Ezio vs Harmony

The papers were rolling like crazy. Every since some pony in Ponyville murdered Pinkie Pie, the local papers got all over the matter like dogs fighting over a piece of meat. "Unidentified Pony Kills Local Partier: Local Law Enforcement Baffled!" It made for good business for the papers, but for everypony else it was a disaster.

"And I thought laughin' made ponies live longer." said Applejack solemnly as she read the news. "Seems it didn't turn out that way. Celestia bless her soul."

""Who would do such a thing?" asked Rarity. "And why Pinkie Pie?"

"Oh my... I better keep my animals safe if there's a --*eep!*-- killer about!" whispered Fluttershy.

"I really feel bad. I don't think I ever said anything nice about Pinkie, now I kinda wish I had." said Rainbow Dash.

"We gotta find out what happened." said Applejack. "Sugarcube Corner ain't far from here. We should check out the scene of the crime if we want to know the truth."

They walked to Sugarcube Corner to see the place taped off by the guards. They saw Mr. and Mrs. Cake standing outside. Mrs. Cake was crying.

"Pinkie never hurt anypony! Why would somepony do this?" she weeped.

"Look, honey, things might not seem to be good, but we have to look on the bright side. There has to be some silver lining to all this." said Mr. Cake.

His words did little to comfort his wife. "Pinkie's DEAD! Where's the bright side of that!?" she shouted at him. She immediately fell prey to her real feelings and began crying again.

A tan pony in a blue suit walked out of Sugarcube Corner.

"There you are investigator! Tell us what happened to our Pinkie Pie!!" Mrs. Cake shouted at him.

"I'm afraid I don't know." replied the investigator calmly. "All we know is that she was stabbed to death. One stab to the lungs. Whoever did this knew what they were doing: Nopony around here is saying anything about seeing a pony enter the house. However, we did find the culprit's hoofprints nearly everywhere. We'll catch him, ma'am. I promise you that."

"My poor Pinkie..." was all Mrs. Cake could say.

The four ponies stood nearby, listening in on the talk.

"Stabbed to death?" asked Applejack. "How many ponies go around doin' that?"

"None that we know of, apparently." said the investigator, overhearing her. "We don't have the autopsy report yet." He turned and thanked the mailcarrier as he opened the enevelope." But now here it is. Name: Pinkiemenia Dianne Pie. Cause of Death: suffocation. Hm. Estimated time of Death: 9:47 last night. Rupture wound in right lung. Supposedly she died after the culprit stabbed her, both from a lack of oxygen in her system and blood loss. We also have the results of the hoof print scan right here..."

His face tightened and he frowned.

"I thought we'd be able to find the killer in the system. It seems whoever killed Pinkie isn't a registered citizen of Equestria."

He turned to Mrs. and Mr. Cake. "I'm sorry, but we can't pinpoint who killed your assistant.  At least, not yet. We'll find him soon.  He couldn't have gotten far. We'll check all the train stations to see if anypony suspicious entered onto one of those. As for now, we'll have to leave the situation the way it is."

He turned to leave. "All right, show's over. Time to pack up and move on to the next crime scene." he called to the guards.

"Next crime scene? What else happened here in Ponyville while we were all asleep?" asked Applejack.

The investigator didn't answer. He simply kept going on his way.

Applejack watched him walk away, shaking her head at him as he did so. She walked up to Mrs. Cake.

"Mrs Cake," she said, "we have to see what happened up there. Is it okay if we take a look?'

Mrs. Cake nodded, still sobbing away.

Applejack and co. entered Sugarcube Corner. They saw a red stain that ran down the stairs. Curious to see where exactly it came from, Applejack slowly ascended the stairs. What she found made her gasp.

Pinkie Pie was standing up at the top of the stairs. Her side was cut, adn was bleeding horribly. However, it seemed that the pony was still alive...

Something wasn't right about this picture, and Applejack knew it.

"P-Pinkie...? But yer... that's ain't--"

"You didn't save me, Applejack."

"Pinkie I--"

"You didn't save me, APPLEJACK." repeated Pinkie, louder than before.

Applejack watched in horror as her friend's eyes began to bleed. Her voice wasn't right. It sounded as if she spoke in dissonant tones.

"YOU DIDN'T SAVE ME, APPLEJACK!!!" screamed the deformed pony.

Pinkie lunged at her. Applejack shouted in shock as she turned away and closed her eyes. When she reopened them, Pinkie was gone.

"Applejack!" yelled Rainbow from the bottom of the stairs, "Are you okay?!"

Applejack took a moment to collect herself. It was all fake, some sort of delusion....

"I'm fine!" she called back to her. She walked back down the stairs. When she got back to the group, her friends all had concerned looks on their faces.

"Applejack, what did you see up there?" asked Fluttershy, worried.

"Somethin' I don't wanna see again. C'mon girls. We're leavin'."

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

Ezio had taken refuge in the forest that night. He knew that nopony would go in there due to its dangerous atmosphere.  He had taken some time this morning to plan a little more for his next assassination.  His last performance was sloppy and rushed. He needed to take his time, use what little resources he had availible to him, and focus. Information was key.

He had crossed off Pinkie Pie's name from the list. She was dead, of course, but for some reason thoughts of her still lingered in Ezio's mind. Out of all the things she could've said to him, why choose those lines? "Please, don't hurt my friends." She obviously didn't know what he was planning here if she said that, otherwise she would not have used her last moments to tell him to do some thing he simply was going to do whether she allowed it or not. "You have to know..."

Know what? He had to find out what she was going to say. That's why he'd need to discuss the matter with his next target before he killed her.

Whatever move he made next would have a big impact on Ponyville no matter whom he chose. He decided that if he could get rid of the second earth pony, then he'd only need to focus on the special nature of the others later. He had received more information than last time for this pony:

Full Name: Applejack A. Apple

Occupations: Company owner, Farmhand

Time: 12:00AM to 3:00AM, Sunday

Location: Sweet Apple Acres

Requirements: Information on target. Assassination only, any form.

Potential Hazards: Ambush.

Ambush, he thought, well isn't that nice. They were probably refering to her huge family ganging up and fighting him. Apparently, death of this pony required infomation about her. He wondered why, but shook his questioning away. It wasn't right to question an assignment. He only had three days until his extremely small window of opportunity was open. The timing of the assassination was not preferable in Ezio's opinion, but he would make it work somehow.

All he needed to do right now was to gather up all the information he could on this pony before then.  That would require both of the two things: stealth and blending in.

He sighed knowing that blending in meant one thing. He usually could blend in anywhere in Italia, but his attire would not be suitable for this case. Damn these nudists, he thought. He would stash his clothes somewhere safe in these woods, assuming he knew where to find them again.

With these smaller installations of policy, his job got two times harder than before. Stashing the clothes wasn't easy. He ran into Timberwolves, which chased him around for a while before he climbed a tree to escape them. When he was up in the tree, there were birds that would happily pull apart his clothes to add it to their nests. This is one of the reasons why Ezio hated nature so much: You simply cannot hide from something that is all around you. After three hours of searching, he found a place in a strangely uninhabited part of the woods and stashed his clothes under one of the trees there.

Done with that annoying task, he moved on with the plan and went to town to gather any information he could on this Applejack figure. He was surprised at what little success he had.  Nopony talked about about anypony unless it was brought up as a major part of the conversation, and most of the conversations in this town were about trivial things, making major things minor and vice versa. Ezio couldn't just go in and ask somepony about all this in public because of all the suspicion the town already had. Just when he was beginning to run out of leads, he heard somepony's voice.

"Yes, Applejack did come here a little while ago, why?"

He looked over and saw a familiar place: Sugarcube Corner. Standing in front of the place were three ponies. One was a blue mare with a pink mane, another a yellow colt with an orange mane, and finally a tan colt with a black mane. The tan colt was wearing a navy blue suit, and was the only pony actually dressed in the entire town.

"We're wondering about her. You should know that most murderers return to the crime scene within a 24-hour time span. We've got a feeling that it was her who killed your assistant." sadi the suited pony.

That pony was going to ask them about his target. Perfect, he thought, he'll provide all the information that I'll need.

"Let's talk about this inside your house, shall we?"

And of course it can't be that easy, he thought. Why can't it ever be easy?

He decided to answer the door to the knocking opportunity, metaphorically speaking. One of the side windows was slightly opened, just enough for him to hear the ponies inside.

"Applejack was her friend! Why would she kill her?" asked the blue pony with doubt.

"That's what I'm here to find out. How much do you know about this 'Applejack'?" prompted the suited pony.

"Well, she's a farmhand at Sweet Apple Acres, she's won an award for the most dependable pony in Ponyville--"

"What about her personality?"

"She's an honest, hard-working pony. She does have this one grudge against somepony named Rarity, now that I think about it--"

"Let's stay on topic, please. We can discuss the small things later."

"She's never hurt anypony as far as I know.  She just works for most of the week. She's very competitive. Every hour she has off from work she spends with her friends or at competitions of some sort."

"How long has she known Pinkie Pie?"

"Years, sir. They've been friends ever since they were fillies."

"You said she was competitive. Did Pinkie ever stop her from winning before?"

"No."

"What about anything she was going to compete for? Did Pinkie plan to stop her from winning anything like that?"

"No! Pinkie wouldn't ever try to do that to any of her friends!"

"Calm down, Mrs. Cake. I'm here to find the killer, not to ruin Pinkie's former image."

"Sorry about that. She just wouldn't do that."

"Is there anything else you think I should know? I thought you had something you were trying to say before."

"Yes, Applejack has a fairly big grudge against somepony named Rarity. I don't know if that helps you, but I thought you should know that."

"Thank you for your time, Mrs. Cake. I'll be going to meet with this 'Applejack' next. I'd like you to know that everything you've said here, good or bad, will not be mentioned in this next discussion. I'll be leaving now."

The suited pony left Sugarcube Corner. Ezio didn't get much from that conversation with the blue pony. However, now he knew more about Applejack's personality than before. He decided to tail this suited pony and find out what he was going to ask Applejack.

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

Applejack and her family were just about to sit down and have dinner when she heard a knock at her door.

"I'll get it." she said. "Y'all can start eatin' without me. This won't take too long."

She was assuming that it was some salescolt at the door, one that she'd be able to turn away quickly and resume her meal with her family.

She opened the door to a suited pony.

"If yer gonna try to get me with one of them fancy sales pitches, ya can leave now."

The pony standing outside her door became annoyed.

"I'm not a salescolt, I'm an investigator, and I have some questions for you."

Applejack stepped outside and shut the door behind her.

"Oh, it's you again. Didn't notice. All ya ponies in those fancy suits look like salescolts to me."

Ignoring her remark, the tan pony spoke. "I need to know where you were at 9:47 last night."

Applejack recognized the time from when he said it before. "You trying to accuse me of somethin' here?"

"How about you answer the question first, then I'll talk to you about the reason."

"Have it your way, Mr. Fancy Suit. At the time of the murder yer avoidin' talkin' about, I was gettin' done buckin' the apples off the trees fer the day. I was tired from all the work, so I walked home and went to bed at around ten."

"Do you have anypony to back up what you've just said?"

"Mah family."

"I assumed that much. how about anypony outside of relatives?"

"No sir-ee."

"Then I'm afraid that this talk will last a tad longer. What was your opinion on the pony Pinkie Pie?"

"She was mah friend. If she was still livin', she'd tell ya that herself."

"I don't want to talk about the hypotheticals of your 'friend's' opinion on you. Let's stay focused here, please."

"She was mah friend, and that's all there is to it."

"Did she agrivate you at any time near the murder?"

"No, she didn't."

"Were you going to attend any competitive events after the time of the murder?"

"Nah. There's no big competitions comin' up."

"Did she ever get in the way of you winning a competition near the time of death?"

"Nope. Haven't gone to anythin' like that for months."

"Did she--"

"Ima stop ya right there, mister. I didn't kill nopony, ya hear? Pinkie was mah friend! Why in the world would I want teh kill her?"

"That's what I'm trying to find out here."

"Look, buddy, your search is a lost cause here. I know that ya said the killer ain't anypony from Equestria, right? I'm from Equestria, sir, so all you can just suck up your pride and get the hell off mah land."

The suited pony was baffled by how right she was. He grimaced.

"All right, Ms. Applejack, you win. I'll leave. However, if I find any indication that you were there at the scene of the crime, I will have you arrested and sent to Canterlot for your punishment, issued by princess Celestia herself."

With that, the suited pony slowly walked away.

Ezio took note of the pony's appearance. All that apple-bucking gave her muscular hind legs, while her front didn't seem as strong. Her reaction time was very quick, and that would be a problem when the time came to kill her. She was accused of murder right now...

That's when the idea struck him. It was a dangerous idea, but a good one all the same. He took out a feather pen and paper and began to write a letter.

Ms. Applejack,

If you want to find out who really killed Pinkie Pie, meet me in the barn at 12:00AM, this Sunday. I'll be waiting nearby with the evidence. DON'T BRING ANYPONY ELSE WITH YOU.

It was a simple letter, but somehow it had a great effect on ponies. You simply say that you know who did it, and they will believe you and meet exactly when and where they're instructed to. Applejack was probably under a great deal of stress at the moment, and given that murder was a capital offense in Equestria, that means she could be banished. If she didn't accept this, then she might never see her family again, and if the time sentence was long eough, she would die on some place far away from society. He waited for her to go back inside, then he slipped the note under the front door and galloped off.

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

Applejack woke up in the middle of the night abruptly. She thought she had heard--

Applejaaaaaaack...

That voice. It sounded like Pinkie's voice. She got out of bed, lit a candle, and tried to find the source of the calling.

Applejaaaaaaack...

There it was again. It sounded like it was coming from the front door. She picked up the candle with her teeth and made her way down the stairs.

Applejaaaaaaack... Where aaaaare yoooooou...

Applejack moved faster and faster down the stairs, throught the hall, and finally the front door.

She saw Pinkie again. She was facing away from her this time, and she looked okay.

"Pinkie...? Is that you...?"

Pinkie turned to face her, and Applejack saw her face. Her eyes were missing.

Applejack... you didn't save me...

"No... you're not real... you can't be real..."

Applejack... you didn't save me...

"No... you go away... you don't belong here..."

YOU DIDN'T SAVE ME!!!!

Pinkie screamed and caused Applejack to drop her candle. She quickly picked it up again and looked to where Pinkie was before. There was nothing there, but she noticed a paper on the floor. She picked it up and read it.

Ms. Applejack,

If you want to find out who really killed Pinkie Pie, meet me in the barn at 12:00AM, this Sunday. I'll be waiting nearby with the evidence. DON'T BRING ANYPONY ELSE WITH YOU.

Was this what Pinkie wanted her to see? This letter?

"Don't worry, Pinkie." she whispered to herself. "Even though I didn't get a chance to save ya, I'm gonna take this chance to avenge ya."

She took the note to her room and hid it in her drawer. Only she needed to know about this. And she was gonna be there when the time came.

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

The days passed by quickly. Ezio found little success in finding more information, and the inspector found no evidence that proved Applejack was at the scene of the crime (other than after the murder). Saturday rolled around and Ezio planned his assassination. He would need to do some talking without revealing who he really was. It probably wouldn't take long for Applejack to notice his accent and question it. He could try to mask it, but he was horrible at speaking in any other accent other than his own.

He thought of the potential dangers of an ambush. Even though you can tell them to go alone, it doesn't mean that they will. That was always the case with Ezio when it came to things like this. If he was ambushed, he would not let Applejack escape, no matter the cost. She was the target, after all. All others could be dealt with afterwards.

He wished he knew the time. It was really dark outside, the moon was fairly high in the sky, and the town was quiet. He could only assume that it was time. He hoped that the country pony understood what he ment by 12AM, as a lot of ponies didn't really know how to tell time in this town from what he had seen.

Finally, Applejack opened the door to barn. She held a lantern in her teeth. She appeared to have nopony else with her.

Ezio kept to the shadows to haev his identity be protected from the beams of light created by the lantern.

"Hello? Are you here? Somepony?" she said, a little quiet as to not wake anypony.

"You wanted to know who killed Pinkie." said Ezio.

Applejack jumped a little at the sound of his voice. "Yeh, that's right. Why don't ya tell me now, and we can get this all over with."

She looked more frightened than Ezio expected her to be.  Perhaps the "tough" farmpony was afraid of the dark.

"He's a peculiar one, the pony who did this." he said. "One of the best where he comes from."

He wondered why Applejack wasn't questioning him by now. Maybe she was simply too afraid to do so, given the look on her face. Ezio continued his little speech, ignoring her lack of interjection.

"He came in through the window that night, and waited for her to approach. when she got close enough, the pony stabbed her in her side and let her slowly and painfully die. He even got to hear her last words: 'Don't hurt my friends. You must know...'"

Applejack finally spoke up. "How did you know what her last words were? It's not like you were--"

That's when she added it all up. Ezio realized this, but he would not be the one to make the first move.

"Did... Did you kill... Pinkie...?"

Ezio hesitated and considered his options. If he told her that he did it, then he might have more of a chance to get an answer for what Pinkie was going to say, but on the other hand he might get her angry and receive no information at all.

If he said no, then she might not believe his story and pass off everything he said, or she might see right through his lies and attack.

He needed the information, no matter how trivial it might be. So much for not revealing who he was. He went with the first option.

"Yes. I killed your friend, Pinkie Pie. Does that make you feel better? Knowing that the murderer is standing right in front of you?"

Applejack simply stared. Not at him, but at something behind him. He checked around and saw nopony in the direct vicinity. He decided this was his time to get that answer.

"Applejack, I want to know what your friend was going to say back there. 'You need to know...' Do you know what she was going to say?"

"Why don't ya ask her yerself?"

Ezio was surprised at her response.

"She's dead. You know this. Don't play me for a fool, Applejack."

"No, she's right there. Can't ya see her?"

Ezio looked around. He had no idea what she was talking about. He realized that he wouldn't get his answer if he denied the existence of Pinkie right now. He'd have to play along.

"Oh, you mean there." he said, looking in the same general area. "Yes, I see her. However, I can't hear her... Perhaps you'd like to tell me what she is saying?"

"She says 'You have to know... We're not bad ponies...'"

She paused for a brief second and continued.

"'...and you're making a big mistake.'"

Ezio doubted that, but at least he knew --or at least was led to believe by this crazed pony-- is that what Pinkie said was trivial. If he was making such a big mistake, then why was everything going so well?

Ezio prepped his blade. This pony would be useless to him in a matter of seconds.

"There's one more thing..." said Applejack. "'The library holds all the answers.' I think that's all. She's leavin' now, as you can see."

Ezio wasn't paying attention to the invisible Pinkie anymore. He had his eyes focused on Applejack.

He made his advance slow as to make it seem less threatening.

"That's all I need." he said.

"Hold on there, par'ner. Don't think you're gettin' off the hook so quickly. Ya killed Pinkie, and I promised her I'd avenge her. You're goin' down."

That's when Ezio noticed somethng off about the barn. Applejack was slowly inching towards the door...

He continued his advance. If she was planning something, he'd play into it and see how it would go.

"If revenge is what you want, then fight me, you coward."

"I've got some different plans." she replied with a smile. She kicked a nearby support beam and the barn began to shake.

"Go to hell." she said, and ran off out the door. Ezio rushed forward and tried to escape, but the door was blocked by something.

"Merda." he said. The barn was going to fall right on top of him if he didn't get out soon.

He looked around for a way out. There was a hatch on the roof of the barn he could use to escape, but he'd have to be quick.

He galloped up the conveniently placed stairs, which fell down as soon as his hoof lifted off of them. He dashed across the length of the barn and made it to the hatch. It was blocked off by something heavy from the outside. Ezio kicked at it again and again, the barn crumbling all around him. With one last kick out of desperation, the hatch opened and Ezio jumped out as the entire barn fell to pieces behind him. Applejack didn't have the sense to run off before, and was standing nearby the broken building.

"Shoot!" she said, and ran off as fast as she could. Ezio followed in close pursuit. She may be strong, but Ezio knew that ment little for what endurance she might have. It looked like she was using all her strength to run, but he could hear the inconsistancy in the beating of her hooves against the ground. She was tiring out easily, and Ezio planned his next maneuver with that knowledge in mind. She made a right turn to try to throw him off. Ezio sped up and turned early, causing the distance between him and his target to decrease. He ran into her, tackling her to the ground. His hoof raised, releasing the blade, and Applejack closed her eyes and looked away.

Ezio brought the blade down into her neck. He watched as Applejack struggled to breathe.

"Any last words, Templar? You had better make them quick." growled Ezio.

Applejack continued to wheeze, short and quick little puffs of air. "You really are making a mistake.... Pinkie was right... she was right..."

Applejack said no more, her body limp like Pinkie's was before. Ezio removed the blade and set it back in it's holder. Applejack was dead, and he had gained some important information. The library. The place where Pinkie, or Applejack (he couldn't tell which one of these ponies really supplied the information), told him to go.

He began to walk away, but stopped and said one thing.

"Requiescat in pace."

Then he strode off to find the library.

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

Trixie finally found the dead body of Applejack. It was hard to keep up with these ponies when you can't see them in the darkness. She smiled her evil smile again. This Assassin must really know what he's doing to survive that trap and kill the target in record time. Two down, four to go. At this rate, the Assassin will have them all killed in less than two weeks. She smiled with what felt like never-ending satisfaction and walked away.

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

The investigator sighed. How was he ever going to solve this mystery if there were no witnesses, suspects, or even any anonymous tips? The thought was what was keeping him up to these very late hours of the night. What evidence they had was insufficient to accuse anypony of the crime. That's when he heard somepony knock on his door.

He opened it up to see a guard.

"What seems to be the problem, sir?" he asked the guard.

"We've got another. Sompony said they heard screaming around 1:00 this morning. This is what we found."

He passed him an envelope. His eyes passed over the pictures inside.

"Send in another team to evaluate what happened here. I want full reports by noon. Any evidence we find here might help us track down a murderer of a similiar case."

The guard nodded and ran off to deliver the orders.

Well there goes my previous idea, as if it wasn't debuffed enough, he thought. He didn't want to see this anymore. He had to get some sleep and think this over in the morning over a cup of coffee. He placed the file on his desk and walked to his bed. Tomorrow, I'll find who did this... he thought. Yeah... it'll all add up tomorrow.

He turned out the light and went to sleep.