Assassin's Creed: Afterlife

Ezio lands safely on his back into the waters down below the castle. Ezio holds the codex page tightly as bubbles surround him as he goes deeper into the water due to the speed of his fall. He quickly swings his hooves downwards as fast as he could, swimming up to the surface. He gasps for air as soon as his head emerges from the water, seeing the pale shine of the moon in the nightsky. Ezio swims his way to the shore which is not very far away. He pulls himself up from the cold water, galloping away from the castle with his wet robes dropping water on the grassy ground.

Ezio eventually made it to the larger parts of Canterlot, filled with huge buildings compared to Ponyville. Since it is in the middle of the night, the area is secluded. The city features ivory towers with golden spires, and many waterfalls and rivers running through it.

"There he is!" A voice yelled, echoing through the empty location.

"Damn." Ezio said.

Ezio quickly runs into an alley between two short fancy buildings. The passage way is dark and eerie as the moonlight couldn't reach it due to the tall structure of the buildings. Ezio hears the sound of hoofsteps stomping on the ground as it gets louder and closer to him. Unfortunately, there are no haystacks in sight, so Ezio puts the codex on his mouth as he grabs on to a window sill and pulls himself up, climbing up the building. A group of royal guards being led by a captain arrive at the alley way, turning their heads back and forth, not seeing Ezio in plain sight. However, a droplet of water falls from Ezio's wet robe, landing on the nose of the captain. The captain looks up and spots Ezio desperately holding on to a ledge.

"Bring him down!" The captain commanded.

The royal guards open up their wings and fly towards Ezio with fast speed.

Ezio quickly pulls himself up on to the roof of the building, running away from the guards. His escape attempt is thwarted, however, as two guards lands in front of him, folding their wings as they confront Ezio. Another two behind him.

As Ezio suspected, these royal guards are corrupt and had something to do with the plans of assassinating Princess Celestia and Luna for a yet unknown reason. They could also be connected to the thief. Instead of escaping, Ezio chooses instead to get answers from them. Four of them shouldn't be too hard to deal with.

Two of the guards are armed with spears. The other two are armed with swords.

The first guard behind Ezio attempts to slash him with his spear, but Ezio, with the codex page still on his mouth, is able to duck as he turns quickly behind him, delivering a blow to the guard's abdomen, dropping the spear. Ezio grabs the spear and knocks down the guard by hitting him with the wooden end of the spear with much force through the jaw, breaking it. Ezio then thrusts the spikey metal sharp tip of it behind him, impaling the second guard through the mouth. Ezio leaves the spear through the guard's mouth as his lifeless body falls down, sliding off the roof, landing right in front of the captain who could barely see the fight below.

The third guard horizontally swings his sword at Ezio, but he is able to disarm the guard by pressing his hoof upwards, completely snapping the bone like toothpick, causing him to drop the sword. As the fourth guard charges towards Ezio from behind, Ezio quickly swings his weapon behind him as swift as strong wind, the sword slicing across the guard's neck cleanly. The guard merely stops on his tracks as blood starts to leak out of his slit wound, his head slowly sliding off his neck. The two remaining surviving guards watch in terror as they see their comrade's head fall off from his body, squirting out a fountain of blood from where his head used to be. Ezio then throws the sword, impaling the one of the surviving guards. This one isn't an instant death as the guard screams in pain, his already broken jaw locking into place as he yells to the top of his lungs, taking a few step backwards, the guard falls off. They hear the guard screaming as he fall, being silenced after a huge thud.

The final guard begs for mercy, holding his broken hoof. Ezio removes the codex page from his mouth to enable himself to talk.

"P-Please! I'm sorry! I was just taking orders!" The guard cried.

"I will only if you tell me who you are working for." Ezio said.

"Now!"

"I... I..." The guard backs away from Ezio, a misstep causes him to slip off the roof, falling down to the streets head first, crushing his skull, resulting in instant death.

"Cazzo"

Looking down, Ezio sees the captain escape. Ezio quickly jumps to the next rooftop to the other tirelessly like a furious cheetah to catch up with the captain.

"No! No! No!" The captain panicked as he gallops with Ezio right above him on the rooftops.

The captain runs across the streets of Canterlot, pushing every single obstacle in his way. He shoves a single bystander pony out of his way and then jumps over a table. He kept going for miles until eventually stopping out of exhaustion. He looks behind him, thinking he lost Ezio. He laughs as he starts to walk on his way. Unbeknownst to the captain, above him is Ezio who puts the codex on one of his pockets before  jumping down from the rooftops, landing right in front of the captain. The captain falls down on the ground after being startled, cowering away from Ezio as if he were just a single helpless child.

"Don't come any closer!" The captain pulls out a dagger with his nervous shaking hoof, knowing it isn't enough to defend himself as Ezio continues to walk slowly towards him like death itself about claim his life.

"Who do you work for?" Ezio asked.

"Princess Celestia!" The captain answered nervously.

"No. I do not think you work for Princess Celestia. You were planning her assassination." Ezio replied. "Do you have anything to do with the thief who stole the book?"

"What book?!"

Ezio grabs the captain, slamming his face againts a wall. A crackling sound is heard as the captain's teeth get crushed against the hard concrete.

"I won't ask again." Ezio said.

Behind them is the same hooded thief from Twilight's kingdom. The pony reaches his hoof forward, a small crossbow-like weapon unfolds from a bracer, firing a sharp arrow towards Ezio. The arrow hits Ezio directly on his back, exiting out of his stomach. Ezio lets go of the captain as he falls down to the ground in agony, blood pouring out of his mouth.

"Arrggh..." Ezio groaned.

"T-Thank you so much!" The captain said as he trots towards the hooded pony.

"The sisters are still alive. Princess Celestia just single-handedly made two of our members disappear." The hooded thief responded.

"I'm so sorry! That pony interrupted with our plans!"

"Then I am afraid you have to die." The hooded thief aims his weapon directly on the captain's head.

"No! All is not lost. We will start with Princess Luna. She'll be visiting Ponyville tomorrow night for Nightmare Night. We will strike when she has her guard down." The captain explained.

"Very well. Thank you for your information." The hooded thief said, shooting an arrow through the captain's head. He falls down, dead with a huge hole on his eye socket. The captain's body twitches a few times.

The thief looks at Ezio who is lying down on a puddle of his own blood, unconscious. The thief walks away, leaving Ezio alone to bleed to death.

"Mom...? Where am I?" A young voice with an italian accent asked weakly.

"Sorry... Mommy isn't here." Another voice answered.

A young light brown colt opens his eyes, brown mane with a ponytail, and speaks in an italian accent. He is on a hospital bed with a very young nurse checking up on him. His parents aren't with him at all. This seems to be the nurse's first day on the job. The nurse is holding a bowl of soup, she uses the spoon to take some of the soap and feed it to the colt. The colt opens his tiny mouth wide enough for the spoon to fit, swallowing the warm liquid soup.

"Where's mom and dad?" The young colt asked.

"I don't know. They told me to take care of you until they come back. They sent you here at Canterlot as they're aren't any hospitals at cloudsdale as of now." The nurse said. "They told me that you fell off your house's roof when you attempted to climb it."

"I just wanted to see how everything else look from high above."

"Wait until you can finally fly." The nurse said. "What's your name?"

"My name is..."

The sentence is cut short as everything starts to fade away as if it were just a dream.

"What was that?" Ezio said.

Waking up after being impaled by an arrow, Ezio finds himself on a hospital bed, something he saw in that strange dream. The dream was so vivid and realistic that in a way, he felt like he was controlling the young colt. His current location where he is being kept seems to be the same exact location as in the dream. Ezio's stomach is wrapped around with a bandage, blood on the center. The other bandages that were there before were removed as his wounds had already healed. His robes are hanged right next to him.

"Twilight, his awake." A familiar voice said.

"I've been here before." Ezio said.

"You have?" Twilight asked.

"Probably."

Ezio looks at his back, he finds he has a pair of wings, they were covered by the previous bandages all these time. Twilight Sparkle along with her two of her friends are watching over Ezio. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash isn't present.

"Where's Fluttershy?" Ezio asked.

"She... She couldn't handle what she saw nearby when we found you." Twilight said. "She's at her home. Rainbow Dash is with her, so there's nothing to worry about."

"Bene. How's the Princess? Is she okay?"

"Yeah... She just banished two guards who tried to ki-... HURT her." Twilight said. "I never saw anypony try to take another pony's life before..."

"We would've lost ya if it weren't for Twilight's magic, partner." Applejack said.

"Then bringing me into this hospital is a bit pointless." Ezio said.

"Well, the doctors had to pull that arrow out of your body! Woo-wee! That sure was painful to watch." Applejack explained.

"It really was, darling. I even fainted!" Rarity said.

"You should see what happened to the other guard ponies." Ezio responded.

Rarity then sees Ezio's robes which is partially soaked in blood. "Oh dear! Your delightful robes are completely ruined! Mind if I take this over at my boutique and give it some nice adjustments? I've seen you in them. They're a bit loose!"

"Gracie. Those trims made running a bit difficult."

"Oh, we'll make it look even better, darling. It'll smell nice as well!"

Ezio gets up from the bed, his stomach in suprisingly little pain. He pushes himself up, stretching his body. He finds himself noticing the whole room felt even more familiar. He could even remember memories that didn't even happen to him.

"You okay?" Twilight asked.

"Si... I just had this dream about-"

Pinkie Pie just busts into the door, breaking the silent conversation between the ponies. Pinkie Pie carelessly hops towards Ezio like a rabbit and gave him a big friendly embrace. She also brought a really huge cake with her that she's carrying on her back, defying the laws of physics as it still seems to stand veritcally without falling apart. Pinkie Pie is wearing a chicken outfit. Thanks to this, the dream completely slips out of Ezio's mind, forgetting it for now.

"You're okay! I thought you were gone!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed.

"I think Ezio needs some rest, Sugarcube." Applejack said.

"What's with the strange wardrobe?" Ezio asked.

"It's Nightmare Night, you silly-filly! What kind of costume are you gonna wear tonight?" Pinkie asked.

"Nightmare Night?" Ezio is confused.

"Oh... It's an annual event we celebrate. The young ones would ask for candy from other ponies so they could offer them to Princess Luna." Twilight explained.

"Eating lots of sweets isn't exactly good for your health." Ezio said.

"It's not?"

"...I guess that only goes for my previous life."

Ezio lifts his head slightly up as he remembers something, the codex page. He pulls the codex page out from the pockets of his robes and shows it to Twilight. She opens the folden page with her magic, showing an expression of astonishment as her eyes scan through the letters. Twilight turns the page to its back, and then turns it again to its front. Ezio wonders why the thief didn't take it away while he was out as he watches Twilight read it.

"Do you think you can build it?" Ezio asked.

"No." Twilight said, her eyes kept scanning through the written words. "You must be the one Star Swirl spoke about!"

"That's not the first time I've heard that name." Ezio said.

"It is said in the books that you would know what this is! This particular page has been hidden from anypony for many many centuries until it is given to a chosen one!" Twilight excitedly said. "Do you know what it is?!"

"Si. It's a Hidden Blade." Ezio said. "It is the iconic traditional weapon of the Assassins. They used to remove the ring finger for the blade to extend properly and to show the commitment of whoever wields it."

"So, what's a ring finger?" Applejack asked.

"Non importa. I don't have one anymore." Ezio said, looking at his hooves.

"Does it have some kind of magic?" Twilight asked.

"No. It's simply a knife on the wrist." Ezio said

Rarity takes a look at the codex herself, she is impressed by the design of the bracer written on the codex. "Ooohhh! This hoof accessory looks really impressive!"

"It's not an ordinary accessory. Please stop asking questions that makes no sense."

"Does it have a super mega superpower that you can use where you can think of an object and it automatically projects it so you can capture bad guys with it?!" Pinkie asked, saying that long sentence in a single breath. She then takes a gasp for air and then finally lets out another barrage of words. "And you can use it to fly into space and run really really really fast?!"

Twilight walks next to Pinkie, putting her hoof on her back. "Pinkie, just stop asking too many questions, okay? Ezio won't be able to answer that."

"Gracie." Ezio thanked.

"It is... come faccio a mettere questo... used to kill those who have done someone else harm." Ezio finally explained.

"K-Kill...?" Twilight's amazement quickly transforms into shock.

Ezio sighs as he lowers his head, scratching his mane.

"Can I just know if someone could build it for me?"

"I can do it for you, darling. I'm really good when it comes to this!" Rarity said. "We just need to head back over to my boutique."

"Gracie, la mia signora. Where is this boutique of yours?"

"Back at Ponyville." Rarity answered. "Just come with me and I'll take us there."

"Pinkie and I will come with you back to Ponyville. I need to check if my brother needs help with building his new hay cart after ya destroyed his old one.." Applejack said.

"Here... Take it..." Twilight hands the codex page over to Ezio.

"Aren't you  coming with us?" Ezio asked.

"I have to stay here and help the royal guards investigate..."

As Ezio and the three of Twilight's friends are about to walk out of the hospital room. Twilight quickly trots after Ezio and asks him a favor. Her eyes show an expression of being worried.

"Ezio... I'm worried about Princess Celestia... I've heard news about ponies disguising as guards are planning to take her away from us." Twilight said. "After what I've seen you do when you chased the thief, can you protect her?"

"I will." Ezio answered.

"This land would be lost without the Princess, you know." Rarity added. "I don't think Twilight herself is ready to rule this whole town!"

"...I'll try." Ezio responded.

"Ya ready to go?"

"Si." Ezio looks at the other two ponies.

Ezio isn't even sure if the ponies are aware that he himself is perfectly capable of claiming a life without hesitation. If any of the ponies witness him kill a specie that is one of their own, it would prove ruinous. The two ponies leave the hospital, discussing about what happened to the other pony that happens to be nearby Ezio. They stop at Canterlot's train station. They wait for the train to arrive while Rarity examines Ezio's robes closely while trying to not touch Ezio's dried blood. Pinkie carries the cake on her back, she makes lots of sudden movements and the cake just seems to never fall off. They wait and wait until their conversations stop.

"You never introduced yourself properly to me, signora." Ezio decides he should break the silence.

"Oh, right. My name's Applejack. I'm the Element of Honesty. Nice to meet ya!" Applejack introduced. "That one's Rarity, the Element of Generosity, and that one's Pinkie, the Element of Laughter."

"I expected her to be the element of annoyance." Ezio whispered sarcastically, commenting about Pinkie Pie's behaviour.

"She's very funny if you get to know her better."

"And Twilight?"

"Her element is Magic." Applejack said.

"I'm guessing my element is charisma." Ezio joked. "I used to spend many florins on women and wine."

"Uhhh... Okay...?" Applejack responded.

"I do not hear your accent that often. Where are you from?" Ezio commented on Applejack's southern accent.

"Ponyville. Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack answered.

"No... I meant which region." Ezio remembered something: places that existed in his world doesn't exist in this one. "Nevermind that."

Never having encountered trains before, Ezio wonders why they are simply standing on one spot. They've been there for half an hour already. Suddenly, they hear a round chugging sound from the distance along with the ground shaking. A male pony with bluish gray coat comes out of the station's door. The pony is wearing a hat along with facial hair, looking at his pocket watch. The pony then asks Ezio and his new friends to stay away from the railings. A few seconds later, the train finally comes into view. Ezio has never seen something like this before.

"What is that?" Ezio asked.

"It's the Friendship Express train. We use it to get here to Ponyville in no time." Applejack answered.

"All aboard!" The conductor pony said.

The trains open its doors for the ponies to enter. They step inside it. Inside, Ezio looks at his surroundings. There are windows lined up across the railroad car, allowing passengers to view the outside, seats are on every spot where the windows are, and a green path design on the floor. Not much ponies are aboard the train, but those who are present move even just an inch away from Rarity who is holding Ezio's bloody robes as she walks past them.

"Ooohhh! This makes me really nostalgic about that cake!" Pinkie said.

"The cake?" Ezio wondered.

"Pinkie once tried to investigate who ate a piece of a cake, darling. It happened a long time ago." Rarity explained, still admiring Ezio's robes, again, avoiding the blood.

"Looks like you used to have very 'interesting' misadventures."

"Of course. You should have been here when this book made me turn everything more fabulous." Rarity added. "But my dearest Spike saved me by telling me his true thoughts!"

"Right..." Ezio shrugs.

The train leaves towards Ponyville... Ezio has no knowledge of the upcoming assassination attempt of Princess Luna later this night...