Chapter 1: Prologue

Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent

Hide in plain sight

Never compromise the Brotherhood

"Nothing is true; everything is permitted"

MY LITTLE CREED: ASSASSINATION IS MAGIC

"Ezio, wake up you old fool..." Ezio's eyes opened slowly and he found himself in the middle of darkness. He looked around and sat up, feeling the familiar warmth of a hood over his head. "Good, you're awake.."

Ezio turned his head to see a man in black robes with a red trim, holding a scythe. "Surprised to see me? I thought an assassin was supposed to embrace Death." He held his arms out with a chuckle. "Well, come and embrace me, Assassin.." Ezio jumped up, his blades at the ready.

“If you are truly Death, tell me one thing, what is my age and when did I leave the good Earth?” His eyes were locked on the hooded figure, standing with blades out. He wasn't about to take any chances with this guy.

Death only chuckled. "A feisty one. I remember your type." He floated around Ezio as he spoke. “You are 65 years of age....Oh, let me get my book..” Death held out a bony hand and a black flame encased rose from his palm. A book was left in place of the flame after a while and he flipped through the pages, pulling out a pair of reading glasses and moving a finger down the entries. “E..E..Ezi...Ezio Auditore! Here we g- Wait.. That was another Auditore... Ah, here we go! Ezio Auditore da Firenze! Ah, here we go. Cause of death, heart attack.” He closed the book and it fell into dust.

"My own student was like you, full of fight, not afraid of anything. I think you two would get along quite well. Let me call him, he needs a bit of training at being Death."

He snapped his bony fingers and a black flame came from next to him, a figure in gold robes and black trim forming beside him. The figure turned and narrowed his red eyes as he looked over to Death. "This is a joke correct?" Ezio just stood, confused.

"I'm sorry but, I have to say something." The master and student looked over at Ezio at the same time. "If you are Death, why have you hesitated to make your decision? Isn't Death supposed to make the final decision rather quick?"

"Assassin, you have much to learn about Death." Ezio turned his attention to the golden cloaked apprentice. "We have the power to give second chances, to give you another chance at life. You have lived your life to your fullest and have done all you could when you were among the living...You have deserved this as much as the next. Not to mention, we do like one who is not afraid of Death. This is how I came to be Death's student."

"So, I get another life eh? Do I get to choose how old I would like myself to be?"

"Yes, you get the freedom of how old you are, and what world you would like to go to."

"I choose to go to a world that will be easy on an old man such as myself. I don't wish to run around all over God's forsaken Earth in search of artifacts. I wish to live in a home and be with a woman. To be a father and not have to leave my kin so suddenly because of my age." The gold cloaked man looked at him with his red eyes.

“What age would you like to be for your new life?”

“Young as I was when I started my adventures...But... Keep the van dike..” He chuckled and stroked his beard. “I've taken quite a fancy to it..” Death nodded and ripped a hole in the darkness with his scythe. The hole grew in size and it revealed a yellow swirling vortex.

"This world shall suit your requests, assassin. Make sure to say hello to my student while you are there." The man in the golden cloaks bowed towards Ezio, who looked utterly confused.

"You'll know when you see him. He is not like the others." Death chuckled and then sunk back into the ground of the blackness. The golden cloaked man remained, looking right at Ezio.

"As you leave this place, your weapons will remain. But this land you are traveling too will not take to kindly to the weapons strapped to your body. I suggest you come to my home as quickly as possible when getting there. Ask for Craimer Xegen, though that is not my name, people will understand what you mean. I hope to see you soon, Ezio Auditore da Firenze." The man sunk into the ground with one last thing to say, "Enjoy your stay in, Equestria."

Ezio stood alone now, in the middle of a dark room with a portal to his new life in front of him. He was going to get the life he always wanted, and possibly more! But there were so many questions going through his mind right now. Who is Craimer? What is Equestria? What does he mean, 'he isn't like the rest?' Hopefully, these answers will be answered when he stepped through that portal. It looks so mesmerizing, like when he first looked upon the Apple and it's knowledge was revealed to him. He was almost blinded by the light, but didn't care; he just stood and watched as colors intertwined and changed to the shining gold of the rest of the portal. He found himself walking closer to it, until he reached an arm in and pulled it back, seeing that all his fingers were still in place. He stepped back quite a ways and looked back at the portal.

"Your new life starts here Ezio.." He told himself. "Let's see what it's like.." He took off at a full sprint, and when he got close to the portal, he jumped in.

He started to fall into a vortex of golden colors and electricity all around him. He tried to keep his cool but he ended up loosing his composure at about five minutes of free falling through this yellow hell.

As he fell, he saw memories of his past life flash before him, seeing his father, their execution, his triumph over the Pope, killing Cesare Borgia, and seeing the bones of Altair. His life flashed before him as he fell, yelling as his arms flailed around hopelessly, trying to grab onto something. He soon saw a white light and was encased in it's full glory, blinded, and on his way to a new life.

* * * *

“Agh, la mia testa!” Ezio opened his eyes slowly and groaned as he felt his head throb. He reached around and rubbed the back of his neck, when he stopped in mid rub. He brought his hand around to his face and yelled out when he saw it. It wasn't a hand! It was a hoof!

“Che diavolo?!” He looked at his other appendages and realized he wasn't even a human anymore! He was a horse of some kind! What did Death do to him?!

“Have I been tricked by Death himself? I said a new life! Not a new damn body!” He stamped a hoof in frustration and sighed, sitting on his haunches. He looked at his body and saw he was still wearing his weapons all around his person. He remembered Death's warning about the people around here not liking others with weapons. He sighed and looked at his surroundings. “A forest? This makes everything so much better!”

Ezio stood up and heard some rustling from right next to him. He quickly got into a stance on his back legs and his blades popped out of the mechanism and he stood at the ready for anything to attack him. What he wasn't ready for, was the brilliant white of a female horse walking out of the bushes.