Ezio vs Harmony

Ezio kept looking over the Princess's shoulder while she worked.  This was intriguing... she had taken the things Ezio retrieved and was putting them together.

The orb was the first part. She put the scales over it, covering the it, leaving a hole at the top. She put the key inside the hole. The last thing she took out was from the package. Ezio saw that it was filled with pure silver. No wonder that unicorn wanted it earlier...

She manipulated the silver to cover the creation. It looked like a silver ball, one Ezio thought he recognized. She lifted it up and it started to glow.

"This is the fruit of your labor, Ezio. The orb for magic channeling, the scales for it's enhancement, the key for knowledge, and the silver to keep it all together... It's time."

Ezio realized what this was. He couldn't let the Princess do what she going to do.

"NO!" he shouted, knocking over the Princess. He covered the Orb with the nearest thing he could find: the royal banners.

"Ezio, what are you doing??"

"Princess, what are you thinking?? You can't use something like this!"

"Of course I can! Even those without magic can still use this."

"I know, but it's too powerful, even for you! Anypony who looks into the Apple becomes corrupted by its power!"

"The... Apple?"

"Yes. You, with all you had me gather, have made an exact replica of the Apple of Eden, with power only one can only imagine!"

"Meaning I can bring back my friends! Now, away with you! I have work to do."

She threw Ezio off it with her magic, and lifted it once again. She teleported away.

"Damn it! She has no idea, does she? This entire country... no, the whole world will suffer the consequences!"

He ran off to the one place he knew she would be.

Ponyville. He had to get there before it was too late. The train? Too slow. Flying? No...

Wait. There was one way. It'd be a stretch, but... he'd make it work.

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The Princess appeared in front of Rainbow Dash's grave.

"You mad a mistake, that's all Rainbow. Now I'm gonna fix it."

She looked into the Apple. Knowledge rushed through her head. Ones of magic, revival, and most importantly, resurrection. She had all she needed to know now...

... but she couldn't look away. The knowledge kept flowing. The knowledge of the origin of ponies, the creation of their world, everything flowed into her head. She saw things she couldn't possibly understand. Her mind was aching...

Finally, the flow stopped. She knew... everything. Understood everything. Could create anything...

She turned towards the grave. Her eyes glowed. She felt her power flow into the corpse six feet underground.

She had done it. Rainbow was alive. At least, she thought so.

But not for long. She was basically buried alive. Twilight raised the dirt off the grave, revealing the box underneath.

She quickly opened it.

"Twilight? What the hell is going on here??"

"Look, it's a long story, but right now the important thing is that you're alive."

"Whadda you mean by that?"

"Why don't you fly up here and take a look?"

Rainbow raised her wings up and got up off the ground to see the gravestone Twilight was looking at. Realizing it was her own, she shuddered.

"Twilight, what the hell is this? I'm obviously not dead. I mean, I'm talking to you right now!"

"I'll explain everything later. Maybe you'll understand after I show you."

Twilight started walking towards the cemetery. She was going to bring back her friends, and they would be happy again...

Right?

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Ezio got to the highest tower. If he had planned this correctly, the angle of descent should be enough to keep him moving fast enough to get to Ponyville and stop what he knew was inevitable. He was lucky that his friend Leonardo was a unicorn, or else none of this would be possible.

He set the Gliding Machine above him, holding onto the bar connected to it, and jumped.

He had never felt like this before. With Ponyville being miles away, he had to be moving incredibly fast. A little too fast than he was used to. It was... kind of thrilling. Ponyville was still on the horizon, but he was coming up to it quickly. Now, if only he knew how to land this thing...

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"Whoa, whoa, whoa... hold up for a second. You're saying you just raise ponies from the dead now???" asked Rainbow in disbelief.

"It's not that simple, but yes, I can."

"Well then why not bring back all the ponies?"

"That might not be the best idea. I mean, what if I bring back some psycho or something?"

"Yeah, I guess that's true."

Twilight opened the cemetery gate ahead of them, and she stepped in slowly.

"All right, if anything bad happens, you get somepony immediately, okay, Rainbow?"

"Gotcha."

She gave Twilight a short salute. The unicorn rolled her eyes. At least when you bring ponies back from the dead they still act the same. It better than the alternative.

She walked up to the tow graves. she wondered if she should try to bring them back both at the same time. She decided not to take the risk of failing, and decided Applejack should be resurrected first.

She felt the power again, coursing through her veins. She transferred that to the body below. She removed the dirt, and opened the casket.

"*cough* *cough* My Celestia, it's dusty in here. Where the hay am I?"

"Applejack, it may be confusing and seem impossible, but you have to see this for yourself."

Applejack got up and out of the hole in the ground. she saw her name on the gravestone,just as Rainbow did.

Why was that always the first thing they focus on? Twilight wondered.

"What the... Twi, you'd best explain this right now."

"I kinda brought you back from the dead."

"Say what now?"

"Bringing. You. Back. From--"

"Alright, alright I got it. It's just... how?"

"I had a little help using that orb up there."

"Orb? You mean that shiny ball o' light?" She looked at it.

"I wouldn't stare too long at it if I was you."

"Right, right." she said, not looking away. Twilight had to physically turn her head away from the floating ball of light.

"Yeah, you were going into a trance there. Can't really have that happen."

"Well, now I've seen everything." she said.

"Not quite."

She turned to Pinkie's grave.

"I still have to bring her back."

"Yeah, I gotta say, I feel awful strange to be alive again. Even so, can't be surprised that you solved that problem, too."

The Princess was too busy moving the dirt off of the grave. She opened the casket and confetti flew out.

"Yay! Hey guys! Check out this awesome box! I don't know where it came from but now it's here and I was in it, so I was like 'what if it's a surprise?' and I AM SO GLAD TO SEE YOU WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!"

The question was implied, but Pinkie had a hard time fitting it in with the rest of the statement. "What do you mean where have we been?"

"Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeell... I remember something about dying or something, but then I woke up in a cotton candy world and everything was puffy and delicious and the world tasted like sugar and I was so happy but then I saw you weren't there and then I was sad and then the world didn't seem so great but then I saw this really cool light and I walked out of it and BAM! Here I am!"

Apparently the afterlife tasted like sugar. Weird. That's all Twilight really took out of that.

"Well, get up here." said Twilight. The groundskeeper wouldn't be happy if he saw that the cemetery was missing huge parts of the land, so Twilight covered the graves again (after Pinkie got out of course.)

"Well, out of making magic enhancers and cheating death, I think today is a good day."

"My shoulders are cold!" shouted Pinkie "That means somebody new is here! Yay!"

"PRINCESS!"

Twilight turned to see Ezio, flying down in some sort of contraption.

"What the--"

"MOVE!"

Twilight did as told to and stepped out of the way of the way. Ezio and the contraption crashed about 10 yards away.

Ezio climbed out of the rubble. He was scratched and bruised a bit, but other than that he was fine.

He took some deep breaths. "Well, that was unexpected."

Applejack and Pinkie Pie were just about ready to run. Twilight saw them getting ready.

"Wait! He won't hurt you."

Ezio took a few steps forward and fell to the ground. The Princess walked up to him.

"Uh, Ezio? You alright?"

"Fine. I have to say though, that the pegasi are getting ruder and ruder every time I see them."

"Twilight!" called Rainbow Dash. "I saw that guy flying down here. I took out the wing on his little machine and he fell. Looks like he learned his lesson."

"Merda. My back will never be the same." groaned Ezio.

"Rainbow! Why didn't you just ask him what he was doing?" questioned Twilight.

"Whoops. Didn't think of that." replied Rainbow Dash with a guilty smile.

Twilight sighed. "All right, Ezio, whatever catastrophe you thought would happen didn't occur, so you came down to Ponyville for nothing."

"Nonono! You misunderstand! You have all your friends alive now, right?"

"Yes, why?"

"Then what will you do with that?" He pointed at the orb of light.

"Look, I know you think this thing will cause problems--"

"If in the wrong hands, it will! Fires and chaos, and the end as we know it!"

Twilight knew he was right. Such a power could be used for such acts.

"Look, Ezio. I know what I'm doing, okay? I'll keep it somewhere safe."

"You had better or else--"

"Hold that thought, Ezio. I have some friends that you have to apologize to."

He turned to Applejack and Pinkie Pie. He sighed.

"Look, what I did was wrong. I broke the Creed, and killed you innocent ponies. I was fooled into doing so. IF I had to do it all again, I wouldn't have done anything to you. I am truly sorry."

Pinkie jumped up and down. "Yay! Ezio's a good guy!"

Applejack, however, was not as forgiving. "I will kill you if you kill me again."

"Fair enough." replied Ezio. "Not that will ever happen."

"So everything works out then, right?" asked Rainbow. "I mean, there's nothing left to do, is there?"

"Actually, there's one thing." said Twilight, turning to Ezio. "I've been mean. Cruel, even. It was all for protection, but I don't think that will be necessary anymore. Not with the  the new situation. I want to say that I am sorry for treating you like... well... crap. I hope you didn't take it personally."

"That's fine. Apology accepted."

"Yay! I think it's time for a party!" shouted Pinkie happily.

"Yeah, I'm actually with Pinkie on this one." agreed Applejack.

"Not quite."

The new voice made everypony turn around. Behind them stood Trixie, holding the golden orb in front of her.

"You really should've kept a closer eye on this. It's really interesting to look at, but I'm not here to just stare. The Apple's mine! All mine! HAHAHA!"

"Trixie, NO!" shouted Twilight.

The blue pony looked into the orb. Her menacing look turned into a look of fear. Her eyes went bloodshot, and she saw everything... and more. How to destroy, how to end the world, how to finish off everypony...

"He needs this. I will give it to Him and I will have finally paid off my debt. I have to thank you idiots for getting it for me."

She let out more laughter. Twilight didn't know what to do. Nopony did. Except one.

"Slow down, compadre."

Ezio stepped forward.

"HAHAHA! Look here! An earth pony challenging a unicorn? And one with this much power??? HAHAHA!"

Ezio smiled. "Oh, you Templars never change, do you?"

Ezio pulled out his Apple. It's light shone brighter than the sun.

"BEHOLD! 'TIS THE TRUE POWER OF THE APPLE!"

Trixie smirked. "A little light? That's all you got?"

Ezio smiled. "Not just me."

Trixie saw Ezio split into six other ponies, all looking different. They all bore the mark of the Assassins.

"What?! What is this madness?!" yelled Trixie.

"You say I challenged you. Now will you accept or not?"

"Very well, Ezio. Let's fight."

Ezio put the Apple on his belt. He pulled out his sword while Trixie launched her first attack at him, an incendiary spell.

The fire from the spell was redirected into a nearby tree.

"Get out of here, Princess!" shouted Ezio. "Before it's too late!"

Twilight and her friends ran off.

Ezio and the other six ponies rushed at Trixie, and she charged at them. Ezio jumped and swung his sword, which just barely missed the neck of the blue unicorn. The other six scored a hit on the her sides, causing her to fall. She cast a repulsion spell and sent Ezio and the other six flying in every direction.

Ezio got up and threw a knife. Trixie planned to stop it, but her magic failed to control the projectile, and it hit her in the front left leg. She pulled it out with much effort, and healed the wound.

"Give up, Assassin! You can't kill me!"

Ezio didn't respond. He kept fighting, throwing a smoke bomb in her face, causing her to wince and start coughing. She let her guard down. Ezio struck a hit with his sword, each of the other six ran through the cloud of smoke and cut away at Trixie, who was rapidly healing up her wounds like no other. She drew in a tornado and swept both the smoke and the attackers away.  She set out an ice burst and froze one of the attackers in place, Ezio saw him get frozen and smashed the ice with a kick.

"There's nothing you can do to stop me! NOTHING!" shouted Trixie, mad with power.

Ezio saw some figures running up to the cemetery entrance.

"Who said I had to stop you?"

Trixie turned to see Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity, all wearing their Elements of Harmony.

"Now!" shouted Twilight, and the Elements activated. A rainbow shot out from them, and it circled around Trixie.

"NO! YOU CANNOT STOP ME! I AM INVINCIBLLLLLLLLLLLLLE!"

The rainbow stopped swirling and was receding back into the Elements.

"What?! But that's not possible!" shouted Twilight in surprise.

"Hahaha! Not even your Elements will help you here, Twilight Snarkle. I'm bringing this to Him, and the debt will be repaid! And I will kill ALL of these god-forsaken Assassins!"

Ezio ran up to stop her, but she teleported away.

"NO! God DAMMIT Trixie! I'm gonna KILL you! Do you hear me?!"

Ezio was breathing heavily. His friends, everypony he knows... They're defenseless against that kind of power.

He thought of the first thing they would do. Executions? No, too obvious, too public... Assassination? Of Assassins? It didn't make sense. An attack? Most likely.

He thought of all the places they might want to strike. Florence, Venice, or maybe even...

No... not there... anywhere but there...

"Monteriggioni." he whispered.

"Ezio!" yelled Twilight, running up to him, "What in the hay just happened???"

"The power of the Apple is rivaled only by its own, it seems. There's no other power that can stop it."

"More powerful than the Elements? There's no way."

"You saw it with your own two eyes. Your power was completely useless against her."

"Well, what can we do?"

"You? Nothing. Me? Save my people. I need to get back to Italia, as soon as I can."

"You think they'll do something with that immediately?"

"If not sooner. Princess--"

"Enough with that, call me Twilight."

"Very well. Twilight, can you teleport me to Monteriggioni?"

"I don't know where that is, so I'm afraid I can't."

"Any fast forms of travel?"

"Only one that I can think of... but I don't know if it would be sufficient."

"The train?"

"Yeah, that's it."

"Not fast enough. I need something that could get me there in a matter of minutes."

"Hey, you guys?" piped Rainbow Dash. "I think I have an idea."

She looked towards the crashed machine nearby.

"You can't be serious. That thing is in no condition to fly after what you did to it." said Ezio.

"I don't need it to fly, just to stay in the air." she said. Ezio wondered where she was going with this. "And I'll need some rope to make it work."

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Trixie appeared in His room.

"I told you to tell me of your arrivals before you just barg in here." He said.

"Oh, I think you'll pardon me after you see this."

She pulled out the copy of the Apple.

"Hm. Perhaps I will. You've done an exceptional job, Trixie."

That's when Trixie realized there was a newfound feeling of cold steel in her side.

"However, your services will no longer be needed."

He removed the dagger from her side. She grunted in pain.

"But... the debt..."

"Repaid in full. With your life."

"You bastard... you planned this, didn't you?"

"Possibly."

Trixie silently sat there.

"And you walked right into it." He continued.

Trixie healed her wounds with her remaining magic. He didn't notice

"You can't be serious. You tricked the Great and Powerful Trixie?!"

"Of course. You had connections, ones I would like to use to take over more than this little country. After this place is mine, Equestria will fall next, then another and another until the whole world is... under the enlightenment of our, I mean, my rule."

"That's not going to happen."

"Oh? Why not?"

"Because you won't be there to see it!"

She charged her horn with as much power as possible. She had only one thought running through her head:

NOPONY TRICKS TRIXIE!

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"I know I said fast, but THIS IS TOO FAST!"

Ezio held on for dear life as the cyan pony ahead flew faster.

"Just hold on, Ezio! We're almost there!" she shouted back at him.

Ezio knew that didn't know if they were close or not, but he just wanted to believe that this would end soon.

Her great idea: attach the fastest flier in all of Equestria to a broken flying machine.

Brilliant, he thought sarcastically, but then realized that he never used that word. He wondered where it came from.

No time to think. He saw his city, his pride and joy sitting down below.

"There it is! We're here!"

Rainbow landed smoothly on the ground. The machine and Ezio, not so much. As soon as the pegasus stopped flying, the machine crashed to the ground again (as if it wasn't crashing enough today.)

"Hey, Ezio? I don't really see what you needed to come here for. I mean, it seems pretty peaceful at the moment." She winced in pain. "My wings would disagree with peace. Owowow... wing cramps are the worst, I tell you!"

Ezio climbed out from the wreckage. He looked at it and thought: Leonardo is going to kill me when he sees this.

So there was no attack. Not yet, at the very least, and possibly not here.

"They haven't started their attack. That leaves us time to prepare. Good."

He ran up to the Villa. His uncle stepped out.

"Ezio! There you are! You finally came back--"

"Bad news, Uncle. The Templars are going to attack Monteriggioni, and they have an Apple!"

"What should I care if they have fruit or not?"

"Nonono... It's like the one I have. You know? Silver? Full of destructive magic?"

"Oh, that Apple. Wait, you lost it to them?!"

"NO. NO. NO. They.. or I.. or... Urgh, it's a long story, but there's another Apple. They have another just like mine."

"So we still have ours? Then what do we have to fear?"

"Everything. She could do any number of things to this place if she attacked with that kind of power... We have to prepare!"

"Well, we just got some things called cannons up on the walls... perhaps you could help the others out with those. If all else fails, we'll need to take out as many troops as we can with them. Have you seen what those things can do? It's honestly the most amazing bit I've ever seen!"

"I'll take your word for it... I guess. We'll need everypony and everything we can get."

"You really think they'll attack here?"

"I've never been so sure, Uncle."

"Look, Ezio. The sun is going down. They won't attack during the night: they're not sneaky enough to pull a surprise attack then. Why don't we rest and wait until morning?"

"Make sure your ponies are ready for anything they send at us, and I mean anything."

"I have full faith in them. Now, you must get some rest; you look tired."

"Alright, but we have a guest."

"Another mare? Ezio, I swear, you just can't stop with your charming figure, can you?"

"It's not that kind of guest, Uncle." replied Ezio, embarrassed. "She's just stranded here for the moment. Wing cramp."

"That's what you say, but--"

"Uncle, you had better stop before I have to make you."

"By doing what? Proving me right? Then I'll stop accusing and start laughing."

"Ugh... what does it take to convince you of these things? She'll stay in the guest room. Come on, Rainbow. Time to rest before tomorrow's battle."

"Yes, sir!" she said with a salute, which she quickly laughed off. "You sound like some kind of commander, Ezio."

"I'm not surprised." he said. "Now, enough of this nonsense. Your wings need rest, and so does the town. The guest room is through the corridor on the left, up the stairs, and to the right. You can't miss it. Good-night, Rainbow."

Ezio walked off, his Uncle following him inside the Villa. Rainbow was apprehensive, but she had no reason not to trust them... for now. She walked in and followed the instructions to the room. She laid down and went to sleep.

It was going to be a big day tomorrow.