//------------------------------// // Chapter 18 // Story: The Stranger With a Big Iron on Her Hip // by Omega_code //------------------------------// Thanks to ProtheanBrony for proofreading. _____________________________________________________________________ “So let me get this straight. Y’all were able to repel the whole Changeling army with nothing but love? My faith in Celestia’s plan is now at an all-time low.” While waiting for Celestia to come back, Scarlet decided to ask more details about the Elements of Harmony. Applejack told about how they used them on Nightmare Moon and on Discord. She then mentioned something about a Changeling invasion, which Scarlet pushed for more details. After hearing what happened, Scarlet just shook her head in disappointment. “I can’t believe Celestia is putting the safety of the entire world in y’all's hands...or hooves in this case.” “What, you think we can’t handle it? My friends and I were able to take down two of Equestria's greatest threats.” “But this Queen of the Changelings; her soldiers were able to take you and your friends down pretty quickly, from what you’re telling me of course.” “Still, we were able to defeat them, so what’s your point?” “That when it comes down to a real fight, y’all are nothing but dead weight. Sure you were able to take down Moon and Discord, but that was mostly their fault. From what you’re telling me they let you take a free shot at them with no resistance, that’s just dumb. If it were me on the other end, I would’ve killed y’all in the blink of an eye.” “That’s your world, not mine.” “No Applejack, that’s war and war does have rules. One of them is never give your enemy the chance to have the upper hand. One of my enemies did that by giving me a full pass to his base; he and his troops didn’t last long when I decided to wipe him from the face of the Earth with a big bloody laser beam.” “Still, why do you worry about Celestia’s plan? Once we find Cadbury’s base, we’ll just use the Elements of Harmony on him and that’s it, he’ll be done for.” “Tell me Applejack, what’s the range of these elements?” Applejack tilted her head in confusion. “In other words, how close do y’all have to be for the elements to work to their full power?” “I...don’t know. Both the time we used them were we close to our target...we never really got to use them any far than a few yards. I don’t see why that’s important.” “Range is the most important tactic in the field of battle, Applejack. The farther you can attack someone from the better. Why do you think I carry around that big Anti-Materiel rifle? Not for its looks. If we have to infiltrate Cadbury’s base, there will be resistance and lots of it. I can’t be the only one who has to defend six defenseless ponies and expect all of them to live. I don’t have the equipment for that kind of mission.” “I don’t believe Celestia would’ve called us just to put our life in mortal danger. If she thinks we can do this, we can do this.” There was a rap of knocks on the door with Celestia’s voice speaking on the other side. “Braeburn, I’m back with everypony.” Braeburn left them and Applejack was about to follow, but Scarlet stopped her by grabbing a hoof. “I hope you’re right Applejack. Cadbury doesn’t seem to be the type who sits idly by and watch from the side. I promise you this; there will be blood and lots of it before we take Cadbury down.” Scarlet let go of Applejack’s hoof and reached for her pair of sunglasses. “Now, let's meet these friends of yours.” She put the glasses on and got up walking to the living room. ******************* Braeburn opened the door and was greeted with six smiley faces. “Howdy y’all, it’s nice to see y’all again.” He opened the door wider letting Celestia, Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie in. “It’s nice to see you too Braeburn,” Twilight said. “Hello Braeburn, is that a new hat?” Rarity asked as she passed by and a faint smell of some kind of perfume filled the room. “What’s up Braeburn,” Rainbow Dash said. “Oh...hey Braeburn...it’s nice to see you,” Fluttershy softly spoke. “Hi Braeburn, have a cupcake!” Pinkie said as she passed by leaving a cupcake in Braeburn’s hoof. “Um...thanks Pinkie Pie.” Strawberry with vanilla frosting, how did she know those are my favorite? “How was the train ride?” “Oh, it was boring as last time,” Rarity chip in, “of course the ride went more smoothly than our last time we took a trip here.” “Yeah, yeah; so where is the alien?” Rainbow eagerly asked. “You know I do have a name,” Scarlet’s voice spoke out from behind them. Everypony jumped and looked behind them and saw Scarlet standing aloof near the wall. How did she sneak up on us in such a small room, and why is she wearing sun glasses indoors? “Everypony, I would like to introduce y’all to Scarlet. Scarlet I would like to introduce you to Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, and Pinkie Pie.” Braeburn pointed a hoof as he introduced Scarlet and his friends. “And I thought my nick names were abnormal.” “And what’s wrong with our names?” Rainbow Dash asked as she hovered up to Scarlet’s face. Scarlet just stared back at cyan pony (hopefully, it’s hard to tell with the sunglasses on). “Nothing, they just sound weird to me. Now how about you back away from my face before you regret coming so close to it.” Scarlet made a small gesture with head downward which Rainbow followed. Scarlet had her hand on a grey weapon, still holstered, but ready to be pulled out. Rainbow slowly flew away. Scarlet softly smiled, “Smart move.” She looked over at Celestia who was glaring at her. “Hey, I did warn you.” There was a small cough. Scarlet looked down to see Twilight standing in front of her. “Sorry about Rainbow Dash. She can get kind-of get defensive when ponies make fun of her name.” She held up a hoof. “Anyway it’s nice to meet you Scarlet.” Scarlet didn’t grab the hoof, instead she just glanced back up and looked at the others mares. She then looked back at Celestia. “They kind of look...weak; I don’t think they could handle a single fiend, let alone anyone else.” “Looks can be deceiving,” Celestia stated. She looked around the room. “Where’s Applejack?” “Still in the kitchen I think, probably thinking over what I told her during our little chat.” “I’m here, just had to put the dishes away,” Applejack said as she walked out from the kitchen. Her face beamed a smile as she saw her friends. “Howdy girls.” She walked up to them and a group hug formed. As the group of friends got out of their group hug Twilight looked at Celestia. “So, why did you call us Princess?” “I need you and your friends to once again bare the Elements of Harmony to defeat another threat to Equestria and to the world.” “Who?” Everypony asked. “His name is...” “Excuse me,” Scarlet interrupted, “but if you’re going to go through same story from yesterday, then I’m going to work on something of mine upstairs.” Scarlet made her way to stairs before anypony could object. Celestia pick up from where she was cut off. “As I was saying, his name is Cadbury, and it is going to take some time to discuss about him.” Celestia retold the story she gave to Applejack, Braeburn and Scarlet. Once she finished the room remain quite once again. Rainbow spoke first. “We can take him,” she said with lots of confidence. “That brute will get what’s coming to him,” Rarity said with a scowl on her face. Braeburn smiled at this. Applejack was right about Celestia's plan, if she believed the Elements of Harmony and its bearers can take down Cadbury, then Cadbury’s hooves should be quaking in fear. Sudden a small headache started to form in his head; follow by a low ringing in his ear. Braeburn quickly rubbed his ear, with a small look of discomfort on his face. “You too Braeburn?” Applejack asked. Braeburn looked up and saw the same look on Applejack and the others (expect for Pinkie Pie, who was trying to find the source of the ringing) faces. The ringing then painfully intensified causing everypony to wince. Braeburn's vision of the room suddenly started to spin and Braeburn blacked out. *********************** Sunlight glared in Braeburn’s eyes. “What in tarnation is going on?” As his eyes adjusted he found himself standing in some sort of camp, with several humans wearing what seemed like red version of the Canterlot royal armor, roaming around the area. “Where are we?” “We’re in Scarlet’s world,” Celestia answered. Braeburn looked behind and a saw Celestia and the rest standing around looking at their new surroundings. “The question is how?” “Well let’s go and ask these nice people,” Pinkie said as she hopped to the nearest human. “Hi, can you tell us how we got here?” The man didn’t replied or even seemed to notice the chirpy pink pony next to him. The man picked up some sort of spear and then walked through Pinkie like she was a ghost. “Oh, you can do that too, cool!” “My intelligence was right, you are as dumb as you look,” a new stallion voice spoke up. Everypony looked towards where the voice came from to see a brown earth pony sitting across from them. “Of course I wasn’t expecting much from a mind whose mess up just as my great ancestor was.” “Cadbury,” Celestia said in a low tone. “Celestia,” he replied in a lighthearted tone. “You haven’t changed one bit ever since you banished me to the deepest hole in Tartarus.” “I could say the same to you. What do you want.” “To give you a warning of the monster you are housing.” “Scarlet,” Applejack question. “Have you ever wondered why people gave her that nick name? I can tell you it’s not because she has red hair.” “Why does that matter Cadbury? From what I learn a name doesn’t defined a human, just like a cutie mark with a pony.” Celestia chastised in a sour tone. “Such anger Celestia, you should drink more of that tea of yours to calm yourself down. You don’t want to scare your little ponies.” He looked at the mares. “Of course what you already have put them through, I’m surprised they still trust you.” Rainbow Dash zoomed up to his face. “Of course we trust her, she's our ruler." “So these are the Elements of Harmony.” Then he looked right at Braeburn and spoke in a mocking tone, “I guess I should be quaking in my hooves and begging for my life to be spared.” He then was rolling on a chuckle. Fed up with Cadbury, Rainbow took a swing at him, only to have her hoof pass through him like he was a cloud. “Huh?” She tried a couple of more times, each ending with the same result. Annoyed, Cadbury threw his own punch which land a solid blow on Rainbow’s face. Rainbow landed hard on the ground and she rubbed the spot where Cadbury hit her. “You know, at least the human stopped after her first attempt.” Celestia step in front of him. “Enough Cadbury. What do you want?” “You already know that Celestia, I just want to show you something from what I learn from Scarlet. It’s quite the eye opener.” “By the order of the great Caesar, all visitors must hand over all of their weapons before entering.” Everypony looked to their right and saw a group of three men surrounding Scarlet, another man wearing dark brown clothing, with a pair sunglasses and a red cap on his head, and a flying spherical metal object. Scarlet spoke up. “How about...,” she quickly pulled out Lucky and fired a shoot into the man’s skull, “...no.” As the man whom Scarlet shot at fell to the ground, the other two men quickly reached for their weapons. However the man next to Scarlet pulled out a knife swiftly slashed across one of man’s neck. The flying metal object played some dramatic music and fired blue beams of light at the last one standing. The man did small flinches as each beam hit him until the last one hit him in the face and he disintegration to a pile of dust in a blue flash of light. “Nice work you two,” Scarlet complimented. The flying spherical metal object let out a happy beeping noise. “But it’s just getting started.” She hoisted Lucky and pulled out her anti-materiel rifle. “Kill the profligate and the traitor!” An angry war cry was yelled out. Everypony looked and saw several more humans running down a hill. Suddenly there was a loud thunderous bang and a small explosion emitted right in the middle of the charging men. The explosion pushed the men outward, some having parts of their body being rip apart and others just drop with the shock wave passing through them. One of them remarkably survived, but soon his head ruptured as another gun shot was fired. Scarlet then aimed up at another group of men who were making their way down and fired another explosive round. One of bodies disintegrated at the center of the explosion. There was another man who was near a metal wall and instead of fighting he quickly ran through a gate shouting orders to shut it. “Humph, this is going surprising well,” the man with Scarlet spoke. “Well this is only the front door Boone, there’s more behind that wall, and I bet they’re all lining up waiting for us to make another grand entrance.” Scarlet gave an ecstatic smile. “Let’s not disappoint them. ED-E: open storage unit.” The flying object made a beeping noise and went up to Scarlet, opening a door on its back side. Scarlet went up to it and pulled out a small cylinder. She tossed it to Boone who caught it and Scarlet pulled out another one, and kept it for herself. “You remember how to correctly use a plasma grenade?” “Yes; do we have a plan after we toss these?” “Yeah, kill those who are left standing.” The three of them made their way up to the gate. “Sounds simple enough.” “Nothing ever sounds simple; there still the slaves in the camp. Hopefully we won’t have to worry on hitting them if Siri did what I told her, but still watch who you’re shooting at.” “Don’t worry; I’ll only shoot at men wearing red.” They reached the gate, and the sound of orders being shouted could be heard. “Well, let’s get this party started then,” Scarlet said with a smile on her face. Scarlet and Boone both press a button and the cylinders started to glow green. “Now on the count of three; one…two…three.” They both tossed the green cylinders over the gate, and cries of alarm were yelled not shortly after. Then there were two big green electrical explosion, and Scarlet went and opened the gate while Boone and ED-E stood (or hovered) ready to gun down anyone standing on the other side. Boone started to fire his rifle while ED-E let out another short musical tune before firing more blue beams. Scarlet however pulled out a spear that had three knives tied together and ran into battle. She quickly impaled it into one man’s chest, cutting through the armor like it was nothing. She pulled it out and used the spears handle to block another man’s blade. A blue beam hit the man causing enough distraction for Scarlet to slash the spear across the man head, decapitating him. Fluttershy was hiding under her mane, weeping in fear. Pinkie Pie's mane lost its fluff and was straight down flat, with tears forming in her eyes. Rainbow Dash actually tried to fly into the battle trying to stop Scarlet, but every time she almost came in contact with any of the humans she appeared right back with the others. Rarity had her eyes closed and was looking away from the dreaded sight off blood and gore. Twilight’s mouth was hanged open in shock as she watch, and Applejack was also looking down at the ground trying not to watch the battle. Celestia however showed no emotion, and just stared at the battle, wishing it to end quickly. The sound of guns going off ceased, and heavy breathing could only be heard. “You okay Boone,” Scarlet asked. “Only a few graze cuts, you?” “My heart's getting a bit jumpy and I think I got a few bullet hits along with some other cuts, but I’m still breathing.” Scarlet looked at the battle field. Bodies of men and dogs with blood leaking out of them covered the ground. She then raised her left arm up and looked at the device strapped on her arm. “I think that’s all of them in this area.” “Then nothing is standing in our way to Caesar? Good.” Boone made his way to path that led up the hill, but Scarlet put a hand on his chest stopping him. “Whoa there big guy; all of Caesar’s guards have ballistics fists. We’ll be killed before firing off a single shot.” “Then what are we supposed to do? Shoot blindly into the tent expecting to hit someone.” “No, but I do have a way still. ED-E, storage unit again.” ED-E let out another beeping noise and hovered up to Scarlet opening the storage compartment. Scarlet reached inside and pulled out a strange weapon, which looked more like a toy. Scarlet walked up to the edge of the hill where the big tent sat on. She then yelled really loud. “Hey, son of Mars, I got a special delivery for you.” She held up the strange toy gun. “And it’s directly from the sun.” She then held down the trigger causing the toy to make lots of noise. The ponies could see three small faint beams of light forming over the big tent, and was getting closer together. Then the sky suddenly got brighter as a giant blue beam of light smashed to the ground. The ponies, and even Boone, covered their eyes from the light which didn’t last long. As the ponies opened their eyes again, they saw the big tent was aflame. “Whoa,” Boone said. “I know right; it’s a nice little toy from the Old World me and Veronica found at HELIOS One.” Boone then extended his hand and pointed his thump down. “Thumbs-down, you son of a bitch!” “Nice choice of words,” Scarlet complemented. She looked behind herself to see a group of humans dressed in rags who were all amazed of the fire on the hill. “You and ED-E lead the people back to raft. I’m going to check the area in back for any more Legionaries.” Boone nodded his head and ED-E made a beeping noise, making their way to the group of people, fading away. Scarlet moved down a path that winded around the hill the tent sat upon. “Enough Cadbury,” Celestia demanded. “Not just yet, there one more event that I know you would love to see.” The scene changed into Scarlet pulling out her spear out of a man’s chest. She was breathing heavily and placed a hand over the left part her chest. She stood like that for a while then spotted something laying on the ground. She put the spear back on her back next to the ARM and picked up the sword she been carrying from before. She looked down at the dead body. “I’m going to take this, I hope you won’t mind.” Then a spear embedded itself into the ground close to Scarlet. She quickly pulled out Lucky and turn around, surprised to see what was in front of her. Two children, both were wearing the same clothing as all of the other men Scarlet was killing. One was cowering in fear while the other one had anger in his eyes. Scarlet just stood there in disbelief, slowly shaking her head whispering no to herself. The child that was standing quickly went to grab another spear that was embedded in the ground, only to be stop when Scarlet fired a round. “Don’t do it kid.” The kid looked at Scarlet, tears in his eyes along with rage. He ignored her warning grabbed the spear and yelled, “FOR CAE…” His chest exploded with blood cutting him off, as the ringing of a gunshot filled the air. The child fell to the ground, will dull surprised on his face and he was gasping the air, which didn’t last long. The world became quite. Everypony had their mounts agape from what they saw. “I warned ya,” Scarlet spoke. She then just faded away along with everyone else leaving the ponies at an empty battle field. “I think that should be enough for you all to get the point,” Cadbury spoke. “She...she did all that,” Twilight shakily asked. “That and more: the massacre of the White Legs, the killer of rulers, and the destruction of a nation. Everywhere she travels the earth is painted in blood, which is why the people gave her the name Scarlet. My tip, lock her up before it’s too late.” Cadbury then waved a hoof and the world around the ponies collapsed and they all fell down in an endless white world. ************************ Braeburn woke up from the jolt of the fall and sprang up. He noticed Scarlet sitting next to him and was holding a syringe in her hand. Scarlet looked at the syringe then back at Braeburn. “Just to let you know, this was supposed to wake you up.” _____________________________________________________________________ Did you know that the developers were going to give you the option to have the ability to kill children? (Obviously they didn't go with it) Anywho, ProtheanBrony told me that he might not be able to proofread for sometime, so any volunteers just encase that happens? Fallout New Vegas is copyrighted Obsidian Entertainment and Bethesda Softworks. MLP: Friendship is Magic is copyright to Hasbro. All characters that belong to their companies are rightfully theirs. This writing is for fun and nothing else.