Ezio vs Harmony

Ezio walked out of the stone building, with Derpy following quickly behind him.

"Dammit, Ezio, I told you not to--"

"She was the only one who could help me! Why not--"

"Because it's not right! Ezio, why do you even have anything to do with those... prostitutes???"

"They're Assassins!"

"That's not-- Wait, WHAT?!"

"They. Are. Assassins. They've helped me get through loads guards, on more than one occasion. They distract them, I sneak on through to whatever target is priority."

"Um... okay... now I feel like a jerk..."

"Well then, I guess you turned a page in my book, didn't you?"

"When it put it like that, it sounds weird."

"It's only weird if you make it weird."

"When did they become Assassins?"

"I'm not entirely sure.  They just... are Assassins, and they have been long before I ever knew about any of this."

"Let's not talk about this anymore."

"Let's not." Ezio agreed, changing the topic. "How does it feel to be back in Italia?"

"It fells nice. I've got some good memories of the place, you know? Oh, look!"

Derpy pointed to a clock tower with some wooden planks sticking out of it.

"You still remember that?" She asked."It's where you did your first Leap of Faith!"

"Well, I certainly remember being in pain, if that's what you mean."

"You were such an idiot, almost killing yourself on the hay bale. Luckily, you're more of a hardhead than I thought... literally."

"Yeah, yeah... I was a complete idiot."

"And there! The fight with the Pazzi! You remember that, I'm sure."

"Hey, those bastards started it! Not my fault they couldn't take a hit... and not my fault they started throwing a bricks."

"I patched you up after that. You never sat still, if I remember correctly."

"Well, yeah... that was stupid of me. Ended up with a scar on my lip... and it's still there." he said, feeling indent above his mouth with his hoof.

"Look over there!" she exclaimed, pointing to a house. "I remember seeing you climbing out of the window there in the morning, with a Pazzi shouting at you."

"Can you imagine why?"

She thought for a moment. "You convincing bastard, you." she finally said, giving him a slight punch in the shoulder.

"What can I say? Even you're naturally attracted to me."

"Oh, shut up." she said, blushing. She turned her head and saw a stand nearby.

"Ooh, look over there!" she said, pointing to it. Ezio didn't understand what was so special about it.

"Should I remember this...?" he asked, confused.

"No, it's just that it's got muffins! I love muffins!"

She trotted up to the stand and the colt running it smiled at her. After a short bit of conversing and the exchange of florins, Derpy returned to Ezio with two muffins.

"One for you and one for me! Take whichever one you like."

Ezio remembered the last time he had muffins... and these ones looked quite similar to the last ones...

"Please tell me these aren't the same ones as--"

He was cut off mid-sentence by a muffin being shoved into his open mouth.

"Just eat the muffin, Ezio." Derpy said, taking a bite out of her own. Ezio took the muffin out of his mouth, examined it for a second, and then promptly started eating it.

Derpy dragged him all around town. "Look over there!""Look at that!""Is that some of the Medici?"

Ezio caught himself on that one. He saw the guards walking by.

"Hm... no cape, no protection... damn..."

"Ezio, I think I could take that one or two different ways, so perhaps you'd like to explain what you're saying?"

"Oh, it's nothing really. I had a bunch of capes that let the guards know they can trust me, but those were back at Monteriggioni.

They were probably destroyed with  everything else during the si--"

He stopped himself and a worried face appeared.

"What's wrong, Ezio?"

"Oh, no... the feathers! My mother... she was mourning, you see, over the death of brothers and father... I tried to help by collecting some feathers my younger brother, just as he asked me to before he died, as to make my mother feel that his needs were met, even after his passing."

"You actually did that?"

"If the town was still in one piece, I would show you the box. I came so close to collecting all of them, too! Ninety-nine out of a hundred. So close."

"That seems..." Derpy searched for appropriate words to put in her sentence. "Very... kind of you to care about your mother so much, Ezio."

He looked at her with a slight smile. "Thank you."

That's his smile diminished as his eyes fell upon the sight before him. Ezio looked at it with narrowed eyes and a frown. Everything about it disgusted him. The ropes, tied ever so neatly into loops, the wooden boards, kept clean all these years, even the very silence of it he despised.

"Ezio? We don't have to be here... not if you don't want to be here."

The Assassin walked up to the disgusting device and tapped it twice on its side. He shook his head and moved to the next side.

"What are you doing?" she asked inquisitively.

"Something that should've been done long ago." he said, tapping on the next side. A smile appeared on his face for only a moment. He turned around and kicked the rotten wood he had been searching for, bringing down the gallows that stood before him. Derpy's jaw dropped at the act.

"We're leaving. We have a funeral to attend to." he said, flipping up his hood and walking away.

***

Rodrigo Borgia stared out the window, looking out upon the disgusting world. So impure, so unready for the new world the Templars have been working towards for hundreds of years... his guards stood nearby, making sure Rodrigo was safe as he could be.

Suddenly, a unicorn burst into the room. "Rodrigo! Good news!"

"The Apple has its power restored?" he asked hopefully.

"Almost. We require just one more thing."

"Tell me of it, now! I will gladly give anything for the power of the Apple."

"That's the thing Rodrigo." The pony's voice switched to a darker tone. "We require you."

"What do you mean? Explain yourself, now!"

The guards that were keeping Rodrigo safe now restrained him. He struggled against their hold on him.

"What is the meaning of this?! I am the Pope!"

"I'm sorry to say, Rodrigo," said the unicorn, "but the time for you is no more. You have failed us too many times, allowing the Assassins to make too many strikes against us. It's time for a new leader. But before that, you have one more use."

The unicorn pulled out the Apple, the only one remaining now.

"No! This is treason! Guards, release me now! GUARDS!"

Rodrigo saw as his guards changed into dark beings, fangs protruding from their mouths.

"I'm afraid your little soldiers aren't under your control anymore, Rodrigo. They were merely pawns in my scheme."

"Scheme? What scheme? Just who in the world do you think you are?"

The Changling Queen dropped her disguise, allowing the scared pony to stare into her evil, green eyes. She held the Apple up.

"Your doom."

The Apple shone brightly in the room, blinding Rodrigo. He screamed in agony as he felt his very essence disappearing, being consumed by the Apple. In only a few moments, the Pope was gone. All that was left behind was his hat and robes.

"Finally, the time is right." the queen said, a evil smile spreading across her face. "Finally we shall have power, control... Let us go, my children. We have a war to start."