//------------------------------//
// Crimson Fern Grows 
// Story: Innavedr 
// by Imploding Colon 
//------------------------------//

	"Roque?!"  Shouted a young, breathless colt as he scampered over the jagged hill of a stony plateau.  Far behind his shiny figure, the gleaming image of a trapezoidal, crystalline house stood in the glare of a noonday sun.  "Roque, come on!  Toss the disc back!"

A slightly older colt stood at the crest of the hill.  His glassy eyes sparkled like kaleidoscopes in the daylight as he gazed into the sky.  He spoke over his pearlescent blue shoulder.  "I lost it, Nexx!"

"Lost it?!" Nexx stammered as she lurched to a halt besides his brother's shiny flank.  "How could you lose it?!  The thing's made of southern dragon sapphires!  It glows brighter than the sun!"

"I found something cooler," Roque said with a wide grin.

Nexx's shimmering eyes crossed in confusion.  "Huh?!  What do you mean, 'cooler?'"

"Look for yourself."  Roque pointed towards the southern horizon with a lustrous hoof.

His younger sibling stood beside him, squinting.  A high pitched gasp escaped his lips.  "Whoah!  What is that?"

"Beats me, but it's coming at us fast!" Roque remarked.

Both foals' eyes were trained on a thin, silver shape gliding in from the south.  It followed the edge of the ravine that ran past their rock farm along the western plateau.

"What is it, a bird?" Nexx chirped.

"It's too big to be a bird, crackflank!"

"Hey!  Mom said you're not allowed to call me 'crackflank!'"

"You're not gonna earn a cutie mark saying dumb things like that.  At this rate, you'd might as well chisel something on that blank butt of yours!"

"I'm telling on you!"

"Shhh!"  Roque leaned back on his haunches, craning his glimmering neck.  "Look!"

Nexx's eyes widened, for the object was descending, lowering towards the horizon and passing over the tops of the forests on the other side of the canyon.  Soon, it was skimming over the plateau, flying so close to the ground that its silver body was reflected off the many jagged sapphires sticking out of the earth.

"Uhhh... R-Roque?" Nexx stammered, hobbling backwards on trembling limbs.

"Will ya listen to it..."  Roque cooed, his mouth agape in wonder.  "It sounds like a hundred crystal foundries..."

"Roque, I'm scared."

"Pfft!  You're always scared!"

"No, I mean it," Nexx squeaked, tugging at his brother's sparkly tail filaments.  "Move!  It's gonna hit us!"

"No it ain't—!"

"Yes it is!"

"No, it—"

At the last second, the glider twirled to the right, its unconscious pilot collapsing over the controls.

"Whoah!"  Roque howled.  In a single leap, he swooped Nexx's shrieking body off the ground and dove the two of them down the hilltop.  The two colts rolled out of the way just as the aircraft ricocheted off the earth.  The vehicle bounced, spun, and slid for several yards until it slammed hard into a ten foot tall chunk of sapphires.  With a shower of blue shards, the crash landing had ended, and all was dust and foreboding haze.

Nexx coughed several times, waving the dust away from his mouth.

Undaunted, Roque stood up and trotted swiftly over to the crash.  A worried Nexx waddled after him.  Soon, both colts were staring at a niche carved out of the base of the sapphiric spire.  Within the crater, the managlider was crumpled, its silver exoskeleton folded in over itself.  But that was the last thing that was stealing their breath away.

"Holy cow!"  Roque exclaimed.

"No way..."  Nexx leaned down and squinted.  "A real, live unicorn?"

"I think he's dead, Nexx."

"Uh uh!"  Nexx tried to frown, but his frightened eyes were locked on the muscular figure below.  "If he's dead, how could he have flown this thing?"

"Duhhhh.  He died in the air."

"Why would you fly in the air if you knew you were gonna die?"

"How the hay should I know, crackflank?!  It looks like he's a soldier—Whoah!"  Roque did a double take, smiling in bizarre wonder.  "Look at that!  His forelimb is totally ripped off!"

"Oh, ew!"  Nexx trembled, standing behind his brother as if the older colt could somehow erase the fact by blocking his sight of it.  "That's terrible!  Why's he—like—got sticks and stuff attached to it?"

"I think he just came out of a battle and needed a crutch," Roque murmured, his eyes squinting as he observed the stub of the injured limb.  "Man, he's got bloodstains and everything!"

"C-can't he just grow it back?"

"Pffft.  Nexx, just because he's a unicorn doesn't mean he can grow stuff back."

"But I thought all non-shiny ponies could grow legs back after they snapped off!"

"They don't snap off, doofus!  They have blood and muscles and guts and stuff."

"Ewwww..."

"I know, right?"

"Uhm..."  Nexx bit his lip.  "Do you think..."  He trembled even more.  "Do you think the pony's from Searo?"

"You really are dumb, aren't you?"  Roque smirked down at him.  "Does he look like a girl to you?"

"Uhhh..."

"Well?"

"No..."

"All dudes in Searo are slaves.  Everypony knows that.  Besides..."  Roque stood up tall.  "If it was a real metal mare, I'd kick her butt for you."

"Would you really?"

"Yeah!  I'm not afraid of any Searonese bounty hunter!  Or a Ledomaritan!"

"Ledo... martian?"

"Ledomaritan, crackflank!  Y'know, soldiers from the north?"

"What's he doing way down here in Sapphire Country?"

"Beats me."  Roque began trotting down the crater.

"Roque!  Roque!"  Nexx squeaked, tugging on his tail.  "Stop it!  What are you doing?"

"What do you think?"  Roque smirked back at the younger one.  "I hear you get an electric shock when you touch a unicorn horn!"

"Ewww!  No no no no!  Don't touch itttt!"

"Why not?  Pfft.  Not like he's going anywhere—"

"Roque!  Nexx!"  A deep voice shouted from a shadowy figure above.  "Get out of there now!"

Eyes wide as saucers, Roque instantly scampered out of the hole and stood besides the tall stallion.  His brother was right behind him.  "Sorry, Pa.  We were just—"

"You were just nothing!"  A leering pony with a reflective coat and a shimmering mane brushed them both aside as he swiveled a shotgun around his flank.  Once it was propped in front of him, he sat on his haunches and slid his forelimbs into a pair of hoof-braces.  "Get back in the house with your Ma and don't come out until I tell you too!"

"He's hurt, Pa!"  Nexx squeaked.  "His leg's broke!  I think he snapped it off!"

Roque growled, "What did I tell you about unicorns—"

"Enough, both of you!"  The father spat.  He concentrated, and a stream of glowing light coursed down from his skull, through his limbs, and into the crook of his hooves where he made contact with the rifle.  Soon, the crystals housed inside the chamber hummed with dangerous energy.  "It's not enough that I hear the sky falling outside my backdoor and think my two foals are dead!  This stallion is dangerous!"

"You gonna shoot him, Pa?"

"Get into the house!  Now!  I'm not asking you another time—"

"South..."  A raspy voice rose against the dusty wind.  "Trying... to go south..."

The two colts gasped and hid behind their father.

The stallion squinted suspiciously down the sight of his rifle.

Crimson stirred, his pained eyes squinting over a grimacing muzzle.  "My friend... h-has been taken by a metal mare.  Must... s-save her..."

The father blinked.  "Is that right?"  He intensified the energy burning into his rifle.  "What reason should I have to believe you're not just a paid thug working for the Killas?"

Crimson panted, trying to stand up—only to collapse on his side with an agonized wheeze.

Nexx and Roque watched mutely, anxiously.

"Nopony comes flying in on a thing like that without wanting to crack some heads!" the father exclaimed.  "So how about it, huh?"

"F-Franz... ington..."

The farmer lowered the crystal gun.  "Huh?"

Crimson gulped and murmured, "Not... with Searo..."  He hissed, then added, "Or with Ledomare..."  Exhaling hard, he slumped down to the wrecked remains of the managlider.  "Eagle Eye... Phoenix... I-I failed you..."  His body fell unconscious with a lasting wheeze.  "Rainbow... Dash..."

The stallion stared at him, his polished face gaining a further sheen with sudden sweat.  He lowered the rifle and ran a hoof through his sparkling mane.  Just then, a feminine voice called out from the far side of the plateau.

"Tweak?  What's all the commotion?  Are the boys okay?"

His nostrils flared as he gazed at the stallion's muscular body, his weak breaths, and the bloodied mess his forelimb had become.

"Awwwww shoot..."  Tweak muttered, then tilted his head back.  "Fetch the first aid and some hot water, Ma!  We've got company..."