//------------------------------// // Chapter Thirty Four: When it Comes for Me // Story: The Equestrian Venture // by TheCrimsonDM //------------------------------// The Equestrian Venture Chapter Thirty Four: When it Comes for Me Written by TheCrimsonDM Rita stood in the ruins of a fallen building, smoke rose from the ashes as she listened to the sounds of fighting that could be heard off in the distance. Her attention was at first drawn to the red sky, although the moon was out, the sky held a dark burning red. A rock fell from behind her and drew her attention. She regretted looking. Lamont lay on his back, impelled by a broken piece of stonework. Next to him lay Jade, her back faced Rita, but from the pool of crimson growing around her, Rita could tell that Jade wasn’t getting back up. Reed was hanging upside down from what was once the second floor of this ruined carcass of a building. He was far too still. Finally she saw her father, Crow stood with dozens of arrows sticking out of his body. Crow looked back to Rita, and smiled. He tipped forward and fell, never to rise again. Her knees shook, and threatened to let her fall. A hand fell gently onto her shoulder. She looked over at Estelle, and tried to smile, her lips simply wouldn’t obey her. “We’ve got to go,” Estella said coldly. “Come on.” Rita began to follow but stopped short as she saw another Estella standing and facing them. The copy had a trail of red running down her face as she stared with angry eyes at Rita and herself. Rita looked between the two versions of her best friend, and took a step back. What’s going on? “Rita, stay with me, that copycat won’t hurt you if you stay here,” The first Estella said with a smile. The copycat spat blood out to the side and strode forward. Anger filled her words as she said, “Get away from my friend you sick freak!” Rita backed off even further from the first Estella, who now took to laughing manically. The first Estella looked back and said, “Well it’s not like you will have any chance of living through this anyway. I might as well have some fun, don’t you think so?” The first Estella’s eyes turned a sickly yellow, and a single fang grew from her mouth. She turned to face them. “NOW Let the lord of Chaos show you how it’s done!” Something inside of Rita pushed the darkness, the mind numbing terror, and the shock aside. That very same something grasped onto Rita’s soul and tugged hard. It was like something woke up deep inside, as everything around her became clear. She could see like she never had before. Her fallen friends all had auras around them, Lamont’s was blue, Jade’s was white, Reed’s was orange, Crow’s was pink. Estella had an aura as well, a yellow aura. Rita looked down at her own hands and saw a purple aura surrounding them, along with the rest of her body. Rita reached out mentally and grabbed hold of her friends energy, fallen or not, they could still help her win. Power unlike any other filled Rita. She felt the burning power of the universe itself flowing through her. The Chaos Lord simply laughed at Rita, not fully realizing the power that she now held. A hand placed onto her shoulder, she looked over and saw a transparent and ghostly visage of Lamont by her side. Another hand rested on her other shoulder, this time belonging to Crow. Then Reed joined in, and Jade. All of the ghosts of her departed friends stood firm behind her, their love flowing into her, and collecting into an ocean of power. Once more Rita faced The Lord of Chaos, and watched as the real Estella joined her side. She was the last one to place her hand on Rita’s shoulder, and then with the power of her friends added on top of her own, she knew that victory was now at hand. “Chaos, it’s time to end this. For good,” Rita said. “Go ahead and try. Seeing the ghosts of your friends has actually made me curious as to what trick you will pull now,” He said playfully. “Take your best shot.” Rita raised her hand. Energy ran through her entire body and focused on the base of her palm. The gems on her gauntlet all exploded, as a fiery beam of golden light flew from her hand and out toward Chaos. The light covered him, and he screamed. The illusion he took was ripped away, leaving a brown skinned man before her, and then the fire burned him. The fire raged around him until Rita could no longer see, and for at that moment, the universe let out a deep relaxing sigh of relief. The magic vanished, and Rita dropped to her knees. Pain screamed throughout her entire body, and the edges of her vision blackened. She refused to give into sleep just yet. The golden fires died down, and Rita stared on at The Chaos Lord, his body stood in a still image of agony, his skin, and clothing all turned to stone. The Chaos Lord was nothing more than a statue now. Rita looked back at the ghosts of her fallen comrades; they all smiled at her, and one by one they vanished. Crow stayed the longest, and took one last chance to brush Rita’s bangs out of her eyes. After that he too disappeared. They were gone now. A sudden torrent of wind ripped through the environment, tearing at Rita and Estella. The invisible force grabbed hold of something inside of her, and ripped it out. Rita screamed as pain exploded in her chest, but no physical wound could be seen. Estella screamed as well. The wind vanished, and Rita saw something lying on the ground in front of her. A magenta six pointed star shaped gem.  She carefully picked it up and felt the warm energy coming from deep inside. This was a part of her. Rita looked back to see Estella holding a pink butterfly shaped gem and staring down at it as though it was the single most important thing in the world. Rita looked to where her ghostly friends had just stood. And saw four more sparkling gems of various shapes and colors. “What’s going on?” “I think that… maybe these are… us,” Estella said. “And what does that do? What do we do with these… gems?” Rita asked. “Keep them safe. If these are all pieces of us, of our friends, of everything, then we may need them again one day,” Estella said as she hugged the gem to her chest. “But it feels like something important has been taken from me.” Rita felt it too, the loss of some important part of who she was, what she was. Whatever force had created these gems had needed something important form them in order to make it. She had to wonder; what parts did the force take from her friends? They were dead though, so whatever it took wouldn’t bother them now… Rita sobbed. *** “WAKE UP!” Rainbow Dash shouted. Rita rolled over and off of the bed. The floor came rushing at her fast, and slammed into her face. It took a bit of effort but she managed to pick herself up and look at the flying pegasus. Rainbow Dash had her diamond sword hanging from her side, and her eyes showed off a mixture of anger and terror. “Where’s Fluttershy?” Rita asked. “She’s with the others trying to keep that thing from causing anymore trouble until I could get you. I don’t know why but it really wants to see you,” Rainbow Dash said. “What thing?” Rita asked.  “I think it called itself a sentinel.” Without warning Rita dropped down, and slid a bag out from underneath the bed. She quickly attached her gauntlets and strapped the daggers to her side. Rainbow Dash landed and lowered her wings. Rita stared at her for a moment. “Get on,” Rainbow Dash said. “I’ll fly us there.” “Good plan. We need to deactivate it quickly, I’ve never created a more dangerous construct,” Rita said as she climbed up onto Rainbow Dash’s back. “You need to go fast.” “Oh I’m all about fast,” Rainbow Dash said. She leapt into the air, and Rita instantly wrapped her arms around Rainbow’s neck and held on tightly. Rainbow Dash flew out the window, and into the air. The view from up here was wonderful, seeing all the homes and the various ponies going about there daily lives really put things into prospective for her. Sadly, it also reinforced the danger that she already knew they were in. Just a single sentinel could easily wipe out a small village, these things were designed to go toe to toe with adult dragons. As they left the town and flew down the road leading into Ponyville, Rita had enough time to ponder exactly what was going on. How did a sentinel arrive here in Equestria? Did one of them follow me through the portal? Was it sent here by someone? Ugh these questions aren’t even the most important ones. How are we going to deal with it is more important. “What has it done already?” Rita asked, as they flew over some trees “It attacked a few ponies and is holding them hostage,” Rainbow Dash explained. Rita let out a curse at Rainbows words. She knew exactly who she was dealing with now… and she really didn’t want to believe that she could have missed it following her. “It’s Legend Two. He’s my most stubborn creation, and the most erratic. I kept him close to me so that I could keep an eye on him. It only goes to figure that he would have followed me into the freaking portal.” In a clearing up ahead Rita spotted the rest of her friends, all facing a suit of humanoid armor, or at least what looked like a suit of black armor. Behind it sat three foals, Rita recognized them as being the litter sisters of her friends. This day had just gone from horrible to abysmal. The second that Rainbow Dash landed, Rita leapt off, hit the ground rolling, and ran in front of her friends. She faced the black armor. Various spikes jutted out of the suits shoulders, and helmet, two glowing violet eyes stared at her from the pitch black darkness underneath. A dark broad sword rested on its back. “Legend Two, I am here now,” Rita said. It stood still for a moment, and its eyes flashed blue. A strong male voice called out to her, “Identity confirmed. Mom, why are you here with these animals?” “They are not animals, they are people just like us. Now will you please let those fillies go?” Rita said in a flat and even tone. The sentinel nodded, and pointed towards the tree line. “You may leave now. You have been released.” The fillies nodded and left to the shelter of the trees. Scootaloo was limping, and had to lean against Applebloom for support. Applejack, and Rarity made their way to the trees to meet up with their siblings. Rita didn’t budge an inch. “Did you hurt them?” Rita asked coldly. “The orange one assaulted me,” It replied. Okay, so he’s showing great restraint right now. that’s good, thankfully he hasn’t snapped. The sentinel raised its left arm, and pointed his palm towards Twilight Sparkle. “What are you doing?” Rita shouted. “Cease this immediately.” “Her magical signature is identical to yours, she must be eliminated.” He replied. A bright white light emitted from his palm. “What the hell! She’s a freaking pony, she’s not anything like me. Stop this or else I will be forced to deactivate you,” Rita screamed. For a moment nothing happened and the world stood completely still. Then Twilight leapt into the air. Rita looked back at her and opened her mouth, “Don’t move, you idiot!” It was too late, as a beam shot out from the sentinel’s palm and struck Twilight’s wing. The energy beam went cleanly through the wing and Twilight loosed a howl of pain as she plummeted to the earth. Rita felt her shoulder burn and she fell to her knees screaming as well. Rainbow Dash vanished in an instant, and reappeared just under Twilight catching her. Another white light began glowing on the sentinel’s palm. There wasn’t time to talk this out now, Legend Two was on a murder streak, and it was up to Rita to stop it. She pushed away the burning sensation in her shoulder and brought her palm to bear. A fireball shot out towards the sentinel striking it dead center in the chest. Rita knew it would barely scratch the sentinel, but it was just enough of a distraction that she could issue orders out. “Take Twilight to the hospital, than return here and prepare to fight. Everypony else, take the kids and run, or fight to the death, your choice,” Rita shouted. Rainbow Dash took off, Rarity and Fluttershy vanished with the foals, leaving Pinkie Pie, and Applejack by her side. That was enough to keep the construct distracted she hoped. Deactivating it without her proper tools was going to be tough. When the smoke cleared from the sentinel’s vision it looked right at Rita. There wasn’t even a scratch on its chest, and its violet eyes drilled into Rita’s. She could feel an immense amount of hate ebbing off of her creation. Legend Two had always had more anger issues than most of the sentinels, dealing with them had proven tedious. “Yer sure we can beat this thing? It’s not even scratched,” Applejack said. “I told you we were going to die fighting it, I never said we would win,” Rita corrected. “Oh… darn, guess that makes you a liar, because Ah sure ain’t gonna die against some heap of scrap metal,” Applejack said confidently. Pinkie Pie smiled. “We can totally do this, friendship beats out big mean machines any day.” Rita gave the pink pony an awkward look. You do not belong here. “Mom,” Legend Two said. “Why are you defending these creatures. They are in clear violation of the Thunder Realm monster policy. They are not supposed to be here.” “That only applies to mutant humans, horses are not part of the equation.” He stood silent for a long moment, before deciding, “My parameters state that if you are compromised and defend the enemy, you are to be captured or destroyed.” Damn it, I shouldn’t have programmed that into them. I was too worried about becoming a threat to Thunder Realm that I didn’t realize it would backfire like this… The sentinel charged, his speed was almost too much for Rita, as she leaned back and back flipped away from his arm. With his free arm he slid his sword free and swung at Rita. All emotion slowly faded from Rita’s mind as she stepped into her battle sense, dodging by reflex alone, no thought, no plan, just survival. She refused to die to her own creation. Applejack got behind the sentinel and using her rear legs she gave a mighty kick to its back. To Rita’s surprise it actually lifted off the ground, and rolled forward. As it rolled past her she saw small cracks where Applejack had kicked it. Pinkie Pie stood on her hind legs and a cannon stood in front of her. Where did she get that? Was it here the whole time? With a tug of the cannon’s string, Pinkie Pie shot a bright pink bowling ball at the sentinel. The bowling ball collided into the sentinel’s chest and exploded. Pinkie hoof pumped at her successful hit. As the smoke cleared from the second explosion the sentinel rose. Applejack charged towards it, but it backhanded her. Her body flew limply to the side as though she was nothing more than a ragdoll. Rita’s heart pounded furiously as she witnessed Applejack’s body collide with the dirt, leaving behind a small trench. When the sentinel turned to focus on Pinkie Pie, Rita screamed in protest. It raised its arm and shot another beam of energy, but not at Pinkie Pie directly. Instead the beam hit Pinkie’s cannon, and must have ignited whatever was inside of it, as the cannon exploded. Pinkie’s body sailed through the air and into the tree line vanishing from sight. “Now,” Legend Two said as he focused on Rita. “It is time for me to end this, mom.” “I created you, you can’t do this!” Rita shouted. “You made me into this. I was a proud soldier,” he said. “I had a family, a daughter, and a wife. I had a pet dog, and you turned me into this walking nightmare.” Panic raced down Rita’s spine. Oh crap, he remembers his past life again. No wonder he’s doing this. Goddess damn it. “You died on the field of battle, Two. You’re soul was not supposed to remember any of this, let alone suffer for it. I am deeply sorry for what happened but you served your country well, you saved us from the dragons. Isn’t that enough?” Rita asked, although she already knew the answer. “I want my life back, could you give it back to me?” He asked rhetorically. When Rita didn’t answer right away he made a scoffing noise. “Then why should I let you live. You are the monster that birthed me, and now I’ll fulfill my duty as a weapon, and kill you.” He raised his palm, and a white hot light began to shine. Rita closed her eyes. without all of my gear, there is no way I can survive this. I don’t even have my old powers… those died alongside my friends. A rainbow streak sailed through the air, and Rita saw it for only a brief second as it collided with Legend Two. The second they touched, the world exploded into a rainbow colored nightmare. The ground erupted, and a shockwave shoved Rita back so hard that she was lifted off the ground. A hole opened up in the clouds above as the rainbow colored explosion reached up into the heavens. Rita’s back hit a tree and pain screamed across her body. The explosion disappeared as quickly as it had arrived, and Rita hit the ground, hard. She saw Rainbow Dash lying on the ground, her sword shattered next to her side. Legend Two still stood after the explosion, but his armor was covered with cracks, and his left arm had been cut cleanly off revealing the black oozing shadow beneath. Thick inky shadows dripped onto the ground from his stump. The original sentinels didn’t have any internal structure, just dark magic and a human soul. That was the problem with the legend models… their souls could remember the past. “You… you okay?” Rainbow Dash asked. She then let loose a torrent of horrible coughs. “I haven’t pushed myself like that in a while.” Rita pushed herself up yet again, her every muscle crying in pain from the effort. Her shoulder was finally numb, and the burning sensation had moved onto her back where she hit the tree. Legend Two took a step forward, and locked eyes with Rita. He still had his sword in his right hand, so even the loss of his left arm did not make him any less dangerous. “This needs to end,” He said. “And I’ll be the one to end it,” Rita stated. She closed her eyes, and reached out to the surrounding aether. All the magical energy this place had to offer was hers for the taking, if only she opened herself up to it. I might be a crappy mage, but I can still use magic!  She thought about Twilight getting shot, and pain hit her. She thought about Applejack being tossed aside like a child’s plaything and fear shot through her heart. She saw Pinkie Pie being thrown into the trees from the explosion, and rage filled her chest. Finally she saw Rainbow Dash’s explosive attack, and Rita’s mind was burning with regret. All these emotions combined into a powerful force that Rita couldn’t easily explain. But that she could easily use. She pulled it altogether, and forged it into a little ball. That ball became a source of power, but not only that, it became a light, a light that revealed a single sliver of a power so deep, so strong and so pure that it made every fiber of Rita’s body shiver just seeing it. Rita grabbed onto that power. She opened her eyes, and saw everything in perfect clarity. She took a single step, and the ground trembled at her presence. Rita raised a glowing hand, and aimed it at Legend. Small rocks levitated as she poured magic into her hand. The gem popped and crackled with energy, Rita knew that it was too much for the gem to handle, but that was a mute point. Legend’s eyes narrowed onto Rita, and the two stayed completely still. For a second that felt like an eternal nightmare, she was given more than enough time to mentally prepare herself for what was coming next. Legend charged toward her, his movements were as fast as ever, but to her current clarity they looked sluggish and slow. With a mere whisper of power, Rita unleashed all of that energy into a single beam of amber light. The light focused into a beam and struck Legend in the gut. For a moment, he stopped running, looked a little confused, and then he exploded. The torso flew forward, while the rear legs simply shattered. His right arm flew from his body and black shadows bled everywhere before dissipating. Legend’s torso landed at Rita’s feet, and he looked up with sad blue eyes at her. “I… told… you… it had to… end,” He said. “Yes you did,” Rita said calmly. “It’s too bad that this is the ending you chose.” “I… will be… free?” Rita kneeled down, and stroked his helmet. “Yes, you will be free.” The magic quickly drained from her body, and she could feel every single nerve ending pinch. “Shhh, good night, Two.” Legend Two’s eyes blinked, once, twice, and then they were gone. The shadow’s leaked out and vanished. Rita was left staring at the hollow corpse of a suit of armor, forever empty of life. Legend Two was gone. The rest of the magic Rita had summoned into her suddenly vanished, the gem in her gauntlet shattered at that instant and every single inch of her body shrieked in total and complete anguish. The pain quickly overcame Rita’s senses and in an effort to protect herself, her mind shut down and she blacked out. *** When Rita awoke she felt sluggish and dull. At least her pain was dulled down to the occasional throb. The room she was in blue walls and a green ceiling, and the bed she was resting in was rather uncomfortable. On the floor next to her lay a sleeping pink pony. Rita smiled. “Hey, Pinkie,” Rita said in an attempt to wake up her sleeping marefriend. Pinkie Pie stirred a little, and one of her bright blue eyes cracked open. Pinkie smiled at Rita. “How long have I been out?” Rita asked. Judging by the fact that Pinkie wasn’t in a hospital bed herself, Rita could only summarize that she had been in here for awhile. There were still a few bandages wrapped around Pinkie’s legs though. Pinkie let out a loud yawn. “Four days. They didn’t know what happened to you, but I saw it, and after I told Twilight, she became really worried about you. I’ve been here waiting for you though.” Rita smiled. She stayed by my side the entire time that I healed… “I love you, Pinkie,” Rita said. Pinkie Pie shot up right and placed her forehooves on the bed. This time the sudden movement didn’t even make Rita flinch. Pinkie beamed at her. “I love you too.” It hurt to force herself to sit up but she did so anyway. With her hand she gently brushed Pinkie’s soft cheek, leaned in and ever so lightly pressed her lips to Pinkie’s. When she pulled away, the pink ponies face had become a deep shade of red. “You’re so cute when you blush,” Rita teased. “I, uh, well… can we do that again?” Pinkie asked. “We can kiss all you want,” Rita said. She stayed quiet for a moment and then added, “I’m just so happy your okay.” Pinkie’s smile grew impossibly wide. “Me too.” Rita laid back down and closed her eyes. Her body was still in a little bit of pain. “After that fight, I think that I’ve decided to take a break for the next little while. Adventuring and fighting is fun and all that, but I just want to spend some time with you, and forge a life for myself here.” Pinkie Pie laid her head down next to Rita’s shoulder, and Rita wrapped her arm around Pinkie’s neck pulling her a little closer. With fingers running through Pinkie’s curly mane, Rita felt a warmth grow in her chest. “You know,” Rita said. “I never thought that I would be able to love again, but now that I have you, I can’t see how things would have worked out in any other way.” Rita reached over and kissed Pinkie on the top of the head. “Thanks for being there for me.” “We’re special someponies, of course I’m here for you, silly. And I’ll always be here,” Pinkie Pie said quietly. “That’s all I ever needed,” Rita said, quietly. She slipped away into slumber, but this time she could only dream of a bright and happy pink pony, and the life they would share together. The End