- Chapter 9 -
Red awoke with a soft groan, cracking open his eye and peering around. His head was throbbing and sore, and he felt weak. The room slowly came into focus as his vision cleared a bit.
He was in Wendy’s workshop, in what amounted to her living area above the main shop. He was currently lying on a cleared-off table, in the middle of the room. On one side, Ace dozed in a chair, his feet propped up on a pile of scrap metal. On the other side of the messy living area, Wendy sat on the edge of her bed, fussing with an altimeter and muttering to herself. Red settled back onto the table with a sigh, closing his eyes again and willing the pain to subside. It didn’t, but he felt a little stronger, and so he sat up fully. Wendy glanced up at Red and set the altimeter aside, grinning at him. “Well, look who decided to wake up. Have a nice nap, Red?”
Red sat up fully, a smile slowly spreading across his face. “Yes, actually.”
“Woah, buddy, take it easy,” Wendy urged her friend. “From what I gathered, you got messed up by something out in the wastes.”
“The last pony,” Red said evenly. “She used some sort of spell to... disappear.”
Red winced suddenly, a paw reaching up to clutch his head briefly. “No... not disappear... she’s traveling through time.”
Wendy snorted. “Sure she is, pal. How about you lie down for a bit?”
“I’m not crazy, Wendy.”
“I didn’t say crazy! Concussed, maybe...”
Red shook his head. “The pony. He told me.”
“What pony?” queried Wendy with a frown.
“The unicorn. The one I’ve been dreaming about... he’s in here, now.” Red tapped the side of his head nearest his missing eye. “He’s telling me... everything.”
Ace woke up from his nap with a snort, sitting up, and smiled at Red. Red motioned Ace closer with a wave, and Ace approached. “Ace... I can do it.”
Ace blinked, casting a sidelong glance to Wendy, who shrugged in response.
“I can kill the last pony. It’s so simple, really.” Red reached up and pulled off his eye patch.
Beneath the scrap of leather covering his missing eye, there was no scar, no empty pit. Instead, there glowed a brilliant magenta orb of pure manafire. Ace and Wendy took a hasty step back. “What in Tartarus happened to you, Red?” cried Wendy.
“I’m learning, Wendy. See, the unicorn from my dreams, he’s an accomplished spell caster. He knows so much... and he’s teaching me how to use the horn in my skull.” Red reached out into the air, and his head suddenly was haloed with a magenta magic aura. There was a spark, and suddenly a glowing arcane compass materialized into being, the arrow on the compass pointing resolutely West.
“This will lead me right to the last pony.”
The Crimson Score touched down in the desolation of a small ruined town beneath the crumbling mountain castle that once marked the hub of Equestrian civilization. Red was the first to disembark from the craft, stepping out onto the front deck of the Score and moving resolutely to the ladder, where he climbed down and set foot in the ashes. Wendy and Ace moved to the front deck as well, peering over the edge at Red as he marched towards a row of ruined buildings.
“You’re sure you won’t need our help?” called Wendy, her voice trembling with trepidation.
“Keep The Crimson Score running hot, and prep the interceptor for launch. I’ll need you ready to go as soon as I get back.”
Red strode into the ruins, picking his way through the desolation and ruin. The beady eyes of trolls watched him from the shadows, but when he turned his baleful, magenta eye on them, they shrank back. He finally reached an ash-covered dome, like a massive hillock. Red knew better, though. He could feel the warmth emanating from the place.
Spike sat back on his haunches, humming quietly to himself as he watered some petunias. The botanical garden and workshop that he lived in was always so quiet when his pony friend was gone. Spike smirked, murmuring to nopony in particular, “Hope you’re enjoying Miss Pie’s company.”
Behind him, the huge double doors to his garden burst open, bringing a chill gust of air and a billow of ash into the gardens. Spike turned around, smiling with amusement. “I won’t say I told you so, but Miss Pie is not going to be so easy on you.”
Spike froze, staring with confusion at the Diamond Dog standing before him.
Red smiled evenly at the massive purple dragon. “You were expecting, maybe, somepony else?”
Spike reared up on his back legs, growling angrily. Red held up a hand, and a magical aura encircled Spike’s body, lifting the startled dragon off the ground. “Not so fast, you scaly geriatric. You’ve got something that I need...”
Spike roared at Red in response. Red ignored the dragon’s protests, as he walked over to a jar of ashes sitting next to the alchemical circle. “Ah. The reagent for the time travel spell.”
Spike’s roar halted, and his eyes widened. “How do you know about that?”
“Shining Armor told me.”
Spike frowned. “Shining Armor?”
“Oh, sorry, you missed out on that episode, didn’t you? Shining Armor is Twilight Sparkle’s brother,” Red stated matter-of-factly
“I knew that! I grew up with her!” said Spike.
Red rolled his eye. “My mistake. It’s hard to keep canon straight sometimes.”
Spike squinted at Red. “You’re nuts.”
“No, not crazy. I’m smarter than your average dog, and I’ve got all the arcane knowledge of a highly-accomplished unicorn to go with it.” Red picked up the jar of ashes and grabbed a handful of the bone dust, before spreading it over his head. “Now, let’s get this show on the road. I’ve got some time-travel to disrupt and a long-delayed genocide to complete.”
“If you think I’ll help you, you really are crazy,” growled Spike.
Red dropped Spike on the floor, releasing his telekinetic hold on the massive dragon. Spike took the opportunity, rearing forward and lunging at Red with his powerful jaws. Red leapt aside, allowing Spike’s momentum to carry him past his intended target. His magenta eye strobed with energy, and Red stepped forward as Spike stood up on his back legs, his claws extended and swiping. His right paw clenched into an fist that burned with arcane fire, and he leapt up, delivering a devastating punch into Spike’s massive gut as he shouted the verbal component of the attack spell.
“Shoryuken!”
Spike clutched his stomach and doubled over in front of Red as the Diamond Dog landed in a crouch in front of his face. Spike’s gut rumbled in protest over the harsh blow, and Spike’s eyes crossed briefly as his maw closed in a desperate attempt to hold back the inevitable. Red grinned. “Sorry about that, just needed a bit of dragon fire.”
Spike’s cheeks bulged, and he opened his mouth, green flame erupting forth and bathing Red in its brilliance.
In Downtown Dredgemane, chaos had reached a fever pitch. Beneath a crackling storm of rainbow-colored fireworks, guard ponies ran out from their various homes, furiously slapping on layers of dark armor as they filled the street with a progressively thick militia. The cobblestone sea of names rumbled under their trampling hooves. The clamoring of their armor filled the air while a sky-shattering array of swathing searchlights pierced the starry sky.
Perched high above the town that was being angrily roused from its slumber, the Royal Grand Biv stood atop the City Council Building. The structure's rooftop had been drenched in prismatic paint, and it still leaked from the edge of its metal shingles. With a glint of ruby goggles, the mute miscreant observed the direct result of its hoofwork, then galloped away just as an errant searchlight brushed past its multicolored coattails. Several guardponies barked and hollered from down below. Hooves pointed up high and several net guns fired in futility at the Biv's darting shadow as it hopped from rooftop to rooftop and made its way far from the rampaging defenders of Dredgemane.
Undeterred, the Royal Grand Biv dodged two more blind volleys of net guns and leaped into the misty air. The figure eventually came to a stop in the middle of a long, thin alleyway lined on either side with abandoned market stalls. The shadows here tripled beneath several two-story buildings and the lurching canyon walls above them. The distant hoofsteps of the guards had become a harmless murmur.
The Biv paused as if for a much-needed breath. The masked pony glanced back over its billowing cloak. Nothing but the shapes of several wooden stands lingered behind or beyond it. With a softer gait, the rainbow-colored vandal trotted towards the nearest intersection of thin streets—
“Raaaugh!” Harmony suddenly spun around the corner, swinging a splintery plank of firewood in two forelimbs.
The Royal Grand Biv took the thunderous impact in the skull. Its goggles rattled as it literally backflipped from the bludgeoning. The figure twirled to its hooves and slid to an awkward stop against a wooden market stall.
The last pony tossed the scant remaining shreds of lumber to the cobblestone and marched furiously towards the fiend. A breathless Pinkie Pie slid to a stop behind her. “Whew!” She panted. “It's a breath of fresh air to have a drop on the Biv for once!”
“Unless you have anything useful to contribute, shut your trap,” Harmony grunted without looking. Her amber eyes were burning twin holes in the the Biv's mask from afar. “I'm beyond tired. This scuffle here is going to be our last.”
“Indeed. This will be your final scuffle, pony,” called a voice from the nearby rooftop.
Harmony’s ear flicked in annoyance. “I’m a little friggin’ busy here!”
“I think you’re going to have to clear your schedule, then.” A Diamond Dog dropped down from the rooftop, standing between Harmony and the Biv.
Harmony blinked, her eyes narrowing in confusion. “Who the heck are you?”
Pinkie Pie grinned, bouncing in place. “Oh! A guessing game! I’m good at—”
“Shut up, Miss Pie,” droned Harmony. Pinkie Pie closed her mouth, grinning at Harmony.
“Who am I? Why, don’t you remember, pony?” Red smiled evenly, gesturing to the scars surrounding the magenta orb of energy.
“Nope, definitely sure I don’t remember you.”
“Well, maybe you don’t... but the last pony does. See, we met a long time ago, in the future. You and I fought, and you rammed a unicorn horn into my eye and left me for dead.” Red growled at the pony. “Ring a bell?”
Harmony’s eyes widened. Red nodded. “Yes, there we are. You remember now, don’t you?”
Harmony shook her head, gritting her teeth. “It doesn’t matter. How the heck are you even here?”
“I dropped in on your pet dragon and borrowed a cup of ashes and some green fire. I believe that I’m anchored to the pink bouncing pony next to you.”
Pinkie Pie beamed at Red. “I’m Pinkie Pie!”
“Nobody cares!” snarled Red.
“Hey, you leave Miss Pie alone!” Harmony lowered her head and drug a hoof along the ground, preparing to charge. “Nobody gets to snark at her but me!”
“I’m afraid I can’t leave her alone. You see, I know that this particular spell has certain limits to it, including a limit to how far one can travel from the anchor.” Red lunged forward.
Harmony met him with a head-butt in the side, knocking Red off-balance. Red spun with the hit, grunting as the air was blown from his lungs by the force of the blow. As Harmony spun around, Red delivered a quick one-two punch to her side, knocking her away. Harmony recovered with a flare of her wings, twirling up onto her back legs and throwing an uppercut at Red.
Red bobbed his head away from the blow, but Harmony wasn’t done. She tackled into him, grabbing him by his vest and throwing him into a wooden stall. Red shattered through the market stall, and rolled to the side, just in time to narrowly avoid Harmony’s stomping hooves as she landed where he had just been. From the ground, he kicked out, connecting solidly with Harmony’s jaw. Harmony slid back, wincing. “So, you know your stuff, pup. Better than the last time we tangled, anyway.”
“I’ve been learning, glue stick. Your biggest mistake was leaving me alive.”
“Your biggest mistake was not bathing today, ya stinkhead!” Harmony spat.
The two combatants rushed each other, and Red reached out, his longer arms providing him with enough advantage to grip Harmony by her outstretched hooves. With a grunt and a pull, Red dropped onto his back, pulling Harmony on top of him. His back legs kicked viciously as he used her momentum to send her sailing away into a nearby building.
“Har-har! Are you okay?” cried Pinkie Pie.
“I’m sure she’s fine.” Red stated calmly, as he approached the pink mare. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got some business in the future to attend to.”
With that, Red grabbed Pinkie Pie and lifted her up over his head. Pinkie Pie struggled in his grasp. “Hey! What are you doing!?”
“Throwing you out of range,” Red stated, and then he heaved Pinkie Pie down the alleyway, towards the main street.
“Wha—aaackies!” Pinkie cried as she sailed through the air. Red didn’t get a chance to see her land, as green fire suddenly filled his vision.
Red found himself once again in the botanical gardens, standing next to a stunned looking pony in leather armor, with a short-cropped fuschia mane. Red smiled. “Ah, home again. Now, where were we?”
The last pony snarled and drew a mana rifle out of it’s holster, leveling it at Red as Red drew his steam pistol. They glared at each other evenly, their weapons trained on one-another’s heads.
“So, what’s your plan, pup? You’ve got me where you want me? Now it’s time to unveil your dastardly plan of vengeance in an ultra-boring monologue?” the last pony spat.
“No. I think I’ll just win,” snarled Red.
“Do it, then. I think my gun is faster, though. You shoot, I shoot, we both die.”
Red smirked. “As poetic as that sounds, I think I’d rather do this a little differently.”
The last pony raised a brow at him. “What’s that?”
“See, I’ve got magic now. So when you try to shoot me...” A magenta aura suffused Red, and a bubble shield appeared between Red and the last pony. “... I’ll just survive, and you’ll have a bullet in your brain.”
The last pony’s scarlet eyes narrowed, and she lowered her manarifle. “So... You’ve literally got me where you want me.”
“Yes. You see, though, I’m not going to shoot you.” Red lowered his pistol.
The last pony blinked. “Come again?”
“See, over these months of pursuit, I’ve come to admire you. Your ingenuity. Your abilities. You’re an amazing specimen. You’re more than just a scavenger; you’re a symbol in the wastelands.”
“Your point being?” the last pony asked.
“Shooting you is too easy. I don’t want to kill you, I want to defeat you. I want to fight you, fairly, and I want to win.” Red smiled. “So, here’s what we’re going to do. I’m going to go to my airship. You’re going to go to your airship. We’re going to lift off, and then I’m going to do my best to shoot you out of the sky, and you’ll do the same. May the best inventor and pilot win.”
The last pony slowly smiled. “I like your style, pup.”
“Call me Red.”
Red grunted as he pulled himself from the wreckage of the interceptor craft, limping out onto the flat plateau. A hundred yards away, the wreckage of the last pony’s airship, the Harmony, smoldered and smoked. He grinned to himself as he limped towards the wreckage. Overhead, The Crimson Score circled, coming in for a landing nearby.
Red walked through the mangled remains of the dirigible airship, chuckling. “I won.”
A piece of sheet metal shifted and tumbled aside, and the last pony stood up from the wreckage. She smiled dazedly at Red. “Pretty smooth flying. I’ve never seen a ship that could launch an interceptor before. Caught me by surprise.”
Red smirked. “You weren’t so bad yourself. The hidden rocket pods nearly got me.”
“Nearly?” the last pony scowled. “So, that’s not your burning wreck over there that I blew up?”
“Fine. You got me. But I shot you down as well.”
The last pony and Red stared at each other evenly for a moment, before glancing away. “So. What now? Do we call it a tie?” asked the last pony, brushing a hoof across her short fuschia mane.
“I don’t know. We both are still alive. We’re evenly matched.”
“You and I are like two sides of the same coin, you know?” said the last pony. “Both inventors, both motivated... the only difference between us is what we’re working towards.”
“My whole motivation for everything was just to find you and take you down... and now that I’ve found you... I’m not sure what I want.” Red smiled uncertainly. “You’re... amazing.”
The last pony grinned fiercely, approaching Red. “Wrong word. Try again.”
“Uh, you’re... astounding?” stammered Red, taking a step back as the last pony approached him like a cat stalking a mouse.
“So close. Try again.” She pounced.
“Awesome.”
Red lay in a bunk in the crew cabin of The Crimson Score, panting for breath. The last pony lay next to him, smoking a cigar and grinning at the exhausted Diamond Dog. “You’re not so bad yourself. Of course, I’ve got literally no frame of reference for that statement, so take it how you will.”
“I’ll take it as a compliment,” Red said breathlessly.
“Good boy. Now, I’ve got another few tricks to teach you,” said the last pony, with a devilish grin.
“I already learned beg. What else is there?” Red asked, his tail wagging.
“Oh, you’ll see.”
The End