Ezio vs Harmony

Dreams are funny little things. Some predict the future. Some show you what you need to know now. Some scare the living shit out of you.

Others get disturbed by a giant cannonball flying through the walls.

Ezio got up quickly and saw the damage. The siege had started right at daybreak, exactly when nopony would be prepared. He jumped out of his bed as another round flew through the Villa, breaking the walls, making the place fall apart. He saw his armor had gotten hit by one of the rounds.

Merda, how was he going to stop them without that? He wished he had placed them elsewhere. He searched through the broken pieces and retrieved the satchel with the Apple. He rushed out of his room, down the stairs, and outside.

He saw his town panicking, everypony rushing around. He saw the Templars moving in on the city. Cannon rounds flew everywhere, destroying almost everything in their path. Retaliation seemed hopeless.

Ezio shook his head out of his trance and thought of a plan. Those... cannons... he needed to find those. He saw some ponies standing up on the wall, they looked like they were using them. Ezio climbed up to them.

The ponies using them had been killed. So far, this was not looking good. Ezio took control of the machine and tried to figure out how it worked. So you load this, light this... and...

He pulled the shot mechanism back and the cannonball shot out, taking down an incoming group of Templars. Whatever the hell this was, it sure was effective. He spotted similar mechanisms on wheels down with the rest of the Templar invaders.

He reloaded the cannon and fired at the enemy. the shot took out the nearest cannon, but the rest now noticed him. They fired their shots, but missed. Ezio kept this going, knocking out the enemy cannons one by one. A shot rang out and hit the wall below Ezio, causing the cannon to fall down.

He looked around for another, but then realized something.

Uncle. Where was he? He had to find him. Obviously, he had evacuated as many ponies as he could, but... as for himself...

Ezio needed to find him, but more cannons were still firing at Monteriggioni. He got to the nearest cannon and destroyed them before they could do any more damage. He planned to reload the weapon, but noticed he has out of cannonballs to do so.

He stepped down from the cannon and ran to find his uncle. He hoped he was okay...

He ran across the rooftops, searching for him on the ground. That's when he heard his name being called.

"Ezio! Looking for somepony?"

It was a taunting voice, one that made Ezio cringe. He looked to its source.

A Templar, seemingly the leader of this raid, had Ezio's uncle under his hoof, and some kind of metal object in his mouth.

Ezio didn't know what he was going to do, but he didn't care. He rushed forward and let his hidden blade show--

if... he... had... one...

Dammit! he thought. I left it back at the Villa!

There was no time for anymore of his thoughts. He heard a sound of some strange arrow, like maybe a tiny cannon. He saw his uncle, blood flowing out from his head. Another shot rang out, hitting Ezio in the chest.

He winced in pain and fell from the building he stood on. He closed his eyes and blacked out.

The shooter flipped the weapon around and put it back in his bag. "The Assassins are no more! HAHAHA!"

That's when he saw a cyan pegasus swoop down and catch Ezio before he landed. He stared at her as she flew away.

There was no hope for them. They should know that by now. Why would she save a dying pony...?

He looked away. "Clear the city. Kill everypony you see. Burn this damned rathole to the ground." he instructed his troops.

******************************************************************************

Ezio awoke in a house. The ceiling looked nice, but he didn't really think staring at it would do him any good. He shifted into a sitting position and immediately regretted it.

He yelped and threw himself back onto the bed he had been on. His chest was burning in pain.

He looked down at the wound. Somepony had cleaned it and patched it up. However, it seemed that he would need some time to recover.

He though of how he got the wound. Some strange mechanism that colt was holding... what was that, anyway? Ezio related it the cannon in his mind and decided that a hoofcannon would be the proper term for such an instrument.

As for the cleaning and patching of the wound, he would need to find out when the owner of the home returned to tend to his wound. He thought of who it might be. Somepony with experience, precision, and a medical background...

He didn't know anypony like that. Unless...

Impossible.

He wanted to get up and run out of this place. He had to escape. Certain doom awaited him outside the door.

He got up, gritting his teeth as the burning pain came back. He walked slowly up to the door and peered through the crack.

He didn't see anypony. Good, he thought. Makes my life easier.

Just as he got to the doorway to the outside world, to freedom, he heard it.

"Ezio, what are you doing out of bed?"

He turned around with a sheepish look on his face. "Twice in one week, huh?"

He knew the house he was in. It was Derpy's. He had known that from the evidence strewn about the place, as well as the fact that Derpy was one of the Assassin's best healers. In fact, that's how they met: Ezio had gotten hit by a brick to the face, leaving it cut and bleeding. Derpy was the only one around at the time, so Ezio got... repaired by her, to put it simply. It was awkwardness at first sight. The situation had gotten slightly better over he last few years, but Ezio knew that Derpy didn't know how to be better at this sort of social interaction.

The two realized they had been standing in the same place saying nothing to one another for the past few seconds, making the whole situation much more awkward.

Ezio tried to mask his pain. Derpy could always see right through his bluffing.

"C'mon, Ezio, I know you're not healing that quickly. Back in the bed with you."

Ezio sighed and went back into the room, with Derpy close behind. Ezio hated it when there was no time for dressing in the morning, which means if he was hit in the chest--

"So, what stupid act did you try to do this time?" asked Derpy. She was always so serious when it came to medical talk.

However, her question tipped Ezio over the edge. His feelings at the time were angry, but the pain in his chest made him have to be sarcastic. Medical stuff is weird like that.

"Oh nothing much, just trying to save my town, that's all. Thanks for asking."

"WHAT?!"

It seemed that medical talk was now over.

"Monteriggioni was attacked. Everypony there is either dead or worse."

"'Or worse?'"

"I'm assuming some of them are being tortured or enslaved."

"Ezio, I... I had no idea..."

Ezio winced and stumbled. Derpy helped him up and onto the bed.

"Get some rest." she said. "We'll sort this out in the morning."

"A question." Ezio said. "What exactly caused this wound?"

"I had to dig out what hit you. Apparently, this" she held up a container with a tiny ball of metal inside "got lodged into your chest. I think that it must've been moving very fast to do so much damage."

Well, thought Ezio, I was spot on with the hoofcannon name.

"That little ball did a lot of damage. You should be thankful it missed everything vital."

Ezio thought of his uncle. That colt couldn't have missed at a range like that.

"Derpy... my uncle didn't make it."

"I'm sorry, Ezio. I really am."

"The Assassins have no leader..."

"You're wrong there."

Ezio shot up, winced, and fell back down onto the bed. Why did he think he could still do such things?

"What?" he asked, weaker than he intended it to sound.

"Your uncle is dead. It's horrible, but he told me that if anything happened to him, that you would be the one to take charge."

"When did he tell you this?"

"I stay connected to the group from here, Ezio. It helps that I'm a mailmare."

"And yet I received nothing..."

"Wait, what?" she asked, looking up from her work to face him.

"I got nothing from you. No mail, no news, not even a postcard."

"That can't be right. I sent you letters every week. I remember delivering them myself." she began placing the materials back onto the counter.

"Really? I wonder what happened."

"Well, I didn't deliver them straight to you. I gave them to your uncle to give to you."

"And he knew to do that?"

"Yes, he did. So that must mean--"

"He kept them away from me or simply never got around to getting them to me. I knew him well, he always had time to spare..."

"I hope he didn't read them himself... I mean, he probably wanted to protect you, right? He probably would've done that..."

"What do you mean?"

No response.

"Derpy, what did you write? Derpy?"

Derpy started blushing. "N-nothing, really... um..."

Ezio didn't know what to say. He simply started to chuckle. Derpy heard him.

"Hey! It wan't-- I ment to--"

"I think I know exactly what was in those letters now." he said between laughs.

"No! It wasn't anything like that! I swear! Ezio!"

Ezio was dying with laughter. He stopped when the wound on his chest started to hurt because of it. He showed the pain on his face and stopped.

"Get some sleep." she said with hints of embarrassment. "I'll be back to check on you in an hour or two."

She shut the door behind her. Ezio did as she said, even with the current thought running through his head.

His thought process was cut off when he heard the Princess in his head again.

Ezio! Are you okay? Your not hurt, are you?

I wish I could say that I wasn't.

What happened? Did Trixie attack?

No. Somepony else lead the invasion. I don't know who he is.

That doesn't make sense. Trixie should've been there. She should've--

The Princess trailed off.

Princess? Is something wrong?

Ezio... it's Trixie. She just teleported in here... and she doesn't look good. And that Apple... she doesn't have it.

It could be a trap! Don't fall for it!

... She doesn't know about the invasion, Ezio. She wasn't there, was she?

No, she wasn't.

Then I think I have to help her, or she might die.

She's the enemy!

She's misunderstood by you. I'll talk later. I'm going to need you here tomorrow morning, as soon as you can be here. Bring the Apple. If you think she might attack, and we will need some form of defense.  In the meantime, rest up.

The voice was gone, and Ezio was tired. Sending telepathic messages was harder to do when you can't use any magic of your own to do it with, if that made any sense. He stayed immobile and soon fell to sleep... with one eye open, just in case.