Sequence Zero/ Welcome To the Animus
Disclaimer: My Little Pony Friendship is Magic belongs to Hasbro. The concepts and ideas utilized from Assassin’s Creed belong to Ubisoft. I am the King of Bacon.
My Little Assassin: The Creed Guides the Future
By: Your Antagonist (VegaKS03)
Sequence Zero/ Welcome to the Animus
Equestria 04 B.C (Before Celestia)
This city... she sure has come along way since the Windigo incident seven years ago.
I cast my gaze around the various brick and mortar dwellings that had only been trees and dirt six years ago. They were pretty frugal and run-down in appearance in comparison to what we had established back in our homeland, this fact was especially evident in the filthy back-alley I resided in at the moment. Nonetheless, it was still impressive, seeing as we had accomplished this much in six years building from scratch.
Heh, it’s actually pretty funny how we’ve made so many steps forward by working together, and now we’re trying to go backwards with all of this talk about racial superiority, it’s laughable really. If only the leaders could get along with each other,then there wouldn’t be any need forsomepony of my profession, but I suppose that such is the natural order—
“What are you thinking about, Clover?”
“Gah! What the hay!? I-I mean, Master Starswirl, how pleasant to see you!” I haven’t seen anypony pass this bench for the past hour, so when did he—
“Likewise Clover. So, tell me my student, what has your mind so occupied that it should cause you to allow your target to casually trot past you?”
I felt my breathing shallow and blood run cold for a moment. I whipped my head back and forth, scanning the streets cautiously in case any sign or hint of my mark remained. If I had lost my target this early in the mission, then that would have been weeks of planning down the drain. “Wh-what? I missed my target?! Where did he—”
“Ahahaha, Clover my student, relax; I’m only pulling your leg.”
I breathed an irritated sigh of relief before scolding Master Starswirl “That wasn’t funny, Master Starswirl.”
“Perhaps not, but it has certainly brought you out of your stupor, has it not?”
“...I suppose, but that was a little cruel of you, Master.”
“It was merely a means to an end Clover, as is the task at hand. There’s no wrong or right way to achieve a goal: as long as you succeed, that is all that matters. Do you understand?”
“I think so... thank you for the wise words, Master Starswirl— Master Starswirl?” I whipped my head back and forth searching for my master, but it was as though he was never even here. Oh great, now I’m being one-upped by that old stallion, but I guess he’s right:I should remain ever vigilant, my target could show up at any moment. I scanned the streets again, and—while there were many ponies trotting about—there was still no sign of the governor.
I began inspecting my equipment to ensure that everything was in working order; all it takes is a jammed hidden-blade to turn a completely foal-proof mission into an absolute archaic failure. I lifted my right foreleg from underneath my robe and began inspecting the black bracelet that was secured to the circumference of my hoof. Everything appears to be fine with it, let’s see... I tensed my hoof and the bracelet reacted to the pressure, ejecting a small blade seven inches in length outwards before I loosened up, allowing the blade to snap back into the bracelet.
I adjusted my white robe as well, pulling the hood further over my face, hoping to conceal my identity further: even though this profession requires discretion to being with, it wouldn’t help the unstable state of our delicate political system if they found out one of the “six founders” went around ending the lives of his fellow ponies. No, that would just cause more unnecessary bloodshed... Agh! I need to remain vigilant, I must focus on the task at hand. Alright, from the information the guild gave me, my target is a middle-aged tan earth pony, with an injured hind leg, so that should be a dead giveaway on his behalf. I exhaled my held breath and closed my eyes, piquing my ears to the hoof-falls of passing ponies.
Clop, clop, clop, clop
Clop, clop, clop, clop
Clop, clop, clop, c-clop
That last one... I can feel it, my target is in the same vicinity as me, but this crowd is still pretty dense.I guess it’s time to use that spell.
I began focusing my mental energies on my horn, the surge of magic causing a purple aura to envelop the medium. Once I felt I had enough energy stored, I redirected it through my still-closed eyes. When I opened them, the world around me was a dark blue color bordering on black, the vibrant hues had faded into nothingness, even the color of the ponies trotting along the street had been reduced to a scarce palette of blue, red, and yellow... Yellow?! Indeed, to my right there was only one yellow silhouette accompanied by two red outlines among the sea of blueponies. That must be him. Let’s see what you look like before the deed must be done. I dispelled the magic from my eyes in a light puff of violet smoke, and the regular chromaticism of the surrounding world restored itself in a flash of light.
I found myself looking upon the sneering form of Governor Mustang Rosecloff as he hobbled down the street. His earth-pony guard detail had taken to pushing around some of the smaller ponies on the street, casting glares on the impoverished unicorns and pegasi that inhabited the district. As the governor passed me, he called me a filthy unicorn before spitting on me while his guard detail laughed. I usually prefer to keep my kills as impersonal and professional as possible, but something told me I was going to enjoy taking the life of this stallion.
I waited until they passed through the alley before standing up from the bench. I looked around the alley once more to ensure that no pony was watching me as I began charging my horn again, this time channeling the magic through my hooves as I galloped and jumped on the wall before me. The magic in my hooves held me firm on the wall as I began to climb up, but not three meters up the wall a young dirt-covered pegasus colt no more than five years in age trotted up and began yelling up to me. “Mister! How are you doing that? That’s awesome!”
I smirked at him before responding “How am I doing this? Magic.” I reached into one of the pouches on my belt and removed a few pieces of candy which I threw down to the colt, and suddenly more fillies and colts ran out onto the streets, swarming over the treats.
“Thanks Mister!” I heard them shout in unison as I resumed climbing up the wall.
I reached the roof of the building, taking in the view of our fair city after I settled myself comfortably at the top. All right, now where did you go,Governor... Found you. I saw the governor and his goons trotting through the streets towards the middle district, and if I had anything to say about it, they weren’t going to make it there. I began galloping towards the end of the roof, and leapt to the next one at the last moment, keeping my eyes trained on the governor as I trailed him from above. There were a lot of ponies present at the moment, but—
“Hey, what do you think you’re doing up here? You’d better get down before I throw you down.” I turned my head to face the source of the outburst, and my eyes fell on a pegasus guard wearing crudely built armor, and attempting to assert himself as a threat by brandishing his fully-spread wings. “I said get down, now!”
I trotted past him wordlessly, ignoring his frustrated shouts, prompting him to stomp closer to confront me snout to snout. “I said off this roof top now, unicorn!”Just a little closer... “You have a problem with authority or something, or are you just deaf?” The guard grabbed me firmly in one of his forehooves and attempted to throw me off the roof, which is what I’d been waiting on the whole time.
I whirled around as quickly as I could, allowing my robe to conceal my movements and obscure his eyesight. Taking advantage of his confused state, I tensed my right hoof as I made contact with his neck. The guard blinked once or twice before his wings folded back to their sides submissively while he crumpled hesitantly to his knees, his eyes full of uncertainty as to what had just transpired. I twisted my hoof and withdrew my hidden blade, glistening in the sunlight from his blood, and I observed his eyes as they flickered one or twice before closing forever. “Sleep forever blissfully, my friend.”
With the first kill of the day fresh in my mind, I returned to my attention to the governor, who I noticed had made a new friend down below. I watched the pair as they made what I could only assume was idle chit-chat before glancing around suspiciously and exchanging some small parcels before parting ways. The way they exchanged those parcels made it clear that there was something significant about them that could aid the guild in its mission, and I committed that detail to memory before leaping towards the next roof.
I followed the governor and his goons from above until they turned down another alleyway, and I decided this was where would execute my mission. Like an eagle I watched them trot down the empty alleyway, completely unaware they were being watched.Better get this right the first time,I thought to myself as I reached into another pouch on my robe, withdrawing a smoke bomb. Without any further delay, I dashed the little ball into the alleyway below and it erupted with a grey cloud of smoke, followed by disoriented yelling that signified it was time to engage. I leapt off of the into the smoke with my hidden blade extended, and my hooves found purchase on one of the guards cushioning my fall as I drove the blade into his neck. The other guard flailed about senselessly in the smoke, and without missing a beat I turned around and bucked him to the ground as hard as I could, simultaneously withdrawing a dagger from my pouch with my magic and thrusting it in his back.
The only one who remained now was the governor himself, and I wasted no time as I reared up and shoved him to the ground, following up the assault by driving my hidden blade into his midsection. There was only silence for a moment as the realization that he would die overtook him, but he did not accept it peacefully.
“W-why? Why have you chosen to kill me, assassin? What have I done to deserve this? I only want what’s best for my tribe.”
“You say you want what’s best for your tribe, and yet you treat the other tribes like they’re garbage? It’s time for you understand that there are no longer three tribes, there is only one now. Earth Ponies, Pegasi, and Unicorns all share the same plane of existence and we must rely on each other to prosper.”
The old stallion chuckled at my sentiments before continuing, “Feh, you’re nothing but an idealist; there can never be true unity between the three tribes, they’ve already begun plotting against each other. It only makes sense for there to be one superior race above the others.”
I shook my head disapprovingly at the fallen stallion whose head I cradled in my forelegs. “Perhaps that old fashioned self-serving mindset is why this has befallen you. The ideals of one tribe reigning over the others is one that has long passed since the days of old equestria.”
The old stallion reached into his cloak pocket and handed me what I assumed was the parcel from earlier. “I-is that so? Well, you’ll see for yourself kid. It’s simple pony mentality, hay it’s simple politics: somepony has to be at the top. I—” Governor Mustang coughed up blood and I could feel him growing cold in my hooves, he wasn’t much longer for this world. “I just wish I could stick around a little longer... to...see... who...”
“You don’t have to worry about that any longer, now sleep forever my brother. May harmony be done.” I released his head laying it gently upon the ground, as I swept my fore-hoof down his face to close his eyes in eternal slumber. As was my tradition, I left two coins on his eyes in the hopes that the ferry-stallion would accept the payment and guide the governor into the next life. Without another word, I trotted out of the alleyway towards—KZZTT—The guil—KZZZZZTT—So I could report my success—KZZZZZZZZZZZTTTTTTT
1025 Modern day Equestria
What? What’s happening, why is everything so white? What happened to clover?
“Umm...Sir, we have a problem. She’s fighting the memory, her mind keeps rejecting the treatment”
“Ms. Sparkle, I need you to calm your mind.”
“I’m going to see if I can stabilize her... if that’s all right with you...”
“Fine, fine, do what you must. Ms. Sparkle listen to my voice, and you’ll realize that nothing that you’re seeing is real. Is all just a recreation of the past, it can’t hurt you.”
“D-doctor, it’s not working! Is she going to be all right?”
“Oh, just give it a moment, the first time’s never easy...”
“But... but... we’re losing her.”
“That’s enough Ms. Shy!”
“Doctor, if we keep going like this then she’s going to suffer a breakdown in mental activity, and I’ll never forgive you if that happens.”
“A-all right, just stop staring at me like that!”
“Oh, I’m sorry doctor, commencing desynchronization protocol.”
The white static disappeared before my eyes, replaced instead by some strange triangle-shaped logo that read “Abstergo Enterprises”. Shortly after, the whole thing moved away from my face and I was staring at the ceiling for a moment when two concerned faces loomed over me. One of them I recognized as my friend Fluttershy, and the other was a middle-aged earth pony with beady eyes and a white beard wearing a lab coat. After a moment or two I recognized him as Doctor Irkin: the stallion who offered Fluttershy an internship with Abstergo Industries on the grounds that I volunteer to test a machine of their own design.
“Hello Ms. Sparkle, how was your first experience with the Animus?”
“Doctor, that was amazing! I had no idea I was related to Clover the Clever! Or that he... he...”
Doctor Irkin raised an eyebrow at me as he responded, “...was an assassin?”
I nodded solemnly, still trying to digest the fact that one of the original founders of Equestria was an assassin. Having been raised on the ideals of friendship, harmony, and love, it was a little tough to swallow. But my mind was still swimming with the idea of learning so much about the history of ancient equestria firsthand, and through the eyes of one of its founders no less. But at the moment I was fascinated by the machine that allowed me to peek into the memories of one my ancestors, and all of the history that I was only one Animus trip away from discovering. A more pressing question came to mind as I realized I’d probably been laying on this thing for hours: “Where’s the bathroom?”
---->>Sequence Zero concluded,
---->>Begin Sequence One Boot-up Protocol
Sequence One/ What is the Animus?
Disclaimer: I don’t own My Little Pony, but I am hiding inside that meticulously placed hay-bale outside your window and I have three ‘assassin calls’ on stand by, fully charged. Go ahead, question my sanity...
Clover’s Creed
By: Your Antagonist (VegaKS03)
Sequence One
1025 Modern Day Equestria
Abstergo Enterprises
I stumbled unsteadily out of the bathroom feeling somewhat lightheaded.I don’t think I’ll be eating any Neighsian food again any time soon. “So, Doctor Irkin, how soon can we begin another Animus session?”
He raised an amused eyebrow and before responding with seven little words. “How soon would you like, Ms. Sparkle?”
A sudden rush of glee surged through my mind, and I could feel a goofy grin slowly overtake my face. Doctor Irkin chuckled to himself, and gestured for me to lie back down on the Animus. He gestured to Fluttershy and she began pressing buttons on some kind of apparatus that looked like a computer, only far more advanced than anything available on the market. I’d have to study it myself after all this was over, but for now there was an archaic Equestria just waiting to be explored.
“All right Ms. Sparkle, just keep your eyes open and stare at the screen, please.” A piece of the machine slowly slid over my eyes bearing the Abstergo Logo, and it transitioned to static before a mechanical, droning voice spoke to me.
“Sequence 1: Initializing---->”
“Test Subject: Twilight Sparkle---->”
“Sequence 1: Execute--->”
I watched as the screen transitioned from static to a black and gray swirling pattern that seemed to be pulling me into it with every rotation, and finally I felt my consciousness slip deeper into the spiral before it erupted in an explosion of white light.
Equestria 04 B.C (Before Celestia)
Assassin’s Library
I pushed open the door to the sanctuary, and slid in as quickly as possible so as not to attract any prying eyes. The building was obscure in appearance and seldom ever attracted the attention of many of the villagers nearby since they prized farm work over education. As a result the majority of the village’s inhabitants couldn’t read, nor did they care to learn how, and that suited the Assassins Guild just fine.
I trotted through the main foyer of the library, nodding and bowing to my fellow assassins and mentors as needed, when I finally spotted Master Starswirl who was browsing through the history section dedicated to our distant relatives: the Zebras.
I opened my mouth to greet him, but the old stallion cut me off before a single word could escape my mouth. “Clover my student, you’ve done the brotherhood proud with your most recent success.” He levitated a nearby corn husk pipe into his mouth, his horn glowing as he ignited it with a quick spark spell, releasing the aroma of tobacco and grape-vines into the air. I wasn’t too fond of that scent, but I bore with it in hopes that I could have my curiosity sated.
“Thank you, Master Starswirl, but if you don’t mind my asking just—”
“What did the governor do to deserve his fate? Is that what you wanted to ask me, Clover?”
How did he know I was going to ask that? “Errr...”
“Your hesitation says everything, Clover.” Starswirl shook his head at me the way that a master shakes his head at a dog that continues to defecate indoors. “Clover, I’ve warned you before: if you start empathizing with your targets, you’ll—”
“Become benevolent and hesitate in the midst of a mission, thereby losing the autonomous and merciless edge afforded to me as an assassin, I know. But master, you misunderstand, I do not wish to understand his feelings. Neigh, I wish to understand his motives, it is just to sate a sociological curiosity. Besides, I’ve been so busy with the brotherhood lately that I’ve fallen behind with my civil affairs duties. Seeing as I’m a member of the New Equestrian Senate, it would be nice to know what public policies and laws Governor Mustang was working towards before his untimely murder.”
I watched my mentor as he chewed his pipe and stroked his beard half in contemplation and half out of irritation from being interrupted. The old stallion’s face transitioned from frustrated, to pensive, and lastly settled on accepting. “All right Clover, I’ll tell you.” Master Starswirl’s horn lit up for all of a moment, and with a sharp crack! followed by a puff of white smoke, my master had summoned a set of red scrolls and was levitating them over into my telekinetic control. “But this is a one time deal; don’t go making a habit out of this.”
“Of course not, master,” I replied with a spry grin creeping across my face as I levitated the scrolls into my saddlebags.
“Do not read them here Clover. There will plenty of time for you to do that while you are staking out your next target with a hoof-full of the new recruits.”
Of course, that would be the best time to go over these documents, since a stakeout— Did he say recruits!? “N-new recruits, master? What do you mean? Why me?”
“Ahem.” Master Starswirl glared at me for making such a fracas of the news.
“My Apologies, Master Starswirl, I did not mean to interrupt you,” I replied with a curt bow.
“You are forgiven, Clover. As I was saying: you have been charged with the honor of guiding new blades into the fraternity. You are the most qualified after all”
As he uttered those words, I could feel the corners of my mouth tugging into a frown. Gahh, why do I have to drag around some dead-weight virgin blades? I could do this better myself!
As I sank deeper and deeper into my misery-laden thoughts, Starswirl’s scrutinizing gaze bore deeper and deeper into my features. “Clover? Is something the matter?”
“Errrr, no, nothing at all Master.”
“Then you would be wise not to tarry. The young ones are waiting for their mentor on the roof.”
“I’ll leave at once, Master, but first...” I dug around in my saddlebags until my hoof found purchase on the parcel I received from the late Governor Mustang. I extended the package to Master Starswirl and he took hold of it with his telekinesis.
“What is it?”
“I do not know, but Mustang was treating it with the utmost discretion up until his death. I imagine it must be of great importance, so I shall leave it with you for now as I must take my leave.” I bowed my head to Starswirl and spoke only three words “Nothing is true.”
Starswirl bowed in acknowledgment to me and responded by saying, “Everything is permitted.”
I turned away from Starswirl and made my way to a nearby window, being sure to raise my hood and channel magic into my hooves before I leapt over the ledge and began the trek up the side of the building. I paused for a moment to glance at the bustling city below, and smiled as I took in the scenery. The city was still young in its construction and, thanks to cooperation between the three races, it was growing and expanding every day. There was one structure in particular that my attention was drawn to, seeing as it towered over half of the city: The Tower of Harmony. It was a truly remarkable feat that half a decade ago would have been unthinkable, but looking at it now it was a testament to how far we’d come as a nation and a symbol of racial unity. A unity that I had sworn to protect from the shadows, no matter what the cost.
Sighing, I resumed my climb up the side of the library, reaching the roof only a moment or two later. To my surprise, there was nopony in sight. Just myself, the view, and an eerie silence. This better not be another one of master’s tricks, or so help me I’ll— A rapidly approaching whistling from behind interrupted my thoughts. My instincts forced my magic to activate subconsciously, reaching out behind me to capture the source of the noise. I levitated the offender in question before myself, and I was surprised to find the familiar build of several of the throwing blades used by our fraternity. I shook my head in disappointment at the fact that assailant had yet to follow up such a fantastically executed diversion, but I dropped that line of thought as I noticed that the area around me had begun to grow darker.
I looked up just in time to see a white-cloaked pegasus brandishing a short sword in their mouth, rapidly descending upon me. I released my hidden blade and whirled around to greet my new adversary properly. Whipping their head to the side, it became quickly apparent that my new attacker sought to cut my throat, but what this attacker failed to notice was how much of an opening such a sloppy and poorly-defended attack left for me to exploit. I drove the length of my hidden blade against the sword, successfully parrying the pegasus and knocking them off the balance of their flight path. I followed through with my attack by slamming my bare left hoof into my adversary’s throat, knocking them, coughing and gasping, to the ground.
My victory over the pegasus was short-lived however, as the long-ranged attacker from earlier charged recklessly forth, and due to the rather menacing claymore floating closely behind him I was able to deduce his species as unicorn and adjusted my plan of attack accordingly. His first swing of the massive sword drove me to leap back cautiously. Ducking under the blade, I spun, drawing in my hind legs and exploding them outwards in a powerful buck that caught the unicorn in his exposed chest. The blow knocked him on his back, and within seconds I was on him, my hidden blade placed firmly along his neck. Beneath his hood, I could see the fear in his eyes as he waited for me to finish him. I smirked. In this line of work, fear shows ambition. Maybe training these two won’t be as bad as I thought.
“That was a pathetic assault,” I said, allowing my blade to slide back into its hiding place in the gauntlet, before helping the pair up. Just as quickly as they stood, I began to chastise them: “Poor coordination, sloppy execution, manure poor close combat techniques, and an inexcusable number of missed opportunities. Were you even trying to kill me?”
Neither recruit responded, instead they both chose to hang their heads in shame. “But, I suppose that can be attributed to lack of experience. Let’s rectify that, shall we?” I smirked to myself as I watched them perk up from the corner of my eye, and decided this was as good a time as any to face them directly. "From my understanding the two of you have been staking out a target for several months now, correct?”
They nodded wordlessly, almost proudly, to confirm my question.
“I’m assuming that you have a wealth of information on the target then?”
Once again both nodded. This was starting to look more and more promising by the moment.
“All right then, what’s your plan of attack?”
The two looked nervously at each other, then back at me before lowering their heads in shame. You have got to be kidding me I thought to myself as I massaged my temples in frustration. Then again, it never hurt to practice improvisation. Harmony knows that when a mission goes wrong, and they always do, improvisation is all one has. “Well, if nothing else, at least you’ve done your research on the target, and that’s half of the assassination. Now, let’s take this time to get me up to speed, and we’ll plan our next move from there.”
The pair reached into their respective cloaks and began pulling out—KZZZT— several scrolls—KZZZT— containing detailed—KZZZZZZT! KRACK!— informa— KZZZZZZTTTTTTTT! KRACK! KRACK!
1025 Modern Day Equestria
Abstergo Enterprises
I watched as for the second time in a day, ancient canterlot was slowly deconstructed before my eyes, and in its place there was endless white as far as the eye could see. A moment later a familiar echoing whimper cut through the blank, quiet atmosphere. “Oh no, this isn’t good at all... Doctor Irkin! Doctor Irkin!”
“Calm down Ms. Shy, I’m well aware of what’s happening. It’s nothing too serious;in fact, the machine is programmed to do this.”
“Oh. So... what is it?”
“The machine has initiated a simple scan of Clover’s dormant memories, effectively allowing the animus to “skip” if you will, to the more relevant moments of Clover’s life, relative to Abstergo’s interest of course. Why if we were to allow every memory to pass through unfiltered, this process would take months, perhaps even years.”
“So when’s it going to go back to normal?”
“Oh, I’d say in about a moment or so. Ms. Sparkle, if you can hear me, it would behoove that you to use these opportunities to do a mental review of what you learned so that the data is more organized once the Animus extracts the information from your memories.”
As Doctor Irkin finished his explanation, a mechanical voice poured out through the speakers on the animus.“Data Extraction Complete. Preparing to initialize next memory sequence.”
“Ahh, hear that? It looks like you’re ready to go back to Ancient Equestria. See you in a few hours Ms. Sparkle. Ms. Shy, help me analyze this new data would you?”
“Of course Doctor.”
Once again, the screen before me flashed to white displaying the Abstergo Enterprise symbol. It would only be a matter of time before I’d find myself back in the treasure trove of history that was early Equestria.
--->Sequence One Concluded
---> Initializing Sequence Two
Author's Note: I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in such a long time! Please don't hate me! I've been busy editing, for some reason irresponsibly making more series than I can handle on my own and preparing myself to submit a bunch of stories to EQD. But like I said, I never break my promises. It make take me forever and a day, but I don't break my promises. Don't think this means this one will be getting regular frequent updates though.
