Previous Chapters Next
Close
Awakening 1,596 words
Arrival1,032 words
Shock1,774 words
Weaponry2,129 words
Briefing2,452 words
Counter2,272 words
Repercussions1,957 words
Firepower1,429 words
Endgame1,736 words
After...509 words

Endgame

EQUESTRIAN MILITARY ENCAMPMENT, MEGASPELL DEVELOPMENT TENT
1356 HOURS

"All I need to know? Seri, you said a megaspell wouldn't be enough to kill Gojira. And now you say that this," -Red pointed at the oxygen destroyer, sitting inside the megaspell- "this, oxygen destroyer, can kill it?" Seri, still looking at the device inside the megaspell, closed her eye, and said,

"Yes. And tha-"

"No, that's not all I need to know!" Seri flinched, and turned to look at Red. The grey earth pony, ears flat against his head and teeth bared, said,

"My life's work is destroyed, my home's a pile of rubble, I'm working on a doomsday device, and both my best friend and my brother are dead! Everything I've ever known is gone. I think I've earned the right to know just what this damn thing does!"

Seri simply stared at the fuming pony in front of her. She cleared her throat, and said,

"... Okay, Red. You want to know what it does? Fine. It does exactly what the name suggests. When set off, it disintegrates the oxygen molecules in an area equal to that of one mile. The lack of oxygen causes the blood vessels of anything within the blast zone to rot, causing massive internal bleeding, followed by a total shutdown of the organs. It is a slow, extremely painful death that I wouldn't wish upon anything, including Gojira. Does that answer your question?" Seri turned back to the megaspell, fiddling with the timer. Red could only stare, his brain slowly processing the information it had just received. He had thought that the megaspell was the worst weapon ever created. But this... What kind of sick, twisted pony came up with something like that?

His thoughts were interrupted by a loud crack sound, which repeated in a quick pattern for a few minutes. He turned his head in the direction of the noise, not noticing the look of utter terror growing on Seri's face. He also didn't hear her mumble,

"No... No, we need more time..."

Red turned his head to face the one-eyed unicorn, and said, "What was that?"

"Cannons. Red, I need your help for this." Red trotted over to the workbench, stopping when he stood next to Seri. The pink unicorn started putting several loose sheets of paper and notebooks, all covered with designs, into a pair of saddlebags she levitated next to the table. She looked at Red, saying,

"There's a matchbook over on that table, could you grab it and bring it over here?" Red trotted over to the table in question, found the little cardboard packet of matches, and brought it over to the workbench. Seri thanked him, before putting the matchbook in one of the saddlebags. She placed the bags on the ground, returning her attention to the bomb.

"Now, Red, everything should be good, but we need to test this timer. If it doesn't work, the-"

A tan pegasus, general West Point, burst into the tent. She nearly knocked one of the parts-tables over, before stopping in front of Red and Seri. She said,

"In less than an hour, Godzilla's going to be tearing this place apart. Everypony's falling back to Canterlot. That megaspell needs to be in position, now." She ran back out, yelling something at somepony outside as she left.

For a moment, both Seri and Red were speechless. Then, in a frantic rush, Seri put on the saddlebags from earlier, and the two ponies lifted the megaspell-oxygen destroyer off the workbench. Balancing the heavy device on their backs, they slowly moved out of the tent.

***

EQUESTRIAN MILITARY ENCAMPMENT
1410 HOURS

When Red and Seri exited the tent, they saw a yellow pegasus waiting for them. In the distance, they could hear the rest of the soldiers marching out of the camp, heading towards Canterlot. The pegasus introduced himself as sergeant Lucky Strike, and asked the two bomb-laden ponies to follow him to the target area. Red could've sworn he'd seen Lucky somewhere before, but the heavy weight on his back was a more pressing issue than a familiar face. As the three ponies moved through the empty camp, they could feel the earth shake beneath their hooves, and head the thunderous footsteps of the creature. Every second, the sounds grew louder.

Lucky Strike tried to forge as straight a path as he could to the outermost edge of the camp. The itching sensation that had plagued him for the past few hours had escalated into a burning sensation, and it kept getting worse by the minute. When he turned to the left, finally on a path leading straight to the edge of the camp, he collapsed. When the two ponies who he didn't really know stopped in front of him, and asked if he was okay, he nodded, and said,

"Yeah, yeah, just... Just give me a second. The target area's straight ahead, that way." Lucky raised his head from the ground, looking over at the small clearing. The two ponies moved on without him, with one of them, the grey earth pony, promising they'd come back and get him. After a short time, Lucky lowered his head back to the ground, and groaned in pain. Something was seriously wrong where that monster bit him. It felt like something was trying to grow out of the place where his right wing used to be. The pain spiked to an unbearable level, and Lucky Strike blacked out.

Red Sky felt like his back was going to break if he had to carry the bomb any further. Beside him, Seri was tying to use her magic to help them carry it, but it wasn't really helping much. The two ponies finally reached the sandbags marking the edge of the camp, letting the megaspell drop off of their backs. Red sat on the ground, trying to catch his breath. He looked up, and he froze. Not even a mile away, coming straight at him, was the monster. It loomed over the camp, growing larger with every step it took. For a moment, he dumbly stared up at the approaching behemoth. Then, he heard Seri yelling his name.

He shook his head, and trotted over to stand next to the megaspell, where Seri was making last-minute adjustments. She turned to him, and said,

"I just need to set the timer. I'll grab the sergeant with my magic on the way. That work for you?"

"Sure does. Now set that thing so we can get the hay out of here. "

Seri moved a dial on the timer back, and flicked a small switch to the 'on' position.

Nothing happened.

Seri's eye widened, and she frantically tried setting up the timer again. She cursed, muttering something in her native language. Red moved next to her, asking,

"What's wrong?"

Seri, a somber look on her face, said, "The timer isn't working. It'll only go off if somepony manually detonates it."

It took a moment for the statement to sink into Red's mind. He yelled,

"What?!"

"We never had a chance to test the timer, and now it won't work. It's too late to fix this, Gojira's right there, getting closer by the second. So, one of us isn't making it out of here..." Seri sighed, looking down at the megaspell, then looked back to Red. She took the saddlebags off, and floated them over to Red. Dropping them on his back, she said,

"Do me a favor, and burn everything in there. I want the destroyer's design to die with me."

"Seri, you don't-"

"Red, would you be willing to do this, knowing what the destroyer does?"

Red didn't say a word.

"Exactly. Now go on, get the sergeant and get out of here. You've only got ten minutes."

Red stared at the one-eyed pink unicorn for a moment, while the shadow of the monster started crawling over the camp. He silently extended a hoof to Seri. The pink, one-eyed unicorn met it with her own, firmly shaking it once. Then, Red Sky ran down the path into the camp.

He skidded to a stop to lift the unconscious pegasus onto his back, and continued running down the twisted maze of the camp. He ran past the mess area, turning to his left, then right, leaving the shadow of the monster behind. He turned again, and he saw the exit ahead of him, the soldiers a speck on the horizon. As he ran out into the field, he heard the monster roar behind him. Red kept running until his hooves gave out from under him, falling in a field a short distance from the retreating soldiers. Setting the pegasus down, Red rolled onto his back, lying in the tall grass. His bandages had come off in the sprint, and the cuts in his hooves had opened.

The creature roared again, faintly this time. Red raised his head off the ground, and finally saw just how far he'd gone. He could barely see the camp itself, and the monster almost looked like a toy from this angle.

Something flashed at the camp, and the monster roared again. It raised a leg to step forward, and then, it fell. It crushed the camp beneath it as it fell forwards, the loud crash of it hitting the ground echoing all the way to Canterlot.

Red stared at the fallen titan for a long time. He almost expected it to get back up, but it never did. Red rolled back to his hooves, sitting up. He took the saddlebags off, and dropped them in a nearby patch of dirt. He fished the matches out of them, lit the whole pack, and dropped it onto the cloth saddlebags, watching as all the work that went into making the oxygen destroyer crumbled into a pile of ash.

Red Sky trotted over to the yellow pegasus, placed the unconscious sergeant on his back, and trudged forward.

2,657 views