbow noticed they were descending lower and lower.
“Hey, Twi… what gives? I had no idea that this castle had a basement to it. Or… at least anything below the main level…” Rainbow mused as Twilight wordlessly led her down the descending hallway. Eventually, they came to a separate hallway lined with torches every few feet for basic illumination.
“All will be explained in time.” Twilight stated as the duo turned a corner. “I just don’t want word of this to spread around. I’m sure I can trust you to not do that, yes?” The purple alicorn asked as a simple wooden door came into view.
“You should know me by now, Twi! I’m super loyal!” Rainbow shot back with a smug grin as she threw her forelegs in the air for emphasis. Twilight simply rolled her eyes with a good-natured smile. When they arrived at the door, Twilight opened it to reveal a meeting area with several chairs and a large round table.
“Uh… Twi? What’s all this?” She asked as her head darted to and fro to soak in her surroundings.
Twilight turned around to face Rainbow as she levitated a cloak with a hood over to her. “This is the inner sanctum of the Assassins. We work in the dark to serve the light.” As she began to chant in a low voice, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy joined Twilight on either side of her and began chanting.
Rainbow, now thoroughly weirded out by all of this, asked the inevitable questions: “What the buck is going on? Why are you chanting?” She began to back out of the room, but stopped when she saw Twilight smiling at her. It was the exact same smile that she gave her just before she started this mad ritual, and it was that, above all else, that calmed her frazzled nerves.
As Rainbow was puzzling through everything that had just happened, Twilight began to speak, so Rainbow instantly snapped her attention to her. “We are the Assassins, the sworn enemy of the Templars. We have been at war for centuries, ever since Celestia banished our leader, Luna, to the moon. Since then, our numbers have fallen, and we believe that it is time to appoint a new member of the Brotherhood.”
Rainbow’s jaw hit the floor hard as her mind worked double time to process all of this new information, “S-so, what you’re saying is that you all want me to be… ?” Rainbow asked incredulously as Twilight nodded her approval.
“Yes. We want you to become an Assassin with us, to defend Ponyville from those who would do it great harm. You would be trained in the art of the Assassin by us three, to help you become a full member of The Brotherhood.”
"Training is so lame…" Rainbow mentioned at first, "... but this sounds… so awesome!" Rainbow added as she squashes her cheeks between her forehooves with an excited expression on her face. "Count me in!" She announced as Pinkie bounded forward and enveloped Rainbow in a hug.
"Well then! Let's get started..." Twilight announced as she led the group down to the training area.
Rainbow was truly exhausted. For the past three hours, Twilight was having her climb ropes, shimmy along narrow ledges, and running an obstacle course with a layout that looked similar to the backstreets of Ponyville; a place that Rainbow was very unfamiliar with, given how poor she was at traversing it.
“Rainbow! Keep your eyes on what’s in front of you!” Twilight called out as Rainbow tripped over a cylinder that was meant to replicate an overturned garbage bin. The resulting clunk was Rainbow’s head hitting into one of the ply-board walls. She was worn out and rather irate about her situation.
“Well, seeing as I’ve had no breaks for the past three hours… Maybe I could react a little quicker if I wasn’t so Luna-forsaken tired!” Rainbow snapped back as she pulled herself to her hooves. It was at this moment that the fatigue in Rainbow’s legs decided to catch up with her. Her legs gave way and sent her sprawling on the floor on her stomach. “Bucking Tartarus, Twilight! Can’t I rest for a bit? You’re running me into the ground over here!” Rainbow griped as Twilight simply sighed.
“Alright, we can take a rest… it’s almost time for lunch anyway. We’ll meet back here in an hour and continue then, okay?” Twilight asked and made for the door without waiting for a response. Grumbling to herself, Rainbow was helped up by Fluttershy and Pinkie as she facehooved.
“Geez! She’s pushing me way too hard. Is she trying to kill me? I think she’s trying to kill me. Hey, do either of you think she’s trying to kill me?” Rainbow asked, only to get shrugs from the other mares in return.
“I’m sorry that I’m pushing you so hard, Rainbow. But the thing is, the Templars are planning an attack on Ponyville, aided by Rarity.”
Rainbow did a massive double take. “Wait, what? I mean, I pegged her as a high society snob when I first met her, but I didn’t think that she would turn on you guys like that!”
Twilight laid a comforting hoof on her shoulder and gave her a small smile. “Rainbow, this line of work is dangerous and depressing. Friends will turn to enemies, and you could get killed. But we do this because it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes doing this takes a toll on us.”
Fluttershy was the first to speak up. “I used to throw up after I had to kill somepony. Every single time, I would be ridden with guilt at what I had done. Now I only kill in self-defence, and only when absolutely necessary.”
Pinkie Pie gave a sad smile. “I hated having to sneak around in the shadows, making people unhappy. It went against everything that I stood for! But when Cheese Sandwich almost got killed because I foolishly attacked a Templar, I realised that sometimes, you have to go against everything you thought was right to serve a greater good.”
Rainbow contemplated all of this for a minute, then gave a mute nod to signify that she understood. Then she realised something. “Wait, what about Applejack? What happened to her?”
Twilight stared at the floor and shuffled her hooves, evidently trying to avoid eye contact. “As soon as we found out that Rarity joined the Templars, she disappeared. We think that she joined the-“
Rainbow cut her off by putting her hoof in Twilight’s mouth. “No. Don’t even think about finishing that sentence Twilight. Because I won’t believe you if you do.”
Twilight looked up with a knowing smile on her face. “Don’t worry about it, Rainbow. All the evidence suggests that she just vanished. We don’t know what happened.”
Rainbow nodded once, and left the underground facility quickly. She might have looked calm, but inside her emotions were roiling with her discovery. She would find out about Applejack, whatever it took.
Ezio sighed as he stared at the ceiling of her cottage. He was asleep for most of the night, at least until that scratching noise started up again. For the past hour, he laid on the couch as the sun slowly streaked in through her window. Deciding that any attempts to fall back asleep were useless, he threw off the covers and rolled off of the couch. He briefly pondered how the covers got there, but decided it wasn’t important as he stretched and yawned.
“Good morning, Ezio.” Fluttershy said as her head peeked out from the top of the stairs. “Oh! You’re awake already? Here, let me make some breakfast and we can head on down to town. How does that sound?” She asked as she disappeared into her kitchen without waiting for a reply. Ezio sat down on the couch and watched the sunrise, letting himself get lost in thought for the moment.
“So…” Ezio said as he stared at a wall, trying to make small talk. “What are we going to do first?”
Fluttershy trotted out of her kitchen with a small tray on her back. Two plates with eggs, hay bacon, and toast were balanced on the tray as she lowered herself to the nearby coffee table. "Well, guess we should head to Ponyville first. We might get lucky and find her trying to help coordinate the heralds there." she said as she nosed a plate over to Ezio.
"And if she's not?" He asked as he eyed his plate with some trepidation.
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. If… if that's alright with you." she remarked as she began eating.
Ezio shrugged and started eating as well. Sounds like as good of a plan as any. He thought as the rest of the meal passed in silence.
When they were done with their meal, Fluttershy spoke up to break the silence. “You should probably take off your robe. It’s very conspicuous.”
Ezio nodded once, and took off his robe. The only thing he left on was his hidden blade, which he never went anywhere without. Fluttershy noticed this and beckoned him over with a hoof. “If you want to keep that on, let’s go to Twilight. She’ll cast some sort of spell on it, and nopony will notice it at all.”
Ezio looked thoughtful, as he remembered which one was Twilight. “Oh, is that what you ponies use your horns for?” Fluttershy nodded a brief yes, and held a hoof out to point at the secret passage. “Go to the bunker and follow the arch with the star on it to get to her door. She’ll know that you’re there, and come down.”
Ezio nodded, and began to make the long trek down.
As Ezio trotted through the secret tunnel, he thought that this hallucination felt very realistic. Almost as if the Apple dropped him into a different realm. No, he thought with a wave of a hoof. That can’t be right.
As though the path knew he was beginning to scare himself into a spiral, he arrived at the center table. Twilight sat at the head of the table, forelegs crossed and hood down almost as if she expected his arrival.
“Ah… good morning, Ezio.” she stated as her weight subtly shifted on the chair. “Did you need something from me?” Ezio simply nodded as he absentmindedly rubbed his forelegs together.
“O-oh, um, yes… yes I did. You see, we were about to head into Ponyville to take care of the heralds when Fluttershy told me to remove my robe…”
“Right, go on…” Twilight interjected.
“... and when I did, she noticed that I had this weapon on me.” Ezio turned to his left to reveal the indicated weapon, “So… I was wondering if—”
“—I could help with concealing that. Right?” Twilight asked as Ezio simply nodded. “Right. Well, a simple invisibility spell should do the trick. However, if you two get jumped by Templars, you’ll need some way to recognize its location. I’m sure you two aren’t going to go into town without at least one weapon, right?” she admonished as her eyes narrowed.
“No, no! Of course we’ll take weapons! I’m not that much of an idiot! I already was an Assassin before I came here, remember?”
Twilight looked a bit sheepish, and gave a small grin as she remembered. “Oh. Right. Anyway, come over here and hold your right fetlock out.”
Ezio felt very confused, to say the least. He had no idea what she was talking about. “My what?”
Twilight facehooved as she realised that Fluttershy never told him about pony body parts. “Your right hoof. Or arm. Whichever word suits you.”
“Oh! Ok.” Ezio said, as he trotted over to where she was. “Just make it quick, okay? I’ve been itching for some action for a while.” Twilight closed her eyes and appeared to be focusing on something while she extended her fetlock. As Ezio’s hoof touched hers, a jolt of energy surged down his right foreleg which caused the fur on that leg to stand straight up. Ezio jerked his right foreleg back in surprise. “What the heck was that?” Ezio blurted out as he shook his right foreleg.
“What you asked for,” Twilight calmly replied as she gestured to the strap that held his hidden blade with a hoof. “Observe.” Ezio’s eyes followed her foreleg to the holster which recently held his blade. Ezio noticed that nothing was there, which gave him pause.
“Are you sure it’s still there?” He asked which prompted an amused snerk from the purple alicorn. She guided his hoof to the area where his hilt normally would be, only for him to find that his hoof connected with a solid mass of air. “Oh… there it is.” he remarked sheepishly as Twilight gave a patient smile and a nod.
“Well, thanks! I’ll see you later, Twilight!” As Ezio trotted out of the bunker, Twilight spoke up again.
“Oh, Ezio? I just wanted to let you know that my friends call me Twi, so you’re welcome to call me that.”
Ezio smiled. “Sure, Twi. See you later!”
As Ezio trotted through the hallway, he couldn’t help but think that he just made a new friend. She doesn’t seem so bad. Maybe I could get used to this hallucination. He thought before he waved the idea away with a hoof. Nah, I gotta get back home. Too much riding on me being successful not to.
Soon, Ezio climbed up the stairs and arrived back inside Fluttershy’s cottage as the secret entrance slid shut behind him. By now, she was already prepared for the trek down to the city. “I see you were able to get help from Twilight...” She mentioned, as a hoof indicated his seemingly empty weapon holster. “Now, let’s get going. We have a busy day ahead of us.” Fluttershy reminded Ezio as she held open the door for him.
“Sounds good to me,” he said as he followed Fluttershy.
The trek down to Ponyville was mostly uneventful. Seeing as Ezio didn’t want to take her shortcut through the Everfree Forest, Fluttershy was forced to take the long way. After a few minutes, Fluttershy stopped. Ezio was forced to halt due to Fluttershy’s foreleg blocking him. “Shh… we’re on the outskirts of Ponyville now. We need to be quiet.”
A quaint little hamlet met Ezio’s eyes as he glanced around Fluttershy. Brick and mortar cottages dotted the landscape as cobblestone roads fanned out in nearly every direction. He didn’t get long to gawk before Fluttershy pulled him off to the side. A Templar paced within inches of their hiding spot, drifting their head from left to right.
“Coulda swore I saw someone…” A feminine voice said before they turned around and retreated back the way they came. Two pairs of eyes were watching them go.
“Well, uh, that was a little too close for my liking…” Ezio said as he and Fluttershy emerged from their hiding spots and scuttled across the street into an open alleyway.
"Well… just be a bit more careful from now on. If you don't mind, I mean." Fluttershy said as she led him down the alley. After a few minutes, Fluttershy stopped.
Ezio raised an eyebrow and moved to speak before he heard a loud, raucous voice pierce the silence. Fluttershy peeked her head out of the other end of the alleyway, however she immediately pulled it back in. "There she is…" she whispered as Ezio peeked his head out and saw someone floating in the center of the plaza barking orders at various Templar members.
"Hey! Stop slacking! You have a job to do! You, over there! Yes, you! Break time's over! Come on, move it!"
Ezio, who was used to people yelling orders, could immediately tell that she was the leader. He ducked back into the alley as quickly as he could to relay his new information. “So, what’s the plan?”
Fluttershy looked sheepish, as she began to whisper. “I.. umm… don’t have one yet.”
Ezio realised that he was going to be relied on a lot more than when he was in Italy, so he crouched down and started formulating a plan. He looked up at Fluttershy and stood up as he made his way further into the alleyway. “I think I have a plan. Come with me.” he remarked as they circled around to the other side of the plaza, and towards Rainbow. The original plan would have to be put on hold for now.
"What makes you think I'll tell yo--ow! Quit it! Ooh, you’re so lucky I’m tied up, or I would’ve given you a bucking black eye by now!"
Rainbow squirmed in the chair, her hooves and wings bound to prevent her from escaping. Ezio groaned as one of his hooves roughly smacked against her cheek, causing her face to harshly jerk to the left. "I can do this all day, you know. Now, why don't you be a good little girl and tell us what we need to know before I'm forced to pull out the big guns."
Rainbow's face began to drain of color when she heard him say that. Her mind recalled the events prior to this point, which caused her throat to clench and her mind to space out while she recalled what happened to get her into this mess.
She was in the Town Square, deploying Templars to patrol the town as usual, when she heard something strange. It sounded like a wounded pony crying out in pain. Being Rainbow Dash, she had to check it out in case it was one of her Templars. Her ears swivelled towards the sound as she pinpointed where it was coming from.
She started to lazily flap towards the source of the noise, a small back alley that nopony went down, ever. "I'm coming, I'm coming…" Rainbow turned a corner where the voice was the loudest, only for the voice to die down. She could have sworn she saw someone moving in the shadows.
"Don't move, I'll come to you." She remarked as she came up to the end. Suddenly, something heavy landed on her from above, pinning her to the floor. "Hey! What gi--mmmph!" The falling object moved to lower something from its head to reveal Ezio, who quickly took a hoofful of cloth and stuffed it into her mouth. He then flipped her over and hogtied her wings along with her hooves together, rendering her incapacitated.
"Good job, Fluttershy." He announced as the shadowed figure removed their hood to reveal Fluttershy, who smiled at Ezio.
"Oh, that was easier than I thought…" she remarked as Ezio rolled off of Rainbow, who was left wriggling on the ground seething in quiet rage. Grabbing a trash bag that was sitting nearby, he slipped it over Rainbow’s head as they lifted her up onto his back and took her away.
After what felt like hours but was maybe only a few minutes, Rainbow felt herself being settled onto something as the bag was ripped from her head. When her eyes became accustomed to the light, she realized she was locked in a small room with Ezio standing in front of her. Beneath her, a chair was situated between a pair of partitions. When Ezio removed her gag, she nearly bit into his hoof which caused him to snap it back and away from her reach. “What’s the big deal? What the buck is your problem?” She shouted irately at him. All this got her was a sharp crack of a hoof to the cheek.
“Now, if you’d just sit here and shut up… maybe we could get this over with in a timely manner.” Ezio stated matter-of-factly. “We heard that you went rogue. What’s the big idea?”
"What makes you think I'll tell yo--ow! Quit it! Ooh, you’re so lucky I’m tied up, or I would’ve given you a bucking black eye by now!"
Rainbow squirmed in the chair, her hooves and wings bound to prevent her from escaping. Ezio groaned as one of his hooves roughly smacked against her cheek, causing her face to harshly jerk to the left. "I can do this all day, you know. Now, why don't you be a good little girl and tell us what we need to know before I'm forced to pull out the big guns."
Rainbow's face began to drain of color when she heard him say that. "Y-you're bluffing!" She declared as Ezio simply sighed.
"I guess it's time for you to.say hello to my little friend…" he stated while he reached behind his back to produce a stick that released sparks at the tip. Rainbow recognized the weapon nearly immediately. "I-is that a terrormite stun stick?" Rainbow blurted out as Ezio nodded his affirmation. "W… w-where did you get that?" She asked as Ezio glanced at Fluttershy.
"From my partner here. Now, I don't want to use it… so, why don't you just tell us what we want to know, hm?"
Rainbow's shoulders slumped slightly as she sighed. "Fine. I'll tell you..." she decided as Ezio pulled up a chair to sit in. "It all started a while back. I'm sure you heard about what I've done, yes?" “Only through second-hoof accounts…” Fluttershy said as Ezio nodded.
“Alright. Well… I joined the Assassins because Twilight told me it was for the greater good. Everything was fine until I heard somepony calling my name after our latest patrol of Ponyville.”
“I remember something along those lines…” Ezio mused as Rainbow continued on as if she didn’t hear him.
“Well… when I followed the voice to figure out who it was… it turned out to be Rarity. This was probably right before we learned that she was a Templar member.” she clarified before seamlessly continuing on without missing a beat. “I remember what she said like it was yesterday…”
“Why are you hanging around with those Assassin brutes?” She asked me as she stood in front of me with a disapproving look.
“Uh, because I was asked to by my friend, Twilight?” I remember informing her, to which she didn’t seem to be overly thrilled.
“You do know that hanging around them is rather dangerous for your health, right darling?” I scoffed at her and dismissively waved a hoof.
“Yeah right. No worse than what I do on a daily basis.” I smugly remarked. This earned a repressed snicker from Rarity.
“Well… tell that to your friend Applejack…” I remember freezing up after I heard that.
“W-what do you mean? What about Applejack?” I remember asking her.
“Oh, you mean you didn’t hear? You weren’t told how they killed your friend Applejack? Oh, wait… of course they wouldn’t tell you. Wouldn’t want you to get concerned or anything. Oops! Guess the cat’s out of the bag now… oh, how terrible I am!”
Rainbow sighed as she rubbed a hoof along her face. “After she said that, I went to go and figure it out for myself. When I was caught trying to get into the archives, I just gave up and left. Decided that if she didn’t want me to figure it out, I was to take that as an admission of guilt. So, I left and rejoined the Templars…”
“And? I feel that there’s something that you aren’t telling us…” Ezio interjected as Rainbow sighed again. “Right… right. I’m getting to that. A few days later, I ran into Applejack, completely unharmed, on her way to town from Sweet Apple Acres…”
“AJ? AJ, is that you?” I asked her as she pushed the brim of her stenson upward and out of her eyes.
“Eeyup… in the flesh. Something bothering you, sugarcube?” She asked me as I gritted my teeth.
“I thought you died! Rarity told me that an Assassin killed you!” I blurted out as Applejack simply laughed.
“Nope, t’ain dead... as you can plainly see. However, ah did join the Templars recently. Why? Something you ain’t telling me, Rainbow?”
“...O-oh, n-no reason… just wanted to tell you that I… that… I-I joined the Templars too! Y-yeah!”
Rainbow sighed deeply as she recalled that awkward conversation. “I didn’t want to betray the Assassins… I… I just couldn’t bear having to eventually dispose of my closest friend, so I... I left and joined the Templars so I didn’t have to...” Rainbow hung her head in a mixture of shame and regret over her actions.
Ezio simply sighed. “You know that you’re going to have to end up fighting one of your friends at one point no matter what you do, right?” He asked as Rainbow quietly nodded her head. “Alright, I think we got the information we needed. Fluttershy? If you would be so kind?” He mentioned as Fluttershy threw a bag over Rainbow’s head, who was getting rather upset about the whole ordeal.
As Fluttershy left with Rainbow on her back, Ezio made a sharp turn and headed into the main area to do some thinking to hopefully figure out what his involvement is in all of this.
Ezio sat in the main area of the bunker, one hoof propped against his chin. At one point Twilight joined him at the table, however he didn’t register her presence until the sound of her clearing her throat snapped him from his revelry.
“O-oh! Sorry Twi. I was just… thinking…” he said as Twilight rolled her eyes with an amused expression on her face.
“I noticed.” she replied, and fell silent again. The silence continued for a few moments before she spoke up. “So… Fluttershy told me about your little run in with Rainbow.” she stated as Ezio’s ears perked up. “Mind telling me how that went?” She prompted as Ezio shifted himself in his chair and got comfortable.
“Well, uh... not much to tell, really...” he admitted before continuing, “From her account, I was led to believe that Rarity manipulated her in order to sway her trust away from the Assassins and over to the Templars.”
“And do you think that’s true?,” Twilight inquired, with an interested gleam in her eyes.
Ezio looked thoughtful as he thought his answer over. “Well, yes. I may have threatened her a lot, but hey, threats work. Do you think that it’s true?”
Now it was Twilight’s turn to look thoughtful. “You know, you never can tell with Rainbow unless you use a..” Twilight stomped her hooves on the table with barely restrained excitement and a smile on her face. “That’s it! A truth spell! That way we can instantly tell whether or not what she says is true!”
After thinking for several seconds about the new side of Twilight that he just saw, he realised that she had a point. “Yeah, I guess that could work. What do you need?”
Twilight cracked a grin that wouldn’t have looked out of place on the Grinch. “Not a lot. I’ve been preparing for this for a while…”
“Major Dash! Where are you?” “Major Dash! Are you in here?”
As the guards of Rainbow’s patrol gathered back at the fountain in the Main Square, they realised that she was nowhere to be found. Seeing as how this wasn’t normal, they fanned out to search.
One pony, who went by the name of Flash Sentry, went looking down an alleyway that branched off of the main square. He began searching through the alleyway, looking with sharp eyes for anything that would tell him where to look next.
“Major Dash! Are you there? Respond! You are due back at your - huh?”
Flash leant down after spotting something half hidden by dirt. It was a strand of rainbow hair.
As he slowly moved down the alleyway, looking for any other clues, he was joined by Caramel, a higher ranking officer than Flash.
Caramel spoke first, in a low voice. “Corporal Sentry, what have you found?”
Flash saluted, something that he had to do a lot. “Sergeant Caramel! I have found a strand of rainbow hair, sir!”
Caramel looked shocked. “She never loses hair. Never. Even when she does, she cleans it up. She doesn’t like leaving a trace. Something must have happened to her. Notify Princess Celestia at once. She has to know about this.”
Flash saluted again as Caramel left. As soon as he was gone, he burst into a gallop towards Twilight’s castle.
After forming a detailed plan, Twilight and Ezio were joined by Fluttershy and Pinkie so that they could all hear the information.
As they walked, Twilight filled them in on the details. “Now, I will be using a truth spell, not a lie detector spell. A truth spell makes the subject speak the whole truth.”
Pinkie and Fluttershy nodded. Well, Fluttershy nodded, but Pinkie bounced, as she always did.
Twilight ignored this and continued to trot down the hall and speak at the same time, but Ezio stopped for a few seconds to remind himself that ponies can’t bounce.
“So, as soon as we reach Rainbow’s cell, we can use the spell and - “ *BONG* “ - that’s the door. Everyone, follow me, but stay hidden. We don’t know who it could be.”
Flash, after running for about half an hour, through the shadows and ducking through alleys, finally made it to Twilight’s Castle. As soon as he made it to the door, he rang the doorbell. After waiting for what seemed like forever, someone opened the door a smidge.
The pony spoke in a low voice. “Who is it? I shall not grant you entry unless you can tell me who you are.”
Flash stood proudly and said, “Flash Sentry. Double agent.”
The pony spoke again, in the same low voice. “Codename?”
Flash groaned and facehooved. “L….r...oy.”
The pony smirked as they spoke again. “What was that?”
Flash, now staring at the ground, said again, “Loverboy. There, I said it. Now can I come in? I’m too conspicuous out here.”
The door swung open just enough to allow Flash to squeeze through, but no more.
Once he got inside, Twilight walked up to Pinkie, who seemed to be the source of the voice. “I thought I told you to stop doing that! It’s annoying!”
"Whoopsie! Sorry Twilight, I'll never ever do that again." Pinkie said while still looking perky. Twilight rolled her eyes, yet she smiled at Pinkie before she turned to Flash.
"Flash, report. What did you find out?" Twilight said as Flash paced back and forth in the foyer.
"I don't know what you did, but you're not going to like what I'm about to say." he began as Twilight raised an eyebrow. "One of the Templars found a strand of rainbow hair lying in an alleyway. Whoever did the job decided not to clean up after themselves. Now, I'm forced to report this to her. You know what that means, right?" Twilight sighed, “Yes, I do. Stall for as long as you can. We’ll need it to prepare for what’s to come.” she remarked as a hoof rubbed the back of her head. “I’m sorry for putting you in the middle of this, Flash. However, you’re the only one I can trust to do this. Just… don’t rush with this part, alright?”
“Understood. I don’t know how long I can stall this, though. Kidnapping an officer is bound to make waves, Twilight. Rather big ones, too. Look… I have to get back to my patrol before they notice I’m missing. Good luck, alright? We’ll make it through this crisis like all the other ones before it, just have faith.” he said before he slipped back out of the front door and disappeared into the streets of Ponyville. Twilight was at the window, watching him leave.
“I think I need to have a word with those two. If we survive the coming storm, that is.”
To say that Twilight Sparkle was unamused would have been putting it lightly. She just received word that the Templars figured out what Ezio and Fluttershy had done. Now, she’s going to get to the bottom of this and get some answers. Even if she has to seriously injure one of them in the process. Locating the correct door, she threw it open with her magic and strode down the open passage.
Meanwhile, Ezio and Fluttershy were just finishing with breakfast and getting prepared to go and meet Twilight. Ezio raised a hoof to his chin and allowed his chin to rest upon it. “You know, I have a feeling that we forgot something…” His free pastern spun in a circle listlessly as he pondered, “... However, I’m not exactly sure what that might be...”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s nothing important,” Fluttershy decided as she finished washing the dishes, “Besides, what are the odds that we actually did anything wrong at all?” Ezio was about to respond when they heard the sound of the secret entrance opening. The duo barely had time to turn their heads to the sound when Twilight stomped into the kitchen. Her forehead and chin became a united front, attempting to meet in the center of her face for what appeared to be a rather tense diplomatic meeting.
“Oh, you two are in so much bucking trouble!” Twilight snapped as she came to a stop beside the table.
“Why? What hap–” Ezio attempted to speak, but his mouth was firmly clamped shut by a lavender aura.
“If you know what’s good for you, you won’t finish that sentence. Capiche?” Twilight asked, her words dripping with venom.
“Capiche!” He hastily replied, which seemed to calm Twilight down; if only just enough to keep her from wanting to smash his head into the table.
“Now, you two bumbling buffoons have some explaining to do.” Twilight stated matter-of-factly as she opened a saddlebag and floated out a tuft of rainbow mane with some mud still caked onto several follicles. “Can either of you two imbeciles tell me what this is?” She asked as she began to slowly pace back and forth.
Fluttershy was the first to speak up, “U-um, well… t-that looks like a muddy t-tuft of… r-rainbow mane?” She squeaked out, sinking a little in her seat as the implication slowly dawned on her.
“Good. Any idea why it’s muddy?” Twilight followed up.
“B-because it was… o-on the ground?” Fluttershy offered. A gesture of Twilight’s hoof told her that she needed more information, “A...and it was… left there for some time?”
“Bingo.” Came Twilight’s reply. “Guess where this was found. Anyone? Any educated guesses?”
“Um… in the mud?” Ezio chimed in, to which Twilight simply facehooved and looked over at Fluttershy.
“In… oh, by Luna! We forgot to clean up after ourselves!” Fluttershy said, a single hoof running down her face.
“Fluttershy.” Twilight’s tone was heavy enough to pull a transport balloon out of the sky, “We are supposed to always clean up the scene after we finish a hit. You, of all members, should know that!” She said exasperatedly. “I can cut Ezio some slack due to his unfortunate circumstance… but you have no excuse to go and pull such a rookie mistake! We need to fix this right now, or else we are going to have the templars beating down our front door! This is not a drill! You two imbeciles have to come up with a plan right now!”
Ezio felt shocked, to say the least, as he hadn’t made this kind of mistake in a long time, not since he first joined the Brotherhood. However, because he made this mistake before, he also knew exactly how to clean it up. He slammed his front hoof onto the table so hard it cracked. He began to speak, and then stopped, as the crack began to spiderweb throughout the table.
After that, several things happened at once. One, Twilight started smouldering, as this table was an antique, dating back to the times of the original Brotherhood of Assassins. Two, Fluttershy managed to get out a small squeak before diving under the table with the speed of a cheetah. Three, the crack had moved down the table leg closest to where Ezio was, and began to splinter the wood. Add these things together, and you get chaos.
The table leg shattered into wood chips as Ezio’s hoofiwork got to work on the rest of the table, while the table leaned dangerously to one side, with Fluttershy cowering under the table out of fear. After seeing the state of the antique table, Twilight let out a primal scream and burst into flame, setting the table ablaze, with Fluttershy still underneath. Almost immediately, she screeched like a banshee getting vacuumed into a portal and shot out from under the table with her cloak on fire.
Ezio, for the most part, tried to help Fluttershy by getting her cloak off of her, but it didn’t work, and all that happened was him accidentally flipping Fluttershy into a perpetual state of backflips. So Ezio did what any logical person/pony would do, and dove into Fluttershy, arresting all of her momentum and sending the both of them crashing into the wall, while Twilight still smouldered moodily at her favourite table being reduced to a heap of ashes.
Ezio piped up from his upside-down position on the wall. “If it helps, I know what we should do regarding the Rainbow Dash situation.” All that Twilight did was give him a glare so brutal that it could cut through steel. He decided to stay quiet and try to get off of the wall without crushing Fluttershy.
Several hours later, after Ezio and Fluttershy decided to make a swift exit to allow Twilight to cool off, they were on route to Ponyville to see if they could get some more information about what the Templars were planning. Coming up to the city limits, they heard a voice coming from a nearby alleyway. It sounded distorted, almost as if someone was using a cheap, novelty voice changer.
“Psst. Hey, you.” Ezio and Fluttershy both looked around before a small pebble hit Ezio on the side of his face. Grumbling, he looked over in the direction he thought it came from to see a figure in an inconspicuous looking fedora and long, shaggy coat, like the coats you would see on watch peddlers.
Looking both ways, he waved the duo over. At first, Fluttershy wanted to pass right on by, but Ezio knew an opportunity when he saw one and hesitantly made his way over. Knowing that she couldn’t continue on without him, Fluttershy found herself following Ezio into the alleyway.
“I heard that you two ran into some… trouble earlier…” He mentioned as they appeared to be going rather deep into the alley for whatever this figure wanted them for. Before Ezio could speak, a black colored hoof was raised to forestall any objections. “I know what you’re thinking. ‘How could I know about that?’ Right?” Ezio raised an eyebrow at this, but nodded. “Simple. I have eyes everywhere. I know everything there is to know about the whole ordeal.”
“You’re bluffing.” Ezio shot back, however the figure was undeterred.
“Am I, pony?” Came a rather snide remark from the one who was leading them down the alley. “Or should I tell the Templars that you’re the one who kidnapped Major Rainbow Dash?”
Ezio’s mouth opened to retort, but his words took a side trip to Hesitant Valley before taking a cross train to Nopeville. “That’s what I thought…” They said as they turned a corner into a dark part of the alley.
“Hey, uh, you never told us where you’re taking us?” Fluttershy mentioned as they suddenly feel the cobblestone path dipping gradually downward. “Also, I don’t remember this part of the alley being so… steep.”
“If you would just shut up, you’d get your answer long before I had time to explain myself.” As the path leveled out, cobblestone quickly gave way to a simple dirt path. The open air of the alleyway was replaced with what appeared to be a crude tunnel carved out of the surrounding dirt. Before Ezio could voice his confusion, he found himself passing through a simple wooden door and into what appeared to be a makeshift office. A cracked office desk and three pairs of worn office chairs were settled in the middle of a room no bigger than Fluttershy’s kitchen.
“Where are we?” Ezio and Fluttershy asked almost in unison as they were directed to the open chairs in front of them.
“You are in my domain now, you filthy ponies.” The figure sat down across from them and removed their fedora. When Fluttershy saw who it was, she let out a terrified squeak; Queen Chrysalis leaned forward over the desk, a smug grin plastered on her face. “And I’m about to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”
“W-what are you talking about?” Fluttershy squeaked out as she curled into a tight ball on the small chair.
“As you know…” Chrysalis said as she rose from her chair and began pacing in a circle around the duo, “...I have eyes everywhere in Equestria. I know everything. I see everything. I also know that you and your pathetic excuse of Assassins are in a bind.” She paused to bring a holed hoof to her chest before speaking again, “Fortunately for you two, I am an expert at making problems… disappear, if you catch my drift.”
“So, let me guess. You’re going to force us to enlist your services because we have no other choice, is that it?” Ezio intoned as Chrysalis simply rolled her eyes.
“Oh, I would love to just capture you right now. Maybe I would sell you to the Templars in exchange for diplomatic immunity. Or, if I was feeling generous, back to your precious Assassins that you seem to care for so deeply.” She began pacing again. Ezio didn’t need to see her face to feel the smugness radiating off of her. She stopped at the desk and pulled out the chair to sit back down again. “However, I am not here to plan a petty kidnapping ponzi scheme. I care too much about my future endeavors to let that be a black mark on my reputation. Instead, I led you here to make you an offer, as I said earlier. No more, no less.”
“Alright, I’ll bite. What’s your deal?” Ezio asked as Fluttershy cowered behind a chair unable to speak out of pure terror.
“For a measly five hundred bits, all of your troubles will be a thing of the past. I can assure you that you will have plenty of time to get the information out of that blowhard Rainbow Dash.” She shuddered at the mention of her name, “Five hundred bits for one of my best Infiltrators to sneak in and seize the means of produc--uh, I mean, wipe out this little issue of yours.”
“Wait, what was that?” Ezio scratched his head.
“Nothing. You heard nothing, got it?” Suddenly, a changeling that wasn’t there before appeared behind Chrysalis, slapping a club against one hoof for emphasis.
“R-right. Heard nothing, Got it.” He said as she straightened up and rubbed her pasterns together.
“Excellent. Now, let’s talk turkey.” She said with a grin that wouldn’t look out of place on the Grinch.
Half an hour, and a payment of five hundred bits later, the duo exited the small room under the alleyway and exchanged unsure glances.
“Are we sure this is going to work?” Fluttershy asked at last, figuring they were well out of earshot.
“It has to. Otherwise we’re screwed either way.” Ezio stated matter of factly as they left the alleyway for the return trip back to Fluttershy’s cottage.
