Cross? Do they mean Daniel Cross? That was Chris’ costume when we were sent to Equestria. But he wasn’t sent with us. How could he be here?

Aurora and I stared at each other, we both understood much more than anypony else about who was leading the forces against us. We knew who he was, what he looked like, everything. But could we tell everypony?

“Should-Should we tell them Ashur?” Aurora stammered nervously.

“I think we should, they deserve to know who is killing their friends.” I answered slowly.

“You’re right.” Aurora said before turning to Luna, Vinyl and Octavia. “The one known as Cross is not a pony like you. He is human, like us. His name is Chris, but here he is Daniel Cross and if he has become him completely then we are in more danger than you can possibly realise. He knows how we work because in a way he was once an Assassin.”

We all stood in silence, the ponies we stood before taking in the information we had given. Luna was the first to shake herself from her fugue. “So, how do we fight him if he knows how we work?

“I-I’m not sure honestly.” I said. “We don’t have enough forces to wage war on the Templars the way we are now.”

Octavia spoke up at this. “Then we need to establish a power base, find recruits and train them.” After that however she lowered her head and mumbled out the next sentence. “The only problem is that every city in Equestria is occupied by Templar forces.”

“Then we start lower. If we can’t build in a city then we take a town and move on from there.” Aurora said, sudden confidence in her eyes. “And I think I have the perfect place to start.”

With that she walked out and we all made to follow her until she stopped and turned around. “Miss Octavia, I need you to collect all the assassins you can find. Have them gather everything you can, we will need to move out by morning.” With that she turned and without waiting to see if her orders were followed walked out of the room.

Luna and I followed close, wondering what plan Aurora could possibly have. She gave nothing away however and so we continued to follow as she weaved through one twisted corridor after another. Finally she stopped and opened a door, we all stepped inside a large chamber. One with a large map laid over a stone table. On the map was the entirety of Equestria and a few of the outlying nations. In the center of each city was a single flag, one with a red cross on black. The only other flag that didn’t match was a single one pointing out from the edge of the unicorn ranges. It is the assassin insignia and it sits where we are now.

This was one room that for the longest time held a spark of hope, as it was in that here we planned the expansion of our brotherhood before the princess attacked. But that was a long time ago and now we are back to where we started. A small group of highly trained individuals and a dream of a free Equestria. This time though the stakes are higher. Everywhere we go we will be fighting an established force, one that knows who we are and how we fight.

Aurora stood in front of the map and looked at me. “Do you see where we will need to start Ashur?”

“Honestly I have no idea.” I said, looking at how much of the country Chris’ forces had taken.

“Well where do you see that is close and has no Templars yet?” She asked me and Luna.

Where has no Templars and is close to us? I mean there is Van Hoover and Las Pegasus but they are already heavily occupied. I thought looking at the two marked cities. I mean there is also… no… really?

“You can’t be serious? That’s suicide.” I exclaimed, looking at Aurora like she was crazy.

“What? What is she saying Ashur?” Luna asked.

“She wants us to set up in Ponyville Luna.” I told the alicorn.

Luna froze for a moment before looking at our friend. “I’m sorry Luc-Aurora. But are you out of your mind?”

“Nope.” She said with a massive grin on her face. “Look at all these big cities and how heavy the Templar presence is. Then look at the small towns and you can see that there is little to no influence at all. It’s like they don’t even see these towns. If we can find and recruit assassins in each of these towns we can build up a sizeable force without them ever knowing.”

“But why Ponyville?” I asked her. “Twilight and her friends live there and if they find us we are screwed.”

“No, you see this is why my plan is genius. If we start in Ponyville we can turn Celestia’s most powerful weapon against her.”

“You don’t mean-” I start to say before Aurora interrupts me.

“Exactly, we recruit the Elements into the brotherhood. We already have Applejack, even if she doesn’t know it yet. The rest we will convince one by one until Twilight has to join so she can stay with her friends.”

Luna spoke up this time. “I... actually think this could work.”

“Good now let’s collect everypony and start planning.” Aurora said triumphantly while walking out of the room. “We have a lot of work to do and not a lot of time to do it.”

Oh my god I can’t believe I’m actually here! I thought while looking around me.

Long lines of apple trees framed the path Ashur and I walked along, telling us exactly where we were. I was practically skipping with excitement as we walked.

I have always wanted to see this place. I mean my best pony lives here! And it’s so much better than I could ever have dreamed.

I let the atmosphere wash over me as the smell of grass, dirt and apples filled the air.

A voice from beside me interrupted my reverie however. “Can you calm down? I know you think this is a definite thing but we still need to be careful. Your whole plan relies on what happens here and now.” Ashur chastised me.

“But don’t you think this is exciting? This is The Sweet Apple Acres and we are going to go meet Applejack. How are you not super excited? Come on just enjoy it a little.” I said while pouting at him.

“I’ll enjoy it when this is over.” He said before going silent.

“Come on, even with everything going on you love that you are here.” I added while poking him.

He smiled slightly before resetting his features. “Yeah but, let’s just stay on mission.”

We walked up the long dirt path that lead through the gargantuan apple farm. After walking what felt like an hour but was probably only a few minutes a small farm house and barn rose up in the distance. As we came closer a dog started to bark and it’s small form rushed towards us. Ashur started to reach for his pistol but I stopped him with a raised hand.

“Chill, it’s just Winona.” I told my overly cautious companion. “If you shoot Applejack’s dog I think our chances might drop to nothing, don’t ya think?”

“Yeah sorry, these instincts can be a bitch sometimes.”

“Winona! Stop ya barkin’.” An accented voice called out as we approached the farm house.

The door opened suddenly and a familiar orange mare walked out, her mane tied up in an ironically named pony tail. She looked around and her jaw dropped the moment she saw us. She looked around nervously before waking a hoof, telling us to follow her before she turned around and walked into the barn. We followed her inside and the moment we entered she closed the heavy door silently cutting off all light in the large space.

She whispered to us in the darkness. “What in tarnation are y’all doing here? If Twilight knew y’all were ‘er she would be callin’ the guards.”

“We are sorry Miss Applejack but we needed to speak to you on a matter of great urgency.” Ashur said from beside me.

“I’m not sure if ah should be speakin’ to y’all. You stood with Nightmare Moon and the princess sent us to stop her.” The farm mare said hesitantly.

“You don’t understand the full story. Princess Luna isn’t the bad pony she has been made out to be.” I said to her.

“Princess Luna? Wait, y’all are sayin’ that the mare we were sent tah stop was a princess?”

“Yes, Princess Luna is Celestia’s sister.” Ashur answered before asking. “Do you know the reason why you were sent to banish her?”

“Ah jus’ heard that she was supposed tah bring eternal night or something.” Applejack said, her voice was slowly becoming even more nervous than before.

“That’s not true at all!” I almost shouted.

Luna would never do that! She is the most caring, wonderful pony ever.

“Do you want to know the truth Applejack?” Ashur said calmly.

“Ah suppose ah should give y’all a chance tah explain. Mah family owes you two a whole lot. I jus’ gotta ask first. Y’all are definitely Erica and Shaun, aren’t ya?”

“Yes, though we now go by the names Ashur and Aurora.” I answered automatically.

“Well our story begins like this…” Ashur started.

It took a long time for Ashur to explain the entire situation to Applejack and by the end of it the mares jaw had been firmly affixed to the ground. Celestia’s betrayal of us in particular had her falling back on her haunches. She also let us know a few things, like what Ashur’s final act of defiance had accomplished. The leg he had shot had to be amputated and she had a team of unicorns create a magical prosthetic, but the story behind it was far from the truth. According to records she had lost her leg while fighting Nightmare Moon.

At that point Applejack had gotten furious, apparently creating such a massive lie and making it general knowledge for the entire country really made her angry.

Well she is the element of honesty.

“Thank y’all for tellin’ me the truth. But now ah don’t know how I’ll be able to face Twilight with all of this.” The farm mare said after everything was explained.

“There’s another reason we came here Applejack, we have something to ask you.” I told her.

“What is it Aurora? Ah’ll do anything ah can to help y’all.”

“W-We want to move our brotherhood to Ponyville and start recruitment and training. And well, we wanted to know if you would join.” I asked her nervously.

“Ah’m not sure sugarcube, ah want join to but ah don’t want tah lie to mah friends. If y’all want to move here though ah’ll help any way ah can.”

“Well just thinking about it okay?” I asked again. “And you never know, maybe your friends would be willing to join. We really do stand for freedom and harmony like you girls.”

With those words Ashur opened the barn door and we walked out, leaving the mare to her thoughts. Honestly we shouldn’t have expected her to make a decision then and there, but we at least know that she is on our side. Even if she hasn’t joined she is still a powerful ally to have. As we walked through the shadow of apple trees I let loose a loud squee, finally I had met my best pony and she was just as adorable and awesome as I was hoping she would be!

Oh my god! Oh my god! That was so awesome! She was so cool and strong and just so awesome! I really hope I can see her more often and we can hang out and be friends and do all kinds of cool things together. She can teach me about applebucking and I’ll help her out on the farm. Then we will eat apple pie and lots of other really yummy things! Ohh it’s so exciting.

I continued fangirling all the way through the trees and back to the edge of the nearby forest, when we passed through the tree line a group of 13 ponies waited for us. Luna and a clearly nervous Octavia stepped forward as we approached.

“So how did it go?” Octavia asked.

Ashur answered confidently. “We have her support. Although she did not agree to join yet, she has assured us that she is on our side.”

The entire group let out a sigh of relief. Many believed that our plan had been foolhardy and we had been risking the brotherhood’s safety by approaching an element of harmony. Personally I had been a little frightful of that myself but Ashur assured me that it was the right option.

Luna spoke up next. “Well we need to set up a base. These woods should cover our activities well and I will be able to create something to keep us safe for the night with my magic but we will all need to work together to make anything more permanent.”

The alicorn lit her horn and her magic went to work, slicing through trees and arranging them into crude huts. She would first cut straight through the trunk, lift the tree and a wave of magic would reduce it down to a straight, round log. One by one she did this until a sizeable clearing had been made and in it she created five small wooden huts. Each was only a few metres wide but it was better than being out in the open.

We all broke off into groups of three, Luna joining us, Octavia and Vinyl chose to group with another mare and everypony else stayed with whomever they were close to. Once inside we all collapsed onto the dirt floor and sighed with exhaustion. We had spent the entire night packing up the sanctum and the entire day was spent trekking all the way to Ponyville.

I broke the silence with a nervous voice. “D-Do you guys think I made the right decision?”

“I’m honestly not sure Aurora.” Luna answered. “This plan has merit but it also holds a lot of risks. If we are discovered too soon we will not live long to regret it.”

“I believe in you.” Ashur added and I smiled at him. “You’ve always had the weirdest plans, but somehow they always work out.”

With that we went into a discussion of all the stupid things we had done back on earth. Most of which began with me having some weird idea and dragging my friends along for the ride. That unfortunately had the side effect of bringing up Chris.

“How long do you think he has been here?” I asked Luna and Ashur.

“I heard talk of a strange creature around the castle from time to time. So he has been here close to as long as you two if that was him.” Luna answered, which shocked Ashur and I.

“But if he has been here for so long why didn’t he ever try to contact us?”

“Actually do you remember someone coming to the courtyard but never speaking?” Ashur asked me before continuing. “I think that might have been him.”

“But still why did he never talk to us or come find us?” I asked again.

“What if he isn’t Chris anymore? He hasn’t always been the calmest guy and neither was Cross, maybe the lines blurred.”

Those words sent me into silence until another question came to my mind. “Then how is he still alive?”

Ashur and Luna shrugged before giving the most frustrating answer possible. “Magic?”

“Whatever. I guess we will have time to figure out more in the morning. Goodnight everypony.” I said with a heavy sigh. I lay on the soft grass and dirt floor with a thick cloak wrapped around my body and soon the world faded away as sleep overcame me. The last thing I heard was the returning answer of my two friends.

“Goodnight.”

Ugghh, we really need floors and beds. Sleeping in the dirt is a real pain in the ass. I thought the moment I woke from slumber.

There was faint sunlight filtering through our wooden shelter as the sun began to rise. I squinted as my eyes tried to open and I wiped a hand across them to dislodge any sleep that had built up over the night. Slowly everything came into focus and I could see Luna and Ashur still sleeping nearby in the plain interior of our hut. Everything was the same as last night, except…

What’s this?

I looked to the ground beside me and sitting in the dirt was a small silver medallion in the shape of a spider with DS marked in the center. As I lifted it to take a closer look a voice rung out in my mind. My name is Dark. I’m a web-swinger with a blade and a lot of heart. If you need a companion to talk to, or an ally to help fight your enemies, just toss this medallion to the air and I’ll be there. I’m always willing to meet new people. But know this, I will not allow anyone to harm innocents. As the voice spoke in my mind I reacted with shock, throwing the medallion away from me.

After a moment of flight the medallion stopped in midair and began to glow with a bright light that expanded into a large oval, filled with a familiar white and colorful expanse. In the centre three shapes could be seen. They grew bigger every moment until they hit the oval and fell through, landing on the floor.

In a moment Luna and Ashur were awake, blades at the ready.

Author's Notes:

Sorry if Applejack's dialogue doesn't sound right. I've only written her a couple times and I can never seem to get it just right.

And now we are moving into the first crossover. This one is with DarkSpider's Spider in Equestria.

Hope y'all enjoy. :)