Maretroid: Ridley and the Fall of Equestria

by Jewbacca

Chapter 2: Discoveries

Chapter Two: Discoveries

A few days later, a small group of stallions donning blue uniforms approached the wreckage of the cottage. A majority of the building had been reduced to nothing but rubble, and the ground around it was scorched.

“Did she say anything about who caused it?” one of the officers asked.

“Well...sort of...she said that the only thing she saw was a large, dull-red dragon.” another from the group replied.

“It was hard to get an answer from her at all, she was cryin’ so much you could barely understand a word she was sayin’. But, judging from the fact that her house, her belongings, and whatever else was in there burned down, I don’t blame her.”

“Poor girl.” another officer mumbled.

They walked through the smoldering remains of the building, several burnt objects from picture frames to furniture were scattered around the floor, as well as...skeletons. “Uh...who was this filly again?” one of the investigators asked.

“Fluttershy, an animal caretaker.” one of the groupies responded.

“Ah, that’d explain the...bodies...”

Immediately after that, a screech echoed through the thick woods surrounding the building.

“What was that?” one of the ponies asked, worried.

“I dunno’, I’m gonna go investigate.” the leader responded.

He nodded his mates off before heading into the woods. He looked around himself, the light of Celestia’s spring sun shining through the leaves, casting an eerie glow on the ground. He continued until he reached another clearing, the canopy of the trees above blocking out most of the light.

“H-hello?” he asked, there was no response. He continued walking until he felt something wrap around his stomach, he yelled as he was pulled up from the ground. Opening his eyes, he saw a massive, maroon, dragon-esque creature staring at him with yellow, glaring eyes.

“Who-...Who are you?” the officer nervously asked.

“Who am I? I’m Lord Ridley, general of the Space Pirate army...but that’s not important, you see, you’ve seen who I am, and probably know that I’m the cause of that building fire, I’m afraid that I can’t let you tell anyone.” Ridley snickered.

“Please! Don’t! I’ll keep quiet, just don’t hurt me! I got a wife and a baby on the way!” he cried.

“Well then, I’m sorry, but that’s too bad!” he exclaimed, laughing maniacally as he finished.

“No, please! You can’t do this to me!”

“Oh, really? Hm...Well, I suppose that I can just let you go, I trust you enough.”

What? No, that can’t be right, he just said he was going to kill me... the officer thought over. He looked as the malicious grin disappeared, and the Zebesian slowly lowered him down. He turned around to the edge of the clearing, and began running. Only if he knew what was to happen.

He heard the leaves above rustle violently before it happened. He felt a massive, foreign object pierce his back, ripping through the soft flesh, and pressing out of his stomach and planting itself in the ground. With blood pouring out of his body, he slowly moved his eyes back and forth until he saw the same creature staring at him with a massive, toothy smile.

“Wha~at? You actually thought I was being serious?” the monster chided.

Ridley pulled out, and chuckled as the stallion fell over onto his side. He walked over to one of the trees, but then collapsed, he realized he had used up what little energy he had to deal with the pony, and looked at him.

The Star Dragon was hit with memories of his stay on K2-L, how he had to eat the flesh of dead human beings to heal his wounds. He looked at the pony one more time, then walked up to him. He stuck out his tongue, and brushed it against the massive wound on his dorsal side.

“Ugh! How foul! But, I may not have a choice...” he murmured as he pulled away. He took one more quickly glance at the body, then ran up and closed his jaws on the corpse.

---------

“Fluttershy, I understand the seriousity of all this, but you need to calm down and let me help you clean yourself, you’re filthy!”

Twilight Sparkle looked at her friend, cradling her while she sat in a semi-fetal position. “T-Twilight, don’t you understand what he tried to do?” the pegasus murmured weakly.

“Yes, I understand, but you at least need to let me clean you up.”

She continued cradling her sobbing friend for a few minutes, looking at her light-pink mane, clinging to the side of her head and neck from perspiration. The librarian then closed her eyes, and focused her energy to her horn. The cusp began to glow a sparkling purple, then a cloud of energy floated forward, surrounding the quivering pony.

After a few seconds, followed by a bright flash, the dirt and soot had disappeared, he mane and tail had regained its long, curly look, and Twilight let go. Fluttershy slowly stood up, raking her hoof through her hair. She sighed with relief, when a horrifying revelation dawned upon her.

“My animals!” the caretaker gasped. She began running, and finally went out and through the door.

Fluttershy kept her continuous, frantic trot for a few miles until she reached the gravel pathway leading to her cottage. She walked onto it, then continued to the clearing. Once she reached it, she shrieked at the damage done to her building. The wood was completely black, half of the building itself was demolished, small streams of smoke drifting from certain spots around the house.

She began running to it when a large, grey-and-blue unicorn stallion blocked her path.

“I’m sorry, Miss, but you’re not allowed into the scene.”

“You don’t understand, Mister, this is my house!” her usual shyness and quiet, high-pitched voice were lost in a feeling of pure fright and worry.

He was immediately silent, then asked, “Miss, do you know what caused this?”

“It was a big, red, mean dragon, it kept on screaming at me ‘You will pay’...Now can I please come in, I need to see if my animals are okay!”

He went silent again, then weakly mumbled, “Miss, I’m afraid that any living creature in your cottage was torched by the ‘big, red, mean dragon’...”

The pegasus’ jaws went slack, she quickly fell to her knees, and began crying. Everything was gone, she was homeless, and all her animals were dead.

Suddenly, another voice broke through the deathly quiet, “Hey, anypony know where the sarge’ is? He’s been gone for quite a while...”

Everyone immediately stopped what they were doing, and turned to the one that question. Fluttershy let everything soak in, and all her fright and worry was replaced with absolute rage. It was him, he’s going to pay for this! she screamed in her head. Determined, she quickly started off into the other path leading from the house.

She continued trotting until she reached the same, dark clearing, and the sight there made her want to lose her lunch.

Ridley was there, standing over a body, it was ripped in two, picked clean of any flesh, the side of the ribcage was ripped off, the top of the skull was bashed open and hollowed out. Fluttershy turned her head away, disgusted by it. Tears had been rolling down her cheeks, and the corpse made for a perfect fuel. She sniffled, a horrible mistake.

The Zebesian monster stopped gnawing on the sergeant’s femur, and turned around. Only one word escaped from his long, toothy beak.

“You...”

He walked away from the skeleton, and began crawling towards her. Hissing and growling as he slowly limped over to her. “You...” he growled again. Fluttershy tried backing away, when Ridley reared up, and shrieked, “YOU WILL PAY!”

With the little energy gained from the sergeant’s flesh, he rushed at her. Even she couldn’t have enough time to react to the sudden ambush, and barely noticed when the outstretched claws reached her. She screamed in pain as they raked through her chest as he tackled her, and he continuously roared.

She kept on screaming and doing whatever possible to keep the monster off of her. But the cries of the pony came to no avail as Ridley continued his rampant assault.

When Ridley was finally about to deal one, final, deadly blow, something happened. He screeched in agony as a burst of magic sent him careening to the ground. Struggling, the bleeding mare stumbled up, and looked at what happened.

The police officers stared in horror at their deceased superior, then focused back on the knocked down creature. The alien slowly got back up, and looked at the stallions, he screamed in fury, and prepared to charge. But another burst of magic from a unicorn was far too much punishment.

He roared in pain as he slowly stumbled to the left and right, and fell into a group of trees. Only if he knew what was down there. He screeched as he fell down a massive hill, and his screams slowly disappeared.

After the incident had ended, they looked at the large clearing of trees where Ridley had fallen, then looked at the quivering, pink, yellow, and red shape on the ground. They dashed over to her, and asked, “Miss, are you okay?”

She looked up, her face soaked in sweat, tears, and blood, and whimpered, “P-please, just let me go back to P-Ponyville...”

Nodding in acknowledgement, the stallions picked her up, and lifted her out of the clearing.

---------

Ridley kept on rolling down the hill. Trees, bushes, and other flora simply flattened or knocked down as he rolled onto them. His groans of pain and suffering were barely audible over the thundering crash of the trees he knocked over. Finally, after about an hour, he finally reach the foot of the hill, and he eventually slowed down to a stop.

Hanging onto the last bit of consciousness, he slowly craned his neck and inspected himself. The bolts of magic had lightly charred spots of his skin, he was covered in scratches and bruises, his wings were broken, and he was covered in flowers, leaves, and lumber.

With his energy slowly slipping away from him, he laid himself down, and began to close his eyes when something was caught in his line of sight.

It was a small, brown cart, looking like it was repaired with nothing more than nails and duct-tape. Clinging to his last bit of awareness, he slowly and painfully crawled his way over to it. Trembling, he asked, “H-hello?”

The top half of the side of the cart opened up to reveal a blue-and-grey unicorn mare. There were bags under her eyes, and her horn glowed a bright magenta, levitating next to her was a brown bottle with a golden liquid in it.

“T-the Great and P-Powerful Trixie does not wish to...to be d-disturbed right n-now...” she slurred, she was obviously drunk.

Noticing the horrific mass of maroon that lay before her, she almost jumped. Her half-lidded eyes went wide with fright, and she backed away. Ridley slowly crawled onto the step of the cart, and forced the door open.

“W-what do you...w-want?” she squealed, dropping the bottle which hit the ground and shattered, sending shards of glass and beer all over the place.

“I-...I just need some help...I have no energy...I’m severely injured...I just need to heal...” he grumbled.

“The G-Great and Powerful T-Trixie is simply an entertainer, she does not k-know any healing spells...”

Enraged, Ridley shot his head forward, his neck extending to bring his face to his. “Look, ‘Great and Powerful Trixie’, if you don’t help me, then I’ll rip your throat out, do we have an understanding.”

Attempting to stand her ground, Trixie slowly lumbered forward, and freshly asked, “What c-can you do to harm the Great and Powerful T-Trixie?”

With that, he roared at her, a pounding vibration of sound, blood, saliva, and the horrible stench of flesh all came her way. The mix of the horrible smells and the toxic alcohol in her system both caused the magician to throw up onto the floor and walls.

“L-look, I don’t h-have any kind of healing spell to help you w-with!” she stuttered, dropping the use of her usual third-person perspective.

“Well, you’re either going to help me, or I will simply kill you right now!” Ridley bellowed.

Any determination left in the drunken filly was quickly diminished. She knew that he was right, and trembled, “O-Okay...Trixie will find you a w-way to heal yourself....”

“Good...” the Space Pirate snickered.

“Though...Trixie d-does not kn-know of any kind of healing sp-spell, do you, perhaps, h-have another way to heal?”

“The flesh of dead mammalians is the only way I can heal my wounds...”

She stared at the beast, scared, and said, “Well...Trixie does not h-have the flesh of ‘d-dead mammalians’...”

“Oh...I think you’ll do as a fine substitute...” he growled. He pulled his head back, and lunged forward. Trixie screamed as she felt the fangs sink into her neck. Opening her eyes, she saw the inside of the monster’s throat. She attempted to pull away, but was immediately ripped out of the cart.

Her muffled screams came to no avail as Ridley began thrashing his head around. Clinging to the last moments of her life. Using whatever energy she had left, the drunk mare diverted all of her magic to her horn, and let it go. The sudden discharge of magic hit Ridley in the roof of the mouth. He roared in pain, and dropped her.

She stumbled up, feeling the new holes in her neck. She attempted to run away, when the Zebesian slammed his fist down, creating a slight tremor. The miniature earthquake sent Trixie into the air and onto her back.

He began crawling up to her, and prepared to hit her again. He raised his fist, the pony constantly pleading for mercy between fits of coughs. But nothing worked, Ridley slammed his hand down, and onto her chest. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head as the fist smashed into her ribcage, shards of bone puncturing her lungs and heart. The excruciating pain was far too much for the entertainer to handle, and she gave in.

The Pirate smiled and laughed crazily as he heard her take in her last breath, then nothing. He then lowered his head, and licked the wounds on her neck, cringing from the taste. Ridley looked at the mare’s body, and locked his jaws around it, the powerful bite severed the unicorn in half. And he continued to eat the body. After he finished, the mare’s power of magic not only felt like healing magic when he devoured her body, but it felt like a supercharge, a steroid. He reared back up, noticing that his meal had turned his skin back to a dark purple, and roared.

---------

News of the police sergeant’s demise spread quickly through Ponyville. It’s shock value was awesome in terms of the speed and toll it took on several. Petty crimes like thievery and, on rare occasions, assault were common, murder was unheard of.

Once it reached Twilight Sparkle and her friends, they all decided to meet at her library. Once the four other friends arrived, they saw their friend Fluttershy, on the ground, in a small, quivering ball, covered in bandages.

Greeting them and explaining what had happened to the young, yellow filly over that past couple of days, the studious young equine began explaining what she could to them.

“...And all we know is that if this...thing...isn’t stopped, the PPD sergeant won’t be the only victim...”

“I think the only thing that could be worse than killin’ him would be eating his body, now why the hay would he do that?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“I have no idea, Rainbow, the only pony that can really help us with this is Princess Celestia...if we have to go all the way to Canterlot and ask her about it, then that’s what we’re going to do...”

“Well, then what’re we waitin’ for? Let’s go an’ get to Princess Celestia!” Applejack declared, stamping her hoof down.

“Um...Twilight...I don’t want to be a problem on this trip...so is it fine if I stay here?” the first sentence that Fluttershy had said in hours. Understanding what she had gone through, the librarian nodded, and motioned her friends outside.

---------

Ridley slowly climbed up the tree standing tall in front of him. Reaching the top of the canopy, he looked at the remains of Trixie.

“Heh...thanks...’Great and Powerful Trixie’...” he joked to himself. With the energy that the body of the filly gave him, he stretched out his wings. The sun passing through his wings, the light passing through the thin, orange skin, creating an intimidating glow upon the ground below him.

Experimentally, he flapped his wings downwards, no pain, and no fatigue. Ridley raised the appendages up, and, much harder, sent them downwards. Leaves and branches rustled violently as the sudden plume of air sent him upwards. Flapping them regularly now, he began moving up and into the open air. Scanning the horizon, he finally locked his eyes on a large town.

That must be ‘Ponyville’... Ridley thought to himself as he observed the area. After staring at it for a few minutes, he straightened himself out, and began flying to it.

The first thing he heard as he began approaching it was an amassed amount of screaming. But he continued flying, he lowered his altitude and kept the current flight path until he found a perch. It was a large rotunda on the top of a large wooden building. He landed on it, and arched his back up to roar. The screams and shouts down below were almost music to his ears. Almost. He looked down, and saw five ponies, pointing their hooves in horror at him.

“W-who are you?” a purple equine asked.

“Who am I?” he responded sarcastically, pointing his finger at himself.

Before anyone could speak, he declared, “I am Lord Ridley! Commander of the Space Pirates!”

She examined the creature for a few minutes, before her eyes went wide with shock.

“Are you the one that-...that-”

“Killed that one equine? Yes!” he bellowed proudly, breaking down into a fit of laughter after saying it. Recomposing himself, he said, “He tasted foul, but managed to provide a decent amount of energy.”

“Y-...You monster!” another from the group screamed in an elegant accent. Ridley simply shrugged her off, then joked, “There was also another one, named ‘The Great and Powerful Trixie’, she tasted just as bad, but she managed to provide an amazing source of energy. I wonder what cells she healed me with.”

He began searching himself, checking his limbs and body, periodically asking, “Is she here? Maybe she’s here...Or maybe here?”

The purple one and the others around her turned their heads away in disgust. But then the Zebesian said, “However, I am not completely healed, but I see five sources lying right in front of me!”

Before any of them could react, Ridley moved into an attack position, and leaped.

Comments

[Barbecue Sauce]

Well, I'd say this is a decent improvement.

Keep at it!

[Thespurgin]

well, I am now truly disgusted by Ridley. Someone impale him on a spike, then cook him.

[Jewbacca]

690852

I don't want to spoil the story, but, like I said, Space Pirates are going to be involved. So, it may be implemented as a biological weapon that escapes and somehow finds its way in the Canterlot Palace.

I'll put him in there, I hate making friends and followers upset, so don't worry

[Blaze Spectrum]

686226 Yeah, me too.

[Subatomic Seal]

Well that's depressing...