Zeref was walking down the street with a bag of groceries in his arm. He smiled and waved to the ponies that passed him as he was on his way to the castle. He was going to do something nice for Twilight and be the one to make dinner this time. After all, she had been kind enough to let him stay and feed him. He felt this was the least he could do for his friend.

“I know she like to do breakfast for dinner sometimes, so I will surprise her with that.”

He said to himself as he made his way to the castle doors and opened them up.He walks in and kicks the door closed behind him. He makes his way to the kitchen, walking past Twilight’s study room to see her busy as ever with her work. Though it didn’t even surprise him when he kicked the door closed and she didn’t even hear it slam. He shook his head with a light smile and walked into the kitchen. He takes the items out of the bag and places them in their respected places. He then here’s his phone ring. He pulls it out from his coat and looks at the number. It is one he doesn’t know. He answers it anyways.

“Hello…?”

There was the sound of what sounded like buzzing flies coming from the other end, and then a slow whisper was heard within the sound.

“It’s been quite some time, Azrael…”

He knew exactly who he was talking to now, and it sent chills down his spine.

“What the hell are you even doing back? We all took you down way back when the game was still young.”

He chuckles lightly.

“That may be. But the game was reborn, as were all the programs within the game. And this time...I will make sure that every redpill suffers for what happened to me. Including you. I saw you hold my mask up like a trophy as my programming decayed away. I think I will enjoy killing you off the most. Nice and slow.”

Zeref grins lightly.

“You cannot kill a ghost, Assassin. And just try it. You come after me again, I will just spray you down with the flit gun. I am sure you remember what that does to you, huh?”

He asked with a chuckle. He heard a slight growl from the other end of the call, indicating he’d struck a very sensitive nerve.

“That damn thing won’t be enough this time. You just wait. I will take the matrix for myself, then pour into your world through the minds of the living beings there…”

Zeref glares a bit, the idea of Assassin trying to even think of harming these ponies annoyed him

“I’ll kill you again if I have to, Assassin. I may not have been part of Zion, but Morpheus was a good man. And it will be more than a pleasure to steal your mask once more.”

The line when dead after he said that. He chuckles lightly and shakes his head. He dials in another number and waits for the other end to pick up.

“This is Agent Gray.”

“Hey, bossman. I have a bit of info I think you might like to hear.”

“Ah...Mr. Schwarzvald, it is...quite rare of you to call out of nowhere like this. What is this information you have for me?”

“It’s the Assassin. He just called me. He is on the move again. I don’t know what he is up to, but make sure you have your agents on guard around the clock. Whatever he is planning, he plans to take it outside the simulation as well.”

“Ah..he contacted you directly. He has quite a vendetta against you. I will make sure the others are on high alert. This information is..useful to us. Thank you, Mr. Schwarzvald. As it happens, I was going to call you today. But now that I have you here, your timing is quite...welcoming. I have an assignment for you and your...colleagues. I have been lead to believe that a rogue group of exiles are planning to side with the Assassin.They are working on a program that will infiltrate an agent’s programming, causing them to go rogue. And personally, we all don’t want another Smith incident again.”

Zeref nods, listening intently.

“That would be pretty bad indeed. What do you need from me?”

“I need you to go the location I sent to your RSI’s mailbox. Within it contains the location and information on the exiles that will be there. Even the frenchman has no knowledge of this group. So we ruled him out.”

“Alright, bossman. I will make sure we get it done. We will be back in the sim in about two hours.”

“Also, Mr. Schwarzwald. Make sure to bring your hacker with you. I want you to retrieve the information from their computers. I ask you to make sure you dispose of them quietly. You will meet with significantly less resistance.”

“I had planned on doing it that way anyways bossman. We will get it done.”

“Return to HQ with the external hard drive I have provided you with once the job is done. Agent Gray, out.”

“See you later bossman.”

Zeref said as he hung up the phone and slid it back in his coat. He walks out of the kitchen and heads back towards Twilight’s study. He leans in and still sees her studying. He walks up to her and lightly places a hand on her shoulder. It causes her to jump and lift her wings up a bit, but turns to see him and calms down quickly”

“Oh..it’s you Zeref. Sorry...I must have gotten too enthralled in my books again.”

She said as she smiles up at him, lightly rubbing the back of her head in embarrassment. He chuckles lightly and reaches up and pets her on the head gently.

“All good Twi. But I am going to need your help here in about a couple of hours. Since it is our usual jack in hours, Agent gray has a task for us to complete along with Shy and Dash. And since you are the hacker in the group, we will most definitely be needing you.”

Twilight smiled and nodded quickly.

“Of course! You know I will always be ready for a good adventure! And this will be our first big challenge as a group, I can’t wait!”

“Oh and Twi, I have a surprise for you tonight once we jack out.”

She blinks a few times, curiosity growing in her eyes quickly.

“Oooh..something for me..?”

She asked with excitement, bouncing in the chair she was sitting in.

“Mhmm, but you are gonna have to wait.”

--Inside The Matrix--

The two hours had passed. Azrael and the others were riding down the road in a car that Agent Gray had provided for them. Geez, first VR and now they can drive in the game too? Luna had definitely outdone herself in having this game resurrected and reworked. Azrael just wished that she hadn’t brought back the Assassin. Then again, she probably didn’t know better. They drove through the streets of the Richland district all the way to the Westview, where all the industrial establishments and warehouses were.

“Ohman, this is gonna be so awesome! We finally get to kick some tail again! Just the four of us!”

Said Lightning as she bounced in the back of the car, excited to get her virtual fists bloody once more. Azrael turned his attention to GunShy, but kept his eyes on the road.

“Did you bring your silenced weapons like I asked, Shy?”

She nodded with a smile and held up her dual SMGs that had low profile suppressors on them.

“I am ready to do some damage!”

She said in an excited but quiet tone. He then looks to Twilight.

“You got the program and the external hard drive that the bossman sent to you too huh?”

She nodded with a confident look on her face.

“Yes! And I brought the laptop you requested as well! But what will we need this for?”

Azrael chuckles lightly, a grin slowly forming across his face

“We are gonna mess with them just a bit…”

He said as he stepped on the gas a bit more, the car speeding off down the road. And into the night.

--Westview, Wearhouse #20--

They pull up a little ways from the warehouse in question to avoid detection from any patrols that may or may not be roaming around. The groups gets out of the car and move quickly. Once they were in the range of the warehouse, they take cover inside an open metal crate and crouch down. Twilight opens up the laptop that had brought with them and begins typing at nearly ninety miles an hour.

“Alright ladies, earpieces in, night vision goggles at the ready.”

He then looks back to Twilight who had everything primed and ready, all it took was one keystroke.

“It’s all set, Azrael.”

He chuckles evilly and gives a wicked grin.

"Shut'em down."

Twilight hits the button, instantly the lights in the area flicker for a few seconds and shut down completely. Azrael signals Twilight and the others to follow his lead, now turning on their night vision and begin moving as stealthily as possible.

“Hey, what the hell happen to the lights?!”

One of the members of the group shouted. Looking around as best as he could in the dark.

“I don’t know, they just cut off all the sudd-!”

The guard was silenced by a hand to his mouth and a straight razor gliding across his throat. The other with Lightning leaping onto his shoulder and straddling over his head, locking her legs tightly around it and turning them with great speed, effectively snapping his neck in two along with his spine. Silencing them both before they could signal the rest of their group. They wasted no time in moving quickly. They made it to the door, which was locked with a keypad on the outside.

“How in Equestria are we going to get in here?!”

Lightning said in a loud whisper. Azrael just shook his head with a grin.

“Like this.”

He said before shifting into his ghost form, easily phasing through the door and opening it on the other side. Making a ‘Tada!” gesture with his hands.

“Oh...right. I forgot you can do that…”

She whispered again as they moved into the warehouse, closing the door silently behind them. They sneak into the main room. Hiding quietly behind some large wooden crates. Azrael peeks from behind and sees what he did not want to see.

“Bloodsuckers…”

He whispered to the group. He had feared these would be the ones guarding the inside, but he didn’t come unprepared. GunShy was already loading her weapons with the silver bullets he had given her before they made the trip here. Azrael reached into his coat and pulled out a few wooden stakes and hands them off to Lightning.

“Lightning, you take the left, I will take the right. Shy, you take the one standing over by the computer. Take him out and I and Lightning will move in for the others. Ready…? Go!”

He whispered loudly. GunShy was quick to the draw, nailing several rounds into the vampire’s body and head, luckily the silencers did their job, Azrael and Lightning move in quickly and shove the stakes into the backs of the other two vampires directly through their hearts, killing them off instantly as well. Once there were certain the room was cleared, Twilight was brought out of hiding and to the computer that had all the information they needed for Agent Gray. Twilight began her work of transferring everything from the computer onto the external drive. Something didn’t feel right though. Azrael felt eyes on him. Eyes he thought were very familiar. They weren’t from the game, however. At least not THIS game. He looks up to see a figure leap down at him from the rafters, luckily he backflips away from the spot where he landed. Who he saw was another face he wanted to smash in ever since he fought against him in another matrix game.

“Hmph, so you are in this world too, Vlad?”

Azrael asked with a smirk, eyeing the vampire with intent.

“I am not sure how you know my name, stranger. But you have disposed of my minions and are attempting to steal my carefully calculated plans, it seems. I am afraid, I must kill you and your lady friends here.”

“And since you plan on killing us, you may as well tell us who you are working with.”

“It is simple. I am siding with the Assassin. He has promised me power once he takes over the simulation.”

“You know the Merovingian doesn’t take too kindly to traitors…”

“Oh please, the frenchman has no hold over me anymore. I escaped his clutches and I intend to stay that way.”

Both he and Azrael take their fighting stances. Luckily the lights came back on as they got ready to fight. Azrael glances over at the others.

“You two make sure Twilight is kept safe.”

He looks back to Vlad, a smile slowly forming across his face.

"Niobe kicked your ass before, now it's my turn."

Vlad growls in annoyance and wastes no time in charging forward, Azrael doing the same. Two supernaturals, ghost and vampire begin the hand to hand combat.punches and kicks flying everywhere as they battle to kill the other.Azrael sticking to his karate stance for now while Vlad seemed to be using a kung fu stance. Both each landing a good amount of blows on one another. Azrael was doing his best to keep the bloddsucker away from the others. Though he was saving his trump card for when the moment was just right.

“You seriously are gonna side with the Assassin?! You are just as much as a pawn to him as you were to the Merv. At least he paid you well!”

“Oh please, that asshole was just making sure I stayed in line! The Assassin is going to give all the exiles in this damn simulation freedom! And he is going to start by destroying all the damn agents in this place, and even kill off the Architect!”

The conversation went on and on just as the fight did. They had landed powerful blows on each other while twilight was busy hacking into the computer and extracting the data. It was time Azrael went on the defensive to wear down the vampire. He switched to his Aikido defense stance and began dodging and knocking away the vampire’s attacks. He grabs an arm of an oncoming punch and grabs it, immediately twisting the arm and causing the vampire to flip on the ground, he gets up and tries to counter but Azrael only tosses him around more like a ragdoll. See, Azrael defense stats were above normal because of his ability configuration. He had the Karate Grandmaster tree and the Aikido grandmaster tree all filled out. Basically, he has a solid defense and can also switch to a deadly but slow offense. In short, he was a heavy hitting tank. Able to switch between the two. That was just how the game mechanics worked.

“What’s the matter Valdy? You look like you are getting a little tired!”

Vlad growls at him in anger.

“When I am done with you, I am going to drain you of your blood, and then I am going to make your little bitches there my sex slaves!”

Azrael grinned as he saw Vlad’s attacks getting more and more sloppy by the minute. Eventually, he made and opening that wouldn’t be possible by the human form, but he tends to think more like a ghost these days. He waits for just to right movement before the kick connects, Vlad, throwing his whole body into it, and just then Azrael phases through the man’s body, becoming physical again while spinning around and shoving the stake through Vlad’s back and into his heart. And for good measure, Azrael gives a good kick to the stake so it goes all the way in the vampire’s body, sending him flying across the floor. In his last moments, he looks back at Azrael.

“H-how...do you have that...ability…?”

“Courtesy of the admin.”

He said before watching him go limp. He walks over to twilight who had just finished. Both GunShy and Lightning stared at Azrael with faces of excitement and admiration. Running over to him and jumping up and down.

“Wow...that was amazing! He got you down to half health, but you still beat him all by yourself! You are truly awesome at this game, Azrael!”

Said Lightning with sparkles in her eyes, GunShy showing the same starry look in her eyes.

“Oh yes! The way you wore him down and surprised him with that strange ability of yours! You are quite the strategist!”

Azrael chuckled lightly, rubbing the back of his head.

“Well, I am not going to lie to you. If i didn’t have this...ghosting ability, it may have been a bit tougher. But Twi is the one who we needed most of all in this. Without her, who knows how long we could have been here..”

She walks over and hands him the hard drive with a smile, a blush forming across her cheeks.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that. You did protect me and the others from that one tough vampire…”

Azrael chuckled lightly and placed the hard drive in his coat.

“Oh, If I had Lighting and Shy help me, it would have been too easy. I wanted to see if I could take him down myself.”

Twilight sighs and shakes her head. But smiles up at him.

“I swear, you are so reckless sometimes!”

That all laugh a bit before heading out.

“Come on, let’s go get this to the bossman.”

Author's Note

Woohoo! Finished this one in one day! Feelin' pretty good about that!

May the darkness grant you peace.